On to Nicaragua...

20 septiembre 2009
Well, it’s been another crazy busy but very good week. I managed to get both of my papers done, so those are off my chest now. And I had another good weekend. Friday was Rhea’s (for those of you who don’t know her, she’s one of my good friends from school) 21st birthday! So her family threw her a huge party and invited a few of us over. It was great! I mean, I can’t think of a better way to spend my 21st birthday than here in Costa Rica, with a 5 course meal (consisting of dinner, pineapple pie, ice cream cones, birthday cake, and a candy bar to go!), balloons, party hats, party MASKS, paper birthday horns, a bilingual “Happy Birthday” chorus, and even confetti! Haha. It was awesome.

Saturday, 5 other girls and I decided to go hiking in this area we had heard was really beautiful up in the mountains. After a few humorous mishaps, we made it to our destination and had an amazing time enjoying God’s awesome creation. And why do I live in the brown state of Texas, I ask myself?? Haha. It’s the people that I love – that’s my conclusion. :) Anyway, I got to enjoy Saturday evening relaxing at home with my family. I even learned how to make super easy homemade ice cream (no rock salt or churning necessary)! So I can’t wait to try that one out when I get home.

Today, Sunday, was maybe best of all. Sarah and Rhea (SNU friends) and I decided to visit the church on the Nazarene Seminary campus, which was SUCH a nice taste of home. It was so nice to worship with fellow Nazarenes, singing familiar songs in Spanish, etc. In Sunday school they were even studying the Nazarene manual! We met a woman named Shelly Webb, and she and her husband are missionaries from the States. She showed us around the campus of the seminary and told us about some of the stuff they have going on and plans they are making to add on in the near future. Although I had been on the campus before, it was fun to tour it again and see what new is going on since I was there 3 years ago. Anyway, all that to say it was so nice to be in a Nazarene church to worship this morning!

Well, that’s about all the news I have to tell. I leave tomorrow morning (6:30 am!) for Nicaragua, and I’ll be there until Friday October 2. So, I’ll be out of the touch for the next two weeks, but I will fill you all in on that trip as soon as I return. In Nicaragua, we will be spending the first few days all together in the capital city of Managua, visiting places, having lectures, etc. Then, for about 6-7 days we will be split into smaller groups (4-5) and sent to live with individual families associated with different churches throughout the country. We will spend that week just living with the people, working with them, doing whatever they do, observing and experiencing a new culture and a different way of life – different probably, even than life here in San José. Then we will all come together again for a few days in Grenada, another major city in Nicaragua, before we return to our homes here that Friday.

I am looking forward very much to this trip. I think it will definitely have its challenges, and may even be difficult at times, but I know that I have a lot to learn, and definitely feel like God will use this experience to teach me. Pray for me that I will be open and willing to listen and learn. Thanks again for your faithful support. God bless!

Just some pictures

15 septiembre 2009

!Feliz Día de Independencia! :) Today is Costa Rica’s independence day. The best part is that that means no classes today! The celebrations started last night at 6:00 pm, when everyone sings the national anthem together from wherever they live in the country. Ileana and I went to my little brother (her son) Juan’s school, in downtown San José, to see their assembly. All the students had decorated “faroles,” which are like lanterns that can be in any number of traditional designs. (yes, there were really over 100 lit paper lanterns in the wood-floor school gymnasium; apparently fire codes don’t exist here!) After some singing and other little acts, everyone sang together at 6:00 sharp; there was a band, fireworks outside, the whole works. I think they may know how to celebrate here even better than we do in the States!

Then today, after an unusually good night’s sleep, I spent the morning in downtown San José with my family to experience the parades and festivities. All the schools in San José participate in the parade – with bands, dance teams, etc. Apparently it’s traditional for little kids to dress up to go watch the parade, so mi hermanita, Sofía, dressed up as a “campesina” – wearing the traditional dress, with braids and make up and all. She looked absolutely adorable! Anyway, not sure what the rest of the day holds, but it’s been fun so far!

