Well, here I am. Blogging again as promised - but I admit to being slightly dead now. Christy has been taking care of the kids in the middle of the night lately, and last night I could tell she was done. I sent her to bed at 8, and then I slept with Sammy and Elizabeth and kept them in their own room all night so Christy could sleep, peacefully, from 8pm until 5am - a rare treat. This morning she looked/sounded/felt like a new person. However, after I went nine rounds with Sammy who could probably give any kick boxer a run for his money while he sleeps - I looked and felt terrible. I can't wait to hit the sheets tonight.
I am longing for the weekend as I can just sit around, grade some students papers, do some seminary work and relax. This might be the week I buy the NFL football package again - so I can watch NFL games online. We'll see. Its 25 dollars a week (I get to watch any game I want, anytime I want, in HDTV online - if you feel like donated to the cause - let me know).
I hope everyone back in the states is doing well and can handle the ups and downs in the stock markets. I admit that its an exciting ride down here - but I'm sure its close to all consuming in the States - especially when you pile on the presidential election.
PS - How good is 'Without Remorse' by Tom Clancy and why is it not a movie?
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
12 years
Christy just came out and reminded me (wished me more like it) a happy 12-year anniversary. No - we have not been married that long...rather, October 25th is when we first started dating our senior year in highschool. We did not get married until just after college four + some years later. I know all you 'old timers' are rolling your eyes, but it none the less is striking to me. 12 years ago when we were both seniors in highschool, I blinked and somehow arrived in Costa Rica with two kids. The major difference in me is less hair and some lines by my eyes now. Time is certainly short and presious.
We were discussing 'genetically engineering' in our English class the other day at La Palabra (what else would you be discussing?) and the question was posed 'Should we do research that would help people live forever?' and also 'would you want to live forever?' Most answers were 'No, God should decide that. Plus, who would want to live forever? I don't...' I first I thought they were joking, now maybe I just think they haven't thought through the question - but everyone answered in a similar manner...."No, I'm totally ready to die at some point because being here forever would be no good at all." Am I totally alone on this one to think they are crazy? I KNOW that everyone dies, and I KNOW that if I believe what I say I would believe, I shouldn't worry. But hey, I like being here. However, here I find myself learning to have faith from the very students who I am supposed to be teaching not only English, but setting an example of a Godly life.
On this downer of a subject, I leave you a testimony that my dad sent me the other day. Its from the former press secretary, Tony Snow, and his thoughts on life and his battle with cancer.
I think I need to take more to heart both the sentiments of Mr. Snow and my students.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tony Snow Testimony
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Blessings arrive in unexpected packages, - in my case, cancer. Those of us with potentially fatal diseases - and there are millions in America today - find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality while trying to fathom God's will.
Although it would be the height of presumption to declare with confidence 'What It All Means,' Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations. The first is that we shouldn't spend too much time trying to answer the 'why' questions:
Why me?
Why must people suffer?
Why can't someone else get sick?
We can't answer such things, and the questions themselves often are designed more to express our anguish than to solicit an answer. I don't know why I have cancer, and I don't much care. It is what it is, a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths began to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence:
We are fallen.
We are imperfect.
Our bodies give out.
But, despite this, - or because of it, -
God offers the possibility of salvation and grace.
We don't know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.
Second, we need to get past the anxiety. The mere thought of dying can send adrenaline flooding through your system. A dizzy, unfocused panic seizes you. Your heart thumps; your head swims. You think of nothingness and swoon. You fear partings; you worry about the impact on family and friends. You fidget and get nowhere. To regain footing, remember that we were born not into death, but into life - and that the journey continues
after we have finished our days on this earth. We accept this on faith, but that faith is nourished by a conviction that stirs even within many non-believing hearts - an institution that the gift of life, once given, cannot be taken away. Those who have been stricken enjoy the special privilege of being able to fight with their might, main, and faith to live fully, richly, exuberantly - no matter how their days may be numbered.
Third, we can open our eyes and hearts. God relishes surprise. We want lives of simple, predictable ease, - smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see, - but God likes to go off-road. He provokes us with twists and turns. He places us in predicaments that seem to defy our endurance and comprehension - and yet don't. By His love and grace, we persevere.
The challenges that make our hearts leap and stomachs churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of wisdom and joy we would not experience otherwise. 'You Have Been Called'. Picture yourself in a hospital bed. The fog of anesthesia has begun to wear away. A doctor stands at your feet, a loved one holds your hand at the side. 'It's cancer,' the healer announces.
The natural reaction is to turn to God and ask him to serve as a cosmic Santa. 'Dear God, make it all go away. Make everything simpler.' But another voice whispers: 'You have been called.' Your quandary has drawn you closer to God, closer to those you love, closer to the issues that matter, - and has dragged into insignificance the banal concerns that occupy our 'normal time.'
There's another kind of response, although usually short-lived, an inexplicable shudder of excitement as if a clarifying moment of calamity has swept away everything trivial and tiny, and placed before us the challenge of important questions. The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change. You discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive, pious, and soft. Faith may be the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But it also draws you into a world shorn of fearful caution. The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness, danger, shocks, reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies.
Think of Paul, traipsing through the known world and contemplating trips to what must have seemed the antipodes ( Spain ), shaking the dust from his sandals, worrying not about the morrow, but only about the moment. There's nothing wilder than a life of humble virtue, - for it is through selflessness and service that God wrings from our bodies and spirits the most we ever could give, the most we ever could offer, and the most we ever could do.
Finally, we can let love change everything. When Jesus was faced with the prospect of crucifixion, he grieved not for himself, but for us. He cried for Jerusalem before entering the Holy City. From the Cross, he took on the cumulative burden of human sin and weakness, and begged for forgiveness on our behalf. We get repeated chances to learn that life is not about us, that we acquired purpose and satisfaction by sharing in God's love for others.
Sickness gets us part way there. It reminds us of our limitations and dependence. But it also gives us a chance to serve the healthy. A minister friend of mine observes that people suffering grave afflictions often acquire the faith of two people, while loved ones accept the burden of two peoples' worries and fears.
'Learning How to Live'. Most of us have watched friends as they drifted toward God's arms, not with resignation, but with peace and hope. In so doing, they have taught us not how to die, but how to live. They have emulated Christ by transmitting the power and authority of live. I sat by my best friend's bedside a few years ago as a wasting cancer took him away. He kept at his table a worn Bible and a 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. A shattering grief disabled his family, many of his old friends, and at least one priest.
Here was an humble and very good guy, someone who apologized when he winced with pain because he thought it made his guest uncomfortable. He restrained his equanimity and good humor literally until his last conscious moment. 'I'm going to try to beat [this cancer],' he told me several months before he died. 'But if I don't, I'll see you on the other side.'
His gift was to remind everyone around him that even though God doesn't promise us tomorrow, he does promise us eternity - filled with life and love we cannot comprehend, - and that one can, in the throes of sickness, point the rest of us toward timeless truths that will help us weather future storms. Through such trials, God bids us to choose: Do we believe, or do we not? Will we be bold enough to love, daring enough to serve, humble enough to submit, and strong enough to acknowledge our limitations? Can we surrender our concern in things that don't matter so that we might devote our remaining days to things that do?
When our faith flags, He throws reminders in our way. Think of the prayer warriors in our midst. They change things, and those of us who have been on the receiving end of their petitions and intercessions know it.
It is hard to describe, but there are times when suddenly the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you feel a surge of the Spirit. Somehow you just know: Others have chosen, when talking to the Author of all creation, to lift us up, - to speak of us! This is love of a very special order. But so is the ability to sit back and appreciate the wonder of every created thing. The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense.
We may not know how our contest with sickness will end, but we have felt the ineluctable touch of God. What is man that Thou are mindful of him? We don't know much, but we know this: No matter where we are, no matter what we do, no matter how bleak or frightening our prospects, each and every one of us who believe each and every day, lies in the same safe and impregnable place, in the hollow of God's hand.
T. Snow
We were discussing 'genetically engineering' in our English class the other day at La Palabra (what else would you be discussing?) and the question was posed 'Should we do research that would help people live forever?' and also 'would you want to live forever?' Most answers were 'No, God should decide that. Plus, who would want to live forever? I don't...' I first I thought they were joking, now maybe I just think they haven't thought through the question - but everyone answered in a similar manner...."No, I'm totally ready to die at some point because being here forever would be no good at all." Am I totally alone on this one to think they are crazy? I KNOW that everyone dies, and I KNOW that if I believe what I say I would believe, I shouldn't worry. But hey, I like being here. However, here I find myself learning to have faith from the very students who I am supposed to be teaching not only English, but setting an example of a Godly life.
On this downer of a subject, I leave you a testimony that my dad sent me the other day. Its from the former press secretary, Tony Snow, and his thoughts on life and his battle with cancer.
I think I need to take more to heart both the sentiments of Mr. Snow and my students.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tony Snow Testimony
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Blessings arrive in unexpected packages, - in my case, cancer. Those of us with potentially fatal diseases - and there are millions in America today - find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality while trying to fathom God's will.
Although it would be the height of presumption to declare with confidence 'What It All Means,' Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations. The first is that we shouldn't spend too much time trying to answer the 'why' questions:
Why me?
Why must people suffer?
Why can't someone else get sick?
We can't answer such things, and the questions themselves often are designed more to express our anguish than to solicit an answer. I don't know why I have cancer, and I don't much care. It is what it is, a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths began to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence:
We are fallen.
We are imperfect.
Our bodies give out.
But, despite this, - or because of it, -
God offers the possibility of salvation and grace.
We don't know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.
Second, we need to get past the anxiety. The mere thought of dying can send adrenaline flooding through your system. A dizzy, unfocused panic seizes you. Your heart thumps; your head swims. You think of nothingness and swoon. You fear partings; you worry about the impact on family and friends. You fidget and get nowhere. To regain footing, remember that we were born not into death, but into life - and that the journey continues
after we have finished our days on this earth. We accept this on faith, but that faith is nourished by a conviction that stirs even within many non-believing hearts - an institution that the gift of life, once given, cannot be taken away. Those who have been stricken enjoy the special privilege of being able to fight with their might, main, and faith to live fully, richly, exuberantly - no matter how their days may be numbered.
Third, we can open our eyes and hearts. God relishes surprise. We want lives of simple, predictable ease, - smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see, - but God likes to go off-road. He provokes us with twists and turns. He places us in predicaments that seem to defy our endurance and comprehension - and yet don't. By His love and grace, we persevere.
