There's a rainbow around the sun?

So this entry is mainly to put some pictures up of the house I'm living in, the people I'm living with, some of the kids that I work with, and some of the stuff that I've been doing. They are backwards...but I don't know how to fix it, so it's better if you start from the bottom and go up! Enjoy!! :-)

We went over to Martha, Paul, and Charlie's house (friends of Liz's boss) to watch the big Costa Rica game. I think they were playing El Salvador?

Yeah. That's a rainbow. In a circle. Around the sun.

I couldn't even get the whole thing in a picture.

I love this place!

Michelle. On my first day, she asked me, "Por que habla asi?" ("Why do you talk like that?") Haha, my Spanish is AWESOME.

Allen. He is always smiling at me for no apparent reason.

Taira? Not sure how to spell/say her name yet. She's so freaking cute though.

Dorian. He's my favorite...is that bad?

And again. Look at that face!

Hector. He causes sooo many problems. One time I turned around to find him punching a 1 year old girl in the back repeatedly. But he is very cute.

Moises. Always asking me, "que es eso?" ("What is that?") He's a very worried kid.

This is our prayer room. There were beautiful flowers waiting for us when we arrived.

Our lovely kitchen.

My bathroom here is a LITTLE bigger than my bathroom in Guatemala. I don't have to turn sideways to sit on the toilet, so that's always a plus.

Gabriel and Juan hanging out in their new room.

Juancho and his favorite pose in Kinzie's and my room.

We're here!

Wait, I live here?

A perfect picture of Brother Jim, or JimBro, as Russell likes to call him.

Liz, Eli, Elizabeth...whatever you want to call her...in her own room on the first day back in Costa Rica. This is her second year here.

Juancho, or John posing just like his dad. We made him a cake for his birthday (9/21) and went over to the friary to celebrate.

Kinzie...she should definitely go on ANTM, don't you think?

This is supposed to be Gabriel's "sexy face"....

This is all of FrancisCorps 11 plus some nuns. The six of them that are not pictured above are in Syracuse, NY. Before coming to Costa Rica, we all had about 2 weeks together in Syracuse, and we miss them a lot!

I'm here!

Well, I decided it might be time to start a blog....which is strange, because I'm not much of a blogger, but I'm also not much for the keeping in touch with people...not a good quality. I thought this way people can read about my life and send me emails if they feel so called or leave me messages on here...hopefully this will help me to stay in touch with all you fine people.

Anyway...for those of you who don't know....here I am in Moravia, Costa Rica - a suburb of San Jose. I'm here with 4 other volunteers from the United States with a program called FrancisCorps. It's a great program, and my housemates are fabulous. We got here a little less than a month ago, and I've just been adjusting to my new surroundings and getting settled in my new job. I'm working at a place called Casa Maria, both in a boarding school for girls (teaching English and mentoring) and at a daycare for children from 1-5 years old. It's taking a lot of getting used to, and I think I finally am figuring out what the heck I'm doing at both of those places. My biggest challenge so far has actually been my Spanish....it turns out that I am quite out of practice. I am improving quickly, but I also am frustrated that I cannot communicate nearly as well as I hoped I would be able to.

Well, that's all for my first entry....I am getting ready to go to some dance classes soon. That should be interesting for everyone involved....wish me luck!