Friday, February 18

What an eventful day! I got up early this morning in order to use the internet at the neighbor's house before I went into LASP. I needed to email some stuff to Northwestern for my scholarship and I checked a few emails quick before taking the bus to LASP. Once there, I finally returned Bitter Fruit, the book I read for my US/GUA relations thesis paper. I gave the book to Don Antonio and ended up spending some more time talking to him about the issue. After that, I headed over to Don Mike's office to discuss the Catholic church. I had some questions written down from his lecture and mostly just wanted to pick his brain to get a better understanding of the church in general and its roots in Catholicism. We had a really good chat, and I learned a lot from him!

While at LASP I also took some time to sit in the garden by myself to read the Bible and pray. It was an amazing time of reflection and recognition of the growth God has created in me and the blessings He has poured out this semester. Again, I was overwhelmed by His love and the desire to serve Him more. I didn't even realize how much I needed to take a break and sit with God, but I am so happy that He drew me near today and that I can continue moving forward with Him by my side. I hope to be able to make/find more time to keep having little retreats like this one throughout the rest of my time here.

When it was time to walk over to ICADS, I met with a group of other students and we made our way to class. Haleigh and I shared about news from home and the movement and growth we have been seeing in our lives lately. Today was our last day of this program at ICADS (we will go to ICADS again for 2 weeks after Nicaragua, but our classes will change), so we just took our quiz, played a few games and then had a celebration with the whole group of students. There were a bunch of yummy snacks, and it felt good to be completely done with this first portion of the semester.

After ICADS, a bunch of us needed to go shopping for some things we will need in Nicaragua, so we made our way to Pequeno Mundo, my new favorite store. There are apparently two Pequeno Mundos near ICADS, so every time we asked someone for directions we were pointed different ways, getting progressively more lost until we finally just decided to turn around and start over. Upon finally arriving at the store, we had to put our bags in lockers before being allowed to begin shopping.

At first I thought I was really going to hate the store, and I was hoping that Haleigh would go to the mall with me after we finished there. Its basically like a warehouse of everything you could ever imagine, but especially clothes. There are massive shelves from floor to ceiling covered in boxes. You could find virtually anything in there, and the clothes were super fun to search through. Despite the massive quantities of things, it was organized enough to sift through, and we all found some really cool things. Haleigh and I spent more than an hour going through the store picking out things for our Nicaraguan host families, friends at home, and maybe sneaking a thing or two for ourselves every once in a while.

By the time we finished at Pequeno Mundo, it was getting pretty late, but we still needed to buy medicines for our trip to Nicaragua. The LASP staff gave us a huge list of preventative and reactionary meds they want us to have for our home stays there since we will be so spread out. The poor guy at the pharmacy had no idea what he was getting himself into when he invited us to the counter, and we spent at least 45 minutes in there finding everything we needed.

Finally we were ready to head home, so we found the nearest bus stop and were disappointed four times by bus drivers who for some reason refused to stop for us. Unfortunately the driver who did stop for us was really excited about honking the horn, and it was a crazy ride to city center where we needed to switch buses to get home. In San Jose I also needed to call my host family to let them know I was on my way. Mami didn't want me walking the three minutes from the bus stop home by myself in the dark, so she asked me to call when I left so that someone could come meet me.

The pay phones in La Plaza de Cultura in San Jose, Costa Rica do not take change. I discovered this the hard way. In order to use a phone card in said payphones, one must dial 1 before entering the number of the phone card company. This I learned from a kind man who was also using the pay phones. After 10 minutes of fumbling with my backpack, change, and phone card, I finally notified mami that I was on my way home. Then we just needed to find the bus. Thankfully, we remembered how to get to the next bus stop and the bus we were waiting for pulled up just as we turned the corner.

It was so cute to see mami and papi sitting at the bus stop together waiting for me. They were enjoying the incredible view we have from our neighborhood (I now live at the top of a big hill on the outskirts of town, so we can see pretty much the whole city lit up at night), and we all chatted about our days on the walk home. When I got home Andrey got out his telescope and we all looked at the amazing full moon for a while. Then, Melany and I played cards and a few other games.

