Vamos Morados

Last week was an awful week of homework! After turning in a paper, taking a test, and giving a presentation, I finally finished week two of my 60 hour cram-session of spanish class in San Jose (although we still have 8 more hours of class in Las Cruces).  On Saturday, I had to give a presentation and lead a 2 hour discussion on pharmaceuticals and their relation to diseases in developing countries before I could finally relax a bit.  Gotta love having classes 6 days a week.

After my presentation most of our class rushed to our first fútbol game in Costa Rica.  We all decked ourselves out in Saprissa gear (the soccer team that won the league last year).  Our professor Jorge, who is literally friends with everyone in this country, came with us to the game and brought his friend José Luis, who just happens to be a famous Costa Rican soccer player that has played many games with the national team and is a mid-fielder for Saprissa.  He is only 29 but played in the 2006 world cup! He was playing in China for the last few months and just returned, so he couldn't play in the game we were watching.  His nickname, we found out after from our host family, is puppy (pronounced poopy).  After Saprissa won 4-1, we went out to dinner with Jorge and José.  I rode in Jorge's honda civic while four other girls got to ride with José in his black audi (no fair!)...but at least we didn't have to take a cab like the rest of our class.  Here's a picture of a lot of my classmates at the stadium plus Jorge and José being weird in the background:

Although it was raining at the game, there were some very dedicated fans drumming and singing the whole time.  I believe one of the cheers went like this: Vamos, vamos morados, que esta noche, tenemos que ganar! (aka Let's go, Let's go purple, because tonight, we have to win!)

We just got to Las Cruces again and are staying here until Sunday, then we go to Las Alturas to work in a clinic and then to live with the Brunka for a few days.  Hasta Luego!