Farewells and Goodbyes

Last night our program went out for dinner to celebrate the semester and say our goodbyes. Today I wrapped up my Spanish class, and to celebrate my host mom and I made chalupas for lunch. In the afternoon, I hung out with a friend and said final goodbyes. It’s sad to think that I probably won’t see any of these people again. It still doesn’t feel real that my time here is up…

Such a bittersweet feeling. This country sure did teach me a lot of Spanish, but I think I learned more about myself than anything. So very sad to be saying bye to the place I called home for so long, however I’m incredibly excited and thankful to be coming home to such awesome family and friends. See you soon USA!

Thankful

This weekend was absolutely nuts. I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to go to the beach with me so I decided to go out on my own. I turned out nothing like I thought it would, but it was by far my most favorite weekend in Costa Rica.

First thing Friday morning I left for a class field trip to Playa Blanca to do watercolor painting on the beach. We got there and a few of us immediately started building sand castles, turtles, and even a sandman. We then talked our professor into letting this count as our art project for the day. The rest of the morning we swam in the ocean, ate jam and cheese sandwiches, and hung out at a local soda for lunch. The rest of the class left after lunch and left me on the side of the road (this is no exaggeration) where I waited for a bus to go to a different beach. I waited there for over an hour while I talked to a guy who invited me to ride on his motorcycle to his favorite beach, or even take me to San José to see the festival this weekend…Needless to say, I’m glad the bus finally showed up.

Waiting to leave for the beach.

Because I was already at the beach, there was no direct bus to where I wanted to go next. I got on the first bus going south and took that for 3 hours to a town called Quepos. Once there it was already dark, so I sat at the bus station for an hour and chatted with this mom who showed me pictures of her baby and told me she needed to ride the same bus as me. She made sure I got on the right bus and even sat by me. After a couple hours, I fell asleep and slept past the stop I was supposed to get off at. I got off at the last stop not knowing at all where I was. This town isn’t a tourist town so there were no taxi’s and no people. I found a restaurant where I asked a guy if he could call me a cab. Finally after almost 6 hours of travel, I made it to the hostel. Unfortunately, I walked in and realized I didn’t have any form of ID on me.  I got ahold of my mom in the US and asked her if she could send me a picture of the copy of my passport she has. After waiting for her to get home and send me a picture, I finally got booked.

For everyone who is curious as to what a hostel looks like.

Such cute kittens at this hostel

On Saturday I took the shuttle the hostel offers to the beach. They didn’t want us to have to pay to get into the beach so they took us down a dirt path where there weren’t any park rangers. We had to get out of the truck and walk through the mud to get there. I got bit by a few ants and slipped in the mud, but at least we saved 12 dollars! I hung out all day with a group of people that I had just met that day. Two girls from Germany who have been here for 6 months and actually live 10 minutes from me in SJ, a guy from New Zealand, and a man from Colorado. It was awesome to hear so many different stories and people in so many different walks of life.

Muddy feet

David wanted me to take this for his mom

Girls from Germany

Today I went to a waterfall to swim and go cliff jumping with a girl named Tami who is also here on her own from Cali. She is only here for 10 days and actually leaves tomorrow. Just two strangers spending their last few days in Costa Rica together.

Tami!

It’s crazy. I came to this town all alone not thinking I wasn’t going to be with anyone, but never during this trip I was never alone. I got to sit on the beach and talk with two girls from Germany, walk the beach with a guy from New Zealand, swim in the ocean with a guy from Colorado, cliff jump with a girl from California, and sleep in the same room with a couple from France. I am beyond thankful for everyone I met this weekend.

It’s absolutely amazing to know that never once have we ever walked alone.  We serve a God who tells us not to worry about tomorrow, and not to be anxious about anything. How awesome is that!? He is able and willing to be our guides if we can just move past ourselves and give our troubles to Him. Our God is forever faithful to us and, for me, it takes being 4000 miles away from home in a town by myself to see it. I feel such an overwhelming contentment and peace that I didn’t really feel here until now.

Philippians 4:6-7:  “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” 

Weekday Shenanigans

Here are the top 10 most awesome things that have happened the past couple weeks:

1. I started my final Spanish class. It started out with three kids, but by the third day it was a class of one. At first it was a little strange, but now I don’t think I would have it any other way. I’m getting the best grades I’ve gotten all semester in this class!

2. My mom made us tamales for breakfast! I would have preferred to eat them for dinner, but it was still awesome. Tamales are a food only eaten around Christmas time, so this was super special.

3. For a class field trip we went to the Jade Museum, which is pretty much 5 stories of anything and everything Jade. Oh, and there was a sandbox. After we went to a a quaint little restaurant in San Jose called Spoons where had cake and coffee!

4. Brady has been growing his beard out since we got here and now he can tie it in a pony tail.

5. In my mural painting class, we have been working on our final project for about a month. Just this week we tragically found out that our project had been ripped up and thrown away by the janitors. So, we decided to start over and whip this piece together in about an hour. It’s an airbrushed piece. Airbrushes are the coolest thing I have ever worked with.

