I can not beleive that we have less than two weeks left in Costa Rica. I am going to miss it here so much. My family continues to be amazing and it is going to be so hard to leave them. I hope that I will be able to come back to visit or that they can visit me in the states. I am so glad that I am getting to live with them and really feel like I am part of the family.
Last Friday we spent time at the school helping sort and list all of their English books. I enjoyed being able to see the books that they are collecting. They have some really good books. There collection is growing and they love the books so much. In time they will have a wonderful resource for their students. I think that it is so important to continue sending books for their students. The teachers are working very hard to help their students and these books will help imporove their English.
I was talking with someone a few weeks ago here and she told me that the best way to retain knowledge on a language is to read in that langauge and that is why she does so as often as she can. She buys all of her magazines in English so that she stays up with the langague. I tried to do this with Spanish by reading to my host sister but she said I was awful at saying the words in Spanish. She told me that she didn't understand the story because I was saying the words wrong! I am really working on my Spanish still and I have hope that I will be able to take some more classes when I get home.
I was able to travel to see Costa Rica this week. We went to Monteverde and Volcano Arenal. I loved seeing both and had such a good time. At Monteverde we did a zipline tour of the cloud forest. It was rainy and cold but it was a blast. The cloud forest was beautiful, and the guides are so nice and really make you feel safe.
At Volcano Arenal we hiked to a waterfall. The hike was great and the waterfall was amazing. The water was freezing but we got in to swim anyways. That night we were able to see the volcano erupt. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I am so glad we were able to see it.
Arenal Volcano
swimming in La Fortuna Falls