Uneventful Few Days

Not much has happened out of the ordinary the past couple days. I bought a UCR t-shirt and hat. I´m pretty sure I won´t be eating anything for lunch the next couple of days except pizza because it´s cheap.


I got a B in my class. I´m ok with that. Tonight we´re going to a bar to celebrate the end of classes. Also tonight, the other U.S. couple that´s staying in my house decided to order Pizza Hut tonight for supper. It´s not rice and beans so I´m excited.
Tomorrow we´re going to see Zohan then lunch to celebrate one of the girl´s birthdays. Then, spending the afternoon at the market areas in San Jose.
Then, Sunday we leave San Jose airport at 8:55 in the morning to go to Dallas. After spending 5 hours in Dallas, we fly to Charlotte in the hopes of landing around 11:10 at night. Then of course there´s a two hour drive to Greenville after that.
So, Sunday has mixed feelings for me. I´ll be happy to be home, but not all the traveling.

I Could Have Gone To Jail Today...

Ok, so that´s a bit of an exaggeration, but that happened later in the day so I´ll get back to that.

I started the day thinking I would be spending it by myself. I got up, took a shower, ate breakfast, read some, wrote some, then took a bus back into San Jose to finishe what I started yesterday with the cows.
After that, I grabbed a bus back to San Pedro to get on the internet. As I was leaving I saw Rachel. She said she was about to meet Katie and Elizabeth so I joined them. We met up with the girls and headed to the Outlet Mall´s food court on the second floor and started to play cards. We got to play a couple of hands when a security guard came by and told us we couldn´t play cards.
So, like good gringos, we headed downstairs...and continued to play cards.
Elizabeth and Rachel were worried about getting into trouble (though not worried enough to not play) and we started joking about getting thrown into Tican jail for playing cards in a public mall.

Sure enough, eventually another security guard came by and told us we couldn´t play cards. Did I mention we were in a public place? So, this time we actually did leave the mall and went back to Katie and Elizabeth´s house so we could actually play cards.

This Is A Far Country, Not My Home...

I know the song is about heaven, but that´s kind of how I feel right now. I like it here. I do. I wish I could get out of the city more, but I don´t hate it. But it´s not home. By home, I don´t mean Greenville. Or Rock Hill. Or South Carolina. I´m not talking about a place as much as I am a community. The girls here are like my sisters, and like their brother, I care about them. But they can´t replace Manchester or Edwards Road or my group of friends or my family.

I joke here about missing Mountain Dew and a nice shower (and I do miss those things) but really, the thing I miss most is the community.



Anywho, I bought some books the other day. Three to be exact. A Spanish thesaurus, a Spanish dictionary (not Spanish-English, just Spanish) and a novel in Spanish. El Zorro- Comienza la leyenda. I had decided to read a page and write down the words I don´t know. Translate the words then reread the page. I think, instead, I want to push through it and see how much I understand. If I just can´t follow the story, I´ll go back to doing it the other way.

Today, I decided to walk to the internet cafe instead of taking the bus. It took about 30 minutes but it was good to walk and I didn´t have anywhere to be so I could take my time. When I got there, I used Skype and updated my blog, posted pictures, and did other such internet things.
Then, I took a bus into the city to look for more cows. I spent the afternoon wandering around downtown looking for and taking pictures of the Cow Parade. The souvenir place was open so I grabbed a map. They have miniature cow statues. They´re white so you can do your own art on them. They have rubber Cow Parade bracelets! And T-shirts! Craziness! Loconess!

I´ve decided that I won´t upload anymore cow pictures on here, except for two, because they are my two favorite. But I´ll do that later.

Fotos de Vacas dos

They have information and soveniers! ¿En serio? Chocolate Vaca on a stick! Truett should cash in on this...

The funny thing is, the title of this one had nothing to do with Han Solo...

I don´t know either...
Those spots are actually holes.

It´s a tomatoe and a cow.
If Earth were shaped like a cow, this is what it would look like.

I Bought A Hammock And I´m Not Sure Why...

I figure it might become useful in the future.

Today was a good day. We did get to see The Dark Knight in the morning. Great movie! I´m going to have a lot to write about in my other blog when I get back. Or sooner.

After the movie we took a bus into the city for the afternoon. We went to a little marketplace area, basically a covered version of an Argentine hippie fair. Then we grabbed lunch at a Pizzaria.

Then, we went in search of vacas (cows). I think the Cow Parade is a really cool idea. It´s a unique way to display different aspects of a culture.

Más fotos de Costa Rica

Yes!

Ha!
This is on a street corner.

