La Vida de Fran B.

No pasé durmiendo el invierno

2009-12-15T10:04:00.001-06:00

Ready, Able

2009-12-11T09:00:00.001-06:00

Perros

2009-03-02T14:36:00.004-06:00

It's cold, dark, and a bit depressing here in MI and apparently I don't have anything good to take pictures of. This is from a week ago when we took care of the Schaefer's dogs for a night. Sasha looks like a cartoon and Bordeaux just looks completely psycho. I seriously can't stop laughing when I see this.

An Update/ Una Actualiza

2008-12-05T13:29:00.004-06:00

It's time for a random update about my life. Everything is going really well. I'm done with my exams on Thursday, and I can't wait. I am so ready to have a little time to organize things around the house, train the puppy, and hopefully paint a few canvases that I have been wanting to get at but haven't had time for. I am planning on finishing out the rest of this year at LCC, and then going to MSU for ESL, Spanish, and a teaching certificate. I applied to MSU in September and should hopefully hear back from them soon. Keith and I have been married for three months now and we are loving every single bit of it. We are in love with our little puppy also, but we wish she would just tell us when she has to go outside instead of pooping right in front of the door. She is getting much better though, she is learning very quickly.

Keith and I are now helping out with Riv Kids large group once a month, and it has been a lot of fun. It's kind of embarrassing when there are other adults in the room that we know, because we are being as cheesy as we can possibly be to keep the kid's attention.

In one week I will have been home from Costa Rica for one year. Its crazy to me that it has already been a year! All of the experiences are so fresh in my mind still. Keith and I are planning a trip in either August or December of next year. I cant wait to show him all around and let him in to my experience that so greatly shaped who I am. It is going to be impossible to show him everything that I want to show him in a week. I for sure want to teach him how to surf though. Ok, that's about as random as a post can get, but that's all I have for now. ¡Tengan buen día!

Halloween

2008-11-13T14:32:00.005-06:00

My Halloween costume was ridiculous:

I was the "Crazy McCain Rally Lady" from the SNL spoof:

http://widgets.nbc.com/o/4727a250e66f9723/48fbc34736101f3f/4741e3c5156499a7/a06522c7/-cpid/80721d75df9984d9

Bordeaux, our new puppy

2008-11-13T14:24:00.003-06:00

Keith and I bought a puppy on Monday. We wanted a dog that would not shed, but would still be big, so we got a Labradoodle. She is a 9 week old female and she is the cutest thing I have ever seen. She is named Bordeaux, after the French city.

Bethany Hamilton Story

2008-10-24T08:46:00.005-05:00

This is an amazing story about an 18 year old surfer from Hawaii who lost her left arm in a shark attack when she was 13 but still returned to surfing. It seems virtually impossible to me that someone would be able to stand up on a surf board with one arm. Let alone to paddle hard enough to catch a wave. Its hard enough with two arms! This is an unbelievable story, check it out:

"On October 31, 2003, Hamilton went for a morning surf along Tunnels Beach, Kauai with friends Alana, Byron and Holt Blanchard. Around 7:30 a.m., she was lying sideways on her surfboard with her left arm dangling in the water, when a 14 ft tiger shark attacked her, ripping her left arm off just below the shoulder. If the shark had bitten 2 inches further in, the attack would have been fatal. Bethany had lost 60% of her blood that morning. Her friends helped paddle her back to shore, and fashioned a tourniquet out of a surfboard leash around what was left of her arm before rushing her to Wilcox Memorial Hospital. Her dad was supposed to have a knee surgery that morning but she took his place in the operating room.
Despite the trauma of the incident, Hamilton was determined to return to surfing. Three weeks after the incident, she returned to her board and went surfing again. Initially, she adopted a custom-made board that was longer and slightly thicker which made it easier to paddle. She has observed that she has to kick a lot more to make up for the loss of her left arm. After teaching herself to surf with one arm, she has again begun surfing competitively. She is now back to using competitive performance short-boards again.

In July 2004 Hamilton won the ESPY Award for Best Comeback Athlete of the Year. She was presented with a special courage award at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards.

In 2005, with one arm, Bethany took 1st place in the NSSA National Championships, a goal she had been trying to achieve since before the shark attack. In 2008, she began competing full-time on the ASP World Qualifying Series. In her first competition against many of the world's best women surfers, she came in 3rd.

Hamilton is also a devout Christian who uses her shark attack experience in her personal ministry."

