Coming Home

My last night, I was at a good bye party for Hope and one of her roommates! It was a great way to end it all. We played 4 square, ninja, and hit the piñata. I did not go to bed until 12:30 or so, and had to wake up at 2:30 to be ready for 3. Cecilia woke up to wait with me for the bus. We sat downstairs whispering in spanish until the bus cam around 4. It was strangely odd saying good bye to hear. It was quick but thankful, but I did not feel to much. Once o the airport, I got to my gate quickly. It was weird seeing all of the tourists though. I felt like I was a local, and almost resented them. Things like, they will never know Costa Rica the way I do, ran through my head a lot. It was a slow easing back into American culture. 

On the flight, it all started to hit me. When I touch down again, I will be back in the states. I remember looking down at Costa Rica and thinking adios! I have learned so much here and now I am leaving.

The flight was enjoyable and I was able to sleep for almost half of it. I RAN through the Houston airport and managed to make my last flight. I literally arrived 5 minutes before. I checked in, went to the bathroom, then heard them calling my name to board the plane. I am so glad that I got to catch it though. If not, I would have had to wait 3 more hours for the next flight. that flight was sUPER bumpy coming home too, but so quick. Then the best part, running up to my Zachary for the best hug! My family was there to great me as well and it was nice to see how happy they were. 

Zack asked me to describe my trip in one word, and I would pick irreplaceable. Now as I sit in my bed back in my house, I am realizing what all my trip has meant to me. I have learned so much here and am so thankful as to how it was orchestrated so well. God blessed me with amazing friends, lessons, teachers, a family, experiences, and memories forever. Looking back, I remember being unsure of studying abroad at first, but I can not imagine not going to Costa Rica. I am definitely having some crazy feelings and emotions being back home now. I think that is all part of the process. I am a new girl coming home trying to fit back into the place of the old Kelsey, but things are different for the better now, and I hope to use my time away to continue my growth and make some great changes!

¡PURA VIDA! 

DONE WITH SCHOOL

Who is officially finished with school???????? Kelsey!! Three A's in my electives, at least I am pretty sure. I am still waiting on Peace and Democracy grade but the other 2 of for certain. I got my grade for my paper back, and we got a 100% on it, making my final grade in the class a 100? It was not the same as a 100 back home, btu it still feels good.

Tuesday night we went to the Saprissa fútbol game, which was fun. It was fun and the stadium was really nice. I think we got spoiled though because the last game we went to, there was 7 goals, so it was really exciting. This past game, there was only one, but still fun!

Monday night, we wll went to watch Hope's dad play the local soccer game, but the game never happened. Hope came and stayed the night with me too! That girl, she is just to great! I certainly will be missing her very soon!

Tonight, us 4 are about to go out to eat at a international/spanish restaurant. I am excited, but it is pretty much our going away party. They are leaving tomorrow for Nicaragua at noon, so tomorrow, it will jsut be Hope and I. I guess that means that we will be sayign goodbye to them soon! It is going to be so strange, but I feel like 3 months was the perfect amount of time for me. I am surely ready to go home and see family, friends, and Don Esac! (Zack in Spanish, with some formality)! It is getting so close and still does not feel real. I already packed up one bag and will finish up tomorrow. The bus is picking me up from my house at 3:30 in the morning, and luckily, I am sharing the school bus with at least another girl so it will be atleast 10 dollars or cheaper!

COFFEE PLANT!!!

Today we had a field trip for Peace and democracy. It really did not have anything to do with either of thoes but it was sO MUCH FUN! We went to a coffee rpocessign plant and got to see the whole process from delivery from the farmers to bagging it and shipping it all over the world. They mainly ship to Europe and sell to starbucks in the US too. It was so interesting. The best part, was the silos. They had thousands of pounds of coffee stored in them, and he let us crawl in one and play in the coffee. It still needs to be roasted, so we did nto dirty it up to much! We would crawl up the ladder and jump into it! I felt like a little kid playing in Mc Donalds, except now I am a grown up playing in coffee. We asked him if we played in starbuck's coffee and his eyes got really big and he said NO NO NO!!! haah

After he took us coffee tasting. The kind where you suck it in really loud swish it around, then spit it out. I learned soooo much about coffee. I feel like drinking a cup of coffee now, I will have a new appreciation. He showed us how to test for quality too. He even compared their coffee to a Costa Rican brand to show how bad it was, in the stores here. I drank so much coffee today though...... mom and dad, you proud??

