The adventure begins

Hola from Costa Rica!!!!!
Well, I just left the ol' Taco Stop (wait, isn't that Mexican?), and after a pretty good and relatively inexpensive burrito vegetariano, I figured I would try to get in a quick update on the new blog. Right now, I'm sitting at the local internet cafe, and I think I just paid 10,000 colones (currency of Costa Rica) for a 10 hour block of internet time. Of course, it's certainly possible that I paid 10,ooo dollars for that block, but, hey, I'm all for supporting the local economy, right? My bank may differ....but I digress.


After a long day of flying, I finally arrived last night at the Liberia airport. In fact, after flying through the great...uh...large...state of Texas, I actually felt like I was in TWO foreign countries yesterday.
Anyway, like I said, I finally arrived. To my surprise, Juan (or a guy that certainly COULD be named Juan) from Juan's shuttle service actually met me at the airport. In fact, I must say that it was the first time I have ever been met at the airport with a guy carrying a "Jason Jones" sign. NO red carpet, but I felt like quite the VIP.
Anyway, after a brief wander through the dark streets of Tamarindo, I thankfully rang the bell at the correct gate. Once again, I was met by someone who actually knew my name. Wow, in the words of Yakov Smirnoff....eye luv dis cantri!!!!
I'm staying at one of the student houses here for the school. It's called Casa El Mar (the ocean house), and it is certainly near the beach. Well, I suppose I DO have to walk a good minute or so before I hit the sand.....but who's complaining. A couple of my housemates (more on them later) gave me a quick tour of the town, and then we hung out with a bunch of people from the school (again, more on the people later).
Today, after doing a self tour in the daylight and getting my feet wet (literally...in the ocean) I had my first day of class. The good news was that due to my good score on the placement test, they moved me to a relatively advanced (or at least intermediate) class. The bad news? I was definitely feeling like I should be standing in the corner while wearing the dunce hat (or should I say el dunco sombrero). But, hey, it was only the first day, right?
After class, a bunch of students headed down to another beach and played volleyball/soccer. The sunset was great, but I had to enjoy the sand while catching up on the class I had just missed (mentally). AHHHH....it's good to be back in school.
So that's about it for now. I'm feeling pretty tired. Due to the live music outside my window, the 90 degree heat/humidity, squealing ceiling fan, and roommate (no, he wasn't squealing....just tossing and turning frequently), I didn't get much sleep last night.

Peace out from Tamarindo! I'll try to update again soon.

Yason