Here is a clip from the documentary about her:

Feist and Canada

2008-10-23T08:36:00.004-05:00

My wonderful husband bought us tickets to see Feist this weekend for my birthday present. So we are headed to London, Canada tomorrow for what should be an amazing show. Feist is awesome, she is one of my favorites right now. You have to check her out if you haven't already:

¡Congrats to Brett and Kelli!

2008-10-23T08:28:00.003-05:00

I am so happy for you guys!

Thoughts of a 3 year old

2008-09-24T14:56:00.003-05:00

"This apple is good, it takes like dragonflies. Dragonflies taste like butter, and that tastes like me."
-Isaac Odom

Fran BONZELAAR

2008-09-23T08:46:00.005-05:00

Its been awhile since I have been on here, but this blog is in desperate need of an update on my life. If you are reading this blog, I am pretty sure you already know... The wedding was a blast! Everyone involved was such a huge help and did a great job. Especially Tricia with the cakes!

...and we are absolutely loving being married.

We went to my parent's cabin in Kentucky and spent a week secluded from the world. It was so relaxing and calming after a crazy few months. Throwing a wedding together in only about 2 months is quite a task! I have been really busy since we got back from Kentucky because I had to miss a whole week of school. I have been playing catch up with homework and at the same time trying to move my stuff in to our house. Hopefully life will settle down a bit now, things have been crazy. It was such an amazing experience but I am glad its over so I can breath. We have really missed out on a lot of time hanging out with our freinds the past few months with so much stuff to do. I'm looking forward to getting back to normal now.

Una mezcla de emoción.

2008-04-11T00:42:00.004-05:00

Today I had a really big wave of missing Costa Rica and everyone that I love there. It made me really sad, I wish that Carlitos was on skype so I could talk to him. I feel so blessed for the friends and family I have at home, but I miss these things:

Siempre un parte de mi corazón se quedará en Costa Rica.

Kate Nash- Nicest Thing

2008-04-02T14:00:00.002-05:00

She is my new favorite.

The "One Semester of Spanish Spanish Love Song"

2008-03-19T21:22:00.001-05:00

This is amazing.

Franny la Niñera

2008-03-11T21:34:00.002-05:00

I babysit for some cute kids. I am also trying to teach them Spanish. All it has gotten me so far is a random "¡Rojo!" or "¡Agua!" here and there, but hopefully they will catch on more.

Lunar eclipse & Going to Spain

2008-02-26T09:57:00.002-06:00

My dad and I took pictures of the lunar eclipse last week, it was pretty cool. Doesn't it say in the Bible somewhere that the moon will turn blood red at the end times?

I am flying out to Spain at 4:00pm today. I will be in Barcelona for a week visiting my best friend Anna Keeler. Pray for safe travels and a great time!

BODIES

2008-02-15T20:02:00.006-06:00

I am in Cincinnati with Rachel for the weekend hangin out at her cousin's house. Tomorrow we are going to see the Bodies Exhibit at the museum. My dad saw it in LA and said it was amazing. Check out the link.

Snow kicked my butt today

2008-02-06T17:55:00.000-06:00

I just almost died like 7 times only to reach LCC and then find out that my classes got cancelled 5 minutes before I got there. So I went and attempted to snow-blow my grandparents driveway. By the time I got done, I looked back at the driveway, and it was pretty much covered in snow again. So then I drove home and almost died another 7 times.

Kentucky

2008-01-09T21:10:00.001-06:00

My parents and I are headed to our cabin in Kentucky in a few minutes. I am really excited, it has been over a year since I have been able to go down. I guess the weather is supposed to be kind of crappy, but hopefully I still get some good pictures.

My blogging has slowed down...

2007-12-27T22:27:00.000-06:00

And its pretty much all downhill from here. I will make an attempt to update this with what is happening in my life. It probably wont be quite as exciting since I am no longer in an exotic land with dead people in the river and armed robbers on every corner.

Becca and I were talking last night about how amazing it is to go back to the place where everyone you love is. Even though I really don't like Michigan as a location, I love so many people here. It is so comforting to see the faces that I know so well.

The transition is getting much better. I still kind of suck at speaking English and sometimes people have no clue what I am trying to say because I have translated a phrase literally from Spanish and I end up saying things like "I have cold" instead of "I'm cold." But Spanish words have stopped echoing in my head when I try and order food in English... that's good because that was getting pretty annoying.

