http://bit.ly/obEwc2 that one.
scored a 128. close to what i got on a real IQ test so im impressed.
anyone following me know their iq? take it and tell me if yours is higher. if not dont cause ill make fun of you :p

http://bit.ly/obEwc2 that one.
scored a 128. close to what i got on a real IQ test so im impressed.
anyone following me know their iq? take it and tell me if yours is higher. if not dont cause ill make fun of you :p

http://bit.ly/obEwc2 that one.
scored a 128. close to what i got on a real IQ test so im impressed.
anyone following me know their iq? take it and tell me if yours is higher. if not dont cause ill make fun of you :p

http://bit.ly/obEwc2 that one.
scored a 128. close to what i got on a real IQ test so im impressed.
anyone following me know their iq? take it and tell me if yours is higher. if not dont cause ill make fun of you :p

:( Actually leaving Costa Rica in 5 hours. I’m legitimately so tired. I think I’m going to puke, I’m so dizzy. My roommate, Davishna went on a trip and won’t be back till Tuesday so I won’t see her. Laura and Alyssa already left for their trips today so they didn’t come volunteering, so it was just Ziana and me. When we got there, it was drizzling a little and there were much less kids than usual. It was so sad! I wish a lot of them were here so I could say bye to all of them :( I didn’t even get a picture with my favorite kid, Kevin! Kevin, Suni, Nasserat, Nicol, Tatiana, Melani, Elkin, and Randy are my favorite. They’re the cutest. 

I got so many hugs, I didn’t know how to say I’m leaving and never coming back in Spanish so I think that they’ll be seeing me on Monday, but that’s not the case. WAHFACE. They’re all so cute, I miss them so much! I wish I was staying longer not only so I could see the kids for a longer period of time, but also so I could go on a weekend trip before I left to go back to Jersey :( It’s okay though, maybe next time? I’m a little homesick anyway. I don’t know why, but I’ve been feeling pretty sick here in Costa Rica. Who knows. I signed up for the taxi service which was like only 28$ from my mamacita’s house to the airport. The taxi and bus services here are so cheap! One my way home will be the last time I will be using the bus here :( I wish I was fluent in Spanish so I could have connected with the kids more, but surprisingly, I connected them really quickly anyhow. I miss them. But I miss home too. I can’t wait to do this again.

My flights @ 1:03AM, so I should be at SJO by like 11PM (Flight # 438) I don’t remember when I’ll land in FLL at 5:52AM, and then from there I depart @ 7AM and arrive at LGA @ 9:53AM. (Flight # 604). YAY! Byebye. 

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. I don’t want to leave! :( My time here has been so amazing thanks to the staff here at Maximo Nivel and my host family and all the new people I’ve met! Even though there’s somewhat of a gap between my age and theirs, everyone here has been so friendly, I’m so thankful. The time I’ve spent in Costa Rica has been absolutely amazing. It has really taught me a lot and has allowed me to grasp a totally different culture. 

I’m leaving for my project in about 2 hours. It will be the last time I will be seeing the ninos :( I really don’t want to part from them. They’re all so special, although many, are so friendly. I really enjoyed the time I spent here. My mamacita this morning cut me up watermelon and papaya’s and instead of a cheese sandwhich with butter, I had a ham sandwhich with some sort of honeymustard sauce? It was good though. I arrived her at Maximo and I was talking about my departing plans and thinking about it all is so sad. I really don’t want to leave my family or the friendly stafff. Especially the ninos :( More LATER! 

I’m writing this today, but it’s what happened yesterday.

I woke up, semi-early and got ready and my roommate, Davishna, asked me if I wanted to go back down to San Jose again with her because she was returning some boots she bought and was exchanging them for sneakers. So we went together to San Jose and we shopped around the area. She got sneakers for her beach trip [I wish I could have gone, but i’m not staying long enough :(] and also a yellow shirt. I got this nice shirt with butterfly sleeves [later to find out this morning that it has a HUGE HOLE IN IT. I hope it’s repairable or else I will be oober pissed off]. So anyway, we walked around a little and we got Burger King for lunch which was actually pretty good. A combo meal was about 5$ and as we finished, we saw other volunteers from Maximo in the same area surprisingly. We then caught a bus to leave and arrived at Maximo where my roommate went into the computer lab and used to the computer as I got ready to leave for Casa de los Ninos. 

Yesterday, all four of us volunteers went; Me, Ziana, Laura, and Alyssa! It was actually a lot of fun yesterday as well, but there weren’t many kids and they fought a lot yesterday. There was sort of a weird atmosphere going on around them. I wish I could speak/understand Spanish because then I would know. Before that, I saw my favorite chicito <3 Suni’s older brother, who was so cute! He gave me a kiss on the cheek and hugged me so tight. He was like “TE QUIERO!!!!!!” So cute. It made my day. I hope I get to see him today. 

