The week of lasts....

October 7, 2008: Tuesday
So, this week was the week of “lasts!” Tuesday = last Seminario Base speaker at LASP. Don Stam has been a missionary in Costa Rica for over 50 years..yeah! He was hilarious and just gave us some good advice about living here and about traveling to Nicaragua. Wednesday = ICADS oral presentations..yikes! Haha we all freaked out a little bit, but I know we all did fine. =) After class on Wednesday we headed to the HUGE mall called Terra Mall to watch a movie (The Contract). The movie was eh, okay, I mean, we basically just went because Wednesdays are half price, which pretty much means $5 for a movie in a SWEET theater with popcorn…so not too shabby! After we get back from Nicaragua if we have time we’re going to hit up the VIP Cine which has LA-Z-Boys to sit in! No joke! And you can order awesome food there (think crepes, sushi, steak…yeah). =) Anyways, it was a really good time, Mackenzie, Chelsea, Kayla, Sam, Andrew Brauer and I all went together. We had a blast eating some delicious Pop’s ice cream (I got banana dipped in chocolate and nuts..yeahhhh). While we were sitting there Andrew said something really nice, and funny to me! Haha he told me that I remind him a lot of his mom, or at least how he thought his mom must have been when she was younger. It was just a really nice thing for him to say, cuz I get the impression he’s one of those guys that really loves his mom. Anyways, it was nice, made me smile! =)

Thursday = our LASP seminario base presentations! Yikes! =) My group was the US/Latin American relations group (my paper was about Nicaragua/US relations). We decided to do a skit, and it worked out REALLY well! We were pumped! =) All I can say now is if you want to hear some interesting music you should listen to “Amerika” by Rammenstein. Good stuff, we used it for our presentation/skit. =) So Thursday officially wrapped up seminario base! Whew! 6 credits in 6 weeks = a crapload of homework that I’m glad I don’t have to do anymore. =)

Friday = our last day in ICADS! =( Que triste! We had a “graduation” ceremony, where the ICADS staff handed out certificates to all of us, it was really cute! =) Andrew Brauer spoke to the ICADS staff on behalf of us students, and it was hilarious; he translated “You’ll be in my heart” by Phil Collins (think of Tarzan) into Spanish, and then sang it to end his little speech. It was great, I got part of it on video. =) We had cake afterwards, ate lots of food the awesome ICADS people made us, and just hung out for a while! It was wonderful bonding time together! =) Friday Jasmín made me go back to the market with her, and so I ran into my “novio” again. Ugh. =) Haha he didn’t remember my name, but he remembered that we had talked, unfortunately! =) No, it wasn’t really that bad, it was fun! Haha Brian was with us, and he asked Brian if he was my boyfriend, and when Brian said no he was like, “ah, good, because this girl is my other half!” Ay yi yi…what am I going to do? =) Ha ha.

We went to the zoo, zoo, zoo..you could’ve come too, too, too
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Saturday was hangout in San Jose day, because the LASP staff recommended that we not do any traveling this weekend since we will need to rest up for the apparent exhaustion that Nicaragua is going to bring us. Gulp.
After a good morning of shopping with Jasmín (I bought purple shoes..they’re awesome), we had some delicious lunch with Christie, Ashley and Eleya. Delicious meaning, I bought a crunchwrap at Taco Bell because I was craving some (this is the first time, I swear!) and then paired that with an awesome fruit salad (pineapple, watermelon, papaya, red jello, cookies & cream ice cream, and raspberry sauce) YEAH! On the way Jasmín and I ran into Kasey, Chauncey and Craig, and they kindly informed us that they were heading to the zoo, and invited us along. Of course, we took them up on the offer! It was basically $3 to get in, and we got to see a Jaguar, 2 Lions, some birds, some weird Costa Rican animals =), and of course monkeys! I seriously thought one of the monkeys was going to throw its fruit at us, it just looked really ticked off when we were looking at them all. I think it would’ve made a good story, but no. =) We had a blast just goofing around; Jasmín and I wanted the Jaguar to move from its post, so we started running back and forth in front of the cage so it would be interested. Apparently we do not look very tasty to Jaguars, because it didn’t work. =) All in all, a really good day! =)
I suppose I should let you all know now that I will not be on the internet for the next two weeks. We are going to Nicaragua, leaving on Monday, the 13^th, and coming back to San Jose the 24^th, and we then have FALL BREAK until Tuesday the 28^th! Woot! I am really, really excited for Nicaragua, though I know that it is going to be a very challenging experience at the same time (it’s one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere). We take a bus to Nicaragua (10-11 hours on Monday). Then the group will be spending a few days together in the capital, Managua, and then we will be spending an entire week with host families in different areas all around the country. My group will be staying in a marginalized area, I don’t know by what city yet. This will be the first time that LASP has placed students in this town, and so we will definitely need your prayers as we live in a place that’s a little more dangerous, and as we are the first students for the families living there. Don’t worry; I will have Chauncey in the same town as me (the biggest guy in the group, who is also Latin American in appearance, both pluses). Just pray for our hearts to be fully opened, even when it’s hard, pray for safety, and pray for the families that we will be living with. After the full week with our families, the group will be back together in Granada, and then we will head back to San Jose, which begins fall break.
For fall break, I will be going with a group of girls to Guanacaste, the province with all the beaches. =) We are going to start out in Playa Coco (I think) and then who knows what from there. =) Pray for safety once again, especially from the sun. =)
Life continues to be amazing in San Jose, though it is sad to be ending the first part of this experience: in Nicaragua we will officially be halfway done. Yikes. I am going to really miss my host family here in San Jose, they have been an unbelievable blessing to me while I have been here! Ah, I can’t even think about it right now, I’m already about to cry. Pray for them as a family, as their dad continues to live and work in Panama and can only come home once a month. I can really see god at work in my family here, they are such buena gente, I can’t even imagine this experience without them!
Well, if you’re still with me, thanks a lot for reading this ridiculously long update on life. =) Dont forget to check out pictures from ziplining and other events on flickr.com (see my last post for instructions) =) I love you all so much and just want to keep saying Gracias, Gracias, gracias for your thoughts and prayers and all support! I can never thank you all enough! Con todo mi amor y el amor de Dios.