June 18 - June 21

6/18/2012 at 9:00pm

Papí grinding up coffee beans for our amazing coffee!

I really didn't want to wake up this morning, haha, I was sooo tired!  This morning with the last of the PowerPoint translation was also really rough; I wanted to sleep sooo bad.  But I began waking up around lunch with all of the laughs of Ryan failing the cracker challenge epically, and also from playing Frisbee with Alex and Ryan.  After lunch, I worked some more and it started raining sooo hard all of a sudden for no reason!  I took a video but yeah it was like a flood.  Eventually while working the song "Todo Se Lo Debo a El" came on and Erick heard and he asked me if I was Christian, and I said yes, and as it turns out so is he, and that made me happy because it was like discovering I had another brother, which it was...a brother in Christ.  It was a really cool moment.

Abby, Ryan, and I went to a lecture about women in Costa Rica and CASEM, one of the ways women can get employment making things like clothes and souvenirs and art.  Ryan made quite the entrance, knocking a chair down loudly, but it was super funny.  He's awesome and I feel bad for the random things that sometimes happen to him, but they always make me laugh.  There was this amazing vegan chocolate cake that Jenny made as a snack after the charla and oh my goodness it was amazing.  After, we walked partway back home and luckily ran into Coco along the way as he was driving for a tour, and we got him to drive us home.  I showered, ate, helped Luis study, and then we went to la reunión de jóvenes.

(I forgot to add:  When I first got home, Luis and I tossed a Frisbee and ran around the block with Olge [sp?] for a bit, which was super fun and a pleasantly welcome form of exercise before showering and eating).

Mamá frying up some plantains, my favorite!

At the reunión de jóvenes, I had to keep an eye on Luis to make sure he didn't run off.  Worship time was super blessed and I felt my heart ready to burst at certain points.  We played some games, one of which Gabriel led (a sort of repeat-after-me game about a fat watermelon) and he other that someone (who looks like his sister but probably isn't) led and it was a charades game.  I enjoyed seeing them lead because it was really cool seeing the gifts/talents that God blessed them with at work in the service.  Then we had a talk from one of the people who serves a lot over at the church about having short roots versus being rooted in God and building a house on shifting sands versus building a house on a rock.  There was also a cute video to go with it.  The service ended with people coming to Christ or becoming reconciled, including my new friends Nimsi and Marlet (her cousin), and it filled me with such joy to have those two especially there, and I love them so much.  I am glad Saray asked me to pray over them even though I really didn't know what to do or what to say very well, and I kept switching from Spanish to English and back.  I was so grateful to God though for that opportunity and was filled with such joy to do it.  Little Jimena and Emma came and said hi to me and they were just sooo cute, and before I knew it I realized I would be late for taking Luis home if I stayed longer.  He said he really liked the church and is glad he went, because of being able to reconnect with old friends.  It just makes me happy that he is happy and is learning about God.  We got along really well today and for that I am so grateful, and I look forward to the certain craziness tomorrow will no doubt bring!

6/19/2012 at 8:10pm

I don't know why I'm so tired.  It could be a combination of diet, sleep (or lack thereof), physical exertion from walking up hills all day, or mental exertion (but probably not because I didn't have much work today).  It's in fact especially strange because though I did extra walking today by going on a tour that Rafa and John were offering to a few people from the States, and though I did go to the cultural shock charla (also known as storytime with Evelyn), the only work I had to do was some proofreading of the Traveler's Philanthropy stuff and making sure I got folders of data on paper and on a flash drive ready for me to start on tomorrow.  Other than that, my afternoon was a welcome lull where I had the pleasure of connecting with some people (like my mom and sister) via Facebook, though I've been trying to stay off of it.

Luis whining about his social studies homework and exam.
Love him, but he's definitely 11!

Abby, Ryan, and I stopped at the Supercompro for ice cream and talked a little to the woman working there who makes really pretty drinks, and then we went to Vitosi to get their string for their plots.  I came home, ate, suffered through Luis's whining again, and eventually made my way out to hang out with Abby at a pick-up soccer game at the gimnasio.  It was loud and echo-y and I was tired, but nevertheless it was a good way to end today.

Tomorrow will be a full day because not only do I start working with data but I also will be attending some conference lectures held at MVI about topics like tourism, social justice, and education, all of which I'm pumped about.  Then Thursday will be more of that, too, plus I'm going to the church in the evening to do more in-depth study of the bible.  My biggest prayer right now is for my work to honor God and that I would keep Him my first love above all else, that every word and movement would be for Him.