As for the rest of my life….I can’t believe another week has already passed, but…it has. This week seemed to fly by! I had my first little taste of the stress that normally accompanies a college semester – a reminder that I’m not just on vacation here! Ha! This past Thursday I had a Spanish presentation (which our prof gave us 2 nights to prepare for), as well as a due date for the first step of my major project of the semester for the core seminar portion, on top of a mound of reading…but, in the end all went well. And the best part was that we didn’t have classes on Friday because we had our first trip outside of San José –to the province of Limón. Limón is on the eastern coast of the country and has a very strong Caribbean influence. It was a really neat trip, because the culture there is different from here in the Central Valley.

On the way to Limón, we stopped at 3 different plantations – coffee, pineapple, and banana. All were very interesting. Fun fact of the day: did you know pineapples don't grow in palm trees, but actually grow out of the ground?? Who knew?! We also got to see a banana processing/export plant. It was interesting to actually see all the work that goes on before they slap the “Del Monte” sticker on the bananas I consume (daily) in the States. Check out your banana next time! If it’s Del Monte, good chance it passed through the plant I visited. :)

We spent Friday evening downtown in Puerto Limón, the capital city of the province. We had to conduct some interviews for a paper we have to write this week on poverty and racial/ethnic discrimination here in Costa Rica. I ate dinner with some friends in a little “soda” – the name for small, local, family owned restaurants here – and ate some of the most delicious soup I’ve had in my life. No clue what was in it but…hey, I didn’t’ get sick, so I guess it was all good! (That’s the attitude I’ve assumed here about most things…it’s worth a try, and if I get sick, I get sick. Life goes on. And so far, it’s worked out great – I haven’t been sick once!)

Saturday we got to visit an indigenous reservation, and a woman leader in the tribe talked to us about what all goes on there. They have actually started to raise iguanas in a nature preservation effort. So…I saw lots of HUGE iguanas. Some turkeys too – hadn’t seen those yet in this country! It was an interesting experience. After that, we spent the rest of the morning/afternoon at the beach in Cahuitas, a national park. It was gorgeous. My two favorite parts were that the water was warm enough to swim in, and that the beach is basically bordered by jungle! Slightly different from Galveston. :)

Saturday night we had a typical Limón dinner – a mix of Costa Rican and Caribbean flavors – complete with a live Caribbean band! It was a very fun time. And to end the trip, I got to attend an ENGLISH Methodist church service Sunday morning. They even sang familiar songs like To God Be the Glory, Lord I Lift Your Name on High, Sanctuary and yes, even Kum-ba-ya. It was so fun to worship with Christians here in Costa Rica in my own language. Needless to say, it was a great end to the weekend.

And now…I have to go get to work on the 2 papers I have due this week, as well as the mound of Spanish homework my prof gave us last night! I hope you are all doing well at home! I leave for Nicaragua this coming Monday, but I will try to post one more time before I leave. If not – I’m sure I’ll have plenty to write about after 2 weeks in Nicarargua. Hasta luego!

i survived my first week of classes!

6 septiembre 2009

Well, I just completed my first full week of the semester! And loved every bit of it. We started Spanish classes this week, which we have every afternoon for 3 or 3 ½ hours, depending on the day. We also had our first two segments (Tuesday and Thursday mornings) of our “core seminar,” which is the class that all the students in the program take together (there are 41 of us in all). The way core seminar works is that we have a different topic, with assigned reading, each class period. The overall theme of the course is “Perspectives on Latin American History and Contemporary Issues,” so each topic fits somewhere in that broad area. We have discussions and special speakers, etc. So far, I love it, and I think it is going to be a significant part of my overall experience.

With classes starting, my week was pretty busy, and thus flew by. In the mornings I didn’t have class, I usually went into downtown San Jose with some friends before going to our afternoon Spanish classes. I think one of my favorite things about life here is that I can live in the peace and tranquility of the mountains, and then within a 30-45 minute bus ride (which costs about the equivalent of 50 cents), I am in the heart of the city with all the excitement that brings. I love visiting the little stores and markets, drinking coffee in whatever café we happen to stumble upon, and – my favorite- buying random pastries (with names that I still don’t understand) from the panaderias (bakeries) that are on almost every corner. Just a few of the things I am learning to love about San Jose.

