Hasta Luego

What I've been doing: Apologies for not writing a post any sooner...I went to Panama, had a field trip to a coffee plantation, decorated the church for Christmas, had our last Thursday English class, finished taking all my finals, wrote a ten page paper in Spanish, learned how to make empanadas y chalupas, stayed up late, laughed a lot, cried even more... It's been a busy few weeks. :)

It is so surreal to think that I am leaving Costa Rica tomorrow morning. Don't get me wrong, I am super excited to see my family and friends in the US, but I am beyond sad to be leaving my wonderful life in Costa Rica.

I have only been here for 3.5 months, but I feel like I have known these people for years. I have the greatest friends and family from church, the best host family, and such a life full of love and contentment. I could never have imagined how everyone here has impacted my life, and how I've impacted theirs.

I have accomplished and done more than I ever thought I could while I was here. Zip lining, horseback riding, parasailing, traveling to Panama alone, taking busses to places we've never been, teaching an English class, trying new foods...so much to be proud of.

I really believe God is not done with me here in Costa Rica. My dream is to come back and teach English here. We'll just see what God has up his sleeves...

Here are some quotes that make me smile. What an absolutely amazing journey it has been. Although there were many good times and bad ones too, I would not have changed it for a second.

"Every time I think of you, I thank my God." Philippians 1:3

Your journey has molded you for your greater good. And it was exactly what it needed to be. Don't think that you've lost time. It took each and every situation you have encountered to bring you to the NOW. And now is right on time. -Asha Tyson

It's better to look back on life and say: "I can't believe I did that" than to look back and say: "I wish I did that."

I'll look back on this and smile becuase it was LIFE and I decided to live it.

We didn't realize we were making memories, we just knew we were having fun.

Con mucho amor siempre.

la gran comision

What I'm learning: Tonight I got to hear a pastor from Dominican Republic speak at church, and it was incredibly powerful. He spoke with such passion and conviction. He was talking about how nobody knows when Jesus will come again...so what are we doing with our lives? He compared the world to a piece of dust. We are so tiny, and He is so big. How incredible is that He loves us, even though we are such a small and sinful world.

"What I saw was just too beautiful to have happened by accident."

-Eugene Cerrin, Apollo Astronaut

from: here

The pastor read through parts of Acts, and focused on this big question: "Que va a hacer con el resto del tiempo que el Dios le da a usted?" Translated, that means what are you going to do with the rest of the time God gives you on this earth?

He read Acts 1:8, which I loved. "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” I really liked this verse, especially because I am in a different area of the world. God can use us wherever we are, in Oregon or in Costa Rica.

We also talked about the power we receive from the Holy Spirit. When we try to do things on our own, we are limited. When we try to only live on our own strength, we get so TIRED. This week I have had so much to get through, essays, tests, and being sick on top of it all. I should have leaned on God's strength and power, instead of trying to do it on my own. We NEED God's power to impact our communities. God's mission is GLOBAL; it's for everyone.

The pastor also said something very convicting. He said that when we are busy worrying about everything, we do not have the time for God. We need to speak with strength and boldness about our faith. This is something my host brother told me earlier this week. We need to BE BRAVE with our faith. We do not live to please people, but God. That's something I need to work on remembering. Acts 5:29 reads, "Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!"

So, the big question of the night is what are we doing with our lives...? Are we living intentionally and with purpose?

from: here

After church got over I just spent time talking with people. I get sadder and sadder about having to leave. I feel like God is not done working in me here in Costa Rica...

Con mucho amor.

diferencias

What I'm learning about: I wanted to make a list of the differences I saw between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. I am excited to go to Panama so I can really get a good idea of three totally different countries in Central America.