6/20/2012 at 6:35pm

Today was one of my most work-intensive days so far, and I still have so much to do.  I'll probably go earlier tomorrow to get it done...maybe.  We'll see.  I also have all day Friday.  So maybe I'll just work really hard again tomorrow.

A hummingbird got stuck in the atrium where we usually eat!

Basically after I got to my Spanish class, I sat through that (including reading my short story out loud to the class, much to my dismay because I don't really like reading my stories out loud because of interpretative reasons) and then grabbed the folders of data from Marlene and began inputting it all right away.  I've gotten through six months of 2010 only, and I still need to do the rest of 2010, 2009, and 2008 if there's workable data for those months, plus I need to look at 2011 and 2012 to check them, then copy them all over to Excel.  I stopped for a half-hour lunch and then I did a small bit during the conference today, which was actually really interesting and worth my time as Jenny and Fran's talks were really informative.  Someone also asked me if I spoke English today.  That was possibly the highlight of my day right there, being mistaken for a Tica by a tourist.  During the conference, too, I got to talk to Mike, Steven, and Gabriel via Facebook chat while I took notes and I caught up with them a bit.  Then I came home with Abby and Ryan (going part of the way with Jenny, yay!) and ate dinner with the lights off half of the time from a random out-of-the-blue power outage.  It was interesting because I really couldn't see, like at all, and yeah.  It was fun though.

If I could explain what I like the least about my work it would be this: Numbers start looking really weird after staring at them for a couple of hours in a row, and since some things are out of order, one slip-up means going back and changing the whole column of 90+ numbers in a six-column set.  But what I like most is that I definitely feel like what I'm doing is a huge help for everyone who needs the data, even just digitized records, not to mention the analysis and tests I hope to run next week on the data.

Being here and serving this way has gotten me thinking already about hopefully coming back next summer for my senior thesis research.  I'm thinking about writing about sustainable tourism and international efforts towards that end, maybe looking as well at globalization and what steps Costa Rica has taken towards sustainable tourism since it relies so heavily on tourism in general, maybe even looking as well at the negative environmental, social, and political consequences as well as the positive.  I'm interested as well in culturally what effects tourism has had on people here.  No stealing my thesis idea, by the way!  Haha!  I should email my advisor about it.  I'm also excited that due to my work with ASADA, I'll have something to present at the spring Symposium at LFC.  It's super exciting.  Woohoo, praise God!  I am so incredibly thankful for this opportunity that the Grace Groner Foundation has granted me and I only hope that my service here shows that I am not here to vacation, that I care, that I love this place and am so happy to give back.

I pray, Lord, for You to give me discernment and courage, and that You would speak to me and lead me.  I pray that my ears would be open and my selfishness wouldn't get in the way of all You want.

7:43pm

It's going to be so painful to leave here, I already know it.  My Lord, You know.

6/21/2012 at 9:55pm

A green toucan hit the window today!
Poor thing!

Today was quite the full day.  So I did get all of the necessary data digitized; I have some pretty bad data from 2009 and 2008 that I could try inputting as well but for now I'm struggling with trying to look at the data visually and analyze it graphically.  Nothing looks significant.  I need to put myself in contact with Alberto again and see if he can get me some data on the storage tank readings for 2010-2012 because those would help a ton in my analysis.  I also need to know which meters correspond to hotels, fincas, houses, etc. and so on.

Later, Abby and I sat in on the conference again and I took more fun notes, and at the end they had some kids come out and do traditional Costa Rican dancing, and I really want to learn it now, haha!  During the talks as well I caught up with Mike, Katrina, Gabriel, and Chase via Facebook chat.  I need to stop using that site so much.  I said I wasn't going to use it while here but my work involves the computer so it's hard to avoid the Internet, and Facebook by proxy.

It downpoured when Abby, Ryan, and I left MVI today, but thankfully Pastor Josúe gave us all a ride from halfway to our homes.  Later I left to walk to the church when Saray and her husband offered me a ride, yay!  The service was great, not only fun and funny but also deep and Spirit-led and impacting.  I met more people, learned a lot, and was reminded of a lot today.

Sunlight streaming through trees.

