Church

While in Costa Rica, I have attended several different churches. The first was a tiny house church about 2 blocks from my first apartment, and there were several ticos and many gringos that attended, so it was a good first fit. Keep in mind I didn't understand much Spanish at the time, so my church notes consisted of whatever Spanish words I did know, so notes looked something like this: agua pura vida, entonces, Juan, entonces, entonces, entonces. That pastor said entonces a lot, which means ''so'' or ''then'' in English. However, the Sunday he preached about men should only have short hair and it was obvious there were some men in the congregation with shaggy or shoulder-length hair that he was addressing, I decided it was better not to get involved with the disputes of the tiny house church.

Next I attended a Columbian church called ''La Amistad'' (The Friendship). The worship was good and I was impressed with the pastor, but as time went on I realized the pastor wasn´t actually at church very often, that there were many guest speakers and that the services were just downright loooooong, at least long on my then-gringa-standards.

When I moved in with my tico family, I attended the Nazarene Church with them. The large red, yellow, and orange stained glass sun-rays-patterned window on the front of the building made me hope there might be some artistic, youthful style to this church. Well, while there were youth, they were all about 15 and under, so there weren´t many my age to connect with. Keep in mind I was still learning the language and so I depended largely on my tico family to help my comprehension level as we discussed the message during Sunday lunch.

I finally felt confident enough with my level of Spanish to embark on my own to find my own church. Haha, I embarked far enough to visit the church Trish was then attending with her tico family. I started attending there a year ago, and while I have had several reservations along the way, I am still going strong at Dimensión Cristiana. Let me attempt to describe why:

1) Involvement in the community. From prison ministry to feeding the poor to connections to many international missionaries, the church is always looking for more ways to serve.

2) Biblical sermons. We do this ''chant'' about what our Bible means to us at the beginning of each message. We hold up our Bibles and say ''This is my Bible, the infallible Word of God. She is my guide to life and conduct. I believe I am who my Bible says I am, that I can do what my Bible says I can do, and that I have what my Bible says I have. This I declare in the name of Jesus, Amen.'' (something like that :)) Then the pastor dives into some text and he's all over the place in the Word, making connections and challenging us to apply the Word in our lives.

3) Bible study. There are Tuesday night Bible studies that are absolutely 100% Bible. I have observed that sometimes in churches or in small groups the conversations become off-topic and aren´t really very Bible-focused, but this church has some pretty serious teachers that are wise in the Word and in life experience. I did a Bible study from February to May, and I am hoping to join another in September.

4) Amazing music. There are a group of about 20 people that rotate into the Sunday morning band, and they are all very talented. The music style is similar to Hillsong in English, passionate lyrics combined with musical variations.

5) Enthusiastic worship. To describe the worship, I would say it is pentecostal, slightly charismatic, as people jump and clap and raise their hands and some ladies wave shiny fabric and one guy speaks in tongues in his opera voice and people cry and the ushers go around handing out kleenex and stories about cancer being miraculously healed are shared.

Definitely different from my experiences at First Baptist Church of Kewanee or at Harvest Bible Church in Elgin. But for now, that's where you can find me on Sunday mornings from 10:30am to 1pm, just in case you'd like to join me :). (and yes, you read that right! The services last 2.5 hours!!! It doesn´t seem as long to me as it once did!)

My New Job

Here's a sneak peek into my new job... Hopefully you feel just as overwhelmed as I do with the amount of needed organization this photo contains...

And again, please share with me in the overwhelming feeling of blank walls!

Good news: I have MY OWN COMPUTER!!! Well, it's the school´s, but I actually have technology in my classroom!!! I'll post more photos when the classroom is looking prettier...

Wes's Costa Rican Birthday Lunch

Elsa came over for an afternoon to help me make a birthday lunch for Wes. Elsa is one of the secretaries at my last school, Sojourn, and she's an amazing cook. I have a lot to learn from her.

We snacked while we were cooking, of course. Poor Wes was starving by the time lunch was ready.

And the final product! Salad, rice, and patacones (fried smashed plaintains :))

And the giant Siscoes with tiny Elsa :)

Mosquitoes and Messy Bedrooms

a huge mosquito on my bathroom wall...

and you would think after a week of time off my room would be more organized.... sorry to disappoint you, but here's the truth!

Funnies

Alright, so I've been in Costa Rica now a week (time flies!), and I've seen some pretty funny things that I want to share:

1. I was crossing the street at the bottom of a hill, and I glanced up the hill to see a teenage boy racing down on his skateboard. He lost balance and began to swerve just as cars came over the top of the hill. He fell off the board and rolled down the hill, head over heels, with cars slamming on their brakes and dodging around him. Thankfully I made it across the street before any of the panic affected me. I hate to admit that my inner instinct was to laugh instead of asking the guy if he needed help (which probably isn't a good idea anyway)...

