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:
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| 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:
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| 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:
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| Belkis and John Anthony |
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| Me and RJ! |
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| John Anthony is one pretty cool kid. He just needs to add me on Facebook. |
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| 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.
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| The Mascot |
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| I want to sit in this section next time. |
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| The guy in the red? That's Raquel's boy. |
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| A close-up. |
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| 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.
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