The end of a journey, beginning of another... I'm a long time traveling here . . . away from home...

so these are out of order---this is going to the paquera during semana santa :)

I was sicker than sick --pretty much unable to hear, taste, smell, breathe, stay awake, etc. but my family still loved me!

Ferry

waterfall, hike, swim, family, fresh :)

family minus Quillo : }

fishing out lombrises--we really were successful! before fishing with the suegra
my host dad, Gerardo Rojas had never had a successful fishing trip before--he was ecstatic and praising the lord, jumping up and down over this fish :D

Back in time a little bit...

miss these friends! after cinnamon rolls --yum! ICADS class--fab four + the non-varied teachers

non-date night: Alicia en el pais de las maravillas such a weird movie, but good friends!

the despedida : { I'll miss you, sweet familiy! leaving San Jose and arriving in Grecia!

up to the finca en chapolin de llegar :) --lasp girls and melissa--hermana de laura

Pues, me doy cuenta de que no he escrito hace mucho tiempo--es que siempre voy a escribir y ya, no lo he hecho. La vida es muy tranquila, pero a la vez, el tiempo se corre : ]

entonces, aunque me cuesta escribir completemente en ingles, puedo probarlo con algunos fotos para ver...

I'll actually have to do the pics later, because I have yet to upload recent ones : } but my weekly schedule mas o menos has been

mon-tues class at the curch--centro cristiano, where all of our families attend and are involved, it's a very interconnected body, pentecostal and lively, and buena gente :)

in class we learn more culture and what it's like to be in costarican class than spanish, and our teacher again is a classic

wed-friday I hang out at Colegio Bolivar--el gallinero--because it looks like a hen house : { the students are great and I have been able to see a few different classes andhelp sometimes with English :)

exercise=nothing alone. ever. ride the stationary bike at grandmas, soccer in the yard with my brother, games on friday nights with some muchachos y hombres de la familia y iglesia --it's a hoot, and walk/runs in the morning with my host dad

lots less independence and lots more cultural faux pas with timing and trying to figure out the non-planning/planning culture and the inderect/direct communication...

foods: lots of fish when we were at the beach, yum! gallo pinto, mondongo (cow stomach) arroz con pollo, too much milk, especially with coffee, which I never drank, really before coming, empanadas, chiveri, random fruits and really just getting fed too much, but, vale la pena, verdad?

made chocolate chip cookies twice, once just for my fam--disappeared! and the other for our pijamada :)

we spend a lot of time together, with family, and I have had some good and challenging conversations from topics of sports, expenses, familiy, education, salvation, etc.

and one comes face to face with weaknesses when life slows down but becomes a bit more duro

Yet, God is good and consistently reveals his sovereignty and love for every part of the world and mercies that are new every morning--great is his faithfulness! want to remain filled in him, growing from the vine, grafted in and traveling home ... :]

just more one day at the high school (dia de deporte :)), one essay, one trip to the volcano, one sunday, one graduation, one, well maybe more despedidas... one chance. live it up. learning to live the moment.

Little tid-bits: the beach included fishing out sea worms--lombrises--finding clams--almejas, chucking sticks into trees to recoger fresh mangoes, fishing at night without a light on the boat, playing jacks with the cousins, leaving at 3 am... :)

at the colegio, the 1oth graders love tongue twisters and card games, and I love hearing the kids speak english, although we mostly communicate in spanish

my family is tiny, of course, and they are great, although we clash at times, we have so much fun joking around all the time and lauging together : D

It's the final countdown...

<3>

Lina, Lin, Linny, Michelle, LinEa, etc.

movimiento

rapidamente, entonces
regresamos a costa rica en jueves el 25 despues de 10 dias en Cuba!
Cuba=una enigma para mi
en ingles aunque estoy pensando en espanol para mi tarea : }
Cuba included scary customs ladies, old u.s. cars from before the blockade, only political advertisements, beautiful architecture, the malecon (sea wall), the most brilliant blue ocean...

we went to a local concert--so much art/music culture in cuba, the old fort to watch the shooting of the canon, heard different lectures, read, journaled, met some crazy and cute cubans of every age and shape and color, visited schools and community centers...

spent time at Varadero beach :), saw amazing artwork, danced on a rooftop, on the bus, in the street, at the beach... lots of dancing, our bus (gua gua) broke down on the way back to la habana, it was a beautiful spot, but not really planned : } also desafortunadamente, 3 girls got terribly sick and had to make a short hospital visit-- maybe food poisoning, but nothing too serious since they are all better now!

heather and paige tried unsuccessfully to catch a cat for my medio cumple for two days and then decided instead to chase chickens--I received a rooster--Gaston el gallo--for my 1/2 birthday this year!