Christmas was stressful because I had one week to do Christmas shopping since I got back from CR so late. I am glad its over. I got a plane ticket to Spain for February to visit Anna, I am happy with Santa. I am looking forward to starting school and getting into a routine again. I have lots of crap to do before that! Back to reality! Wooo Hooo.

Entonces...

2007-12-18T23:40:00.000-06:00

I have been home for almost a week now and things are getting a bit easier. It has been good to see everyone, although everyone has been pretty busy. I drove today for the first time in four months, it was weird. I keep forgetting I have a cell phone and I keep leaving the stupid thing everywhere. It's nice to have, but it was nice not having to worry about stuff like that.

It is cold, I miss Carlitos, and I miss seeing big green mountains when I look outside.

Carlitos keeps sending me little messages on Skype chat when I am away from my computer. He writes "Hello? Are you there? Well I miss you a lot Franny D. I love you!!! A lot!" It makes me want to cry.

I'm Home...

2007-12-14T01:49:00.000-06:00

And it's a whole mix of emotions.

It was really nice to sleep in my bed, and aparently I have an accent now?

Cute/Funny/Disgusting

2007-12-11T06:48:00.000-06:00

I was typing Kenna an email and Carlitos walked into my room with a really serious look on his face. He pauses, then says "Franny, I have bad news." I was like "what?" He was like "I have to go poop in your bathroom. My dad and my sister are both in the ones upstairs. I have no other choice." ..."Ok Carlitos, thats fine." It is so funny how well he articulates himself for a 7 year old. Everything that comes out of his mouth is really proper but it is usually on the subject of bodily movements or something totally off the wall. Every time he talks you are thinking he is going to say something so sophisticated and it turns out the be a conversation like the one above. I am seriously going to miss that little boy so much!

Also. We have had to keep a good eye on Summo (the dog) the past couple of days. He keeps sneaking inside the house and trying to pee on the Christmas tree.

Orosi Valley

2007-12-10T13:06:00.001-06:00

Yesterday we went to the village of Orosi. It was really nice. The oldest church in Costa Rica is there and we got to walk through it.

I am coming home in two days! Holy crap! I seriously cant imagine what its going to be like to my family at the airport. I hope my dog remembers me...

4 days, 4 hours, 6 min, 45 sec

2007-12-08T15:18:00.000-06:00

:) = Seeing my friends, family, food I'm used to, car, cell phone, not having to pick and choose what you can afford to get robbed off of you when you leave the house.

:( = 21 legal drinking age, cold, dark, no more Carlitos and the Gomez family.

Open Doors

2007-12-06T10:26:00.000-06:00

Franny,
Congratulations!! You should be proud of the things you have accomplished and the person you've become. I took this picture on a plantation in N. Carolina about 2 years ago. These slave quarters remind me that many of us take for granted all of the invisible "doors" that have been opened for us; & that this was the only door opened for so many others. I know that you have the heart & the mind to do so much for yourself & for others. May your love & compassion continue to break down barriers & open doors for all who enter your life.

All of my best
-Mr K.

This is an inspiring letter that I got from Mr. Keckeisen on the day of my open house. I found it in my prayer journal today. This is a picture from Old Town, but he attached a picture of the slave quarters he talked about in the letter. What he said is so true about taking for granted the "doors" that have been opened for us. I have had so many "doors" opened for me that the little kids in the feeding center will never see just because they were born into a different place and family. It makes me sick when people try and act better than another person because of the situation they were born into. Umm, you did nothing to determine the country and family you were born into therefor you are no better than anyone else just because your "Amuurican" and people who think like that should be hit across the face with a 2x4.

Pictures from Los Guidos/Alajuelita

2007-12-05T23:22:00.000-06:00

My previous post was freaking depressing so I am going to post on something else also. Like I said, today was my last day of Club De Arte. These are some pictures of the past three months:

This is not a happy post

2007-12-05T22:40:00.000-06:00

Today was my last day teaching the art class at Alajuelita. On the way home walking to the bus with Lucía, there was a dead body in the river under a bridge we crossed. I looked at the man's body and it didn't process until I saw his mouth and eyes open, and I realized that he looked like he had been there awhile. I cant believe that no one from the community had done anything about it. It is the main river that flows through the slums I am sure that everyone had seen him there.