One of the things Pastor Josúe said that wasn't really pertinent to his message but was a tangent and caused an "amen" to escape my lips was this: God initiates marriage, and it's important that each partner's love for God exceeds the love for the partner.  I agree 100% and have even said something similar to some people here and a little in the past when asked why I won't date so-and-so or why I'm currently single.  My future husband needs to be so enamored with God that it will always exceed his love for me, and his love for God shouldn't be motivated by wanting to get closer to me but rather by wanting to get closer to God.  That is attractive right there.  As for me, I have come to realize more and more recently how much growing I have yet to do, how often my intentions are less than pure and how often I neglect to seek God first.  But I want God to be my center and my first love not because of someone else, but because in reality God is the best there is, and so good, and He honestly has changed me in incredible ways and has given me the unthinkable: unconditional love and forgiveness.  There's no way I deserve it, not with all I've done.  But in His sight, I'm His daughter, a princess, and wholly blameless thanks to Jesus.

June 18 (just a quick thought)

The following is something I sent in an email update to a bunch of people who requested my email updates, and I just felt it was necessary to post it here as well because of how convicted I am of this thing:

One thing I have come to realize more and more is that I need to have more patience.  Yesterday I confess that I found myself becoming especially impatient with my younger host brother because of his age and him not listening to what mamá and I ask him to do, and it was very difficult for me to just take a breath (perfect spot to advertise my regular blog Stop and Take a Breath, right?) and try to keep my cool and laugh things off.  It gives a whole new meaning to what Jenny taught Abby, Ryan, and I about pura vida.  Really, that phrase means so much more than just "pure life", and it's more than taking things easy and slow.  It means rolling with the punches and adapting, and it means having patience, and it means taking the situation one is given and making the best out of it and trusting that everything will be okay, which it will!

Quédate quieta, alma mía, y confía en el Señor sobre todo.

June 15 - June 17

6/16/2012 at 12:15am

Okay, technically I skipped a day of journaling because it's past midnight, but I still count it as being all the same day (the 15th).  Today, I finally met with Alberto, in addition to Jenny and Justin, and was given a basic starting point for the aqueduct project.  I start Wednesday doing all the data input stuff, and hopefully Monday I will be given the actual data to start working with.  In addition, on Tuesday I will be helping do Evelyn's children's camp event thing and will be taking pictures I believe.  I am almost finally done with translating the PowerPoint for Justin; it's taking a while because translating all the graphs is time-consuming, but I don't mind.

Finally got a picture of the dog that looks like Gizmo!

I'm really tired right now.  After getting home, playing Frisbee with Luis briefly, and eating dinner, I went to Ryan's and watched some of the third Lord of the Rings with him, Steven (his host brother), and Abby.  They didn't really want to go out but came with Steven and I anyway briefly when we went to go see a free concert and dancing.  Abby and Ryan left pretty fast and Abby has my coat.  But then Steven did me a favor and got me to dance meringue with this guy Luis who was a super good dancer, and it made me happy and super glad that from being in Latinos Unidos at Lake Forest College I learned so many steps and turns.  Thanks Miriam!!!  Krysta and I sort of danced for a little while after, then Alex and I danced quite a few times, though he only recently learned the dances.  I did have a fun time tonight, am soooo tired though.

6/17/2012 at 6:36pm

I skipped yesterday's journaling again technically, ugh.  I hate when I miss a day for whatever reason, even if I'm super busy, because it's always so much harder to remember things the following day.

Me and Abby (and Ryan in the background, and María
and Coco...ish) on our way to a finca.

Abby (and Ryan in the background) refusing to let Luis out
of the car at the finca.

If I remember correctly, I had breakfast with Andrea yesterday and she expressed to me her concerns about Coco and María and how hard it is for the family with mamá always doing everything and María not working and oftentimes not helping at home, financially how much of a burden that is.  Her talking like that with me really made me feel like I myself should help out more around the house not only here but also in the United States; even though here I'm a guest of sorts, I'm also family.  I came here with a servant's mindset and I admit and confess that I think lately I had forgotten that I'm here to serve.  So yesterday morning, then, I helped clean around the house and did laundry in addition to the dishes I always do.

