A Donkey in a Boat

Imagine this, but with a donkey.

"It's as boring as a donkey in a boat." This, my friends, is the Costa Rican equivalent to "watching paint dry" or "watching grass grow." I mean, how boring would that be? A donkey. In a boat. In the water. Or out of the water, I don't know. Needless to say, it means that something is boring. My point here is not that I'm bored, but rather that I've been learning many cute little phrases from Costa Rica and then pondering them for hours during long car and bus rides. Often, I can't get past the donkey in a boat. 
In the past five days I have been to 4 different cities and two different countries, all by car and bus. This leaves lots of time to zone out and imagine a donkey in a boat (of course, until I get bored and then start pondering the meaning of life, and all those other mind-boggling questions). 
Friday we took the bus to Coronado to have a VBS at the Wesleyan church there. It was RJ's first time on public transportation, and I'm pleased to say that he survived and is alive and well. Going to Coronado requires going to San Jose (the capital) and navigating the city. I would like to say I accomplished this on my own, but I didn't. Jazmin was there with us the entire time, translating and keeping us alive. Without her, we'd probably be lost somewhere in the mountains, eating our arms to stay alive.
We had a blast. Well, kind of. After arriving in Coronado, we ate lunch and set up for the VBS. We had about 20 kids attend, which was less than we were hoping for, but still an excellent number. That night we slept in a house that loved pets. Not just dogs or cats, but snakes and birds. Three birds. That chirped ALL NIGHT LONG. Guess who's never going to own a bird or a snake? Me.

View of San Jose from the house.

Jazmin and RJ looking at something intriguing.

Inside of the church.

Prayer board inside the church.

After Saturday's VBS we took the bus back to Grecia so Jazmin could be here for her friend's wedding. RJ and I decided not to go to the wedding, but rather go with Sussan and her friends to La Fabricca Pizzeria in Alajuela, about a 30 minute drive from Grecia. Nothing too special there, except that I got to meet some new people and eat some insanely good pizza :)
Alrighty. This brings us to Sunday, which is the beginning of our Golfito/Panama adventure. In the 57 hours we were gone, we spent approximately 31 of them in a car or sleeping. That leaves 26 hours of adventure and TV watching (which, depending on which channels you watch, can be quite adventurous). 
The main reason for our Golfito adventure was a pastor switch at the Wesleyan Church in Golfito. Pastor Luis is a pretty important guy here in Costa Rica, so he travels a lot, and we tag along. So we left Sunday after church to drive the 5 hours and make it there by 5 pm. Mission: Accomplished. After the party, we retreated to what RJ likes to refer to as the "Parasidic Paradise." Actually, it was a few guest rooms in the former pastor's house. But for this, I have to agree with RJ. And guess what? My room had a TV! With Grey's Anatomy in English! And the best part? My mother wasn't there to tell me how unreal all the action was :)  (Just kidding, mom.)
Monday we went to Panama. Whoo hoo! There are two insanely exciting parts of this trip. One: We got four stamps on our passports. Two: We ate McDonalds for dinner. Needless to say, the Americans were happy. Other than that, there's nothing very exciting about Panama. They use American Dollars, and everything is dirt cheap. We were only there for about 2 hours while Zulay did some shopping. I got a dress for my Citation ceremony in Chicago and an I heart Panama coffee mug. Oh yeah, and a McFlurry :)

The view from the back of the church.

On the left are the new pastors, in the middle are Zulay and Luis, and on the right are the old pastors.

Crossing the border.

The city of David.

Don't mess with our McFlurries...

Before we left on Tuesday we did some sight seeing around Golfito. Golfito means "little gulf," so we took a boat ride around the gulf and went to the mountain top to see a view of the city. Here are some pictures:

