I was thinking that starting a blog while I was trying to focus on how to understand the lightning fast speech of the Costa Ricans (a.k.a. "Ticos") might just make my brainmeats explode.  But, a blog will really be the easiest way to let all you family and friend types know what I'm up to, and maybe, I might write something worthy enough here to include in my actual written word journal-type thing that I have aspirations to keep up on.  Not like a journal-journal, but one of those keepsake-y paste pictures and plane tickets and pictures and pamphlets things with some words for the remembering and all that.  There's a word for it, but I don't remember what it is.

Anyhow, I'll start off with a note to anyone taking an American Airlines flight in the future.  If you have a layover less than 12 hours, you will not see your luggage.  I had a layover in Dallas (Portland, OR to Dallas, TX) of 11.5 hours, and I was thinking that I would get my luggage, so I didn't really pack a big carry-on.  Lo and behold, at baggage check-in, I was told that I would not see my bag until San Jose, Costa Rica.  "Take out what you might need."  Well, what I might need included all sorts of fabulous liquids which I was under the impression that I couldn't take on the plane anyway.

Now, I like to pride myself on being an avid reader.  I read books, signs, pamphlets, magazines.  I read for fun.  However, I did not read the security signs that tell you that you can't take any liquids on the plane in a container that is more than 3 oz.  So when I grabbed my "essentials" for the Dallas layover, I grabbed my pajamas/clean undergarments, my deodorant, my toothpaste, and my toothbrush.

The toothpaste, brand new and still sealed, was 3.4 oz.  That equaled confiscation by airline security.  And let me tell you, there's nothing like waking up at 4AM and not having toothpaste.  Well, maybe waking up at 5AM and having to be on breakfast duty for 40 geology undergrads and only being able to take a 3 minute shower and being freezing cold but knowing that in 3 hours you will be so scorching hot that you'd rather be in a swimsuit, but that was another adventure.

Random observations:
Passengers at the Portland Airport are straight impatient.
Passengers at the Dallas Airport are super laid-back.
A lot of people speak Spanish in Miami.

You know, just in case you wanted to know.

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So, my host family is super cool.
Mama = Eunice
Papa = Alfonso
Hermana = Angie
Hermano = Keril Alonso
Also, there is another hermana, Eunice, but she is married and lives out of the house.
Dog = Giaqui.  Or Jackie.  I don't know how it would be spelled in Spanish.  Whatever, she's super cute and totally proof that people who say all pitbulls are vicious killers are not 100% correct.  For those of you who know Dalia's dog, Sirius, Jackie is similar, but not so jump-up-on-you-eat-your-shoes crazy.

I've got my own room with my own bathroom.  Yeah.  We have internet at home.  Around the corner is a supermarket.  My host mama is a great cook.  It is painfully obvious that my past tense Spanish verbs really, really suck.  There is a neighborhood security guard with a pack of small security dogs that like to bark, but earplugs = best sleep ever.  Constant concentration makes me super sleepy.

It rained here yesterday afternoon so hard that I thought for sure the whole house was going to wash away.

It's hot, but humid hot.  Sweaty.  But the weather pattern, like sky stuff, reminds me of home.  Apparently, we are surrounded by mountains, but I haven't been able to see anything through the clouds.

Orientation at the university was on Friday.  I thought it was at 830, however, it was really at 10.  So, I was super early.  Normally, classes start at 830.  I guess I was just excited to start?  So Eunice and I walked around campus.  It's super pretty and really nice with lots of trees, grasses, and flowers.  Like a park.  Not as groomed as OSU, but still so nice.

Traffic here is COMPLETE MADNESS.  My taxi ride from the airport was horrifying.  It's kind of smog-tastic here, and I will thank the heavens if I can find my way to and from school alone on Monday.  People ride motorcycles like they want to die.  If you've seen motorcycle riders in California and thought they were crazy, you really don't know what crazy can be.  Drivers stop on the train tracks, and the train actually has to go slow enough to wait for them.  There are none of those train-track gate flashing red light things here.

Well, I'm starting to feel like I'm spending too much time on the computer, so I'm going to call it quits for this one.  I was going to try and post the 2 photos that I have taken so far, but I can't get this Linux OS notebook to read my &^$%#^$ SD card, and, of course, I left the USB cord in the states.  Hmph.

See you all in 6 weeks!  Hasta Luego!

UPDATE

Angie has a cord that works with my camera!  Yay!  So, for the photo that I would have put in this blog.

Hola de la Universidad!