In 2007, Rosa decided to spend the second semester of eighth grade living with a Costa Rican family in Monteverde, Costa Rica. This is her running account of the experience.

This is assembled from emails and telephone conversations, from January through May, 2007.

January 25, 2007

Critters

Yesterday, I think I saw an agouti. I was walking the back way home and I heard a rustling in the bushes. I looked over and this thing that looked like a squirrel without a tail ran off. Abby [a tenth grader from Olympia, Washington] saw it too.

This morning, I had another encounter with a scorpion. I had just gotten up and I was making my bed when i saw something on the covers. I looked closer and it was a scorpion. Just my luck, right? But I wasn't stung. [The first scorpion I met was on my hoodie when I went to get it off the hook in my classroom on the first day of school. Luckily, the scorpions here won't kill you or put you in the hospital, but they will give you a bad six hours or so.]

Today we had our electives and I had ultimate frisbee. It was really fun. I was one of the best players, and the teacher, who happens to be my math teacher, Tim, said I had good hands. It felt good to be complimented.

Speaking of math, it's really easy, so Tim has put me in a corner by myself, doing other stuff. I'm kind of teaching myself. I wish I had [Mrs.] Newbury [from Centennial Middle School in Boulder] with me, explaining how to do things.

White-faced Capuchin Monkeys

In Boulder, you wouldn't expect to walk outside and see three white-faced monkeys playing in a tree. Well, I'm not in Boulder: about 20 yards from the house where I'm staying, I got to see monkeys.

A friend told me they were there, and I ran out to see them in my bare feet, stubbing my toes in the action.

Though Costa Rica is filled with these amazing things, I still really miss home. I know that Boulder is getting covered in snow, and I find myself longing for the white stuff. It's weird how you miss something that is such a pain.

January 30, 2007

The End of the Rainbow

It's said that at the end of a rainbow there is a pot of gold. Now, of course, when you get to my age, 13 almost 14, you know that's not true. But I've always wanted to be at the end of a rainbow. Well, I finally got my chance. Since it rains so much here, there are countless rainbows to see. I think I've seen about one a day, at least. Yesterday, a rainow arched right down into a shrub across the road from me as I walked home from school. Even though I didn't find a pot of gold at the end of my rainbow, it was still a magical sight.

More coming: This page is unfinished.