How's that for a start to my blog? It's a "must do" in order to write a blog while in the Peace Corps.
There's been so much that has happened in the past few weeks I don't know where to start! Everyday is different, new and wonderful! In general, we have 3 days a week of formal language training and 2 days including technical, health, safety and security information. The Peace Corps does an amazing job of preparing you for being out there on your own, and we got a taste this past weekend of what it's actually like "at site", so that was very exciting for us.
I'll start with pics of our family, since I haven't shown those yet:
Guiselle in the kitchen at our house. She is very careful to feed us really healthily, and without cheese or oil. We eat rice and beans with almost every meal (Marvin eats rice with his spaghetti too), though usually we have oatmeal and fruit for breakfast. We get vegetables every day and sometimes baked platanos for dessert!
Guiselle works as a dental assistant every afternoon.
Marvin is a supervisor at a can fabrication plant. He loves to exercise when he's not working and he's the representative from this small town to the district's local government. The family is all very industrious and into national politics as well.
We started digging a garden a couple of weeks ago, and are going to plant some lettuce, cilantro and carrots this weekend.
Other members of the family:
Juli, their pregnant dog, who is apparently due in a few days! I took her for a walk this morning , which I think was her first walk in her life (she's 1 1/2). Most people have several dogs in their yards, that stay chained up most of the day, though there are dogs that roam the streets as well. They have a talking parrot "Paki", whose picture I can't seem to find right now; but she's a hoot, because she spends the day outside in the tree and says "Lora", (Spanish word for parrot) and laughs like a kid. She gets really wound up when there's a bunch of kids around and you don't know who's laughing, the kids or the parrot!
Last week in spanish class we had a lesson on the fruits and vegetables here as well as a cooking lesson.
These are some of the fruits we eat here, though more of the exotic ones. The big white one with the black seeds is the BEST! It's guanabana: tastes like custard! Usually we eat bananas, pineapple, some strawberries and apples. 
This is our language group, with our teacher, Lucy, sitting next to Francis. We prepared the food in Sadie's home (at the head of the table).
Francis, getting a lesson on making homemade corn tortillas. They were sooo good!
Cat (from Boulder), is in our language training group.
Kirsten, from Seattle, also in our language training group. She lives with Sadie and Felix and their 3 yr. old daughter, Amanda.
Sadie, in their beautiful home, which she graciously offered for our cooking class today.
I'm getting a tortilla making lesson from Sadie's mother, who lives next door.
Picadillo de papas (small chopped potatoes with ground beef , onions, cilantro.
This is the finished product: the picadillo served on a fresh tortilla. On the side are slices of the platano madura (the very large bananas cooked in water, with a little sugar). The green platanos, they squish and deep fry (Francis and I didn't eat any of those, but most people like them).
Our language classes are all designed to prepare us for our sites, working with a variety of different organizations, like schools and where ever kids might be. Therefore, in both our language and technical classes, we have been learning how to develop lesson plans, lots of games(the day of games with the scout leaders was really fun! Tico 28 is a very competitive group, so when things get tense, I try and stay in the background, because I don't want to be the one in the bottom of the pile going after the ball; I know my limits! That's what happens when the majority of the group are in their 20's!) We've been learning about the politics and educational system of the country, how to get around (so far, we've been to San Jose twice, not counting when we arrived, and to another PCV's site in country, so we had to put our direction finding skills to use to get to the right bus stations, etc). PC training has been very organized in that fashion; they build on everything, both in technical and language training. Yesterday we had to present a 15 minute lesson, (in Spanish of course) to our Spanish group ( just the 4 of us). That was to prepare us for our (first of 3), 80 minute lesson next week that we'll hold, with a 6th grade class at the local school. Cat and I are working together and Francis and Kirsten will teach a 5th grade class. (yes, in Spanish). We'll be getting to know the kids in the class, find out from them about what they like and are positive attributes about their school, homes, community and Costa Rica in general. (of course we'll hear about their fantastic soccer team!) Then we'll do some kind of team building activity. (We have to plan it yet).
Francis with Dan and Ellen
Last weekend, we visited another married PCV couple who work in the area of Tarcoles, on the west coast, north of Jaco'. We walked around the small town, saw the school and various other places where they work and heard about the projects they're involved in.
Their host family is a young Costa Rican couple who are a teacher and an engineer in the area and their living conditions are far better than I ever expected to see, though they still have large creepy crawly things around the house. But how can you not when you live along the coast where it's very hot and humid?
Danny and Karla and the house they rent where Dan and Ellen live. 
Nearby beach.
The bright red things in this almendra (almond) tree, are macaw's. There were about 15 of them making lots of sounds in an almond tree grove).
The beach at Jaco, where Danny works. We went there for a little while and watched the surfers; oh, the water was so nice, but I didn't have my swim suit with me at the time; big bummer!
Last night we walked in a procession for about an hour and half, with people from this community, who today celebrate the Virgin of Los Angeles, who is the patron saint of Costa Rica. People walk long distances from their town to the church in Cartago, which is named after her. It was a great cultural experience, though the short distance we walked was good enough for me!
Rainbow in town that lasted 20 minutes the other day!
I look forward to what each day brings, so far it's been quite an adventure.
Please keep us informed about what's going on in your lives as well; we'd love to hear from you!
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