After lunch, I walked Luis to his soccer practice and later I also played soccer and Frisbee with Luis, Josúe, Abby, Ryan, David, and Daniel (even though he's only three).  That evening, I went to the reunión de jóvenes vigil in addition to the service beforehand and had a great time worshiping God with some familiar songs.  Gabriel, Alonso, and some other youth did a skit similar to the Lifehouse skit (see here) where they portrayed a guy torn between the things of this world and the things of Heaven.  At the vigil we worshiped again, played some super fun games (like trying to arrange ourselves in color-order with secret colors while blindfolded and trying to whistle with crackers shoved in our mouths), and had a charla about self-pride and how keeping all the glory of the world to yourself could make you explode (in a non-literal sense of course). Afterward, Gabriel and I walked to my house and sat outside for a while chatting and sharing.  It was really cool because I want to be a good friend to him and would like his friendship a lot.  Also, earlier that evening I met Hillary and I feel similar about her; she's so nice.  So yeah, I went to bed finally around 1am and that is why I didn't journal yesterday.

Abby sitting in an awesome chair at my tía's house.

My mamá, me, Abby, and Ryan at the finca.

Today, my family and Abby and Ryan went to my papí's tío's finca and hung out there for far too long because since their phone was down, we didn't know whether he would be there to lead us through the gold mine and horseback riding, so we took a gamble and he wasn't there and we sat around waiting for him for a while to show up because then my papí left with the microbus to go somewhere and didn't come back for an hour or so.  When he came back, we then stopped by one of my tía's houses because she had stomach surgery recently.  We stayed there a while and then came back home only to discover that we were locked out of the house.  Eventually we got in and a bit after I went to watch the soccer game at the cancha sintética (synthetic field, like an indoor field) that many people from the youth group were participating in.  It was really fun watching Abby and Ryan and my little hermantico Luis and his friend Josúe and Gabriel and my new friend Nimsi's brother play.

Afterward, I came back, ate, showered, and am now waiting for Gabriel to show up, which should have been an hour ago (yay tico time!).  Pura vida, haha!  We were going to walk into town but it's raining, so I don't know.

Quédate quieta, alma mía, y reconoce que el Señor es Dios.  No lo olvides, alma mía.

 6/17/2012 at 9:00?

Got stood up, oh well!  Pura vida, and something probably came up.  I just really wanted to connect again, because he seems like he'd be one of my best tico friends here.  It's all right; I'll probably see him tomorrow.

June 11 - June 14

6/11/2012 at 9:20pm

My house from the outside.

This is a mot-mot.  It's pretty cool, right?

Today Abby and I walked to the Institute together and talked, which was awesome.  She seems to be feeling better, which is good.  We and Ryan hung out, updated journals/blogs, and laughed a ton over inside jokes during lunch, especially Ryan minorly freaking out over the fact that the microwave is in Spanish.  It was hysterical!  We then had a charla on the bellbird and the corridors and planting trees.


After that I did more translation on the document I'm working on; just one more paragraph, then I have to recheck for fluidity and accuracy, and then do the PowerPoint, but I have all day tomorrow to do it.  Ryan and Abby caught a mot-mot!  Then the lady who gave us the bellbird talk was nice enough to give us a ride into town, and we walked into the Supermercado and had a ball looking at food and prices.  We ran into Andrea and Eric and they kindly gave us all a ride to my house, and then I had dinner, did homework, and played with my papá and Luis for a bit.  Then I left for la reunión de jovenes and met Alonso (I think that's his name) and Saray (the youth pastor's wife, who is super sweet).  Gabriel was also around, doing some sound op things as well as being able to participate in the service.  We all had a great worship time, game time, teaching time, and prayer as a few people came to accept Christ into their lives as their Savior.  So amazing and I am so grateful for the time that I was able to spend with everyone today and for the people I got to meet.

6/12/2012 at 8:30pm

After breakfast and meeting up with Abby and Ryan, we walked to MVI and did some relaxing and work until Jenny and Sofia gathered us to learn how to identify plants, especially some trees.  I considered not going but Justin persuaded me to go, even though I didn't have to, and I'm so glad I did and am kind of wishing I took notes.  Identifying plants turned into such a fun game for me that I joked that I was going to change my major to biology.  My favorite plant families are probably Costaceae, Heliconaceae, Piperaceae, and Rubiaceae.  They're fun to identify.

From the Costaceae family.  The undersides of the leaves are
soft and fuzzy due to trichomes, and the yellow flower petals
are actually edible and taste like citrus.  Its common name is
the toilet paper plant!

