First days in Costa Rica June 2011

I arrived safe and sound with my luggage on Saturday, June 4. Got to my "mama tica's" house just fine after finding the taxi driver with my name on his paper. (The nickname for a Costa Rican is "Tico" - or "Tica" if it is a woman, hence I have a "mama tica" in Costa Rica.) On Sunday, it was Maria's birthday (the name of my mama tica). It was also Brandon's birthday. I called Brandon using my Skype account and my iphone - worked beautifully!!! Lots of Maria's family was here - her mother, 2 sisters, one sister-in-law, and 2 nieces. Lots of good food and had fun singing happy birthday in Spanish.
Monday I started classes. My class in the morning was with Francisco and two other students. It went pretty well, although I was a bit frustrated because I couldn't speak very well compared to the others. One of the student's name is Thomas, the other is Karen. Karen and I went to lunch together. She is 46, lives in Massachussets, and is getting ready to get a degree in ESOL to teach adult learners English. We went to lunch together, then I went to my afternoon class. My teacher in the afternoons is named Tatiana. She is very nice and we went over lots of grammer.
Tuesday my morning class was frustrating for me, so the teacher suggested that it might be good for me to have a class without other students so I could progress without stress. It turned out to be a good idea, I think. Today (Wednesday) I had my class in the morning with the new professor and had lots of time to talk and review grammar. I feel a bit more confident after my classes today! Karen and I went to lunch together yesterday and today as well. Today we found a place for a respectable lunch (egg, rice, beans, salad, and a drink) for only about $3.00! After classes I went with a couple of the staff members and two students to a little shop where they sold pastries and coffee and had a great time.
Every day I have homework, so with both the morning class and afternoon class plus the homework, it makes my day pretty long! I'm looking forward to next week when I won't have the afternoon class and will have a little more time to sightsee or whatever. Not sure what I will be doing this weekend - perhaps go see Taylor Brooks (a friend and fellow teacher) who will be arriving Friday and staying here for a year as a missionary!!
So... goodbye for now. More updates later!
Melody