Coming to a close...BUT not quite over...

Soo...Grecia was great! I went back to San Jose for my 5 last days in Costa Rica. Got all packed up and flew to Panama City today. I'm leaving tomorrow to take another plane and a canoe (like 2 halfs of a tree put together style) to an island in the Caribbean to live with the Kuna tribe from Panama in a bamboo and thatched roof hut for a week! After that I return to Panama City for 2 days and then fly to Miami for 2 days on Dec 8th (my b-day)! I'll be at home sweet home in Minnesota on Dec 10! See you all soon!

Grecia.....the story continues...

It's been so long since I wrote. I have been so busy with classes, helping out at the school, playing with my sisters, talking and watching TV with my family...oh yeah...and studying! This past Saturday, I went to my host mom's aunt's house for the day. I needed to get a bunch of h/w done, but that can be hard to do in a relational culture. Everybody just kept talking to me and I couldn't really go anywhere by myself at all. They also somehow had me help them glue tassels onto 140 sashes while listening to Spanish Christmas music! Too funny! Sunday my family went to the beach (Doña Ana) with this other family for the day! It was so gorgeous! I spent most of the day either eating or playing in the waves with my sisters and host parents! The only problem is that I did not bring my sunscreen to Grecia bc I didn't think that I was going to leave the town. Therefore, my body got really dark and is fine, but my more sensitive face got scorched and is now pealing SOOO bad on my forhead. I have to bobbypin my hair a certain way to cover half of my forehead otherwise I look diseased! But, it was definitely worth it! Monday and Tuesday I had classes (which are extremely laid back) at the church. It was sooo good to see my American Chicas and talk and laugh in English!! Laura and Jessica (our program leaders) also came and visited us! It was so fun to sit and talk for a bit (in English again) with familiar faces! Wednesday through Friday I was at the school again! I helped out with preschool, kindergarten, 5th grade, and 2nd grade. With the preschoolers I read Cinicienta (Cinderella) to some of the girls and the teacher had me sing ''Old McDonald'' in English for them. Of all animals I picked a PIG, so there I was snorting in front of the class! Oh boy! I'm sure they think I'm a CRAZY GRINGA now!!! (if they didn't already) :) The kindergarten class absolutely loved and CLUNG to me! Anytime someone stopped by their room the kids would tell them about me and drag me over to the door as if to show me off. haha They are so precious! I'm gonna be helping out in their class every morning wed through fri of next week! My favorite thing was how during recess they were taking shots on the futbol field while one of their classmates was the goley. He had his goley gloves that he had brought and was wearing during this! He meant seriousness business! ;) Can't wait for more adventures at the school next week! My family is still incredible! I've had some good conversations with my host mom, watched all sorts of American movies in Spanish (Taken, Fireproof, What Women Want, just to name a few), I was a ''judge'' with Karol for the girls who were doing Olympic Events in the front yard, and I play with my sisters a lot. Never a dull moment, but I'm so thankful for the incredible place I'm in right now! My youngest sister Meli, will quite often just come into my room while I'm lying on my bed reading or writing and put her arm around my neck and lay her head on my shoulder and just stare at me. She is so freaking adorable! It will definitely be hard for me to leave my family here! They've already told me that they are going to miss me a ton (more than their previous student) because I actually talk with all of them and we've gotten close! Ahhhh....tears are gonna come on November 25, when I go back to San Jose! :( UNTIL then, I'm living every moment I have to the full!

Grecia!!

I am here in Grecia (a town about and hour and a half outside of San Jose)! My computer crashed last night, so my blog entry and pictures are unavailable at the moment :) However, heres the gist of it all. AMAZING family! I have two younger sisters who are the most adorable girls EVER!! Mariana is 8 yrs old and Melissa is 4 yrs old. Ive gotten to watch cartoons like Over the Hedge and Barnyard with my family. I watch the world series with my host dad bc he is a big baseball fan! I have had so many good conversations and laughs with my family! Classes are great! The food here is INCREDIBLE! Usually the students that go to Grecia for a month gain weight bc of eating so much food, but im determined to NOT let that happen! haha I just started working in a school today. Today i worked in the kitchen and talked with a bunch of teachers and some students. All the boys want to be my boyfriend! haha One even told me that he loves me already! so cute! Tomorrow ill be helping out in the 5th grade class! Time is starting to fly, so im cherishing EVERY MOMENT! God is continuing to present me with challenges every day (like my computer crashing...haha), but so many blessings as well! I am soooo thankful for all that He is providing for me and teaching me! Thank you all for your prayers! Keep them coming! ;) haha

Craziness in the past month!