Learning to identify plants by their leaf arrangements, veins,
presence of stipules, and other ways!

After that, we ate lunch and I started translating the PowerPoint.  I also met with Justin about the ASADA aqueduct project I will now be working on since it's officially a go.  It's pretty far out of my comfort zone, dealing with water supply and aqueduct system diagrams and interpreting data after entry into Excel and doing a case report.  But I'm up for the challenge and am thrilled to help them out and serve in this way and be part of a pretty big project.

Relaxing, enjoying the view, and using the Internet after
a long day of great work.

After my meeting with Justin, I looked at Jenny's PowerPoint for the bellbird presentation that she will be doing and I fixed some of the English translations for her.  It's a super cool presentation on biological corridor type stuff.  I then worked on Justin's PowerPoint again until Abby and Ryan finished, had coffee and chatted with Erick (who works here, not my tico brother-in-law) for a bit, and then Abby, Ryan, and I walked back to our homes, making stops along the way into different small stores.

(I just remembered from earlier today Erick accidentally squishing the huge bug in the sliding door that I wanted to take a picture of when I went to get my camera... I exclaimed, "Por quéeeeee!?" and now we joke about it).

Luis and some of his friends came to play Ultimate today, four on four.  It was fun, but turns happened like every five seconds...and in order to get space, we climbed a fence, so my hands are a little bruised because I kept dropping myself too fast for my arms to lower myself in a controlled manner, but it's all good.  It was so cool being able to actually play Ultimate here!  I had a yummy dinner and good homework session, even with Luis being Luis.  He made a funny comment though about my doll and monkey toys sitting together on my shelf being me and my novio tico who is nonexistent that he wants to find for me.

6/13/2012 at 5:40am

I just wanted to quickly write about how amazing Abby Brownell and Ryan Drake are and how grateful I am to have them here with me, to be able to see them grow.

Abby has been such a trooper.  I never feared that she would be afraid of any of this because of how adventurous and hardy she is.  What concerned me was when she became sick, but she pulled through and is still happy as ever to be here.  She is learning so much every day and hearing her stories about her host family always brings a smile to my face.

Look at us all being awesome and wearing out Grace Groner
shirts.  :)  I love these guys.
PS: We didn't plan this originally; Ryan and I made Abby
change after we realized we were wearing our Groner shirts.

Ryan has really been a fighter as well.  I am certain it has been difficult for him not having prior experience to suddenly jump into intensive Spanish courses and try to communicate with his host family.  But each day he learns something new, and always is so happy to be able to use it.  He has worked super hard to be doing all that I have seen him be able to do, and hearing his funny and interesting stories also makes me smile.

These two are like family to me now: We laugh hysterically together, annoy each other to death, and can work hard and seriously together and still have fun.  I love them so much and pray often for them.

6/13/2012 at 8:25pm

Walking stick buddy! They come in all sorts
of different colors and sizes here.

After Spanish class (and attempting to bring a walking stick into class that I found on a door), Jenny brought Abby, Ryan, and I to Finca la Bella where we learned about the history of the farm as well as what is grown there and how the coffee production process works.  Then we got to toast and package some dark-roast coffee.  In between, we had coffee with dry arepas (pancakes) which was amazing and made me not want to eat lunch when we went to Jenny's to grab her lunch and meet her kids and new puppy.  After saying bye at la Bella to Oldimar and our new friends Jenny and Alex, we all went to a farm nearby where Alan and his son Dylan taught us how to milk cows, which I epically failed at for like ten minutes before sort of getting the hang of it.  They have an adorable baby calf too that I love.  Then a green toucan flew into a window and knocked himself so hard he was in shock, so Alan put him on a branch so he could try to recover.  Abby and Ryan got pictures; my camera was in the car.  Poor thing!  Afterward, Abby, Ryan, Jenny, and I drove into Santa Elena, and I kid you not I saw a stray dog that looked exactly like my mutt at home Gizmo.  By the time I went back after Jenny dropped us off, he was gone.  I hope to see him and get a picture sometime.  We got some things from Vitosi, ran into Saray in her car on the way to soay hi to Ana (my Spanish professor) at the Macrobiotica, waited for her husband Guillermo Vargas to show up while she gave a massage to a customer, and then went to Abby's so I could type up my Spanish homework and send it to Ana.  I came home, had dinner, tried making tortillas for dinner, did dishes, did homework, showered...a normal routine.

