Costa Rica STT

Wednesday was fantastic.  We woke up early and cleaned the house, which is my idea of a good time. My plan was to thank the Diaz-Alvarez  family for their kindness and generosity by leaving them a confusingly clean house. Idk if we logramos  that goal or not, but it felt nice to clean.  H@ngout was great. We had pizza and played soccer and had great conversations. Wright State came this week and did a fantastic job interacting with the students and sharing good truth. I wore my hat because I had gotten sunburned on Saturday, and, even though he stayed in the shade, Matthew got sunburned pretty hardcore.  After H@ngout, we went with Izzy and Esther to chill at Esther's apartment for about 30 minutes, then headed to our farewell dinner.  The dinner was hosted by a family in the church, and it was a really sweet time. I was concerned at first, because we ended up with all the gringos  at one table, and all the ticos  and church people at the other. I...

Maybe you've noticed the trend of me progressively posting less frequently as this trip draws to a close.  I feel so tired. Good tired, mostly, but tired.  Monday went well. We had a good start to the day with some grocery shopping and worship. The CDI session was good; a lot of review time with the kids of what we've learned. Our evening plans changed, so we grabbed some dessert, swung by Momo, had pizza for dinner, finally got home. It was a good day, pretty chill. I felt very crunchy all day. I think some good things happened. Today was Tuesday, which means a long day. We got to the CDI just in time to open it up, though I left the kids' birthday party cake at the house, so I had to go get one from the AM/PM. Oh, yeah, today was the monthly birthdays party at the CDI. So, rather than lessons and homework, we played games, watched a movie, and had cake. It was a lot of fun, it was a lot of playing, it was a lot of energy. We had 2 Wright State gringos  there to help, wh...

The past two days feel like they've been three or four. I see two factors in this: 1. Here at the end of the trip, as I get closer to being home, time has slowed down. 2. Here at the end of the trip, as we get closer to leaving Costa Rica, we're trying to pack in as much activity as possible. I learned a new tico  expression: huesear . It's a verb. Hueso  is bone. It means "window shopping," and comes from the image of a dog gnawing on a bone. The idea is you chew on something, but don't eat it. Ok, so two days in one post.  SATURDAY Izzy went to stay with Esther  on Friday night, so Matthew and I partied together. And when I say "party," I mean, "wake up at 6 AM." You see, Matthew is a long-distance longboarder. And I think that's really neato. So, as part of a training build towards something epic , Matthew did his first 10k race this Saturday. We got up early so we could get done early and to use the skate track at Parque La Sabana  ...

I'll talk about today tomorrow. I'm tired and I need to organize our money spreadsheets.  It was a really good day though. Be praying for the H@ngout students!

I'm taking a break from Duolingo to write this blog post. I'm in the top 3 of the Amethyst league with one day left, so that's obviously pretty exciting. I think if I spent more time listening to podcasts or watching movies in Spanish and less time playing on Duolingo, I would do much better. At one point, I finished Duolingo in Spanish, but they've since added a bunch of levels, so now I feel the need to get al the way through them again. I think I may soon get to a point where I just take the last-level test and finish it, but things like the subjunctive tense and weird verbs are really good for me to practice. A N Y W A Y Today, I rested. Like, I actually just slept most of the day. Now, I'm having a hard time falling asleep. Who knew?  Also, today I tried to buy tickets to go see a movie tomorrow. I don't mean to brag, but I'm pretty good at buying movie tickets. Going to watch movies by myself is one of my favorite expressions of my sometimes-hidden int...

I made tacos!  for H@ngout...you'd think after the pancake incident, we'd learn, but i did it. They came out pretty decent, because it's very hard to do taco meat wrong. We told all of the students at H@ngout that we were making Texan Tacos...but I think they just qualified as Texan because I made them, you know? They were well received though, so that was very encouraging.  Matthew shared some good encouragement and good gospel truth with everyone. We had two students come up to him afterwards to ask what it meant to be friends with God or friends with the world. Good. Stuff. Afterwards, it started pouring rain, because that's what Costa Rica does in the afternoons in June. We went inside the Filosofia y Letras  building and ended up hanging out and playing games with students until 5. I think it was one of the best H@ngouts we've had, at least for me.  That night, we got dinner with the newly-arrived Wright State team. I enjoyed meeting them and hearing about thei...

Tuesday Night means tired.  Today went well. I was sluggish all day at the CDI, even with a Power Snack. The devotional seemed to land the second session, I feel unsure about the first session. During the first session, we saw a traffic collision happen right outside the CDI, so there's not really any group recovery after that. A motorcycle ran the stop sign and got hit by a car. The guy was ok, but dang. That's how sleepy I am, I forgot about that until just now when I was trying to figure out why the first session was so long.  Matthias  (or maybe Matias ?) was the troublemaker today. He refused to listen or comply with  a n y t h i n g  that was asked of him, including holding my hand on the walk to school (he's small enough and enough of a wildcard that I think it's needed). He cried and fought and kicked and yelled the entire trip. Sometimes he would just stop and fall over, so I had to carry him a few times. He liked that even less than holding my hand. It...