The challenges that make our hearts leap and stomachs churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of wisdom and joy we would not experience otherwise. 'You Have Been Called'. Picture yourself in a hospital bed. The fog of anesthesia has begun to wear away. A doctor stands at your feet, a loved one holds your hand at the side. 'It's cancer,' the healer announces.
The natural reaction is to turn to God and ask him to serve as a cosmic Santa. 'Dear God, make it all go away. Make everything simpler.' But another voice whispers: 'You have been called.' Your quandary has drawn you closer to God, closer to those you love, closer to the issues that matter, - and has dragged into insignificance the banal concerns that occupy our 'normal time.'
There's another kind of response, although usually short-lived, an inexplicable shudder of excitement as if a clarifying moment of calamity has swept away everything trivial and tiny, and placed before us the challenge of important questions. The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change. You discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive, pious, and soft. Faith may be the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But it also draws you into a world shorn of fearful caution. The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness, danger, shocks, reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies.
Think of Paul, traipsing through the known world and contemplating trips to what must have seemed the antipodes ( Spain ), shaking the dust from his sandals, worrying not about the morrow, but only about the moment. There's nothing wilder than a life of humble virtue, - for it is through selflessness and service that God wrings from our bodies and spirits the most we ever could give, the most we ever could offer, and the most we ever could do.
Finally, we can let love change everything. When Jesus was faced with the prospect of crucifixion, he grieved not for himself, but for us. He cried for Jerusalem before entering the Holy City. From the Cross, he took on the cumulative burden of human sin and weakness, and begged for forgiveness on our behalf. We get repeated chances to learn that life is not about us, that we acquired purpose and satisfaction by sharing in God's love for others.
Sickness gets us part way there. It reminds us of our limitations and dependence. But it also gives us a chance to serve the healthy. A minister friend of mine observes that people suffering grave afflictions often acquire the faith of two people, while loved ones accept the burden of two peoples' worries and fears.
'Learning How to Live'. Most of us have watched friends as they drifted toward God's arms, not with resignation, but with peace and hope. In so doing, they have taught us not how to die, but how to live. They have emulated Christ by transmitting the power and authority of live. I sat by my best friend's bedside a few years ago as a wasting cancer took him away. He kept at his table a worn Bible and a 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. A shattering grief disabled his family, many of his old friends, and at least one priest.
Here was an humble and very good guy, someone who apologized when he winced with pain because he thought it made his guest uncomfortable. He restrained his equanimity and good humor literally until his last conscious moment. 'I'm going to try to beat [this cancer],' he told me several months before he died. 'But if I don't, I'll see you on the other side.'
His gift was to remind everyone around him that even though God doesn't promise us tomorrow, he does promise us eternity - filled with life and love we cannot comprehend, - and that one can, in the throes of sickness, point the rest of us toward timeless truths that will help us weather future storms. Through such trials, God bids us to choose: Do we believe, or do we not? Will we be bold enough to love, daring enough to serve, humble enough to submit, and strong enough to acknowledge our limitations? Can we surrender our concern in things that don't matter so that we might devote our remaining days to things that do?
When our faith flags, He throws reminders in our way. Think of the prayer warriors in our midst. They change things, and those of us who have been on the receiving end of their petitions and intercessions know it.
It is hard to describe, but there are times when suddenly the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you feel a surge of the Spirit. Somehow you just know: Others have chosen, when talking to the Author of all creation, to lift us up, - to speak of us! This is love of a very special order. But so is the ability to sit back and appreciate the wonder of every created thing. The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense.
We may not know how our contest with sickness will end, but we have felt the ineluctable touch of God. What is man that Thou are mindful of him? We don't know much, but we know this: No matter where we are, no matter what we do, no matter how bleak or frightening our prospects, each and every one of us who believe each and every day, lies in the same safe and impregnable place, in the hollow of God's hand.
T. Snow
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Oh yea, I have a blog
So, to be honest that statement above is not entirely truthly. I've REMEMBERED that I have a blog. Also, many of you have reminded me. However, in the very small amount of free time that I have I'd usually rather be relaxing, working on covenant school work, playing with my kids, exercising or just about anything but blogging. When you have so little free time, its hard to give it up doing something that can often times be mini yelling sessions at blogger while trying ot arrange pictures. Also, I honestly think that my first forray into teaching has been so frustrating (at times) that if I bring out the usual sarcastic Josh in writing blogs - it could turn into a whine session which would not be good for you guys or for me. All that aside, I think I'm ready to begin again in ernest - so I here I am tonight.
So much has happened sense the last time I wrote anything. Can you believe its been so long. I can not. The first (and probably most important) thing that many of you missed was my birthday. Fear not you late folks, I'm still excepting gifts whenever you would like to send them. I only expect 2x th
e gift for each month you have failed to send me anything. Although Christy and I are notoriously bad at taking pictures to 'capture the moment' I do have a few from this day. Once again, Christy put me to shame by making a better cake then I ever make her as well as buying m
ore thoughtful gifts then I can dream up. I'm so grateful to have her as my wife - and so grateful that she is quick to forgive after I forget (I've actually only done that once) her birthday. The picture with Sammy is my new favorite with him and is now my desktop. I like the one with Elizabeth as well as its a good action shot. Lastly, in the shot with Christy and I - us being the only people we trust with our camera in our family of four - we took our own picture. The flash didn't go off and the picture is not centered - but the slight craziness of that picture reflects how our life is right now I think.
Well we were driving back I got to experience many new '1sts'.
1. I had my car break down on the highway
So much has happened sense the last time I wrote anything. Can you believe its been so long. I can not. The first (and probably most important) thing that many of you missed was my birthday. Fear not you late folks, I'm still excepting gifts whenever you would like to send them. I only expect 2x th
e gift for each month you have failed to send me anything. Although Christy and I are notoriously bad at taking pictures to 'capture the moment' I do have a few from this day. Once again, Christy put me to shame by making a better cake then I ever make her as well as buying m
ore thoughtful gifts then I can dream up. I'm so grateful to have her as my wife - and so grateful that she is quick to forgive after I forget (I've actually only done that once) her birthday. The picture with Sammy is my new favorite with him and is now my desktop. I like the one with Elizabeth as well as its a good action shot. Lastly, in the shot with Christy and I - us being the only people we trust with our camera in our family of four - we took our own picture. The flash didn't go off and the picture is not centered - but the slight craziness of that picture reflects how our life is right now I think.My parents were in town last week to spend some time with us. It was great as it was a week off (more or less) from La Palabra - so we had some time to just spend with them. First of all, big props as they brought down the maximum limit of luggage, packed to the brim, with stuff for us. It was a little odd that they wore the same clothes everyday, but then I had to remember that the rest of their bags were filled with stuff for us. I'd say at least 50% of this was gifts for the kids - lucky dogs. Even though this was the case - of course Elizabeth said 'Where are more gifts?' after opening the last one. They got Christy and I the new NLT study Bible additions which are great. At first I did not think they were too different then my old study Bible - but I was wrong. It is much more 'academic' in the approach of what information they give you. I love the book introductions and also how they give information on translation descrepencies and other things like that.
W
e spent some time here in San Jose showing them our lives at La Palabra, our old lives on the other side of town in San Francisco de Dos Rios, and just hanging out. We also spent three days out at the beach. We decided to go to Punteranus at the old Fiesta Resort. To be honest, the beach in Punteranus is really ugly. Its at the opening of a bay, so basically nothing gets washed out once it gets washed in, so there are logs, sticks, dirt, trash, etc on the beach. However, the hotel was amazing as it was huge, the food was amazing and it had about seven pools. The only major down side was the tropical storm that was passing through during our whole time there. I've included a picture of a tormenta so you could see what it looks like - the only difference between this one and what wewere experiencing is that we saw nothing but clouds, no clear skies. It literally rained for about 55 hours straight - awesome. All that aside, we had fun anyway. Lizzy and I would swim until her faced started turning blue - after which we would run upstairs and take a hot bath. The adults got some good card playing in - and the kids got to watch the new Veggie Tale and some Bob the Builder - everyone had a great time. The only downer on my trip was that I was hoping to have more time to study covenant and Spanish - but it just did not happen. Honestly, it was more my motivation then anything else, but we will blame it on that today.
e spent some time here in San Jose showing them our lives at La Palabra, our old lives on the other side of town in San Francisco de Dos Rios, and just hanging out. We also spent three days out at the beach. We decided to go to Punteranus at the old Fiesta Resort. To be honest, the beach in Punteranus is really ugly. Its at the opening of a bay, so basically nothing gets washed out once it gets washed in, so there are logs, sticks, dirt, trash, etc on the beach. However, the hotel was amazing as it was huge, the food was amazing and it had about seven pools. The only major down side was the tropical storm that was passing through during our whole time there. I've included a picture of a tormenta so you could see what it looks like - the only difference between this one and what wewere experiencing is that we saw nothing but clouds, no clear skies. It literally rained for about 55 hours straight - awesome. All that aside, we had fun anyway. Lizzy and I would swim until her faced started turning blue - after which we would run upstairs and take a hot bath. The adults got some good card playing in - and the kids got to watch the new Veggie Tale and some Bob the Builder - everyone had a great time. The only downer on my trip was that I was hoping to have more time to study covenant and Spanish - but it just did not happen. Honestly, it was more my motivation then anything else, but we will blame it on that today. Well we were driving back I got to experience many new '1sts'.
1. I had my car break down on the highway2. I had to use the Costa Rican insurance company hotline (INS)
3. I had to try and explain, in spanish, that my car had no collant and was burning up. (I think the direct translation was 'The tank in my car for liquid that makes cold broken, car hot, FIRE!') Whatever I said they must have believed me as they sent a tow truck and a taxi.
4. I rode in a towtruck that was about the same size as the car that it was towing.
5. I helped (okay, watched) my friend replace the collant tank in my car
For your pleasure, I've attached a picture of the old tank in here so you can see what happened. You usually think there might be a small little crack in something like this, but oh no. Look at that picture and you can see the fracture running the whole length of the tank. My engine temperature went from cool to above red line in 30 seconds. The thing that I am so greatful for us that there was a 20 minute stop with traffic/construction (very common in Costa Rica) that gave me both the time and the patience to get out of my car, look for a problem and notice there was one. My friend said its good that I noticed the engine temp gauge as most people don't even look at it. He also said if I had driven on it - I would have destroyed my engine (few!)
To leave you all with today, I have a few shots of La Palabra de Vida where Christy and I are now. These shots are a bit heavy on the library because I originally took them for a work team that is coming down from my Church in Richmond, VA. However, I did include some other shots as well.
