Bueno Tiempos! (Good Times)

The time has practically flown here in Costa Rica. I only have 2 more days of class and then I fly home to Alabama for Christmas. These last few weeks have been steady but fun. I have worked hard in class and have had fun with friends and my Tica Family.

1. Babysitting
2. Black Friday
3. Matty's Fiesta

Babysitting!!
Two Saturdays ago, missionary friends of mine asked me to babysit their 3 children (ages between 6 -10) so that they could go out on a date. I was SO excited. For three reasons:

1. I love their children. They are well behaved but hilarious to be around.
2. I just enjoy getting out of the house and being around children in general.
3. They promised me Mac n Cheese - How could I say no to that kind of offer??

We ended up having a blast. We ate 4 boxes of Macaroni and Cheese, watched 2 movies, and ate 3 bags of butter popcorn. Then the Friday after Thanksgiving, other missionary friends of mine asked me to babysit their two little guys (ages 2 and 4) while they went Christmas shopping. That was fun as well. Again, I was offered Mac n Cheese for the deal! Forrest, the four year old, knows a good amount of Spanish. So when we played the game, "fix the babysitter something to eat" , Forrest and I played in Spanish while Elliott ( 2 year old) played in English. I have always enjoyed babysitting, but here in Costa Rica I find that I enjoy it even more. I feel like I am helping in a larger way here. Missionaries, ESPECIALLY missionaries with children, just need to relax sometimes, but living in a different country makes that difficult to do. Everything takes longer, its harder to go places, babysitters are harder to find... I am glad that in a small way I am able to help out.

Black Friday in Costa Rica !!?
I was surprised to learn that Costa Rica has Black Friday as well! Actually this is the first year that they have really done it up big. Emy, my Tica mom, asked me to go to the Mall with her on Friday night. Now most of you know, shopping is not really my thing. But I thought it would be fun to get out of the house. Don't get me wrong I had a wonderful time hanging out with Emy, but the Mall was ridiculous. Black Friday was definitely in action. There was people everywhere, I could hardly move with out bumping in to someone. We had a fun time shopping and eating at the food court. (I had really hot buffalo wings from KFC. They were so hot that I could not finish them.)

Matty's Fiesta

The Cake - Elmo Style !!
The Costa Rican word for cake is
 "el queque" (sounds like  "k k")

Matthias (grandson of my Tica mom and dad) turned 3 last week. So on Saturday night, his parents, Karla and Elvin, had a small fiesta for him at their house with Matty's family. Elvin's family was there as well as Karla's family (my tica family) and I was invited as well.

It really embarrassed Matty when we sang "Happy Birthday" to him
In the photo: Karla, Elvin and Matty - and his other granddad

In the photo: Matty, Mom and dad and his uncle Adrian

What Matty doesn't know is that this present is clothes, and as you can see in the picture below- no matter how nice the clothes are- no 3 year old child wants clothes.

Matty is sad because all he thinks he got for his birthday is clothes!

The good surprise was that he did get other toys like this computer
 from Carlos and Emy. That is Emy in the right of the photo.

Language School and Tica Family

I can't believe that I have been in classes for 4 weeks already! It has definitely gone fast. I have learned a lot, but that just makes me realize how much farther I have to go.

1. Language Learning and Plans
2. Tica family


Language Learning
I arrived in Costa Rica with very little Spanish knowledge. I took French in high school and in college. So the only Spanish that I knew was the few words that are common to hear every day during mission trips like “Buenas Dias” , “Como Esta?” , and

View of the mountains from the school grounds

“Bien, Gracias a Dios” – Good Morning, How are you? Good, Thanks to God. - I had learned a tiny bit more from other places, but I definitely still couldn’t say anything and I struggled to understand anything that was said to me. Now, after 2 weeks of tutoring and 4 weeks of class, I can have a basic conversation (keep in mind the word BASIC). I am able to talk with my host family and I am even feeling more confident in class. 

Spanish Language Institute

I was talking to my mom early this week and she was giving me some dates to write down. I found that instead of writing the word “date” in English, I automatically wrote it in Spanish! It’s funny how sometimes I will struggle for days to remember a certain word and then all of the sudden it finally come to me. For example: One of the first things we learned was how to describe how we are doing. The word for angry is “enojado”. Every time I wanted to use this word, I couldn’t think of it. I could “see” the word in my head, and I could say “you know that word for angry that starts with an ‘e’ “ But I couldn’t seem to ever say the word. All of the sudden one day, as I am walking home from school, the word just pops into my head and all of a sudden I knew the word. I am really enjoying this process of learning the language.

Plans
For those of you who are wondering about my plans - My plans are to be here in Costa Rica for language school until the end of July. I will arrive in Shell, Ecuador in August to start teaching when the school year starts. 

