A Friday To Remember!

            So yesterday was a good day.  As usual, I woke up before 7am and ate breakfast.  Then, about an hour later, I went for a run to the park like I do most mornings.  Sometimes, I’ll split up my run and take a break half way through in order to do some exercises in the park (i.e. sit-ups, push-ups, dips, etc).  Today was one of those days where I took a break.  I chose a picnic bench in the shade on which to do my exercises.  About 3 minutes into doing crunches, about 20 people showed up to the part of the park I was in looking ready to run.  There was a man with them who was timing them as they ran around the park.  Another man who was with the group came and sat down by me and asked what the time was.  I answered in Spanish and continued on with my exercises. 

However, a few minutes later he began talking to me more in Spanish about the people running.  I understood but then informed him that my Spanish wasn’t very good.  He and I talked for awhile.  It turns out that the people running were being tested physically for the police force.  They had to run a certain amount of laps in under a certain amount of time.  The point of the story is that I was able to carry on a small conversation with a tico and not die.  It was a very cool experience even though it was brief (10 minutes or so).  I’m learning little by little.

            After running, I met up with Laura at around 10am or so.  Laura and I sometimes get coffee together in the mornings, since neither of us have morning classes, and talk about life or she’ll help me practice my Spanish.  Instead of going to a café and buying coffee this time, we went to the store and actually bought coffee grounds and then went to ISA (our program’s office) and made coffee ourselves.  The coffee was alright…  Anyways, she and I just hung out at ISA for most of the morning working on the daily newspaper’s Spanish crossword together, messing around on Facebook, or talking.  While looking through the paper trying to find out what’s happening in San Jose this weekend, we came across one of the new movies that had just recently come out in Costa Rica: Amigos Con Derechos.  It was a chick flick starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman but well worth the $4 movie ticket.  Plus, it was a fun way to pass the afternoon.  Laura and I shared some good laughs during the movie.  Actually, Laura shared a lot of laughs by herself, literally.  I mean, no one else in the movie theater was laughing except Laura.  Que verguenza!

            Anyways, if an entire day with Laura wasn’t enough fun, my host family told us a few days ago that they were going to have an “adoracion” at their house Friday night with some family and friends.  The word adoracion, I later found out, means worship.  However, I was under the impression that Juan Carlos said “oracion” which means prayer…just a little off, but that’s beside the point.  Juan Carlos said I could invite some of my friends if I wanted to so I asked Laura and Emily to come.  Josh, who I didn’t see all day yesterday until around 6:30pm, invited 3 more of our friends. 

While the group of us “Americans” were all just hanging out and talking in my host family’s house before started worship, Gleys played the music for How Great Thou Art and asked Josh if he knew the words for it in English.  He didn’t but I knew the chorus and a little bit of one verse.  Juan Carlos asked me to look the lyrics up online so he could print them out so our group could sing a duet with Gleys in English while she sang in Spanish.  Of course we couldn’t just say no so we ended up singing with them.  Then, after we were done singing, they asked us if we would sing for everyone again during the worship.  We said yes, or course, again.

Worship was very interesting.  It was definitely a bit of Costa Rican culture.  It was basically a Catholic mass where they said the rosary and a bunch of other things to do with mother Mary.  Gleys and Juan Carlos led worship and it was very well done.  They both sang…and boy can they sing.  Mother, I know you’re probably on your way to the airport now to come visit me, but I think you’d enjoy singing with Gleys while you’re down here.  Anywho, Gleys gave a great prayer about how she’s been sick and how it’s been hard on the family but how God has blessed her with wonderful friends and family, a loving husband, and a great son.  The prayer was very moving and the worship was refreshing.

            After the worship everyone (there was roughly (15-20 of us in total) ate.  We had lots of great food like chicken lasagna, veggies, pork, and fresh fruit juices.  It was a great time and a great Friday.  After we ate, we just all sat around and talked for awhile.  It was nice to interact with everyone, both in Spanish and in English.  Juan Carlos and Gleys really liked our friends and said they could come back anytime they wanted.  They said that their house is now our friends’ house too.  Costa Rica has been good to me so far.

