Dogs and mosquitos

To start out with some good news, Monday I am meeting with the guy from CA with the tour company to see about working with him as he does seem to have a need for English tour guides so hopefully that will work out! I got a phone here in Costa Rica to communicate with the locals so I´m a real person again. Last night I got to run for the first time in about a week, which I could tell it had been a while, which was awesome in the warm evening here. I went to the local track with 3 police officers who had a regimented 1 hour for exercise. During our walk to the track I quized them about different things we passes like fences, sidewalks, and the different directions in English. We were all going to run, but when we got there I was the only one who actually started running, but that was fine with me. It was interesting running around not only walkers and other runners but kids playing soccer, people rollerblading, people riding bikes, and people smoking. Not what I´m used to on the track back home. Many people here smoke, including my host parents at night, but fortunately not in the house. I was a bit concerned after the run last night because we did not make it back until 7:30pm and I had thought that´s when they wanted to have class, however, last night I had a big realization. It is not going to be easy to get these guys and gals to sit down and listen to me teach every night. This was confirmed when a very nice young woman named Lindsay stopped by who I had been wanting to meet. She did the same volunteer program I did last April and then decided to stay here and work in a hotel. She warned me that I will have to take control and be a strict on the them to work on their English. She also told me who of the police officers has very good English including the supervisor here, which afterward I talked to for quite a while in English and know he is definitely the hardest working student out all of them and practices quite a bit. I was very excited to meet Lindsay and to have a friend here with native English to talk to when I need a break from Spanish. When I got back to my house my host parents were outside hanging out with his cousin who is my age and works as a bell boy at a hotel and knows English fairly well. It is very interesting to see people my age interact here and realize how similar it is to the U.S. in a different language and culture. We talked about movies and listen and talked about music and joked around while they smokes and the guys drank a couple of beers. After sweating all day my super cold shower was almost bearable. Getting to sleep is fairly easy although my thin mattress is going to take some getting used to. Although the worst annoyances are definitely the huge number of dogs that live in the neighborhood, which just like in 101 dalmations, all start to bark and howl when one dog seems to be barking something important. And even worse, along with the tiny ant-like bugs in my room that are really not a problem, there was a big misquito buzzing around while I tried to sleep. My blanket did not protect me completely as I had 3 bites this morning, including one one my forehead, but this morning I got him! Now starting my day after breakfast with the police, more rice and beans and fried eggs, and coffee which I ironically drank out of a Dora the Explorer cup.