Also, I have decided that since I do not have class the entire month of December, I am going to go home for Christmas! I will be home on December 3 and return to Costa Rica on December 31. I am totally excited!

My Tica Family- an amazing blessing

The House -My room is the first 
set of windows in the right of the picture

I can’t express how blessed I feel to have been placed with the amazing host family that I live with here in Costa Rica. My “Tica” mom, Emy, is amazing and makes me feel so at home here. Her husband’s name is Carlos, and he is extremely funny and sweet as well. They have a daughter name Marreala, who lives at home. She is great and I have had several conversations with her. – They are all very helpful in my language learning adventure. Last weekend, friend from school and I were planning on going shopping for souvenirs. Our plan was to just take the bus and hope to find some tourist shops. However, when Carlos found out our plans he decided to drive us the best tourist shops. - He skipped eating his favorite breakfast that Emy had just made him and drove us 30 minutes to the shops. That afternoon Marreala asked me to go to church with her. She attends a service on Saturday nights for young people. It was fun going to church with her. Emy found out how much I like frogs and bought me a stuffed frog and a frog key chain. Emy and Carlos also have another daughter name Karla. She is married to Elvin and they have a 2½ year old son named Matthias. Matthias stays with Emy every morning since his parents are both at work. 

Matthias

I have really enjoyed getting to know Matthias as well. At first he was shy and it didn’t matter because I couldn’t understand anything he had to say anyway. But gradually he has begun to talk to me. He loves cars and airplanes. Every morning, he shows me his new car or shows me a car that he as already showed me and asks if I remember. It was a great breakthrough the first morning I actually understood was he was telling and asking me. He is learning his colors (in Spanish) and it just so happens that I am also learning my Spanish colors - imagine that!  So while he ate his Fruit Loops the other morning we quizzed each other on the colors of each Fruit Loop before he ate it. He turned to his grandmother and said in Spanish, "She sure is speaking a lot more than she used too!" That was great to hear for sure. (and just in case you are wondering if that it is a good thing that I am talking more- YES!! it most definitely a good thing) LOL 

Family Dog- Shena

Common Costa Rican breakfast - Gallo Pinto (red beans and rice)
eggs and a slice of cheese - We usually eat this on the weekends
but sometimes we also have it during the week.

A neighborhood close to the school that I walk through everyday
Beautiful flowers that I see all over the place 

A view of the main street that I walk down every day.

Ducks in the park in the middle of the city

Park that I walk through everyday to get to school

It was raining this morning is the only reason that there
wasn't several children playing on the playground

Manuel Antonio

Thank you for all of the prayers, calls and emails these last two weeks. God has been so good. My back is doing much better, and I have learned anew how to trust God in spite of the situation. I feel like I am back to normal (as normal as I get get). I am working hard at school and I feel like I am learning a ton.

1. Ordering fast food in a different language

2. Manuel Antonio

1. So as many of you know, ordering at a fast food restaurant in that States can be an ordeal if it's busy. Now picture doing all of that in a different language. I have to say that it is always fun to see what I get because it's usually not what I attempted to order. 

I ended up with 3 slices of pizza.

Pizza Hut-

I attempted to order 1 slice of ham pizza and a drink, but I ended up with 3 slices.

McDonald's-

I was trying to order a chicken sandwich. However, I ended up with a fried chicken breast and wing. (Like at KFC)

Italian Sit Down Restaurant-

A sit down restaurant is always much easier. Not only do you have a menu that you can point at, but the waitress is more focused on what you are saying and you have more time to practice what you are going to say, and time to listen to their questions clarifying what you ordered.  I ordered a Penne Cheese Pasta that was absolutely delicious. 

2. Manuel Antonio

This weekend I went to Manuel Antonio with the other two students in my class. We stayed at a hostel that caters to English speaking people. (meaning the people at the front desk speak English). We had to take a $8 bus from San Jose that left at 6pm and we arrived in Manuel Antonio around 10:00pm. Saturday, we went to the National Rainforest and went hiking for most of the day. For dinner we rode a bus into the closest town and ate Italian. The views were incredible and we saw many cool animals up close and personal. (see pictures below)  We made it back Sunday afternoon with no problems! It was a fun weekend and I can not wait to visit again.

View from my room at the hostel

We hiked up hill to this overlook

Then we hiked back down to the beach. What a beautiful view!

 

Animal Life:

Monkey- we saw a lot of monkeys but it was difficult to
take their pictures because they moved so fast

Monkey swinging from tree to tree!

This monkey came running across the path right in front of us.
I just missed taking a picture of a mother monkey with its
child on its back.

Monkey eating

This raccoon is not scared of people at all. They actually
will take food out of  your bag if you leave it unattended.

Lizard on the path

After a long day hiking for about 4 hours, a nap in the hammock was
definitely in order.