A tree full of squirrel monkeys!




Butterfly keeping me company while writing another lesson plan.







Not backyard, but beach: Waran enjoying the sun.




Our little friend Lulu. She got hit by a car while her owners were in San Jose for a week, and we took care of her and let her sleep on the couch in our living room until she felt better.

Beach in the national park.




Quepos.




The ´Mono Azul´, right across the street from our house and one of my favorite places. Lyla and I made friends with Melvin who works there and makes us the best free Caipirinhas you can imagine. However, we also discovered this Italian restaurant (which is also right next to where we live) the other day and made friends with one of the waiters there. He invited us to use the hotel pool whenever we feel like it, and they have these huge paper thin Italian pizzas... life consists of hard decisions.

It’s 12.30 pm. I just finished preparing the lesson I have to teach tomorrow. I am the last one up, listening to Hallelujah (the Jeff Buckley version), copying pictures we took today from Lyla’s camera and typing on my laptop. I am eating Milka chocolate – they have Milka chocolate in Costa Rica. Feels a little like Austria. Lying next to me on the couch is Lulu, ´our´ dog, fast asleep now after having received her part of the chocolate.

This is exactly what I would do in Vienna at about the same time, being on my own in my apartment (well, room), 5212, which isn´t my apartment any more. And just as now, I would have a moment of reflection. The music changes to Hear you me. I like that song. It keeps coming up in perfect moments. I know what I want to do after university. I know what I want to do in the next months. Even though I don’t know where I will end up, one day, I know where I will not end up. And: It feels good not to know certain things. I am looking forward to going to the States, again. It is good that I came here. I have gained a lot of inner peace since leaving Vienna. I am content with who I am, and where I am, and where I am going. Forward, that is, not backwards. I love the bright new days I am waking up to. Caipirinhas. Coconut earrings. The music won’t stop playing no more.

Beautiful beaches next to the national park... lots of rain, but therefore only few tourists, friendly locals (speaking a Spanish I am capable of understanding again!), tons of fresh fruit (papayas! pineapples!), monkeys and exotic birds...






I hope you are all enjoying your exam preparations back home! :)

I have to run back to school for my teaching practice: pretending to teach a beginner level class new vocabulary concerning "places to visit" ...