Character Update

So I know that on my last post I referenced Lauren, and a lot of people were probably like "who is this girl?" Well, now that it is not three in the morning and I am finally getting a chance to sit down and write some updates about what has been going on let me explain.

Meet Lauren

Lauren is someone I went to high school with. Last year when I got home she approached me and expressed how much she LOVED sea turtles and wanted to do what I did, go to Costa Rica and work with sea turtles. Once I found out I was coming back I contacted her and let her know that they were looking for volunteers so they might be looking for research assistants too, and they were! So now I have Lauren from Camarillo here with me. She went to Cal Poly SLO and has a B.S. in Marine Biology. Last year, she began to get the urge to travel which began her journey. She spent a month working with elephants in Thailand (which I am now seriously considering) and ventured off to Europe to participate in different World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF), and spent four months traveling to different farms in Europe (talk about a smart way to travel!). Needless to say, it has been awesome having someone from California around that gets all the references I make. PLUS, she will be here until December, but I lost her as a travel buddy since the airline made her book a flight back on December 10th (the day our project closes).

My weird Costa Rican Rash.

Not only was I excited for Lauren to arrive last week because I was excited by the overwhelming representation of California in the house, but she was also bringing goodies from home. Dad sent her with a new headlight (we have been having issues with lights breaking this year so better safe than sorry), a new watch since my had been having issues the week before and I freaked out thinking it was broken (but it still works), some hydrocortisone itch cream (have not made it to Jicaral to pick up da'kine with lidocaine yet), and some antifungal cream because I got a weird rash on my arm and wasn't sure what it was. She was also given ginger cut candies to bring down, however, did not have room in her bag so they didn't make it (hope you are enjoying those Mrs. Seguey!).

Over the past week we also had Mainor stay with us for a few nights. He is a Costa Rican who is hilarious to have around. We played lots of card games, bringing UNO might have been the best choice I have ever made.

Steph, Lauren (who is kind of hiding), Mainor teaching Santos how to play UNO

This is how I know my Spanish is improving. One night on patrol with Santos I was talking about how much I love cheese and milk, after patrol I thought he might be bringing me some fresh milk but I was not quite sure. A few days later her showed up at the house with a jar of fresh milk for me!! AWESOME!! It has been a treat to have real milk, though I am a little sketched out on just drinking it straight or having it in a bowl of cereal. He did say that in a month they would be milking the cow again and I can go with him to learn, it would have to be on my night off since it would probably be like 2 or 3 am but I think I might take him up on the offer. I think it would be fun to learn to milk a cow even if I don't really end up getting the night off.

 

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