Things I have learned so far...

• Half-price Wednesdays at the movies rock! You may have to stand in line for an hour, but $2 for a new movie is a good deal. Also, food is barata at Costa Rican theaters!
• Me gusta los pelliculas de Pixar y Disney dobles en espagnol. I actually knew 20 words out of every 2,000, but the script was so predictable that I understood a lot more. L'era de hielo 3 es muy divertido!
  
• En Costa Rica, mis frutas favoritas son mangos y mangas. YUM!
• Refrescados son las mejors bebidas! Mis favoritas: el jugo de cas, de mango, y de naranja.
• El Casado del dia es muy rico y muy barato!
  
• It is possible to contract a stomach virus even in a country with clean water.
• I know enough Spanish to quickly cry out: "Jeff, hay una cucuracha grande en la cocina!" Phrases like these are important. They should put them into Spanish phrasebooks.
• Casablanca translated to Spanish is not the same. "Here's lookin' at you, kid" was translated to "Para ti, pequena." Much is lost in translation.
• Los perros costariccense are well behaved and much less high-strung than American dogs. We speculate this is because they take on the attitude of their owners: Pura Vida! Why stress en un pais tan hermoso?
• Walter says "Ustededs son mis mejors estudiantes." Muchas gracias, Walter. It also helps that tu comprende nuestro espangles muy bien. ( i.e., Spanglish) He anticipates our attempts to communicate pretty well.
• The nicest people I've met in foreign countries are those who are or have been foreigners themselves. I still find this to be true. Maria y Rinholdt, los duenos del bar alleman, son muy sympaticos y amables. Gracias por la conversatione!
• Boys are the same, n'importe donde tu estas viviendo.
• Apparently in Costa Rica, preying mantises are even more huge than in the U.S., and they are said to bring good luck. Entonces, ellas se llaman las esperanzas. (Wishes?) After I shrieked loudly enough to wake up everyone on the block the other night when one landed on my shoulder and Kristen pointed to me, making me think there was a huge cockroach descending onto me, Julieta came out of her room and I began apologizing profusely, afraid that I'd awakened her husband who is ill. Me: "Lo siento, lo siento, Julieta. There was a big bug on me and I screamed." Julieta (seeing Jeff carryiing a piece of newspaper with a mantis the size of a small bird on top): "Ah, es una esperanza. You will have good luck!" (her face breaks into a beaming smile). ???
• My most frequent erreur de idioma, or "false friend" so far: Mis hermanos son cansados (instead of casados). I told Jasmine this morning that my brothers are tired instead of married. La chiste espagnol is "Casado es cansado." ;)