Welcome readers to what is sure to be one of my final updates for the semester...It's been great, and I'm sure I'll find reason to update one final time, but the sad/exciting/hard/long-awaited/bittersweet truth is that my semester here in Latin America is coming to an end. But it hasn't ended yet!
I wanted to continue my blog with an update on my current situation, which is the quaint and homely town of Grecia in the Alajuela Province of Costa Rica. It is a town of 100,000 located about 45 minutes (in car) from the bustling capital of San José. However, it's radius to the capital does NOT mean that it is anything like the big city. In fact, I don't know how it could be more opposite. Where San José is noisy, filled with cars, and generally fast-paced lifestyles, Grecia reflects a more Tico atmosphere with a friendly everybody-knows-everybody mentality, complete with it's scenic setting in the Central Valley (you can actually see the mountains most days because of the general lack of smog) and the gorgeous cathedral and central park. Needless to say, I'm seeing a whole different side to the country here, and I LIKE IT!!!
What's better about Grecia is that we really get to be a part of a community here. All of our host families are a part of the Centro Cristiano de Grecia, one of the churches here in town. In addition to our families attending church together, we take language classes at the church every Monday and Tuesday, and I've had the opportunity to actually meet and talk to some Ticos in a normal setting. It is a very different experience, as I have found that Latin American churches can come as a shock to us high-strung white folk, but it has been a blessing so far to be able to learn some new ways to worship. What I admire the most about the Ticos and Nicos I've seen worshipping is that there is this marvelous focus on the fact that worship isn't about you and your experience; it's about glorifying and worshipping El Señor. (imagine that?!?!? lol) Being a good Nazarene, I may never get used to the wired, loud, and generally crazy services, but I love that I'm getting to be apart of them.
The other thing all us LASPers (our affectionate name for program members) get to do whilst we are here is work at an internship three our of five days of the week. I have the priviledge and opportunity to work with the English teachers at a little private school close to my host home. It's really been fun so far, walking 4 year-olds through their numbers and singing "The Ants Go Marching", as well as helping 4th graders say "I'd like a chicken sandwich and some diet soda". I'm honestly just glad to have something to do that I can interact with people and actually be helping them.
After writing all of this, I realized I forgot to tell y'all about my family! I have a host dad named Rubén, mom named Ligia, and two host brothers named José and Leo. It's a very different family, but I love them already. My parents are much older, and my brothers are 28 and 31 respectively. It was a little weird at first, but I'm enjoying the fruits of having a grown-up family, which translates into: WE GET TO DO THINGS!!! The first day they took me to a soccer game (if ever in Latin America, you must go to one. It's a part of the experience). I learned a lot of words and word combinations that day, most of which are not good...lol. But it was a great day, as they also took me to a concert in San José and dinner. The next weekend we spend trying to go to Volcán Poas, but it was too cloudy so we just drove to another town to go to the mall. I couldn't believe it! I feel so spoiled...and probably rightfully so. Needless to say it's been a great time. On a side note, I so want to be in Costa Rica for every Holy Week from now on, mainly because they get the whole week off! We spent the whole time just chillin', watching movies and hanging out together. It was AWESOME! Plus the fact that it's such a bigger deal here, at least for the Catholics. There's some hard feeling between the Protestant and Catholic churches here, so the Protestants don't do anything that could be conceived as remotely Catholic. This means I missed out on my Maunday Thursday and Good Friday services, but it didn't squash my week. I will look forward to them next year though.
Well, I think that's about all for now. I'm loving my time here, and I can't wait to get back to tell some of these stories face to face! Thinking happy thoughts for you all and only 20 days until I'm back in the States!
Goodnight all...
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