There's a snake under my bed!

Something happened recently that I thought I should share because...it scared the life out of me! Some people call Costa Rica "posh corps" because of it's beautiful beaches, etc...however, it still has many scary PC like things that we don't have to deal with in our country. These things include; spiders as big as your head, rats, flying cockroaches, poisonous frogs/toads, vampire bats and SNAKES. These are not our regular garter snakes we have in MN, kind of cute, not that big and harmless...these are venomous snakes, and big ones. Including terciopelos, coral snakes and more. Needless to say, finding any kind of snake here is a little bit terrifying since you never know if it is dangerous. Which leads me to my story of the day...

As many of you know, I am done with Peace Corps in one week from today, so this means I have been going through all of my stuff I have accumulated during the last two years and throwing out and giving away all I can to bring as little as possible home (which is surprisingly hard...I have weird attachments to things I would never have had attachments to before). The other day I was doing just this, I was throwing out things and my little host sister was helping me. I was sitting on the floor of my one bedroom cabina with my feet under the bunk bed when all of a sudden I felt a cord or something on my foot, I moved a little because it tickled, but then I looked at my foot and saw something slither off of it! It was a snake!! In my mind, this was probably the biggest, most venomous snake Costa Rica has and I was about two seconds away from death, so, naturally, I screamed and jumped on my bed where my 10 year old host sister comforted me. Then we went to get my host dad to see if he could find this clever little snake and kill it. It turns out, he couldn't, as snakes are very good hiders. So my host dad left me with a flashlight and machete to fend for myself in case of a snake attack (maybe I'm a little dramatic). This just added to my fear, so the rest of the day I walked around with shoes on looking with a flashlight in every place I stepped. It didn't appear again. I had many nightmares and felt many snakes crawling on me that night and the night after.

Today I was finalizing my packing and looking through the bag of things I am going to leave at the Peace Corps office for any volunteer who might want something I leave, when all of a sudden, what do I find? The ENORMOUS snake that was hiding from me in this bag. Could you imagine if I had brought the snake all the way to San Jose only to have a poor PC volunteer find it in the shoes I was giving away? So I yelled for my host dad that I found it and he brought the bag outside with the machete and started emptying out the bag. It turns out this snake was not the six foot long terciopelo I was imagining, but a pretty small non-venomous snake...he thought that was pretty funny, because I was beyond scared. 

The lesson I learned from this terrifying experience? Your mind can really make things worse than they actually are. Although, I think I was justified in being scared, it was a snake, ON MY FOOT. I nearly died this week.

See you in a week! I think Costa Rica is sending me signs that it is time for me to leave, the snake, rat (haven't told you about that) and ant infestations are becoming all too frequent ;)

14

14 days. 14 days until I am with my family, friends and home. 14 days until I leave my Tico family, friends and home. When I say my Tico family, friends and home, I mean it. This place and these amazing people mean more to me than anybody will ever know. They have shown me the best and hardest two years of my life and it will be the most difficult thing I’ve ever done when I leave them. However, I am enjoying the last month in Costa Rica!

It was recently some of my friends birthdays, my birthday and the fourth of July (as you may know) so we decided to celebrate it all together! About 20 Peace Corps Volunteers headed to the Nicoya Peninsula to Nosara for a weekend and we had a great time. The beach there is beautiful, not to mention unbearably hot…but that just meant more time in the ocean and our PRIVATE pool J We grilled for the fourth, played beach volleyball, visited tide pools and just enjoyed life. It was a great last vacation before our final days together at the end of July.

After the beach we headed to San Jose to see one of my best PC friends leave. We went to a favorite volunteer restaurant, to the mall, ate Cinnabon and went out for a nice dinner. It was so very sad to say goodbye to her, she has been a huge support throughout PC and we will be lifelong friends. However, she is on to fantastic things in her life and I cannot see where she ends up!

I am now back in Fila Tigre for the last time, so crazy right?! I couldn’t believe it was my last 10 hour bus ride back to site while I was heading back from San Jose. I head to San Jose for a final time on the 21^st so I am going to be soaking up as much of Fila Tigre as I can. Today I spent a few hours with a woman who I have become very close to over these two years, hung out with my little sister and helped a friend out with English for the last time. I think today is what many of my last days will look like, and it sounds perfect to me!