Monteverde weather changes super fast.  One minute it was nice out this morning, the next it was a torrential downpour Noah's Ark style.  Oh, and this morning a million male leafcutter ants were swarming all over, while this afternoon it was termites.  I suppose they all decided to find new nests at once.  I can't decide which I prefer.  I love the weird/cool/fascinating nature of this place.  I can't go around saying a toucan hit my window in Illinois, after all.

6/14/2012 at 8:00pm

I'm about to begin church but wanted to get some journaling in before the service starts.  I had a fun and

The clearest view of the CR pacific gulf I've seen so far.

interesting Spanish class where I got to help Ana by helping Thomas practice preterit versus imperfect tenses.  There was also a piano in there today so I got to play today for a bit, and it was wonderful because it felt like it had been so long since I last played.  An architect student came with us on the walk to the Institute earlier this morning; his name is Alec and he seems pretty nice and was good company.  A bit later we had a charla on the biological corridor for the bellbird and ironically it was the same PowerPoint I edited for Jenny yesterday!  We ate lunch and then after I got some work done and talked with Mike and Andres on the computer.

10:15pm

That service was so blessed tonight.  My heart just broke for the state of mankind and for my friends and I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I began to cry and for whatever reason could not stop for the longest time.  God is so good, so good, and we are all so unworthy, but He pursues us and loves us no matter what we do.  I really have no words to adequately describe it.  And I finally got my agua dulce at the end that I had been wanting since I got to Costa Rica, yesss!

 Earlier before I left, I played monito (monkey in the middle) with Josue and Luis in the big open area in the store in my house.  It was so much fun.  Then we sat around and told jokes afterward until I left.  These kinds of moments are the ones I treasure the most, more than epic forest adventures and hard work and fun classes (no matter how amazing those in and of themselves are).  It's the time with God and the time with people that matter the most to me.

Tomorrow I meet with the president of the board of directors for ASADA and Alberto, along with Justin and Jenny, to begin figuring out what needs to be done for this aqueduct project.  Things are getting very exciting and uncomfortable, and I totally welcome it with open arms, yay! :)

June 6 - June 10

6/6/2012 at 8:35pm

My room!  It's a lot cleaner now than the picture shows.

Day two of being in Santa Elena and so far pretty good!  I missed my Spanish class this morning because it got moved and no one told me, oops...but I did sit in the Symposium and listened to presentations about trichomes and mutualistic fungi and such...some of it was interesante, some kind of not, hehe.  I spent some time on the computer and went to the waterfall with my little Grace Groner family; it was pretty awesome!  And we saw so many creatures, too!  For example, caterpillars and a mot-mot bird and things like that.

Monteverde Institute from the outside.

After spending time at MVI and talking with Jenny, Ryan and Abby and I walked around and eventually ended up at my house.  We dropped stuff off and headed into town to get me an alarm clock and them boots.  I kind of met at the serpent house this guy who reminds me of Juanmar, a good friend of mine in Cartago.  He was doing some work or something with the clinic or hospital because he was in an emergency vehicle with a coworker, the first ambulance I've seen here.  Miss you, Juanmar, and everyone in Cartago!  Abby, Ryan, and I also went to look for Professor Westley and Kevin at the Rustic Lodge, but they weren't there.  However, we did meet someone who owns the hotel; his name is José according to my host dad, and his brother who also owns it is Marcello.  José stopped to look for frogs a lot while helping us, haha!  Ryan and Abby went back to their homes and I played with Luis and María and Austin and another boy for a while outside, just shooting hoops and playing soccer.  We had a great dinner, especially this awesome cream of spinach soup that was amazing.  Then there was a hysterical moment when my mamá was talking about feeding the cat through the window and about the girl who came last year who used to do it.  All of a sudden I'm offered part of a pancake, one of the amazingly-delicious ones I had for breakfast that you don't even need syrup or butter for, and I said, "Ah, gracias!" and took a bite out of it.  My mamá began laughing and said it was for the cat and handed me another, and so I began to feed the cat with it and she started laughing again even harder and explaining that it was for me!  We laughed so hard and for so long at the hilarity of the situation that I was practically on the ground in a fit of giggles.  I'm sure my tía thought I was quite strange.

Dear Lord, please bless not only my family here but also the one I left behind at home to come here.