Alright, so it's been a while since I wrote...I've been super busy! In the past month I have finished my first two classes and all the spanish work that went along with them! This also included an INCREDIBLE group presentation with a game show format on Globalization.....it was either creative and entertaining or just plain ridiculous and stupid! Oh...and we also visited a sustainable organic farm! The guy would just grab some random fruit or vegetable or thing that I have never seen before off of a plant, a tree, or the ground, and hand it to me or my friends to try and eat. Most of the stuff was actually pretty good! Best tomatoes ever! I took a weekend trip with 7 of my friends to Volcano Arenal! We swam in hot springs, zip-lined through the rain forest, and chilled in our rocking chairs on our porch of our hotel rooms while looking at the steaming volcano. The following week, we celebrated my friend, Miranda's, birthday! On her birthday a few of us went to her house and had snacks/cake with her and her host family there! P.S. Her mom made popcorn and this was the first time that I had had popcorn since arriving here....I FLIPPED OUT (because I'm far too addicted and was going through withdrawals). A couple days later we went out to dinner at this cool place we had wanted to go to all semester and then went to a dance place called Castro's for the remainder of the evening. Last week a bunch of LASP students hung out at LASP one evening to watch the new episodes of the Office that we have missed since being in CR. I have only seen a few random episodes here and there, but after watching the 1st 5 of season 6, I want to watch the rest of the season now! This event also included MORE popcorn and pizza! I just got home from fall break yesterday. :( 10 friends and I went to Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica for 4 1/2 days! I got really lucky and found this incredible place online, so we stayed in a Jungle Villa. Essentially the 11 of us had this whole house and pools ALL to ourselves. We went to the beach a couple days too, but spent most of our time hanging around our incredible place! I also got to cook again, which I love and haven't gotten to do in FOREVER! It was a great time of rest and relaxation! Now, we are all splitting up into our concentrations (Latin American Studies, Business, or Advanced Language & Literature = ME) for the remainder of the semester. I will be leaving this Friday to live in Grecia, CR for almost 4 weeks! I'm gonna be reading a ton of literature and doing assignments with them, taking more advanced spanish classes 2 times a week, and doing some sort of "community involvement" job. (I'll post it up when I know what I'm gonna be doing). So, I'm using this week to enjoy time with my host family and with my LASP friends who I won't see now for a month :( Not sure how much I'll be able to post during the next 4 weeks, but I'll do my best!

Nicaragua Photos!!!!

Lunch stop in the middle of our 12 hour drive north

Volcano in the middle of Lake Nicaragua

Dinner at Doña Blancas

Sillouette of Sandino

On Loma de Tiscapa overlooking Managua

(Me, Liz, Carly, Tristen, Miranda & Shelby)

Tristen & I in front of a painting of Sandino

The old cathedral

Jake, Taylor & Carey being monkeys

Miranda & I

Pet parrot at the place we stayed for the first few nights

My room with my host family in Cuatro Esquinas (4 corners)

Genesis - 8 months

I still can't get enough palm trees ;)

Abi - 7 years

(getting ready to go to a wedding)

Dia de la Biblia

Meg & I riding in those trike - taxi things

Market in Masaya

My clean clothes hanging out to dry

My house

My host family

(minus Francisco bc he was at work)

Cousins/Aunts to my host family

Granada

Beautiful cathedral

Another church conected to the monestary

Chillin' around the pool at Hostel Oasis

Shelby & I riding in our little carriage

Our line of horse & buggies

Miranda & I excited for our boat tour of the islands!

A couple islands with a volcano in the background

Taylor feeding a monkey

Monkey sitting on the back of my seat

Monkey eating my banana

Shelby & I at a pizza place our last night in Granada

Oh Nicaragua! Fantastic Trip!

Nicaragua Trip

Wow! I can believe I just got back from a 2 week trip to Nicaragua! There was sooo much that happened, so I'll have to just share some highlights with you! After our 12 hour bus ride from San Jose to Managua, Nicaragua (which included a flat tire) we arrived at a retreat center where we spent our first few days together. We heard from a couple American missionaries, a woman at a church, and Dona Maria Tellez (One of the political party's leaders who also fought in their war back in the 80's). It was so inredible to hear from these people as we gained a better understanding of Nicaragua! We also went to Loma de Tiscapa, which is where a famous political leader, Sandino, used to live. We saw their Central Park, National Theater, Old Cathedral, New Cathedral, and other potical/historical locations. We also visited and heard from the leaders in this community in the middle of Managua across the street from the National Assembly. They are living in these huts made from scraps of wood and garbage bags. They have all been affected by a chemical called Nemagon, which big companies forced them to use in farming back in the early 90's. This chemical was illegal in the US, but there weren't laws against it at that time in Nicaragua. However, it is EXTREMELY damaging to one's health. So we got to hear about their history and their struggle with getting the attention and care needed from the government. However, the government has done NOTHING about this and they have been living in this community for about 6ish years now. Anyway, that was the gist of our time in Managua.

