Final Night in Orosi

Orientation is almost finished. We had a Charla about mental health today. Guided meditation is pretty cool. I feel much more prepared for the situations I may have to face. Now, I jsut hope I don't actually have to face them.


On a lighter note, I cooked dinner for my host family last night! I made chicken stir fry with lots of vegetables and it was pretty good if I do say so myself. My family said they liked it, but I know they'd say so even if they didn't. Tico Culture 101: They don't like confrontation. We had mango for dessert because I saw a big pile of them at the verdurería. I asked my host mom to help me cut it because I am useless at peeling things without a vegetable peeler (I didn't use so many words, of course), and she brought it out to the dinner table with the peels on and her and my host sister started going at it, skin and all (and with salt). They were very surprised when I told them that in America, we eat mangoes sin la cascara (without the skin). I tried it, of course (I have tried everything thus far), but I think I'll stick to eating my mangoes the American way. 


After dinner, we played some card games. My host sister, Mila, explained the rules of Rummy (which I've never played in English...), BURRO, and Tonto. Despite my complete lack of understanding (they don't really teach you the verbs necessary for playing card games in your typical high school Spanish class), I had a pretty good winning streak going. I tried teaching my host sister to play War (the only card game I know). I then had to explain that I don't play cards often because I always forget the rules.

One more day of Charlas, one day in San Jose, and then to Santa Marta, population 130 Ticos...