Finally I was so tired I had to call it quits and I retreated to my room to pack for my trip tomorrow. It took me quite a while to get everything organized, but now my packing for Nicaragua will go a lot faster. I'm really looking forward to getting away this weekend, and I'm praying that God will reveal Himself to me in the cloud forest. I want to know Him more and move closer to Him with every step I take.

Thursday, February 17

As soon as I walked into LASP this morning someone shouted out Casey, you have a huge package! I went straight to the mail boxes, and I was super excited to find a big box of treats from my family. They sent me a bunch of Valentine's day candy and some really nice cards. It was really fun to open the package and to have a little something from home. Pretty much everyone watched as I unwrapped my stuff, and they were all almost as excited about it as I was.

This morning we had our final lecture in Basic Seminar, the class I've been taking on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Our topic was Nicaragua, and we basically just went over a quick history of the country and its modern condition. The lecture was followed by process groups, and I was excited to hand in my final reading critique and thesis paper. At LASP we also talked about the trip to the cloud forest that I'm going on this weekend. I'll write more about it later, but there's a group of 14 or so students from LASP renting a few dorm-like rooms at a science base just to get away for the weekend. It will be nice to get out of San Jose and live independently for a little bit, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the forest has to offer.

At ICADS we worked on prepositions, and it was funny but frustrating trying to separate the little words in our heads. My whole class is dreading that portion of the quiz tomorrow, but it feels good to know that it will be our last quiz, at least until we get back from Nicaragua.

The rest of my evening was pretty uneventful. I spent pretty much all of my time at home working on an essay that I need to send in for my scholarship before I leave for Nicaragua, and my whole host family was fascinated by my ability to type. They especially liked it when I looked away from the screen and kept on typing. Of course, for all they know I could have been just typing nonsense, but it was fun to joke about. Kevin was imitating me and said that I could have a whole conversation while typing. While trying to explain that I can't do that, I said 的 can't even walk and chew gum at the same time.Apparently the phrase isn't so common here, and we had a good laugh while I tried to explain what it meant.

My host siblings went to bed really early, and then my host mom sat down with me at the kitchen table to chat for a little bit. It was so nice of her, and I really enjoyed talking to her about the rest of my semester. We talked about some typical food in Costa Rica and she explained what her family does for Easter. I'm happy I've been getting more opportunities to build a relationship with her, and I hope we can continue getting to know each other more each day.

Wednesday, February 16

What an overwhelming day! I'm not sure what happened to me today, but for some reason I just was struck with frustration and exhaustion. While my new host family is amazing, its been hard settling into a new home, and its been especially challenging knowing that I'll be leaving them to go to Nicaragua in a few days. This week is also full of things to do, so I think it was just trying to think about too much instead of just relaxing and letting things happen.

I got up early to stop at an e-cafe this morning to send some emails and look up some final details for my thesis paper before our weekly worship service at LASP. When I got there at 8 the e-cafe wasn't open, so I went to LASP and worked on some reading for tomorrow. About an hour later I went back and used the computer for a while, but I kind of rushed in order to get back to LASP for worship. When I got back to LASP I found out worship was canceled because the leaders were all working on their presentations, so I read some more.

After lunch we headed over to ICADS to give our presentations. I ended up not making a poster because our teacher told us yesterday we could just write on the white boards if we wanted to. Well, when I went to give my presentation the two teachers in the audience were not at all excited about the whiteboard thing, so I just gave the presentation without it. I think the presentation went fine, but I'm a little nervous about my grade.

Because we got done at ICADS so early, a group of us went into downtown San Jose to go to an artisan's market and buy some stuff for Nicaragua. That was a lot of fun, and we found some really great stuff at the market. By the time we were done there it was almost 4:30 and I was needing to get home, so Haleigh and I searched for a bus (which took quite a while) and made our way towards El Carmen (our part of San Jose). Our bus happened to stop at Andrey's school just as he was getting out, so it was fun to take the bus home with him.

When we got home mami was at a PTA-like meeting, so it was just the four of us kids, and it was kind of fun to just chill for a while. I started my homework after a bit and I've been working on stuff all evening. It seems like I've been consistently underestimating my homework load, and I'm looking forward to this weekend when all of it will just be done. My prayers for strength and patience are unending...I can't get through a single moment here without God's grace and presence, and I long to just rest in Him.