Friday, September 19, 2008
You know its time for a weekend
When you start hoping your students do bad on a pop quiz. Mind you, I do not wish anyone ill. I actually want all of these kids to do great, learn alot and succeed. However, we started reading the Diary of Anne Frank last week. Well...CORRECTION....I handed it out and they were supposed to start reading. I know they did not read the first ten pages like they were supposed to, they know they did not read the first ten pages like they were supposed to - so what is one to do? Coming from the teacher who said on the first day 'I LOVE HOMEWORK' as I have proceeded to give them homework a majority of the days - my solution was a pop quiz. Some questions were a bit more tricky, but some questions easy enough that you could almost guess the answer (e.g., what noise did they hear that scared them - answer: soldiers. One of my students guessed because there were tanks, guns, plans and soldiers. I gave him a quarter point for good guessing). Anyway, hopefully that will jolt them back into reality and allow them to study a bit more. At the end of the day, these are really smart kids - so I'm hoping that they throw all they have at this play as I think it is a great one.
I wish you all could hear this. There is a car alarm going off in the La Palabra Parking Lot - its like every $50 alarm you buy at Radio Shack back in the states. It prevents nothing - but it sure is both loud and annoying. Wait...it stopped for a second....oh wait...its back on. My ears hurt.
Anyway, did you all catch the news today? The U.S. government decided we needed another one trillion dollars in taxes and bailed out all the finance companies. I'm too tired to do a 'my analysis' of the situation. At the end of the day some variation of a saving plan was probably worth while, but when you think about the long term impacts its pretty staggering.
Anyway, hope everyone is going well. I'm going to try and listen to another Covenant seminary lecture before I get too tired to be of any use. If you get a chance, write us and tell us how you are doing.
I wish you all could hear this. There is a car alarm going off in the La Palabra Parking Lot - its like every $50 alarm you buy at Radio Shack back in the states. It prevents nothing - but it sure is both loud and annoying. Wait...it stopped for a second....oh wait...its back on. My ears hurt.
Anyway, did you all catch the news today? The U.S. government decided we needed another one trillion dollars in taxes and bailed out all the finance companies. I'm too tired to do a 'my analysis' of the situation. At the end of the day some variation of a saving plan was probably worth while, but when you think about the long term impacts its pretty staggering.
Anyway, hope everyone is going well. I'm going to try and listen to another Covenant seminary lecture before I get too tired to be of any use. If you get a chance, write us and tell us how you are doing.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Where do I start...
Its been so long I hardly even know where to start. We just completed our second full week of teaching (my last post was right before our first day). I would say that Christy and I are starting to 'feel' like teachers which makes our class go a little more smoothly. She has a class of mostly 9th grade girls that - if not interested in learning - are at least a bit more respectful. I on the other hand have a class of mostly 10th grade boys who....well....I guess act like 10th grade boys. But, none the less after what was a totally frustrating first day, have seen glimmers of hope on almost every one of the kid's faces based on something I said or some topic that is resonating with them. I just need to lock those mental images up in a special place and refer back to them the other 90% of the time. We have a test next Tuesday, our first one, so hopefully the kids will not do too terribly.
Also, we are going to be reading the Diary of Anne Frank - hopefully the kids will enjoy that book. I remember it being a powerful book for me when I read it. I also hope it provides them a chance to see what World War II is all about. Christy asked her 9th graders what they knew about the war today and they mentioned they had not even studied it. That blew my mind. I think I shocked my class by finding out that Costa Rica actually joined the Allies in 1941 and allowed the US to base an airfield off of the coco islands. I'm not so sure they even believed me though :)
One thing that is nice about teaching Engish instead of something like science is that you have alot more freedom to do 'what you want' in your plan. At the end of the day, the most important thing they need to do is learn how to speak/write/read/listen to English. So, we have flexibility to take a curriculum and tie it back to the Bible alot. For example, the book we are using just had a lesson plan on superstitions - so I used a verse from proverbs which says 'The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.' From there we were able to talk about and contrast the worlds view of luck versus the Biblical view - all in the name of learning English. So...thats a pretty cool thing. However, as cool as that is, I am also looking forward to teaching more science next year as I am both a) intrigued by science and b) more comfortable with it as a subject given my background.
Lizzy has been going to the Kinder here which goes from 6:45am until 11:45am - five days a week. This is officially both the earliest and the longest (time each day) that she has been going to school. She really enjoys it, and it is fun to see her starting to learn more Spanish already. However, we can already see she is beginning to wear down some. This is not surprising given that Lizzy is actually almost a full year younger or more then folks in the class (you have to be 4 at the start of the year, which is in January, Lizzy didn't turn four until last month.....we got a special exception from the school to allow her to go. So, we need to decide what to do by either implimenting more quiet times, reinstituting naps, or maybe holding her out of school 1 day every week or two to give her some quiet time.
Rainy season has been in full swing here. Its getting humid to the point that if you leave papers out in the print hold - the edges start to curl. And in the worst couple days ink even started to bleed slightly on the water logged (from humidity) paper. Also, clothes start just to absorb water just hanging in your closet. Thank goodness we have the drier because I'm not even sure how would we would be do anything.
Oh yeah, we have a new empleada and she is great. Her name is Neli and she is just amazing with the kids. The first full day after coming back from school lizzy said, 'Where is my friend?' so I guess they have hit it off. Neli likes to brush and pull up Lizzy's hair in different types of pony tails - wich is just fine with Lizzy. They also play number and letter matching games as well. Also, she likes to hold Sammy and let him help sweep the floors, make the beds and do the laundry. Sammy is a natural helper (when directed) so this works out well. Best of all for us, in the last couple days we've actually been able to start and get ahead on school work. This is wonderful too because it means we can spend a bit more time doing some of a tutoring work as well. All that said, God has provided for us and we feel very blessed.
There are so many things that I could talk about like my 'new friend' - that is what Christy likes to call him. I met a random american through a strange circumstance who is martial arts guy and works down here in Costa Rica. He had coffee the other day at a place near buy and he is both funny and down to earth. I'm hoping we can hang out some because even though it is great to know students and other Ticos, its nice to be able to continue conversations with someone from your own culture as well too. Also, my brother who had lost his job just got a job ofer - praise the Lord!
Anyway, it is getting late and I'd like to get some sleep. However, I hope everyone is doing well. Sorry for the delay in getting this posted and I'll try to be both more prompt and include a little less text a few more pictures next time.
Also, we are going to be reading the Diary of Anne Frank - hopefully the kids will enjoy that book. I remember it being a powerful book for me when I read it. I also hope it provides them a chance to see what World War II is all about. Christy asked her 9th graders what they knew about the war today and they mentioned they had not even studied it. That blew my mind. I think I shocked my class by finding out that Costa Rica actually joined the Allies in 1941 and allowed the US to base an airfield off of the coco islands. I'm not so sure they even believed me though :)
One thing that is nice about teaching Engish instead of something like science is that you have alot more freedom to do 'what you want' in your plan. At the end of the day, the most important thing they need to do is learn how to speak/write/read/listen to English. So, we have flexibility to take a curriculum and tie it back to the Bible alot. For example, the book we are using just had a lesson plan on superstitions - so I used a verse from proverbs which says 'The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.' From there we were able to talk about and contrast the worlds view of luck versus the Biblical view - all in the name of learning English. So...thats a pretty cool thing. However, as cool as that is, I am also looking forward to teaching more science next year as I am both a) intrigued by science and b) more comfortable with it as a subject given my background.
Lizzy has been going to the Kinder here which goes from 6:45am until 11:45am - five days a week. This is officially both the earliest and the longest (time each day) that she has been going to school. She really enjoys it, and it is fun to see her starting to learn more Spanish already. However, we can already see she is beginning to wear down some. This is not surprising given that Lizzy is actually almost a full year younger or more then folks in the class (you have to be 4 at the start of the year, which is in January, Lizzy didn't turn four until last month.....we got a special exception from the school to allow her to go. So, we need to decide what to do by either implimenting more quiet times, reinstituting naps, or maybe holding her out of school 1 day every week or two to give her some quiet time.
Rainy season has been in full swing here. Its getting humid to the point that if you leave papers out in the print hold - the edges start to curl. And in the worst couple days ink even started to bleed slightly on the water logged (from humidity) paper. Also, clothes start just to absorb water just hanging in your closet. Thank goodness we have the drier because I'm not even sure how would we would be do anything.
Oh yeah, we have a new empleada and she is great. Her name is Neli and she is just amazing with the kids. The first full day after coming back from school lizzy said, 'Where is my friend?' so I guess they have hit it off. Neli likes to brush and pull up Lizzy's hair in different types of pony tails - wich is just fine with Lizzy. They also play number and letter matching games as well. Also, she likes to hold Sammy and let him help sweep the floors, make the beds and do the laundry. Sammy is a natural helper (when directed) so this works out well. Best of all for us, in the last couple days we've actually been able to start and get ahead on school work. This is wonderful too because it means we can spend a bit more time doing some of a tutoring work as well. All that said, God has provided for us and we feel very blessed.
There are so many things that I could talk about like my 'new friend' - that is what Christy likes to call him. I met a random american through a strange circumstance who is martial arts guy and works down here in Costa Rica. He had coffee the other day at a place near buy and he is both funny and down to earth. I'm hoping we can hang out some because even though it is great to know students and other Ticos, its nice to be able to continue conversations with someone from your own culture as well too. Also, my brother who had lost his job just got a job ofer - praise the Lord!
Anyway, it is getting late and I'd like to get some sleep. However, I hope everyone is doing well. Sorry for the delay in getting this posted and I'll try to be both more prompt and include a little less text a few more pictures next time.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
The First Day....
Well, here we are. Tomorrow is our first day of teaching, and I don't feel like we know what in the world we are doing! Please pray for us! In all honesty, whenevery ou do anything new in life, you feel like this. We both agree that after a week or two we will be in the swing of things and back to feeling like our lives are normal. Another new thing tomorrowis that Elizabeth goes to kinder! She is so excited, and I am hoping dearly that her excitement and expectations are met. We got a 'special exception' to enroll her in the kinder because she is actually too young (about 9 months younger then the youngest person in the kinder). To pile onto that, she does not speak hardly any spanish....so....we'll see how it goes. If nothing else, she got to buy a whole bunch of school supplies with Christy - AND - got two new pairs of shoes.
So here is a question....lets say (hypothetically) you are supposed to teach a class on 'conditionals'. And, lets say just for yucks, you don't really know what conditionals are in your own language. And, for yucks, lets say you got a few questions wrong on a test on conditionals in your primary language. Is that cool? How do you proceed.... (PS - If you are like me and do not know what conditionals are in the English language, google it to learn more).