            Enough about me, let’s talk about my parents.  THEY’RE COMING TODAY!!!  Yessir, you heard me right.  As we speak (I know we’re not really speaking but just go with me on this one), Jim, Claire, and Peter are on their way to the airport to fly down to San Jose.  I’m meeting them at the airport here around 10:30pm tonight and then taking them to their hotel.  Then, tomorrow, the 4 of us are going to Tortuga Island for the day to play in the ocean, snorkel, explore, and have a good relaxing family fun time.  They’re staying for 6 days.  I’ll be sure to blog about it and tell you how it goes.  Adios!

The Caribbean!

4 ½ hours on a bus wasn’t too bad.  Especially when at the end of that bus ride you end up along the Caribbean Coast.  That’s right, a group of us went to Puerto Viejo along the Caribbean side of Costa Rica this weekend.  Since it was a long bus ride we ended up in Puerto Viejo when the sun had already set and had to walk to our hostel in the dark.  It wasn’t that bad of a walk since it was a full moon.  Plus, like most beach towns, there were lots of people out walking around or riding bikes.  It was plenty safe.  And, of course, it smelled like weed as soon as we entered the town.  This is the province of Limon where they talk Spanish in Jamaican accents, listen to reggae music, adore Bob Marley, and smoke lots of Mary Jane.

The Caribbean Coast

 The hostel, Cabinas el Tesoro, was about a mile outside of town which was probably best in the end since the town really didn’t sleep.  We had 3 rooms with 4 beds each for our group to use.  Since there were only 9 of us, I ended up sleeping in the 3^rd room all by myself.  I was the only guy who went so it seemed fitting.  The hostel was pretty cool.  It was back in the jungle so it felt very nature-like but the beach was still just across the street.  It was rougher than some of the other hostels we have stayed at (i.e. the kitchen was not as nice or “helpful”) but I enjoyed 100% of it.  Even using the kitchen was a blast.  We went out for dinner the first night we were there and most everyone ordered some sort of pasta because we were starved not having eaten since we left San Jose in the afternoon.  Well. It took about 2 hours for our food to get to us.  So, at around 10pm, we had dinner.  But food is food and we were hungry.

My room at the hostel

Some bananas just hanging up at the hostel for anyone who wanted one.  Some were better than others.

The next day we all went to the beach, of course.  Caroline and I rented a surfboard for the day.  The waves weren’t the best.  A lot of them were too big for us.  The water was kind of choppy too but we made do the best we could.  We laid out and surfed all day until about 5pm.  To conserve money, Caroline and I decided that we were going to cook dinner for ourselves Saturday night.  As a side note, most everyone in Puerto Viejo was riding bikes to get to and from town or to visit other beaches along the coast.  There were lots of places you could rent bikes for about $4 for half a day.  Well, Caroline and I were going to rent bikes to ride into town to buy food and then ride around a bit.  However, we totally failed because when we went to go rent 2 bikes for half a day we couldn’t because the rental place was going to close in 10 minutes.  Therefore, we walked to town.

Where we rented our surfboard and the man we rented it from.

Some of the waves

We ended up buying spaghetti noodles, canned peas and carrots, mushroom sauce, and a pineapple all for under $3 a person.  Making food was fun.  I did the manly stuff like light the burner and cut up the pineapple.  Caroline did the lady stuff like cook the food.  Actually, she cooked the food because I would have ruined it if I would have tried.  Someone had left rice at the hostel so we ended up cooking that, mixing it with the peas and carrots, and adding pineapple to it.  It was pretty darn good.  Then, since we were still hungry, we made spaghetti with mushroom sauce, which was also pretty darn good.  Overall, it was a successful dinner and a good night.  Also that night, Emily forced me to converse with her in Spanish.  Even though the topic was “interesting,” I still enjoyed practicing.  I also enjoyed listening to her and Laura converse in Spanish.  I need to do that more often.