All of this is so bittersweet and surreal. Peace Corps has always been my dream and it is unbelievable that it is about to end, but what will never end are the friendships and lessons I have learned in these two short years. This tiny community has taught me more than I ever thought I could learn and I hope I can share that with all of you in the US. My volunteer friends here…I can’t even put into words how I feel about them. If you were going to meet the most interesting person in the world, times that by 100 and you have my PC volunteer friends. They are so incredible and I cannot wait to see each and every one of them, from Tico 24 and all other groups, back in the states.

I will check in again (probably) before I am back in Minnesota, I love you all and thank you so much again for birthday wishes and all of the support I have been given in the past two years J

Living your dream

As many of you may know, Dana and I are sisters who double as best friends. She was here for three months, and in that time, we came up with multiple business ideas to do together. These ideas are not just ideas to make money, but they are our plans to be happy. They encompass all that we love to do and the reason why we want to do them is because we think they could not only be successful, but also make us happy in our every day lives. I wanted to share a quote (well...paragraph) we found in a small bakery in Granada, Nicaragua that we really like. It is great advice for everyone out there!

"This is your life, do what you love and do it often. If you don't like something, change it. Life is simple, all emotions are beautiful. When you eat, appreciate every last bite, open your mind, arms and heart to new things and people, we are united in our differences. Travel often, getting lost will help you find yourself. Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them. So go out and start creating. Life is short. Live your dream and share your passion."

I mostly relate with the appreciating every last bite when I eat ;) I hope you share these words with others you know. Whether they are in a rough patch in life, don't know where to go next, are happy where they are or just need a little pick me up!

Now, on to an update on my life here in beautiful Costa Rica. I have realized that one thing I will really miss is Toucans singing in the morning. I have somewhat of a routine with them right now. Rainy season recently began, so there are thousands of the Toucan's favorite berries on trees all around my house. In the morning I will hear a Toucan's distinct song and run outside looking for it. I swear they can throw their voices, because I'll run to where I think it is, look for it, hear it in a new spot, go there, then hear it where I originally was! The neighbors may think I'm a little crazy if they ever see me on my "Toucan hunt", because I run around like a mad woman, I love those guys!

Other than Toucan hunting, I have been finishing up projects around here to get ready to leave. The biodigestor is just about done and it looks beautiful (as beautiful as a big bag and a pig pen can look, but I think it is perfect). The women's group is as motivated as ever and they are going to start fundraising for the group and within the next few weeks we will be visiting a nearby village to help their women's group plant some medicinal plants. Tomorrow we have a meeting and I am bringing the snack, I have given many nutrition lectures to them and what am I going to bring? Cookies. I am a bad influence. Everything in moderation, right? I'm just teaching a lesson....

I wish I could upload more pictures than this, but my internet is painstakingly slow. Here is the progress on the biodigestor :)

The hole with the yellow thing in it is the biodigestor bag, that is where the water and pig manure will go to produce the gas.

Top 15 Peace Corps lessons I've learned

1.       How to be patient

o   Things don’t always go the way they should, but they eventually will, so be patient and enjoy the ride.

2.       How to enjoy time alone

o   Sometimes you just need to be alone, and that’s okay. It’s important to be able to be alone with yourself and have hobbies or interests that keep you happy and occupied. Whether it’s drawing, reading, meditating or exercising, some ‘you’ time is important in life to keep you grounded and to remember who you are and what you need and want out of life.

3.       Family is number one

o   This one is basic. Family is your lifeline, they will always catch you when you fall and love you no matter how low you are.

4.       Real friends will be there for you no. matter. what.

o   This is one of the biggest, most important and hardest things I’ve learned. Friends are people who accept you for who you are, flaws and all.

5.       Eating healthy and exercising is vital to living healthy and happy

o   Although I have many many cheat days, I stay healthy overall and am happy with how I look and how I am.

6.       Learn something from everyone you meet, everyone is beautiful in their own way

o   In these two years, I have met so many different people and they are all completely different, but one thing they all have in common, they’re beautiful. Not one person in my Peace Corps group or in Costa Rica is the same and I love them all equally. Each of them has qualities that make them unique and beautiful and I truly believe each person has this and everyone should take some time to find it.