After that, I had to meet up with my partner for my paper, to finish it up. I am still working on it though, and can not wait for it to be through!!! Back to the paper though, only 4 more day!!!!

First Real Goodbye

So Sunday, we all wake up then go down town to NAtional Gallo Pinto day, which consisted of lines and lines of people waiting to get a plate of it. Needless to say, we were all a bit fulfulled with our gallo pinto intake, so we went to Pizza Hut instead. After that, we all came back home, and Hoep and RAchel came over to my house to trade pictures. Rachel had a tragedy happen back hoem with her best friend, so she had to leave early. It was so hard to watch her go through that, but at the same time made me so thankful that I could become that close to her in three months, where I could feel comfortable and want to just hold her to let her morn. Please say a prayer for her and everyone involved. 

We all went out to eat at La esquina de Buenos Aires for Rachel's goodbye party. It means the corner of Buenos Aires, and is a legit Argentinean restaurant. IT WAS AWESOME!!!! Joey, Ben, Hope, Rachel, and Bethany all got HUGE steaks. I really do not remember the last time I saw such a big piece of meat. I am not complaining though, I had a phenomenal dinner! (Zack you will like this) It was Ravioli stuffed with marlin and ricotta I think, covered with Pistachios and broccoli! 

We all came back to our neighborhood. Ben, Rachel, and I always walk home together because we live the furthest away. Ben and I walked Rachel to her front door, and I truly was suprised how sad I was. She is the first person leaving from my real friend group here. Plus with her circumstances, it just made me even more sad to see her leave, and have to go home to her new reality. We all hugged, told her that we loved her, and I walked away with tears in my eyes. I just feel so blessed to have made such amazing friendships in such a short amoutn of itme here. Each one of them truly are irreplaceable to me! We are all planning on going ot Tennessee for a camping trip soon. We figured out that it is about the middle point for all of us. I can not wait to see Rachel again, I already miss her!

... did it again

Sorry, this post is now for thursday, Friday, Saturday. I do not know what has gotten into me!

Both Thursday and Friday, I went to the market to finish up buying things. I can not talk to much about this with all of you reading, but I will say that one man asked me where I was from, then told me that I had such a great accent and sounded like a Tica!!!!! SCORE!!!

Nothing to much happened. Last night we had a huge game of balderdash. It ended up being 10 people, which is WAY to much to have a functional game, but it was still tons of fun!!! Today took the cake though.....

We went to "bull fighting", but in Costa Rica, that is not exactly what it means. There is no fighter and the bulls do not get hurt. they send bulls out, 12 to be exact, into a pin of around 200 people. People proceed to run around and not get mangled by the bulls. I do not understand it. For sure, it was exciting, but people get HURT!!! They say at least one person will die each year. It is such a different culture though, because people bring their whole families to watch, buy concessions, and cheer. Definitely an experience. Ben and Joey decided to run, and of course, one of them would be it. The second bull that came in, seemed pretty passive, for a bull. People were laying down in front if it to taunt it. All of a sudden it bursted, and everyone ran away. It looks like fish swimming away from a disturbance in the water. Since it is on dirtish sand stuff, it is not very good running surface. Ben tried to turn and run, but slipped and fell. I just say a person under the bull, and did not realize that it was him until I got a glimpse of his shorts. Oh my, we were all so scared. The bull came up and head butted him, ran across, them came back on top of him. Needless to say, once the bull started going for someone else, I have never seen Ben run so fast. Another interesting thing is how the Ticos help each other. When someone was getting hit by the bull, they wave flags or throw things at it to distract it, then other men go and pick them up.  IT WAS CRAZY!! At one point, they had 2 full grown bulls in the ring at the same time. I am so tired from watching, time for bed mis gente!!!