2. A tico with a r.e.a.l. blonde mullet. haha.

3. Today as I was working on this next year's curriculum, I read in my history teacher's guide that I should need ''gold spray pain'' for one of the projects... um, gold spray paint, maybe? :)

4. And best for last: You're not going to believe this one! So I'm at a Chinese restaurant with some friends downtown, and we had just discussed that some people don't like Chinese babies. I was impartial to the conversation and so excused myself to go to the restroom. While in a bathroom stall, a mother and daughter came into the restroom as well. I saw a small shadow pass by the stall door and thought they had just passed to go to another stall. Then this tiny head pops under my door and then hands and body and legs, and this Chinese toddler stands up in my stall and is standing there looking at me and I said loudly, ''Qué está haciendo?'' (''What are you doing!?''), and the baby cocked her head to the side ... I don't think she spoke Spanish yet. And the mother did nothing to get this kid out of my stall, so I was in half-shock, half-terror on what to do (''If I push her back under the door, is that child-abuse?'' I thought bc there's strict abuse laws in CR)... After what seemed like forever (in reality it was 4 or 5 seconds), the baby crawls back under the door. I sat there in utter disbelief and when I finally collected myself enough to exit the stall and ''meet the mom'', the mom just gave me this look like it was my fault that her child was crawling around on the dirty floor... Oh geez. I headed back out to the group to inform them that I now was also not fond of Chinese babies...

Mamón Chino

Welcome back to Costa Rica! Well, welcome back to me anyway. :) I am reminded of how different life is here and there and everywhere else around the world as I experience my home-away-from-home once again.

The biggest difference I have noticed? That it's summer in the States and winter here. WINTER. The sun goes down at 6 every evening (which is a constant all year since we're close to the equator), and it's cloudy and rainy always. Yuck. So I'm wearing my rainboots and scarves and carrying my umbrella and my new inhaler to avoid getting bronchitis again from the humidity and smog. I'll keep you posted on how that goes!

Alright, so another difference I am reminded of is the different food, specifically fruit. While visiting friends in the States, my friend Tiffany and I were comparing fruits of Costa Rica and of Indonesia, where she is currently living and teaching. She mentioned rambutan as being red and hairy and I made a connection to what we call mamón chino here in Costa Rica. Wikipedia confirms for me here that we were talking about the same fruit! Apparently it is an Asian fruit that has made it's way to Costa Rica.

So here's a quick lesson in what it is and how to eat it :)

Yup. Weird-looking, I know.

So to eat it, you have to break the peel with your thumbnail

and pull the two halves apart.

Then you see the grape-looking (or eyeball-looking) inside.

Put just the white inside part in your mouth

like this. Notice the red hairy peel is still in my hand.

Swish it around to take the white part off the seed. Don't swallow the seed!! It's just really big and would hurt going down.

Maybe keep it in your cheek for a couple seconds to enjoy the flavor fully.

and then spit the seed back into the peel.

I highly doubt you will find these in the States, but if you do, now you can educate whoever else is in the grocery store about what to do with these strange-looking fruits!

Illinois Fun

I had a good last week in Illinois, despite continuing health concerns and the occasional emotional breakdown about returning to Costa Rica :) (don't worry, I'll be fine!).

Kallie and I had a blast doing her senior portraits! I did Wes's photos when he was a senior, so Kallie and I continued the tradition. This is my personal favorite :). Two more years until I'll do Austin's!

David, Austin, Kallie, Erin, and I enjoyed a picnic at Johnson's Park. It was Austin's idea and a great one at that! I made patty melt sandwiches inspired by Steak and Shake's sourdough melt, and David brought amazing brownies with peanut butter frosting... we were in food heaven. Lunch was followed by a loooong game of Apples to Apples before us girls declared naptime while the boys wandered around the park. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

and Erin in action with her Nikon. Our Nikons are friends :).

I found this photo on my camera, haha. Thanks Mom for capturing how well Austin and Kallie get along these days :).

My Costa Rican friend Yoji is now doing graduate work in St. Louis, so he came to Kewanee for a day.

and the night before I flew out of O´Hare, I joined Judson friends for a time of trading stories.

Front Row: Christina (I often stay with her and her husband at their apartment in Elgin), Sean (living in Michigan, graphic designer), me.

Back row: Marc (living in Venezuela, teacher, married to Amy), Dave (living in Indonesia, teacher, musician, married to Tiffany), Tiffany (one of my Judson roommates, living in Indonesia, teacher, artist, married to Dave), Amy (living  in Venezuela, teacher, married to Marc), Ian (living in Elgin, youth pastor), Aaron (living in Elgin, graphic designer, married to Maria who was in Nicaragua that day)

All in all, it was a good visit back to the States. Thank you to all who follow this blog, to family and friends, for opening your hearts and homes to me once again! I'm already excited to see you at Christmas :)