Thursday, October 11 (aka: 10-11-12)
Today we said goodbye… it was Francine’s last day of class
today.
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| Jennea, Amanda, Francine, Deanna and Diana |
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| Francine and Jaden peeking in on our lunch. Zaidy is holding him in the kitchen. |
She has been here for 15 weeks and it is time for her to go
home. She loves it here and
doesn’t really want to leave. She
was originally only supposed to be here for 12 weeks, but she extended her stay
for an extra 3 weeks. We
said our goodbyes over “Tres
Leches” cake, and she even prepared a speech for her “graduation”
day. She spent a few minutes after
our presentations saying thank you to each one of her teachers. As she spoke, I was able to understand
that she started out knowing only 5 Spanish words: “hola, café con leche, y gracias.” She thanked her teacher, Karin, for
putting up with her frustration and tears, especially the first 2 weeks. She has had 4 different teachers over
the course of 15 weeks, so I think that we will also be switching teachers once
other students arrive. We knew we
were having cake today for Francine because we were asked to bring an
ingredient for the “queque.” I thought it was for her birthday… Oh,
when will the language barrier go away???
I was very encouraged by Sonia today. She stopped our lesson for a few
minutes and just encouraged me.
She counted how many days of class I had so far (8) and commended me on
my progress in such a short time.
She explained that I know 3 of the 4 basic verb conjugations and that
those are the foundation for being able to speak a lot in Spanish. I have learned: “querer” to want, “necesitar” to need, “tener que” to have to,
and next week I will learn “poder”
to be able to. If you can speak
those 4 verbs and some vocabulary words to go with them, you can communicate
most anything you want. She said
that my comprehension is good, and I replied that I only understand when people,
like her, speak slowly. When I am in town or around other
people, I can hardly understand anything.
She then asked me, “When Ana (another teacher) comes into our classroom,
can you understand what we are saying?” I said “No.” She
basically said, “Yes you do. You
looked at your watch.” I didn’t think I understood, but I must have
understood something that triggered me to think that they were talking about
the time, so I was checking to see what time it was. I didn’t even think she noticed, but she took that small
moment and used it to encourage me.
I believe with all my heart that God gave me Sonia for a teacher because
she meets my learning style the best.
I praise Him for His grace and goodness. I am so undeserving, yet God never ceases to amaze me
with his generosity.
We took another swim in the river today. Jennea and Amanda joined us. We even dared to bring Jaden. Once he warmed up to walking in the
water on his own terms, he loved it.
He cried when we made him get out and dry off. We had so much fun again, even if the locals think we are
crazy!
Eddie and I got to hang out with José Pablo and Jimena tonight while
Samia went to her exercise class (and Freddy is still out of town at
work.) This evening, the 5 of us
were sitting on the couch watching a movie. Jaden was in my lap and then he crawled over to José Pablo and Jimena and
sat between them.
Jimena, Jaden, y José Pablo
He just loves them, and they love him. I feel so blessed to be considered a
part of this family. Last night,
Samia told Eddie and I that she and Freddy do not consider us “students.” They consider us “family.” Such kind words coming from a woman who
has not stopped serving us since we arrived. She has a heart of gold!
WARNING! If
spiders freak you out, do not scroll down.
As I was about to leave our bedroom with Jaden to go eat
breakfast this morning, what did I find?
THIS…
That is my side of
the bed and I was in it just 30 min
before this photo was taken. I did
not know I was sharing my personal space with this unfriendly beast. I am not too happy about that, but I am
thankful my wonderful husband came to the rescue and killed it for me.
On a side note: If any of you know about Eddie and his vivid dreams, you will understand this story. A few nights after this spider incident, I awoke to Eddie sitting up and backing away from his pillow quickly. I was like "what's wrong?" He said "There's a spider," as he pointed to his pillow. Now I jumped out of bed and looked back at the pillow as he turns on a light. I see nothing, so I lift the pillow up... nothing. I say "Did you really see a spider?" He just looks at me with this very confused look and says "I don't know." That is when I realized that this was just another one of his vivid dreams and this time he managed to drag me into the nightmare... Usually, I can tell when he is dreaming and I just ignore him or tell him "Go back to sleep. You're fine."
Friday, October 12
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| Jaden likes to wander outside after breakfast. Last week, he made himself at home in Willy's dog house. Notice, he is sporting his crocs with his pj's. |
So today was a day with no plans. I actually had three things on my “to do” list, and I
accomplished all of them: spend time in God’s Word, do my Spanish homework, and
make banana bread. It felt good to
have a day with no other agenda besides those simple few things. As I was washing the dinner dishes, I
was thinking, “Wow… I accomplished all that I had wanted to today.” Back at home, I never would have allowed
myself only 3 things on my "to do" list. I would have filled my day with so many other things because
that is how we live in America. We
don’t often allow ourselves true rest and relaxation. Life in America is so fast paced, and I even put pressure on
myself to live like that when I didn’t have a job and stayed home with
Jaden. I could really get used to
this life here in Tuis, Costa Rica!
I guess it helps that I have a host mom who cooks, cleans, grocery shops
and does our laundry. We try to
help out as much as we can because we feel both grateful for her service and
guilty for not having to do anything.
She works so much, so it brings us joy to be able to help her out with
what we can, especially when we don’t have anything else to do. We love Samia, and Freddy and the kids,
too!