Also exhibitionism is a huge problem here. Maybe it is just as bad in the big cities in the United States, but I have seen it occurring here on more than one occasion, its really disturbing. On all of the occasions God has protected me by either a bus coming just in time to get away from the man or Don Carlos being there to scare him off. But it was still really disturbing. There is much less respect for women in the culture here. Zero respect. Its also hard because I look so different and it catches attention, and scummy sick men notice I'm not from here also. They say things to me and laugh thinking I don't understand. After these disturbing experiences I have really longed to be in a place where I blend in again. It will be nice to walk down the street without being the "Machita" or being sexually harassed 7 times in a row. Only 6 more days.

This world is messed up. And we all just need Jesus.

La Playa

2007-12-03T16:17:00.001-06:00

My family took me to the beach yesterday as a goodbye trip. We went to a secluded beach on the Pacific. The waves were too small to surf, but it was a really nice time. Stef and I took some awesome pictures in the light of the sunset.

Christmas Tree Hunting in Costa Rica

2007-12-01T20:18:00.000-06:00

I went with the family today to help them pick out their Christmas tree. There were rows and rows of trees and it took us forever to pick one. I never knew that picking a Christmas tree was such a hard thing to commit to. Normally when cutting down a Christmas tree you would be drinking hot chocolate. In Costa Rica we drink coconut milk!

Parque de la Paz

2007-12-01T13:11:00.001-06:00

Stefanie, Carmen and I got up early today and Carlos took us to Parque de la Paz. We went for a run, did yoga, and had a Bible study on top of the beautiful hill. It was a nice morning.

Those three dots are us doing Yoga.
The bridge on our run.
The city of San José from the top of the hill.

Hahahah

2007-11-30T11:31:00.001-06:00

A friend I met surfing at Escuela Del Mundo sent me this:

Food

2007-11-30T10:50:00.001-06:00

Its all I think about. Sloppy joes, baked beans, potato salad, potato chips, curly fries, cheeseburgers, steak, mashed potatoes, hot dogs. Stuff I didn't even eat much of when I was home, I want really bad. I want venison jerky more than I have ever craved anything in my life. I think I'm going insane.

Pura Vida, Oh Well.

2007-11-29T15:03:00.000-06:00

We had all of our backs packed and we were ready to hit the road for Nicaragua. Then we found out that the car needed a special permit to cross the boarder, which we didnt have. So now we have to figure out how to get the permit and we are going to try and go next weekend.

Plans ALWAYS change here. If we plan on something, we can pretty much trust that its not going to happen that way. When I first got here that kind of bothered me. I thought I was a late person, everything is like hours behind schedule here. I had to get used to it. Now I just turn to the phrase "Pura Vida" when I have no clue what the heck is going on.

Romeo and I talking on Skype

2007-11-28T14:12:00.001-06:00

We were having a really intense conversation, obviously.

Cerca de Regresando

2007-11-26T22:07:00.000-06:00

My time in Costa Rica is coming to an end very soon. I wonder how I am going to handle this whole saying goodbye thing. I imagine its going to be extremely bittersweet.

I am unbelievably excited to see my dog (and all of the human beings I love) of course. But as cheesy as it sounds, a part of me will forever remain in Costa Rica. As I drove home from Poás yesterday, I looked out of the window at the rolling hills and misty mountains in the distance, and the endless rows of coffee plants. Even though the roads in Costa Rica are like a roller coaster from HELL and I almost threw up again, I still realized something really beautiful. As we were winding and winding through the hills, I thought to myself, "I wont be leaving this place with my whole heart, some of it is staying here." Not only with the people and relationships I have made here, but with the place itself. The children's faces from the community I worked in will remain in my mind. When I left the beach after the first month I was here, I looked back at the sunset one last time and I knew that I was leaving a piece of myself there and I wont be able to leave completely whole.

I guess that's how experience is. God has taught me so much while I have been here, of course its going to be very special to me. Back in time a little bit: I have been a Christian for about 2 1/2 years now, and I have had huge seasons of growth and failure since then. I was lost, then saved, had the "new Christian spiritual high" (as I like to call it), then had a season of failure and immense stumbling (which is all of the time but this one was really bad), then had a short season of growth again. Then I got comfortable. I was having a hard time seeking God. I have always had a desire inside of me to live in a different country and specifically to learn a new language, ever since I was a child. I went to France for a week, I realized that if I wanted to, it was possible for me to walk on a plane, and leave to a different country. I got to thinking, what am I waiting for? After one message Noel gave at Riverview, It pushed me over the edge. I told Devon later that night at the Price's, "I'm going to Bolivia, Peru, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, somewhere, I don't care and I'm not sure yet, but I'm going!" I planned my trip and got in contact with Carlos Gomez (The GCLA pastor in San José whose family I live with) within a week. My dad flew me down here, then a week later, he left. In Costa Rica I took my first real steps in living out my own faith, I learned what it was like to totally depend on God instead of on myself or other people. I saw God from a whole new angle. I realized that I NEEDED to seek him, not just that it was good for me to do. I came here not knowing a single person. Every face that I saw each day was brand new. It was just me, God, my Bible, and Costa Rica. It changed me so much. I really learned to walk on my own here, of course its going to be extremely special to me. It kicked my butt.

