First week update.

This is a picture of the house where I live here in San José, Cost Rica. I am living with a tico family (tico a word Costa Ricans use to refer to themselves). Roberto and Marilys Ramirez are a couple with three children: Samuel, 10; Daniel, 5; and Raquel, 4. They are a great family, and I am learning much Spanish by living with them. My room is small, but I have a private bathroom. Here is a picture of my room. Marilys and Roberto can speak English very well and have helped me with my Spanish. The oldest son know English pretty well, but still struggles a little. I have had most of my meals with my tico family. The food has been muy rico. In fact, I have yet to have any American food since I have been here. It has all been Costa Rican food and a few times, Chinese food.

Every morning, I have a Spanish class which uses a barefoot method. We all meet at the Grumble's house at 7:30 and have devotions. The class begins at 8:00. Our teacher uses only Spanish as she teaches. At the end of the class, she gives us assignments to go to a store are mall to practice our Spanish. The next day, the teacher will begin by asking us about our experience practicing Spanish.

We are at the end of the rainy season, so it has been raining a lot. When it is not raining, the weather has been quite nice. In about two week, the dry season begins.

Yesterday, I discovered a Hipermás, a store very much like Walmart. I got some Dr. Pepper, Guaraná, and a telephone with a cord. (I have a magicjack phone set up which works through the Internet. The signal from the cordless phone I had was interfering with the wireless signal. Getting a phone with a cord remedied the problem.)

Tomorrow, I am going to explore the city a little more through the guidance of Ryan Buttes, a student at the Spanish Language Institute.

Thanks for your prayers. Pray especially for language and cultural acquisition.