Tuesday, February 15

            This morning at LASP Don Mike gave a lecture on the church in Latin America. His focus was Catholicism, and he gave a pretty detailed summary of the basic beliefs of the Catholic church pre- and post-Vatican II. The lecture was extremely interesting, and after he spoke we went to visit a Basilica in Cartago (a city near San Jose). The Basilica was beautiful and was built in response to an apparition of the Virgin Mary in that place. I learned a lot about Catholicism and set up a meeting with Don Mike to talk more about the foundations of the church and the reason for the splits and changes in our history.

            Another part of our morning was our pre-Nicaragua orientation. We were given packing lists and a survey that essentially asked us if we would like to have running water or not during our stay in Nicaragua. I wasn't really sure which I preferred, and I just decided to trust that God and the LASP staff will put me somewhere I can learn and grow. Its going to be a really challenging 10 days there, but I'm excited for the challenge and I can't wait to learn to rely on God in new ways through my experience in Nicaragua.

            The LASP staff also announced that they were extending the deadline for our thesis papers until Friday. Apparently there was a mistake in the scheduling and they didn't want us staying up all night finishing our thesis papers and preparing for our ICADS presentations for tomorrow. Its kind of nice to have some extra time to tweek things, and the schedule changes made my week seem a lot more do-able. I can't believe the first portion of my trip is already coming to a close!

            Before ICADS a few of us did some research about La Fortuna, the town we will be staying in over spring break when we go to see Volcán Arenal. On the way home from Spanish we stopped at a few stores to pick up some things for Nicaragua, and when I got home our neighbors were over having coffee with mami. It seems like I'm being offered food all the time, and I'm always given more than I would ever ask for. I don't think I even remember what it feels like to be hungry anymore!

            When the neighbors left, Andrey taught me how to play chess while Melany played with my hair, and after dinner I settled in for an evening of Spanish. I practiced my presentation a few times, and mami was worried that I didn't make my poster for the presentation yet. I'll have some time tomorrow to throw something together if I decide I need to, but I'm pretty sure I'll be fine without a guide. Mami was so helpful yesterday when I asked her about schools in Costa Rica that I could talk for way more than my allotted time about them.

            I've been looking over my schedule for the rest of the time before I go to Nicaragua (we're leaving at 6am on Monday), and I'm not sure if I'll be able to post again before I leave. Since running water was a question, I'm pretty sure I will not have the internet while I'm there, so I just wanted to let everyone know not to expect any posts from me for a while. I won't get back to San Jose until March 3, and I'm not sure when I'll have the chance to use the internet again after that. My goal is at the very least to get online while on Spring break (March 5-7) to let everyone know I'm okay. I can't wait to see what God will do during my time away, and I'm excited to share it all with you when I get back!  Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support!

Monday, February 14

            Happy Valentine's Day! My host siblings just politely banged my door down to give me an incredibly sweet Valentine's day card from their family. They make me feel more and more loved every day! :) I was happy I had some little chocolate hearts to share with them, and no one wanted to leave my room so that I could study.

            This week is going to be another crazy one, but luckily I'm only anticipating academically craziness instead of emotionally and physically exhaustion. Its our last week in San Jose before our trip to Nicaragua, so our thesis papers are due on Wednesday. For ICADS we also have an 8 minute presentation to give on Wednesday and a final exam on Friday. Yikes! So far I have....nothing finished!! Luckily all my thesis paper requires this week is a few corrections and a works cited.

            Today was an interesting day, mostly because my schedule was completely different than it has been in the past. I went over to Haleigh's house to use the internet this morning, and it was sooo great to talk to John and my mom. Getting to Haleigh's house (I may have missed a bus and forgotten which street she lived on) and then calling home took up pretty much my whole morning, and before I knew it we needed to head over to ICADS. I didn't get a chance to work on any of my homework like I was hoping, but it was totally worth it.

            In Spanish class we worked on vocabulary, and it was fun to learn the dictionary version of words and then the slang words that people actually use. We made a few stops on the way home, and I bought this delicious yogurt and granola thing that I think I could eat every day for the rest of my life and not get sick of. I also bought some poster board (yes...we finally found some!) for my presentation on Wednesday. That was super fun to carry while we took the long way home and I squeezed onto an overfull bus.