Got a very annoying virus the last day of the trip and now it's still going, but I have been able to dar de cuerpo finally : } anyhow, not feeling so hot, but trying to be all ready set for the next phase of the adventure that is Latin America!

Spent some time with my host family and my friends here in San Jose with enough time to wash clothes, pack, and make banana bread and wild rice minestrone before leaving for grecia (the town not the country, to avoid confusion) for the rest of the semester. Sad to leave my great family, but it's time, so here we go!

learning filipenses 2

<3>
buenas noches!

Fre(s)co! hasta hola ola! parte 2

adventuras de la gringa tonta (continued every day):
returning from a run this week, I went to the back patio to wash my clothes, I was proud of myself for remembering to stick a towel in the door and prop the lock so that it couldn't shut on me. However, I needed to do a second load, when, of course, I forgot any notion of the door, the towel, the lock, the wind... so, de repente, me quede encereda--the door slammed and I was locked in the patio. way to go.
nobody is home at this point, of course, and I never picked up the skill of picking locks, although at this point I figured, I'm a smart gal, let's try this bobby pin I just found--no go. I don't think that works on this kind of lock--who puts a lock on the laundry room anyway?
after pondering what God could use this time for and if I should just resign to skip ICADS, I notice the little window to my room above the main window--it as 3 little slates of glass which one can remove! I carefully slide them out, hoist myself up, hold on to the ceiling bars and slide myself through the hole into my room. success! oh man.
Late to ICADs, of course, but did my laundry and learned a little lesson that I thought I already new... : D


Went to "Alicia en el pais de maravillosos" maybe the strangest thing I've ever seen.
"I just love a good warm pig for my aching feet. Would you like one?" ...the futterwaken? I mean, really?
we were there with our backpacks, in the mall, oh boy, and anthony accidentally asked for an oatmeal cookie with frogs--avena con rana--instead of raisins--pasas-- :D

Rafting today in the best river in Costa Rica--soo beautiful all God's made! toucans, bright blue butterflies, waterfalls, green green green plants, rapids! I almost drowned a few times and think we were laughing too hard to be a great help, but it was amazing.

Woah. that's a lot. Thanks very very much for your time!

(as our panamanian dad says,) Amor, mucho amor, mas amor,
Linnea Ness--Lina, Michelle, Linita, Lili, Linnita . . . cualquier...

Gracias a Dios...Filipenses 1:9-11 9 Esto es lo que pido en oración: que el amor de ustedes abunde cada vez más en conocimiento y en buen juicio,10 para que disciernan lo que es mejor, y sean puros e irreprochables para el día de Cristo,11 llenos del fruto de justicia que se produce por medio de Jesucristo, para gloria y alabanza de Dios.

Vida Abundante.

Fre(s)co! hasta hola ola! parte 1

Digamos, hola hola coca cola! pero despues de hoy y porque mi papa me envio una carta con algo comico, hoy es hola--a la ola :)

No he escrito hace semanas por causa de viajes, vacaciones, y el inicio de una nueva clase más, me falta sueño…

Quiero contar algunos cuentos de las semanas pasadas en ingles y un resumen en espanol.

Pues, las semanas pasadas vivimos unos 10 dias en Nicaragua que ahorra parece un sueno a veces : } pasamos tiempo en Managua con charlas y preparando para unos pocos dias con una familia en un pueblo, digamos "cuenca de polvo" (no habia ni un gota de lluvia). --Fue un tiempo bonito pintamos la verja (dos veces) jugamos bastante kickbol, fuimos a la iglesia, cantamos, sentamos, fuimos al juegos de beisbol/kickbol, fuimos a la finca-- terminamos en Granda con el grupo otra vez--que linda la ciudad antigua!