There wasn’t much to do yesterday, I played some soccer with some of the older boys and helped the younger girls jump rope. For all the kids who stayed after, Ziana had a dentist friend who had provided her with a little baggy of toothpaste and a toothbrush which we handed out to the kids who stayed and played, not just ate and left. We helped color and I played Toy Story UNO with Tatiana and Tic-Tac-Toe with Nicol! Tatiana beat me twice and Nicol beat me, which I was taken surprise by. It was actually funny. Then a lot of pictures were taken of us holding the toothbrushes/toothpaste and things. There was also this boy named Randy who was teaching me Spanish which was really nice/helpful of him and when he asked my name, I told him “LUNA!” And he took a rock and drew on the wall, a picture of the moon. It was quite sweet. The kids there are so loving and nice, but are obsessed with the camera and can be a little mean/rude when you don’t give it to them. 

For dinner I had some really good mixture of vegetables, fried? meat, and rice along with iced tea. I also met the roommate who had gone around Costa Rica to explore, Christie who was also really nice too. I was too tired to go out, but Christie and Davishna went out to party and I fell asleep. YAY! Haha.

Woke up extremely early, well for me, at around 7:45. My roommate, Davishna, had already been awake and was eating breakfast that mamacita had made for us. Mamacita then prepared my breakfast which was the same platter of different fruits and juice. Davishna took a shower first and then I followed as she left for work, I got ready to leave the house. Feeling confident, I took the bus to the San Pedro Mall and met Steven! Yay! It was like 9:10AM though and the mall didn’t open till 10AM, so we walked back to the Outlet Mall near Maximo Nivel and just walked around and ended up walking back to the San Pedro Mall about 25minutes before it opened. I haven’t seen Steven forever since he moved away from Livingston :( But, it was nice seeing him again! He’s 5’8” [almost 5’9”] and like 116lbs. AHAHAH, we weighed/measured his height with this like thing there for 200colones. It was pretty funny.

So, surprisingly, I had really fun at the San Pedro Mall. We had a mini find perry the platypus thing going on, and I OBVIOUSLY won. Ahaha. We walked around and did a lot of things. There were so many different stores, but none that we really went into. There were very many colorful bongs that were being sold. Thank GOD, Steven was there though. He translated everything for me and talked me through everything basically. I bought some coloring books and a puzzle for the kids at Casa de los Ninos, but we didn’t use them today :( I was sorta sad. I wish that they gave away the things like, everyday to kids. But that’s okay I guess. 

Anyway, so I got to Maximo Nivel around 1:42 and I got so scared because I didn’t see Ziana or Laura, so I assumed they had already left without me :( But they didn’t! Ziana was waiting in the computer room and Laura wasn’t coming because she was sick, and another girl, Alyssa, who I met today, was late and came around 1:50. We then all took the bus to Casa de los Ninos. Today, a different group came and worked with the children as well as us. They had about 5-6 people with them and it was better, because all of them could speak Spanish. It was nice seeing the other volunteers interact with the children there. I also found out that the kids are not orphans, but are children coming from wherever and coming for food and companionship which I think is very nice too. 

We helped the kids make Mother’s Day [it’s next Monday here in Costa Rica. It’s a national holiday!] cards a little after they played outside after eating. The food they ate today was just beans and rice and some sort of pink drink [that sort of looked like Pepto Bismol?] Anyway. I spoke more Spanish to the kids! Yay! Not a lot, I can’t have a full on conversation, but at least I can start one? Haha. So, I helped about 4 girls make their cards and many of them showed me the work that they had accomplished. It was very cute. Most of the cards said, “Mama, Te Quiero!” meaning, “Mommy, I love you”. I had to write most of the words in their cards though. The other group that came brought glitter and paper and different supplies that made the whole project an absolute blast. I didn’t take as many pictures today as I did yesterday, and I did not see many of the other children as I saw yesterday, but I did see some. Today was also quite enjoyable, but when playing outside, many kids wanted us to swing them or give them piggy back rides or something that I would consider strenuous activity [Haha]. We left earlier than yesterday, surprisingly, but that was when almost all of the kids had left so I did not think that we were no longer needed.

A boy who was outside of Casa de los Ninos said hello and was so cute and friendly and said bye as the car rolled away. I forgot to mention, the kids, when we arrive in the car/taxi, they are all waiting for you, and crowd around the car and wave frantically to get your attention. It’s quite adorable.

Anyway, to sum everything up, I got to Maximo and went to the bathroom cause I really had to go. Haha. I signed up for another English-Spanish class which is basically a class where they pair up Native Costa Ricans with Native English speakers and have them communicate with each other so the Costa Ricans can brush up on their English. Haha, thank you Mario for getting me interested! Davishna, my roommate, also asked me if I wanted to go rollerblading/skating with her, Erica [another volunteer], and some others, but I’m extremely tired for some reason, I’m not quite sure why, so I think I’ll go back to mamacita’s house and rest. Also, Alyssa, the other volunteer asked Ziana and I if we wanted to join her and her group go up to a Arenal? I think. But yeah, the people here at Maximo Nivel are so friendly and I’m so glad that they have opened up to me and have become very friendly with me. Not only the volunteers, but the kids at Casa de los Ninos as well. 

I MISS YOU MAMA, PAPA, ME PERRO MAGGIE <3 xoxo