On the plus side, we have some other pretty excited stuff going on this week. We have what I think will be an AWESOME tutor starting on Tuesday. Also, I believe that sometime this week we will have an empleada starting FULL TIME to help us out. We are so excited because this is exactly what we have been praying for. Please pray that she would make instant and lasting relationships with the kids and that she would feel comfortable with us as well.
Also, please pray for Roxanna's (our old empleada) grandson as he is back in the hospital after having surgery a couple weeks ago. He had a very high fever, infections, head pain and was throwing up. I know that two days ago that had to put him on a ventilator and the situation sounds very serious. Christy and I will have to call her this week sometime to get an update.
Sorry I've been a bit thin on the posts lately - we have just been so busy. I'm hoping that in the next two weeks we will be settled into a routine again.
So here is a question....lets say (hypothetically) you are supposed to teach a class on 'conditionals'. And, lets say just for yucks, you don't really know what conditionals are in your own language. And, for yucks, lets say you got a few questions wrong on a test on conditionals in your primary language. Is that cool? How do you proceed.... (PS - If you are like me and do not know what conditionals are in the English language, google it to learn more).
On the plus side, we have some other pretty excited stuff going on this week. We have what I think will be an AWESOME tutor starting on Tuesday. Also, I believe that sometime this week we will have an empleada starting FULL TIME to help us out. We are so excited because this is exactly what we have been praying for. Please pray that she would make instant and lasting relationships with the kids and that she would feel comfortable with us as well.
Also, please pray for Roxanna's (our old empleada) grandson as he is back in the hospital after having surgery a couple weeks ago. He had a very high fever, infections, head pain and was throwing up. I know that two days ago that had to put him on a ventilator and the situation sounds very serious. Christy and I will have to call her this week sometime to get an update.
Sorry I've been a bit thin on the posts lately - we have just been so busy. I'm hoping that in the next two weeks we will be settled into a routine again.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Donde esta la familia Meyer?
Well, sorry for the gigante delay in doing any updates. Last week Christy's parents treated Christy, the kids and I to a week out in Manuel Antonio - which was awesome. We had great fun doing activities from Zip-Lining through the national forest (well...I was at home watching the kids that day, but given my love of high paces...it is for the better), mangrove tours, beach trips, nice eating and many other things. It really was a blessing. Also, I got a crash course in driving a diesel car up a curvey road behind trucks almost stalling out at about 7 kilometers an our. If you listened carefully you could hear me saying...'No no no no no, please don't stall, please don't stall.' Stalling for me or the car in front of me on a steep slope would almost certainly include me rolling into the back of the car behind me as our van emergency brake could not hold the car, our luggage and the passages in place on a 7 degree or more slope. All that being said, we had a great time and we made it home safe.
The last two days have been spent moving from San Francisco de Dos Rios over to San Antonio de Belen. The move went fairly smoothly but it sure was alot of work. It involved multiple trips back and fourth (3 on Sunday) and many hours of unpacking and finding homes for things. In addition, we are having to figure out small details like our washer that we bought earlier now is not working. I think it is either the water pump or the sensor to the water pump - so if you are a repair expert give me a call so we can talk through my issues.
Christy and I CAN NOT BELIEVE that we will be teaching at La Palabra de Vida in seven days. Please pray for us, the students and the school! Also, I start my new class at Covenant Seminary on Thursday. In addition, we will start private tutoring next Monday. Lastly, wes till have not found an empleada to help at our house and with our children. So, we still have many many continued prayer requests.
To end with today (its late and I'm tired)...a few pictures with some comments.
On our mangrove tour we saw bats just like this. Only they were snuggled up under the leaves and sleeping instead of being out on the tree ready to eat your eyes out.
The last two days have been spent moving from San Francisco de Dos Rios over to San Antonio de Belen. The move went fairly smoothly but it sure was alot of work. It involved multiple trips back and fourth (3 on Sunday) and many hours of unpacking and finding homes for things. In addition, we are having to figure out small details like our washer that we bought earlier now is not working. I think it is either the water pump or the sensor to the water pump - so if you are a repair expert give me a call so we can talk through my issues.
Christy and I CAN NOT BELIEVE that we will be teaching at La Palabra de Vida in seven days. Please pray for us, the students and the school! Also, I start my new class at Covenant Seminary on Thursday. In addition, we will start private tutoring next Monday. Lastly, wes till have not found an empleada to help at our house and with our children. So, we still have many many continued prayer requests.
To end with today (its late and I'm tired)...a few pictures with some comments.
Every monkey we saw was like this. I was pretty sure that the mangrove guide was going to get bit. Afterward, he looked at us and pointed to elizabeth while saying, 'If she was by herself in the jungle, she would be KILLED!'. Lizzy looked slightly scared.
On our mangrove tour we saw bats just like this. Only they were snuggled up under the leaves and sleeping instead of being out on the tree ready to eat your eyes out.
We went to the butterfly garden which I have to admit I was thinking 'Elizabeth better like this dumb thing...' but after I went it was awesome. Our guide was great, the information was amazing, and they had a great reptile park too.
Here is a picture of Christy and her parents before doing zip-linning. At this time, I was home watching high-five on discovery kids with my kids. Just where I wanted to be (honestly). There were some great shots of Christy in action, but I'm sure she would be mad if posted anything before she approved. More to come...
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Sweet revenge and a constant fluctuation
Sweet revenge - its what we all want but so rarely can attain. Last week Roxanna brought me some fruit from her house and told me that she really thought I would like it. However, it was really important that I just eat the whole entire thing (at this point, I know something is wrong but I play along). So I pop it in my mouth, and it may be the most tart/sour/wow tasting thing ever - even now my mouth waters as I think about it. This is saying something given that I have a vey high tolerance (*talent* as I like to call it) for sour, sweet and hot things. It was actually a smaller not quite ripe Cass fruit. At the end of the day, I actually liked it, but she loved the fact that I puckered up pretty good.
No good deed should go unrewarded though. I asked her if she liked queso azul (probably not called that here, but you get the idea). She had no idea what it was - so I said I would try to find some for her to try. For the record, good cheese is almost impossible find down here - and when you do - it is big bucks. All that aside, I found a store that sold small amounts which Christy and I enjoyed quite a bit on a large salad. HOWEVER, I made sure to save a big chunk for Roxanna. After lunch this last Monday I looked really excited, told her how hard this cheese was to find, that it cost some money but I wanted her to try it, etc etc. Of course, I knew she would hate it. A strong stinky cheese like this is way to much for the average Costa Rican pallet. All I can say is, as puckered as my face looked with her Cass, her look of horror and disgust as she tried to finish the cheese was much better. Luckily at the end of the day Elizabeth helped her out and offered to eat the rest.Enter some pun here like 'Revenge really IS best served cold...' Awesome.
Beyond acting in clearly incorrect ways (e.g., revenge) during my spare time, we have actually had quite a bit of changes in the last week. There was some conversation between our mission that we will deploy to (La Palabra de Vida) and us as to whether it would be possible to deploy out there early. We were originally going to take two trimesters of language school - but we have only just completed our first. They desperately need someone to teach English now - and after prayer, discussion with ourselves, others and our agency we felt the answer was yes - that we could go. There were some conditions with that (e.g., we would not teach a full load, we would work towards getting 8+ hours of private tutoring a week, etc). So, we've started taking steps to 'disenroll' from language school and work towards moving out to San Antonio de Belen. You can pray for Christy and I because the short notice move is pretty stressful. Lots of people to inform, disappoint, etc - which is always hard. Please also pray for La Palabra de Vida as they really do need more committed Christian teachers available through some pipeline.
Another matter of prayer that we learned about today was that Roxanna's grandson just had routine surgery a couple days ago but he is still in the hospital with a really high fever and infection. It was clearly weighing heavily on her mind today.
Friday, August 8, 2008
A servants heart
So I read my testimony in class yesterday (the Spanish blurb I posted on the last blog) - and it was not overly incorrect which is great. I messed up some verb conjugations and a few other things - but overall pretty good. Poco o poco we all continue to improve!
Last week our grammar teacher, Graziella Arguedas, read her testimony in English to us and it was such an encouragement! It has echos of a post I had a few months ago eluding to thoughts on what is 'successful' in life and why. Its often easy for us, and for others back in the states, to assume that all of us missionaries have our heads on straight and our act together. But it only takes a few moments - probably seconds really - on campus at ILE to realize that we are sinners and in need of a savior just like everyone else. You can also quickly find out that not only are the maestros here great teachers, but they are also great people and great believers as well.
I can honestly tell you that this trimesters class with Graziella and the rest of my cohorts has been one of the best classes I have even been in. This is in no small part to Graziella and her infectious positive attitude and amazing faith. I'll leave this blog post with the testimony she shared with us. You can see two things....a)she is much better at English then I am in Spanish and b)she is faithful and a real encouragement. Praise God for teachers like Graziella who are here not only to teach us Spanish, but to help keep all of us crazy missionaries both sane during the transition and also focused on the Lord as well.
---------------------------------------
Graziella's Testimony
It is really a blessing for me to be able to share with you part of my life.
There´s no way I could express or write all the wonderful things God has done in me, but today I want to testify and I want to give him the glory for his love and mercy in my life.
I grew up in a very conservative Catholic family. I even studied at a school with nuns. In fact, I was actually planning to become a nun.
It was only because I got a very good grade in the admission test for the University that I decided I was going to do something different.
Just shortly after I began my studies at the University, I met my husband. He had been a Christian for many years. He had served in many ministries. He had worked with teenagers, he had been part of the worship team, and many other things.
One day, after having spent a lot of time asking him many questions about his religion and his beliefs, I was touched by God. I surrendered to Him and I decided I was going to give my life to serve Him.
When my parents found out that I had decided to quit comming to the Catholic church, my real problems began.
They were blaming my boyfriend and they told me they wanted me to let him go. Since I didn´t do it, they got onto me and they told me I was not going to be their daughter anymore. They rejected me in many ways. They said I could continue to live with them but only because they were worried about what people would say if I left the house.
They didn´t speak to me for more than three months. The only way my dad would talk to me was writting notes on pieces of paper.
I was sad and lonely and I felt no one loved me.
Then I realized that not only God loved me but my boyfriend loved me and I loved him, so we decided to get married.
Of course, my parents were against that idea. My father begged me to get married at the Catholic church, but I knew I couldn´t do that.
So they said they were not going to come to my wedding. Noone in the family was going to come.
I prayed and prayed for months and God answered my prayers.
It´s a long story, but let me tell you, my mom finally decided she was going to pay for my wedding dress and my dad decided he was going to pay for the little reception we had.
Everybody in my family came to my wedding, even my grandparents.
It was so hard to go through this, but I had decided I was going to be faithful to God and He rewarded me.
