Expectations

Today is my first full day here in Flamingo Beach. I spent the first part of the day wandering around the town and buying groceries. So far, there are some things I expected and some things that have surprised me. More surprises, so far.

Expected:
- Signs in the Liberia airport are predominantly in English.  This wasn't a surprise, and in some ways it's comforting that there are people around who can speak English if I need it, but it still disappoints me.
- The town of Flamingo Beach is small, hot, and dry.
- There are a lot of Americans...probably 30% of the people I passed in my wanderings were, judging by their language, accent, and San Francisco t-shirts. (I stopped to talk to that guy. :) )
-People here in Guanacaste love to dance! Laura had told me so, but driving through small towns last night on the way from the airport, we passed no fewer than four huge outdoor dance parties!

Surprises:
- The driver who picked me up at the airport, Victor, didn't speak any English. I was surprised, given his employment at an international language school. But all the better as I got to jump right into practicing Spanish during the hour ride to Flamingo. And it went pretty well! There was some story he told me about his cat that I failed to fully understand (something about "estomago" and "patas" -paws- and "alto"??) but overall I got all the information I needed, fully in Spanish!
- I met four other students last night on the ride from the airport. They were hitchhiking (!) home from being out at one of the aforementioned dances (bailes) in a nearby town, and Victor picked them up. I thought I'd be surrounded by North Americans here, but these girls were all from Europe- Germany and Holland. Also, I just met my roommate, she is from Norway.
- There are a lot of well-cared-for pets here. Laura had told me that often pets here get "room but no board" ...but I have encountered several well-loved animals. (Now, keep in mind that I really have no idea what Victor was telling me about his cat...so that could be a point in support of or against my theory!!)  A dog lives here at the residences! There is even an animal shelter just down the road from my residence. (Don't worry, Dan! Mama, interested? :) )
- So far, language has not been the biggest translation challenge, but rather units! Victor was asking me the temperature in CA, but I could not convert F to C very quickly. He also asked me how tall Dan is (??), and I was expected to respond in meters. When I said close to 2 meters, I thought,  Victor was incredulous. I must be way off. I'm going to have to make myself flash cards on metric units in addition to vocabulary. At least "3 km" was understandable.
-Playa Flamingo was so named because it is said to have incredibly white sand, even taking on a pink tint. The sand I saw today was virtually black. I must be missing the famous beach.
- I am way more grateful than I ever thought I'd be for air conditioning in my room! I usually hate overused A/C, but it is HOT out there.

Below are a few first pictures, of the school, the marina, and the Villa I will stay in for the next three weeks.

More soon. Classes start tomorrow.