7.       Do what makes you happy

o   If you don’t, you will feel like you missed out on life.

8.       Being vulnerable is okay

o   I have never been so sad, excited, stressed, happy, bored, relaxed or anxious in my whole life. All of these emotions can make you extremely vulnerable and I have realized that I need to vent sometimes! This is so important to keep you sane in any situation and if I didn’t have my support group of family and friends, I would have been out of Peace Corps by month 3. So if it’s breaking down and crying sometimes, it’s okay! It helps in the long run.

9.       Being a good listener is one of the most important qualities you can have

o   This relates to number 8; be there for your friends and family to vent to. Sometimes all people need is to talk about themselves without any interruptions or opinions.

10.   Less is more

o   Whether it’s with clothing, food, TV shows, things to do or whatever, appreciate what you have. While being in Peace Corps, I have seen families live off nearly pennies a day, but they are happier than anybody else in the world. They appreciate what they have, use what they have and don’t take advantage of what they have.

11.   Never settle for less than you deserve

o   Whether it is with a job, relationship or friendships, you need to realize how amazing you are and all that you deserve in life. I have done this a lot in the past with all three of these things and I never ended up feeling good about myself or happy with the choices I had made. It may sound cheesy, but I really have realized what I want and what I deserve in all aspects in life and I intend to get them. Confidence people, you are beautiful!

12.   You have to know and be happy with yourself before you can be happy with someone else

o   This relates with number 11, "All of me” by John Legend is a really romantic song that many may think tacky but I think it’s beautiful and I hope everybody in a relationship feels that about their partner.

13.   Music really can soothe the soul

o   I have learned this through many days and nights sitting in my cabina, bored out of my mind and wishing I was home. This lesson may not apply to everyone, because I know my sister relies more on books while I am a sucker for music, but listening to some good, meaningful music can calm you down, make you cry, make you laugh, dance and so many other emotions, it’s incredible!

14. Nothing is impossible, but you have to make moves to get there, not just dream

o   I have learned this throughout my service, but most recently by a fellow volunteer, let’s call him Clive (haha). We were in a conference and had to talk about how we have changed throughout Peace Corps. He said he was less of a dreamer, while I said I thought I was more of one. Then he proceeded to explain that he is still a dreamer, but he has realized that dreaming is great, but if you don’t take initiative and start to do rather than just dream, it’s hard for your dreams to come true. This is very true, we see it all of the time in Peace Corps. Our communities have so many fantastic dreams, but nobody wants to take the lead to start them, which is part of the reason why we are here. My friends are truly amazing.

15.   It’ll be okay!

o   We all have our demons and we are all scared of certain things not working out, but it will. Even if it is different than you had expected/hoped.

As you can see, many of these ‘lessons’ are similar to others. Everything in our lives is connected and if one part of our life is off balance, it is very hard to find a balance with the rest.

The end is near

I was talking to my dad last night and he made me realize it’s about that time for a new blog entry! My sister has been telling me to write a new one for months, but I figured I haven’t written one in a while, why write more? Thanks to my dad, he realized I was writing one before about every 6-8 months, so it’s perfect timing! A lot has happened in the past…10 months (Okay, maybe I’m a little past the 6-8 month writing mark, but oh well). So prepare yourselves…this is going to be a long one!

I just got back from our Close of Service (COS) conference in San Jose, which is meant to get us all ready for the crazy adjustment we are going to go through when we return to the US. COS was a week-long conference which included medical appointments, dental appointments, lab tests, blood taking, long trainings, emotional conversations, crying, interviews and more. Just the conference itself was emotionally draining, thinking about leaving all of my friends who have turned into family and readjusting to the fast paced lifestyle in the US. I will get to talking about this more later, but for now, here I go on the past 10 months in one blog post…highlighting my favorite and most important memories.

The end of 2013 was an exciting time, I went home for Christmas, got the money for my Biodigestor grant and started a women’s group. The Biodigestor has been a long, sometimes painfully slow, process that we have been working on for the past year or so. At the end of December I was told that I was going to receive the money needed to build it and I was beyond excited. This was my first really big project and I was excited to provide this opportunity for the elementary school. If you don’t remember, a Biodigestor uses the manure of farm animals to produce methane gas that you can cook with and then after make organic fertilizer with what comes out of the Biodigestor. The school still uses a wood fire stove, which compromises the health of the students as well as the cook, so this is a great organic solution to this. We are finally finishing up the building process and should start producing gas within the next month. All of the construction has been done by volunteers in the community, they have done an amazing job and I am so grateful I live in a community with such fantastic people willing to donate their time and skills.

