Thanksgiving in Costa Rica

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving!  Well, duh?!  But, in Costa Rica, there isn't the same hype about Thanksgiving as there is at home.  (Another duh I guess since Thanksgiving is a North American celebration and all.)  This past Thursday, I greatly missed the warmth of home, the joy of being with family, the Thanksgiving parade, and the comfort of the same food every year.  While "there's no place like home", we had a great Thanksgiving up at the Costa Rica Center (a.k.a., our campus)!  Of course, I have a few pictures to share:

 

Mario (our amazing chef) and all of the food!  Check out the HUGE Turkey

Our big Thanksgiving meal together

Nanda and I helped out with the little pumpkin pies

I'm not usually a fan of pumpkin pie, but these were SO GOOD!

Taking some fun pictures with Ticcia and Emily (and my homemade Thanksgiving outfit!)

As it is always good to name what you are thankful for, I'm going to write out a list of 10 gifts from our loving God in my life.

1)   Moments in which I am completely present and aware of God's Beautiful Presence about me (sitting on the bench outside, walking on my street back and forth, recognizing how God has perfectly guided my life)

2)  Unexpected kindnesses of others, like one woman on the bus who rode with me all the way past her stop to make sure I got to where I needed to go

3)  Skyping with family and friends at consistent and spontaneous times

4)  Laughing a lot, which I do very often here with the group and with my family

5)  Sharing meals together, especially with my family and Josh's family

6)  Listening to music that reminds me of a certain time in my life ("Hold Me Jesus" by Rich Mullins, "Entre Mis Brazos" from Peru, "Singing in the Rain/Umbrella" by Glee, "Wavin' Flag (Spanish Version)", "Tennessee Christmas" by Amy Grant) 

7)  Finally being able to take blood pressure!

8)  Way over-working on a paper because I find it so interesting

9)  Starting and finishing good books ("Room", "A Daughter's Dream", "One Thousand Gifts", "Gracias!")

10)  Living in another country, learning the language (making many mistakes with the language), discovering a different culture, making new friendships 

Just a bit more :)  In case Hallmark and Cracker Barrel didn't give it away 4 months ago, what special day comes after Thanksgiving?  Christmas!  In my family, we normally put up our Christmas tree sometime after Thanksgiving.  Here, they start a lot earlier!  One of the student's family started putting up decorations in October!  Costa Rica is a Christmas-celebrating country without a doubt.  At least, they sure celebrate it commercially!  Here's some pictures of us putting up the tree up at campus and then at Silvia's house as well:

The HUGE tree we cut from our "backyard"

Helping to put up the ornaments ;)

A pipe-cleaner ornament I made to put on our tree

The tree all lit-up!!!

Putting together Silvia's tree

I was granted the great privilege and responsibility of putting the star on the tree!

We made some pipe-cleaner ornaments for Silvia's tree too.  I tried to make a snowflake and my host mom made an "H" for her name :)

Cooking a little dinner after putting up the tree

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Photo Booth

We're in the middle of some crazy paper writing right now, so I'm mostly going to post pictures to tell my stories of the past two weeks or so.  Here's my little photo booth :)

On the right is Monica showing her final project of our Latin American Studies class.  She's a Tica (Costa Rican), so she always has a very interesting perspective on what we're studying.  Here, she painted various parts of Latin American/Costa Rican history and present day realities that we talked about.  The bubble in the middle represents the little world that she often finds herself in, rather than being aware of past and present tragedies and beauty of Latin America.  I know that I often find myself in a similar mindset, living in my own little bubble until I am exposed to the bigger picture, to different perspectives, to what is really going on in the world, and how I can be a part of positive change and transformation.

One of my special Saturday morning breakfasts creatively prepared by Chef Manuel.  He gets pretty into it.  He explained the artistically arranged fruit (that I get every morning- so spoiled!) as a big pineapple-orange sun with little banana moons all around :)  He cracks me up! 

Here's the chef himself with a nice pineapple!  Little fact I learned this weekend:  right now, every 2 in 3 pineapples sold in the U.S. is from Costa Rica, so we're enjoying the same fruit! 

Hilda and I at la feria (like a farmer's market) in Heredia.  They go every weekend to buy the fruits and vegetables needed for the week.

The greenhouse they just built up at the Costa Rica Center- pretty sweet huh?!

A cloud rolling over the Continental Divide right by campus at sunset, leaving me awe-struck!