You people better be getting your read on, because this time next week, I will be at my house hanging out with family and friends, hopefully eating some great flavorful food too!!! Maybe chips and bean dip??????????????  

Blog... I have failed you

I was doing so good, until these past 2 weeks. I can not exactly say why, but I have completely lost the desire to blog any more. I think the end is getting so close, that it is hard to remember and make time for it. My apologies, but here is 3 days condensed into one.

I have been working on some papers lately. One was due Monday, but my internet was not working very well, so I just told my teacher that I would give it to him Wednesday. PURA VIDA! Our bible study was on worldliness, a topic that always needs to be revisited. It was a great study, and well fitting because we all talked about what Costa Rica has meant to us and what we have learned form it. Because the culture is so different from back home, it is easy to see how we are so time hungry and have everything that we want back home. I feel like I will have some SERIOUS spring cleaning once I return, and I feel that my time here has made me enjoy and appreciate my time more, even if we are doing nothing or people are late. We get so caught up in our little world, that we usually forget the BIG PICTURE, to make much of Christ and serve him for HIS glory. It was a great way to wrap up.

Tuesday we got to meet Rachel's boyfriend Josh, he came down to visit her. It was nice to meet him, and it felt so weird to meet him after hearing about him. Tuesday night, one of my roommate's friend came to visit her form the states too, and she made dinner for us. It was great, with mashed potatoes. Even though there are potatoes here and yuca, hers was just so much better! I think it was the butter. There was about 6 of us at the table, and Cecilia came back for seconds. Chantal asked her if she liked it but Cecilia said no. We all looked very confused and asked why, they she proceeded to tell us that it was a joke, and tried to explain it to us. I found it so funny that after all of the time here, non of us could pick up her sarcasm in a different language. It was the simplest of jokes, but went right over our heads.

Wednesday compromised of more paper writing. We went to my art teachers studio for a model drawing, and I had my last real peace and democracy class, because we have a field trip next week then our final. It is so crazy that it is all coming to an end. Only 9 more days until I am landing in Houston! I feel like it is finally hitting me, and I am becoming so anxious to get home and see everyone, and one person in particular!!

La fin de semana in NICARGUA

WOW--- I have severely ignored my blog this week.... Lo Siento! Nothing to much happened in those couple of days though. We went to see Rango in the theater, which turned out to be in Spanish, bought bus tickets for Nicaragua, went out to eat, took a field trip for art, and I finally got a scoop of POPS ice cream, the Costa Rican company. But for now, here is Nicaragua.

Once we decided that we could actually return from Nicaragua, after the big court hearing in the Hague, we bought our bus tickets from Ticabus. Our bus left Thursday around 12:30, and it was the nicest bus we have been one. Air conditioned and with bis soft seats. To get to the border, it takes about 5 hours, the the fun starts. The border was so unorganized. You go into the Costa Rican station and get your passport stamped. There, probably 20 money changers were outside and they all swarm up on you to change your money. It was pretty intense. My friend Hope's face was priceless... she was so nervous about it all and all of the guys around her. Once we changed our money into Cordobas (20 cordobas = $1) we got back on the bus. Once getting on, we paid our exit fee and gave our passports to the driver? We drove through a car wash of pesticides, literally. I guess it was to kill any bugs on the bus, but it is not like they could not have flown over?? After we got off at the Nicarguan post, we waited outside for about an hour and a half more. Someone took all of our passports inside and got them all stamped. Then they would just call our names out when we were getting on the bus to retrieve them. I am not sure if that is legal, but I would go ahead and say no?

Hope's mentor Marsha and her family picked us up from the bus station along with the missionary that we would be staying with, Kim Pate. We drive about an hour from Managua to get to Diriamba. It was a bit confusing all of the roads in Nicaragua are VERY nice. Managua looked to clean and nice at first too. Obviously once you got out of the city you could see the poverty, but the roads were still great. For being the second poorest country of the America's, only behind Haiti..... it was a bit surprising to see.

