Classes, beaches, and a girl with purple hair...

Where in the world can you learn Spanish, get certified to teach English, be a minute away from the beach, live with an amazing local family, get free weekly salsa lessons, meet tons of amazing people, and have a view like this from your school!? (Yes, that's the ocean!!)

Answer: Manual Antonio, Costa Rica.

When I first signed up to get TEFL certified, I was a little hesitant to live in Manual Antonio for a whole month. All I could think about was 90 degree endless humidity, lots of tourists on the beach, sweating all the time, itchy mosquito bites, horrible sunburn...not exactly positive expectations. But now that I'm here, despite the bites, sweat, sunburn, and tourists, I'm afraid I will never want to leave.

I arrived Monday to Quepos, a small town 6 kilometers from Manual Antonio. Not quite so touristy, with much more activity going on. I met my host family, Celia, Ricardo, and Doggie Luna, as well as their kids and grandkids who frequently visit.

I was welcomed to a family full of laughter and delicious food, a private room with a fan, (no ac here!) amazing cold showers (this far I haven't even considered a warm one) and an awesome housemate with purple hair, Hannah. :]]

The first two days were spent getting to know Quepos and Manuel Antonio, a few fellow students that I happened to meet, the bus systems, the beach. 

And of course the sunburn...

Right away I also met Jhonny, a guy who teaches surf lessons that I had met last year! He vaguely remembered me and Kayla, which I consider a compliment because of how many tourists he meets. He offered to teach me to surf for free, and invited me out that night, so right off the bat Hannah and I had a wonderful night out learning the right way to dance all the Latin dances.

Then, class. Ohh, class...

Class is intense. It's been two days and I'm thinking blogging will become nonexistent in the next few weeks because of the work load, but hopefully not...

My 10 classmates are all amazing, creative, and wonderful teacher prospects. And my teacher, she's pretty great as well. We dove right into basics of teaching and vocab and grammar and critical things to know when teaching English as a second language, but it is the most exciting, high energy class I've ever participating in. We are all rediculously excited, but if we think of class as anything beyond this moment it is definitely overwhelming.

But it's going to go fast, so every moment is going to be enjoyed.

Thankfully, I do love the two towns besides the sweat. People are so laid back, it's classic Ticos, lots of wildlife and nature, not overly touristy since it's the rainy season (and it's really rainy; wonderful warm rain, which we've been soaked in a few times...) wonderful food...and an ocean. That's always a plus.

(And there are cows!!! :D)

So there is my 10 second update. Much love to all. :]]