Wednesday we met the pastor's of our communities and split up into small groups. They each took four or five students and introduced each one to their host family for the week. My family was inredible and so extremely hospitable! They practically treated me like a queen with tons of food, their nicest plate, and practically serving me in every possible way. Mirna and Francisco were my host parents. Francisco worked from 4:00 am - 7 or 8ish at night, so I did not see him a whole lot. However, one night he got home a littler earlier and I got to talk to him a lot about Nicaragua, their politcal history, their interaction with the US, and his opinion on it all. One thing I discovered quickly was that Nicaraguans have a very different accent than Costa Ricans. They seem to talk a little faster and almost mumble more. That made it twice as hard to understand (as if I don't have enough trouble all ready) haha. Mirna was a more quiet but strong woman. She cooked, cleaned the house, washed the dishes, washed clothes, and took care of her girls. Katherine was 12 yrs old going on 25. She helped her mom with everything around the house and took care of her youngest sister Genesis (8months) who is possibly the most beautiful baby I have ever seen in my life! Abi (IRONIC, and confusing at times) was 7 yrs old and she became my shaddow. She went with me EVERYWHERE and just watched me. She was really quiet at first, but during the second half of the week she was starting to talk all the time with me. I pretty much got to live life with this family. Life was very slow paced which i enjoyed for a change. I believe that there is a lot we can learn from "slowing down". We went to church every night, except one. There church was more conservative, but they expect everyone to participate. It's typical to have people come up front and sing a song for the church. Numerous people did this every night...including myself on my 1st night there. Mirna found out that I knew "Eres Todopoderoso" so we marched up there and sang it for all. Talk about DIVING right into the experience! haha I played kickball a couple times with a bunch of people from Cuatro Esquinas (my community) and passed a volleyball around a few times with some girls. My host family took me to Masaya, where there were 2 main markets that we ventured to. I also went to the Dia de la Biblia (Day of the Bible) with a large group of people from our church. We marched through the city of Ticuantepe chanting things such as Quien vive? Cristo! A su nombre? Gloria (Who lives? Christ! And to his name? Glory!) We arrived at a park where there were at least 300-400 people. It was then conducted somewhat like a church service with singing and a message along with their national dance and some poetry. I mostly enjoyed just spending time with my family going to the stand to buy fruit, go to another house to buy rice and chicken, sitting outside with my sisters, chilling in their hammock under the palm trees, talking with people in the community, going to a wedding, riding around in these trike-like taxis, and watching telenovelas (soap operas) with my family. So many more stories, but it's impossible to write them all! Feel free to ask me more about this trip when I return.

The last 2 days of our trip we reunited as a LASP group and stayed at a nice hostel in Granada. This was a time of rest and reflection. I ventured around Granada seeing their beautiful architecture, eating, and buying a few souveniers. As our group activity on Thursday, we had some debriefing time in small groups and then took a tour of the Islands in Lake Nicaragua (where Granada is located on the coast). Such incredible beauty!! There was an island with monkeys that we got close to. Taylor Jessup (the other APU student here) fed a monkey and then the monkey journeyed onto all our boats looking for food. She (the monkey) searched through my friends bag and found her granola bar. She also smelled that I had a banana in my bag (good timing on my part). She crawled all over me and I gave her the banana to eat. So incredibly hilarious! We all went and had lunch on one of the islands and then returned to our hostel by horse and buggie to enjoy the rest of the day.

Friday morning we got up bright and early to begin our 11 hour trip back. Now I am back in San Jose with a journal to finish about the trip, a 4-6 page paper to write, and a packet to read all for Tuesday! The break from classes sure was nice, but I guess that's what I am here for. Back to work! :)

Pictures to come!

Alive and Well!!!

I´m in Granada, Nicaragua for a couple days of rest and reflection at the end of our two week trip here! It has been an incredible time and was difficult to leave my host family this afternoon! I´ll blog more about the trip when I get back to San Jose this weekend! Thank you all for your prayers!!!

Off to Nicaragua!

I'm leaving my house in 9 hours to meet up with everyone in LASP and hop on a bus for a 8-10 hour drive to Nicaragua! We are going to be there for two weeks, and I won't be able to have contact via internet. But I'm still alive! ;) The first few days we will spend in the capital city of Managua hearing different speakers and such. Then we will be divided up into groups of 4 - 5ish. Each group will live in the same community with each person having their own family/home for 1 week. This will be in a town outside of the city and most likely in a poorer area. FYI: Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere (Haiti is the first). So who knows what kind of conditions I'll be living in. Adventure!!! The last couple days we spend in Granada reflecting on the trip and relaxing! I'll have pictures and stories to share when I return!