The women’s group has been my Peace Corps dream all throughout my service, but it wasn’t until December that I found someone who wanted to take charge and start it with me. The original idea of the group was to form a group to grow organic vegetables that they could do a barter system within the group and the women wouldn’t have to buy vegetables anymore, since they can be expensive and nearly impossible to get in Fila Tigre. We now have about 20 women who are active in the group and I (along with my sister for most of them) have given nutrition and health courses to them to really emphasize the importance of a healthy diet and exercise. The women have started growing their organic vegetables with organic fertilizer that we made as a group. The group, MEFIT (mujeres emprendedoras de Fila Tigre) is amazing at working together, coming to every meeting and thinking of ideas for fundraising to eventually be able to build nicer greenhouses. These women are so motivated and amazing! I am proud of all of them and know that this group will grow and excel long after I leave.

After my visit home in December, Dana came back with me to help, support, travel and work with me for the first three months of 2014. These were the most amazing three months of my service. Peace Corps is a very solitary job and you don’t realize how nice it can be having someone to collaborate and work with. I realized in these three months many things; how amazing my sister is, how well we work together, the importance of having at least one person who you can completely trust in your life, along with endless other things that I cannot put into words. Dana and I are so lucky to be best friends who are interested in the same things. During her time here we got the chance to travel to Nicaragua and Limon together, both of which were amazing. In Nicaragua we traveled with four other Peace Corps friends of mine and went to Isla Ometepe on Lake Nicaragua, Granada and San Juan del Sur. My favorite place was Granada, who could not love a city that is full of culture, beautiful buildings, amazing sites and fantastic food?! I would highly recommend going there if you are ever presented the chance.

When we traveled to Limon, we went to Cahuita and Puerto Viejo. In Cahuita we relaxed, hiked in the national park, saw many monkeys, raccoons and birds, ate traditional Caribbean food, worked out on the beach and swam in the ocean. The food of Limon is delicious; they use coconut milk for their most popular dish, rice and beans. Sounds boring? It’s not. It is rice and beans slowly cooked in coconut milk that result in the most amazing flavors. I’m am going to practice making it and bring that knowledge home, for anyone who wants to try it, just let me know. I have many Costa Rican recipes I am anxious to share with you all! Puerto Viejo was our next stop on this vacation; while we were there we rode bikes down the coast to the most beautiful beaches Costa Rica has to offer. Our favorite was Punta Uva, this beach had white sand and the most clear, turquoise water you can imagine.

Other than travel, Dana and I worked on the Biodigestor, women’s group, English classes and worked out like crazy! If anybody wants a new workout plan that is fun and SUPER effective, go to blogilates.com, it has changed my life. Also, Dana and I have many business plans we are eager to make a reality, our ‘business’ is starting with Instagram, so follow sistersconsuerte to keep up with our adventures #AWESOME! (I’m not the best with hashtags yet…that’s Dana’s area of expertise, turns out I’m a little bit behind on the new and popular, not to mention confusing, social media practices)

We now fast forward to April 1…my mom arrived! My mama, sister and I got to travel together for a week to the Osa Peninsula, for those of you who don’t know, the Osa Peninsula is considered the most bio diverse place on earth and is breathtaking. We spent a night in Puerto Jimenez, where my volunteer friend CJ was a volunteer, so he showed us around town. After that, we brought our rental car into the roughest terrain it has probably ever seen. The lodge we stayed for the next week was an 1 ½ hour drive into the rainforest with dirt roads, pot holes and river crossings to survive until we finally arrived to our gorgeous lodge, Luna Lodge. This lodge is a yoga retreat/honeymoon destination/most relaxing place in the world. It is right by Corcovado Park so of course we took a day trip to the park. CJ and his friend (who is also a guide) Felix, took us on an amazing adventure where we saw spider monkeys, squirrel monkeys, a tapir, a poison dart frog, a snake, scarlet macaws, whale bones and hundreds of birds…all in a matter of 6 hours! It was breathtaking and I hope each of you have a chance to go someday. I also recommend Luna Lodge, it is pretty expensive, but they provide you with a beautiful bungalow, three meals a day (plus appetizers!), a pool and optional yoga classes each morning. After this great vacation, Dana took off, went back to the US and left my mom and I to our next adventure to Uvita for a week.