The kitchen...limited but entertaining.

Me eating pineapple while Caroline cooks.

Entree #1

We didn't have a can opener for the peas and carrots so I improvised and used tweezers and a rock to open it.

             The next morning, Sunday, 4 of us woke up at 5:15am to watch the sunrise since the Caribbean has the sunrises and the Pacific has the sunsets.  It was cloudy but still pretty.  I went back to sleep right after.  When I awoke again, I made some oatmeal I had bought the other day for breakfast.  Inspired by the dinner-making of the night before, I attempted to add rice to my oatmeal to mix it up a bit.  While it tasted fine, the rice was a little hard.  Either way, I had a very nice breakfast.

The sunrise

            I slept against the window of the bus most of the ride back.  Then, once I got home, I took another 3-4 hour nap.  I think I was just hungry since I only had oatmeal and rice at 8am that morning.  We ate dinner at 8:30pm so, as one could guess, I ate a lot at dinner.  Also, I guess during my nap sometime there was a tremor from an earthquake in San Jose.  Why did I have to be asleep for that!  Oh well, I guess it happens often in Costa Rica so maybe I’ll get to feel it next time.

            This Saturday the folks and Peter are coming to visit for 6 days!  I can’t wait to show them everything.  I’m a little nervous about having to translate for them since I’m not very good at Spanish myself but I’m looking forward to it just the same.  Also, I think The Discovery Channel should send some photo people over to the Middle East because it’s basically a zoo over there.  And there’s my political two cents. 

Update On My Host Mother

            Here’s an update on Gleys, my host mother.  Since being admitted to the hospital last week and given two pints of blood and a 6 hour drip of iron, Gleys has recovered very quickly.  They let her go home the next day and told her to get lots of rest.  She’s been going to bed before 10pm every night and sleeping in until at least 10am the next day.  I asked her how she felt yesterday and she told me that she’s really sleepy in the morning but the rest of the day she’s fine.  She did, however, tell me that she had a moment of tiredness and soreness during the afternoon yesterday where she just wanted to lie down and sleep.  But she only felt that way for a few minutes.  She has been making dinner, driving, singing, etc.  In short, she’s better.  Thank you everyone for your prayers.  My host family greatly appreciated them and so did I.

I know this picture has nothing to do with the blog entry above but I'm going to place it here nevertheless.  I'm giving the monkey a flower.  He ate it.

The Circus and Lava

            This as my first weekend actually staying in San Jose and it was quite interesting.  Friday, a small group of us walked around downtown San Jose and ended up watching a street circus perform for a few hours.  It was nice to just go wherever, see whatever, and do whatever Friday.  When we walked past something that peaked out interest we stopped and looked at it.  It’s nice not having responsibilities or time commitments that constrain you.  I think that’s one thing I like about Costa Rica and my time here the most.  I like being able to just relax and do whatever.  I like being to build friendships without having to worry about the “next” item on my agenda or schedule.  I had forgotten what being a friend really meant until coming here.  It’s been nice to remember what friendship is all about – relationships.

            Saturday, a small group of 7 of us met together in the wee hours of the AM and walked to downtown San Jose again.  This time, however, we were catching a bus and just walking around.  The bus was to Poas, one of the active volcanoes here in Costa Rica.  Poas involved a plethora of walking up and down hills but it was worth it.  Plus, I love exercising.  The volcano was pretty cool.  In the middle of the crater was a lagoon.  No lava, sorry.  The lagoon was hard to see because there always seemed to be a cloud in the way.  See a volcano in Costa Rica…check.  We left the volcano at 2 and headed back to San Jose.  It was a nice day trip.  

Looking down into the volcanic crater.  The lagoon was just above that red/orange section of rock.

