It's true love...

Today I rediscovered the love I used to have for Costa Rica. The love that, little by little, I had been losing. My life here had become the same monotonous routine, day in and day out. My days spent indoors working on endless amounts of translation homework and thesis writing, an afternoon of rain, clear but cold nights, ESPN right before turning the light out only to wake up in 8 hours to do it all over again. I was always surrounded by the same people, always in the same places and last night I felt suffocated. The feeling started at dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant by the university. There were too many tables crammed into one dinning room and the room was packed. One one side I had a piller, behind a party of two, to my left a party of 8 and in front of me the bar. It was stuffy and hot, the only ceiling-fan being situated tables away from mine. I couldn't wait to leave, to be able to breath again, but when I got outside I realized it wasn't just the restaurant, it was my life.

I went to bed last night with a million thoughts rolling around in my head. And when I woke up at 6 am to the sound of a text message I couldn't even remember if I had dreamt anything. Two hours later I woke up again and turned on ESPN. My day was about to be as monotonous as the rest when a friend said: vaya afuera, es increible hoy! Go outside, its gorgeous today. I turned off my computer, grabbed the January edition of Fitness magazine, and headed to Central Park to enjoy the sun. I bought an iced cappuccino and a chicken empanada, and sat on a bench for the next hour and a half soaking up the amazing Central American midday sun.

Central park was packed with families: children running around after the pidgeons, parent's holding up their toddlers to see into the fountain, clowns trying to sell bubbles and blow-up toys, an indigenous flute musician playing along to Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On." The sky was the magnificent blue colour of Costa Rica's still-undamaged-by- tourists Rio Celeste and the puffy white clouds were scarce. From where I sat, I had a view of the ancient Catholic church hidden partially by the tall palm trees blowing gently in the breeze. A grandmother, her daughter, and her grandson sat next to me on the bench, speaking the beautiful Spanish that I love, Tico Spanish. Across were two teenagers in-love, locked in embrace, him kissing her on the forehead. A gorgeous black labrador jumped into the fountain to cool himself off. A toddler cycled by on a green plastic tricycle, followed by his young father in faded jeans, a airy white button-up shirt, and his dark shaggy hair bouncing as he jogged to keep up. And as I watched a beautiful little girl in a pink dress and white sandles, with thick, long, dark hair chase the bubbles her mom blew I realized, this is the Costa Rica I love. Just five blocks from my apartment I found my escape and I fell back in love with Costa Rica.

I came back to the apartment, slightly burnt, but content. The sun is shining in my world again and Costa Rica is truly the love of my life.

Reading material to put you to sleep...

About an hour ago I realized that it has been two years already since I graduted from Mars Hill. Two years... seriously, where did the time go? It just sort of struck me out of no where. As I was watching the 4th game of the Magic-Celtics series I was thinking about when it was that I was sitting on my couch with Char'lee in Bailey Mountain watching J.J. Redick play for Duke. Then it hit me, and I just sort of sat there open-mouthed for a few minutes as it soaked in. And then, I got over it and continued screaming at the TV. But it must have worked, because the Magic won :-).

Another shocker is that we are already nearing the end of May. I complained so much about the start of a new year and look at us... just a few days away from the middle of it. And thankfully, that means just a few short weeks away from the end of semester 3 of my Master's. And it is NOT coming fast enough. Although today I made a list of all the final projects I still need to get STARTED on. 5 to be turned in sometime in the next two to three weeks. The hardest of them all, of course, is all the corrections to my thesis I should have been making all semester long but that... well... let's face it... I've been procrastinating on. I turned in my last chaper on Saturday. I'm not saying it was good... but it was done, and for me right now, that is what counts. I realized though that the three weeks that I have off from classes come July will be basically spent as a full time job researching and fixing up that damned thesis. Why, oh why, did I think this was a good idea? I have to say though, that I really enjoy my topic, which I guess is a blessing. I couldn't imagine working on it as much as I have had to and not enjoy what I'm doing... or maybe enjoy isn't the best word... believe is more like it. I believe that what I'm working on is worth my time.

Let's see, other than that, I've been giving private English classes lately, to try to earn a few extra colons. Its not much, but I guess it pays for an extra hour of tennis per week. Not that I have been playing. I had so much trouble with my back for so long I couldn't play. Now it is finally feeling better again but the guy I play with has been ridiculously busy with a thesis-like project he had to complete in less than a month. I guess I just have to wait until June. Which is only... a week away.

I really wish I had more interesting things to write about... but somehow the time goes by and I have nothing to show for it. What did I do last week? I worked on my thesis like a mad person... that, of course, because I had to turn in a new chapter on Saturday. My Saturday's are finally shorter. My Translation into English class is no longer in-class so I get to come home at 12:30 and relax for the rest of the day. Or... I'm not sure if I'll be relaxing. I tend to get lonely on Saturdays so I suppose I have to find something to do. That's the one blessing about having class all day on the weekend. I don't get lonely because I'm not with my family.

My new roommate is good. She's from Chicago and a Bears fan, which pretty much makes her one of my favourite people right off the bat. Even though she's a little older we get along well so that's a plus. I'm working on being more positive since people have told me I'm way to negative. I guess that's the side-effect of being a cynic. Random thought, I think I might have a cavity. I've been having a lot of shooting pain when I drink or eat cold foods. It's not pleasant.

Anyway there isn't really much of substance to this blog, that's because there really isn't much substance to my life right now. Today I woke up at 9:15, watched the French Open for about three hours, worked on a translation I have to email to a professor on Wednesday, ate lunch with my roommate, showered around 3:30, made coffee and a tortilla before class and went to French at 6. See? Nothing. I'm not lying to you. I might be living in paradise, but my life is anything but exotic.