One of my favorite things about learning Spanish is to learn the phrases they use. Most of ours in English are pretty funny too if you think about it. But these are some favorites this week.
“Su cintura es como un huevo” His/Her waist is like an egg… fat, in other words :)
“El piel como una papa” Skin like a potato… white
“El piel como una yuca” Skin like a yuca… REALLY white
The theme of my past weekend.
Today we had the day off school because of the celebration of the annexation of Guanacaste in Costa Rica (look for pictures of our school’s culture day in celebration in a post this week!). So to celebrate, what else would you do but go to Guanacaste? So me and 7 other students (Abby, Courtney, Laura, Wes, Abbey, Mary, and Melissa) headed off to the beach at Tamarindo. I will try to keep this short, although our adventures were many. But I’ll stick to the theme of the weekend.
Its totally worth it… the bus:
Although we had a flat tire and no AC on the way back, AND we had to leave at 5:30am this morning… this trusty bus got us safely to and from our destination. And the best news… no one’s luggage got stolen.
Its totally worth it… the hotel/hostel:
First night experience. Not an apartment, as the website indicated, more like a dorm room. The fully equipped kitchen included a fridge, propane stove, sink, pot, pan, and some plates. No swan folded towels, as the website indicated. A stinky bathroom, and a night long power outage, therefore no AC. However, this room housed many fun times such as the hoedown throwdown, ticket to ride, fishbowl, cheese used as an ice pack, cooking dinner, and so much more.
Its totally worth it… the point: 
The beach was beautiful, in and of itself, see photo . But as we were sitting around, I noticed a rocky point out to the left and convinced two of the girls to walk there with me. As we are walking along alternating slipping on rocky and hurting our feet 
on barnacles, we start to wonder why we’re doing this. Sidenote: Abby said “I feel like I’m on mars walking on craters” :) However, upon arrival at the point, it almost took my breath away. It was one of my favorite sites I have ever seen and pictures don’t even do it justice. We ended up coming back here two more times and spending most of day just enjoying the wonder of God’s creation. SO worth it!
You'll have to ask Wes if surfing was totally worth it... but I think he would say yes.
All in all, we had a weekend of adventures. The break from school was really nice, although the break from Spanish speaking was not. Everyone in Tamarindo spoke English because it is such a tourist location. And now I feel like I don’t have any spanish words in my head except axila – armpit. No idea why, but I think it is hilarious and we just learned it Friday. Go figure this highly useful word would be the one that sticks with me.
In other news… maybe another post to come… Hosea chapters one and two are favorites. I don’t know who you are reading this… but you should read them because they are terrific!
Sometimes it gets you in trouble…
Today I was at the market visiting with a friend who works there. I was waiting as he waited on a customer and the guy across the aisle, who sells hammocks, started talking to me. As I have learned, there are people who I can understand in Spanish and people that I just cannot. The hammock man was one who I just could not understand. So… what did I do? Smile and nod of course… with a couple of “si” comments thrown in. I thought the whole time that he was talking about my coming back to buy presents before I leave Costa Rica… but I kept hearing a word that sounded like “cansada – tired”. As I smiled and nodded, my friend Juan Jose started laughing, looked at me and said, in English…
“you don’t understand, do you?” “Actually no, I don’t understand at all. How did you know?” “Because he just told you that before you leave Costa Rica you’ll be married and you nodded and said yes” “Right.”
Not being sure how to remedy the situation I just walked away from the hammock man hoping Juan would explain once I was gone. For future reference remember that the word “casada” sounds like “cansada” but they DO NOT mean the same thing!
Today was culture day at school, but since I have no time at the moment to search through my photos, I will have to tell you more about that tomorrow.
For now I want to share a huge accomplishment in Spanish learning. Tonight I had some Spanish firsts… I went back to the Spanish Bible study tonight and actually participated in the conversation this time! I actually was able to reference a verse in John and summarize it in Spanish. Then Abbey and I took each other’s prayer requests and prayed for each other in Spanish (although I’ll confess to one or two English words thrown in). Good thing God understands English, Spanish, and the thought process in between :)
When I came home, my Tica mama had some friends here and I got started talking to a girl who is a university student in Biology. We were able to talk about my call to the mission field, her study in biology, religion and culture in India, traditional religion in the Bible belt, religion in Costa Rica, how language is changing, what beaches are the best for seeing sea turtles, etc. I say etc. as if those things had any connection with each other… they don’t. However, I was just SO excited to talk about something other than where I’m from, what I’m learning in class, and what articles you find in the kitchen. I feel like I’m finally branching out. YAY!
Flojo
We’re studying ropas y clima this weeks… clothes and climate. And flojo means loose, as in loose-fitting. I think it is an awesome word. And the first one I remember from our vocab list!
In other news… after spending yesterday in bed with a fever, I am feeling better. The antibiotics seem to be working and although my voice and cough don’t sound like it… I really am getting better! I’ve slept a lot and keep trying to convince my host mom that I don’t have a sore throat! I think my scratchy voice makes that the first reasonable option.
