lluvia, drogas, y armas

The rainy season has officially begun. Rhiannon and I went exploring with some friends (Kim, Brad, and Katt) through San Jose on Friday and it "tropical stormed" as Katt put it haha. The streets were more like rivers we had to ford to get around. That aside, I like San Jose more now than I did at first. *See slideshow below* According to my host parents, it will rain almost every day now until December. I'm so glad I brought my umbrella!



I've been sick the past week =( I waited a while to go to the pharmacy, because I was intimidated. In the pharmacies here most everything is behind the counter. (Side note: there are lots of meds. here that you don't need prescriptions for-like imitrex- but they are all kept behind the counter, I'm guessing to discourage theft)This means that since I didn't know anything about the brands here I had to look up how to describe my symptoms in my dictionary (yes sadly my vocab. does not extend very far into medical matters). However, with my dictionary and a little gesturing I think I managed to convey that I feel like crap haha. The stuff the pharmacist gave me doesn't seem to be working very quickly, even though she assured me it's the strongest they have. Fun drug-related fact about Costa Rica--> their policies on illegal substances are much harsher than in the states. Pot possession carries jail time (or so I've been told), but the popular sentiment does not seem to reflect that difference. It's analogous to the public’s relationship to stop signs here (or at least I think so), 'stop the car if a cop is around but otherwise who cares'?

On another random note... It just hit me yesterday that I am living in a country that does not have a military. I knew that before I came, Costa Rica hasn't had a military since 1948. But we were talking in our Development and Society class about how eliminating the military allowed the government to redirect funds to healthcare, and it just made me do a mental double take. I've been keeping up, for the most part, with all the craziness surrounding the healthcare debate in the U.S. Honestly, I understand where both sides are coming from. I can't help but wonder how people in my own country would respond to the suggestion that we eliminate our military in order to provide more social services. I can only image the decibel of screaming at the town hall meetings would elevate to a fever pitch punctuated with gunfire.

I'm doing ok here, still loving the coffee, and still realizing new things about myself and the way I view the world every day. My Spanish is improving (for example I now know how to say phlegm haha), but not as fast as I would like. Part of me can't wait to get home for Christmas, but I know that there are still adventures to be had. I'll try to post more entries, it helps me make sense of everything.

Besitas!