Un día de lluvia

Aye, qué lluvia!  Today, I experienced my very first actually rainy day.  Since it is "rainy season"  it is to be expected, but man!  It rained for hours and hours tonight!  The power even went out for about 2 hours.  My host mom lit candles and told me the Costa Rican "scary stories."  There was one about a carriage that rides by itself and another about a wailing woman looking for her lost child.  It was so much fun.  My host sister Elena got really into telling the stories! 

The clouds and rain outside my window.

Some of my classmates and I at a restaurant near la U.

One thing I haven't said much about is the money.  Costa Rica uses the "colón."  500 colónes equal 1 US dollar.  It's so weird to buy something and cost 1500 colones.  (Which is only 3 dollars)  I feel like I am one of the few people on the trip that hasn't spent quite a bit of money. Most of the people bought phones (about 50 US dollars)  even though we're only going to be here 6 weeks.  I don't feel the need to get one.
This huge stack of money is about 120 dollars.  Crazy, right?  
These coins are so interesting to use as well.  The 10 cent piece only equals about 2 cents, and the 100 cent piece about 20 cents.  It's really kind of ridiculous to have such a large coin for such a small amount.  But, these are what I use to pay my bus fare each day.

So, I've gotten into the groove of speaking spanish without mixing in too may French words.  Today, however, I received an email from my university in France for next semester, and for a couple hours after reading the email in French, I had a very difficult time speaking Spanish.  It's kind of ridiculous how hard it is to keep the two separated in my head.  Oh well.  I've learned to not be ashamed of my numerous mistakes when speaking Spanish.  They just correct me and then say "Tranquilo"  which is a very common phrase in Costa Rica along with "Pura Vida" ,both meaning "No Worries."  This whole country has that attitude, and It's going to be hard to go back to the US where life is so much more fast-paced.  I'm loving the laid back atmosphere.  No one gets upset when people are late or when things don't go as planned. Everybody just goes with the flow for the most part.   Anyways, it's late, and I have to get up at 6:30 tomorrow morning!  ¡Buenas Noches!