Starch

One of my biggest problems living here in Costa Rica is the starch ingestion.  I mean, not that I don’t like it… I love almost all things starchy… potatoes, rice, bread, corn, pancakes, etc.  But we just don’t need to have quite so many at one meal.  We eat rice at breakfast with beans, at lunch with potatoes, and at dinner with potatoes or bread or both. There is a conversation that repeats at my house constantly.  My host mom will make a starchy soup with potatoes, cayote, green plantain, and about 4 other starchy vegetables… and then proceed to try to serve me rice with it.

No thank you. I’ll get you rice its fresh. No thank you. It is better if you eat it with rice. I don’t really want any, this is great. Are you sure? Yes, I’m sure.  This looks delicious.

We have this conversation multiple times a week.  So tonight I decided to cut it off before it can start. Do you want soup with potatoes? Yes please, but no rice. (I proceed to decline rice 3 times)

But then I look over and notice the delicious fresh bread sitting on the counter that she just bought this morning… hmm… that would go well with soup.  So, I ask for bread. And then it hits me.  This is my life.  I am a double starch eater.  My poison is just bread, not rice.  I would take it as a side dish at every meal.  Oh, judgmental heart… you have been humbled again.

8 months

I missed the actual date, but yesterday marked my 8 month mark of living here in Costa Rica.  Can you believe it?  I honestly cannot.

Its incredible how my mindset towards living here has changed over time.  I went from feeling like a fish out of water to really feeling like this is my home.  I went from being able to say “where is the bathroom” to actually being able to have a conversation.  And I went from not knowing a soul in the whole country to seeing the Lord provide great friends and fellowship.

It has been quite a journey.  And just one more step along the way to getting to Honduras.  “Many the miles…”

It is going to be bittersweet to leave.  I am planning to be in Honduras before May 1, so I have some more time to enjoy Costa Rica.  But its hard to think about saying another set of goodbyes when I have started to think of this place as home and these people as family.  I’m so thankful for the Lord’s provision.

I wanted to write a clever list of 8 things about CR.  But I just don’t have it in my at the moment.  Maybe later :)

made my night

Tonight I got back from dinner and when I walked in the door I was greeted by my host mom’s 2 year old grand-daughter who said…

“Hola!  Shannon!  Mi amiga!”

Umm… I loved it.  So I proceeded to play action figure with her for the next hour.  I am so excited that I can finally understand most of what she says and actually play with her.  I read her a princess book and then she went back and retold me the whole story in her own words… absolutely precious.

Thankful for friends

Today my heart is just full and I’m thankful for my friends.  The Lord is overwhelmingly good to me to put people in my life who love me, encourage me, and point me back to HIM.  I was so sad leaving the US nearly 8 months ago because I was walking into the great unknown.  I came to Costa Rica not knowing a soul in the whole country.  And now I find that I am going to be sad to leave because the Lord has provided in ways that I would not have thought possible. 

He has given me a place within families here, a sweet group of women who study the Bible with me, exceptional classmates, game playing friends, cooking friends, friends who let me use their kitchens, high school girls so that I don’t forget where I came from, friends who speak Spanish, friends who speak English, friends that are 2 years old, friends that have mentored me, and friends who love to travel and adventure.

But most of all I am thankful for the friends who just understand my heart.  They understand what it is to be a mess and not have all the answers all the time.  They understand how sweet it is to know the grace of God in Jesus and they point me back to knowing His goodness and forgiveness and freedom.  I know that what I crave is to be truly known and truly loved and the realization of that desire comes only in knowing Jesus.  But isn’t it sweet to get a taste of it in friendship?

These are the days I love…

This picture isn’t actually from today.  But it could be a picture from many recent days.  The Messicks moved into a house with a great hammock spot.  So now I can sit in my new hammock (thanks mom and dad!), do homework, and snuggle with 2 of my favorite little boys.  Can I life get better than this?  I submit that it cannot.

One of my favorite moments last week was when everyone was napping except Elijah (age 2).  I was reading in the hammock so he kept bringing books so that he could lay in the hammock and read with me.  While I was reading he would sit looking at pictures and just sing his way through every book… just whatever was on his mind.  I loved it!

A letter

Dear subjuntivos…

It looks like I’m stuck with you.  But that does not mean that we are friends.  Today you made me cry at school.  I don’t like that at all.  Tonight you are eating up my whole evening with your silly conjugations and “rules” with exceptions.  How can something even be called a rule when it has so many exceptions and special cases?  I’m tired of you, seriously.  I’m really sad that you are such a necessary part of my life.  Can you please start being a little nicer to me?  We’re going to spend a lot of time together… maybe we could try to get along.

With regards,
Shannon

bloopers

I kind of like when I get to write about a Spanish error that isn’t mine.  I probably shouldn’t tell on other people, but this one was just too funny to keep to myself. This morning in my conversation class we had to give directions with commands on how to do a task.  One of the students had to give directions for cleaning your teeth…  He did great until he got to flossing.  Unfortunately the word for floss is very similar to the word for son.

Hilo – floss / Hijo – son

So just use your imagination to see how those directions turned out.

* Wrap the son around your fingers
* Put the son between your teeth
* Move the son back and forth to remove the food remnants