Monday means a lot of things, I guess. Today, Monday means a great day.  We got up and to the CDI earlier than usual today. James was going to leave for the airport at 10:30 AM, and we wanted to squeeze a little more time and work out of him before he left. The Uber ride was pretty chill (which was somehow rare for this weekend). Upon arrival at the CDI, I immediately began listing out the things we were supposed to work on, and was gently reminded that we were supposed to worship and pray first. So, we did that.  It's humbling that I still want to default to Doing over Being. If I ever get my legs or arms bitten off by a jaguar, I want to state here and now that it was my own fault for being so slow to learn to be still before the Lord. Not to worry, it's very unlikely we'll encounter any jaguars though.  Getting to pray for our team and over the CDI was really, really powerful. I think for future trips, I'm going to recommend that at least one worship and prayer night...

Mmmmmhm....stuff happened today. Lessee.  I got up early, but not as early as Matthew or James. Matthew got up early and made the Gallo Pinto  for our Father's Day Men's Breakfast Time Event Thing. The pinto  was well received. The guys said Matthew was, " listo para casarse, " which is like a Thing people say here when someone makes good food.  James shared at the time and it was really powerful. He shared some foundational paradigms and perspectives for the men. He talked about the importance of grace in our relationships as husbands and fathers. He shared that people are designed to encounter and overcome challenges and that we find joy in it, so not to be discouraged when challenges come. He shared about the freedom we have in Christ, and something in the way he shared just hit different. I... don't know how to explain it, but it was really powerful to think that I don't have to try so hard, but I can relax, be myself, and trust (and follow) God. Afterward...

Did you know that in 6 months, I will be married? Pretty dope.  Today was very different than expected, but very good.  Have you ever seen the movie, "500 Days of Summer?" I really like it, but a lot of people don't. Anyway, there's a scene where it shows a side-by-side version of what the protagonist expected and what really happened, and it's just really well done. Not happy, but.  Anyway, I thought about typing out my own version of that for today, like, two columns or something. But I'm far too lazy for that.  We were expecting that today the girls (team + church + H@ngout) would hang out and go swimming and do stuff together, while the guys (team + church + H@ngout) would hang out and go hiking and talk about Stuff together. The girls did their thing, but all of the H@ngout guys had to back out or change plans. Father's Day weekend is hard for some of the students who don't have positive relationships with their dads. Stuff like that makes me real...

Today went pretty well, I reckon.  We got up early to send Sheryl home, then I went back to sleep.  I woke up again and went for a run, which was refreshing. I didn't run very far, and I didn't run very fast, but I ran, and that feels good. No green squares/yellow squares/red squares this year.  After a shower, I cleaned the house some, since James came tonight. I didn't clean it much, but some. Like, if you walked in, you'd not say, "wow, someone cleaned this house!" But, you also wouldn't say, "wow, someone needs to clean this house." That's the medium I aim for.  Izzy went to meet with one of the H@ngout students, and Matthew went to a coffee shop to hang out with Jesus. So I worked some more on my teaching for tonight.  Matthew and I bought some salads and we went to church. I gave my teaching, Matthew led worship (it included  this song , but obviously even better sounding). I don't feel great about the teaching, but I don't feel...

But I guess not.  Wednesday was good! We made some tuna pasta mayonnaise stuff for H@ngout. I spilled mango juice on myself. There were games and good conversations. Here's the IG Post . I spent some time last night working on my teaching. I think it's almost ready, but I don't think I am.  Today was Thursday, which means CDI. I realized about 1:30 AM that I was responsible for the devotional today. Also, I set my alarm for the wrong day, but fortunately, got up anyway.  The CDI day went really well! We had a small group in the morning and a BIG group in the afternoon. Jeikol  was really good today. He was gentle and attentive. Please keep praying for him and whatever's going on in his life.  The devotional for the small group was ok. They were a little young to track with the concepts deeply, but I think the idea of respecting authority sunk in a little more. The second group was much more involved and invested. We were able to talk a little bit about authority...

Tuesday means a long day. We started early at the CDI, but the lessons seemed to go really well. I felt tired today, especially in the second session.  Mateo  told us that he did well on the tests we helped him study for, which was encouraging. I'm trying to help him learn to identify key concepts in his studying, instead of getting overwhelmed by all of the information. We got to study together today for his next test, so we'll see how that went. We came home to prepare pancakes for the Bible Study tonight. Several people came early, but we still got everything ready in time. It is not currently established if the pancakes I tried to make all came out bad because I am bad at making pancakes, or if there were other factors involved. This post is short because I am tired. I think tomorrow evening I will finalize my teaching for church on Friday. I still feel nervous.  I also feel sad. I feel very rudderless and unsure of myself. I feel more keenly the loss of friends from ...