6/7/2012 at 6:15am

I always get up and go to bed earlier here it seems.  Mi mamá is finishing making breakfast, and--

6:45am

It was delicious!  Gallo pinto, platanos maduros, and the best queso I may have ever had.

7:45am

Now I'm in the Macrobiotica waiting for Spanish class to start, after which I will head to the Institute.  I was supposed to bring a food to share but I forgot, so I have candy I bought at home.

Auri hates wearing socks.  I was playing with her earlier a bit and she's got personality.  If you cough, she'll mimic you.  It's pretty cute.

Eric, Auriana, and Andrea in their room.

My family has a wood stove, which is neat.  I have no clue how to use it.  And my mamá doesn't use recipes or measuring tools; it's always approximated.  This means it's super difficult for me to learn how to prepare any of this food.

9:35pm

I walked Luis to school with my mamá tica and eventually to the Macrobiotica after.  I had Spanish class there; it was pretty easy but I have homework to do.  I also have documents I need to translate for Justin, as part of my internship here, and no time tomorrow to do them.  After a long day and seeing a cool dobson fly here at the Institute and getting part of the documents done, we walked to our homes, had dinner, then fruitlessly tried to find Lynn and Kevin so we could say goodbye.

A katydid I found at the Institute!

I've been speaking tons of Spanish here but I still feel so inadequate.  I hope with more practice I get more fluent, because right now when I get tired it gets broken.  For my Spanish homework that was given today, I have reading to do from a book I picked out about globalization and capitalism, some vocab definitions from the book, and writing a poem or short story or song using some of the vocab.  The internship documents have to do with Traveler's Philanthropy initiatives and starting up some here specifically catered to Monteverde, and they're very business-oriented, which Professor Hanna would be proud that I am working on since he taught me a lot of necessary vocabulary!  :)

Though I am uncomfortable here in many ways, I also feel just fine.  I don't worry about food, or clothes, or any of that stuff...I can just live simply in my room or around the house or in town or at the Institute and be perfectly fine, which I think is how God intends us humans to live anyway.

Costa Rican Bellbird that we found in Curi Cancha.

6/8/2012 at 10:00pm

I woke up, had breakfast, walked to MVI after stopping to pick up Ryan and Abby, and then we all went through the Curi Cancha reserve.  We saw lots of neat things, some of which I took pictures of.  Then we went back to the Institute and Jenny talked to me about her project for my internship and the basic ideas behind the community health project.  I got some ice cream from the Cheese Factory, then we all went to Guillermo Vargas' farm to learn about coffee and sustainability.  We got to dig terraces for the coffee, plant trees, see and pet goats and other animals, and then eat maduros (mature plantains) and cheese with coffee.  We went to the field by my house for a bit to play frisbee, then Ryan and Abby left but I stayed to keep an eye on Luis who followed us, and then I tossed the frisbee around a bit with some random people.  I showered, had dinner, then went with Luis to Austin's house, and basically played with four kids and two adorable kittens for an hour.  Abby is so sick... When Ryan came over later to watch fútbol this evening I was thinking about how concerned I am for her.  She's so strong.  Also, I'm proud of Ryan's newfound Spanish.  :)

6/9/2012 at 7:05am

 Every now and then, I think about my family moving to Costa Rica instead of staying in the States after we sell the house and finish school.  Here's what my letter, a proposal of sorts, would kind of look like:

Dear Family,

Hercules beetle!

I think you would like it here in Santa Elena.  We have perfect weather right now: perfectly sunny and a nice cool breeze, although it usually is rainy and colder in the winter season here, which I am in the midst of.  Either I've gotten used to the humidity or it has disappeared.  Sure, it's a walking sort of town with far too many steep hills, and sure, people here drive crazy and some roads are unpaved, and sure shower water doesn't get much hotter than lukewarm, but one adapts.  I have.  You would have to get used to doing dishes by hand and drying clothes on a line outside (but don't worry, washing machines exist for washing).  You would have to get used to bugs being around, and the fact that the cockroaches are enormous if you let them in the house.  You would have to get used to sharing one, maybe two, bathrooms, and having people come over often (sometimes without prior announcement).  And you would have to get used to colones in addition to the dollar, as well as that only maybe a third of Santa Elena knows English.  But it's easy to start a business, and it's pretty good owning land, and the town is super friendly.  It gets light early and dark early...daylight is probably from 5am to 5pm, maybe 6pm, each day.  People are hardly ever in a hurry here unless they are driving, and sometimes people show up late.  It's definitely an adaptation, but a possible one. We'd all have to finish college first, but after... Who knows?  Also, friendly stray animals are very common, as are kittens as gifts.    

