Monday August 31- Sunday 6th of September

Pedro, Me, Pechuga

My class

Monday was my final week at conversa and it made me said because have had such a good experience there. My last and final teacher was called Emilse. She always would joke around through the week with the English worlds she liked the best. For example she would always say " Yes Maaan" and "So what mannn". It almost seemed Rasta to me. Tyler was my partner in crime for this week so I looked forward to it very much. The week plan was to go over stuff I had already learned and strengthen it because you can never have too much practice. This week was special because we went to a secret spot which was located in front of the big house a Conversa that looked over the valley, and we would have class there. We would pull up a table and brought over really comfortable wooden rocking chairs and would talk. The best part about this week was how Emilse taught us. She would have us do a little work from the book but then we would just sit and talk about things for 2 hours or more, completely in Spanish. I found that the time we spent talking really helped improve my comprehension a lot. On Tuesday we went to our secret spot, but the topic of the day was my favorite and turned out to be a really good conversation. The topic was about spirits and ghost. We talked about different stories and if we believe in ghosts and then about the movies SIGNS, and THE VILLAGE. Also this week a group of 4 girls arrived from U.S. and were staying in my neighborhood for 3 months. They were becoming teachers so they came done to help student teach in some of the schools in Santa Ana. They were very nice and we took them to different places so they could get accustom to the place. On Thursday night all of the gringos went to the restaurant/bar to play pool and eat food. We met up with Carlos and his friends who were already there when we arrived. We played a couple games a pool and decided to play one more and leave. The last game was the going good until I threw the white ball to Pedro because he needed it. It bounced on the table, fell on the floor and bounced down the stairs to the first level of the bar. The bar tender started yelling calling me stupid and another waiter from the restaurant came up and said who threw the ball. Everyone pointed and said the gringo. I was very embarrassed and knew what I had to do. I walked down stairs and started looking for the ball. After 10min of looking, all of my friends were down there with me looking because we had no idea of where it went. We finally found it stuck between a wall and the staircase. After that we left because we were all embarrassed. As we were walking out a fight started to the right of us. There were two drunken guys arguing over a bike and then one of them threw a punch. Not even 2 min went by before a police car showed up. They were quick and broke up the fight, took the bike and then drove away. Friday Sonja, Peter, the 4 new gringos, and I went to a Rumba (nightclub) to go dancing. We got there and sat and chilled for a while to see how things went in this club. Then we hit the dance floor. It was so much fun and thanks to Famous Dave’s Salsa night back in Minnesota, I knew what I was doing. The music was nice and everyone was having a good time. Pedro and I decided to tell whoever we danced with that we were 20 and it worked. The first girl thought I was 22 and half tico (Costa Rican), and I don’t know how she bought that since I was whiter than she was. After dancing the night away for 3 hours it was time to go home. Saturday was the big soccer game, Mexico against Costa Rica. Everyone was getting ready and there was a lot going on in town. You could feel the energy. When it was getting closer to the game, our friend Pechuga (a nickname which means chicken breast) picked us up and we went to Howard’s Bar. When we got there it was pretty crowded because it wasn’t the biggest bar. I was happy because it felt like everyone was really into the game and when something good would happen or something bad; the crowed in the bar would erupt in cheering or anger. It was fun for a while until Mexico started man handling Costa Rica, and then the final score was Mexico 3 and Costa Rica 0. After the game my crew wanted to go home and go to bed so we ordered a taxi. When I got to my house I discovered that I had forgotten my keys and had no way of getting in. I decided with out putting much thought into it to scale my 10 foot fence and before I knew it I was over it. My next objective was to get into the house. I knew where my parent’s room was and knocked on their wall from the outside. Benicio came to the door and let me in. Thank goodness!!! Sunday was my last day in Santa Ana. A new student arrived from Montana to live with my tico family. Her name was Samantha and she was 23 I think. I showed her around the city and showed her where the bus stop was and everything else she needed to know. After that Pedro, Pechuga, Samantha, the 4 new girl gringos and I went to Conversa to play ping pong and go swimming. We had a lot of fun and it was a beautiful last day. After that I went home and got packed and ready to go. It was Derek my brothers 15th birthday and the whole family were starting to celebrate when I was finished packing. We danced for a bit and I danced with some of my tica aunts. Then I said goodbye to whole family and left. When I got to the front Gata was waiting with the Conversa taxi, also Sandra my first teacher was waiting there with her daughter, who was coming with me because she goes to EARTH. We arrived at the bus station and Gata said goodbye and left. Andrea the daughter and I got on the bus going to Earth and sat together talking the whole way in Spanglish. The trip was nice because I had someone to talk to; also it only took 1 hour and 45min to get there. We got in to EARTH UNIVERSITY around 8pm and pulled up to the Bibliotheca. I got my luggage and waited for my new mom. She pulled up and was very welcoming. Her name was Wendy. We got to the house and put all my luggage in my new room. The house is located right on campus so it is close to everything. I met my new father Daniel and found out that my new sister was already sleeping because she had school early in the morning. They showed me around the house which was very nice. They have a dog named spike and two cats that I don’t remember. We talked about what I was interested in doing at EARTH for my 5 month stay and then hit the hay.