Kim lives on grounds with a mission center, health center with dentist, doctors, counseling, and three missionary houses. There was also a Nicaraguan girl named Bildad who stayed with us. the house was very nice. We all just hung out and played games then went to bed. The next morning I woke up to my first sickness here :(    That was not to much fun, but it passed pretty quick, so I was thankful for that. We are pretty sure that it was a bag of dried plantains that I ate. Ben had the same type as I did and we were the only ones that got sick. To bad, they were delicious!

We went to a small village to help serve food to the children at lunch. there was a guitar there so I started singing Revelation Song in Spanish, and I think they really enjoyed it. I was glad that I had been learning it in Spanish, and am starting to learn more too. After that we were going to the Pacific Coast. We did not realize how close we were going to be to it. It was about a 15 minute drive and we could see it from the church grounds. We could not go in though because of the Tsunami warning. At that point, we had not heard about it yet, and did not get to find out more until we got home that night. If you are reading this, please remember to pray for the people effected by this, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I am getting a bit confused with my days, but I am pretty sure that we went to a Volcano next. It was nice, because you could drive right up to it and look down. It was huge and very different from the other volcanos that we have seen. Once again, you could nt breathe in to hard or you would have a coughing fit from all of the sulphur. It is mind boggling to think of the power that a eruption requires. It has to break through the crust first, the flow down the mountain and tremendous speeds. Looking at how high up we were and the plains below, I still could not grasp it. Sometimes they can destroy cities miles away, and I could not even picture it making it up the crater???

We went to church that night, and Kim asked me if I would play at the worship service. I played after the regular band played and it was so great! I could hear other people singing along with me, worshiping the same God. I felt so thankful that I could be such a tool for Him. After, many people thanked me and I could tell that they liked that I took the time to learn it in Spanish. It certainly was a precious moment for me.

Saturday we went to Jinotepe, Masaya, and drove to Granada. At first we just went to this really nice market in Masaya. It was local venders but it was inside this huge castle looking thing. After, we drive to Lake Nicaragua! I could have sat there for hours. I feel like I had a bad image of Nicaragua before going, maybe just from the bad wrap it gets from Costa Ricans. It was so beautiful though. I just can not think of more adjectives to use other than powerful. I took pictures, but multiply them time 2 billion to get the full effect! We then headed home, but were to late to go to church.

Sunday, we woke up a bit later, and headed back into Managua. She jsut had a small truck to bring all of us plus Marsha's family to ride a long. The bus drive who picked us up from the bus station was supposed to pick us up but never did. the whole weekend, the boys would ride in the back, but Ir ode in the back on the way home from the Pacific and on the way to the bus station. It was so nice. I felt like a little girl in Arkansas again! I wish the bus ride home could have been like that, a high convertible bus! You can just see so much more that way!

The ride home took a total of 10 hours..... but it was still nice. On the way over, we all could get separate seats and sleep because so few people were on them, but the ride home was tighter. It is really coming ot an end. I can not believe that I have less that 2 weeks here. Rides like that home with my friends make it that much harder to want to leave. On the other hand, my feelings are moving away from missing people back home to getting EXCITED to see them!!!!!!!!! I am just a little Costa Rican ball of feelings right now! ¡PURA VIDA!

Marsha, Hope, and Bethany waiting for church

The Pacific

Volcán Masaya

Lake Nicaragua

Again

Josue, our little mini our guide. His mom worked with Kim the missionary

Our group

Volcán Irazu

This morning came early as well! We met up at school at 7, then headed to the Gran Hotel in taxis to catch the direct bus to the volcano. It was pretty crowded. We all 6 squeezed into the last row for 5 people. The ride up was breathtaking, as usual. We drive up through the Central valley where San José is, then headed over to the next. I have said it before, but my favorite part is driving through the country. It is mind boggling as to how there is so many different landscapes in such a small area. I feel like you can no look at a place like this without feeling overwhelmed, blessed, amazed, and the need to pray. Maybe that is why I like it so much too.