Usually this would be the time of year for me when I would feel like I am going to die of hypothermia every time I would walk outside into the grey sky, dead, cold Michigan winter. Here I walk outside to sun shinning on my face. I look out of the window of the bus to green rolling hills, palm trees, and gorgeous mountains. Now that I speak Spanish everyday, I don't know what it will be like to live in a place where I don't speak Spanish at all throughout my day. I had to adjust so much when I came here, I had to throw myself into a new culture and I couldn't look back because I would have freaked out. That was so drastic, I feel like its going to be really hard for me to adjust back. I do feel warm when I think about going to get coffee with a good friend at Beaner's. And it will be nice to drive past the places where I spent my childhood, or a place that reminds me of when me and all of the guys road our bikes up to Wilcox last summer just to swing on the swing set at midnight. Older memories than four months. But then I think about the park where we take Carlitos to play soccer here, and the place where we always went surfing in Jacó. Those places and what happened there is really special too.

This is the way life goes. And I need to get used to it, because I am beginning to realize something about myself. While I love home, really the only thing I love about it is the people, and the church. I don't think I will be living in Michigan for my whole life, or "si Dios quiere" if God desires, for very much longer. I am constantly thinking about the new country I want to spend time at or the new language I want to learn. I thought that these four months in Costa Rica and learning Spanish would satisfy the desire inside me to experience something totally different and far away, but I am beginning to fear it has only gotten me started. Maybe God made me this way for a reason. Or maybe I will sink my roots in a stop acting like a gypsy. We will see what has in store for me.

Poás and Grecia Viaje

2007-11-25T18:26:00.000-06:00

I went to Poás Volcano today, It was a really cool day. God's creation blows my mind. It is one of the few active volcanoes in the world where you can actually walk up to the edge of the crater. It is considered to be the biggest crater in the world. It smelled like cold fart because of the lake of molten sulfur and an altitude of 8,884 feet. It was a really breathtaking view. I also went to a cute little village in the Volcanic mountain range. I ate lunch with a Mexican couple and had a cool conversation. Well, pretty much any conversation I have in Spanish is cool to me because I am so happy and proud of myself that I even had a conversation. Guess what we ate? Beans and rice. AHHH.

Volcan Poás from far away. Doesn't look like there is too much going on over there. The stuff in front is a coffee plantation.
The crater.
All of that steam smells like cold farts. And it was blowing right in my face.
My attempt to prove that I was there, but the cold fart steam took over and you cant even see the crater.
This church was brought to Grecia, Costa Rica in pieces over the course of two years. It was a gift from Belgium, they made it metal to protect from the volcanic ash.
Inside the church. It is called Iglesia de la Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes.
On the way home. Mi linda Costa Rica.

My Thanksgiving in Costa Rica

2007-11-24T21:48:00.000-06:00

They don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Costa Rica, but my family here thought it would be a great reason to throw a party and invite people into their home. So we had close to 40 people over. We had an awesome feast with all of the traditional thanksgiving food and then we all danced until 1 AM. Salsa is so much fun, I've got a long way to go but I'm not bad for a gringa. Stef and Val's friends are like professionals because they have been doing it their whole lives. They are really fun to watch. It was an awesome time. I think I am going to suggest Salsa dancing at all of my future thanksgivings, we will see how that works with my Dutch family.

Here are some pictures:

¡Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias!

2007-11-22T11:26:00.000-06:00

I woke up this morning and told (big)Carlos "Happy Thanksgiving!" He goes "Hey! Happy Thanksgiving!" Then there was a pause and he goes, "Is that what you guys say?"

Tomorrow we are having a thanksgiving dinner with 35 people! I have to make sweet potatoes!

I am so going here in February

2007-11-22T11:20:00.000-06:00

Three Weeks Until I'm home

2007-11-21T08:39:00.002-06:00

Might be a little culture shock for me...

