Life in Cedros

My walk to the bus stop on a clear day.

View from the balcony attached to my room. 

My house.

"The difference between something good and something great is attention to detail." ~Charles R. Swindoll

So I realized that I haven't really written much about my family or home life here in Costa Rica. I live with an amazing family in a beautiful house in Cedros, San Pedro, Costa Rica. The address to our house translates to: the white house on the corner across from the bakery in Cedros. Most places in Costa Rica don't have addresses the way we have in the United States, well really most places in the world. When I first got here, I found it extremely annoying that most streets didn't have names and houses didn't have numbers. Living in the U.S. you get so accustomed to a life where everything is so black and white, everything is so direct. You enter an address into your GPS and your car basically takes you there. Here you really appreciate all of your surroundings, because they are such a big part of your everyday life. I feel like we are so quick to take advantage of all the beauty around us and miss the subtleties of our environment.

I share my room with Laura, a 19 year old from Munich, Germany. At first I was upset that I had to share my room, because I left the dorms after two years for a reason (still love you Crin ;) !) But, things worked out fine and Laura and I get along very well. We have a balcony attached to our room which I love because it reminds me of my porch waiting for me at 99 Violet, and I love sitting out there and people watching. The only bad thing about being so close to the main street is the noise. Most mornings we are woken up at around 5 am by the neighbors dog, a loud motorcycle or bus, or the consequential car alarm. Although, the weather is the most beautiful in the mornings so being up so early isn't as bad as it seems.

My mama Tica (host mom.. Costa Rican mom..) is so sweet! (Don't worry Shelly you're still the best!) Marlene makes us three delicious meals everyday and always has fresh coffee waiting for us in the kitchen. She laughs at us when we make mistakes in Spanish and corrects us, and tells us when she thinks we should wear something different. Her husband works for a company which exports pineapples and is usually away on business for the majority of the time. Marlene has two children, Massiel who is 23 and works a lot so we don't see much of her but she is also very sweet! Also, Esteban who is 17. Currently there is also another German girl and a Swiss girl living in the house who keep to themselves for the most part. I am so blessed to have been placed here!