June 22 - June 24

6/22/2012 at 9:45pm

Basically my day went like this:

1. Wake up not really sure of exactly what time Abby and Ryan want to leave.  Eat an amazingly near-perfect breakfast of gallo pinto with natilla, maduros (plantains all fried up), and black coffee.  Leave the house with a lunch, having the strange feeling that for some reason I won't need it due to the architect students' symposium today.
2. Walk to Abby's homestay and be obnoxiously cheery for 6:45am.  Bug her to no end to remind Yerlin (her mamá) in Spanish that she won't be home for dinner since we'll be having Cooking With Jenny time.

Some of the architect students about to present.

3. Leave4 with Abby and Ryan and walk the crazy hills all the way to the Institute, surprising myself at the fact that it's beginning to get easier.  At this point, since I woke up with the song "Tú Estás Aquí" stuck in my head, I'm humming/singing the entire way there, probably much to the dismay of my compañeros.
4. Arrive at the Institute and claim my preferred rocker.  Put lunch in the fridge and begin blogging/emailing people while watching all the handsomely-dressed architect students practice their presentations last-minute. Drink more coffee.
5. Watch the architect students present a midterm's worth of research in a formal presentation, split half and half.  (Congrats, by the way, to all of you; you were great!)  Eat yummy carrot cake and cupcake things and drink more coffee during the break in between presentations.  Nearly fall over from caffeine-induced dizziness (truth).
6. Realize that since I had been attending presentations, I would be offered free lunch.  Combine the cheese and egg from my mamá's lunch with the arroz con pollo and salad and juice.  Help Ariel and Thomas translate their speech they wanted to give before giving Anibal an iPad as an appreciation gift.  Meet Cristian, a nice nursing student, while doing dishes, and have a good conversation.  Take another cup of coffee into the next lectures.

The best chocolate cake of my life!

7.  Only half-pay attention to the lectures as I am uninterested in the guest speakers' architectural speeches and am also finishing adding graphs to my Excel files.  Realize that outliers make things look super crazy.  Also Facebook chat with Mike, Gaby, and Jon (who is sitting next to me and should be paying attention since he's an architect student).
8.  Have amazing laughs with Abby and Ryan and Jenny while making chocolate cake.  Heat up leftover arroz con pollo and beans and make lettuce-tomato-avocado salad to have with it.  Eat way too much cake.  Way.  Too.  Much.  Cake.  Take home a container full of cake as leftovers, maybe for Luis.  Or mamá or papí.

Walking from the Bat House at night.

9.  Have an awesome, somewhat scary, completely overwhelming night walk to the Bat Jungle house where we watched Patricia's documentary premiere.  Believe it to be one of the most artistic and cool documentaries I have ever seen.  Have a random black Labrador retriever puppy jump into my lap as I'm about to leave and apologetically relocate the dog to the floor.
10.  Walk all the way back to Santa Elena, and eventually my house, in the dark (besides streetlights and a flashlight now and again).  Fall in love with God and His creation all over again as I gaze at the amazing star-filled sky.  Enjoy the unrushed pace and the jokes we (Abby, Ryan, and I) tell and the fresh weather.  Become overwhelmed by the fact that there's no one I'd rather have with me on this trip than those two.  I love you guys.

I'm sorry, but if you're a spider nearly the size of my suitcase
wheel, you and I cannot share a room together.

BONUS 11. Take a picture of the huge spider that is crawling around my room before smacking the daylights out of it.  Hope that it was the first and the last time I'll see one indoors, especially in my room.

Tomorrow, Abby, Ryan, and I are eating breakfast with Abby's family and then going to el Mirador.  I hope to play Frisbee with Luis after, and then go to church.  Today, though, I've just been extremely grateful for the friends and people I've come to know through my time here, and I praise God for the immense beauty He created through nature.

6/23/2012 at 10:45am

While watching the first Lion King movie, this stuck out to me: There's a huge difference between who you are and who you used to be.  Also, the past hurts even though it's in the past, but you can either run from it or learn from it.
Mufasa: "Remember who you are, Simba."
Simba: "I'm not who I used to be!"
Mufasa: "Remember who you are!"
It reminds me that who I am is different from who I used to be, good or bad.  God declares that who I am is  not the child who kept going the wrong way, who made this mistake, who created that mess, etc.; He declares that who I am is His child, a princess in His kingdom, whom He loves!

9:30pm

Hanging out in Vitosi with Jon.

Today was such a lazy day for me.  I got up and went to Abby's with Ryan, and we were going to go to the Mirador but Pastor Josúe had to go to a wedding, so we all ate the amazing banana pancakes and fried eggs and watermelon that Yerlin had for us and then we watched the last half of Toy Story 3 and the full first Lion King movie.  After that, I walked over to the church because the door was open and I wanted to see if anyone was inside, and it was Greg (I think that's his name), Martín, and Josúe doing a Bible study, and we all talked a while and Greg said nice things about me that touched my heart, and the they all prayed with me for my family in the United States.  What amazing things God does with those who are open and available like those guys!

Santa Elena at night. Beautiful.

After, Abby, Ryan, and I walked around town for a while and ran into Jon as well while down there.  Then eventually I made my way back home only to discover I was the only one home.  I ate some leftover rice and spaghetti, walked into my room, and passed out on my bed.  I faintly remember Andrea asking me if I was cold when she walked in at some point.  All I know is I slept for like three hours, then got up and ate some soup and coffee, showered, then after my family came home I went to church with Abby.  It was a powerful, passionate service with a message about being religious versus having a relationship with God, and going to church or being Christian because it's "in" or a friend does it versus hearing Jesus for oneself and having that personal relationship with Him.  I wanted so badly for every person in that room to get it and really understand what it means.

Tomorrow I go again, hopefully with my familia as well!

6/24/2012 at 9:10pm

I did Kimberly's hair.  It was fun!

I arrived a little early to church today porque Abby didn't answer when I first knocked, only when I went back for her later.  We had a great service where I was able to pray over the people most important to me: my family, my familia tica, and my friends (especially Abby and Ryan).  After church I went back home, had lunch, and played with Kimberly (María's sister) a bit more before going to the thrift store in the school with mamá and Elida (her sister).  There, I met and talked a while with a man named Maurecio who encouraged me and spoke some advice/wisdom about enjoying one's youth and not taking life too seriously too soon, especially with respect to marriage.  After, I went back home and all of a sudden a ton of people were in the house, so I had a snack with all of them and Gabriel also stopped by for a bit.  We walked just over to his house and then I went back home where Andrea practically begged me to let her straighten my hair.  It took a while, but now it's straight.  I had dinner, then because it was such a gorgeous night that I couldn't afford to waste I went out, grabbed Gaby, and we went to the centro in Santa Elena for ice cream and were crazy kids and explored and walked all around the town a bit.  We eventually stopped to rest and were able to see a satellite and a bright shooting star, which he said he usually doesn't ever get to see in Monteverde (more often in Caño Negro).  I am so grateful to God for such a wonderful evening spent with great company.