A close up view

            Today I went to church with Laura, Emily, and Emily’s host sister, Sofy.  It was an awesome experience.  I’ve never sung praise music in Spanish before…but today I did.  It was cool to see so many people so passionate about our Lord and Savior.  I’ve been looking up praise songs in Spanish all afternoon because I want to be able to sing them next time I go.  I was also able to meet some more ticos while I was there.  I just want to learn Spanish so bad.  I’m understanding more and improving a lot but, you know me, I always want to be the best at everything I do.  It’s a bit frustrating but there are more important things in the world to get upset about, right?  Like the 9/10 of a cent you have to pay extra per gallon of gasoline.  Doesn’t that just eat at you too? 

Notice the sign.  The water in the lagoon averages around 105 F.

The paths around Poas were very cool, green, and forest-y.

            I’m going to “get” coffee later with Emily and then watch the Saprissa futbol game on television later tonight.  Tomorrow is the start of a new week that brings more opportunities for me to practice and learn Spanish.  Hasta luego!

The "Surfer Church"

             Remember a few weeks ago when I blogged about trying to go to some “surfer” church but then we ended up getting lost and having to take the same taxi back home that we took to the church?  Well, last night, we tried to find that surfer church again.  This time though, we met one of the members of the church at a McDonalds and he drove us the rest of the way to the church, which turned out to be just someone’s house.

            The guy who picked us up at McDonalds was named Augustine (or something along that spelling).  He was very nice and spoke close to perfect English.  He’s lived in CR his whole life and has been a Christian his whole life.  He told us that he got involved with Christian Surfers (or the Pura Vida Church) after he got “lost” and a friend encouraged him to reconnect with the big JC. 

When we pulled up and entered the house I didn’t know what to expect.  Well…everyone was talking Spanish, most everyone was around our age or in their twenties, and everyone had a Bible.  There was an older couple there who were American and bilingual.  Their names where Shelly and Craig and they have lived in CR for 26 years.  They moved down here as missionaries and are now working with the Rahab Organization which helps women and young girls get out of prostitution.  Everyone there was very welcoming and accommodating.  They made all the first time comers to Christian Surfers say their name, their favorite type of wave, and their favorite and least favorite beach.  I really don’t have a favorite wave, plus I couldn’t say it in Spanish anyways, so I just said my name and my favorite and least favorite beach, Hermosa and Jaco, respectively.  When I said I didn’t like Jaco everyone clapped.  Guess I said something they liked.

We started off with some Christian songs in Spanish to set the mood and then someone led a Bible study.  It was all in Spanish so I didn’t grasp as much as I would have liked to but basically it was about going out and spreading the Word.  He said we shouldn’t be hiding our light but instead putting it out as a beacon for all others to see.  When we’re surfing, we should be sharing the Word with others, inviting them and encouraging them to come to Christian Surfers.  God should be first in our life and then followed by waves, waves, waves.  Not the other way around.  When he said that, I found it to be quite funny.  It was cool to see so many young Christian adults in another country, that is primarily Catholic, love Jesus so much.  It was also cool to see how much they loved surfing and how they connected through that fact.

The older couple was nice enough to take us home since cabs are kind of expensive.  They also offered to pick us up from Veritas next Wednesday and give us a ride to the group.  They gave us their email address and direct phone number so we can contact them.  They, again, are very loving and Christian people.  It was a great experience and I like the fact that it will help me connect with more ticos and help me improve Spanish.  The Christian Surfers group is going to go to a beach in North CR close to Nicaragua this weekend and invited us to come.  However, I do not think I am going to.  Mostly for the fact that Gleys and Juan Carlos might need my help this weekend with Gleys kind of out of commission.  Either way, one day I will go surfing with them and hopefully make some new friends along the way.  By the way, the goal for me this weekend is to buy a side-by-side English/Spanish Bible and start reading.