• The bus system is not as nice as in Costa Rica. They use school busses and pack them full of people. Lots of people ride in the back of pick-up trucks. Right after we crossed the border we saw a guy asleep in the back of a truck filled with fruit.
• People are darker skinned than in Costa Rica. There is less of a Spanish/white influence.
• There are sidewalks and roundabouts! Lots of them. There are hardly any sidewalks on the streets of Costa Rica, and there are no roundabouts at all in Costa Rica.
• More people walk along busy roads to get where they need to go. More poverty means less people who are able to buy cars.
• The captial of Nicaragua was a very dirty city. Managua has lots of trash in the streets.
• However, Nicaragua has a much better road system than Costa Rica. The roads do not have potholes in Nicaragua.
• Kids are allowed to roam the streets. We saw sooo many homeless children. One kid was standing on the side of the road with a machete! Something like that would definitley not happen in the United States, or in Costa Rica.
• There is a lot more livestock in Nicaragua. People will have their cows, horses, and bulls tied to the side of the highway. People also use them as transportation. There were many horses attached to carts; that was a very popular way of transportation because you do not have to pay for gas.

These are just some of my observations from exploring in Nicaragua for a week.

Con mucho amor.

Nicaragua

What I'm doing: This trip was my favorite fieldtrip we had. It was SO amazing to see a whole different country and culture.

Monday, November 5th

Our first stop on the field trip was in Nicoya, CR. Nicoya has been the epicenter of all the big earthquakes we've had since I got here. This is the main church in town, but we were not able to go inside because it could collapse any minute from earthquake damage. It's really sad that the ancient beauty and history could be lost. We also went to a little market and tried a traditional cracker thing, and then we lost our driver Carlos. The unexpected is always happening on our fieldtrips.

Next we went to Playa del Coco. We are learning about the affects of tourism on different towns and countries. This beach had many tourist boats and shops. It looks like a beautiful place, and I would love to go back someday and explore. I was sad we were only here for 10 minutes. We also saw a private marina for the wealthy people. They can stay in a nice apartment for millions of dollars and park their big boats in the water. It was interesting to compare the different beaches.

We stayed at a hacienda for the night. We played a game called bag of nouns, hung out with the pet turkey, got eaten alive by mosquitoes, went on a night hike and ate mac and cheese for dinner. There was a big tower structure that some of my classmates climbed, but they were told to get down before
 I had a chance to climb it. Looks just like we were in Paris, right?

Tuesday, November 6th

In the morning at the hacienda we saw cowboys, and all the cows, including a 8 day old baby calf! We ate breakfast and headed towards la Frontera.

La frontera was complete chaos, and people told me it's one of the more organized borders... We started to see the differences between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. As we were driving up, there were long lines of trucks waiting to cross. Most of the drivers were sleeping, or eating on the side of the road. We had to go through customs and wait for awhile. Once we got to the Nicaragua side there were many vendors selling keychains, nuts, food, sandals and movies. There were also many people who exchanged money. Street vendors are very popular in a poor country like Nicaragua. Nicaragua is the 2nd poorest country next to Haiti.

We went to Rivas, Nicaragua to eat lunch. We stopped at the first place we saw, a fried chicken fast food place called Tip Top. We made our way to Managua, the captial of Nicaragua. It was a long drive, but we got pizza for dinner once we got there. On our way back from dinner we saw all the Christmas lights all over the city. There were multiple huge trees filled with lights. I thought it was so interesting that there were kids on the streets without homes, but they could "afford" to use so much electricity to decorate the city. On our way back to the hotel, a little girl tried to wash our van windows for money. She could barely reach them, and I felt so bad. She clearly did not have parents or a home. We had half a pizza leftover, and we gave it to her. It broke my heart to see her so happy to have our leftover pizza. After dinner we sat by pool and saw the election results in the United States.

Wednesday, November 7th

We started the day with a tour of Managua. It's crazy how many military people there are in Nicaragua, especially in the captial and especially compared to Costa Rica. The military guy let us pass by to go to a beautiful look out. There is a giant statue of Augusto Sandio right next to a Christmas tree. We had a lecture and learned about the history of Sandio. We tried to go to the national theater and a park on the beach, but we were not allowed in either of those. The second picture is of the revolutionary plaza, an important gathering place in the past and in present times. We spent 2 hours at a crummy mall during lunch time. There were many street vendors outside of the mall. "Comercio informal" is what my history teacher kept telling us.