Like always, all of our Tico parents told us that it was SO COLD, but we were all pretty warm up there in our jeans. If I am correct, I think this os the only place where you can see the Atlantic and Pacific oceans from at the same time, but we did not get to. You drive up into the clouds to get there, because it is at 11,260 feet!!! Needless to say, the clouds did not allow for the viewing. Also needless to say, we did not talk to much on the hike up to the highest viewpoint. It was so steep and all you could hear was us breathing hard. Once we got up there though, it was beautiful. It reminded me a lot of Colorado, besides the huge volcano that we were standing on. We had 2 hours to spend in the park until the bus left, so we just hung out at the top for a while until we headed back down. I can not say how thankful I am for my friends here. I was very nervous before coming to Costa Rica about making friends that were fellow believers. Not only have I made friends, I have made brothers and sisters. Times like these, I feel silly for every being nervous or anxious about things. God will provide in THE perfect way. Even if it does not feel like it, you can always see after how it was the best, not necessarily for yourself, but for HIS GLORY!

Once we made it back to San José, we had lunch at Taco Bell. I usually do not like eating at American food places, but we all had an intense craving for those little cinnamon twists! the fast food places here are HUGE!!!!! Seriously, most are 2 stories with countless tables and most are so much nicer that back in the States. 

We took a bus home, then Joey, Ben, and I walked to a close by mall that we had never been to. It was SUPER nice. I was looking at buying some bath and body works lotion, and found out that instead of being 5 or 7 dollars, it was close to $20!!! No Gracias. We wanted to see a movie then, but they wanted to see if anyone else wanted to come with us, so we waited till after dinner. Of course everyone else was to tired, so we went back and watched I am number 4 (Soy numero cuatro) around 7:30. It was no doubt cheesy, but on the cheesy scale, it was alright. Joey had bought a cinnabon cinnamon roll right before the movie, and was trying to wrap it up in his jacket. He and Ben messed with it for a while, then we walked in. the ticket taker just pointed at his jacket and said NO. It was like he had cinnamon roll laser vision. Suprisingly, they told him to eat it outside, but then they said they would hold it for him after the movie. After the movie, he walked up to the booth, and said Tengo comida aqui, I have food here. All of the workers were laughing at him... it was pretty funny though!

I can not believe that I only have 2 weekends left in Costa Rica. I feel like it went by so fast, but I think about leaving home and that feels SOOOOO long ago. We are waiting to see about going to Nicaragua next weekend though. The big International court hearing is Tuesday concerning the border between Costa Rica nad Nicaragua, and someone told us that it may be a possibility that they could close the border, so we are waiting until after the hearing. Hope's dad told us that if we were not going to Nicaragua though, that there is a bull fight this weekend, and that he wanted the boys to go run with him.  LOCOS!! They looked pretty excited when they heard that. I can not say that it would not be interesting to watch though. The bull fights are different here though. It is pretty much people running around, and the bull chases them. The bull does not get hurt like in other places, and actually usually wins! 

¡Pura Vida!!

Jacóóóóóóóó

Wow, this morning came early. We all met at school at 7:15, then headed to the Coca-Cola bus station to catch the bus to Jacó beach. My mom told me as I was leaving, that the road was closed today, and that instead of taking 2 hours go get there, is was going to take 4!!!!!! I told everyone to braces themselves, but luckily she was wrong! Everyone was pretty tired on the bus ride over. I got to finally sit with Hope again, my bus buddy!


Once we got to Jacó, we hung out on the beach. We have heard mixed reviews about Jacó before the trip though. Some said it was dirty and nasty and everyone else said it was nice. I would have to agree, it was the perfect day trip. Once again, so beautiful! We ate lunch at this coo restaurant where you sat around a bar and the seats were swings. Made you feel like a little kid. I had a fruit dish and potatoe wedges, and the plate came with a whole side of papaya. I braved up (is that a word?) and tried it one more time, and to my surprise, it was decent. I ate all of the papaya and felt pretty proud of myself. But I will never pick papaya over the pin apple here! 