BUSY BUSY, but GOOD week!!!

This past week has been crazy! We had a fair amount of homework due this week and I got to spend some time with my Costa Rican friends as well as American friends. I’m sooo glad it’s the weekend though because I did write 2 papers in Spanish, which were each about 4 pages long! My brain was fried! However, I’m definitely improving, which is a main reason I’m here. I also worked really hard on Tuesday to finish my first paper because I knew I would not have time to do it Wednesday night because my hermana tica (Andrea) told me that I HAD TO COME to this big surprise 30^th birthday party for a guy from our church here. The party was great! Pizza Hut pizza, cake, and candy from the piñata! Best thing ever was watching all these grown adults (25 – 40) clench their party bags while leaning forward ready to pounce on the candy as soon as it fell, and that is exactly what happened!!! (pic above) Of course the good Latin music was playing the whole time and one of my friends (Esteban) was showing me how to salsa. They all definitely make it look a million times easier with all their spins, but now I have something to aim for! After most of the people had left, Andrea’s close friends who I’m always hanging with decided to take a bunch of pictures. If you look at the picture of me laying across their arms their names from left to the back and then to the right front are: Carla, Andrea, Esteban, Edgar, Carlos, Ellen. Anyway, got home at about 12:30am and I had to get up at 6:00am the next morning! Whew! So I walk into my room, shut the door, and there is this fatty cockroach on the wall in the corner behind my door. I got Andrea who can and killed it…ick! Then I moved some clothes in my closet to grab my pajamas and these white bugs scurried out from under my clothes. Needless to say, I shake everything before I put it on now. Haha! I’m pretty sure it’s just cause the bugs come out late at night and I’m usually asleep by then. HOWEVER, I remember being woken up the other night by something that was crawling on my arm! I brushed it off and realized that it was rather large…so…in putting two and two together…I’m pretty sure a cockroach was crawling on me while I was sleeping the other night! NASTY! (Holguins, you can probably empathize!) So that was my fun story for the middle of the week. Friday morning all LASP people met up and we spent the majority of the morning sharing brief “life stories” or some story that went below the surface, so we could start to get to know each other deeper. Great time of sharing, being vulnerable, laughing, crying, and being in community with one another! This time was topped off with HOMEMADE CINAMON ROLLS that LASP had brought to us!! Soooo incredibly delicious!! Friday night I got to go to a Mexican restaurant with a bunch of my American friends. It was great to continue our being in community and getting to know one another better! I’ve gotten pretty close with a handful of people from all over the US! It’s also always nice to be able to carry on a deep meaningful conversation with someone (obviously in English) after you’ve been constantly TRYING to have similar conversations in Spanish. However, my Spanish is indeed improving! Some days are definitely harder and more discouraging than other, but I just have to keep going for it and messing up in order to fix it and move on. I think I’m beginning to be able to show my personality more to people through my clever statements in Spanish here and there as I try to incorporate my humor in another language! Here’s a neat story for you: My host mom’s dad is not doing well health wise, and this has been hard on her and the family in general. This morning, she randomly comes into my room and starts to tell me how she woke up at 4:30am cause she couldn’t sleep (sounds like someone else I know…cough – mom – cough). So she got up and read this devotional, which she then proceeded to read to me. After she finished reading it to me, she pretty much just started to pour her heart out to me. Talking about how she’s just been asking God why he’s put this situation in their life and what are they supposed to get out of it. She was telling me how it’s been so hard on her and the family to just be waiting around and hoping, but not knowing if her dad is going to die or what’s going on, all the while she’s crying as she’s telling me all this. What do you say and how do you respond?! So…I just told her that maybe God will use this to make her stronger in the end, and I reassured her that I was praying for her and her family. Anyway, kind of a random shock and yet neat experience, and the best part was I pretty much understood everything she was saying. In addition to that, I sat at the table after dinner with my host parents and had a long conversation with them about their previous students and all sorts of stories that went along with that. The incredible part was when we were done talking and I was walking to my room and I realized that I had pretty much understood EVERYTHING they were telling me in their FAST pace talking! Woot Woot! My Spanish is improving!!!! All in all, a great, very full week! I leave for a 2 week trip to Nicaragua Monday morning, but I’ll blog about that tomorrow!

Pictures from CR life!

All right, so here are some pictures from the beaches in Guanacaste my first weekend here, downtown San José where I spend a fair amount of time, and hanging out at classes with people. Also, there are a couple picture of my room in my house in Moravia. Enjoy!