Costa Rica: Day 1

This is Eddie here.  Let me tell you a little bit about our first day in Costa Rica.  What a day filled with a small dose of culture shock, a medium glass of immediate immersion and a huge bucket of love!  The story begins the day before we took off to the airport.  I know that God uses many different ways to talk to his people but I haven’t experienced many of the ones I will tell you about.  I have mostly experienced hearing God through His Word or through other godly people.  God decided to rock my world the other day through signs.  I was wondering if going to Costa Rica was truly what God wanted us to do.  It was evident through the way God provided the funds we received from the incredible people at Lifepointe Church.  It was also evident with how smoothly everything was going.  Now back to the day before we were leaving.  We were at a park in Coral Springs, FL with my family taking pictures of Jaden (as if there aren’t enough) when a little boy (about 6) kept following us and even insisted on being in some of the pictures.  As I was playing with Jaden and this little boy I noticed the words “Costa Rica” were written on his shirt.  This sweet boy wanted to play with Jaden and his shirt was a reminder to us that: God’s got this. 

Thursday morning, we said our tearful goodbyes and headed to the airport with our large amounts of luggage.  We were waiting in the line to check our bags, pack-n-play, car seat and stroller.  I always hope to get a nice airline-check-in-agent because you never know what they will make you do if their boyfriend had just dumped them the night before.  We ended up getting the sweetest lady who waited patiently for us as I decided last minute to buy some luggage locks from a store in the airport.  I then noticed the agent’s nametag.  Her name was Narcisa.  Notice that the second part of her name spells “cisa.” That is the abbreviated name of the school we are attending here in Costa Rica, “CISA” or “Christian Immersion Spanish Academy.”  To some of you that may sound silly but for us it was just what we needed to take the edge off and know that God is with us. 

After getting through immigration and customs without any problems we met our driver, Daniel, who we would spend the next 2 ½ hours in the car with.  Daniel is one of the co-directors of CISA. 

He is so funny and had also made us more comfortable being in a new country with his sarcastic jokes!  Hector, the other director of CISA, told us to believe only 10% of what Daniel says.  Daniel answered a lot of our questions; but, every once and a while, he would say things like, “I hope you like to eat cats.”  He went on and on about how the families here have one fat (gordo) cat in a cage that they feed to prepare it for feasting.  He almost had me there… until he busted out laughing.  I don’t think Deanna was fooled for one second.  At least that is what she told me.  His next prank came when we stopped for gas.  It is illegal to pump your own gas in Costa Rica, so an attendant comes to pump your gas for you.  I asked him if you had to tip those guys and with all seriousness he said, “Since Costa Ricans are very affectionate the gas attendants only require a kiss on the forehead.  He will come around to your window and lean his head in for a kiss at any moment.” I am so gullible because I believed him for a quick second and then remembered the cat story.  I am not very smart.  He had us rolling many times!

This a picture of the house we are living in for three months with our host family.  We learned that they added an addition onto the house last year just for hosting students.  It is the left side behind the carport.  You can see our bedroom window.  One thing we noticed is how clean yet simple they live.  There are no screens on the windows, and the windows are always open.  The door is often left open, as you can see in the picture.  We noticed that bugs to come in at night as they are attracted to the light,

but they don't really bother us.  We have not been bit by mosquitoes or anything.  We do have to watch out for ants, though.  To the left is a picture of a grass hopper we noticed right outside our bedroom window.  It is huge, but it did not bother us.

This is the view from the front door of our host home.  You can see the town plaza (aka: soccer field) right out our front door.  There is a fence around it and those blue things are benches spaced evenly all the way around it.  It is a good place to go and play when it is not raining.

Once we arrived at our host home we were welcomed with open arms from Samia (mom), José Pablo (12 year old boy) and Jimena (14 year old girl).  We met their father Freddy later when he arrived home from work.  They lifted Jaden up into their arms and kissed him immediately saying “que lindo, que lindo!” (which means “how cute”). Freddy and Samia told me that we are family now and if we needed anything to let them know.  We ate dinner with them and I tried to communicate with the little bit of Spanish that I knew.  I surprisingly understood more than I thought I would, but not surprisingly was not able to speak much in return.  Deanna actually understood some also and was asking me for some help with some phrases.  

After dinner we got to meet some of Samia’s next-door neighbors. It was actually her sister and brother-in-law and their two daughters.  We had a party as Freddy played some salsa and merengue music and Jaden didn’t hesitate to baila (dance). He was doing an interesting dance move as he bounced with his knees bent, butt extended and fists clenched.  I didn’t teach him those moves. Samia’s niece is only two months older than Jaden and her name is Ebony.

She was very shy at first but eventually started calling Deanna and me her Tia and her Tio, which means her Aunt and Uncle.  Overall, we feel welcomed here in Tuis de Turrialba, Costa Rica.  Oh, did I mention that Samia works as a chef on the weekends at a restaurant?  She has been preparing very delicious food!  It has been amazing and very healthy!  We spent some time in prayer our first night just thanking God for his signs of confirmation and his warm embrace as we have truly stepped out of our comfort zone.  Glory a Dios! Glory to God!

Captions by Deanna:

This Jaden and Willie, the family dog, out in the middle of the road. He is very well trained and only stays outside. We like Willie. He accompanies us on our walks to school or the bus stop.

Here, Jaden found a guava on the ground.  While we were having orientation at the school, he found one just outside the door.  He brought it inside and started throwing it like a ball.  It was fine until it exploded and spread guava juice, fruit, and seeds all over the floor.  Just after I took this picture, he took a step forward into the mud.  He the proceeded to scream because he was stuck... he couldn't lift his foot as it suctioned into the mud and it freaked him out.

This is our bedroom.  

Behind the pink dresser is Jaden's "bedroom."  We set up the pack-n-play in that little nook and put the dresser in front of it.  He sleeps much better when he cannot see us.  So far it has worked very well.  You can also see in the picture that we have our own bathroom with a shower!  This room is more than we expected and we feel blessed to be able to live with such a sweet family.