JUNE in a nutshell

Alright so last time i posted was a while ago and I am sorry for that. I have been pretty dang busy. So canopy weekend was amazing. It wasnt so much zipline as aerial stunts, one might say. We climbed this one tree about maybe 60 or 70 feet and jumped off. It was hybrid rope that mixed regular with bungee rope so it was like a nice pleasant swing. Then there was a little zipline and tightrope walk. Then there was the rocketman which was pretty cool. One person is in harness on a platform,the rope loops around a branch maybe 50 feet high and everyone else holds the other end of the rope. On the count of three we all ran the opposite direction and the person in harness SHOT into the air. But by far the coolest one was where there was this tree that looked like a bunch of skinny trees woven together into the form of a big tree. and it was hollow with many many holes. We got to climb up the inside of this tree and all we could use were the natural holes the tree had! It was absolutely amazing. The climb was maybe 70 0r 80 feet and then we repelled down the outside. It was crazy. After canopy we all returned to my town of San Marcos and rented a few hotel rooms for the night and went to the dance. It was a great weekend.

The weekend after that was....oh ya! I went into cartago cuz i had a date with a girl named Daniella. It is about time yall know about her. I met her in May at one of the dances and we have seen eachother a few times and weve been talking but im only here for 3 weeks so like, it sucks. anyways so we went on a date then i went to pizza hut with a bunch of other AFSers and then we went out on the town for a lil. Saturday i went to a store with Alicia (mom) and my sister and her boyfriend. it was actually a house that sold to stores so everything was like warehouse price. I bought some good stuff. Then we went to our house in San Jose for the night. Sunday i went home. THen this last weekend was pretty cool too. (If you havent noticed i skip weeks cuz they are just boring) Friday i went camping with my class. It was great because it was the first time where i felt like one of them. I finally shattered the language barrier. Ive been chipping at it for a while, little by little ive gone pretty far, but friday was like taking down the berlin wall. We went to a beautiful place and it was a hilarious group. Then in the morning we took a walk and saw the tourism aspect and then bird watching. Then we went horsebackriding which was crazy. Since i have been horsebacking my fair share in my life so far i was comfortable on a horse, but i was in my hiking boots so the stirrups fit about an inch and a half of my boot. It was fine when i was trotting and walking, but then my horse starts cantering and my boots just flewww out of the stirrups so i had to straddle the horse using just pressure from my thighs. it was scary and crazy, but also kinda exhilarating not gonna lie. Got home saturday in time to get dressed and ready for the dance and went to Santa Maria and met up with Fausto and Koyak who are my two best friends here i can say with confidence. Met up with daniella and my other AFS friends at the dance. Sunday was a lazy sunday but Monday was Alicias birthday and she was in San Jose so I left for there with my sister arround 1 and missed school. We went out to dinner and stuff which was fun. TOday we missed the 930 bus so i ddint go to school again. haha Alicia and I just chilled at the bus station for like 3 hours. Mostly bagging on AFS. it is a pastime with us here.

Thank You!

So some of them came after my birthday, but every single card from friends and family meant so much! Thank you all for sending me cards! I still have all of em and I am bringing them all back with me! Next weekend is our canopy tour. It is going to be such a great weekend!

Awesome.

Life is Sweet!

Last weekend I left school early on friday and took a bus to san jose. i had to get myself to our San Jose Apartment alone which was quite the adventure but as most of you know, that was just exciting for me. I got to our home there and crashed and at 5 in the morning i left to go meet my friends Zach and Gunnar Downtown in order to take a bus to Jacó, a beach town about 2 hours away. We met up, went to the bus stop, ate some food, and were on our way. We got to Jacó and hung out for 5 hours jus swimming and chilling and then we took a cab back to San Jose. (Cabs here are super cheap) Me and Gunnar went back to my town for a dance so we got home at about 7 (in San Marcos) and went to the dance at 9 and didnt get home til a little before 2. One of the best, most busy days in my life. Today I am skipping some school and my school friends and I are taking a mini bus to san jose for a concert. They are called Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and they are really good.

