Feliz dia de independencia!

Happy 4th of July and hello family and friends of our Costa Rica Language Learning 2009 crew! We are writing to give you an update on our time thus far in Las Mesas de Pejibaye. Right now though, we´re actually in San Isidro el General doing laundry, using the internet, and doing some shopping. San Isidro is super lively right now since its Saturday, but especially because the local fire department is holding a fundraising festival to raise money for children with cancer and Downs Syndrome-- it is good to see the community in action to support such an important cause.

Our stay in Las Mesas has been amazing. We have been focusing on two projects so far and are gearing up to move into the homestay part of the program next week. The projects are going really well. We painted some classrooms at the local Catholic Church and will be building a stone structure starting Monday (this project should take just 2 days).

At the school, we´re still in the process of constructing a storage room-- although this project has been the hardest, it has also been the most rewarding. Our students have gotten their hands dirty mixing cement, carrying barrels of rocks and sand, sanding, and -- hold your breath!-- using machetes to clear brush (under much supervision, of course). Our maestro de obras (local foreman) has been extremely friendly and jokes around with our students all day.

The local elementary school has definitely become a 'second home' for the group. The women on the school board have been really helpful and have opened their doors to us, they were great with the welcome party and have invited us to their 'end of the year celebration' this weekend (where they will be crowing a school king and queen). The group is excited to check out the festivities tonight and possibly tomorrow as well.

This week we will begin to develop our independent projects as well-- there is much excitement about these projects. Some ideas include: running a small basketball camp, teaching local kids how to make bracelets, learning how to make things out of recycled paper, learning how to make local food dishes, etc.. .

The weather as of late has been a bit rainy (hot and humid), but we´ve been lucky to have a few beautiful, cooler afternoons and evenings. Everyone has gotten to know one another pretty well and it seems like students starting to form strong friendships.

In our free time, we´ve gotten a chance to play with children from the local elementary school and a few games of basketball. In the last few days, we (Jesus and Hannah) have gotten a chance to speak with the host families who will be taking the kids in for the last week in Las Mesas. From our meetings with them we can already tell that they are incredibly humble and generous people with a will to do good for their community. They are also very committed to the safety and well being of our students and the Putney group. The students begin their homestays next Thursday!

We are hoping to make a day trip to nearby beach, Marina Ballena, on Sunday. All is well here. We wish everyone a wonderful 4th of July!

Saludos!
Jesus y Hannah