My supervisor Flory and I at the clinic.  This is my little "uniform" for now :) 

Here's the real Flory!  She has some personality for sure :)  Here I told her to show off her nurse's cap and this is the pose she struck.  I appreciate her so much.  I am learning and getting to do so much.  She has done so many awesome jobs.  We have a lot of good conversations and laughs.

My favorite ketchup and the new chai Mom just sent me!

Drinking the chai tea!  Hilda liked it :)

A beautiful sunset from the balcony of Sylvia's house next door

A nice hang-out outside with Bean and Emily- two awesome, encouraging, unique, and fun friends of mine!

Here's a little dance video we did around San Rafael and the campus this past Saturday.  I hope you enjoy!  P.S. I'm the one in the brightly-colored, rather large workout suit from the 80s/90s with my brother's black sunglasses :)

Sólo le pido a Dios

Last week, Lindy played a very powerful song to our class.  The basic message of this song is "I only ask of God that He not let me be indifferent to suffering."

Lindy said that this song inspired him to take a stance on a controversial issue and do something about it, in his case writing a book to inform and give voice to the unheard.  As we have encountered, debated, and reflected on similar tough issues, I likewise pray that I not become indifferent or apathetic to the suffering, injustice, and personal and societal problems of the world.  I pray for guidance, direction, and courage to follow the convictions God gives me on certain issues, in certain circumstances, in my place in el Reino de Dios.  I just wanted to share this very meaningful song, what Lindy said about it, and a bit of what I'm thinking with and being challenged by! 
*If you can't understand the lyrics of the song, google translate them ;)     

Tuesday's Ten

For the sake of this alliteration (Tuesday's Ten), I'm going to try and get these past two weeks summed up in ten before the 12 am hits!  

1)  Family Outings

          The weekend we got back from Nicaragua was SO COLD (I mean cold for Costa Rica, not for Chicago).  I even wore gloves to bed one night because I just couldn't get get warm.  It threw me off, like thinking "I'm in Costa Rica?!".  Anyways, on that Monday, my family and I all hopped in the car for a little excursion.  I didn't really know where we were going, but this happens a lot, even though I understand what they're saying to me.  I just kind of go along with it :)  We all got dressed up pretty warm and huddled up in the car.  We ended up driving up to Coronado, a nearby city/province, that's a bit higher in elevation.  It was really beautiful up there, very green.  Kind of randomly, we stopped at this guy's house to buy some of his goat cheese.  My host dad also decided that I had to take advantage of this photo opportunity.   

If these were llamas, you'd think I was in the high mountains of Peru!

      On our drive back home, we took some more pictures in Coronado...

I'm wearing my host mom's furry warm jacket :)

The rain kind of looks like snow...but it's not, even though we're kind of dressed like it's snowing

      To end the family section, I'll share a bit of a struggle in this area.  Sometimes, I feel so at home and comfortable being with my family.  Still, at times, I'm unsure what my role is, how to interact with already-set family dynamics, and just how to go about daily life with them.  For example, since coming back from Nicaragua, I've had a hard time in my relationship with my brother and sister here, in that they kind of ignore me or don't seem to want me around.  After talking to my host mom though, I'm learning to be okay with this in that they are not big talkers in the first place and they are really busy with school.  Although it is such a beautiful, special opportunity to live with a family you didn't know at all before for a fairly long period of time, it is also a daily challenge in different ways.  For this reason, living with a host family while abroad is an irreplaceable opportunity for deep growth and transformation.

2)  Something really normal, regular life that I did recently was get a HAIRCUT!  My first abroad haircut :)  We went to a family friend, and I got a pretty decent cut for $3!!!    It was kind of family affair, in which Antonio, Manuel, Sylvia, and I got a cut. 

This reminds me of those baby pictures parents (mine too!) of a kid's first haircut

While on that thought, here's what my childhood haircut looked like :)

3)  Another little family bit...

My host dad has been cooking a lot lately, reminding me a lot of Papa :) 

Some morning, he fixes my breakfast.  He gets really into it, especially cutting and presenting the pineapple, banana, and pineapple.  Also, he's very into getting me to put salt on every bit of fruit I eat...which isn't my favorite exactly since I'm such a sweet tooth.  My host mom helped me out though by saying I like it not everyday.  Thanks Mamita!  