All We Wanted Were Tickets To Batman

A got a 91 on my test, which is exciting.
I got some food in the San Pedro Mall then went to the theater to inquire about tickets for The Dark Knight. The lady said we could prebuy tickets and that they had showings in English every hour, for tomorrow. Good, I´ll head back and tell the others.
So I did. After we dropped our stuff off at Katie and Elizabeth´s house we headed back to the San Pedro Mall to get our tickets.

As we were standing in line, I heard Erin say, "She´s really sick back here."
I turned around thinking someone was about to throw up but instead, I saw Brittney swaying back and forth about to fall. Krissy and Katie walked her to a bench to sit and rest. The rest of us stayed in line. We got to the counter and I asked the lady about tickets, but the computer wouldn´t let us buy them until tomorrow.
After that, we went to the FoodCourt to get some food, especially for Brittney. I bought a kid´s meal from Burger King because they have Batman toys and because we didn´t get our tickets.

"We Could Plant Pizza Plants"

I think, if pizza plants existed, they would be in Costa Rica. It has so many little Pizzarias with gynormous pieces of pizza. I had one today for less than two dollars.
In my first class, we had a test. I think it went ok, but I´m sure it wasn´t as good as my first test. In my second class, we watched a really sad movie about child soldiers. It was based on a true story. Of course, at some point in the near future we´re going to have to converse about it, though I´m not sure when.

Somewhere In The World, A Car Alarm Is Going Off. It´s Probably In Costa Rica.

So I finally gave my presentation today. I´m kind of disappointed about how it went. The giving of the presentation was fine, but the discussion afterwords wasn´t productive I don´t think. We ended up talking about drug laws.
When I was online today I checked the blog of a STINTer in Argentina. She talked about how much of an impact the Summer Project had this summer. 13 came to Christ and the STINTers currently have 200 new contacts to follow up with because of the Summer Project.

Going back to Argentina was one of my options for this summer. And when I heard that there was no one going that had experience in La Plata, it was hard for me to say no. I had one of those prideful moments where I thought I was needed in La Plata because I know the city, some of the people, and the language...sort of. It was encouraging and humbling at the same time to read about how God worked in La Plata this summer.

The content in class isn´t as confusing as it used to be, which is exciting.

Más fotos de Costa Rica

It´s Kind Of Like Summer Project Now

In Santa Cruz, halfway through the project, the staff left. All of them. Only students in charge. Today, the beginning of the second half of the trip, was our last day with Dr. Adams. She´s returning to the states tomorrow to teach a summer course at Winthrop.
That means that, as of tomorrow, we won´t have a chaperone anymore. Not that she was really a chaperone per say, but she did have to play referee more than once.
Which leads me to say that we need all the prayer we can get now. The oldest person in our group just jumped down from a married Tican (Costa Rican) to a 22 year old gringo. Not that getting around will be significantly harder, but the tension in our group has the potential to rise with Catalina gone.

And, as an added bonus, we started learning concepts in class today that I don´t fully understand. I´ve been taught it before, but it hasn´t sunk in yet because I don´t completely understand the concept in English.

Nothing Says "Forth of July" Like Will Smith Saving The World

I´ve waited at least a week to use that title because for about a week our group was been trying to see Hancock. We had to keep rescheduling, but today, today was the day.
We got to the movie theater and went to check the times...and there were no viewings of Hancock in English. Blast!

So we ended up seeing the only movie they had in English, Wall-E, which was a good movie.

I feel like I should have more important, profound things to say. Or at least more interesting things than what movie we saw. Tomorrow should have some good stuff.

I tried to upload some pictures but the computer was not cooperating with me, so I´ll have to try again later.

Now I Know How Dr. Grant Must Have Felt When He First Got To The Island

Of course, I wasn´t attacked by dinosaurs, but I spent the past couple days out of the city. We were at the beach, in the mountains and the jungle.
Friday, we headed to the Pacific coast and spend all day at the beach. It was so much fun.
Saturday, we drove through the mountains into the jungle to a tourist park of sorts. We did a canopy tour which involved hooking up to numerous ziplines and going through and over the trees. Absolutely amazing!
Spending time in nature does something good to the soul. It also wears out the body.

Please be praying for our group. There´s still tension between some of the girls. It´s almost like there are two "clicks" within our already small group. This needs to stop. We need prayer. I´m in the unique position of being able to be in both groups without tension, but please pray for unity.

2 Down, 2 To Go

Halfway done is a good feeling. I don´t hate it here, but I´m ready to be home.
After class, some of us went to Bufalo´s for lunch. Then we went to the central market in San Jose. It´s a large building with lots of small shops inside. Very crowded. Kind of smells bad. Over all, not the highlight of my day.

