new and soon to be one and only

so i have a new job. and when i start this new job, it will be my one and only job. and i'm guaranteed 24 hours a week (and that's full time for english teachers in costa rica). i will no longer be looking for second jobs like it is my job. so that's exciting. more exciting is that i will be seeing an increase in salary. instead of making a measly $5.50 an hour i will now be raking it in at the incredible rate of $6.00 an hour!!! i'll also get a foreign hire stipend of ¢84,000 a month - which rocks and i'll get two hours of free spanish classes every week.

so things are looking good. luckily this new school is running on the same bimester schedule as my current school - so i can finish out my term here (instead of leaving in the middle) and then start my new school straight away. they're also going to get me a work visa. which is a good thing. though i do kind of like the idea of *needing* to go on a mini-vacation every three months to renew my visa. but whatever.

the only bad thing is that colleen is leaving at the end of this bimester. she had always planned to go back to the states this summer for some weddings and to make a little money. but now it's looking like she won't come back in the fall. so i've got to find either a new roommate or a new place to live. that'll be a spanish adventure, for sure.

next week is semana santa - holy week - which means there are no classes. and since i need to get my visa renewed, colleen and i are heading to nicaragua for the week. we have a 10 hour bus journey this sunday, and then we are spending a couple of nights in granada. after that we are heading to the island of ometepe in lake nicaragua. the island is formed by two volcanoes. there was actually an article about it in the paper two weeks ago, and it looks pretty spectacular. we'll spend 3 nights there, do some hikes, see some ancient petroglyphs, and hang at the beach a little. i'm looking forward to it.

i'm not sure how internet connected this island is going to be, but i'll post a full report when i get back, and hopefully some pictures. oh - and also the answer to the mystery device contest. which no one won, by the way. :P