Gallo Pinto.

It's hard to believe tomorrow will be the end of my 3rd week here...my, how time flies!!
Our little Spanish class grew by one person this week, but she's only studying for a week, so we will be small again next week...

I have so many verbos in my head--we are working with conditional and imperfect subjunctive tenses this week, and I'm seeming to get it. (I'll find out tomorrow after the exam). I always enjoy class because we talk talk about interesting topics. For example, today we talked about different stereotypes, and yesterday we talked about the positives and negatives of emancipation. We also read the newspaper several times a week. (I never read the newspaper in English.)

My group's collage on stereotypes that we made today

I'm usually the quiet girl in the class, but since I've been at Intercultura, I have noticed that I have become less hesitant to speak up in class. I am definitely getting a lot of oral practice because of this. We are watching "Como agua para chocolate" this week, too. I've seen the movie before, but I like the story and the symbolism.

the Advanced 3 Spanish class with our professor, Mayela

Random side note: the director of the school was wearing a Flagler College t-shirt today, which I thought was pretty cool. So when he came to check in on our class today I made sure to say "me gusta su camiseta" (thank you Spanish 101)!

We also had another cooking class today with Janet. Last week we had planned to switch times of cooking class and literature class because we wanted to learn how to make gallo pinto. (Gallo pinto is a flavorful dish of beans and rice that is commonly eaten for breakfast) The plan was to make it and have it for lunch and then go to class.

The problem was that our whole class was freaking out because we had a test over three short stories today. Nobody wanted to cook, because they were too busy freaking out and studying. Janet was working in the kitchen and another Flagler student had gone in there to help. I figured there was no sense in freaking out over the short stories now, because if I don't know them by this point, it's too late. So I went in the kitchen and Janet asked me to watch and periodically stir the chopped onions and peppers. Well, long story short, I ended up cooking the entire dish Gallo Pinto! (okay so I had a little help from Janet, and it wasn't that complicated)

Our lovely cooking teacher, Janet

Just making some Gallo Pinto

Janet dished it up and we all sat around the table to enjoy. I have to say that it turned out quite well and was good brain food for the test. Plus, I have first hand experience cooking this dish so hopefully it will go as well when I try to cook it back in the states!

The finished product: Gallo Pinto with a side of platanos

Tomorrow begins our last weekend in Heredia...
Oh and I'm also feeling a ton better today, thank goodness. I'm not exactly sure what the doctor sold me, but I like to refer to it as the "miracle medicine" because I made a one day turn around!