It has been raining for three days straight. Because of the rain we thought we might not have class (because that´s how it works down here). I still chose to wear sandals. I am not at all too cold. I have been in three different provinces, in 5 different towns and on 4 different buses in the last 2 days. This, my friends, is Costa Rica.

It is supposedly close to the end of rainy season here, although no one is really sure when it starts and ends exactly, but we think it´ll be over soon. Because of the hurricane that is approaching the Florida area there are big rains coming through the entire country. The coffee harvest is just starting and althought the rains are necessary becuase it didn´t rain as much as it should have in October my host dad is still very worried about the effect of this much rain on the ripe coffee because it can knock it from the plant to the ground, which means less to harvest. Let´s hope the rain slows down :)

This past weekend was a very good weekend. I was just what I needed to pick me up from a down period I fell into last week. Last week was very difficult and I started wondering what I was doing here, whether this was right for me, and if I was every really going to get to help anyone with my work seeing as all I do is sit in a classroom and learn the theory about helping people. All of these are very legitimate questions, but they can be very discouraging to think about all at once. It was easy to get my mind off them because I had an excursion this weekend to the site of a current volunteer to see what her life and work were like. The visit was really interesting and really helped me to put this whole thing back in perspective. Although her project is different from mine (she is a Children, Youth and Family volunteer) I was still able to see some of the things real volunteers do. I was able to see not only her work, but her community, her friends, how she spends here time, how people react to her.

What I saw on this visit was just what I expected and wanted to see. She is doing really well with her work and is content with where she is, the community and what she is doing. I was really glad to see the human side of Peace Corps after a month of being inundated with the theoretical, methodological vision of my new job. I feel much better now about being here having seen a real town with real people who really do appreciate our help.

Outside of the official stuff I´m doing, the other volunteer trainees and I have been meeting for drinks after class and having fun together. This weekend we are going to a picnic in San Jose for all volunteers in the country. Should be fun to meet all of the people who are already in their sites. Another note, we didn´t really celebrate Halloween, but we are having an early celebration of Thanksgiving on Friday for a teaching activity...mmmm...pumpkin pie.

Here are a few pictures of my friends and the views around here. The last photo is of my host parents, those on the left. ENJOY! Miss you, yes... all of you!