Me with Ryan's family's cat, which was a gift.

Each part of Costa Rica is different, from houses to people.  Some are rich, some poor.  But all live pura vida: that one can live peacefully, calmly, and without rushing or worrying, even in the face of stress.  Certainly, you won't know for sure what it feels like unless you visit someday.  But I can guarantee that once you do, you'll understand what I'm talking about.

Love, Ashley

4:30pm

 Instead of going to Luis's soccer game like I thought, we ended up going all over the place, starting with a huge finca where we got tons of fruit and I got my first mosquito and ant bites here.  We went to a couple of other different fincas and homes actually, and all somehow-related to papi or mamá and their families.  So much excitement and walking, including a gold/crystal mine, that I fell asleep at papi's brother's house!  Then Austin gave me a leaf and told me to chew it; I had sugarcane earlier in the finca and it was awesome, so I was open to chewing on random plants I guess that other people were also chewing on.  I was assuming it was mint or something; as it turns out, it was hoja de coca.  If you don't know what coca is, wiki it.  It was weird/gross/oddly good at the same time.  And I woke up pretty immediately, because of the taste.

Mi familia tica!

We're finally back home and it's raining hard, and I called Abby and she's still sick, so no dancing tonight, but I'll grab Ryan around 8pm to visit her.  I don't want to catch what she has but I want to visit for sure.  And I feel bad about ditching them earlier when they went to the game.

Me with my family.  :)  Left to right: María, Coco (Oscar Jr.),
Coca (Oscar Sr.), Luis, Mamá (Haydeé).

Also earlier today I helped Austin, Andrés, and Luis throw and catch a frisbee, and I caught a butterfly with my bare hands.  It's amazing though how quickly that sunny morning turned into this torrential downpour.

To conclude, my mom would find it funny that the same "problem" that exists with illegal Mexican immigration into the United States also exists here in Costa Rica, but with Nicaraguans instead of Mexicans.

6/10/2012 at 3:00pm?

 I woke up this morning, visited Abby, then we grabbed Ryan and all went to the evangelical church by Abby's hosue, and it was...wow, awesome is the only word I have.  It reminded me of the Centro in Cartago mixed with Sign of the Dove in Waukegan.  I nearly cried when the band played "Creo en Ti", as it's not only one of my favorite songs but it also brought back awesome memories and a great message.  It was a long service, two hours, but a speaker from Panama with a gift of prophecy was there and he was a good teacher.  He taught on never losing your dream, and pointed towards Joseph's story in Genesis in the Bible, how God gave him dreams to follow and his brothers hated him and made fun of him for it and his placement in the family and tried to kill him, but eventually his dreams came true because he never lost sight of them.  I met the sound op, who looks a little like Juanmar as well oddly (do all sound ops here in Costa Rica look like each other?); his name is Gabriel and he attends university in Puntarenas, so he's only out here on the weekends.  I hope to see him again Saturday to get to know him better.

Ryan and Abby at church with me.

Be still, my soul.  I need to remember what Brooke told me and why I have that lovely blue bracelet from her.  God put me here to be His servant and give with what I can in any way I can.  I am so grateful to the Grace Groner foundation for this opportunity, grateful beyond believe in general.  It has been amazing so far.

I played Ultimate Frisbee today too with Luis, Austin, Josúe, Brandon, and two other kids whose names I forget.  It was so much fun!

9:25pm

I went to mass, which lasted for 1.5 hours, with mamá, Luis, and Josúe, and when my family asked I said it was nice.  Honestly, though it was a good experience, I much prefer the evangelical church.  I learn and gain so much more there.  In mass it was all just ritual, which is important, but it seemed like half the time people were just going through the motions, including myself, not really believing in what the rituals mean.  But I shouldn't judge, so I'm stopping now.  I was feeling a bit ill earlier, like the start of a cold plus a sore back, but after some yummy food from mamá and a few tablets of advil and a hot pack and a shower, I am feeling better and almost normal.

I'm about ready to sleep.  I keep thinking about how much I want to get to know all those people in the church more, including Gabriel the sound op, and maybe I can sing or do sound too one of these days in order to help.  I would love that so much!