Happy Birthday to my host sister! :]

Today, I didn’t have class till four. I was supposed to have a class at 1 but it was cancelled. Woohoo! I got up around nine, ate breakfast, and thought about running. But, I decided against it. I have yet to go running here in Costa Rica. I feel so, nasty. I need to start running again, I just can’t find the right place to do it. I don’t feel comfortable outside with shorts on because every single man stares at you, but it’s to hot to wear sweats. I can’t run without music, but if I have music playing then I won’t be able to hear if there is a crazy driver behind me. I can’t find an outside track anywhere and the soccer field at my university is muddy because it rains every single day here. The inside gym at the university has no treadmills. I guess it’s a sign not to run while in Costa Rica? But this may cause a problem when I need to start training for the half marathon again….Anyways, I ate lunch then went into Heredia. I had to go to the copy store near my school and request a copy of my book. They don’t buy books here in Costa Rica because it is too expensive. Instead, they purchase a copy of the book. Weird. So it cost my under $10 to do that. After, I went to the library and attempted to work on my Spanish online class for Northwest. I failed to do so and instead responded to all of my emails. There is so much going on and things that need to get figured out with credits/changed classes, etc. I can’t wait for things to finally settle down. I went to class, and I was the only gringo in the class. The teacher gave everyone a sucker with a piece of paper attached to it. We had to read what the paper said and say what we thought about it. Well….of course….I had no idea what my piece of paper said, so she immediately knew I was a gringo. She then started talking to me in spanglish trying to help me understand what the paper said. But I had to respond in Spanish and I had no idea what to say so I just stared at her and said, “no sé.” She said esta bien and that that was my homework for the next class. She then made me read the syllabus to the whole class, and I wanted to cry. I didn’t know how to pronounce half of the words, they were words I have never seen before. I wanted to get up during class and just cry myself back to the United States. After the syllabus, we had to make groups. Two very nice tico’s asked if I had a group and wanted to be in theirs. So I did, and one of the girls explained to me that she has take a test in August to certify her for being able to do something international, I forgot exactly what this test she is taking does. But, she said I could help her with English and she would help me with Spanish. I am so excited to finally make friends with a tica. After class, I went home because it is my host sister’s birthday! We had chicken, cheesy potatos, and rice for dinner followed by ice cream, and cheesecake! I loved the cheesecake! I was suppose to meet some ISEP students at a bar near the university, but its too late and its pouring outside. So, instead I am going to work on my online class and go to sleep. I have no classes tomorrow, but I NEED to finish my online class soon so I will probably work on that for most of the day. Buenas noches!