Costa Rica STT

After sleeping for two hours, I don't remember much from waking up and getting into an Uber and getting through airport security. I remember that the gringos  we saw in the airport all seemed very off-putting to me, which made me a little nervous to be home. Maybe it was the start of some kinda reverse culture shock. We got breakfast in the airport and we got on our plane. I was one of the last ones on the plane, but I still got an aisle seat near the front, which was nice. I sat next to a lady who spent the majority of the flight throwing up.  I spent most of the flight sleeping, so I didn't realize her plight until we were nearly landing.  As we were just about to get to Houston, our pilot let us know that we might be re-routing to San Antonio due to weather. Yikes. But, our friends drove to Houston. My date was in Houston. We were supposed to go to Houston!  Fortunately, we did go to Houston.  We landed, got quickly through customs, and got our bags. Sheryl h...

Yesterday (Wednesday) was crazy y'all. Those who were feeling it got up early and walked over to the school to help the other gringo teams, since we had neither CDI nor H@ngout things. I had done laundry the night before so that my clothes would have a couple of days to dry. Besides, the VBS wasn't very physically taxing, just a lot of time with kids and translation, so my clothes wouldn't get gross.  Somehow, I ended up helping the outside crew instead of the inside crew. It was amazing. I cannot get over how unstoppable the Colorado gringos  were. The day before, they had chopped down a bunch of banano  trees. Apparently, they're very soft; they were cut down with a few machete  strokes. They also aren't inherently all that heavy, as far as trees go. But, they are sticky and slimy, especially if they were recently rained on.  Our task was to remove as much of the debris as possible. We had some trash bags for the little pieces. We had dos wheelbarrows. We ha...

Well, I did walk. Obviously, the point of this blog is actually just to record my running journey, so. But, I managed to beat my current best time (while sickish). But, it was not under 25 (l o l), so it will, ultimately, be a red box on my spreadsheet, as it was my last 5k. One more run before I leave. Allegedly tomorrow, though that will be difficult schedule-wise. 7:20 came very early, as promised. But, I got up and we got to the CDI only shortly after I'd have liked to (we needed to stop to get something). Shoot, I still need to get things. Maybe I'll walk to the...no, it'll be closed. Tomorrow or Thursday, I guess. Sheesh.  Anyway, we had our Tuesday kids back! I've missed the kids the last week or so since the camp. T/R mornings is our youngest group. We had to change around the schedule a bit, since they needed to be at school at weird times. Doña Constanza  was a life-saver today. She seems to have a limitless supply of helpful things for preschoolers to do. We ...

Oof. 7:38 felt so early today. But, we were leaving at 7:50, so it had to be done.  We walked to the school the CDI kids go to, got there right at 8:15, and both the other gringo  teams were settled in and getting stuff set up and started (good on them, dang). We jumped in where able and helped them out, but it wasn't until the kids showed up that we were really needed.  It was Matthew, Izzy, and I today. All of us did a lot of translating. Ada y Arely  - of H@ngout fame - vinieron tambien para  translate. It was very needed, and a lot of fun! I hope they do ok with 3 less translators tomorrow! We helped with their VBS, which was all in English, but translated. I think that's some of the appeal for some of the teachers; English exposure for their kids.  Seeing the Colorado gringos  again was super fun, and it was good to meet the Alabama gringos . Their groups have such different vibes. I wonder how team meshing goes for them. I wonder how decision-mak...

a.k.a. "if you aren't fully burned-out at the end of the race, you didn't run hard enough." -Track Coaches Everywhere a.k.a. Dichotomies Sorry I didn't write last night. I didn't want to. I had other priorities. I'm slipping in my commitments here at the end. I'd like to blame it on being sick, but it's really just being Done. Don't fret, dear bloggeroos (and especially Bangaroos), I'm ok! Some of this will sound very tired, which is accurate. Some of this will sound fairly discouraged, which is accurate. But, if you read this as being defeatist or something like that, that is not accurate.  If I dig deep enough, I always find two emotions: Sadness The Ever-Present and Cheerfulness The Irrepressible. One of those is new, and I am grateful to God for it. It's strange, but very human, I think, to live as walking dichotomies. Current song is Crooked Ways by Propaganda. Ok, um....  Day 64: Saturday I was sick. We didn't really do much. ...