One conclusion from the weekend… my sick brain hates having to speak Spanish. It’s just too hard to fight infection and think of new words.
I have bronchitis. Shocker.
I guess you can’t escape your life norm even if you move to a new country. With all the rain and changing temperature and such, I guess it was inevitable. But the great news is I don’t have a fever. For those of you who don’t know… when I get a fever I’m totally out for the count and I cry all the time. Awesome. So… no fever means I’m still functional, YAY!
So, why does this make me love Costa Rica. Well this afternoon I walked into the corner Pharmacia with all my Spanish I would need to say written out (thanks to my teacher) and to my delight, the man spoke English! So, I told him my problem and that I wanted Zithromax. $18 later I was out of there and headed home to get better. So easy.
Sitting in class most days, I feel like I’m learning so much! Then there is a day like today.
My conversation teacher was sick and so we were put into another class close to our level. They are studying animals, awesome! We haven’t done that yet. So the teacher reads a story about a man who lives on a farm. I understood the whole story (and by the whole story, it was short, a first grader could have written it) in context, but I could not have told you for the life of me what animals it was talking about. When you don’t know, you really just don’t know. It doesn’t matter how many times she repeats it, you just don’t know.
Then there was a real life scenario today. We know how to do a lot of things now. Ask where something is at the store, take a taxi, ride the bus, shop at the market, etc. But today I went with a friend to return clothes at the mall. Umm… yeah… I got nothing. I didn’t even know which verb to use to say we needed to return something. Response: “Porque” Umm… I don’t know how to say she got it home and changed her mind so before I could figure it out, Courtney just said “its too small”. Not really true, but way easier to say. Yeah… we still have a lot of Spanish life skills to acquire.
Tonight I went to a Bible study at the home of one of the Tico families. They host a Bible study, but different students from the institute lead the study every week. This week it was led by one of the more advanced students on the passage in John where Jesus says, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” Amazingly, I can say that I understood about 80% of it and even learned about the Scripture passage as well! Its such a blessing to be able to see progress in learning Spanish and to see how it is going to affect ministry in the future as I learn to study the Bible in Spanish as well.
I love going to the market to practice Spanish! I have gotten to know a couple people there who just let me come by and practice with them… here is a picture of one of my new friends “Idea”
Here are some other market and San Jose pictures…
“For the love of Your name!” – rough translation from Psalm 23:3
In our Bibles it says “For his name’s sake” but I think I like this new Spanish translation better. It just makes it real. It is because I LOVE the name of Jesus, because it is precious to me, because it is worthy of my worship and because I want to lift it high. That is my motivation for life and missions and fighting sin and doing what is hard. Obedience is hard in the Christian life. But when I am really trusting that what God has for me is best, then I am free to obey because I know that it is good for me and glorifying to Him.
Another favorite verse of all-time…
Psalm 119:32 “I run the path of Your commands for You have set my heart free!”
Today marks one month in Costa Rica! Wow… in some ways I can’t believe its been that long. In other ways it seems like I’ve been here so much longer. Isn’t that always the way it is? My Spanish is improving, little by little, but I understood much more in church this morning and even wrote some words down to look up later. I’m getting better at knowing how I learn, so that’s helpful. I was sad today to miss my mom’s birthday at home. And they celebrated with Thai food, which makes it a double bummer to miss out. I love you mom and I wish I could be there with you!!!
Today we had a party for the World Cup final game (of course) in combination with celebrating my Mama Tica’s birthday! Here are some pictures of my tico family, finally!
Vecinos…
Our neighbors! Maricela and her daughter Mariela.
My Mama Tica, Josefa! Its her birthday tomorrow.
Alfredo singing Karaoke!
Ariel with his mom
Josefa and Alfredo
Friends
Today I felt my first earthquake tremor. We were all sitting in class and felt the earth rumble twice. It was crazy because everyone got a little on edge just wondering how long it would last, but it was over in 15 seconds max. Crazy.
These are the two hardest books of the Bible to pronounce in Spanish… seriously, its rough. But I love that we are learning books of the Bible and the Lord´s prayer and some of our favorite verses. I also love that today we did Bible drills in our conversation class for almost two hours! Great way to practice books of the Bible, numbers in Spanish, and pronunciation as we had to read all of the verses. Best part… my team won and we got candy :) Okay both teams got candy, but we still won!
Another great thing is that we started getting ridiculously competitive and cheering for our teams, so we learned go to cheer in Spanish. It was excellent and we were cracking my teacher up with our Spanish “trash-talk”.
Its slow-going, but I love reading the Bible in Spanish because I have to think through ever word of these verses that are so familiar. Some of them I have read so many times that I start to forget what they mean or just not think about it. But this way I have to think through every word and I love that.
I don’t know who wrote this, but I loved it!
“Emptiness Precedes Fullness. We cannot receive from God until we have empty hands. He who recognizes he has nothing to offer God will receive everything from God. Self must be done away with for Christ to be wanted.”
