Estoy en San Jose

Our flight leaves in 12.5 hours. : ( : ( I do not want to go back to work at all! I think the depression is setting in. haha

The farewell dinner Monday went very well. The students did a great job with the decor (balloons, poster, ribbon, table glitter), centerpieces (yellow flowers with flags they made of the US and CR), and entertainment (a nice slide show of funny pics from the trip). The families really enjoyed that and we all had some good laughs (especially me and the jardinero... ). Story to come later. We all went out after it and drank of course.

Tuesday morning was spent hearing a chat from a woman about ecological tourism, and then we had the whole day free. I went shopping (every year I buy a new pair of sandalias from Brasil and this year it was a pink pair of heels) and then went back to my host family´s house (I didn´t stay in the hotel this year for the whole time which was really nice and homey) and had dinner and watched an awful French movie and actually went to bed at like 11 if you can believe that. I was wiped out. Oh yeah, and I rode my host dad´s moto and wiped out on it. I am fine though. More to come on that. I am so clutzy.

Today was saying goodbye to the host families, and everyone was in tears. We went to San Jose and when we arrived, the hostel we had booked was CLOSED. Yes, closed. Apparently there have been some administrative changes and they were going to be closed until Friday. Great, so I had 11 students plus myself without a place to stay for the night. Luckily, the owner of the closed hostel owns another one that is even cheaper and closer to downtown and the Mercado Central. So we went there and there was room for 12 people. Phew. I was stressed out. This place actually is awesome-it has around the clock internet, a bar and pool, a free 10 minute phone call to the US per person for every night you stay there... and all this for 10 dollars per person. Well, 11 if you want a private room with no strangers. It´s called Hostel Pangea if anyone is going to Costa Rica soon and wants a good place to stay. It also has transport to and from the airport for cheap. : ) I was panicking at first, but then we all got settled and we´re okay. Being in charge is stressful.

The Mercado Central was great and I bought some things and bargained with a store owner. Some things I wanted cost 5,900 colones in total (about 12 dollars) but I told the guy I only had 4,000 and he took it (about 8 dollars). NICE. I have a tico friend who came to Tallahassee in 2001 on the exchange program coming to the hostel at 9 so maybe we´ll go eat. We have talked ever since and he´s a great guy!

Until I get back into the country................ hasta luego!