We rented a house in Uvita that was high in the mountains and overlooked the ocean. My mom got to meet many of my Peace Corps friends, which is always fun because I like to show off how awesome they all are. The house and beaches were beautiful, we spent our days on the beach, playing Scrabble and Yatzee, relaxing, reading, cooking and enjoying out time together. After this we headed back to Fila Tigre for almost two weeks to celebrate Easter and spend time with my host family. We left Fila Tigre with an extra passenger, Gabby! We headed to Playa Hermosa for two nights, Gabby’s first trip to the beach. After, we headed up to San Jose and I saw mom and Gabby off, hours later, they were both in Minnesota after an exhausting plane ride for both of them.

Since my mom and Gabby left, I have been occupying myself by working with the community more on our projects and spending as much time as possible with my host family; guava hunting, cooking, talking and hiking. My host family has been one of my biggest supports throughout my service, they are now considered my family and we treat each other as so. It is a relationship that is so beautiful and I am so grateful that they are in my life.

Now for the moment you have all been waiting for…the official date I am going to be HOME FOR GOOD! Drum roll please…….July 25! So mark your calendars because I want to see every single person! Leaving will be a bitter sweet experience and I think a hard transition time as well. Fila Tigre has become my home and whenever I come back here from San Jose, it surprises me how calm and relaxing this place really is. I will miss this place so much but I am overly excited to be home with all of my family and friends. Peace Corps is truly a life changing experience and I am so thankful I have had the opportunities I have had the last two years and make the friends that I have made.

Here's a little bonus quote that I love:

"If you only do what's expected of you, you become someone else. If you do the unexpected, you become who you are meant to be."
- My philosophical sister, Dana Hanson

I think we should all strive for doing what we love and being who we are meant to be. With this experience, I have become closer than ever to this and I hope all of you do the same! Love you all :)

Cahuita, Kolbi and wasabi peas

I'm back! After about a month of stingy internet usage I sit here eating stale, not spicy wasabi peas I thought would be delicious, writing on my unlimited internet! I finally bit the bullet and signed up for an internet plan. Kolbi (a branch of ICE, Costa Rica's biggest internet/phone/electric/everything supplier) rose their prices about 500%. Before, I was spending approximately $6 a month for basically unlimited internet. Then one rainy day they rose the prices and all of a sudden I had $0 left on my account. The prices went from 20 colones (about 4 cents) an hour to charging for everything you downloaded. For instance, a 15 minute Skype call is now about $1=500 Colones (expensive for us peace corps volunteers). 4 colones an hour to 500 for 15 minutes. Too expensive for this girl. So now, I'm on a month by month contract and loving it. So I'm back for skyping, blogging and watching netflix :)

This month has been full of exciting things, the best being Tyson's visit. We had a fantastic time in his 12 days here, we visited Fila Tigre, so he could meet Gabby and see my host family and we went to Limon, the Carribean side of Costa Rica. In Limon we swam, relaxed, swam and relaxed some more. We did make it to Puerto Viejo, about 30 minutes south, to go to a Jaguar Rescue Center. This rescue center does not actually have jaguars but it is a place for hurt animals to go to be healed and hopefully released into the wild when they are able. My favorite part of this place was getting to play with the monkeys. Before you go in you have to take off ANYTHING the monkeys can steal, they are notorious thefts and will grab and break those sunglasses right off of your head. We got to feed them fruit, pet them and if we were lucky enough, have them crawl on us. After the monkeys we got up close and personal with the sloths, toucans  parrots, baby racoons, a crocodile, owls, a leopard and another wildcat. This was an amazing place and I highly recommend it for anyone thinking of coming to Costa Rica. We stayed in cabinas called Jenny's Cabinas in Cahuita where we had a private bathroom, nice beds and our own personal ocean facing balcony where the waves were so loud hitting the shore we had trouble going to sleep at times. It was the perfect place for our getaway (the $35/night rate also helped a lot). After 12 days of relaxation, feeling normal and being incredibly happy...the goodbye came as it always does. After two years of this goodbye thing, I am not going to miss this part.