I have always been rejected because I am a Christian, but I´ve seen God´s hands holding me and my family every single day.
Well, since I was studying linguistics at the Universtity of Costa Rica, I needed to practice my English.
Then I introduced myself to a couple of missionaries who were attending my church.
We became friends. I was helping them with their Spanish, and they were helping me with my English.
Then, one day, they suggested to me that I send my resume to the Academic Director at the language school.
This was exactly 20 years ago. I did and I waited, and waited. I used to stop at the front gate of the school and prayed and proclaimed that one day I was going to work here.
I finally got a phone call eight months later.
The director wanted me to come and watch the other teachers just because I had to be trained.
I did and I came to school for a whole trimester, every single morning, without getting any money for that.
But I learned, and I got trained. When the time came to be hired, the Director told me it was not going to be possible for me to get a job here because the number of the new registrations had gone down and they were not going to be able to hire anybody else.
I went home and I cried and cried. I remembered my brother making fun of me saying, “Is that what a christian institution does?”
Well, I ignored that and I kept praying.
Finally, four months later, the Lord opened the door and I got my job.
I don´t really know how to describe what this job means to me.
For many years, I´ve been able to meet incredible people who have helped me to grow in every aspect of my life. Not only professionally but also spiritually.
I´ve learned so much about the american culture that I always joke and tell them that I´m half a tica and half an american.
The Lord has gifted me with my language skills. Sometimes, it´s hard for my students to believe that I´ve never been in the States for more than three weeks.
Well, I have to admit that God made America come to me.
So, I´ve worked with missionaries for twenty years and they have all become part of my family.
My ministry here is not only to teach them the language, my ministry is to guide them, to help them go through their first cross cultural experience.
They have to know that their year here is not only a time to learn a language, it´s also a time for the Lord to polish them.
I love to encourage them every morning, and eventhough we have to face very difficult trials while working in this ministry, we pray for each other every day and we support each other.
This job is not a job, I get up every morning and I thank God for what he´s given me. I´m happy because I know I´m doing what He wants me to do.
All these people are my family and eventhough I´m just with them for a year, we know we´re going to see each other in Heaven.
Students always tell us, the teachers, that they are going to introduce us to all the people who got to know the Lord just because we taught them their language.
That´s our reward. That´s the best pay we can get.
Sometimes I start thinking that I could be doing something else to get more money. I know I could get another job. But I know that´s not what is important in life.
Money is not important when you know you´re doing the right thing for the Lord.
He provides everything you need, and He gives you even more.
So, I´m going to keep working here at the Language school until the Lord wants me to do something different.
I´m going to be encouraging my students, tutoring them, translating sermons for them, even interpreting for them when they come to preach at any church.
Finally, I would like to encourage all of you to stop and think. Are you really doing what the Lord wants you to do?
It´s been very hard for me. It´s been an up hill battle. It´s like climbing a mountain but I can tell you that no matter what comes, I´m going to serve my Lord because He´s my strength and my fortress.
I keep saying every day, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.
He is the one who strengthens you all, no matter what comes, let me tell you,
¡SÃ se puede!
That is in English, yes, you can!
God bless you all.
Graziella Arguedas
Last week our grammar teacher, Graziella Arguedas, read her testimony in English to us and it was such an encouragement! It has echos of a post I had a few months ago eluding to thoughts on what is 'successful' in life and why. Its often easy for us, and for others back in the states, to assume that all of us missionaries have our heads on straight and our act together. But it only takes a few moments - probably seconds really - on campus at ILE to realize that we are sinners and in need of a savior just like everyone else. You can also quickly find out that not only are the maestros here great teachers, but they are also great people and great believers as well.
I can honestly tell you that this trimesters class with Graziella and the rest of my cohorts has been one of the best classes I have even been in. This is in no small part to Graziella and her infectious positive attitude and amazing faith. I'll leave this blog post with the testimony she shared with us. You can see two things....a)she is much better at English then I am in Spanish and b)she is faithful and a real encouragement. Praise God for teachers like Graziella who are here not only to teach us Spanish, but to help keep all of us crazy missionaries both sane during the transition and also focused on the Lord as well.
---------------------------------------
Graziella's Testimony
It is really a blessing for me to be able to share with you part of my life.
There´s no way I could express or write all the wonderful things God has done in me, but today I want to testify and I want to give him the glory for his love and mercy in my life.
I grew up in a very conservative Catholic family. I even studied at a school with nuns. In fact, I was actually planning to become a nun.
It was only because I got a very good grade in the admission test for the University that I decided I was going to do something different.
Just shortly after I began my studies at the University, I met my husband. He had been a Christian for many years. He had served in many ministries. He had worked with teenagers, he had been part of the worship team, and many other things.
One day, after having spent a lot of time asking him many questions about his religion and his beliefs, I was touched by God. I surrendered to Him and I decided I was going to give my life to serve Him.
When my parents found out that I had decided to quit comming to the Catholic church, my real problems began.
They were blaming my boyfriend and they told me they wanted me to let him go. Since I didn´t do it, they got onto me and they told me I was not going to be their daughter anymore. They rejected me in many ways. They said I could continue to live with them but only because they were worried about what people would say if I left the house.
They didn´t speak to me for more than three months. The only way my dad would talk to me was writting notes on pieces of paper.
I was sad and lonely and I felt no one loved me.
Then I realized that not only God loved me but my boyfriend loved me and I loved him, so we decided to get married.
Of course, my parents were against that idea. My father begged me to get married at the Catholic church, but I knew I couldn´t do that.
So they said they were not going to come to my wedding. Noone in the family was going to come.
I prayed and prayed for months and God answered my prayers.
It´s a long story, but let me tell you, my mom finally decided she was going to pay for my wedding dress and my dad decided he was going to pay for the little reception we had.
Everybody in my family came to my wedding, even my grandparents.
It was so hard to go through this, but I had decided I was going to be faithful to God and He rewarded me.
I have always been rejected because I am a Christian, but I´ve seen God´s hands holding me and my family every single day.
Well, since I was studying linguistics at the Universtity of Costa Rica, I needed to practice my English.
Then I introduced myself to a couple of missionaries who were attending my church.
We became friends. I was helping them with their Spanish, and they were helping me with my English.
Then, one day, they suggested to me that I send my resume to the Academic Director at the language school.
This was exactly 20 years ago. I did and I waited, and waited. I used to stop at the front gate of the school and prayed and proclaimed that one day I was going to work here.
I finally got a phone call eight months later.
The director wanted me to come and watch the other teachers just because I had to be trained.
I did and I came to school for a whole trimester, every single morning, without getting any money for that.
But I learned, and I got trained. When the time came to be hired, the Director told me it was not going to be possible for me to get a job here because the number of the new registrations had gone down and they were not going to be able to hire anybody else.
I went home and I cried and cried. I remembered my brother making fun of me saying, “Is that what a christian institution does?”
Well, I ignored that and I kept praying.
Finally, four months later, the Lord opened the door and I got my job.
I don´t really know how to describe what this job means to me.
For many years, I´ve been able to meet incredible people who have helped me to grow in every aspect of my life. Not only professionally but also spiritually.
I´ve learned so much about the american culture that I always joke and tell them that I´m half a tica and half an american.
The Lord has gifted me with my language skills. Sometimes, it´s hard for my students to believe that I´ve never been in the States for more than three weeks.
Well, I have to admit that God made America come to me.
So, I´ve worked with missionaries for twenty years and they have all become part of my family.
My ministry here is not only to teach them the language, my ministry is to guide them, to help them go through their first cross cultural experience.
They have to know that their year here is not only a time to learn a language, it´s also a time for the Lord to polish them.
I love to encourage them every morning, and eventhough we have to face very difficult trials while working in this ministry, we pray for each other every day and we support each other.
This job is not a job, I get up every morning and I thank God for what he´s given me. I´m happy because I know I´m doing what He wants me to do.
All these people are my family and eventhough I´m just with them for a year, we know we´re going to see each other in Heaven.
Students always tell us, the teachers, that they are going to introduce us to all the people who got to know the Lord just because we taught them their language.
That´s our reward. That´s the best pay we can get.
Sometimes I start thinking that I could be doing something else to get more money. I know I could get another job. But I know that´s not what is important in life.
Money is not important when you know you´re doing the right thing for the Lord.
He provides everything you need, and He gives you even more.
So, I´m going to keep working here at the Language school until the Lord wants me to do something different.
I´m going to be encouraging my students, tutoring them, translating sermons for them, even interpreting for them when they come to preach at any church.
Finally, I would like to encourage all of you to stop and think. Are you really doing what the Lord wants you to do?
It´s been very hard for me. It´s been an up hill battle. It´s like climbing a mountain but I can tell you that no matter what comes, I´m going to serve my Lord because He´s my strength and my fortress.
I keep saying every day, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.
He is the one who strengthens you all, no matter what comes, let me tell you,
¡SÃ se puede!
That is in English, yes, you can!
God bless you all.
Graziella Arguedas
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Writing in Spanish is hard!
Every time I sit down and write something in Spanish, two things happen. a) I'm amazed by how hard it is because there are always simple words you do not know and have to look up. b) I'm also wildly encouraged by how much I have learned in a few short months of studying spanish. I came here with zero spanish! I really feel like God has blessed our time here thus far and Christy and I have learned both alot about Spanish and ourselves as well. Here is something I wrote tonight, feel free to take our your dictionary and start translating....(or just use google translate). I've not had it proofed yet, so please don't make too much fun of my incorrect spanish.
Cuando yo era el niño, mis padres crÃan y adoraban a Dios. Mi familia asistÃa la iglesia se llama 'College Church in Wheaton' o 'Iglesia de Universidad en Ciudad Wheaton'. Esta iglesia tenÃa muchas personas quien amaba Dios. Tambien, la iglesia tenÃa muchas programas por los niños. Yo asistÃa estas programas and aprendÃa mucho informacÃon a Dios y su hijo Jesucristo. Cuando yo era muy joven, yo creà en JesuCristo, y preguntó a Dios, '¿Por favor, llegas y vivis tú en mi corazón?' Yo sé ya que yo no sabÃa todos las verdades de Dios; pero, yo pienso yo era un cristiano. Cada año, yo estaba aprendiendo mas casi JesuCristo y su palabra. Dos eventos muy importante en mi vida eran cuando yo tomé el misÃon viaje con mi iglesia. Durante estes viajes, yo sentà la presencia de Dios. Tambien, yo miré muchas vidas cambiaba por JesuCristo.