Tambien, este tiempo incluyo mi "descanso/vacaciones" para este semestre y fui a Panama con dos amigas en el fin de semana, nos quedamos con una pareja, em, interesante, pasamos tiempo con abel--nuestro papa/abuelo loco y amable, el sol nos quedo un poco en la playa etc.

Empezamos nuestra clase de la fe en practica en latinoamerica esta semana en LASP y solamente tenemos una semana mas en ICADS.

Hoy, hicimos rafting!--un dia brillante, (como dijo una mujer de Inglaterra) Que bonita la creacion, muy fresco, y disfrutimos muchisimo. :)

[had a pic of lake nicaragua--lots of lakes, like home : }--this was supposed to be where the canal went through--much less work than Panama. Huge lake with two volcanoes on an island in the middle to welcome us to Nicaragua. not sure where the picture went : ( ]


Pasamos 2 dias en Managua, revisamos y aprendimos y vimos mas de la historia, incluyendo Sandion y el Frente . . . un gran personaje en mas que una manera.

New Cathedral after the earthquake, not as welcomed and a semi-eerie feel, juxtaposed with the Hermanos en Cristo church in Buenos Aires.


Caimito--uhhh, hmmm. about that... Kickbol! do(s) ou! (nicas drop s's--ma o meo)
food wise, though ate more food than I ever
thought possible. wow, even lactose.

boo hoo pictures are failing again, will put more up as computer allows.

A couple stories to share

could take place any day of the home-stay--

¡Batea muy duro, muy duro, Michelle! (They call me by my middle name here, and it sounds like Meechel)

¡Pst. Pst.A la surda!

¡No, a la derecha!

Just as I am about to kick, Cesar runs up with a cookie for me. This is a normal occurrence throughout the game, last time it was a coca cola and before, a mandarin. –Everyone shares and gives so freely and frequently, I am constantly humbled—

I pawn off my cookie to another little friend as the little crowd looks on... I kick a home run again and almost hit the horse that was standing in the field!—it is one of the best feelings to come to home plate covered in sweat and plovo (dust—we live in a dust bowl : }), laughing with my new friends.

We play kickball every day for hours, such a simple part of the day, but it brings everyone together.

the final day in our home-stays:

I couldn’t stop smiling in church last night—I decided just to go all out and could hardly keep from cracking up when we sang todo poderoso for a special with some of our friends and it hardly had a recognizable melody, but we were so happy and praising God together. I pretended like I knew all of the alabanzas with a rhythm and melody that as some say “only God knows,” and sang and clapped along. I had no idea that I was going to have to read the scripture passage for the night and lead the church in prayer in Spanish, but it all works out. How great to fellowship with people almost every night—sometimes it might seem tedious or repetitive, really, but there is so much joy and sharing, how can you miss it?
This also provided a neat opportunity to say thank you for being Jesus to us, passages like John 13 were literally acted upon in such a short time of hosting us, even my mom sneaking my clothes to wash every day on the washboard or kari's sister washing her feet . . .

note
My family was pretty complicated, woven and connected in strange ways, but afforded so many wonderful relationships : ) and apparently I earned the best compliment in that I was "casi baron"-- normally I wouldn't choose to be called a boy, but it translates to a high status... huh.

Granada--the colors and combinations in the colonial city are great! Minibus, horse-drawn cart, car, bicycle, pedestrian . . . all sharing the street.

Panama! no stories ahorita, but we swam/boogie boarded in the ocean, hung out in the little towns, ate delicious fish, met some crazy people, hiked and saw beautiful views, laughed a lot, slept . . .

Mama, Lina (hija mas grande, mas gringa), abuelita --que bellas, no? :)
mi corazon para el dia de amor-- a veces, me cuesta caminar--estaba un poco atanrantada : }

Exito!! Y tambien, yo soy ganadora, Laura es la presidenta nueva de este pais!

voleibol!! gringas y ticas/o
Bueno.
Un breve repaso de esta semana :

Domingo--acompane a mi mama y papa y dahlia para votar. Que emocion! Ninos, familias, banderas, gritas, filas, etc.
Laura gano!

Lunes: Primer dia de semana llena--me desperte solo por dios--llegue exactamente en tiempo a ICADS : }

Martes: El medio-cumple de Paige!! : D queque, fiesta, pina, etc.
Arte en Latinoamerica... panchito--who felt responsible for the bubonic plague in africa...

