Mae, (insert random phrase), mae.

Hello friends, family, and potential strangers who may read my blog (but probably not),

To explain the title of this post, "Mae"is a slang word the kids (especially boys) like to use in basically every sentence here. It more or less means "dude". Having a teenage host brother, I can sometimes hear this word up to 100 times a day (not an exaggeration).

Woke up to this guy hanging out on my mosquito net. Thankful I put this baby up.

I have been extremely lazy when it has come to updating my blog since I have been in my site, so I apologize. All is (pretty) well here in Laurel. Way too much has happened since I last updated my blog so I'm going to try to recap it the best I can.

My host family has been really good to me, and I'm lucky to have them. Joel is my host dad, Mixdalia, my host mom, and they have a son (my host brother), Kendall, who is 16 and goes to the colegio (high school) in the next town over. Joel is a taxi driver, and also drives a school bus, and seems to be friends with just about everyone in town. He'll stop and joke around with anyone. His favorite pastime is when I'm with him somewhere, he'll introduce me as his son, just to see the person's reaction (we look completely unalike). Mixdalia is a very sweet woman who always seems to be in a good mood and happy. She's lived in Laurel her entire life and has definitely helped me meet people around town and integrate. Kendall is your average soccer-loving teenager. I think he enjoys having me around, and it's nice having a brother for me as well.

 My host family and I in Grecia.

So what the hell have I been doing the past few months? That's a great question.

Me assisting the vet while he prevents more stray puppies/kittens

Mainly spending time with my host family, eating rice and beans (a montón of rice and beans), teaching a community English class, prepping for an English camp for 6th graders that will be in January, working with youth, working with an older adults group, and working at spay and neuter campaigns around the region. Oh yeah, I forgot sweating, there has been a lot of sweat put in to all of this.

 Traditional dances (above) for Costa Rican Independence day and the Independence day parade in my town (below).

Making my students very uncomfortable by making them speak aloud in class *Gasp*

I have also had the opportunity to visit a couple of beaches, and spend a bit of time with fellow volunteers, which has been nice. Speaking and thinking in Spanish 24/7 can be exhausting so hanging out with fellow Norteamericanos is a nice break. Not to mention these people are some of my closest friends now, so getting to see a few of them once a month or so is nice.

Love these people. (Playa Brasilito, Guanacaste)

Well, I won't bore you any longer, but I will actually try to keep this thing updated semi-regularly from now on so you know I'm not dead.


Tyler