Yo continuaba crecer y eventual fui a la universidad. Allá, tuve que decider que vida yo quise vivir. La universidad tenÃa muchas fiestas con drogas y bastante alcohol. Tambien, muchas personas allá no creÃa en DÃos. Yo hice algunas cosas a yo no estoy orgulloso; pero, DÃos era fiel. Gracias a DÃos! DÃos puse dos amigos en mi vida que eran los cristianos. Yo decidó ir después de DÃos. Después de este tiempo, mi amistad con dios esta creciendo.
Yo sé que yo no soy perfecto; pero, yo sé tambien que Dios perdoné mis pecados. Dios me ama muchÃsmo y él murió sobre la cruz por mi. Por este, es possible para mi tener un relación con DÃos.
DÃos es bueno.
Cuando yo era el niño, mis padres crÃan y adoraban a Dios. Mi familia asistÃa la iglesia se llama 'College Church in Wheaton' o 'Iglesia de Universidad en Ciudad Wheaton'. Esta iglesia tenÃa muchas personas quien amaba Dios. Tambien, la iglesia tenÃa muchas programas por los niños. Yo asistÃa estas programas and aprendÃa mucho informacÃon a Dios y su hijo Jesucristo. Cuando yo era muy joven, yo creà en JesuCristo, y preguntó a Dios, '¿Por favor, llegas y vivis tú en mi corazón?' Yo sé ya que yo no sabÃa todos las verdades de Dios; pero, yo pienso yo era un cristiano. Cada año, yo estaba aprendiendo mas casi JesuCristo y su palabra. Dos eventos muy importante en mi vida eran cuando yo tomé el misÃon viaje con mi iglesia. Durante estes viajes, yo sentà la presencia de Dios. Tambien, yo miré muchas vidas cambiaba por JesuCristo.
Yo continuaba crecer y eventual fui a la universidad. Allá, tuve que decider que vida yo quise vivir. La universidad tenÃa muchas fiestas con drogas y bastante alcohol. Tambien, muchas personas allá no creÃa en DÃos. Yo hice algunas cosas a yo no estoy orgulloso; pero, DÃos era fiel. Gracias a DÃos! DÃos puse dos amigos en mi vida que eran los cristianos. Yo decidó ir después de DÃos. Después de este tiempo, mi amistad con dios esta creciendo.
Yo sé que yo no soy perfecto; pero, yo sé tambien que Dios perdoné mis pecados. Dios me ama muchÃsmo y él murió sobre la cruz por mi. Por este, es possible para mi tener un relación con DÃos.
DÃos es bueno.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Princess, chorizos (finally!) and a birthday party
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Lizzy has been being more girl each day. She LOVES all things princess and she loves playing dress up. Although as a guy, I do not fully understand the interworkings of what playing princess are for a little girl - I do get the benefit of seeing her 'shine' when she feels like one. You can see in these two pictures we put her in a dress, let her wear her favorite necklace AND also
put in a pony tail. Before we came down here we got her hair chopped because brushing it was a nightmare. It has only been recently that it grew long enough to pull it back. You can see from the two pictures that she is BEAMING because she feels pretty. I guess it will be our job as parents to always remind her feeling pretty leads to acting pretty leads to being pretty. It never really matters what you look like or what you wear - personality and confidence make the person. Even now as I look at these I smile - she is so cute!
I've been trying, unsuccessfully mind you, sense we came down here to grill. Every time I try my coals always go out and I could never figure out why. My new theory is that it is humid enough here that if you use the top to any grill, the coals get choked out. I grilled today without a top and SUCCESS. We got fresh chorizo (NOTE: NOT SALCHICAS) cooked on the grill. I had some fresh pico de gallo made from the morning and we had some wicked good grilling. The best part is that those little sausages are so cheap - It was about $1.50 for the 8 of them you see there. We will certainly be doing this again sometime soon.
The other fun thing we had this week was a birthday party! Roxana's birthday is actually today, but we wanted to do something a little special for her so we had a mini party on Friday. You can see Elizabeth made her a birthday crown which she is wearing. I made brownies in the morning and Christy and I bought her a large photo album - she LOVES photos - and gave her a little money to buy more film or whatever she wants really. Christy and I both though she was really surprised and happy. I glad we were able to brighten her day a little. She does so much for us it is nice to be able to give back.Friday, August 1, 2008
Mi Amigos - Los Bautistas de Sur
I love my Southern Baptist brothers and sisters down here. They are all great and I consider many to be very good friends even though our time together is short. However, as I mentioned before, their young sons and daughters have converted our little princess to speaking with a twang. That is funny to me, but not nearly as funny as some of the phrases that I have heard since I've been down here (some out of jest....some straight serious).
1.That don't make no sense to me
2.Wi-re Plyyy-ers
3.Wa'll
4.Hookey Spit
5.Great Honks
6. She practiced us gud today
Help understanding for Yankees:
1. Self evident - but serious
2. Apparently a tool you use on wires
3. For example - Wa'll going to walmart tonight
4 & 5. ????
6. This one was also serious
I have to be honest, I don't even know what 4 and 5 mean or how to use them in a scentence. I googled both and I got nothing. They are my favorite because David, a usually more serious guy used #4 in a scentence. Even the guy from deep Misssissippi said, 'What is that!?!?!' So David responded with 'You know, Hookey Spit!' as if clarifying anything about #4.
1.That don't make no sense to me
2.Wi-re Plyyy-ers
3.Wa'll
4.Hookey Spit
5.Great Honks
6. She practiced us gud today
Help understanding for Yankees:
1. Self evident - but serious
2. Apparently a tool you use on wires
3. For example - Wa'll going to walmart tonight
4 & 5. ????
6. This one was also serious
I have to be honest, I don't even know what 4 and 5 mean or how to use them in a scentence. I googled both and I got nothing. They are my favorite because David, a usually more serious guy used #4 in a scentence. Even the guy from deep Misssissippi said, 'What is that!?!?!' So David responded with 'You know, Hookey Spit!' as if clarifying anything about #4.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
All doped up
You know its concerning when you come out of the doctor with not just one medication you need to take to get better, but four. Yikes. For the past two weeks plus a few days I've had a cold which has developed into a crazy cough that I can just not shake. Each evening, I lose about two hours of sleep while I hack a lung into the sink. Needless to say, for the first time in a long time, I'm actually willing to take antibiotics to help my body fight this thing. The doc told me I have bronchitis and he is concerned if we let it go to long it can develop into a chronic cough. So, now I have antibiotics, expectorants, anti-cough stuff....AND....to top it all off I got a shot in my nalga today that is supposed to reduce inflammation of the bronchial tubes. Which brings me to another episode of...
Its not BAD...its just different.
When you need a shot of something here, there is really no need to go to a doctors office. You buy the vial and syringe at a farmacia (if you can find one that carries the medicine you need - it took me five to find everything today) - and the lady behind the counter gives it to you at the little tienda. Very strange. Nothing bad happen, the needles are all take and toss individually wrapped and sterile, the lady was so gentle I hardly felt anything. But, that does not prevent it from being just different enough from the states to be very very strange.
Its not BAD...its just different.
When you need a shot of something here, there is really no need to go to a doctors office. You buy the vial and syringe at a farmacia (if you can find one that carries the medicine you need - it took me five to find everything today) - and the lady behind the counter gives it to you at the little tienda. Very strange. Nothing bad happen, the needles are all take and toss individually wrapped and sterile, the lady was so gentle I hardly felt anything. But, that does not prevent it from being just different enough from the states to be very very strange.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Costa Ricans love them some salchicha
Salchicha. It sounds like something that would be awesome - like some sort of really fancy sausage. However, do not be confused. Salchicha is simply a hotdog without a bun. (Amusingly enough, hotdog is translated directly as 'perro caliente' in Spanish). Do not get me wrong, I'm not a hotdog hater - however - I certainly do not eat them very often - if ever. So, you can imagine my horror when I saw this add in our front gate. Does anything look more disgusting to you then this? Salchi Pops - mmm. Just when you thought Pizza Hut could not out-do themselves, they always come through....Saturday, July 26, 2008
You've been there before
You don't eat breakfast. You had a small lunch. Its starting to get late and you you are hungry. You love pizza and do not get it very often. You stare at the three sizes....you don't even acknowledge the first two because towards the end you read 'Eliminator' as the last size. Its simply gravy that when you buy one eliminator, you get the another entire one free. Then, as icing on the cake, you impulse buy spicey buffalo wings as well. Needless to say, more than half of our already too small freezer is full of pizza and I feel moderately ill. On this evening, Dominos wins the battle, yet again.
I wish I could report that we are all healthy besides the pizza overeating, but, no. Christy got over her pink eye in the left eye on Monday which was nice, but then caught it in her right eye. Thankfully though she managed to chase that out with some antibiotics. Elizabeth and I both have colds and by Christy's increasingly low voice, she is either taking HGH or she has the same thing we do (PLEEEAAASSEEE be the second).
I have a few more pictures. A couple below show the kids and I having a fun activity last weekend - washing the car. I asked them if they wanted to help me. They assured me yes, but the did nothing of the sort. None the less, it was fun to spray them with the hose for a bit. I have also included some pictures from the traditional dance put on buy several of our teachers at language school. It was really great to see....the pictures don't do it justice, but you can get a small taste of the event from friday.
The 'anti-help' as I like to call them. Every time I finally got the car clean of soap, they soaped it up again.
The real brains behind the operation. Did you forget that I dented my van 2 months ago? I didn't. There is the orange dent from the gate in the picture.
This water is cold....why am I out here?
I wish I could report that we are all healthy besides the pizza overeating, but, no. Christy got over her pink eye in the left eye on Monday which was nice, but then caught it in her right eye. Thankfully though she managed to chase that out with some antibiotics. Elizabeth and I both have colds and by Christy's increasingly low voice, she is either taking HGH or she has the same thing we do (PLEEEAAASSEEE be the second).
I have a few more pictures. A couple below show the kids and I having a fun activity last weekend - washing the car. I asked them if they wanted to help me. They assured me yes, but the did nothing of the sort. None the less, it was fun to spray them with the hose for a bit. I have also included some pictures from the traditional dance put on buy several of our teachers at language school. It was really great to see....the pictures don't do it justice, but you can get a small taste of the event from friday.
The 'anti-help' as I like to call them. Every time I finally got the car clean of soap, they soaped it up again.
The real brains behind the operation. Did you forget that I dented my van 2 months ago? I didn't. There is the orange dent from the gate in the picture.
This water is cold....why am I out here?
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Who wants to be a billionaire?
