Ciao, grupos

The sports group left this morning, so we won't have another group til next Friday! I'm sure we'll still be pretty busy though. They'll find something for us to get done.

I changed my blog title to Pura Vida because it seemed to fit, and "I'm in Costa Rica" is rather unoriginal. Pura Vida is a phrase that people use here for many different things. It literally means "Pure Life," but people use it as a greeting, as a farewell, or as an answer when someone asks you how you are. For instance yesterday I asked Raymond how he was, and he responded by saying, "Estoy muy bien, pura vida." It's similar to "all is well" or "life is good."

Yesterday, I took my first taxi. Hevelin, Hannah, and I met Guillermo (bus driver) in San Francisco so that we could drive to Los Guidos to meet the basketball group. After Los Guidos, we went to Lighthouse International School where the football coach and some guys put on a football clinic for the kindergarten and 1st grade classes. It was fun to watch them get so into it, and they all spoke English, so it was easier to communicate with them! Following the clinic, we went to the souvenir market in downtown San Jose and walked around for awhile. Amie (another intern) and I crossed the street to go to the ATM because she needed to take out money. She put her card in and got to the end of the transaction and then the machine said that it had retained her card. She started pressing buttons, and then the screen went black. We freaked out for a good 5 minutes, and all of the sudden, it turned back on and out popped her card. We decided to never use Costa Rican ATMs again. We headed back to the Villa after the market and relaxed for the night because the group decided to go out to eat. That means no food and no dishes! Yayy :)


Today, we were supposed to go to Coronado to clean, but plans changed and we are now waiting to meet with Jose for an intern meeting. So for now we're just lounging around :)