I forgot to mention my birthday! It was yesterday and Alicia invited Erla, Ingrid, and Tessi over (the other exchange students) and some other family friends came and we had great food, funny conversations, and an all around good time. It was a small party but it was with a lot of cariño y amor.

Today marks exactly 7 more weeks here. 49 days is not enough time. But i am excited for Hawaii and the Lair when i get back!

Weekends

Last weekend my friend Gunnar came to San Marcos for Saturday and Sunday. He´s from Oregon and speaks perfect spanish. We went to the dance with Ingrid and Erla and it was SO much fun. It was cool to chill with him and this next weekend Im headin over to his town to go to a dance there. I dont have school today because all the teachers have a training day. I want to get to the beach soon, maybe we will for my birthday weekend because SO many of us have a birthday that weekend.
May19-Gunnar turns 18
May23-Helen (Iceland) turns 18
May 25- My birthday
May 27- Magdelena (Austria)

Also, the weekend after my birthday, everyone is coming to our area and we are all doing a canopy/ adventure course near my house and after we are all (about 13 people) going to a dance and most of them will crash at a hotel in Santa Maria.

the weekends are the best here.

Pura Vida

May

So I know I have been slacking a little with the blog entries and I am sorry. I didnt really think anyone read this thing, but my dad recently informed me that there are people who try to keep up with my life here. So lemme give you some recent news. This past friday we didnt have school so thursday afternoon Alicia and I left for San Jose. We stayed at their house there and it was a blast! Alicia, Laura (my older sister), and her boyfriend all went to Volcan Irazú. It was so much fun. Afterwards we went to the biggest mall in Costa Rica called Terramall. I bought some stuff and then we went to Alicias sisters house for coffee. When we got there we did the usual pleasantries of first meetings, and then we all sat down and had coffee and bread with natilla. I didnt understand a some of it because her sister talks at a latin 18 year old woman´s speed with a mountanous accent, but it was all about their teenage years and stories about how their life was back then. They could not stop laughing the entire time. The stories were really funny and it was cool seeing them remember the same stories at the same time. Then we went to ANOTHER mall because Laura needed to find shoes for a wedding. Saturday we hung out for a while at the house then we went home.

My (Our) birthday is in 22 days and I realized that however weird it is that I wont have my birthday at home, it wont actually be my first birthday in Costa Rica. When my family and I came here to visit my dads old host family and such I turned 5 and all i remember of it was dalmations decorations.

Please if you have questions just email me. gabriel.kahn@yahoo.com

i check that a lot more than my blog

San Marcos

So I changed families on Tuesday. It is so much better now. I live with Alicia, who was my liason and now is my mom. Here are some new points I would like to share with you...

I am hopefully gonna start playin handball this tuesday with the team here in my new town of San Marcos.

I still go to the same school in Santa Maria. I jus take a bus in the morning.

There is a ping pong table in the gymnasium that is 100 meters from my house.

I got my haircut really short, people say it looks good.

I went to Monster Jam yesterday with
Erla-iceland
Helen-Iceland
Zach-US
Gunnar-US
Mitch-New Zealand
Erika-US
Magdelena-Austria

and it was so much fun. It wasnt so much the actual trucks and car-crushing that was fun, it was more the great, hilarious, company and dialogue.

Next weekend is the second orientation and that will be AMAZING! im looking forward to it so much.

School...Again

So today marks the first day of school after Holy Week. My week off was absolutely fantastic and it felt SO long. I dont remember school. I went to San Jose for two days, San Isidro de General for two days (INCREDIBLY hot) and I stayed with my liason in the next town over, San Marcos, for 3 days. She hosted an American girl two years ago from Vermont and she was here visiting when I was there. I spent a lot of time with her and it turns out she is JEWISH! Her mom also sent her matzah so we made matzah pizza and it made my day. When I got home on Saturday, Carmen and the boys arrived and i played with David for a while. Sunday, me and Erla went to Cartago and visited our friends there, two americans and an Icelandic. Thats always a good time.

Next saturday I am going to San Jose with them and we are going to Monster Jam which is a Monster Truck rally. I find it ironic that the first time I will see monster trucks is OUT of the states. There are about 10 of us AFSers all goin together so it should be a blast.