Times in the U.S. and around the world can be pretty scarey. Oil is expensive, food is expensive and how we might afford things in the future is uncertain. However, when I read arcticles like this, it is a reminder to me that as bad as things are, we are still in a different stratosphere then many other people. In the picture you can see the 500 million-dollar-note in Zimbabwee. They just added a 100 billion-dollar-note to keep up with their 2.2 million percent inflation. 80% of their population lives below the poverty line and they have shortages of basic goods. Puts it in perspective, no?
Monday, July 21, 2008
Little glimpses of the past...
It seems to me that sometimes when I am missing the U.S. more than usual, little things that made me laugh back there often cheer me up. Today was one of those days. Believe it or not, it was not the 'Chuck Norris is so...' email that circulated back maybe 3 years ago - I'm saving that one for another day. Today, rather, it was an email that my brother sent me maybe....hmm....seven years ago that I cried when I watched it. At the risk of losing more prayer supporters I'll embedded it below. You have to use my lense. I grew up playing Ikari Warriors, Street Fighter (I,II,III, Hyper, Versus Capcom, IV, Super Hyper, etc) and also other competition martial arts style games. This little short makes fun of everything that was both stupid and unfair about those games, and thus, makes me laugh. This game actually looks about as fair as the original Star Wars Return of the Jedi arcade game for those of you that can think back that far. I'm thinking specifically when you are flying on your vehicle through the forest after the imperial storm trooper - yeah, thats right - crazy hard.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
As I was trying to transfer some files...
My computer told me the file would take a while. About 77 years....its going to be a long afternoon. I need to contact my friend who works at Microsoft and tell him it is crazy that this message would ever come up....ever.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Another week in paradise
Generally, a slow week except for the following:
1. Sammy got a fever right before his birthday
2. Christy got Pink-Eye on Thursday
3. I caught a cold this morning
4. Someone t-boned our car back in the states (in a parking garage!)
5. Someone hit my van on Saturday here in Costa
However, I want to turn a new leaf and be positive too:
1. Sammy had a great birthday
2. We had a date on Saturday as one of our friends watched the kids. It was nice to sit in peace and talk some without having our ears yelled in or me having to say, 'No no no no no no no'
3. Our landlord fixed the shower in our bathroom on Saturday
4. The person who t-boned my car in the US admitted guilt so it makes it easier with insurance
5. The person who hit my car here damaged his fender, but luckily only hit my tire which was fine
Besides all that happenings, things are good. I happen to have a lot of pictures so I've posted them all at once below here. The slideshow was an easier route, but if you want any individual pictures you should be able to pull them directly off the online photo album. If you have a slow internet connection or worse yet a dial up, this post will kill you. Sorry.
Lizzy gets more girl every day. She constantly talks about painting her nails or dressing up. In this short video, Christy has dressed her up with the new play silks and made her into a butterfly princess. Lizzy was pretty pumped. As a guy from an all-guy family, I don't get it.
Sammy's birthday was last week, he had a great time. We were hyping it the whole week before - so when July 16th finally rolled around, he was pretty excited. Christy, as usual, made the day very special with cake and many fun homemade gifts. I got him a soccer ball that had Nemo on it, but I had already given it to him the month before so they kids had two balls to play with instead of just one. Roxana got him a cute outfit and also a toy car that moves and signs on its own. I hope it runs out of batteries soon.
Christy did not go to school on Friday because she had to go to the hospital to get her eye checked out. We thought Lizzy might have pink eye too (was a little red and she was rubbing it). Thankfully, she did not. She enjoyed the day because she got to stay home from school and play with mom and Roxana.
Here are some shots we snapped this morning just for fun. Its a lazy day now. I am sick and Christy has pink eye - so we listened to church online and played some.
1. Sammy got a fever right before his birthday
2. Christy got Pink-Eye on Thursday
3. I caught a cold this morning
4. Someone t-boned our car back in the states (in a parking garage!)
5. Someone hit my van on Saturday here in Costa
However, I want to turn a new leaf and be positive too:
1. Sammy had a great birthday
2. We had a date on Saturday as one of our friends watched the kids. It was nice to sit in peace and talk some without having our ears yelled in or me having to say, 'No no no no no no no'
3. Our landlord fixed the shower in our bathroom on Saturday
4. The person who t-boned my car in the US admitted guilt so it makes it easier with insurance
5. The person who hit my car here damaged his fender, but luckily only hit my tire which was fine
Besides all that happenings, things are good. I happen to have a lot of pictures so I've posted them all at once below here. The slideshow was an easier route, but if you want any individual pictures you should be able to pull them directly off the online photo album. If you have a slow internet connection or worse yet a dial up, this post will kill you. Sorry.
Lizzy gets more girl every day. She constantly talks about painting her nails or dressing up. In this short video, Christy has dressed her up with the new play silks and made her into a butterfly princess. Lizzy was pretty pumped. As a guy from an all-guy family, I don't get it.
Sammy's birthday was last week, he had a great time. We were hyping it the whole week before - so when July 16th finally rolled around, he was pretty excited. Christy, as usual, made the day very special with cake and many fun homemade gifts. I got him a soccer ball that had Nemo on it, but I had already given it to him the month before so they kids had two balls to play with instead of just one. Roxana got him a cute outfit and also a toy car that moves and signs on its own. I hope it runs out of batteries soon.
Christy did not go to school on Friday because she had to go to the hospital to get her eye checked out. We thought Lizzy might have pink eye too (was a little red and she was rubbing it). Thankfully, she did not. She enjoyed the day because she got to stay home from school and play with mom and Roxana.
Here are some shots we snapped this morning just for fun. Its a lazy day now. I am sick and Christy has pink eye - so we listened to church online and played some.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Sammy's birthday is tomorrow. However, tonight he came down with a 101 fever - poor little buddy. Here are some recent pictures of him to celebrate. Get well soon my friend. I love you.
Being silly with a hat.
Wearing dad's shoes.
Up close with the hat.
Not feeling quite right in the afternoon...
Being silly with a hat.
Wearing dad's shoes.
Up close with the hat.
Not feeling quite right in the afternoon...
A fever on my birthday....how sad.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Why didn't you just ask me?
Usually when we have any interaction with our landlord - who is also our next door neighbor - it has been with Zeidy, the wife. She has always been really attentative to all the questions we have, and is overall great. Today we met her husband for the first time. He came over to let us know he wanted throw away a whole bunch of bamboo that was stacked up in our front parking area It was not in our way, but I'm just as happy to have it go in the trash. He, like Zeidy, was really nice.
We got to talking about life, what we are doing, where we are going, etc...and in the conversation we mentioned that we were happy to have a working dryer now with the rainy season. He said - in spanish of course - 'Dryer, you should have asked! I have one just sitting in my house waiting for people who rent this house to use. The last renter did not want it so I put it at my house...' I mentioned that he did not have a 220V line into thishouse and he said, 'Its easy, I would have installed one quickly for you...' I guess he probably just would have taken a 220 from his house through the wall to our dryer? I'm not sure what he had in mind, but it made me think that it probably would pay off for us to ask more questions around here like 'Do you have...' or 'Could you...' Oh well, we know for next time to ask our landlords for help when we need it.
Tonight we watched about half of Horton Hears a Who with Elizabeth and Sammy. Sammy was not all that interested, but it was neat to see how into the movie Elizabeth was. Not simply watching TV for the sake of watching TV, but asking questions like 'Is he going to fall!?!?...' 'Where is Horton going?' 'Whos is he talking to!?!' I think that the whole idea of the book is probably a bit hard for a 3 year old to grasp; however, she was doing a great job picking up on the smaller themes. Little kids grow up so fast. I've attached another example of how big she is getting. We work a fair bit at helping her read some basic words (mainly every night when I read books before bed time) - and Christy worked on this little lesson with Lizzy this morning. I am impressed that she wrote lift by herself! 'F' is a hard letter to draw
We got to talking about life, what we are doing, where we are going, etc...and in the conversation we mentioned that we were happy to have a working dryer now with the rainy season. He said - in spanish of course - 'Dryer, you should have asked! I have one just sitting in my house waiting for people who rent this house to use. The last renter did not want it so I put it at my house...' I mentioned that he did not have a 220V line into thishouse and he said, 'Its easy, I would have installed one quickly for you...' I guess he probably just would have taken a 220 from his house through the wall to our dryer? I'm not sure what he had in mind, but it made me think that it probably would pay off for us to ask more questions around here like 'Do you have...' or 'Could you...' Oh well, we know for next time to ask our landlords for help when we need it.
Tonight we watched about half of Horton Hears a Who with Elizabeth and Sammy. Sammy was not all that interested, but it was neat to see how into the movie Elizabeth was. Not simply watching TV for the sake of watching TV, but asking questions like 'Is he going to fall!?!?...' 'Where is Horton going?' 'Whos is he talking to!?!' I think that the whole idea of the book is probably a bit hard for a 3 year old to grasp; however, she was doing a great job picking up on the smaller themes. Little kids grow up so fast. I've attached another example of how big she is getting. We work a fair bit at helping her read some basic words (mainly every night when I read books before bed time) - and Christy worked on this little lesson with Lizzy this morning. I am impressed that she wrote lift by herself! 'F' is a hard letter to draw
Friday, July 11, 2008
Dia de Cultura
Today was culture day at at school which means we did not have school! We did however get to experience a familiar site for many Costa Ricans - an example of a local carnival / fair. We came to school about the same time we would any other day, but instead of going to class, we went to several exhibits that contained many of the games that would normally be found at a local carnival. These include: trying to catch fake fish, bingo, ring toss, dart throws, jacks, bean bag tosses and many other games. We also got to learn about the art / history of making large masks / costums - AND - we got to experience a real live parade that contained a band and many of the life sized 'puppets' that might be in parades like this (see the video and pictures). Overall a pretty cool experience - I hope that we get to experience this in actuality too over the next couple years.
Thanks to Amie and Cohen, fellow ILE students mentioned in a previous blog entry, I have pictures and a small movie of the event (see below). I can't say thank you enough to them for being deligent about using their camera to capture meaningful events. In general, I don't use the camera unless something is shocking and/or amazing to me - however - there is certainly value in capturing daily events in our lives and they have proved that to me again and again in these few short weeks.
One of the more funny things that happened is that when the puppets were dancing and getting ready to leave - one came into the group of the students and starting dancing / coming close to everyone. I had Sammy on my back in a backpack carrier, and when the puppet came within a couple inches of his face, I could feel him stiffen up like a bored. He had a scowl on his face the rest of the time we were at school. I guess the puppets are good from a far but far from good.
Also amusing to me....I did not notice it when it was playing, but now all can think when I hear the band playing in this video is the Blue Oyster Cult Saturday Night Live skit titled 'MORE COWBELL!' If you've seen it, you know what I am talking about. Else, never mind this short paragraph.