So, yeah… I made banana bread here. It is one of my favorite things to bake
when I am at home, and it was nice to have a taste of home after being away for
a few weeks. Everyone who tasted
it seemed to enjoy it, too. I will
be making it again soon, as there is an abundance of bananas sitting in the
kitchen right now. I mean, at
least 30! Before I could make it
though, I had to make sure that I had all of the ingredients on hand. I took some time last night to
translate my recipe into Spanish so that I could ask Samia where I could buy
the ingredients. She looked at the
recipe and told me she had everything except flour. Eddie hopped on over to the store for me and I was able to
bake!!!
We ended the evening with relaxing in front of the TV
watching “August Rush” in English.
The only bad thing about that is that when I hear so much Enlish, it
feels like the “Spanish switch” in my brain turns off and it takes me awhile to
get back in Spanish mode again. I
am finding that difficult whenever I talk at length with someone in English
and then try to communicate with someone in Spanish right after. Oh well, I know my brain will catch up
eventually, right?
Also, Eddie and I felt our first "tremor" today. We were both sitting on the bed studying while Jaden was napping. We felt the wall behind us shake, and we looked at each other like, "What was that?" We realized quickly that it must have been a small earthquake, but Samia and Jimena were home and they didn't say anything. We went and talked to Jimena and she told us it was a small tremor... like it was no big deal and why were we freaking out... Samia said she thought it was just her sewing machine... I guess it was small, but we felt it.
This is the dress she was making at the time.
This picture was taken from in front of Freddy and Samia's house. We were standing on the soccer field, and Freddy pointed it out to us. We have only seen clear skies like this in the mornings. Each afternoon brings a lot of cloud cover and rain.
Saturday, October 13
What happened to my baby? Where is the child that likes to sleep in until 10:00am? In North
Carolina, Jaden usually woke up between 9:00 and 10:00am. Now he thinks that it
is better to wake up at 4:00 or 5:00am here in Costa Rica. Doesn’t he realize that there is only a
two-hour time difference between the
two places? I mean, I would be okay with 8:00 or even 7:00, but 4:00??? No
way! Today was another day with no
class so we planned on sleeping in.
Jaden had other plans. He
woke us up at 4:00, so I fed him and he fell back asleep… thankfully! I guess he misses the cool, dark, quiet
of his bedroom back at home. Here, it is bright at 5:30 am, the dogs bark periodically through out the night and day just outside his window, and it gets hot in the morning.
After breakfast, we had some time to kill. We just hung out and studied, and Jaden
actually took a short nap before we headed into Turrialba.
We were blessed to be able to take this
trip by car (instead of bus) today because Freddy had to pick up José Pablo from his
soccer game (fútbol). He plays in the city and today his team
(yellow) played against his uncle’s team.
Freddy’s little brother is #6 on the orange team. We didn’t get to watch José Pablo play because
he played only in the first half and we got there late.
Look at that view beyond the soccer field... Gorgeous, right?
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| Freddy with his little brother and his son. He told us "I don't know which team to cheer for." The boys are one year apart in age. |
We asked Freddy what his favorite restaurant in the city was
and we went to eat there for lunch.
It is called: SODA MANA. I
actually ordered fish, and it came with mashed potatoes, pasta salad, rice and
beans. As I was eating, Eddie was
noting that there were three food items on my plate that I did not “like” when
we first met 7 yeas ago: fish, beans, and pasta salad. My, how my taste buds have changed!!!
I truly am enjoying the food here. I love that we get fresh fruit for breakfast EVERYDAY. I am still adjusting to eating rice
and/or beans for every meal… especially breakfast. And of course Eddie loves the food… His passion for food has
not diminished one bit!
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| Jaden likes to "rock." |
We went to Voz Que Clama this evening to hang out with the
kids from the youth group. Most of
the kids did not show up because Hector is still in California, but we thought
it would be fun to still hang out with the ones who came. There were 7 of us there so we spent
some time talking about what God is teaching us right now. Then we played “Charades.” The girls totally won, but Eddie and the boys tried to cheat multiple times in order to "catch up." The funniest part was that as we acted things out, some people were yelling out answers in Spanish and some in English. It was hard to decipher who yelled the answer first. Plus, I forgot to see what the Spanish word for "binder" was and as I acted it out I was like, "Oh no... I don't know if they are saying the right answer because I don't know the Spanish word!" It was the most unique game of Charades I have ever played.
Eddie and Amanda ended the evening with
a little worship music, and Freddy came to pick us up so that we would not have
to walk home in the rain. We are
so spoiled, but we are grateful to God for all those blessings that make us
feel spoiled :)
Last week Saturday, I ate lunch all by myself because Jaden and Eddie were taking a nap and every one else was gone. I decided to go eat lunch outside on the picnic table to enjoy the nature around me. I realized I did not have to eat alone.
I was accompanied by chickens, roosters, cows, and dogs. I even had lunch-time entertainment as a cow tried to go near the neighbor's dog who is chained up ouside. The dogs always go crazy when the cows are around so the dog tried to attack the cow who knew to stand just beyond the reach of the dog's chain.
I cannot resist posting more pictures of Ebony and Jaden. She now likes to come over to play with Jaden, and he has gone to her house to play. She gets disappointed when "ChiChi" is sleeping (that is what she likes to call Jaden). She also pats his head and says "bebe." She is only 3 months older than him, but she talks a lot.
Jaden also likes to check out everyone's bellies, including Ebony's.
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| Jaden is ALWAYS happy when he is outside. There is nothing he likes more. I think he would skip all meals if we would just let him play outside all day. |
Check out my Facebook page for a video I took of the song of the Crested Oropendola (pictured below). I cannot get close enough to take a picture of this bird, but it has become my new fascination. It caught my attention with it's song and its appearance to have two bright yellow tails that you can only see when it is flying.
We miss you!!!!!
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