Costa Rica!

I have never had a harder moment in my life than getting in the line for security at the RDU airport.  I almost turned around and walked right back to my family and friends to go home with them.  But I didn’t, and now I’m here! :)  Its been am emotionally messy 48 hours… but I am doing well right now and really trusting that the Lord has good in store for me today and all of my days in Costa Rica!

I made some new friends through a mutual friend in MTW.  They are from Alabama but have lived here for 2 years.  Mark and Marge picked me up from the airport and answered my prayer for a less awkward car ride.  They speak English and understand the emotional status of my heart :)  Marge is great and willing to help me with anything.  I am actually spending the evening with them tonight.

The Lord also blessed me with two great seatmates on my plane rides… I will write my observations about them below :)

All in all… I’m feeling good about being here, but I can’t wait until I get started with class on Monday so that I have more to do to occupy my time.  There are over 20 new people coming in with my class, so I’ll get to meet lots of new people and hopefully make some good friends.  It will be nice to have people to do things with.  Amy said it well… being in a new place and not having “people” is extrovert’s hell.  That’s true.  My host family is great, but the only speak Spanish and I exhausted my communication skills really quickly!  So, I’m holed up in my room today being overwhelmed all by myself instead of trying to be overwhelmed and speak Spanish.  Tomorrow I’ll try again and also go out and explore a little bit… yay!

Thanks for all your prayers! 

Seatmate observations…
First there was Mitch, who knew that I was obviously sad… but dealt with it like a champ. He was super friendly and told me all about his wife and their life in S. Florida. He works for Seimens and was in Cary for training so we talked about places and things that were familiar. He talked to me the whole two hour flight so that I didn’t even really have time to be sad. He even stayed with me on the transport to the main terminal and made sure that I knew where I was going before he took off to baggage claim in Miami. Thanks Mitch!

So, flight from Miami to El Salvador I met Jose from Nicaragua. He started by asking me if I speak Spanish… no Jose I don’t. But I wish I did so that I could be at home for the next six months instead of on a plane to Costa Rica. Alas. Anyway… we talked for the next hour and a half. He spoke easy Spanish to me and let me practice, told me all about the cruise ship that he works on, showed me pictures, told me about his family, invited me to visit Nicaragua, and gave me his email. Honestly, I think I’ll keep in touch with him at least a couple times. He is a Christian and was sooo excited about what I was doing. He thought it was really cool that people at home would give money for me to be able to come and he was really encouraging about my learning Spanish. After talking to him, I really think I can do it. And again… no time to be sad b/c I was talking the whole time.