Actually, the highlight of my day was the fact that I spent almost all afternoon talking with Erin. We talked about lots of things. I think that´s what she needs, someone to listen to her and engage her.

If You Are What You Eat Then I Am Currently A Large Plate Of Rice And Beans

I got a 95 on my test. Woot! I decided that I want to do my other three presentations using the focus group topics on godsquad.com. I´m excited to have an intentional plan, but kind of nervous.
After class today, I went to Taco Bell for lunch. Don´t judge me, I really wanted a Mountain Dew. Unfortunately, they didn´t have Mountain Dew. They had 7-Up. You only drink 7-Up if your stomach hurts. And if your stomach hurts, you definitely don´t go to Taco Bell. I´m just sayin´.

Fotos de las vacas

"Cowfe Con Leche"
"Vaca Negra"

"Ponga Un Payaso En Su Vida" Translated "Put A Clown In Your Life"

This one´s for Grace. It´s Caribbean themed.
This is the pre-Colombian Cow.
"Vaca Tipica"
"Cucurucucu Vaquita" This one is dressed like a pidgeon.
"The Milk Machine"

Rappers May Have Gotten Something Right

I don´t like rap music. Or anything in a related genre. Christian or secular. But I was watching some music videos of the rap genre in the restaurant I went to for lunch and most of them featured other artists. I´m currently being taught the importance of community, which is completely counterculture to the U.S. I would even go so far as to say it´s even counterculture to the current teachings of the U.S. church, with its focus on personal, individual walks with God. I think that´s not what our focus should be on. We should be doing life together. We should be walking with God together.
Mini sermonette aside, today was a good day.
I had my first test today. It went well I´m pretty sure. Also, I got an 8 out of 10 on my first presentation, so that´s nice.
After class and lunch we went to the National Theater. It was nice, but nothing to write home about (thus the blog....) Something interesting about San Jose is the CowParade they have. Apparently it´s a world wide thing (they have some in New York and in Buenos Aires). They´re not real cows. There are over 100 cow statues constructed and painted to emphasize different aspects of Costa Rican culture. Oh yes, I will put up pictures.

Las fotos del museo de arte

So this wasn´t actually in the art museum but I couldn´t resist.

This one might be my favorite.

This is a close second though.

"Women and Their Machettes"

That came from a combination of the fact that two girls bought their boyfriends machettes as soveniers and a misunderstanding of something I said.

Today I got to sleep in again, then met the Winthrop group to go to the zoo. It took awhile to get there, but the zoo was nice. Lots of birds. Pictures soon.
After the zoo, we went to a local restaurant for lunch. I had lomo asado. Not as good as Argentine beef, but still delicious. Then we went to a small touristy market with multiple sovenier shops all selling basically the same things. That said though, I did finish my sovenier shopping so that´s good

Pray for us. It´s easy to get discouraged here. Not with classes per se, though prayers there won´t hurt either. With the relationships here. There´s some tension in our group and a lot of it is coming from one of the girls who is a Christian. Pray that that stops. It needs to. I think it will hurt us spiritually in the end. Pray for rest and relief from stress. And for patience.

Thanks.

Isn´t it Nice to Know That the Lining is Silver?

I don´t care if Relient K is too "poppy" or "mainstream" for your tastes, they do a heck of a job at relaxing me and putting me in a good mood.
I got to sleep in for a bit which was nice. At some point Katie called and decided to meet up and go bowling. I stopped and spent some time in an internet cafe before I met up with them.
After we all got there we headed towards the bowling alley. We stopped at the pizza/grill place again for lunch, which was good.
Then we continued our treck effectively making a circle until we got to the alley. After deciding it was too expensive to play we went to the San Pedro Mall to look around and shop for a bit.
After the mall, we went back to the internet cafe and I tried to use Skype to no avail. Why do I always get the broken headphones?
I ended up getting to spend some time with Erin and got to talk about religion some. She´s so close, she understands so much. Please pray for her. She has a lot of respect for the Christian artists at Winthrop which is exciting.

Day 9: Feliz Dia de Independencia

I like the class I´m taking. It´s mostly review, but it´s review that I need. I´ve heard that it takes somewhere around six months for a grammer rule to become part of one´s natural speech.
After class we met for lunch, then we went to the art museum.
After the museum, we decided to go out and celebrate the fourth of July doing something "American," which apparently means going to a bar.
At the bar I started talking to one of the girls about her spiritual journey. She grew up Catholic, but along the way lost her faith. When her dad gave her the option of continuing to go to church or not, she stopped going.
We live in the same area, so we got to continue talking on the bus and all the way to her house. I wasn´t sure how she felt about the whole conversation but she said before she left, "Good conversation, we´ll have to continue it sometime." Sweet!
I really like the "questioning evangelism" approach because it puts an emphasis on listening to the other person while also posing questions to them to make them think about what they believe.
I also saw Katie talking with Erin (which is much more significant if you know who Erin is) about Erin´s spiritual background which was encouraging.
I´m excited to see God working.