After hanging out at the beach more, we all went and got smoothies, then headed back on the bus. there was this huge horse parade in the street though, so we just had to sit in the bus and wait for about 40 minutes. 


And.... I jsut got home to some great news that I will be going to Ecuador at the end of March with my church!!! It all happened really quick, but I am so thankful and excited. I actually was thinking about the trip a lot, even before my mom told me about it, and how useful I would feel. I know that many if not most of them do not really speak Spanish, so I can probably help translate. Even though I am already in a Spanish speaking country and studying Spanish, this has motivated me even more to learn more! I am so excited to serve and take our Christian purpose, once again, to a global level. 


And on a selfish note, I am pretty excited to meet the people there and learn a bit about their culture. 10 days will feel so short compared to three weeks though! 

Playa Jacó

Swingin' and eattin' 

Horse Parade paseo de caballos

Servicito de adorar

And to start this blog off, I feel that I should mention that I was disturbed last night in bed.... by another TEMBLAR de la tierra!!! That is right, numero 2 baby! This one was a but longer but not very strong. I do not think I would have felt it if I was not laying down in bed. 
----------------------


Que un buen dia!!! I slept in a bit today, then met Hope and two other girls around 9:45. We went to the National Museum. It was very interesting. It once was an army base and the headquarters of the army. Surely the best museum that I have been to here. Lunch was great today too. It was just Hope, Ben, and Rachel, but for some reason ti was just extra nice! I have been buying cantaloupes for lunch, and we all share one. Que Rico! After class, Bena nd I went to Pequeno Mundo to buy some SWEET POPCORN!! I am sure that it will come in handy one day this weekend. After that, there was a spur of the moment workout at a park near our houses. I am glad that I got to do that, because I wanted to go to the gym btu was not sure that I had time. My new goal is to be able to do 5 pullups before I leave CR. ATLEAST 5, should I say. You people need to hold me to it!


After the workout, I came home and had dinner. It was a weird night though. Noone knew how ot get up from the table, because Herbert kept in singing Blue Moon. Once I finally stood up, he asked me where I was going and I said Hope's house (La casa de Esperanza) This led into another chachacha song called Esperanza...... it was a long dinner.


We have been planning a little mini worship time together, and tonight was the night. I used Hope's dad's guitar, and we worshiped for about 45 minutes I suppose. It was such great time together. I have been so thankful lately for so many things in my life, but I could never describe what great friends I have here. Now, I truly feel like brothers and sisters, and could not ask for anything better.


And what is the best thing to do after worship time??? Go SALSA dancing! kinda weird, but we went over to Castro's for a bit. That taxi on the way over there was SKETCH! He had an old standard, and had to restart the car every time he would stop moving. Then he would rev it up, I think to charge us more, but it is all good. 


Castro's was fun. There is this dance teacher that is friends with out regular dance teacher. He danced with me a lot, and I like that because he teaches you things. HE seemed pretty impressed with my skills too :)

OLE ole ole ole AZUL AZUL

That is right people... I skipped class and went to a fútbol game!!! It was so much fun! Do be honest, I have forgotten what I did before that though. I do remember that I went with Hope and Rachel and ate pizza al El maná. It was really thick and cheesy, which was a very nice surprise! All of the days are bleeding together. Anyway, now to the good stuff. There were 9 students and Hope's dad, and we all met at their house to get on the bus for Cartago. It is usually about 45 minutes away but took us close to an hour because of traffic. We all pretty much had to sit by ourselves on the way over, but it was some nice alone time. I got so tired on the bus, but would soon be very awake!