Things in Fila Tigre are also going well. Gabby is a little terror, acting up only when I leave for a few days so my poor host family has to deal with it, and then being perfectly (almost) behaved when I'm home when I could actually help. Dogs are dogs, I'm excited to have her back in the states to have a consistent place for her to sleep and so she can learn that not the whole world is her digging heaven and toilet.

I should be finding out if my community will receive funds to build the school's bio digester soon and I am going to be starting a 6 week course on health and nutrition. It is amazing how there is little to no knowledge on what is good for you, what portion sizes are and what a balanced meal is. After observing the meals of spaghetti with rice, I feel I can help my community a little in that aspect. I am going to teach what carbs, fat and sugar are, show what portion sizes are, how much sugar is in that coke they drink every day and how they can prevent all of the diabetes and high cholesterol that runs rampant in Costa Rica by being aware of what and how much you eat. I am really hoping I get good (at least 6 people!) attendance to the classes, I think this could really help some people looking to get healthy.

Other than that I am just living day by day hoping and trying to make projects successful and get as much as I can out of this experience. I am also going to start studying for the GRE, I have a big nice book from Tyson and an online study plan so I'm going for it and hopefully doing great on the test! 

Well, this was fun! I will talk to some of you soon and I hope all is well :) I will update this as soon as I can!

A glance at my last 8 months..

Hello all! After 8 months of my lacking on this blog...here I am! I have been meaning to update it for a while now, but life gets too busy, internet gets slow and Alexa gets lazy. A TON of things have happened in the last 8 months...I will give a brief overview. Good thing I have pictures, otherwise I would not remember everything.

December: I had my first Costa Rican Christmas, it wasn't like Christmas at home, but it was interesting and filled with my big 300 person community family. Also, my host sister graduated high school!

January: My mom came and visited. We had so much fun, we went to Dominical beach, on the list of the top beaches in the world, it is beautiful. Then we came to Fila Tigre in our rental car and my mom got to meet my host family, stay in the cabinas, eat typical Costa Rican food and hike to two beautiful waterfalls. The first was a relaxing hike with the end being a huge waterfall where we could swim all day. The second hike was a little different and consisted of us hiking 4-5 hours in pure rainforest. No trails.  Cold weather. Rocks falling. In the end, it was worth it, we arrived to a gorgeous waterfall in the middle of the rainforest. Nobody would ever be able to find it if they didn't know it was there. After our adventures in Fila Tigre, we took my older host sister with us on our journey back to San Jose. We stayed on the beach one night and in San Jose another where we saw my mom off. Also this month I went to a Project Design Management workshop that Peace Corps put on with one of my community members. Also, my counterpart's baby was born :) His name is Aslan and he is the best.

February: Tyson came! He was here for two weeks and the start to our trip was in Uvita. We spent four days there and we had surf lessons, swam, walked on the beach and just relaxed. We then came to Fila TIgre and hiked to yet another waterfall which was just as beautiful but very different from the others I had seen. We went on a couple more hikes, one where our tour guide was my little 8 year old host sister who got us a little lost but didn't tell us until after, a true tour guide. After Fila Tigre we took the 10 hour bus ride to San Jose for the Super Bowl and a few days of just hanging out. Tyson got to meet many of my Peace Corps friends, we ate great food and then he was off. Goodbyes are the hardest thing of my Peace Corps adventure.

March: Dana and Dad came! They rented an apartment in Quepos for the month and I got to see them a couple weeks of it. I visited them and relaxed on the beach, hiked, went zip lining at night and cooked great food. Then they came and visited Fila Tigre (now my whole family + Tyson knows where and how I live...they are a lot more comfortable with my being here after seeing how safe it is). While they were here we built a garden bed and planted herbs and vegetables, which are now growing like crazy, then we hiked a little, talked a little and visited some cool nearby places with my host family. Later this month I went to another workshop with a community member, this one was on making bio digesters. We learned about the whole process and are now implementing this in Fila Tigre. This is where I found my new love of my life, Gabby the puppy. I fell in love, took her home and now she  rules my life here. Who knew a dog would be so much work?! (I guess most people probably)

April: This month was a work month plus visiting my friend at his site in Puerto Jimenez. Puerto Jimenez is on the Osa Peninsula and one of the most beautiful areas in the country. It was great seeing friends and his site. My host family, some local friends and I took a trip to a river to swim, play in the sand and eat. It was also Gabby's first time swimming.