6. I found Costa Rican Mac and Cheese and it’s delicious.

7. When I’m not eating Mac and Cheese for lunch, I’m buying empanadas. I’m beyond addicted. I wish I could bring some home for all of you to try.

8. I saw a rainbow yesterday. This was really exciting because it has been cold and rainy for the past week.

9. There is a house down the street that is really ready for Christmas.

10. This view never gets old.

Christmas Carols

This weekend I went with my family to the mall to watch my host dad preform with his choir group. They sang Christmas Carols in the middle of the mall. It was awesome to hear songs that I know in English in Spanish. My dad is the short bald guy on the left. Afterwards we all went out for pizza. It was the bomb.

A Costa Rican Thanksgiving

Obviously, Thanksgiving is not a holiday celebrated here, so I was in classes all day. However, after classes, my program advisor took us all out for dinner at a hotel across town. There we had 3 course meal with dessert. It wasn’t your typical turkey with mashed potatoes, but it was awesome nonetheless.

Some sort of Costa Rican squash soup, and yes, that is popcorn on top

Pura Vida No Pro

There is an awesome program here in Costa Rica called Pura Vida No Pro. Every year PVNP takes a group of at-risk youth from an orphanage in San José for the day to for surfing and fun. They rented out a hotel with a pool right on the beach. During the day they had stations where the kids could surf, ride horses, decorate cupcakes, do crafts, swim in the pool, and obviously, eat.

Amber and I were in charge of the arts and crafts table. The kids decorated awesome masks.

One of the kids had a birthday that day so we sang for him and had cake and ice-cream. Afterwards there was even a piñata! I think in total the kids ate cookies, cupcakes, cake, ice-cream, and candy that day. This was definitely a day made for kids.

On top of having great company, this beach was one of the prettiest beaches I’ve visited here. The water was beautiful.

This was one of my most favorite weekends here by far. So fun to see the kids interact with the adults too. Most of the volunteers didn’t speak spanish, and yet amazing bonds were made. It was sad to see the kids separate from their volunteer at the end of the day.

For the rest of the weekend Amber and I shopped at local stores in Jacó, ate cake for breakfast, and walked the beach.

Christmas is everywhere.

Manuel Antonio

This weekend I learned how to surf. It is way harder than it looks. My roommate Rachel is from Cali and knows all about surfing, so we rented some boards and she taught me. It was crazy fun and I can’t wait to do it again. We stayed at a Hostel with 12 beds in it, but luckily Rachel and I were the only ones in it. We had the whole room to ourselves!

Right after I took the last picture I slipped on a rock, gashed my wrist open, and dropped my camera in the water. Although my camera is broken now, at least the memory card with all the pictures is still okay!

Bungalow Life

I took a long weekend to spend some time with the McClain Family while they were here in Costa Rica. Although it was raining pretty much the whole time they were here, we still got to go zip lining, rafting, and relaxing in hot springs. It was an awesome time.

Rafting may have been the funnest thing I have done here. The water was freezing and the waves were huge. Luckily, I didn’t fall off, but only half of us that were on the raft could say that…

The day after rafting we went up to Arenal Volcano to sit in the Baldi Hot Springs surrounding the volcano. It was beautiful. Who doesn’t love water slides that go into huge hottubs?!

While leaving town we were stopped by a parade with lots of high school bands. They play bells and drums and that’s it. Here’s a clip of one of the bands (this is for you dad).

I’m not sure if photos will ever be posted of these events because I did not take any myself, but here is a picture of one of the bungalows we stayed in. If you want a more in depth description and pictures, I would hit up Amber’s blog.
( http://shesawildflowerblog.weebly.com )

Foods from Home

Amber and I were on a cooking high after the pan fried cookies were a success so we decided to make a whole dinner for the family while they were away that day. We pan fried brownies this time and made chocolate mousse to go with it. We didn’t have a mixer either…I think Costa Rica has made me more of a creative problem solver than anything. For dinner there was pasta, bread, and an awesome avocado spread that Amber made. The whole dinner was great.
It was cool to be able to cook for Amber’s family here. I really appreciate them. Like in the States, her house is like a home away from home. Her mom is the sweetest too and I adore her. What other mom would let you sleep in her bed, put aloe on you when you get burned, and even serve you breakfast in the morning remembering to use only foods that she knows you like?

Amber’s Family!

The next week I offered to make dinner for my family because I thought it would be fun to cook with my host mom (and because I was a little tired of rice and beans). I decided on a menu with the help of my mom in the states, and my host mom and I were off to the store to buy everything. That night I breaded and fried chicked, mashed potatoes, and steamed veggies. It was all so good and tasted like home. Everyone enjoyed it, except for Dani (my host sister)…she wasn’t so sure about the mashed potatoes.

David’s Birthday!

My host brother David turned the big 1-0  on the 27th. Over the weekend he celebrated with his friends by having a huge party and playing soccer all day. On his actual birthday his aunts and uncles came over and we all ate cake and ice-cream. The cake was a tres leches with an orange ice-cream that tasted a lot like fruity pebbles. We sang happy birthday and all was good until his uncle blew out his candles before he could. After this video stopped his mom relit the candles so he could blow them out. It was super cool to be able to see how people celebrate birthday’s here.