25th birthdays/Playa Samara and Playa Carillo

Manuel Antonio

Well it seems like forever ago that I took this trip, but I guess it was really just two weeks ago! My friends Jayme and Matt, and Jeff who lived in my homestay, and I went to Manuel Antonio- a very popular beach and National Park.



First monkey sighting in Manuel Antonio!

<--Iguana

Can you believe it- a sugarloafer was here!

Matt on beach

Capuchin monkeys in Manuel Antonio National Park- I really wished I had had my good camera!

After hiking in the park, we found a lovely little beach.

Waiting for the bus to the beach (Jeff, Jayme, Matt)

I don't know what these trees are called but they were really beautiful, their trunks had wrinkles that looked like elephant skin

Jayme at the hostel

Splurging on pina coladas after a hard day at the beach

Matt and Jayme

Jeff

View from the hostel- first night sleeping in a hammock here- not too bad as long as theres bug spray!

<-Still life on beach with Imperial and Flip Flop... this seems to be THE BEER of Costa Rica... It pretty much tastes like Bud light - so much for my distinguished taste for good beer!

This is Matt on the tarzan swing at our hostel! It was great...though I didn't try it til later that night, I needed a little rum and coke courage first!

Sorry its been so long! Lots to Report!

Hello my faithful blog followers. Lo siento (I'm sorry) mucho for not updating sooner! I have been busy- so there's lots to report! I finished my TEFL program at Maximo Nivel. My last week in the program I taught a basic English class- meaning my students pretty much knew NO ENGLISH. The first day of class, I asked a student "How are you" and he replied "Yes." So it was a challenging week, but I learned a great deal and I am glad that I got the opportunity to teach a difficult level. We had a lot of fun, and by the end of the week even the weakest student could comfortably speak in full sentences! Wooohooo! Here are some last day of school pictures....explanations follow :)

A demonstation of "shitgun."[shit-guhn] –verb v. A maneuver popular amongst native Asian youths. It is executed by clasping both hands together with both index fingers extended, sneaking up on an unsuspecting victim (eg. esl teachaá Natalie), and attempting to sodomize said person with the index fingers. sentence: "A little kid tried to shitgun me today and broke both of his index fingers." (this definition comes from Michelle, a very clever gal in my class, though I wish I could take credit for it)

Its amazing how many funny jokes we had in TEFL... of course we put everything on the oh so sacred whiteboard for our teacher on the last day of class. Natalie (teachaa) dancing on the Palmares stage and Ben the Dwarf were my personal artistic contributions.

This shows the naughty/nice contrast well I think!

My boyfriend Andy arrived for his visit on Thursday night (Feb 12)- I had a busy day on Friday, but he was very helpful! And Friday night we had the TEFL PARTY! It was at the school, but they turned the snack bar into an open bar, a DJ and had food catered, so it was a blast! And I was glad Andy could be there to share in the celebration!

Teachaaa Natalie calling us graduates up for our TEFL certificates and the boys- Greg, Ron, Mike, Greg- celebrating with cigars.

Andy and I with Michelle (TEFL student) and Yerlin (Maximo English student)