Next, we made our way to Granada, an old city in Nicaragua. Granada was my favorite city we have visited on all of our fieldtrips.  We started off at the hotel, and then we went on a city tour. We got to go to this neat art place. We only were there for less than 10 minutes, but it was really neat. We also went to a museum of ceramics. The last picture is from that museum. I was super tired and getting kind of bored. :)

We ate at the best place called The Garden Cafe for dinner. I had a giant chicken salad with a brownie sundae for dessert. YUM.

Thursday, November 8th

We went on a more detailed tour of Granada on Thursday. We saw many different churches, and we were able to climb to the top of a bell tower in one of them. It gave us a wonderful view of the city. We saw several colonial style houses, and we happened to find a hammock making place. It's a cafe and apartments for deaf and mute kids. They make the hammocks, sell them, and work in the cafe. It was one of the neatest things I had ever seen. I bought a little knitted purse from them We also went to another museum in a church. It had many stone statues of things.

                               

We went to las Isletas in the afternoon. We had to take a boat to get there, but our group had our own private island for the afternoon! We first ate lunch which was interesting. I had ordered fish and it came with its whole head, eyes and teeth still attached. I could not believe they did not take it off the bone. I tried to eat as much as I could, but I did not like it. We relaxed in hammocks and took a nap. I also tried to fish. Syd helped me, but I did not catch anything. There was also a pool that we swam in and took lots of pictures. One our way back to the mainland we got a tour of the islands. The picture on the bottom is of one of the 4 elementary schools on the islands. Around 90% of the children attend school, which seemed like a lot for such a poor country.

We at at The Garden Cafe for dinner again, only this time we brought the rest of the group. I asked for water, and they brought me the largest bottle of water I had ever seen. I tried a different salad the second night. 

When we got back to the hotel, we were dancing and laughing and having a great time in the hotel room. It was super fun to bond and spend time together for a week.

Friday, November 9th

We left Granada, and I was really sad to have to say goodbye to a city so old and filled with culture. We spent the majority of the day in different cities in Nicaragua. We first went to Niconohomo and saw some men making baskets. Then, we went to the library there. Niconohomo is the birthplace of Sandino, and his house was turned into a library. We learned a little more about his life.

Next, we went to San Juan de Oriente and got to watch people make pottery. The guy that was showing us everything was so nice and smiley. He spoke slowly so we could understand him. Crazy to think he turns a gross pile of mud into a beautiful piece of artwork.

We ate lunch at lagoon in Catarina. It was horrible place to eat lunch. The food was awful and it took forever, however the location and view were amazing! I wish I would have taken more pictures there. It was beautiful. We learned about the marimba, and we had a mini concert which was really neat.

We also went to two drastically different markets in Masaya. The first one was a local market. It was huge, smelly, disorganized. Sydney, Mariah T., and Kristin got lost while we were there! I only stayed there for 15 minutes and then waited on the bus for the rest of the time. The second market was really neat though. It was filled with perfect touristic gifts and treasures. :) Here's a picture of the outside of the second one!

The we had the 2.5 hour drive to San Juan del Sur. Right before we left Masaya I got a slice of pizza and cookies for less than $1! Such a good deal;I wish we would have ate dinner there. We got to San Juan del Sur and checked into our hotel. 6 girls in one hotel room, with one bathroom. We got dinner at a restaurante on the beach.

Saturday, November 10th

This was our free day! We literally had all day to do whatever we wanted. Breakfast was at 8am at the hotel, so we got to sleep in a little bit. We thought we were walking towards the shops and the town, but we ended up walking in the wrong direction. But we saw a cool bridge and took some pictures on the beach. 

