Basketball star

Hello! I know after my last post I had expressed that I was feeling a bit low. It can be really challenging to exist as a human, let alone a human exploring a new country without any familiarity. I don't think that I was feeling bad per say but I guess just low. 

With that being said, I am feeling really good! I have had a really fun weekend with some people from the place that I am staying. I walked to a local market with a couple of gals. It was all organic and there was jewelry and lots of food options. I got a delicious caprese sandwich as well as a chai. I hope to return to the market because there are so many cool products, and it is also along a river which I love. It was about a 45-minute walk from where I am so it was fun to walk through part of the city and see a lot of things that I hadn't yet. 

                    

We got back and I talked on the phone and ran to the grocery store. Right when I got back from the store, I ran into one of the girls that I went to the market with. She told me that she was planning to leave to walk to a park for an Independence Day celebration. Today, September 15th, is Costa Rica's Independence Day so last night there were some festivities. I learned that there is this custom called the "Independence Torch" and it starts in Guatemala. They light a torch and then some people start to run with it. It gets passed off as people go from Guatemala --> Honduras --> El Salvador --> Nicaragua --> Costa Rica. We got to watch the torch be received and then the people kept running with it because where I was at was not their final stop. It was really interesting and cool to learn about. After the torch event, there was a lot of speaking and then there was a dance performance. It was really cool to witness this event and see what part of an Independence Day celebration looks like in Costa Rica. 

After that, I went with a group of people to dinner. This was part of a birthday celebration for one of the girls who lives in my house. We were planning to go out for tacos but then we ended up at McDonalds. I told everyone that they were now privy to my culture as an American. We ended up going to a bar and the birthday girl's boyfriend had rented out a table for us to be at. We got some drinks and eventually the bar turned into a club and there was a DJ and everything. It was fun. I talked to so many new people and it was just a very crazy and exciting night.  

Today I slept in and then hung out with some people. We ended up playing basketball and I won some of the games that we played! To everyone who knows me, this is probably a shock, but I was basically a basketball pro and the people that I was playing with were very impressed by my skills. I am hoping that my work will start this week and that I will continue to build friendships and confidence.