So, that's a plus.  I do, however, feel very tired of coughing all the time.  We thought we had a plan for today, but today turned out to be a rest day. This was a gift from God, because, even though I spent most of the day doing nothing or napping, I still feel really tired. I think maybe I'm not sleeping well, since I keep coughing. -.- Tonight was our last church service with GCLA SJ. It was pretty great. Matthew led some Spanish worship at the beginning, which was lovely (though my singing is NOT lovely right now). Mark, who is the pastor of the Alabama team, shared a message on staying connected to the vine ( vid ), which is Christ. Notice the cool probable connection between the word vid  (vine) and vida  (life). Afterwards, the church prayed over our team and Katie led some worship in English, though some of the congregation sang in Spanish (which was awesome). Then, something really cool happened. I had been praying during the service that God would move in t...

Today I did almost nothing. I woke up at 6:30 and took a shower because I felt terrible. Then I went back to bed for a while. Our team went to lunch, but this little gringo  stayed home. I napped. I thought. I messaged Alexis. I went to the grocery store (escape #1!).  Our team went to dinner with our friends here and the new team that came in from Alabama, but again, I stayed home.  I ran my 5k though! And beat my previous time, though only by 8 seconds, so a far cry from the 2 minutes I need to drop in the next week if I'm to hit my goal (u n l i k e l y). That was escape #2. But, even though I felt great while I was running (apart from the fact that I was...you know...running), I coughed so hard afterwards that I was worried a lung would escape. I think they're both still in there though, so don't worry.  For my night runs, in order to have less gross clothes and because nobody can see me, I've taken to running without a shirt. I didn't have to worry about my tea...

In my defense, I've decided to admit to being sick.  We traveled back from La Fortuna , but before we left, we got lunch at Pollo Fortuneña , I think. It was really, really good.  I slept most of the van ride home, so nothing to report there.  We got back just in time to catch an Uber to the mall where we were meeting the H@ngout students and be a little late for the movie. We watched the new Thor movie with Tannia , Diego , and Ada . It was a lot of fun. I spent most of the movie just trying not to cough too loudly.  Afterwards, we went to eat at Taco Bell, and then went dancing with the students who had come to the movie, along with a few others. It was really funny seeing the similarities and differences between going to Harry's with the HG and going dancing with H@ngout. There was still the find-a-booth-in-the-corner vibe, and still the gender split in seating, and still more girls than guys. Biggest differences were that everyone wanted to dance, and the music w...

This morning, I ran 5k with Ana Raquel's mom (blue box!). She is a speedy lady. We left in the morning to go to a hot spring place, and were there until now. It was really relaxing, basically a bunch of hot-water swimming pools. I floated a lot. I napped a bit. I thought some. We ate a lot.  I accidentally got sorta lost and walked uphill for like 2 miles. We walked back, which was a lot of fun! I  about to take a sleepytime cough medicine that I was lovingly coerced into getting lol. PRAYERS  -for us to walk in step with the Spirit -for good team dynamics -for good rest -for our Balkans team

Today was pretty chill. I woke up, went for a run (it wasn't great), and then just relaxed. We spent time in the pool, though it was cloudy and rainy for most of the day, but it was a lot of fun and I still got low-key sunburned somehow. Lagos and Ana Raquel surprised their moms by taking them to get a massage while our team tried to watch a movie, but the power kept going out. By the time we ate dinner, my throat had started hurting more. I can't tell if I'm sick, or if it was the whole pool-in-the-rain thing. We shall see. PRAYERS -for us to walk in the Spirit -for good team dynamics -for good rest  -for me not to be sick  -for our Balkans team 

This post won't be directly about the work we are doing here. We are now successfully in La Fortuna.  I woke up early this morning and went for a run (5 miles). I also ran 5 last night, so it was a lot all at once. It didn't go super well (i.e. I walked a lot more than was ideal). I think my body is considering picking back up the whole "being sick" thing that we so successfully dropped earlier. We'll see. I showered and packed and we went to Lagos and Ana Raquel's house. We got on a van and drove to a cute little town where we got lunch and walked around a park.  The park had a bunch of bush/tree sculptures and was filled with families taking pictures together. After lunch, we rode the rest of the way to La Fortuna, where we will spend the next two and a half days. Our hotel is charming. There's not really a better word for it I think. The only problem was that Matthew and my room had a bunch of sketchy paintings in it, so we took them down, heh. Later, I...