Miercoles: ok, perhaps a bit of english--worked and finished my 9 pg. essay on "the church in a globalized context" en espanol--ufda--creo que no es buenisimo, pero, ya.
debate en ICADS de Romero/El Salvador/Nicaragua . . .

Jueves: Don Juan--missionario en Latinoamerica con bastante experiencia, fe, cuentos etc. wow.
me calli en la calle cuando estaba caminando con heather desde ICADS : { I ate it--hence the beautiful gouge in my knee--sometimes it's tough to walk, you know?

Viernes: el ultimo dia de seminario base! We made it--and we're only at the beginning, but so much has passed. Final exam: 2 hours, group, money, resources, experience, readings, bible, etc. --Problem and action plan.
Final day working with Carina at ICADS--We worked well this week, still had fun, of course :)
POPS--cas y pina--yum! Going to Panama for break!

home, of course mom wants to feed me, then off to meet up with people downtown
oh, of course, gringa tonta, forgets her idea without even a thought, return with Hector, thanks, bud, and make it back for matt's karaoke and the discoteca with the gemelos--rafael y diego--haha yeah salsa : ] "you dance pura vida"

late night, sleep at heather's
Sabado: home late, run--steep hills, stomach ache, wooh!--, volleyball at the cutest condominiums --whitney's mom's birthday, yummy cake, new friends

Domingo--the Ferria--yay fresh fruits and veggies! agua de pipa y un hombre "loco y divertido" according to mama :] El dia de comida--ate all day it felt like as we were with my host mom's family and eating good, but bastante, food :) grandma, aunts, cousins, grandpa's house, too jaja

Dios es bueno.
Amamos porque el nos ama.
Amor tiene que ser sincilla...
Amor es . . .
God shows up in every moment when we look because he was there before we got there. Live, breathe, love. <3 Feliz Valentino!

buenas noches, hasta marzo!
<3 Lina

semana loca

Esta semana no fue demasiada loca, pero le pareci como gringa loca a veces. :)
ok, primeramente ya estoy como siempre, tarde. Al principio de este viaje, estaban en tiempo, a veces temprano, hice tarea antes de tenia que hacerlo... pero, ahora, no. : { pero, todavia, esta bien.

Esta semana ha incluido una viaje a limon con demasiado ingles despues de una charla sobre racismo y pobreza. Limon una ciudad y lugar muy bonito y tan diferente que San Jose. Visitamos a una mujer Bribri y hicimos entrivistas con la gente de Limon, comimos comida tipica y bailomos como gringos locos, pasamos tiempo en la playa de cahuitta con olas locas tambien y aprendimos de la belleza, la poblacion, y la pobreza.

Creo que mi espanol peora despues de mucho ingles cada vez, pero estoy aprendiendo cada dia, claro.

Un poco en ingles: some memories of the week

lunes: group worship at LASP : D. drank coffee which made me feel sicker than ever, unfortunately or fortunately, I don't know how to throw up...so I took dramamine--ufda! went una poca loca, luckily our fab four ICADS class is always a little weird. I pretty much crashed upon getting on the bus but still made it home : ]

martes: spinning class--que trabajo! great workout. went on our first mission of the week, paige and I, to get paraphernalia from the clubs of Laura Chinchilla--presidential candidate, but we didn't get shirts : ( made it to the class my mom teaches at church for illiterate people--it is interesting to think about how to meet people where they are at...

miercoles:Liberation Theology. huh. Spent time with an English class at a local elementary school Wed. night --teens-adults at various levels. get to know you, talk slower, tipical costa rican food--carbohydrates to the max. "schizophrenic ode to bananas" Matt dubbed the memory story we told as a group for one of the activities. :)hope we can visit again.

jueves: Finca--farm field trip to learn about environmentalism/sustainable development. The farmer we met connects with God through his farming and tries to use things the way God made them to be. beautiful land, lots of hard work, delicious coffee, juice, fruit, and bread. yum! ah. talked with laura about wheaton's diseases.
Maria full of Grace--hits hard about drug trade in Columbia.
Adventure for Laura. Traipsing around sabana, San Jose on our quest for T-shirts added a few miles to our walking for the day along with a couple buses, taxis, clubs, and a sweet bathroom until the gringos finally made it the balcon verde and received our shirts, celebrating like locos once again :)
hot dog with rice and beans for dinner. proceeded to fall asleep when I was supposed to do homework, so I wrote my paper in the middle of the night instead--woohoo yay college!

