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!