a.k.a. Camp Penuel a.k.a. Probably Way Too Long a.k.a. Usually a.k.a. A Lot of Feelings Day 54 (Wednesday): Woke up, ran my 5k, shaved off almost a minute, still not enough for me to feel good about hitting my goal before we leave, but enough to feel pretty good. I think I can get close.  We did some last-minute packing and prepping and stuff. Matthew still felt sick, so we - quite sadly - had to leave him at home.  Met the kids at the CDI. 40 kids is always a lot of kids. 40 kids in a space meant for - at max - 20, is a whole lot. 40 kids and their siblings and parents and luggage and the trip leaders and helpers in a space meant for 20 is madness. Yet, somehow, we got everyone counted, permission slips collected, luggage organized, meds and instructions collected, bathroom used, and got everyone on the bus.  It was a school bus! I miss Driving. I wasn't sitting with any kids, so other than a little bit of playing with Jeikol , who sat behind me, I didn't do much on the ...

...for a couple of days, that is.  The answer is: I don't know! Tomorrow afternoon we leave with the kids for the camp until Saturday, and I won't bring my computer. I'll have my phone, but it may or may not work to write blog posts at night there. We'll see!  So, if I don't, just know, I'm not dead or anything. Today was pretty chill. I woke up and went for a run. 3 miles (green box!), but it wasn't a very good  3 miles. I walked about a third of the last mile, off-and-on. But, I ran some extra afterwards, and , I reached one of my other working-out goals today, so, good start to the day. That puts me at 3/5 goals. I'm the most worried about that 5k time. I'm going to run another timed 5k tomorrow, then there's only 1 (or maaybe 2) more before I leave. I don't think I can chop off 3 whole minutes. Anyway, came home, showered, did some laundry (sheet from our guys' team). We cleaned the house today. My job was the kitchen. It was fine, we...

Slept in a bit today!  I woke up and went walkabout for a little while. I walked to Pizza Hut and had pizza for lunch, because July 4th. A lady stopped me and asked me for directions today, which seems like a weird choice. But, to be fair, I did know where the building she was looking for was! I put some saldo  on my phone and headed home. Matthew and I met Lagos and Ana Raquel at Pequeño Mundo , then we went to a different   Pequeño Mundo  and got a bunch of supplies for the camp that starts Wednesday. We got some sets of sheets and some towels and some snacks and some flashlights. We went to the CDI to drop off those supplies, then Lagos, Ana Raquel and I walked to the slum to get the permission slips that hadn't been signed yet. While they talked to parents, I played with the kids. We played freeze tag and futbol  and some ninja. One older girl played futbol  with a baby in her arms the whole time, which some commitment.  We walked back to the CDI, ...

Our guys' team got home safely, and we even got an Uber without much difficulty! We got up pretty early to send them off, then went back to bed for a little while.  Around 8, I got up again and we got everything ready (or so we thought) for our excursion to Monte de la Cruz  with H@ngout. The plan was to celebrate July 4th (on the 3rd) by having a cookout with hot dogs and hamburgers. We brought Coke (because, America) and Canada Dry (because, lol). I was not looking forward to hiking, especially with my backpack loaded up with heavy stuff.  We Uber'd to Heredia , and hopped on the bus to the mountain. I was really tired after not sleeping much for a few nights before (and, apparently, tonight), so I was only half awake for the bus ride. Blessing of blessings, it turned out we weren't actually having to hike. We drove almost the whole way up the mountain, to where there was a park area and small cabana-type areas with grills and tables. We unloaded everything and most of ...

Things went pretty well today! I didn't sleep very much last night, but it was a pretty chill day.  We went to the Ferria Verde en la mañana . If you remember, it was the hipster farmer's market thing we went to several weeks ago. This time, some of our group apparently ended up on their instagram, but I didn't see it. We hung out and saw the hipsters and drank some hot chocolate and smoothies and kombuchas.  Afterwards, Esther, Katie, and Izzy headed home while James, Evan, Andrew, Matthew, Tannia, and I headed to the mercado central  to look for some souvenirs. It's a gigantic indoor market with a bunch of different types of shops. There are shops for meat and vegetables and spices, there are shops for cooking utensils, there are shoe shops, there are cigar shops, there are restaurants, and there are a bunch of souvenir-type shops. We wondered around, looking at all the souveniry souvenirs. I wonder if there's like a Sam's Club for souvenir shops. Most of them...