4)  Speaking of breakfast, I've been taking a little too long to get ready and eat breakfast.  Josh has too.  Follow that train of thought...and you can guess that we have missed the bus twice, and just a couple of minutes!  We definitely ran after the bus last Tuesday and just missed it.  It was a bit embarrassing to us but gave our friends a good laugh :)  

Josh and I ON TIME at our bus stop

Last Tuesday, when we missed the bus, sweet Dinorah came down to pick us up at the bus stop.  With a more typical Latin American attitude that I really appreciate, she said, "You don't even worry about it!  We understand that these kind of things happen.  Pura vida!" :)

5)  A bit about some school stuff...we just finished up a really good course called Latin American Studies.  Now, we begin our more intense two weeks of CORE 350, a class focusing on policy, ethics, and worldview.  I am learning so much in my classes!  I think one of the biggest reasons that I love my classes so much is because they are small (from 2-7 students).  We all are able to speak up and ask questions, which doesn't happen in a class of 20+ people.  Lindy is such a great professor.  His role plays really involve us and get us to think about a certain historical situation or a current issue from lots of different sides.  Last Thursday, we had debate on immigration policy in the U.S.  I'm not one for debates, but I learned a lot from my research as I was forced to be informed on all sides of the debate.  

6)  While we were at the haircut place, Sylvia decided that we should throw a birthday party for Antonio, as well as a late one for Josh.  I suggested that we make everyone dress up, since the party (this past Saturday) would be close to Halloween.  So about a week ago, Josh and I with our host parents went a little thrift store shopping for costumes :)

She originally wanted to be Pocahontas!

Pretty creepy, huh?

7)  I'll just continue on the Halloween party scene through the following pictures...

The party room we decorated

All of our Whitworth (plus Wheaton!) group that came plus my and Josh's host dads

Frodo and the Unicorn :)

After food, games, and conversations, a good majority of the crowd left.  This left Josh, me, our host parents, and a few random friends.  We sang karaoke and danced salsa columbiana until 1 am!!!  It was a lot of fun, but I was sure worn out...the good kind though ;)  If I can figure out how to upload my videos to here, I'll put the karaoke and dancing ones because they tell more than words can say!

8)  The next day, after a good sleep-in (probably because our host parents had a little too much fun...and cerveza ;) ), we had another but much more chill party up at campus.  We ended up just eating some good Halloween food and watching Community, an NBC show I quite like now!

Bean (character from TV show Portlandia- feminist bookstore (YouTube it!) and me (crazy disco ball shirt)

9)  A little update on my internship...still going great!  I've gotten in 16 hours over the past 3 Mondays.  I love my supervisor Flory.  She loves to teach me!  I sure have to think back to physiology class in the spring as she asks me about blood pressure and all the systems hypertension affects, etc.  And, praise God, I'm finally able to take blood pressure accurately and consistently!  I even took a patient's blood pressure this past Monday!  And, I've been practicing IV and i.m. injections on a pseudo-vein (a thin rubber tube).  Flory set her goals for me in the next few weeks, and those include taking all of the vital signs of a patient and noting them on the computer, giving an intramuscular injection (here all adults get their shots in the butt!), and maybe put in an IV.  I'm loving it all!  We also talk a lot and laugh, especially about the attractive doctor that comes in at the end of my "shift" ;).  This internship was definitely worth the wait!

10)  And to end another very long post, I want to share about how I am encountering the Bible in a new way here.  For all you who know a second language (or at least have studied it enough to read the Bible), you'll know what I'm talking about.  When I read the Bible in Spanish, I encounter all of the passages that I've read over so many times in English as if I was reading them anew.  The Spanish translation often carries slightly different meanings or connotations.  For example, throughout the Bible, where most English bibles translate the Hebrew/Greek word to righteousness, the Spanish translation uses justice.  Upon study of the original language of the written text, a translation of "justice" is actually a little closer to the original meaning.  Justice definitely carries a different meaning than righteousness, which is often interpreted in a more individualistically.  In the Spanish translation, Matthew 6:33 translates to English as "Furthermore, seek first the kingdom of God and his justice."  Justice has much more of a social and collective connotation.  I have many more examples, but the bottom line is that I am so grateful for this new encounter with God's Word!  

    I remember Heather praying for me before I left that I would experience things that I otherwise would not have, that I would learn to see things in a whole new way, that I would meet God in a new way...put all of this on the praise list for a prayer being answered anew each day here in Costa Rica!