Hey everyone! The last week has been pretty eventful. First of all, Friday was Site Assignment Day! We all got to go to this really nice resort with pools, a hot tub, good food and stuff for the whole day. After we got there in the morning we all found out where we were going to be living for the next 2 years and then put a little sticker with our name on this big map of Costa Rica, then we had the rest of the day to hang out. It was really interesting to see where everyone else is living too...all 53 of us are definitely spread out all over the country. I am going to be living in the province of Guanacaste on the Nicoya Peninsula, kind of between the city of Nicoya and the Pacific coast in a little town of about 350 people called La Esperanza Norte. It is about 7 hours by bus from San Jose and I guess in a pretty mountainous area. I have heard a little about the town from my program director and it sounds pretty nice but I will be able to tell you more after I actually go to visit this weekend.

I’m actually in an internet café in San Jose right now with a couple buddies waiting for the van to pick us up and bring us to that conference center in Cartago where we spent our first 5 days in Costa Rica. Today we are all going to meet up with a representative from our future site and tomorrow we are going to go with them to visit for 5 days. The man coming to meet me is the president of local development association and is probably someone I will be working a lot with in the future, so I’m looking to meeting him. I’m sure we will get to know each other well after the 7+ hour bus ride from Cartago. I’m also excited to meet my new host family and see what the people in my town are like.

In other news, Saturday night was Festival Imperial in Heredia with Incubus and Smashing Pumpkins. About 20 of us got a hotel in downtown San Jose and it turned out to be quite the interesting night in more ways than one. It wasn’t a bad time but I think it took too much out of us…physically, mentally, financially etc. and we had to spend the next day, in rough shape, planning our English class and Community Field Activity. Next time I will take a bus to the beach and relax instead.

Monday I taught English to a 2nd grad class in my town while being evaluated by the Peace Corps. We sang all kinds of songs and played games about body parts and I made a bingo game with weather and emotions. I was definitely well prepared and it went pretty smoothly. The first 5 minutes were pretty scary but after that it was fine and I actually had a lot of fun. The next day Sarah and I had to hold a little assembly in the school for the first, second, and third graders to educate them about Earth Day (since that day was Earth Day). We talked about what Earth Day was, protecting the environent, recycling, and litering (all in Spanish). Then we had them draw pictures of nature and the Earth to hang on the side of the school and after that we decorated old milk cartons to use as pencil holder. All the kids had a good time and it went better than I expected.

Well I guess thats it for now....I better get going. I´m sure I will have much more to talk about after I visit my site. Take care and thanks for reading.

- Heath