Time keeps rolling by.

I haven't blogged in over a week! There hasn't been an awful lot to say since I got back from Nica. I've just been doing work stuff.

One of the best things about coming back from Nicaragua earlier than planned was being able to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Ma Fitzgerald sent me her recipe for Irish stew, I made "Guinness" with Coke and ice cream, and put on Leprechaun. The stew went down very well, and most people went for seconds. The "Guinness" went down well with those who wanted to get messed up on sugar. Rachel was the only one who made it to the end of Leprechaun. Alas, it appears my Raleigh colleagues are not fans of early 90s low budget, B-movie, so-bad-it's-good-horror, even if it does have a leprechaun on a tricycle and stars a pre-Friends Jennifer Aniston. 21 years later, Jennifer Aniston is still hot. Hotter even. There's your thought for the day.

Big ass pot of Ma Fitzgerald's Irish stew.

Still hot.

The next event of interest was Sarah's birthday, where we had a bit of barbecue and a dangerously high level of sugar was consumed.

Ice cream cake. Good. In a bad way.
This caption links to the album in Google+. New plan for sharing albums!

Rachel's birthday was the next day, but there wasn't as much sugar. In fact, it was the start of second changeover, so there was a whole bunch of Project Managers and pups.

Changeover was weird, but weird because it felt so normal, when obviously it's not, and exists only in the Raleigh bubble. It was really great to catch up with the PMs again.

I stayed right the fork away from skit judging. Fork that. I opted for the far less dangerous jobs of opening the curtain. No problems.

But the best part for me was X-Ray 7's skit. They did it in the style of a TV show, and referenced my short visit to them in Nicaragua, by having one of the lads dress up in green and have a bad Irish accent to be interviewed on the show. The accent was so bad it could have been on Sons of Anarchy. It was a very short segment, which basically involved "me" saying it was shite in Santa Cruz (which I never did, and shite isn't even one of my words) and that there was no Wi-Fi (that bit was true), and then "I" said "there's no wi-fi here either, I'm out of here". It was very funny. Apparently they weren't sure how I'd react, but I loved it! Somebody asked if I knew about it beforehand, and I didn't, it wouldn't have been as fun. When the guy acting as presenter started saying how Fieldbase sent their Irish blogger up to them, I wasn't sure if they were gonna get me on stage or if one of them was going to be me, but I'm glad they had somebody being me, it was definitely funnier.

The afternoon after phase three deployment, a few of us left at Fieldbase went in search of Turri beach, which is a beach on a turn in a river behind the main CATIE building. We found it, we splashed about, and it was lovely and refreshing.

And that's pretty much been it. JJ asked me to help her with a job application, but she was going off with one of the trek groups, so I asked her to give me her CV, email password and link to the job, and I'm going to do the application for her. It's fraud for a good cause.

I've been getting back into my fitness. Having destroyed my ribs at the céilidh before phase one, and then cut my feet up at San Lucas during phase one, I've only just stopped hurting. I haven't taken painkillers in about a week. Yay! So I got back to my running and stretching and push ups and sit ups. It's good. Since I went trekking in phase one, my smoking has reduced lots. I'll only have one or two, on a bad day three, a day. I just can't be bothered. That might change after expedition when I start drinking again.

I haven't missed booze at all. There's the odd day when it's been manic and a nice cold beer would hit the spot, or sitting outside when it's particularly hot, and you know a pint bottle of Bulmers with loads of ice would cool you down nicely. I think we're too busy to think too much about it. Before coming out, friends were all "Oh my God! How are you going to survive three months without a drink!?" I did tell them it'd be fine because I wasn't an alcoholic, and it wasn't that big a deal. I was right.

I'm thinking more and more about getting back to the UK. I'm thinking of stopping at the Wetherspoons at BHX for fish and chips and a nice pint of ale. I might even ring ahead to see what ales they have on! I'm also thinking a lot about finding a job, because I've been talking to people about planning little bits of travelling adventures, which will require money. I was approached for a really great job just before phase two, but because of Nica, I had to reply saying that I wouldn't have internet access for two weeks. Needless to say, the recruiter didn't bother following up, but the salary that came with the job has given me a lot more confidence to apply for jobs of that salary level.

I'm also thinking a lot about immediately after I get back. I'm going to want to hide in my room for a couple of days and talk to nobody, or my head will probably explode.

I must do some work and then do some job applications.

Pura Vida!