Husband & Wife

           A couple of years ago there was a commercial of an old couple holding hands and walking in a park.  A younger couple was also walking in the same park and holding hands.  The younger couple had to stop holding hands for a few seconds in order to walk past the slower moving older couple.  The younger couple rejoined hands after they passed the older couple and the woman of the younger couple looked back at the older couple and smiled.  The older couple smiled in return, as if almost saying, “Love is worth all the problems that sometimes accompany it.  Love each other and care for each other; we did and we couldn’t be happier.”  Just by itself, old people holding hands should make anybody feel all warm and tingly inside.  Well, last night, I kind of experienced something similar with my host family here in Costa Rica.

            Our host mother, Gleys, has been getting some blood tests done recently because she’s been fainting and not feeling very good the past few weeks.  She explained to me Monday night, after her and Juan Carlos, her husband, returned from the doctor’s office, that her red blood cell count is low.  A normal person’s red blood cell count, according to the paper she showed me, should be between 12.5 and 14.5.  Hers, however, is at 6.3.  It was at 7.8 in December.  Needless to say, her red blood cell count is dropping and it shouldn’t be.  They went to the hospital yesterday so she could get a blood transfusion or donation or whatever.  What I’m trying to say is that they needed to inject her with more blood in order to up her red blood cell count.  She talked to us like it was no big deal but you could tell by just looking at Juan Carlos that he was worried about his wife.

            When Josh and I got home yesterday from class at 5 and found that no one was home we didn’t think much about it since it happens often.  However, when only Juan Carlos came home at 7pm something seemed a little off.   He told us that during the blood transfusion, Gleys started to faint and get sick.  She was then rushed to the ER so they could figure out what was wrong.  It turns out that nothing was seriously wrong but it did cause quite a scare.  They moved her to a room in the hospital and started the blood flow again.  Juan Carlos said that Gleys kept telling him to go home and make dinner for Josh and me.  Haha what a good host mother.  Even when she’s lying in a hospital bed she still wants to worry over her “kids”.  Juan Carlos ordered dinner for us from a restaurant.  He then asked us if we wanted to go with him to visit Gleys in the hospital.

            Of course we wanted to so we all took a cab.  At the hospital we sat in the room with Jose, our host brother, Gleys’ mother, and Juan Carlos.  We all tried to lighten the mood by making jokes and laughing at our inability to speak Spanish.  They brought food in for Gleys and that’s when I had my “awww” moment.  Juan Carlos was cutting the food for Gleys and feeding it to her even though she was quite capable of doing it on her own.  And she was letting him do it even though she could have done it better and faster herself.  I knew at that moment that they were going to love each other for eternity.  I witnessed the kind of love that nothing could shatter, that nothing could tear apart.

Juan Carlos & Gleys

            After sitting around a bit, Jose, Josh, Grandma, and myself all went down to the hospital cafeteria to get Jose and Grandma some food.  We listened to Grandma talk about where she used to work as a switchboard operator for a telephone company and about her mother who is 97 years old.  She talks very fast so I only got parts of the story.  She asked me if I understood at the end and I said, “mas or menos” which means, “more or less.”  She then proceeded to laugh at me and I joined in and laughed at myself with her.  It was good bonding time.  She’s a cool old lady who desperately loves her daughter.  She ended up spending the night at the hospital with Gleys last night, by the way.

            We went back up to the room and said our goodbyes.  I told Gleys that I was praying for her and their family and that if I could help out around the house I would.  Whatever they needed I said I would help with.  On the way down in the elevator I asked Juan Carlos how he was doing with this whole situation.  He said he was fine but then proceeded to tell us that he cried when we all left the room.  Poor guy.  The love of his life is sick and all he wants to do is make her better.  Even with his wife sick in the hospital, Juan Carlos is a great host dad to us and an amazing and caring father to his son.  On top of that, he runs his company, takes care of their dog, Brownie, keeps the house clean, and does all this with a God-oriented attitude.  I don’t think you could find a better man in Costa Rica and I’m proud to know him.  Gracias a Dios por Juan Carlos.  Amén.