Recap

Boatswain’s Log September 3^rd. Un dia largo (a long day).

 

I awoke this morning after sleeping well. I slept for about 8 hours and did so with gusto. After a quick breakfast and the usual routine of saying “Buenos dias” at 6:30AM when there is little “bueno” to be found I headed for school.

 

I get to walk to and from school with my friend Andrew Ryan. I appreciate this man. He is really easy to talk to, he listens well, he loves Jesus intensely and he has great things to say. In general he’s supercool. If one was trying to mix slang and tell people about Andrew Ryan in Spanish they might say “Mai! Que padre!” (Dude! So cool!)

 

After walking to class with Andrew and a series of other folks from the program I sat through Spanish class. It’s getting somewhat boring now and I am getting more frustrated with my inability to clearly express myself. I think it might be the environment because when I am talking to someone I know who is on staff with the program or even with my host mom a few minutes ago I can do pretty well. However, for some reason in class I stumble over words and generally wish I would conjugate verbs more accurately. Still, it starts at 8AM. I don’t speak English well at 8AM…maybe there’s something to that.

 

After class and a strange-smelling but overall tasty lunch I went to the internet café and updated my blog and Fickr account. There are now photos of Costa Rica on the internet. I really enjoyed reading people’s comments, especially one from Keaton Vanderwerff that said that he missed me, but he wasn’t sure if he should write that because it might make me homesick. Ah, Keatto. You rock. Say it all you want. I’ll be okay. I facebook chatted with a few people and then left. Note: further evidence of Andrew ryan’s awesomeness. He waited for about an hour while I used the computer. That right there is impressive.

 

Then I came home sent a couple letters to the US for 310 colones. I hope it works. Marcus, expect a letter. If it doesn’t come then I will have to try again. I then did some homework. Gasp! Surely not! Yep. I have stupidly frustrating amounts of homework here. And it’s all on a very truncated schedule. Sigh. Jesus will get me through.

 

While I was doing homework I noticed several things:

 

 1) There are tiny little ants everywhere in my house. They don’t bite, they don’t swarm, they’re not dangerous…but man. They are frikkin’ all over the place. On my computer, on my walls, on the floor. Everywhere. I don’t want it to sound like the walls are covered in ants, because they’re not. It’s just that I see them in the most obscure places. Maybe that’s what these ants do. It’s almost as if they have a weekly conference to decide where the most silly and obnoxious location would be to have a few ants and then give the ant a raise who thinks it up and send a bunch to that location.

 

2) I am allergic to Costa Rica. Seriously. I got owned this afternoon and evening by sneezing and itchy eyes. I thought that at first maybe it was something else, but as time progressed I sneezed like it was my job. I guess it’s the wetness, the heat, the pollen, the family cat, the diesel exhaust…there are lots of options. Whatever the case may be, one of them has my number.

 

That reminds me. I haven’t told you about kitty yet. The family has a cat named kitty. Kitty drinks water from the faucet, meows at me, and aggressively seeks to be petted. I mean it. Kitty thrusts her head into you to force you to pet her. Then she decides it’s a great idea to try and scratch you eventually. She really likes to put her head into my armpit. I don’t understand, but it tickles and I don’t like it.

 

I took a nap today. I was so very tired. I don’t know why, but it was surely nap time.

 

Story time. I was feeling a bit down today. I had lots of homework to do, I was sneezing all the time, and generally feeling pretty crappy about my Spanish abilities. I walked over to send a couple letters and got things put in perspective. I saw a guy who was clearly a foreigner. He was sitting on a park bench with his umbrella and looked very much not Costa Rican. I wonder if this is how I look. Maybe I’m tan enough to where they think I am mostly a Costa Rican. I feel like everyone is really nice to me.

 

Anyway, I said “buenas tardes” to him and saw that he was reading a dictionary. That gave it away. I started talking to him in English. It turns out that his name is George and he is from Colorado. George taught English here and has been here for 10 months. He lived in a place without much access to Spanish people, a TV, or a phone. He described his Spanish speaking abilities and it didn’t seem like he felt very comfortable here. Or at least he is just getting there and he is leaving in about a week. In the process of feeling bad for myself I met this guy who by all accounts has it worse than me. He isn’t great at Spanish (not that I am, but at least I’m okay), he seems to have missed out on getting to know people while he’s here, and he’s leaving soon and seems really disheartened. He was waiting by the pay phone because neither he nor his friends have phones, so they can’t call each other at all. Talk about perspective. I have it good. Really good. I felt bad for George. I doubt that my experience will be like his.

 

Furthermore as I walked to the Panaderia later this evening to buy bread for my mom I noted the fact that perhaps it was indeed my perspective that makes this place so oppressive sometimes. Maybe I am looking at Costa Rica through the lens of all the obnoxious things about it like allergies, homework, and lack of language comprehension. It might help if I looked at it in the sense of people who love me, language I like, Jesus who gives me value, and the fact that I am actually living here. I am not just surviving, I am living in Costa Rica. These are good things. I think that I need to learn other things still, BUT to be able to say that is huge. Especially after a week.

 

I have noticed something interesting. Wherever I go in life it seems like people get to know me. At school, at church, even here. People from the Pentecostal church say hi to me in the streets and talk to me when I see them at their jobs. I don’t feel like a stranger here. So bizarre and yet so awesome. I am truly a blessed individual.

 

My host mom and I were talking today and we got on to the subject of Cuba. I am going to be going to Cuba in December unless the department of the treasury says no. This is a huge opportunity and blessing. I am going to 3 countries while I am here (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Cuba) and one of them is one that Americans seldom go to. Shucks. Thanks Mumsy and Pops. Also, thank you Jesus.