May: I went home!!! As many of you know I was boppin around Minnesota for a few weeks. Tyson graduated medical school, yay! I enjoyed MANY different foods I have missed so much here and got to see so many friends and family. I was in Minneapolis for a while, Brainerd for a while longer, Duluth for a wedding, Gooseberry Falls and so much fun, back to Brainerd, back to Minneapolis, then it was time for my flight. The trip flew by but I had the time of my life and it was very very hard to leave...just another  goodbye, I have way too many of those in these two years!

June: June marked our one year in Costa Rica! This month was a lot of readjustment to Costa Rican life, it was like I was starting over again after my trip home! It's crazy how a few weeks at home can really set you back and get you used to your old life again. However, with time I'm getting into the lifestyle here again. This month a few of us went to Volcano Arenal to celebrate our one year in country. We hiked to a waterfall, swam, ate great food (of course...when isn't food a huge part of my life story) and we went to Baldi Hot Springs. I had visited here in high school so it was cool to see it again a few years later. This was a great trip to celebrate our time here.

July!!: Here we are in July! This month has flown by but also dragged on just like the others. The days go slow but the months go fast. The first week of July I went to Haley's site to help her with a youth camp, it was a lot of work but a ton of fun. Then we went to Uvita to meet some of the new Costa Rica volunteers and celebrate my birthday, my friends always give me the best birthdays here :) Also, I am working really hard with my counterpart to build a bio digester for our elementary school. We are writing a grant for $3500 and I really hope we get it. We have been working so hard on the details and how it would all be built, which is what I will explain now. For those of you who don't know, a bio digester is a big bag basically. It collects manure  from farm animals, for example pigs or cows, and makes methane gas that you can use to cook and even produce electricity. We are going to build an 8 meter bio digester and use the pigs the school already has to produce gas to cook the students meals and heat the school's pool. We will be building the pig sty, storage shed, bio digesters and all of the tubing and cementing necessary to finish. After the manure is used to produce the gas, it leaves the bio digester and we are going to make an organic fertilizer to use in the school's garden to grow vegetables and herbs for the food. Methane gas, if not used correctly, can be very harmful to the enviornment, however, after it is burned and is being used correctly, it is better for the environment than traditional cooking gas. With this project we are hoping to reduce deforestation (the school uses a wood stove to cook now), teach students and community members about recycling, helping the environment, alternate sources of energy and how to form and complete a project. The whole thing is a long process but I am hoping to have it finished by September! Other than that, I am continuing with English classes in the school and soon for the community again. I am also working with a few advanced English speakers individually to practice their English. I had three friends visit me this weekend, it was a lot of fun. It is so great to be able to show off my community and what I am doing here. It was, of course, hard to say goodbye but we had a great time (other than the time my phone got stolen at the hot springs...oops).

That's it for now! I'm going to try to try really hard to update my blog once a week (or even once a month would be an improvement) so it's less list like and I can tell you all funny stories that happen every day here and interesting things I have learned. I added a recipe to make arroz con leche in the recipes section, it is delicious!! I recommend making it :) Talk to you all soon!! Below are a few pictures from the last 8 months :) Sorry for any typos in this post..I will revise the next a lot better

Host sister's graduation

Mom's visit to the hot springs

My host sister and I at the first waterfall we hiked to with my mom

Uvita with Tyson

Our waterfall hike 

We made everyone eggs benedict

When I first found Gabby at the bio digester workshop...what a cutie

In Quepos with my dad and sister

After we made my garden

At the river

Puerto Jimenez

Wedding in Duluth

Tyson's graduation

Just hanging out with my best friend...finally!

Gooseberry Falls

Cooking with dad again :)

The girls after a full day of shopping :)

At Arenal celebrating our one year

Haley's Youth Camp

Celebrating my birthday in Uvita :) I got presents, a doughnut cake and all!!