We got off the bus, walked to the stadium, and bought our tickets. All of our parents told us that it is colder in Cartago, but none of us really believed them because they always say that things are cold when they are not. WRONG!!! It was probably close to 55 or 60 degrees and it was misty. The weather did not matter though, it was such a blast. We just happened to be sitting right next to the big cheering section for Cartago, so we decided to go for them. I happened to be wearing a blue jacket too, so fate chose the team for us! I love the excitement of the people. I think I am establishing a new found love for soccer. I may or may not see a World Cup in my future :)

It is March already????

So today, I woke up to a downpour, which is pretty unusual. They say that it never rains from January to March. I did not realize it though, but I slept in pretty late, thanks to the rain. I headed to school, and we all had lunch together. It was nice to have everyone back together, a couple of them had been gone on excursions or field trips so lunch was very nice. We got our test scores back, and only 3 people passed the test. Oh yea, one of them was me!! But with his wacky extra credit, we all got 100%? That does not really makes sense to me, but I will take it.


After class I had an awesome workout at the gym, then passed Joey and Hope on the basketball court on the way home. They were about to work out, so I stayed with them for about an hour more. I am really glad that I ran into them. I know I will be pretty sore tomorrow, but I am glad that we all got to do it together!! 

Monday!!

Some how, today was the first day of March. I thought hat not having Spanish class would slow it down, but I feel like it has speed up. I stayed the night at Hope's house last night. Her room got SUPER hot at night, which was not to enjoyable, but PURA VIDA! We woke up, at sandwiches that her mom left in the microwave for us, (yum...), then headed over to my house. I finished the paper that I needed to turn in, then we headed up to school. Rachel Braun led bible study today, and she talked about music in the Bible. It was interesting. After that I went to art class, and we drew a live model. It was good, but to be honest I got a bit bored. 


More class, then home for dinner! 

Domingo

Sunday, I went with Ben to his soccer game. It was supposed to start at 1 o'clock, but at 1:10 nobody was there. Slowly, people started showing up around 1:20. We found out that the 2 big soccer teams in Costa Rica were playing each other, so everyone waited until the game was over. It was funny, there was no explanation for everyone being late, it was just expected that everyone would show up late. the soccer game was fun to watch, it was on a big field this time. At one point, I noticed that there were a lot of people on the field, so I started to count. That is right 28 people, one team had about 3 "goalies". People would just walk up and start playing. I have no idea how they knew who was on who's teams. 

When Ben would get the ball, the funniest thing would happen. He would be running it it, and you would start hearing people yell "Gringo,gringo", to get him to pass the ball to other people. It was great and I really enjoyed watching it.

Next we went to meet this guy to go to church with him. We waited for about 30 minutes, and he never showed up. After, we do what we always do when we have nothing else to do, go to the grocery store! The rest of sunday was pretty relaxing though. Once Hope got home form her field trip, Ben and I went over and we all played cards. I taught them the game 13.... pero, I lost pretty badly. Oh well, at least they learned a new game. 

Come on in boys, the water is fine

I headed up to Hope's house for lunch, and ate nothing other than more rice with her and her house keeper. Rachel and Ben met up with us, we played a little spur of the moment ninja game, then headed for Parque de la Sabana, Savana Park. I did not realize how far it was, but it was pretty much an hour away walking. I did not realize how far it was until we were walking back because my legs were getting so tired. Nobody said anything about getting a taxi, so we kept on walking. The park was nice though. I love just laying in the grass and doing nothing. We just hung out there for a while then headed back home. 

After everyone ate dinner at their houses, we met at the highway to go to Ben and Sean's soccer game. It was supposed to be about 4 of us, but that turned into 8 girls. I guess people were just walking by and decided to stay. It was pretty funny watching all of us walk in together, here come the gringas.  

We always talked about the movie Oh Brother where art thou, and we stumbled across it this morning in the library, so after the game Rachel, Ben, and I went to Hope's to watch it. I have not seen it in so long but it was one of my favorites. I so had to resist the urge not to quote it, because that would be quite annoying, but it is just so good! It definitely made me miss home. That is a frequently quoted movie in my house. 

I am mass communicating boys!