When we're not traveling around the country, we stay in Grecia and help the maintenence guys, Heraldo and Lionel. And then we teach English, learn Spanish, watch TV, go on Facebook, go running, and eat Chikys and ice cream. And sometimes RJ does his schoolwork. Last week we went to see True Grit in theaters. I can't even begin to describe it, it was that good. I sincerely hope it wins big at the Oscars. But for the most part, life is pretty good down here. Costa Rica is a marvelous place for many reasons. Here's my list of love:
1) Every car has a defective car alarm.
2) It's warm, but not too hot. And right now, during the summer, it doesn't rain.
3) Everyone is super nice and friendly, except the guys who broke in and stole Sharon's computer and the Wii. 
4) Every Sunday is a party. I LOVE church here, and would be completely content never darkening the door of an American church ever again (because I would be living here, of course). 
5) Plans change every 12 minutes. For example, if someone tells you they're going to the beach on Tuesday, when you wake up on Tuesday you put on your bathing suit, sunscreen, bring your towel, camera, water bottle, wallet, etc., because there's a good chance you're not actually going to go to the beach. Same with going to the store or town. I've found that it's much more fun to not ask questions and just see where we end up. RJ, on the other hand, likes to know every detail of our journey. He'll just have to learn to look out the window and imagine a donkey in a boat...
6) There's no need for amusement parks- the driving here is thrilling enough. Roller coasters are nothing once you've ridden with Pastor Luis.
7) America is taking over the world. Costa Rica is part of the world, and is therefore becoming Americanized. While RJ and I were eating at the McDonalds (which was inside a Super Walmart-like store), we saw the shopping carts of the people next to us. They contained: Coke, Lays, Oreos, Pillsbury cans, and many other American foods. I came to the realization that America is not only fat, but we are also determined to make other countries fat, too. (As long as I keep running and stay fit, I have no problem with this). 
8) People still spend unfathomable amounts of time on Facebook, and they still love Two and a Half Men.
9) Costa Rica has the best Ugly Betty series EVER. Actually, it's based in Columbia, but it still rocks.
Alrighty. I'm going to lunch. Tomorrow we leave for Manahaim, a place near the Carribean, and then sometime next week we'll go to the Indian Zone. At least, that's today's plan. If it happens, and if I'm not too lazy, I just might blog about it. 
Until next time,
Gabbie

Oh yeah, and they sold bongs in the City Mall (which is like a Super Walmart) right next to the shampoo.

On the way back we stopped at Jaco Beach to see the sunset. I'm proud of my camera for capturing the moment without making it look stupid.

Great times or bouncing off the wall times? This is one of the latter :)

Happy Valentine's Recovery Day! Some people hate to see Heart's Day go, while others couldn't wait for the clock to strike midnight. But whichever category you happen to fall into, everyone needs a Valentine's Recovery Day, and so I say again- Happy Valentine's Recovery Day!

We've been keeping pretty busy here in Costa Rica, planning Vacation Bible Schools, learning Spanish, running, and helping out with construction projects around the church. Last week, after returning from La Palma, I worked mixing concrete for a wall that is being built behind Pastor Luis' house. Normally, I hate manual labor. As a matter of fact, I'm not a fan of plants, animals, or dirt, either. So concrete isn't really my thing. But I do stuff like that for two reasons. One: I am actually strong enough and physically able to do things like that without having to take water breaks every 20 minutes. Two: It's much, much easier than VBS. VBS is for people who like to hold children and color with them and try to awkwardly communicate with them using hand signals. I'm not a huge fan of that. Don't get me wrong, I know that VBS's are very important and effective, and I like them, I really do. But I'd much rather plan them and work behind the scenes to make sure everything goes according to plan than actually sit down with a child and hold it. As you probably know by now, there is a laundry list of things I don't like, and grimy kids are at the top, followed by plants, animals, dirt, and manual labor. So naturally, I would mix concrete before I would hold children. I don't particularly like getting my purple tennis shoes dirty and chipping my fingernails, but I've learned to live with these things, as shoes can be cleaned and fingernails will grow back. I suppose that's how you learn what the important things are in life, right?
[Just a note: for all of you who came down here this summer and helped dig the ditch, put in the massive concrete pipes, and then filled it up? Well, we spent yesterday re-digging the ditch :) Remember: important things in life.]
The great thing about Costa Rica is that they don't have this all work, no play attitude like America does. We've done plenty of adventurous, touristy things such as visiting the Poas Volcano and going to a soccer game. Poas is a pretty cool place. The top of the volcano is 2,574 meters above sea level, and the crater is 1,320 meters in diameter. It has a depth of 300 meters, and the water inside is approximately 40* celsius. Unfortunately, this makes for very weird weather patterns, and clouds often block the view of the crater, which is what happened the day we were there. Here's what it looked like:

RJ falling over the edge. He's just too tall.