viernes: spiritual journey with LASPers--great time to come together and open up as to where we are at spiritually to some extent--stays in the circle :). yuuummmyy cinnamon rolls at break. walk to ICADS of course, surprise quiz, more of angela's amazing encounters with Dios. awesome presentations of the political candidates. bahah
futbolcinco--yay soccer :) preeettty sure we lost : ( warm shower at heather's :) met up with people later, but decided the smokey bar was not the place to be and went to a saprisa game instead!
mas x menos for an apple and popcorn after a late-10 o'clockish dinner of sweet bread and a couple potato chips haha
began an intense movie--forgot the title--late at night...killed another cockroach
return home late late in a taxi sin problemas

sabado:wake up 11:30--must have needed some rest! Left the day open for fam, but they didn't have any plans so...oh well. lots of food today from mom.
Ice cream with Dalia and swings. New furniture for Adriana and cafecito with lots of sweets/bread from the bakery and it was fun to observe the whole family together joking and interacting.
freaked out and began to cry--still not sure that I really can cry-- cause I thought I lost money cards... no worries, I just hid them too well
little cafe time to breathe. felt stupid in the store when I went to buy bread--shocker haha. because I found a little bimbo stand but it had hardly any bread which I thought was weird, so I asked an attendant who took me to an unlabeled aisle which had all kinds of pan integral (wheat bread). oops.
working on paper stuff for next week--yikes! four credits will be done by Friday!

Elecciones manana--que emocionada! bastante trafico y ruido hoy...
Tal vez superbowl
Vamonos!

Buenas Noches.

Phil. 1:6 dios es bueno.

una nota: mis emociones y digestion cambia con gran inconcecuencia... : }

ok, sad day, I tried to post pictures, but the internet failed to do so. I'm sorry! when I can, I will show my family, house, beaches, gym, adventures... ;)

g'night! tengo que dormirme : O

Coast to Coast

Bueno.

Tengo que decir que demasiada vida pasa cada dia que no puedo escribir ni casi toda.

oh jaja al momento la noticia de Laura esta en la tele, puedo oirla y tiene la gente de todo el pais cantando una cancion rara... no me gusta. : } las eleciones sera en el 7 de feb. --la ultima debate era esta noche. Es interesante observar que pasa en mi casa entre mis parientes ticos, diferentes membres estan en favor de candidatos diferentes y los discuciones son grandes a veces. Una noche, mi hermana dio banderas a la propia persona quien le gusta a cada candidato y hizo una bandera para mama. : )

Mis emociones estan arriba y abajo cada dia. A veces estoy muy contenta y me encanta la experiencia, el pais, mi familia, amigos, aprender, etc. Otras veces, me parece muy extrana y extrano los estados y tengo muchos pensamientos...

Estoy aprendiendo mucho en la lengua, la vida, mi fe, el amor de dios aqui en costa rica... pura vida :)

pues, (jaja antonio siempre dice este) esta semana pasada:
En clase, hemos aprendido de neoliberalismo de Javier, quien es un Tico, la pobreza de Elmer, quien nacio en El Salvador en el botadero y es un artista, sistemas economicas de un profesor de los estados unidos, y la perspectiva de los estados a la embajada hoy.
Tambien estoy pensando en el rol de la iglesia, de cristianos en el mundo y como amar y servir ...

algunos de los estudiantes en mi programa, y yo, fuimos a Manuel Antonio --un parque nacional, en la playa del pacifico. !Que bonito! La naturaleza, animales, todo! Tuvimos algunas adventuras con donde para quedar en la noche, monos robando las galletas, dios nos ayudo por Julio con los buses :)...

Estoy muy gringa, y creo que es bueno para entender mas como siente la gente "afuera" y para vivir en los momentos incomodos y en las dificultades y sentir las emociones...

Manana vamos para Limon --el atlantio, el puerto principal y conoceremos una cultura diferente y nueva.

