Birthdays, Pérez, and other nonsense

Hola!

The 13th was Corrylee's 21st birthday! We celebrated in true Costa Rican tradition by going out to eat after Spanish class, then to Trigo Miel for birthday cake, then to Tutti Fruity for smoothies.

Then that Thursday Abby and I made a cake during our weekly baking time and brought it to Corry's house before we left for Cholo's for even more celebration. Hooray birthdays!

These pictures are of my host sister, China, and her little dog, too. (Just a side note, the dog, Gandhi, is a wiener dog, which they call in Spanish a "perro salchicha", which literally translated means sausage dog. It makes sense, but I still find it absolutely hilarious.) China is absolutely in love with her puppy, which is pretty amusing to me. I mean, the dog is cute and all, but she smells like feet on a good day, and when she barks it makes you want to tear your ears right off of your head. China's fierce love does not go one way, though. Gandhi goes crazy barking anytime she hears the front gate to the house, but always knows if it's China coming in, because instead of barking she stays quiet and stands by the door. It's pretty ridiculous how cute they are together. Just be glad these pictures aren't scratch and sniff.

Two weeks ago I had a class trip to Pérez Zeledón, which is Laura's hometown. The bus ride lasted a few hours, so we stayed overnight at a hotel next to the campus branch in Pérez. The picture below on the left has a shot of the hotel in the back. The educational part of the trip was to teach a class of your peers along with your group members (my group is in the picture to the bottom right) about various topics having to do with a culture of peace. The idea was good, but the execution was not. The professor is always very unorganized, so the trip felt a little hectic.

After all of the groups had each taught their classes, there was a talent show. Yes, a talent show. Hello, middle school. A few of the students performed dances, skits, and one kid even told a few offensive jokes. Good. Poor Corry got roped into doing something for the show, and the only thing she could thing of to do was do different accents in English. She did a Southern accent, one from Chicago, and an English accent. Pretty sure nobody understood what she was saying, but they loved it nonetheless. Then one of the professors did a sort of interview, asking her how she liked Costa Rica, where she had traveled, and what she thought of Costa Rican men. Ah, we American students are somewhat of an oddity for the Ticos.

But alas, the trip wasn't a total waste. A friend of Laura's took me and Corry out that night to a few of the bars around and we got to sleep in the next morning. Hooray!

Thanks for reading!