fin

So here I am back in the USA. I am so very delighted to be home and to be with my real family again, but I will surely miss Costa Rica. On Thursday evening we had a farewell dinner with our host families and it almost seemed surreal. I just couldn’t quite grasp the fact that this might be the last time that I will ever see them. We chatted and laughed all through dinner and then the end came. We snapped a couple of pictures and before I knew it Mema had her arms around me and was crying. I won’t deny, I cried too and I think that’s quite alright. We may have said goodbye, but that doesn’t mean that they are forgotten. I’m excited to keep in contact with them via snail mail. I also was reassured several times that if I ever come to Costa Rica again I am most welcome to stay in their home free of charge.  God truly blessed me with a very very special family in Costa Rica and I am so thankful for that. The memories and moments that I have had with them I will always cherish.

 The video is basically just Amalia and Mema saying goodbye, as well as Leticia (Mema's other daughter). They wanted to greet my parents and thank them for letting me stay with them. Is that not ridiculous!? They were THANKING my parents for being able to take care of me. Unbelievable. Also in the video Amalia said that I was a beautiful girl and that she hopes I can visit soon, after that Mema said that she loves me and hopes I can come visit again. Oh, and the laughing (or squeaking) is definitely me. I have no idea why my voice jumps up like 2 octaves in spanish, but it does.

And here are a couple of pictures of our final days:

This is Ferry we took to Montezuma for a little relaxation before going home. It's called "The Drum II"

Emily, Elisabeth, and I on the Ferry.

After the last dinner with Amalia and Mema.

Harry Potter opening night in Costa Rica, and in 3D. I wish it had been in Spanish, although the subtitles were amusing.

Sunset out the airplane window.

The landing in O'Hare. Home home home---Hooray!

Corazón

just my view out the airplane windo for my journey home

visiting momma at camp

at the wedding

Mr. and Mrs. Gonzalez. WOOOHOO!

my art...in my house in Costa Rica

precious Alison, my cousin in the dryer. cutie.



Lorenzo, no wonder all the lady cats love him. look at those eyes.

oh how these people make me smile

Corazón , in case you didn’t know, is the Spanish word for “heart.” I think what I like most about it is that the word also means core—the very center of who we are. This summer, especially in Costa Rica I’ve been thinking a lot about my heart. Between Scripture I’ve been reading and things that I see in Costa Rica, I think it’s all starting to fit together.

“Above all else, guard your HEART, for it is the wellspring of life” Proverbs 4:23 Nearly every home here is surrounded by giant, sturdy, metal fences with locks and all. What is interesting to me is that nearly all the fences have patterns and designs, and the most prominent being hearts. Each time I look upon the fences I cannot help but think of this verse, Proverbs 4:23. It is a bit of a strange concept because although their homes are heavily guarded, when someone knocks or comes to visit, they are always more than willing to let them in and care for them in the most kind way. Anytime we have visitors it is as though they are some long-lost relative that they have been awaiting to return home. I was even treated this way when I went on weekend excursions and as I returned home on Sunday Amalia and Mema would be waiting for me arms wide open as though I were their own daughter that they had not seen in years.  Well, back the  train of thought… what does it mean for me to guard my heart? Which led me again to think of another verse: “For where your treasure is, there your HEART will be also.” Luke 12:34. Costarican people guard their homes, their dwelling place, as if it were a treasure. Through living here I have seen time and time again that these people treasure their homes because within them is the most precious thing—their family. Within my heart dwells the most precious thing as well, the Holy Spirit, my God, my Savior. Although the Spirit of God lives within me, sometimes I falter, and let other things become the treasure of my heart. I suppose this will be something that I will have to continue to wrestle with my whole life, but He sure is worth it. There’s more I could say, but I think these verses can speak for themselves:

“Love the Lord your God with all you HEART and with all your soul and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

“How lovely is Your tabernacle oh Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord. My HEART and my flesh cry out for the living God.” Psalm 84:1-2

“For out of the overflow of the HEART the mouth speaks” Matthew 12:34b

 “Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye…write them on the tablet of your HEART.” Proverbs 7:2-3

Now for a little bit more of an update:

This past weekend I had the honor of witnessing and taking part in one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever seen in my life. My dear friend Brittaney got married to an incredible man, Peter Gonzalez and I could not be more delighted! It was such a blessing that I was able to go home and be a part of their wedding.  Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Peter Gonzalez!

On Monday I returned back to Costa Rica and will be here until July 15^th (Korey, my younger brother’s birthday!!!).  I brought back with my some of my artwork and snickers bars (you’d be surprised how excited they were about those—they love them, and they’re so expensive in Costa Rica). They immediately hung up my artwork on the walls of their house and continued to chatter about the snickers bars to their neighbors and amongst themselves for the rest of the evening. Who knew candy bars could be so great.

