From San Jose to San Jose

Hello Everyone! Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, but things have been crazy for the past few months. The super abridged version of what happened is this....I didn't end up going to Moldova because of more family health emergencies, but the Peace Corps was super cool and understanding about all of it and reassigned me to serve in Costa Rica. So far it is amazing.

Basically, I flew from San Jose, CA to Washington, DC for staging (basically pre-orientation orientation) with a layover in Dallas. Because of a flight delay, I had zero minutes to get onto my connecting plane, yet somehow my bags and I made it to DC. The next day, we had staging which wasn't the most riveting thing in the world, but it was really cool meeting all the people in my group. Everyone is super cool, laid-back and interesting. So I decided not to go to sleep that night since we had to check out of our hotel at 2 in the morning which is 11pm California time. We checked out, got on the bus to the airport to leave for Costa Rica. Wow, that was one of the most chaotic things I've experienced. Checking everyone and their bags in was not fun. We were all exhausted and frustrated, yet we somehow made it. Once in San Jose, Costa Rica, we took a bus to a retreat site where we are now having a pre-training orientation. On Saturday, we will finally move in with our host families.

So far, Costa Rica is amazing. It is so beautiful where we are at, it's not hard to imagine loving my time here for the next 2 years. And yes, I've experienced my first meal of rice and beans. It was delicious. We've also tried a variety of different juices that I've never tasted before. I don't know their names, so I couldn't tell you what was in them. I took my language proficiency test and I'm fairly certain that I'm going to be in one of the lower groups for language training. I really don't mind though...since there are a few of us in the same boat anyway. As long as they get us through to past the test at the end of training, I don't care what level I'm at right now.

Anyway, I wish everyone could see what I'm talking about. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but tomorrow I will drag my camera around so that I can post pictures for everyone to see before my internet access becomes less predictable.