Puedo poner algunas fotos aqui de mi vida y mas seguiran :)

(lo siento por la gramatica terrible, tengo que dormirme :} )

buenas noches,
Lina

clase, pobreza, cansancio...

Ok, entonces,

?que estoy haciendo? ?Que pasa? Mucho, claro, pero, unas pocas cosas antes de dormir...
Y no se preocupen, escribire despues de este fin de semana.

Esta semana empezamos las clases. aye! el silabo ma da miedo a veces : } pero, todo esta bien.
Mi horario de clases es como este hasta el 12 de feb. :

lunes, miercoles, viernes, tenemos clases en ICADS desde la 1 hasta las 4:30
martes y jueves tenemos seminario base a LASP a las 8 y nos fuimos para ICADS hasta 4:30

tenemos lecturas para cada seminaro y hacemos cosas diferentes para ICADS--alli, estoy en el grupo de "advancados bajitos" espero que por el fin, estaremos advancados real... todavia, no.

Vamos a ver... para ejercisio, corri en lunes--muy alta, pero mas mejor que el sabado. y Fui al gimnasio con Michelle en miercoles y asitimos a la clase de baile popular por un poco tiempo--somos gringas y nuestro instructor puede bailar bastante bien y con muchisima energia. jaja (corri y levante las pesas un poco tambien. manana quiero ir por tae bo!)
tambien, caminos desde lasp a ICADS y esta manana camine con mi papa para conocer la ruta al segundo bus para LASP, pero caminabamos muy tarde--oops! no hubo problema, llegue a clase en temprano despues de tener prisa. :)

Me encanta la fruta aqui-yum! Hoy comi un cas y sandria rica tambien. me mama ha comprado sandria, moras, manzanas, bananas, mangos, cas, ... y para mi, un sabor favorito es de cas tambien!

Tengo que dormir, pero, manana vamos por la playa manuel antonio--tanto como tengamos boletos etc. aye!

___________________

[Traduccion y MAS]

We started classes this week--mwf just language class 1-4:30, but with buses and/or walking ...mas tiempo :) oh and we hit the traffic perfectly when we come home so that we get stuck in huge lines and it takes forever to get home. It is how it is. T/R we have seminar at 8 and then language class at 1:30 so that we have time to eat lunch and get over there after 12

We have speakers come in to give life to our readings and such (already scared of papers and the sylabus for both places)

Today, Elmer was our speaker in core seminar, because the topic was poverty and he is of a lower class. grew up in a garbage dump in San Salvador-- he knows the war, the mystical hope of the United States, and the terrors that the U.S. support of militant governments has brought to other places. He salvaged and asked God to allow the rich to continue their habit of throwing out nearly new and barely used things. He met hope in the dump as well, he has read an enormous amount of works of literature, and he is a painter with both words and paint whose works are beautiful and all hold hope of peace and a better relationship between the poor and the rich.

For exercise--I ran up up up on Monday (better than last saturday, por seguro!) Went to the gym with Michelle to dance class--ha. we are white and our instructor was over the top good and energetic with every movement that my body will never be able to do. I think I'm going to Tae Bo tomorrow
We also walk to class the parts that we can for exercise and saving money, but today, my dad showed me how to get to one of my bus stops, so we took a morning walk, but we were running super late because my host mom didn't think we needed to get up very early..hmm... so I had a "taxi" ride to class. oops!

Tomorrow a huge group is headed to Manuel Antonio, so that will be fun, I think a few people may be going to palmares on Sunday, I know my host sister is, but I don't know her real well because our schedules are totally different, so we haven't talked about that...

Someone else great that I met with a friend, heather, was a cute little older lady named maria lucia who is a vender at a little market, pretty touristy. She is a great saleslady and makes little clay (apparently from the lava and the clay) sculptures/flute-like instruments that look like 4 different animals depending on how you flip it and are fun colors. She played when the saints go marching in and my heart will go on. ha! how great!

love love love fruit, and here a new favorite flavor is cas--I'll put a picture up sometime-- i need to take and put up pictures in general...

Feels like we've been here so long, even from how we talk in our group, but it's been just over a week! Some times are super frustrating and we want to quit spanish all together, but it's really good, I have learned so much already about my host family and their stories, about the latino/tico culture, about spanish, myself, etc. all this week! We're discussing poverty, inequality, capitalism, socialism, elections here, spirituality, etc. I need to challenge myself and persevere because--vale la pena--it's worth it.