This could get a little sentimental, but I think I’m okay with that.

It’s my last week in Costa Rica. My last week to see people mow their lawns with weed-whackers, to wake up in the morning to the rooster across the street and dogs barking, to take busses everywhere that I need to go, to take ice cold showers that I have to dance to make it through alive (okay, exaggeration, but it’s cold!),to walk to the pulperia (convenience store) in the morning with Amalia to pick up the groceries we will need for the day,  to hear Lorenzo our cat fighting on the roof with the neighbor-cat over who gets the lady cat, to wake up in the morning to a plate of art made of fruit, to hear Mema’s uncontrollable laugh after she’s said something sassy, and so much more.

It has been such a blessing for me to be here. Time here flows so gracefully, like a stream. It is calm, peaceful, and constant. Yes, sometimes a river may rise or fall or rapids come, but the stream still flows just the same. It creates its own beautiful song that I have enjoyed dancing with during my stay here. I pray that this new way of life that I’ve gotten to live and experience would be something that I don’t forget. To be quite honest, I don’t think I will. I hope that like Amalia and Mema, my heart and home will always be open and welcoming to all who come my way.

descanso

Well this weekend we had a little excursion to Arenal, a volcano. Our journey was 4 hour bus ride that reminded me of the curvy mountain-top roads in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee aside from the foliage being mugh more tropical. I couldn't help but think of Poppa (my grandfather) being tempted to explore and drive on one or several of the little windy dirty roads that sprung off of the main road. Upon arrival in Arenal we spent the afternoon and evening at a resort with thermal pools. One of them was 157 degrees (I only put my feet in that one very breifly), too hot for my liking. Last night we watched "Tangled" in Spanish--it was great, even the songs were in Spanish!!!
Today is the second day and we started it off bright and early, definitely my kind of day. Breakfast at 6:30 and then on to the bus at 7:30 to get to the canopy. We spent the morning zip-lining through the forrest and finished off the day on a boat ride on the lake near the foot of the volcano. It's been a fairly relaxing trip, lots of time to rest and re-coop. This coming week will be the last week with my host family, which is a little bit sad, but I suppose it is time. Well, time for some pictures!


one view out of the bus window



I really appreciate the colorful homes

sibbling shot. if you can't tell, my hand is stuck in the "thumbs up" position from the glove we had to wear.

the trust harness that kept us safe

that blob up in the sky, that's me. I'm doing what they call the "Tarzan Swing" which was about a 3 story free fall swing that we could choose to do during the zip-line experience if we wished. how could I miss this?!

I like this flower because it looks like it was painted. God's a pretty incedible artist.

girlies on the boat ride---it was great (but boat rides on Lake Geneva are better!)

view across the lake at dusk

this was my farewell meal for the weekend. Rice, plantains, chayote, potatoes, and some sort of red meat. so good. did i meantion we had home-made Cas juice? SO SO good. Amalia keeps me well fed, always.

Amalia and Mema at the dinner table :)

tanta alegría

Costa Rica was made for short people, and I like that. Most of the doorways are small, ceilings are low, and there is not much space in cars. It definitely suites a short gal like myself.

The beginning of the week was a little rough as I was struggling a bit with what I think was “sun stroke” (or so said the pamphlet that the Wheaton Travel Nurse gave to me).  I think it was due to the fact that I had spent so much time in the sun over the weekend. I had a terrible headache, was really nauseous, exhausted, and I kept having fevers and then chills. Again, my sweet host family took such good care of me. They kept checking on me to make sure that I was drinking enough fluids, and provided me with medicine to soothe my headaches.  

Despite being a bit sick in the beginning of the week, it has been pretty grand. As always, I love just living with my family and enjoying simple conversations and interactions. This week I had the unique opportunity to be a translator. There was a group of professors from another university visiting and some of the families opened up their homes to them for dinner. The professor that came to my house for dinner did not speak any Spanish—except hello, please, and thank you. To be quite honest, I was rather nervous about being a translator. I feared that my vocabulary was not extensive enough, or that I would have to try to explain something that I did not know how to say. Praise God, for He gave me all the words that I needed and more. The conversation and dinner went quite smoothly and it ended up being a wonderful time.