A friend commented yesterday that learning Spanish is like playing Catch Phrase or Taboo and I must say that I agree. The key is thinking of all the other ways to say things that use words that you do know to get around to the one word that you’re trying to get the person to guess. Life is constant word game.
Yesterday I was proud of myself because I told my host mom that my friend was moving in with our neighbors. And I didn’t have to say, she is moving in with the people who live in the house most close to us. Ha!
In other news. I HATE finding cheap flights. I’m terrible at it. Is this anyone’s skill that they could share with me some tips? I need to get to Cancun, Mexico for an area conference in October as cheaply as possible.
I know… don’t post for a week and then post twice in one day. Spread the love Shannon! But alas, this is when I had time.
Today I went to the artisan market with (from left to right) Abby, Taylor, and Hannah.
We had a blast shopping at the market, practicing Spanish with our new friend Juan Jose, getting bags and jewelry, eating taco bell and ice cream! One of my favorite Costa Rica things thusfar is Mango ice cream from Pops. Delicious!
Seriously, the market is a great way to practice Spanish. I have decided to try to be in class, studying, or speaking for 7ish hours a day. That could be reading, watching movies or TV, something to get Spanish in my head. This was great. Once the shop owners/taxi drivers/venders realize you’re trying to speak Spanish, they are so helpful. Even the ones who speak English will be patient to speak Spanish to help you. So… I guess we’ll just have to shop some more all in the name of learning :)
I haven’t written in a long time! Whoops…
This story just makes me laugh so I hope you’ll enjoy it. There is just so much humor that comes from not understanding a language. Last Thursday I was walking home and ran into my host mom at the store on the corner. We had a short conversation of which I understood these words: India, visitors, friend, buy, shirts. WHAT? First I thought she wanted me to go buy something for her at the store… but shirts? That doesn’t make sense. So… I kind of expected to come home to Indian friends visiting who of course I didn’t know. But nope. When I walk in there are authentic and beautiful Indian shirts and dresses all spread out the in the living room and friends and neighbors all looking at them. Kind of a like an Indian garb tupperware party! I still have no idea what is going on, but my host mom starts asking if I like things and are they pretty. Well yes… but pretty for me? Pretty for you? Would I wear them? Would they fit me? Do I need to buy something? Who is selling them? So many questions. Eventually she holds up a dress that I really like. I have no idea what size it is… nothing… but I like it. So I’m holding onto it I guess :) Then I figure out that my host mom is actually selling these items… still no idea what, but people are paying her… $20ish per item. Totally reasonable. So I buy this dress figuring if it doesn’t fit me it will fit something. I did turn down buying all the others items she suggested, b/c really… I don’t need them. But the dress is really pretty and miraculously fits! Its a little short, but I really like it.
I later find out my host mom used to own a clothing store and occasionally gets shipments from an old vendor. Ah… makes much more sense now. Kind of… :)
than being in a hug position with no one to hug.
Megan sent me a card today with a penguin on the front with his wings outstretched and inside it read the statement above. I loved it. And its true… I can’t think of many things that are worse than that.
I have had my days since being in Costa Rica that I felt like I was in a hug position (vulnerable and lonely) with no one to hug (no one who knows me). But by the grace of God those moments and days have been few and far between. He has blessed me abundantly with the women in my class and other friends at school. They don’t know me as well as people at home, how could they its been less than three weeks? But they want to know me and they listen to me and that is enough. What a blessing!
But more than people… God has been constantly reminding me that He is the one who knows me, who is my constant companion in life. He walks with me and hugs me and reassures me of my identity and His love for me.
There is a song that I have hated ever since I learned to play guitar. Light the Fire. If I taught you how to play guitar, you hate this song too. It has three chords, its super easy, and you can go home after lesson 1 able to play something! Perfect for the first lesson. By lesson 12 when we’re still playing it I want to pull my hair out. Needless to say, other than guitar lessons, I never sing this song by choice.
Guess what we sang in chapel today? You got it.
And yet… the words stuck out to me like they never have before. Read them while trying to remove the annoying melody from your head…
“I stand to praise you, but I fall on my knees. My spirit is willing, but my flesh is so week. I feel your arms around me as the power of your healing begins. Your spirit moves through me like a mighty rushing wind…. Make me whole. Lord you know where I’ve been. Light the fire in my heart again.”
I still don’t love the whole song :) But you get the point. This is my life. It reminds me of Isaiah falling on his face before the Lord crying Holy, Holy, Holy because he literally couldn’t stand in the face of the glory of the Father. Also my life… my spirit is willing, but my flesh and sin nature is so weak. I feel like Paul when he says, the things I don’t want to do, those are the things I keep on doing. And yet… the Lord pursues me with His forever “hug” and his healing hand and I know that I am being changed and made new and every growing in the likeness of His Son Jesus. Praise be to the Lord that He knows us – where we’ve been and where we are going- and yet sets His love on us and calls us sons and daughters.