We finally found where the real shopping was, and I got a Nicaragua tank for $4! We swam in the ocean, went in the pool and tanned on the roof. We ate lunch and dinner at the same place, called Barrios cafe. We got to see the prettiest sunset (don't worry Dad-I took lots of pictures). It was a nice relaxing way to end the trip.

Sunday, November 11th

We left for San Ramon, and had some complications at the border... The guy would not stamp our passports because we did not have our return tickets to the USA with us. I could not believe it. I ran outside of the building to get our director. Luckily one of my classmates has internet on her phone, and she found the email with our flight information on it. We were able to get through to Costa Rica. We ate lunch at Subway, and made it back to San Ramon by 5pm.

In two days I leave for Panama! In one week I will get the opportunity to see 3 different countries. Don't get that chance very often. :)

Con mucho amor.

La Fortuna & Puntarenas

What I'm doing: I just got back from the most amazing trip to Nicaragua! But first I am going to write about the weekend before I left because it was very fun.

Saturday, November 3rd

We went to la Fortuna, which is a very touristic area near Volcan Arenal. There were 10 of us who went; the other 5 girls in our group went the weekend before. They told us which bus to take and which company they used. At first I was sad that we did not go as a large group, but it was really fun to spend some time with the other girls that I do not normally get to hang out with.

We caught the 5:30am bus and got to la Fortuna at around 8am. We found Red Lava company after wandering around for a bit. They said they would give us the same package of zip lining, repelling and horsebackriding for $35. It was $5 cheaper than our friends because our group was so large. The van was going to pick us up at 10am, so we had time to grab breakfast.

A van came to pick us up, and we stopped by a hotel and two other girls joined our group. We went to the zipline place to get suited up and ready. The first line looked scary, and you could not see the end of the line...my hands were sweaty and I hoped that I could handle the 9 line course.

It was like we were flying! I normally went in the middle of the group. There was a guide at the beginning waiting for us at the other side, and there was a guide with us at our side as well. Some of them were pretty long and fast, others were a little slower. One time I did not make it all the way to the other side, so I had to turn around and go hand-over-hand to the end. Once we made it through all the ziplines, we did repelling.

I have repelled once when I was in 6th grade at camp. It was scary but not as steep as the one we did at la Fortuna. You are supposed to stop yourself as you are going down, but I was going to fast and had some trouble stopping myself. I felt like I basically fell to my death. But I survived.

Next came the horsebackriding. Two summers ago my family and I were in Yellowstone and we went horsebackriding, but the horses just walked at a slow pace and we got to see all the nature around us. They do things a little differently in Costa Rica. My horse was running SO fast. I thought I was going to fly off, and my throat hurt from screaming so much. Rocks were flying everywhere and the horses do not go in a straight line. It was quite the adventure, but I am really glad I participated and did all of the activities.

We also did some shopping there and got smoothies when we got back to the main town. We caught the last bus home to San Ramon and arrived around 8pm. Such a fun and full day of activities that we planned all on our own!

Sunday, November 4th

After church, Mariah and I met up with Brayan and his brother Derek to go to Puntarenas for the afternoon. It took us around 1.5 hours to get there by bus. Puntarenas is on the beach where many cruise ships stay. We got to see one while we were there; this also means there are many vendors and knick-knacks to buy. I did not purchase anything though, since I knew things in Nicaragua were probably going to be cheaper. We took pictures on the beach while it was still sunny.

We also got a churchill. It is a shave ice/fruit sort of mixture. Winston Churchill liked to go to Puntarenas and order it, so it got named after him. It was super yummy and different from anything I have tried before.

We went and sat on the beach to watch the sunset and talk. It was super good to practice Spanish and have good, meaningful conversations. Both the boys are very funny, so Mariah and I were always laughing. We grabbed pizza later in the evening and took the last bus home. I am constantly amazed at the wonderful people God has placed in my life here. So, so blessed. My facebook status on Sunday night said this:

 

It's perfect weekends like this with family and friends that make me realize that I do not want to leave Costa Rica...