*notense bien--blogspot no usa "spell check" por eso, estoy seguro que hay errores. disculpeme.

Buenismas noches y fines de semana!
~ Lina Ness "Torrez Duran"

A few facts about Costa Rican culture:

Costa Ricans: Ticos
White People: Gringos

Don't throw the toilet paper in the toilet--I know, weird, in English we call it toilet paper so you know where to put it when you've used it... pero, "por favor, ponga el papel higienico en el basurero."

If you don't over thank-you, it might mean you don't really appreciate something...if you don't eat a double portion, same thing sometimes. Even if no one in the family comments much on the food--you love it, you really do. :) (no worries, we eat pretty good food, a lot is really similar, but really different...hmm una paradoja!)

Pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way--as my professor laura pointed out, "They will avoid the pot holes, and not you." the lines, when they exist, are general guidelines, taxi drivers, and even buses need not follow them if something else works out better.

jueves a sabado

Buenas noches,

Solamente tengo tiempo para unos pensamientos muy rapidos. : }

Ha pasado menos que una semana--he estado aqui cuatro dias y sali de mi casa hasta cinco dias. Aunque, parece que mucho mas tiempo y es estoy casi comoda como estar en casa realmente.

Entonces, acabo de leer una poca de mi tarea en ingles, por eso, voy a escribir in mi lengua natural...

Switching to English, I am confused a lot because I follow conversations and sometimes can converse and even think in Spanish, but much of my thoughts are still in grammatical constructions and translations, even now, my brain is thinking of how to say this en espanol : }, but I hope I can get past this phase, which my Spanish teacher said is their hope at ICADS--our language school--as well.

A little summary of the last few days since me da cuenta de--I realize that I haven't written since I first arrived.

Martes y miercoles ya saben de esos dias...

el jueves:
Dia en San Jose--Spent the day with Taylor --who knows Hannah : }--from point loma/San Diego and Leah--from New York, a high school student "running with the big dogs" since her parents are a couple of our professors.

--public transport, buses, taxis, hopefully I'll remember the routes I took with mi papa y otros...

--new fruits like tamarindo, limon mandarina, papaya that I actually like; all the fruit es tan dulce--much sweeter than home--haha except the watermelon that was shockingly bitter from being over ripe at our cafecito, and Pop's ice cream--cas flavored sorbet yum!

--finding that gringos stand out-- a lot, for various reasons, and you should sometimes just not open your mouth, but at the same time, you need to fail in order to improve ...

--Taylor has a marriage proposal from an older lady who danced for him...if things don't work out with his novia

--Good conversations begun and to be had with some "non religious" friends, Christians, and my host sister who is catholic in an evangelical family . . . she's actually in Guanacaste until monday...

--Gave my Minnesota presents to my family and stumbled through explaining some of the weird stuff--ufda!

--my suitcase came thursday evening! We joked that it wouldn't come until I left in April, and once I decided not to be frustrated to crying and just accepted the peace of God--Laura and Trevor received it and brought it to me--Gracias a Dios! Same clothes and no stuff for three days--woohoo!

Viernes
--should probably write a little less-- I should sleep!

--Finishing of orientation, so I took a different bus with papa to LASP, we counted 6 paradas before mine and saw Dalia's school etc.

--As a group, we reflected on observations in this culture of more openly affectionate and open ticos with different roles for men and women, las mujeres serving a lot but also holding a great deal of influence... and things like this

--covered our core seminar, concentrations, safety, and health--perfect, I have just recently contracted a cold--tengo resfrio, perfecto.

--ate lunch together--guess what it was?? arroz y frijoles, por seguro :) Yet, it's obviously much more tasty and varied with other things at every meal than it could be en los estados unidos...

--showed our funk with interpretive dance, bowling for culture shock, and group sound offs ( it was difficult to organize and help figure out the second group...) before we did an alpha/beta activity
--I was an alpha, and each society had rules according to which we behaved and had vistors switch and report on each other's group... They were shockingly different and led to discussion of values, and how to approach a different culture etc. It is difficult to discern what truths and Truth is/are certain for all people, all the time and how that is manifest in a certain people ...

