cars and telephones

Whoa. Where do i even start?
I should tell you about my birthday. It was wonderful.
I took a weekend and went to Krysta's. and Leah's and Cailah's. They all live together. And Isaac was staying there. So it was like this built in party that lasted as long as we wanted to, all weekend.

First, I should say thank you to all the friends who contributed to the book. Krysta did a great job putting it all together and I read the whole thing right there when she gave it to me. I am so happy to have amazing friends. i love you guys and I miss you like crazy. 

So, do you want to hear what we did for my birthday?
Friday, we had this wild game night. We made delicious foods and ate until we were absolutely full, while drinking sangria. We played two of my favorite games. "Los Gatos" and "Salad Bowl". or, Pictionary telephone and charades, but what boring names those are. This kept us up well past midnight on Friday, so Saturday we all slept in.
Then we went to the vegetable market and bought an insane amount of food. I love it. Fruits and vegetables are so yummy.

Later that day, which was my actual birthday, we all took naps, had a big meal, and went to a wild soccer game. We Saprissa play Liga, which is like the Red Sox playing the Yankees Costa Rican style. Both teams are from San Jose area, so we almost went to the wrong stadium, but then we realized we were wrong, and we would be rooting for the away team (because the away team wears purple.) The stadium was packed when we got there, and we were worried that all five of us were going to have to squeeze in somewhere or stand the whole game. but then a section opened up. we ran to the very top row, turned around, and saw the riotous, purple-painted saprissa fans running up behind us. Leah asked, are we in the cheering section? Yes and no. We were in the police escort section. We were not in the section with the lit flares. see photos.

Saprissa lost, but going to the game was exactly what i wanted to do on my birthday.
that night we listened to mason jennings on the long, late drive home, and i thought it was so weird to be in a car, driving through the city. We could have been anywhere in the world. It was a magical night.

The next day, we went to church. Krysta's church has the custom of singing happy birthday to anyone who celebrated that week, so i got to go up front and get sung to by her whole church. I was kinda nervous, but they gave me chocolate. That made up for the embarassment.

Then, after eating a lot of those fruits and vegetables, we went slip sliding on cardboard and wet hillsides. I was really proud of my friends that day. It was a brilliant idea, to just go to this huge park and use up our old boxes. and everyone noticed us because we were the 6 gringos flying down the hill on these magic carpets. But what was unexpected was how many other costa ricans were doing the same thing. This is evidently a popular activity here. i dont get it. no, i do get it. it was a ton of fun. im telling you, look at the pictures. geez.

that night, i got my phone working, which means slightly better internet connectivity and that i have a phone now, in case i get lost on a hike or something. i think ive used the phone twice in the week that ive had it, but im sure ill get more comfortable with it.

anyway, check out the photos. I had fun. I hope everyone else did.