 

 

Con mucho amor.

Everyday strangers

What I'm thinking about: I meet so many people every single day in Costa Rica. The store owner that told me my Spanish was good, the guy at the shoe store who sympathized with Chandler and I as we waited for Mariah to pick a pair of shoes, the aunt I met once at Angelica's first communion party, the one student who talked to me in Juan Manuel's class.... All of these people I will probably never see again, but they have impacted my life.

from: here, here and here

Con mucho amor.

My Week

What I'm doing: This week has been full of fun activities! Nothing out of the ordinary special, but just those little things that make you appreciate life.

Wednesday Mariah and I went to church, which was really fun. We sat inbetween Kari and Rachel. We stayed after the church service was over and talked with Tina and her daughters for awhile. I did not even realize how long we were there until my host mom texted me and said, "where are you?!" I am always surrounded by wonderful people who care about me.

Thursday was a rainy day. There was more rain than usual because of hurricane Sandy. The other Spanish class did not have class that day, so I was a little disappointed that we did. Our teacher just disappeared. When she returned she had a whole thing of hot chocolate for everyone in class! It was SO nice of her!

Last night Mariah came over and we went to the mall and got popcorn. We watched The Mask. When it was done, her and my brother and I were all just talking in my room. He was telling us stories from his life. I swear he is one of the wisest people I know. We always have heart to hearts at night. Sharing experiences and life with people is one of my favorite parts about Costa Rica.

What I'm watching: My host brother was shocked when he kept listing off movies and I kept saying that I had not seen them. It is funny because the same exact thing happened over the summer with one of my coworkers. He was so surprised that I had not seen so many popular movies. My brother decided that we need to have lots of movie nights before I leave. We watched Inglourious Basterds on Sunday night, and The Mask last night. I thought The Mask was going to be a scary movie, but my brother kept telling me it was not. I didn't exactly believe him... It was funny but silly. I fell asleep through a small part of it, though. Whoops!

My favorite one that we watched this week was Patch Adams. We watched it on Thursday night, and it was SO good. Made me cry, but it also has such a good message. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the movie:

• When Patch is talking to God after a difficult time in the movie: "So answer me please. Tell me what you're doing. Okay, let's look at the logic. You create man. Man suffers enormous amounts of pain. Man dies. Maybe you should have had just a few more brainstorming sessions prior to creation. You rested on the seventh day. Maybe you should've spent that day on compassion."
• "See what no one else sees. See what everyone chooses not to see... out of fear, conformity or laziness. See the whole world anew each day!"  
• "All of life is a coming home. All the restless hearts of the world, all trying to find a way home. Picture yourself walking for days in the driving snow; you don't even know you're walking in circles. How small you can feel, and how far away home can be. Home. The dictionary defines it as both a place of origin and a goal or destination. Eventually I would find the right path, but in the most unlikely place."

What I'm listening to: I love Christian music, and listening to it in Spanish is even more magical. Worship is such a wonderful way to connect with God. One of my friends showed me these few new songs that I love.

• El Aire De Tu Casa - Jesus Adrian Romero
• Solo Cristo - Hillsong
• When God Ran

This afternoon is a huge first communion lunch for Angelica. I really hope that I can understand what is going on and that people will talk to me. Tonight is youth group, and tomorrow is church! Hopefully tomorrow afternoon Chandler and I will go shopping too. I am having shopping withdrawls. :) Hope everyone else has a wonderful weekend.

Con mucho amor.

You have never really lived...

What I'm thinking about: I have not posted many quotes in awhile, so here are some that I have been thinking about lately. 

from: here
Why wish upon the stars, when you could pray to their creator?

from: here

from: here

"Life is everything. Life is God. Everything changes and moves and that movement is God. And while there is life there is joy in consciousness of the divine. To love life is to love God."

from: here

Hope these brightened your night.

Con mucho amor.