rice and beans, rice and beans, rice and bean!!

While staying here in Costa Rica, I have been privelaged to share in the traditional Costa Rican food. It is not the usual "americanized" spanish food you get at home like taco bell, el camps, or don pablos, it is very authentic and delicious! We have rice and beans for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, along with the freshest fruits and vegetables you could ever imagine.
Everyone is required to do some kind of chore here. We have jobs called "pandillas" i think it means chore in spanish, and each pandilla group has an assigned chore. For example, this week my pandilla duty is to wash dishes after breakfast lunch and dinner. Next week I have kitchen clean up, then kitchen set up (which means you have to wake up at 6 every morning to cook breakfast) then the last week is the common area clean up. My group lucked out bc we dont have to do bathroom clean up which is the worst job, considering we arent allowed throwing toliet paper in the toliet, we have to throw it in the trash. And the job of that group is to empty the trash and clean the bathroom..yuck!
Tomorrow we are headed off in the morning for Monteverde, it is a cloud forest about three and a half hours away from where we are staying. We will hike up the mountain, have a lecture and lunch up there, and hike back to our hotel. Then we are allowed to go out to St. Elena (the city we wil be in) for the night to do some shoping, have dinner ext.. And I will be back to the field station Saturday afternoon.
I will be back posting on saturday! See you!

learning to let go...

There are so many different kinds of lessons I have learned here after being here for only four days. I have always desperatley tried to maintain order and perfection throughout all aspects of my life, and I have come to the realization that while worrying about trying to keep my life perfected, I have missed out on many of little things in life. One of the things I hope to get out of this trip is learning to let go of the things which are out of my control, and accept things as they are. I have been so blessed to have this opportunity, and I hope to bring back all of the lessons and experiences I have had and will have. That is all for now, I hope to post again later today. Thank you for all of your support, prayers, and comments, they make me feel close to home!
Alyson