The neighborhood and stuff

I've fallen in love... with this amazing fruit (above)! It's so delicious! I bought 3 today at a farmer's market. They're a lot of work to eat, but super sweet - kind of like pomegranates. (Wish I could remember the name) I've been eating so much fruit! The fruit here is either extremely exotic and interesting or like home, except much bigger and sweeter. The mangoes, for instance, are like the size of my head and super delicious!

School is going well, I can't believe I've already had 20 hours of class! It's going by really fast. Today we had our first test and I did very well, which really boosted my confidence. We also watched a fascinating video about Latin American art and culture. Next week we start a whole new unit and we have a new teacher.
Left: practicing my Spanish while I re-read (for the 4th? time) Harry Potter!

Some pictures of my neighborhood:

The drains that line the street, with lots of moss and ferns growing in them! The water is white-ish from people's laundry run-off.

Typical street with an actual sidewalk! (Kind of hard to come by)

Thought this was interesting... All the houses are gated and you have to turn the keys twice to lock/unlock a door.

Facts:

-Words describing someone's "race"/ethnicity or appearance aren't offensive. For instance, a person who has slanted eyes may be called "Chino" regardless of their ethnicity, or a person who likes to eat a lot may be nick-named "gordito" ('little fat one') without any negative connotation implied.
-Costa Ricans live with family until they marry. It is rare to see a single person living alone or with anyone other than their family.
-Breast feeding in public is not weird.
-I feel like this bears repeating: the food here is delicious!!!