This weekend was also pretty exciting. On Friday night I went to a café with a friend from my Spanish class, Liz. Her tica family had recommended it to her, because on Friday nights they have live guitar music (and he sings too, we found out!) At the end of the day, Liz and I decided we couldn’t really think of many better ways to spend a Friday night than relaxing in a café (in Costa Rica, no less), with good food and even better coffee, while being serenaded by a Latino guitarrista. I mean, honestly…can you? Haha.

Saturday was also a good day. After spending the morning studying, I met up with the 3 other SNU girls and we met Sarah and David Hilley (directors of SNU’s science research campus in the cloud forest here in Costa Rica) for lunch. It was fun to spend some time with my SNU friends. Then Saturday night was the big Mexico vs. Costa Rica fútbol game. A very big deal here. So I watched the game with some friends, but sadly Costa Rica lost 0-3. I was really hoping we would at least score once, because I wanted to get to yell “GOOOOOOOOOOLLLLl!!” with everyone. =/ Better luck next time (Wednesday).

Then today, Sunday, was maybe the best of all, because after breakfast, my “mom” randomly asked me if I wanted to go see Volcan Irazú (one of Costa Rica’s still-active volcanoes)– an offer which I obviously was quick to accept. So my tica parents and I hoped in the pickup and drove the hour/ hour and a half trip up to the volcano. The views on the way there may have been even more impressive than the volcano itself. Absolutely gorgeous. When we arrived, it was pretty cloudy at the top of the volcano, but fortunately we were able to see inside. It hasn’t erupted since the 70s, and right now the crater is water filled and looks like a turquoise lagoon. A pretty impressive sight!

Needless to say, it’s been a good week, not just because of the cool things I’ve gotten to do this weekend, but just because everyday I’m reminded of how incredibly blessed I am to have this experience. I am absolutely loving it – class included (weird, I know)! I love my family, the new friends I’m making, the challenging topics we discuss in core seminar, the readings, Spanish classes, the food – all of it! I appreciate your continued prayers as we get farther into the craziness and business of the semester. Know that I am praying for you all back at home too. Thanks so much for your encouragement and support! It is so very much appreciated.

my first weekend in Costa Rica!

Wow…What a weekend! Thursday and Friday we finished up orientation, and then this weekend we didn’t have activities and were encouraged to spend time with our families. Saturday was fairly relaxing. I slept in (till 8:00!) which was much needed, did a little homework off an on, and went grocery shopping twice with doña Maria (my “mom”) and Ileana (her daughter in law that lives with us). Now…grocery shopping here doesn’t mean a quick trip to walmart. In fact, one of the 2 trips was about a 2-3 hr outing. We went to “el super” (similar to a Kroger or Albertson’s) twice, and 2 different carnecerías (meat store). At our first stop, we ran into a friend of theirs, who then ran the rest of our errands with us; we stopped once to talk to a neighbor crossing the street, etc. Needless to say, it was an experience.

But today (Sunday) was the real adventure. First of all, I attended my first Mass (at 6:00am no less!) I didn’t understand much of what was going on, but it was interesting all the same. Then after Mass, we went to “la ferria.” Every Sunday one street in the town closes down, and is converted into a huge market for venders of fruit, vegetables, etc. According to don Luis (my “dad”), this is the best and cheapest way to buy produce, so we went with an empty cart, and left about an hour later with it overflowing. I think so far I’ve tried at least 6 or 7 fruits and vegetables I’ve never heard of before in the States. I love it!! So far my favorite is guanábana (mostly because I love the name).

This afternoon (and by afternoon, I mean from about 1:30 until 8:30 tonight), we had a huge fiesta for don Luis, because his 50^th birthday is Tuesday. I think I have now met every family member on both sides of the family, besides one son who lives in California and a daughter in Mexico. I think in all there were…19 or 20 people present. And we ate, and talked, and then some left, and then we ate again, and then talked some more, and then ate a little more, and then the women chatted in the living room while the men watched videos on youtube. And of course there was cake, and homemade ice cream, and singing and everything you need for a good fiesta (minus the piñata…I guess he’s too old).

Anyway, it was a very long but very fun day. I definitely feel like I’m getting to know my family really well already, and I’m definitely getting to experience firsthand the life of a Tica. Which… is good because that’s mostly why I’m here!

I hope everything is going well with all of you at home. Know that I’m doing well and just trying to soak it al in! I’ll post again soon. Until then – Qué Dios les bendiga!