On Saturday I had a special opportunity to go to the “Parque de Diversiones” with my cousin, Daniel (the little redhead) and his family, and Michael Gray (a friend from Wheaton). It is basically a smaller more simple (and cheaper) version of 6 Flags. Amalia and Laudema had me go as a gift from them, so they paid for my ticket and lunch—how sweet of them. They told me that they wanted me to experience fun things while I’m in Costa Rica and not just schoolwork.  Indeed the rides were a lot of fun, but it was also a great time to practice my Spanish. Kailey, Daniel’s mother has two nieces in high school that joined us at the park. Michael and I spent the majority of the time with Stephanie and Jocelyn (the nieces) and their boyfriends. Michael and I were both very surprised at how mature they were for high-schoolers. We each had several good conversations with all of them. They were just as interested in learning about us as we were about them.

Sunday we had a lovely Father’s Day celebration with the extended family for breakfast. I got to help out the women in the kitchen with the traditional breakfast: Gallo Pinto.  Then afterwards I went to church with Michael and before the sermon they had some children’s presentations for Father’s Day. SO precious. When I returned home, my cousin Daniel and Pau were there and so I asked them if they would like to paint with me…and they did! It was quite fun.

"H2 Oh!" that Amalia made me drink to get rehydrated

sandals I bought at the artisan's market

just having some fun with Micahael at the amusement park

After the picture, this blue lion man would not let go of my hand and we walked through the park. Seriously, I tried to escape, but he would not let me go. Kailey thought it was hillarious and laughed at me for quite some time.

Michael and I along with our new Costa Rican friends

Daniel, Pau, Mema, and Diego eating Father's Day breakfast

Tobias, our beloved dog!

Amalia, Mema, and I on the front patio.

my little artist friend!

hooray for painting!

pictures at the playa (beach!)

girls at the beach at sunset

being silly, staying under the shade

a monkey we saw in the jungle

Look mom and dad! I'm wearing my sun hat! Oh, and I love my new swimsuit!

on the sailboat...look at the end, there's my dear brother :)

ready to snorkel

piel como un delfin

Well, it’s taken me quite awhile to update this critter, but I’m finally getting it all written down. So here goes one week and an extra weekend’s worth of information. Whoohoo!

Part of my homework a weekend ago was to go to the market and buy an “exotic fruit” that I have never tried before and bring it to class to share with my classmates. My family was more than willing to oblige. So after breakfast I got dressed and put on my sunhat. Mema (or Laudema) came into my room and gently re-adjusted my hat and moved my hair behind my ears. She is absolutely hilarious, but also so very compassionate and filled with love. I appreciate her so much. I went to the market with Amalia, which is just like a farmer’s market. It fills up about two blocks of a street with vendors on either side selling different types of produce, bread, clothing, and other knick-knacks.  As I was buying my exotic fruit I was making small talk with the vendor in Spanish (of course) and he asked me if I came to the market often and Amalia interrupted and said that I didn’t because I’m from the United States. The vendor looks absolutely shocked. He said that he was certain that I was a tica (Costarican woman) especially because my accent was so smooth and accurate. That made me smile. I may not have the greatest vocabulary, but at least when I speak I sound alright. BUT my encounter with the vendor did not end there! One of his fellow workers told him something, which I didn’t catch. Next thing I knew the vendor was asking me to give him my hand, so I did. He gazed upon my palm for awhile and then told me “you will marry and have 3 children….two girls, and one boy.” Ha. We’ll see if that comes true. I laughed, as I thought he was joking, but he and his fellow workers took the matter quite seriously; so I immediately attempted to compose myself.

This past week I got to learn more about my lovely host family by going with them to purchase supplies for their sewing work. We took a bus into Heredia and spent a good 2 and a half hours searching for sewing supplies. We went to several fabric stores and once we had the correct fabrics it was time to find the detail items including buttons, zippers, thread, and elastic. We went to a store that was like nothing I had ever seen in my life. There were doll rods covering the ceiling filled with ever type of elastic and ribbon imaginable. Then there was a glass counter and inside was hundreds, maybe thousands of colors of thread in different thicknesses and sizes. Behind the counter was a wall that was entirely filled with tiny drawers filled with buttons. Well, one of our missions was the find the perfect blue buttons for some button-down shirts they would be making. We found the ones we wanted on a template and the worker found the number on one of the drawers and pulled it out for us. I soon learned that these drawers each had a style of button, but were not sorted by color—that part was up to us. We needed 130 buttons; it was time to start sorting and counting. Amalia, Laudema, and I made quite a team, but to no avail, you see there was only 97 blue buttons in this style so we had to start all over again. Round two was a success however and so we were able to continue on getting the other supplies we needed. My host mommas are amazing. I cannot believe all the work that goes into their job. I go to bed earlier than them and get up later than them and whenever I’m in the house one of them is always working on the machine or cutting fabric.

