Rice and beans. Beans and rice. Rice and beans. Beans and rice...

contrary to what my dad says, my last post was not a hacker. claudia, one of my canadians, helped me write a post to allison and marie-pier, my other canadians. a small joke, nothing more. moving on...

we just spent a lovely weekend in manuel antonio on the central pacific coast of costa rica. we went horseback riding, to the national park, and to some beaches. we saw some monkeys, and some sloths, and some hippies. there are some beaches that are a part of the national park, so we hiked around spotting all sorts of creatures, then hit up the beach. then high tide came, so we left the beach. shout out to allison's first time going to the beach!! we stayed at a really legit hostel, the wide mouthed frog. our room was all of 10 square feet, but we made it our own. swimming in the pouring rain and playing with the many puppies were also highlights.

some of us went horseback riding while the others went zip lining. i rode manchito for a beautiful 2 hour ride into the rain forest to a couple waterfalls where we plummeted 12 feet into the swimming hole. the other waterfall was 350 feet. that one hurt more than the 12 footer. not. we even saw a toucan during the ride! technically, we had a tour guide, but we kind of just did our own thing, which was really fun. most of us galloped on the way back. i don't recommend it if you plan on walking normally the following day.

my first week at school went very well. each day goes smoother and smoother. it took me the entire week to figure out the not-so-scheduled schedule. i am teaching 1st-5th grade and each grade is soooo different! not to be biased, but the girls behave much better than the boys. the younger kids are learning basic things like animals and colors and the older kids are learning simple phrases. it's fun teaching them because they understand the importance of learning english and they love to learn! i'm improving my soccer skills from zero to ok during recess and it's so fun to see all the different grades play together. there are only 55 students in the entire school (1st-6th grade) and the principal is also the 6th grade teacher.

well, i'm about to go eat beans and rice for dinner. hope you are enjoying the pictures! pura vida.