--Walked from Alto de guadalupe home with Papa, spur of the moment, it was a good hour of walking which caused mama to worry when she called and we weren't home that Fernando forgot me or something, but we were just walking and talking and stopped to buy water, then again to buy bread for coffee--meals and snacks are different
--speaking of which, figuring out how much to eat is tricky because they're very concerned that you eat and that you like their food, so their might be a tica 10, so I've heard . . .

sabado
--my cold is here for sure, but I slept in some and am pumping the vitamins and the water, although the ticos don't drink a ton of water, or hardly any, actually, more coffee and tea, well juice too, I guess...

--I was ready but las chiquitas were not when mama returned because Carlos finally came today! Carlos is a cat--female, who Dalia thought was a male when she named her ; )--and she has been at the vet and was supposed to be here days ago, so she is all that Dalia talks about-- mama loves the cat much more than papa : }...

--we went to help the oldest daughter, adriana, move out of her old apartment and into her new one in the same area, but we had some extra time, so mama said I could go run for a while and we could eat lunch when I got back--Hacia color! of course, it was the hottest part of the day and my running got slower and slower haha I'm a bit burnt actually after only a little over half an hour when they found me to go eat lunch

--All of her things are in the new apartment, and I played outside some with Dalia and Evelyn.

--Have had some good conversations with my host parents in the car and walking and such about their lives here, in Nicaragua, visiting Cuba and other places, only a little in politics because Papa is not a registered voter and mama is having a hard time discerning what to do for the upcoming elections... and other topics too, of course I spend a lot of time looking pretty dumb--in both meanings of the word : ]

--Did some reading while the girls played computer games--they do this quite a bit, and we ate--you guessed it--rice and beans plus!

--I need to go to the supermarket soon for toiletries, maybe when the girls go to buy the notebooks they've been whining about--they want decorated ones, Dalia, especially wants hello kitty--I love it spoken with a spanish accent; I also like it when they make each other laugh over something silly

--Now it's time for bed; going to wake up too soon to shower-- kind of hokey pokey like Samoa, actually, although they have "hot water" when you flip a breaker up in the shower : } --before church in the morning. yay!

Buenas Noches!

Aqui estoy!

Buenos!

Estoy aqui, en la casa de mi familia, en el colonado, en San Jose, en Costa Rica... :)
Mi familia es muy amable y estoy agradecida a Dios por ellos y por todos.
He conocido otros estudiantes amables y ya me encanta Costa Rica.

En mi casa--Mis padres Fernando y Jenny, mis hermanos, Gabriel, Margarita, y Dalia. Evelyn, una prima esta aqui ahora tambien.

Hace un poco mas frio de normal, pero hace color comprado a Minnesnowta : }

Tengo expectaciones y esperanzas para el semestre para crecer y aprender mucho. Yo se que estare muy dificil a veces y encontre frustraciones, pero tambien estoy seguro en Dios y se que estare un semestre fantastico tambien!

For my fellow gringos/gringas who don't speak a lick of Spanish, I understand the confusion--I am like a toddler here, and am going to have to get excited about failure and folly in a beautiful way. : D

We arrrived late last night; unfortunately, I had to book it through the Miami airport to get to the connecting flight to San Jose, so mi maleta-my suitcase is yet en route...

Yesterday was pretty much all airport for me--up at 4:30 a.m. and in a bed at 1 p.m. or so. Spent a good deal of time in Dallas Fort Worth because once we borded a delayed plane, they decided, shucks, the engine doesn't work, so we'll wait around for another huge plane to show up. haha. It all works out.

We stayed in an educational center last night--there is some kind of crazy peace camp for young kids there right now, so it was fun to see them and share noisy meals for the day.
Katie was wonderful to me as I did not have my luggage, and our staff is great as well.
We did some preliminary orientation stuff today, and will be all over the city tomorrow para conocerla. ;)
It's been fun to meet people in the program, and I have been and am very nervous and excited.

Familia Torrez Duran is graciously hosting me, and they are wonderful!
I know it will be tough at times but rewarding as well, and we'll see what God has in store for this semester!

Entonces, tengo que salir. Dios les bendiga.
Pura Vida :)

Sinceremente,
~Lina

and meg, my family will probably call me lina because Linnea is pretty rough en espanol jaja.