Thanks to Amie and Cohen, fellow ILE students mentioned in a previous blog entry, I have pictures and a small movie of the event (see below). I can't say thank you enough to them for being deligent about using their camera to capture meaningful events. In general, I don't use the camera unless something is shocking and/or amazing to me - however - there is certainly value in capturing daily events in our lives and they have proved that to me again and again in these few short weeks.
One of the more funny things that happened is that when the puppets were dancing and getting ready to leave - one came into the group of the students and starting dancing / coming close to everyone. I had Sammy on my back in a backpack carrier, and when the puppet came within a couple inches of his face, I could feel him stiffen up like a bored. He had a scowl on his face the rest of the time we were at school. I guess the puppets are good from a far but far from good.
Also amusing to me....I did not notice it when it was playing, but now all can think when I hear the band playing in this video is the Blue Oyster Cult Saturday Night Live skit titled 'MORE COWBELL!' If you've seen it, you know what I am talking about. Else, never mind this short paragraph.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Good news all over
The first good news is that we got water back on Sunday early in the afternoon. I think the entire city of San Jose breathed a sigh of relief when the first trickle started pouring out. Although because many got their water back almost 12 hours before others, there was some mild water 
envy going on for sure. We were able to get showers, clean up the dishes, clean up the house and make a good meal on Sunday evening which was a blessing after feeling pretty gross most of the weekend. Some students at school were joking that they had beards because of the no water - I can't grow one so I felt a bit left out. None the less, I've attached some pictures to let you know how I feel about my long-time but recently reaquainted friend Mr Water. More great news is that Elizabeth told me that she was not going to be bad anymore - but rather - she would be kind to her brother and good all day. What a blessing - I'm always wondering how best to parent her through example and through teaching - when all I had to do was ask her to be good. In all seriousness , she is a pretty awesome 3 year old so I could not ask for anymore - but that unprovoked (I think) comment from her made a) Laugh hard (not to her face) and b) Feel pretty good that she really is trying so hard to do what is right and make mom and dad happy.
Lastly,Christy and I have both been doing well in school with our grades, but more importantly we feel like we are really making progress with speaking too - and yes there can certainly be a disconnect between those two. We have lots of practice time talking with Roxana and others on the street or in stores.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Acabamos de terminar
We just finished up. The plant hides the tank nicely and also keeps the kids away. We are venting it out on the bottom shelf of the grill - which also keeps the kids away. Also, you can see our innovation from last weekend, a shower curtain tarp to help keep the dryer dry (say that ten times fast).
Now....if we could only get the water to turn back on. Except for a couple hours, it has been off since thursday morning. Awesome.
Now....if we could only get the water to turn back on. Except for a couple hours, it has been off since thursday morning. Awesome.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
I hope you have your fire suit
Have you ever taken a 'shower' with a mixing bowl using stagnet water you collected at the last minute before they shut off the water? No? Me neither, until today. But, it felt great. Once you are past the initial 60 degree temperature of the water, its really not so bad. AND, being totally declothed in your courtyard is a little exciting too.
That brings us to tonight. We decided to stop into ACE hardware late this afternoon to see if they had propane tanks, regulators, hoses, etc that we needed to make our dryer work now I had installed (hopefully properly) the methane to propane conversion pieces. It turns out, they had pretty much all the pieces I was looking for. You see, as the instructions to the left show, I had a big shopping trip, I had to buy an elbow, an adapter, a metal flexible gas line connector, an ANSI plug 221.24 cm long, a CSA bolt 6.10 in depth, another adaptor, a 1/8' NPT pip plug for checking my inlet pressure and finally a shut-off valve with at least 1/2''. Thank goodness I found Ace. Also, thank goodness they did not make us buy the $100 dollar sink that Sammy pulled onto himself and shattered.
Who thinks on the instructions I make for Roxana I should put 'Run inside' after turning the on switch?
GE was nice enough to include some pictures of what happy and sad dry dryers should look like. If everything on the install goes well, it will aparently shine and grow arms to give you the okay symbol. I'm not sure what mine will say, but I'd guess something like you see in the picture. It is saying 'hammer-head' in honor of my father. That is what he used to call other drivers when they cut him off. It seems like an appropriate name also for someone who breaks all sorts of codes and violations during a flammable gas appliance install.
Also, today was the first day that I got to turn on our dryer when it was fully functional - hot air and all. The project is not totally finished yet, but we are getting close. Lets run through where all we have been...
1. Find a dryer that is only 110v that is not too expensive
2. Get someone to deliver it to our place
3. Figure out how to convert dryer to propane
4. Get parents to buy and send pieces needed for conversion to Costa Rica
5. Figure out how to install said pieces
6. Figure out how to get propane from the tank to your dryer
That brings us to tonight. We decided to stop into ACE hardware late this afternoon to see if they had propane tanks, regulators, hoses, etc that we needed to make our dryer work now I had installed (hopefully properly) the methane to propane conversion pieces. It turns out, they had pretty much all the pieces I was looking for. You see, as the instructions to the left show, I had a big shopping trip, I had to buy an elbow, an adapter, a metal flexible gas line connector, an ANSI plug 221.24 cm long, a CSA bolt 6.10 in depth, another adaptor, a 1/8' NPT pip plug for checking my inlet pressure and finally a shut-off valve with at least 1/2''. Thank goodness I found Ace. Also, thank goodness they did not make us buy the $100 dollar sink that Sammy pulled onto himself and shattered.
In reality though, ACE did not have all the piece I needed, so I I had to mix it up a bit. You can see my connection to the dryer. I decided to go with the 'straight' instead of the elbow. Also, who needs metal pipe when you can find rubber. Also, the whole 'shut-off valve' and pressure tester thing just seemed a bit silly, so I just took the hose straight to my regulator. Why buy all that extra junk just to clog up my perfectly good courtyard? To be honest though, I joked around with Christy, there were times in the 
states were I would install something differently than instructions or break the housing code a bit - but I always felt like I was making it better and there was no danger. As I was nearing completion of installing the propane hose, I've never been so worried about turning somethng on in my life. In case my parents are reading this, don't worry, I bubble tested all the connections on the outside of the dryer like crazy. I will do this again tomorrow and I will also do it on the methane to propane pieces I installed on the inside. If you are costa rican authorities - please ignore the description of said dryer. At the end of the day, I ran it for about a minute tonight and I think that it seems good. Gets warm (not too warm, not too cold) and it seemed like the internal temperature monitor was working as it flipped off the burner after it reached temperature.
states were I would install something differently than instructions or break the housing code a bit - but I always felt like I was making it better and there was no danger. As I was nearing completion of installing the propane hose, I've never been so worried about turning somethng on in my life. In case my parents are reading this, don't worry, I bubble tested all the connections on the outside of the dryer like crazy. I will do this again tomorrow and I will also do it on the methane to propane pieces I installed on the inside. If you are costa rican authorities - please ignore the description of said dryer. At the end of the day, I ran it for about a minute tonight and I think that it seems good. Gets warm (not too warm, not too cold) and it seemed like the internal temperature monitor was working as it flipped off the burner after it reached temperature. Who thinks on the instructions I make for Roxana I should put 'Run inside' after turning the on switch?
GE was nice enough to include some pictures of what happy and sad dry dryers should look like. If everything on the install goes well, it will aparently shine and grow arms to give you the okay symbol. I'm not sure what mine will say, but I'd guess something like you see in the picture. It is saying 'hammer-head' in honor of my father. That is what he used to call other drivers when they cut him off. It seems like an appropriate name also for someone who breaks all sorts of codes and violations during a flammable gas appliance install.
Please Rain Today
I find myself praying for rain this morning. Its not that Costa Rica is in a severe 20 year draught though. Nor does Costa Rica have raging wildfires that need to be quenched. Nope, I simply want to go out to my courtyard and take a shower. Starting on Thursday morning we lost water. Luckily it came back on for a little bit in the evening so I was able to take a shower after 2 hours of soccer. We woke up Friday morning to no water again. its now Saturday morning and we still have no water. I'd be concerned that our water was just shut off at our house (that has happened before too), but I know of many other houses in a several block radius who have no water as well.
I rate water like electricity in that you don't really know what you have until it is gone. And, given that the temperature it pretty mild down here, I'd even put it above electricity (e.g., I'd rather lose my power here than my water). We can't drink water, we can't shower, we can not clean dishes, we really can't cook because of a) no dishes b) you often need water to clean up and c) we need water to bleach much of the food we eat. Bummer.
Water, come back, we miss you.
I rate water like electricity in that you don't really know what you have until it is gone. And, given that the temperature it pretty mild down here, I'd even put it above electricity (e.g., I'd rather lose my power here than my water). We can't drink water, we can't shower, we can not clean dishes, we really can't cook because of a) no dishes b) you often need water to clean up and c) we need water to bleach much of the food we eat. Bummer.
Water, come back, we miss you.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Sufficiently American for the day
I was not sure what we would do for the fourth of July - but I think we qualify as being sufficiently American for the day. The US embassy sponsored (or at least endorsed) an American get together picnic for the 4th. It was held at the Imperial factory grounds. Imperial is the nationalized Costa Rican beer company (they have a very cool logo) - however - the grounds were not simply a beer factory. They had vast amounts of open space, nice athletic courts, a swimming pool (not in use), etc. Pretty amazing actually. We got there at about 8:30am in the morning and got right to work by having cotton candy, TCBY yogurt with M&Ms & Oreos and Diet Pepsi. The kids were able to play many games like bean bag tosses, fishing games, a moon walk, etc. One of the best things was all the candy the kids won like Skittles, SOUR SKITTLES (my favorite), a three musketeer bar, runts, etc. To top it all of, we had a bagel, tons of cheese, and multiple hot dogs. At a minimum I feel like we earned out our 8 dollar entrance fee to the activity.The one downer on the whole day was that our car got stuck in the mud. They made us park on about a 15 degree grade grass hill on the side of the road. I had a bad feeling about it when I parked, but we really had no choice. When I came out after the picnic and tried to back out, not surprisingly, my back tires just spun uselessly. We had four guys try to help us push it but with no results. Luckily, a city tow truck stopped and was able to hook up some cables and get us out. Praise God that they happened to be driving by because we could have been stuck there for a while.
Another unexpected thing happened. I found myself more annoyed with some of the oddities of Americans than I ever normally might be. One of the things we learned about during orientation is that reverse culture shock (readjusting to the society in which you left initially) can often be more difficult than the culture shock with the initial move. After only 3 months, I can see how if you were on the field for several years, or even more so for a full career, it would be very hard to move back home and not go a little bonkers - or at least feel like you do not fit in.
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