Nicaragua, Thanksgiving and Other Adventures

Well I realized I haven't written a post in over a month so I thought since I have had over a week of vacation already that I should carve out 5 minutes to write an update about my life. November is flying by and it is crazy to think that I have less than 3 weeks here now! One exciting thing I have done this month is go to Nicaragua. We had a week long field trip there and traveled to some different cities and learning about the history, observed the culture and spent a lot of time just enjoying ourselves. That field trip was definitely one of my favorites. It was crazy to see the difference between two countries that are physically so close to each other. Nicaragua has much more poverty that Costa Rica, which was obvious in the selling of stuff on the streets by children and other little things like that. However, Nicaragua is also beautiful, flat with lots of trees, a huge lake and volcanos/mountains in the distance. It was also a lot hotter there and was definitely different to be in the middle of November and wearing shorts and a tank top and still sweating! It was fun to visit, but I was very excited by the end of our trip to be "home" in my bed and with my family in San Ramon.

One weekend during the past month I also visited a town called La Fortuna and Volcano Arenal. A couple of my classmates and I went for the day and we did a canopy tour (zip line), rode horses and did some shopping. It is always fun to go on trips and take buses and venture around new cities without help. I still feel so "grow up" and independent when I do things like that.

Another weekend my family and some family friends had a party for a family friend who moved back to Peru where she is from. I got to help my sister make my favorite dessert, Budin! My sister and her friends love to do "shows" so of course for this occasion we had to do a show. We decided on the song "I like to move it move it" from Madagascar. We each were different characters and even had masks. It was great! Everyone said that me and our friend Nuria stole the show. I was just dancing crazy like a always do.

Then this week I have had vacation. No they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, but we still get the week off, even though I don't really need a vacation here, I have enjoyed it! I have pretty much just spent most of the days with my sister and her friends. We have been walking in the mornings which is fun because I get exercise, can practice my spanish, and learn new things about San Ramon. Then yesterday for Thanksgiving my sister planned a big lunch with her friends. We didn't quite have turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing, but we celebrated Costa Rican style. We ate carne asada cooked on the grill with pineapple, salad, pico de gallo, a potatoe/veggie thing, another dip with chips and iced tea! It was delicious and I was so incredible thankful for all my friends and family here and that they took the time to have a lunch with/for me on this day even though they don't celebrate it! And of course after we ate we did some dancing and I skyped my family and home so they could all "meet" my friends and family here! It was a great Thanksgiving!