Another week down...one to go!

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks now! This week has flown by so fast, so I'm glad I have one more weekend here to do some traveling and another week with the kids. We've been having a little more consistency in actually doing some lessons. Even though not all of the kids want to participate in learning - a lot just want to play or color - I feel like this week has been a lot more productive in actually learning some English, even if it is only 3 or 4 kids at a time.

Yesterday and today I was going over some basic phrases in English (like, how are you?, how old are you? where are you from?, and how to answer those questions) and also the alphabet and doing some games to help them remember the letters. It's been really fun, and the time goes by so quickly when we're there. Some of the kids started asking me about my family today, so I was answering their questions, and then I remembered that I had brought some pictures with me, so I told them I would bring them on Tuesday (we have Monday off again). They seemed really excited to see the pictures.

Tonight I have to pack for our one night trip to Arenal. We (myself and the other girls I am going with) are getting picked up at our host homes super early in the morning and taken to the bus station to get our tickets. Apparently you can't buy those tickets ahead of time, but if for some reason we can't get on that bus, there is another bus that leaves a little later. Once we get there (it's a four hour bus ride), we'll be staying at a hostel for the night. The hostel we want to stay at has a really good view of the volcano. We'll probably find something to do in the afternoon, and then I'm hoping to do a night tour of the volcano and hot springs so we can see the lava glowing in the dark! Then we'll come back at some point on Sunday.

This was the last week for a lot of the volunteers that I've been working with since I got here. Some came when I did and some had already been here for a few weeks, but it's kind of sad to see them leave, as they have become my friends and familiar faces here. :) There are still a handful of us that will be working together next week too. And we should be getting some new volunteers next week, so now it will be my turn to "show them the ropes". :)

Today's my last day of Spanish lessons. I'm really glad I decided to take those. I feel like my conversation has improved a lot more because of the class than if I had just tried to figure it out on my own here. And I think I will be a better Spanish teacher because of it too.

Thanks again for all of your prayers. They are very appreciated and felt! Can't wait to share about Arenal when I get back!