I didn't mind the clouds too much because it's not like I don't believe the crater's existence. It's totally there whether clouds block the view or not. Luckily, the Lagoon was clear for a few seconds, so I got a good picture of that:

Leo, Me, RJ, Sheila, and Zulay.

That night there was a Valentine's Fiesta at the church for all the teenagers. First of all, I had no idea they even celebrated V-day in other countries. I thought it was just one of those lame, Americans-spend-too-much-money-on-stupid-things holidays. But no, stores around here get decked out, television networks show cheesy movies (I should know, I watched Valentine's day twice), and guys and girls still freak out about getting presents for their loved ones. I went shopping with Raquel for her boyfriend, and she was constantly repeating "I'm a bad girlfriend" when we came up with horrible ideas. See? Not too different from America. I was rather pleased. Anyway, the fiesta had music, skits, and food. It was more of a dinner and show thing, and it was a blast! Here are some of the pictures:

Belkis and John Anthony

Me and RJ!

John Anthony is one pretty cool kid. He just needs to add me on Facebook.

Raquel and Anderson- cutest couple EVER.

Sunday we went to a soccer game. The Liga Deportiva Alajuelense were playing some other team (don't ask for the name, this one was hard enough to remember), and they ended up in a tie, 2-2. I really wish the US got this excited about soccer because I would totally be a bigger fan if that were the case. There were fights, chants, and dances, and it was super fun to stand up yell along with the crowd, even though I had no idea what my shouts meant. I can't even attempt to type them, simply because I couldn't comprehend them. Nonetheless, it was still a fabulous event, and I have great memories from it. This game definitely made up for all the Little League soccer games I had to watch for my brothers and sister. 

The Mascot

I want to sit in this section next time.

The guy in the red? That's Raquel's boy.

A close-up.

Unfortunately, he has some temper issues and got a yellow card.

And so, that brings us to this week. Monday was a pretty spectacular day for me. I woke up to many emails containing great news. 
1) My Thailand flight is booked!
2) I am officially going to DC (one of my favorite cities) with my mother.
3) I have people interested in building a church down here first week of January, 2012! (If you want to build, let me know).
4) I'm playing with the Flemings Chapel Games Team at Awana Summit on March 8 in Chicago, IL!
5) And a bunch of other ordinary, unspectacular messages.


You know it's gonna be a great Valentine's Day when you recieve great news before getting out of bed! Later that day I went to the track with Pastor Luis to run. Most of you know I hate running on tracks (especially in the middle of the day in Costa Rica), but in order to stay in shape, I have to. And guess what? I ran 4 miles, with one of those being a sprint workout. Granted, I was praying to God the entire time. I was even bargaining, "Dear Lord, if you can get me through one more lap, I'll read the whole book of  Psalms!" This morning I woke up and really thought I was glued to my bed. Then I tried to read the whole book of Psalms. It brought back so many pleasant memories of freshman cross country and track, when running even the simplest hills and setting small records for yourself seems like the biggest accomplishment in the world. I guess it's nice to go back to the beginning sometimes, just to humble yourself and realize what hard work is all about. 
Today has been pretty slow, because there were two funerals conducted at the church where I was staying, so RJ and I just decided to lay low for a while. We had a Spanish lesson, and while RJ has worked on school, I have managed to visit a record number of time-wasting websites, including Dear Blank, Please Blank, MLIA, Sporcle, People.com, The Oatmeal, Dear Girls Above Me, Facebook, and Orbits.com. Oh yeah, and watch TV. They watch MTV down here like it's going out of style. But at least it's in English, so I can understand what the crazy, sleep deprived, 17-year-old mothers are saying. Oh yeah, and two funerals in one day? Pastor Luis said this was a record for him, and that he normally only conducts this many in one year! And it's only February... Oh well, I enjoyed some time off.
Well, I'm going to keep the slowness of the day going, and watch a chick-flick with RJ. Horray for internet movies and Wi-Fi!
Oh yeah, and here are some random pictures.