I still have sand in my hair from this weekend due to the fact that I got pummeled by a wave and smashed into the sand (I also have a lovely “sand burn” on my knee to prove it). The ocean is rough in some parts, but in others it is very peaceful and swimmable. Our group got to take and excursion this weekend to Jaco, and Manuel Antonio beaches. Manuel Antonio is also a National Park so we were able to take a tour through the jungle and see some pretty amazing animals and insects. Did you know that crabs can climb trees and plants? I was fascinated by that…they were like spiders crawling up on all those plants.  My sunhat was my closest companion throughout the weekend as we spent a lot of time in the sun. Another interesting occurrence was that I think I got stung by some small jellyfish or something. It was quite a strange (and a little painful) experience. We were at one of the more calm beaches and my friend Emma and I ran into the water we had only stopped but a moment and suddenly there was this awful somewhat electrical pain in my right calf. My eyes began to water—my leg felt so odd, it was a different pain than I had ever experienced. Emma walked with me to shore and we examined my leg. There were little red swollen rash-like things in the areas of most pain on my leg in several locations. We talked to our bus driver and he said that these sorts of stings were not dangerous. Thank goodness by the end of the day I was pain free, and the rash is nearly gone now.

We ended the weekend on Sunday on a giant sailboat ride out to sea. I was filled with bliss sitting under the shaded part of the boat with my sunhat (just to make sure I was super protected). I’m proud to say that I have no burns on my face! Yes! It was a lovely ride and we snorkeled a little bit, but I didn’t stay out too long because although I had a lot of sunscreen on I could feel the sun seeping into my skin. Not to mention that there were not an incredible amount of different fish. The ones we saw were beautiful, but to see them you had to dive down pretty deep and there was a strong current that would pull you right into the rocks if you weren’t careful.  Aside from that I was very happy to be on the boat and just enjoy the ocean and the scenery of the lush mountainous shoreline. The title of this blog is actually because the captain of the ship said that I had "skin like a dolphin, smoothe and white."

Alright, well this is getting rather long. That’s all until next time. Pictures soon I hope!

pelirojo!

This week has been absolutely wonderful. Life here is so simple and I love it. I go to bed every night around 9:30 and wake up to the sound of the rooster crowing and the dogs barking at the farm across the street at about 5:00 or 5:30 am and the sun is already brightly shining. I have ample time in the morning to read and journal before getting ready for the day ahead.

Classes have been going well. I’m taking 8 credits. The one class is to enrich our knowledge of Latin American Culture, specifically in Costa Rica (since this is where we are), and the other class is entitled “Intensive Advanced Spanish” which consists of conversation, grammar, and literature. Much of the homework is very hands-on which is excellent. Many of our assignments consists of exploring different parts of Costa Rica and writing about it, or interviewing our family about certain ideas or ways of life. It is super interesting and a great way to work on Spanish. The grammar homework is a little more mechanical, but I need that—some things are worth hammering through even if they are not the most enjoyable.

Amalia lets me help her cook dinner every night, yes! It’s so much fun to spend so much time in the kitchen as this is something that I don’t have much of an opportunity to do at college. Two nights ago my cousin (primo) Daniel came over and he was another little helper in the kitchen for dinner. I know we’re not really supposed to have favorites, but he is for sure my favorite cousin that I have met thus far. He is 6 years old with fiery red hair (love it!), freckles, and the sweetest personality. In case you were wondering, he’s a 100% Costarican and red hair is really rare here. He is super affectionate and very well behaved. I took him for a walk in the rain and he had his tiny little blue rain boots on and we jumped in every puddle we came across and played on the swings in the park. He’s coming to visit again this weekend and I am thrilled. Kids are the best.

This weekend will be a busy one for sure, but in a good way. I’ll be attending my first dance here in Costa Rica—at a disco club. Oh man! It should be quite the experience. My group and I will also venturing into San Jose on Saturday for the day to visit one of the museums (this is part of our homework).  Then on Sunday I’ll be helping out with a service project planting trees in a nearby park—I’ll be wearing my sun hat for sure. Got to keep up this pleasant pallor…

Just a few more random tidbits: Laudema, the grandma around here is probably one of the funniest people I have ever met. This morning at breakfast she asked me “So Amanda, do all the boys like you?” and I replied, “what?” and she said “when you walk by do they whistle at you like this” and then proceeded to whistle. She says the funniest things sometimes.  Lastly, good news, I found an internet café right around the corner from my house and it’s free!

Hope this gives you a little peek into what’s going on down here.
Sorry I can't put captions on the pictures...it's not working for some reason, but most of them are taking around my neighboorhood and the little boy is my "cousin," Daniel.