More pictures soon.

Day 8: A Whole Day Without Rice = Good Day

Class isn´t as tiring as it has been the past few days, that´s good. After class, we went to a pizzaria for lunch, then hurried over to the casita to get on the bus to go to Cartaga. It´s an old, touristy town with a large basillica and the ruins of a church never built.
After we got back, Katie and I ended up going to an internet cafe where I used Skype to call my family.
After the internet cafe, we went to Burger King. We ended up having a great conversation about what are "missions" look like while we´re here. It´s great to have someone else on the same page. We both feel that "our" ministryis with the other Winthrop students and not so much with Costa Ricans. I showed her my Soularium and she took it. Hopefully she´ll get to use it with one or both of her roommates tonight.

Aslan is on the move, and it´s exciting!

Day 7: Technically a Week, and Yet, Not Quite

Today should mark the end of my first week here. And yet, it´s actually a day shy of a week since I left the U.S.
It was an uneventful day. After class and lunch I went by the San Pedro mall to get a picture taken of me so I can finally get a student ID. I signed up for Skype today, which is exciting.
I don´t hate Costa Rica, but I would still prefer being in Argentina. I´m not sure why. When I put them side by side, they´re not much different. It doesn´t rain as much in Argentina, but there are more dogs wandering the streets and more PDA. And the roads are much safer here than Argentina.
I left a piece of my heart in Santa Cruz two summers ago and a bigger piece in Argentina last summer. I can´t say I won´t leave a piece in Costa Rica, but much of that piece will return with me in the form of the relationships with the other Winthrop students.

I´m beginning to see what God wants to do through me down here. More to come.

Un poco más fotos

Costa Rica´s flag


Mysterious spheres found in Costa Rica.
Yes. It does have a face.

Costa Rica´s seal.

Day 6: I´m Beginning to Warm Up to This Place

The second day of class was good. The more I study Spanish, the more interesting language in general becomes to me. Also, the more the importance of word choice becomes evident.
After class, a group of us went to one of the cafeterias on campus. On the way there, this guy jumped out in front of me and started running towards me. I stopped, startled, and as he jumped into giving me a hug, I recognized Barrett, a Clemson student who went to Argentina last summer. He´s currently on summer project in Costa Rica. I was so excited to see him. I knew he was going to be here, but hadn´t thought to contact him yet. I´m so glad we saw each other.
After lunch, we went to the National Museum which was fairly interesting. I´ll put up pictures soon. I´m really glad our group is getting along so well.

Fun story: On the bus ride back to my house there was a guy playing a drum and chanting. Then, he started telling jokes. It was hilarious...the guy, not the jokes, I could only understand bits and pieces of the jokes. Of course, he went around afterwords to collect money from us. I wish I had given him some.
Now I have to finish my homework. I have to write about the differences between Costa Rica and the U.S. I think I´ll focus on transportation...

Day 5: First Day of School

My housemates decided to walk to campus today. It took 45 minutes. Good exercise, good way to get aquainted with the town, never again. Mostly this is because I feel like I can spend my time better if I take a 10 minute bus ride for less than 200 collones (less than $.50) instead of a 45 minute walk.
That said, I´m glad I did it once. We got to campus and I went to see what class I was placed in. 203, Intermediate Spanish, which is the class I originally signed up for. That was nice to find out. So I went to the classroom, which is no bigger than a storage closet.
There are ten of us in the class. No one else from Winthrop though. Class was easy today, we did mostly review. After a short, 20 minute, break we went to the conversation part of the class.
After class I met up with the Winthrop kids and some of us went to a restaurant across the street for lunch.
After lunch and a trip to the computer lab on campus, I went to a bookstore in the Outlet Mall (which is not really an outlet mall) and bought a notebook for class.
Then, I took a bus back to the house, did some homework, ate supper, hung out for a bit, finished my homework, then went to bed.

Un Poco Fotos

This is the view out of my hotel in Charlotte, when I was suppose to be in Costa Rica.
This is my hotel room. All to myself. Still not in Costa Rica.
This is my room now. Still all to myself. Finally in Costa Rica.
This is on the wall in my room. Muy catolico.
This picture sums up Costa Rica on so many levels.