I got all stirred up today, but then I laid down to start typing and all I really feel is sleepy now.  Today was a really good day. We started the day (well, I did, some of the team had already been up) with worship and prayer. The song that stuck out most to me was "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."  I don't get very easily discouraged or anxious, but I do spend a lot of my time spinning my wheels trying to make things work. "Take it to the Lord in prayer" is a needed admonishment fir me. Thank y'all for praying for me. We went to the CDI a little early, because two of the kids needed to come early. So, we got ready while playing with them, which was cool. I really like when there's fewer kids, because we can spend less time focused on crowd control and more time individually engaging with students (I'm sure all the teachers are thinking, "duh and amen").  The devotional lesson we're on now is "Respect for Authority." Our vers...

Today went by super fast, even though it was very long.  I'm writing from the comfort of our Airbnb couch, so we got home from our trip safely (I use "home" in the Heredia  sense of the word. My home is currently in College Station. And my Home is in heaven (home is a funny-sounding word)). I got up early today (6:57) so I could be sure to pack and get breakfast before our 7:40 pickup. Our zip-lining adventure got rained out yesterday, but we got a re-do this morning. I'm really glad we did.  Have you ever heard of a pajaro campana ? Or, maybe procnias tricarunculatus? Three-wattled bellbird is the Englishest name. It's a goofy-looking mustachioed kinda birb.  Like, he looks like he wants those darn kids off his lawn. He sounds like a fire alarm.  Anyway, Matthew really wanted to see one, but we kept only hearing them, because they're so loud. But, we got to see one whilst ziplining and I think there's even a picture on Matthew's phone. Apart from t...

You know the feeling when something is absolutely perfect, but one tiny imperfection seems to ruin it? It’s almost like, if the thing was less perfect, the small foible would matter less, because more things would be wrong, so you wouldn’t notice as much? That’s how I feel about our hotel and the wi-fi. I cannot tell you how amazing this hotel is. The proprietor, the dueño , is (I say this with 0 exaggeration) the best host I’ve ever encountered of any hotel, real or fictional. I wish I could remember his name. Many times in my story of today, he will be a hero. And yesterday, this was no different. This guy has a ready and genuine smile and a very kind manner. Also, this hotel, Alisson Hotel y Restaurante , was super affordable. It’s in a great location that has let us walk most places we need to go (which is handy since there’s effectively no Uber here). The rooms are exactly what we needed them to be (nothing fancy, but everything we need) ….but, as I’m writing this, I’m writing on...

So, yesterday was a lot and today was a lot and I probably won't say all that much about either.  We got up super early today (we stayed at Esther 's house) and took a bus to Monteverde , which is like a very green, very foresty mountain kinda place.  We ate some good food and we got to go on a guided night hike. There were a lot of bugs that Matthew and Sheryl really liked. This is the source of the title of this blog. It's probably the most creative part of it, I'm way too tired to be funny. We also saw part of a sleeping sloth (he was a fuzzy bump in a tree) and we saw a toucan butt and some snakes! I mostly just enjoyed that we were walking around in nature at night. I'm not very emotionally invested in nature. I did Colorado LT and was like, "meh, they're cool looking mountains, i guess." I wish it affected me more.  The food here is tourism-expensive, but also really tasty. I'm excited for our hotel breakfast tomorrow. We had some cheesecake ...

I'm in danger of getting my days upside down. I was so tired today, but now I'm pretty energized. And Friday we're gonna get up crazy early and stay up late, but with a nap in the middle, so....I may end up re-nocturnalized (Hi Travis! If you're reading this after 3 AM, go to sleep). Anyway, today was good. I woke up at 8:55, since Lagos & Co were planning to arrive at 9. We made a BONCH of empanadas , but they were empanadas hondureñas , so...really good. I am not very good at making masa  balls (which then get squished in a squisher (also called a "tortilla press" apparently) to make the pan  part of the empanada ). All of the balls I made were different sizes and generally a little too big, but it was a ton of fun putting them in the squisher. We went to campus and ate and talked and talked and played with the students. I...napped in the grass while they played Organ Attack (which my sister gifted my parents a while back, really fun game). Once it start...

Well, I think today marks the halfway point of my time in Costa Rica this year.  I'm very tired. It's 3 AM here (Matchbox 20 would be lonely). I can't decide if today warrants a long post or if it's smarter to make a short post and just go to bed. I guess you already know where I landed, though I don't yet. Tuesday means CDI and Bible Study. We left the house when I wanted to today, but we still didn't beat Diego to the CDI. We got there and got set up and then, you know, did CDI things. Everyone on our team did a great job today. Sheryl led the Devotional and really engaged well with both sessions of kids. I think they're starting to absorb some of the stuff we're throwing down with Respect. Izzy did great leading the English Lesson with me and she feels ready to start doing them on her own (which is exciting because English-in-Spanish is so confusing to me). Matthew engaged well with the kids in active ways that I'd much rather not; walking them t...