            When I got home mami and I talked about the school system in Costa Rica (the topic for my presentation on Wednesday) for about an hour and she was really helpful! Then I helped her get dinner ready and we all ate together. From the minute I got home Melany was dying to play something...ANYTHING with me, so after dinner we played with some clay for a while and then I needed to work on my presentation. Motivation = lacking and progress = slow, but I know I need to just do it or I'll regret it when the final grades come through.

Sunday, February 13

            I think this weekend may have been the best one I've had in Costa Rica so far. This is probably because I really just needed a break after last week. It was fabulous to have two whole days with nothing to worry about. I spent a fair amount of time on my thesis paper, but because I already did the outline and talked to Don Antonio so much about my topic, writing it went pretty smoothly. I'm pretty much done with it, which feels like a great victory!

            This morning we went to my host family's Catholic church and I really liked it. The Catholic churches seem more alive here than the ones I've been to in the States, and I'm grateful that my church experiences here haven't lived up to my dreadful expectations of sitting in the heat for hours on end listening to a dry priest....don't ask where that expectation came from, because I've never actually experienced that in a Latin American church...its just what came to mind for some reason. Anyway, after church I played “My International Bank” with Kevin and Melany. It was pretty much the same a Monopoly, only neither one of my host siblings understood how to play, so we all had loads of money and there was no end to the game in sight when I quit to work on my paper.

            After lunch I was feeling a little tired and discouraged because I never know what to say or how to say it. I wish I could just step out and guess. My host family is incredibly gracious and they're always good at explaining things when I ask, so I don't understand why its so hard sometimes. Either way, I was in need of some quiet rest, so I took a little while to myself in my room and just read and prayed. It was good to be broken at the foot of the cross again and to be reminded that God is with me always.

            We had another rosary praying this afternoon. This time it was in honor of 8 months since my host mom's father's death. It was a bit of a smaller crowd and the prayer time went really quickly and was followed by some yummy food and joking around. Again, Kevin entertained us all with his impressions (this time of his aunt's dancing), and it was a lot of fun. When everyone left I played some cards and other games with Kevin and Melany and then showed them every picture on my computer. They loved trying to type things and listening to my Michael Jackson music.

            I can't believe I'm about 1/3 of the way done with my time abroad! So much has happened already and I've learned loads, yet it seems like time is flying. I'm sad to only have a few more weeks with this host family and nervous for what Nicaragua will bring, but I just can't wait to see what more God will bring me. He is so incredibly faithful, and I'm so grateful that He has been working all of these experiences to bring me closer to Him. ¡Hasta Mañana!

Saturday, February 12

            Today was a dose of exactly what I needed. I got to sleep in a little bit, and when mami, papi, and I were ready, we went to the feria (fruit/vegetable market) to pick up some groceries.  I loved the market and being there made me want to move here after graduation just to get to shop at a market like that every week. Mami bought me a pipa (a fruit similar to a coconut, but bigger and green with tender meat) so that I could drink the juice inside, which was kind of fun. When we were leaving, mami saw a shirt she wanted to buy for Kevin and came out of the store with three shirts, one of which was for me. She is so sweet!

            On the way home, we stopped at the Costa Rican version of Sam's Club and wandered around picking up a few things. Mami just got a membership there, so she wanted to check things out, and I was amazed by how much stuff there was imported from the US and labeled in English. When we got home, my host siblings challenged me to a game of soccer, so we played out in the yard for about an hour. I was so bad at it, but we had a good time.

            After things finally settled down, I spent some time working on my thesis paper. Its coming along pretty well, its just a challenge to sit down and work on it. I took a study break to check my email and update my blog at the neighbor's house, and it was good to hear from some of you!

            Tonight for dinner we had cheeseburgers (a special treat everyone was excited about), and Kevin kept us all laughing for more than an hour. He was acting out all kinds of crazy things people do in their sleep, re-telling how ridiculous my soccer skills are, and telling pretty much every joke he could remember. Most of the time I only had a vague idea of what he was saying, but it was fun to laugh and be part of such a happy, lively family.