Lost my lunch on a Costa Rican highway...

2007-11-19T22:20:00.000-06:00

So I went to Arenal for the weekend. Some parts were amazing, some parts were not so amazing.

We got there on Friday afternoon, our hotel was awesome. I just relaxed in the hot tub the whole day and watched TV in ENGLISH at our hotel room. It was weird, the place was so touristy it didn't really feel like I was in Costa Rica. The Costa Rica that I am used to is the slums of Los Guidos, it was very relaxing but I sort of felt weird being there.

There was a crystal clear river right next to our hotel and I sat on a rock in the middle of it and read for like three hours each day. It was so nice to have some alone time. There was a stupid cloud over the top of the volcano the whole time so we didn't really get to see anything. We went on a hike and and took a tour of the national park which was awesome, we saw lots of animals, including monkeys! I have like the worst luck with seeing animals so this was a big deal. Then we went to Tabacón hot springs. Probably the coolest place I have EVER been. They built this resort around a river that is heated by the magma from Volcan Arenal. There were all of these waterfalls with pools and the water was all like a hot tub. When the volcano erupted you could feel it rumble and the water instantly got hotter. It was so awesome. We just laid in the river for like 2 hours and then ate at the most beautiful buffet I have ever seen.

Then on Sunday we checked out of our room at 1 and ate lunch while we waited for our bus to come pick us up from the hotel. About two hours into the ride (its a four hour ride) I started to feel really sick. I have not gotten car sick since I was in like 5th grade, so I thought I would be fine. These roads were like riding a merry go round at 60 MPH, on the edge of a cliff. All of a sudden, without warning, I needed to throw up. I lunged for the window, stuck my head out, and threw up for like seriously 2 minutes straight. Needless to say, it was not my finest hour. Here is my facebook graffiti depiction of what happened:

It was pretty freaking funny after the fact, and I felt fine after I was out of a moving vehicle. Whew, although like I said, it was not my finest hour.

Here are some more pleasant pictures of my weekend:

Este Vida Me Cansa, y Volcan Arenal

2007-11-13T20:41:00.000-06:00

These days are feeling longer and longer. I fell asleep on the bus ride home today and almost missed my stop, which would have been pretty bad. It was such a fight to keep my eyes open for the last stretch of the ride. I hate that feeling too.

I wake up at 5:30, and I am walking to the bus stop at 6. I ride a bus to downtown and then walk for 15 minutes to another stop. I get on another bus for another hour and arrive at about 8:00. I meet the other missionary at the office and we walk to another bus stop. (It isn't safe to go into Los Guidos alone so we go together.) We ride a bus for another hour into the poor community where we teach our art class. The distance that we go is really short. It would probably take 15-20 minutes but because of traffic and stops, I ride a bus for 3 hours every morning. We teach one class, have lunch, then teach another class. Its pretty exhausting because the kids don't have a great understanding of obedience and structure. I am constantly chasing little boys around and telling them to get back to class por favor. Just when I get them back another one takes off, or a mom comes and drops of her 1 year old for us to watch... even though we have a class to teach. I am constantly helping kids glue glitter on to their craft with one arm and a screaming baby in the other arm. After class, it then takes me about 2 1/2 hours to get home on bus because I only have to change buses once downtown on the way home. I cant listen to my ipod because if they see the ear phones they might rob me. Its creepy, sometimes I catch the person behind me touching my hair. Most of the time its a nice old lady that just likes the color because its rare there, but 2 times out of 10 its a greasy Latin man. Aye nooo. I get home around 5:30 or 6 each day.

All of these interactions are in my 2nd language, which makes my brain feel totally toasted by about 8 at night. I cant even speak English by that time. Then I am saying "No I didn't went" and "no I hasn't saw that." Aye no.

Its difficult because the other missionary I work with is Korean, and the only language we really have in common is Spanish. She speaks Korean, Japanese, Spanish, and a little tiny bit of English. Its hard to communicate especially because we have to talk kind of in depth about the kids and the lesson plans and what not. So between her tiny bit of English and both of our mediocre Spanish, we somehow make it work. She is an amazing girl. She is actually one of six Koreans to win a super competitive contest. The Korean government is paying for a year of all expenses for them to do a peace corps type thing, she chose Costa Rica, and she chose to work with Food For the Hungry because she is a Christian. We have had some interesting talks about what its like to grow up a Christian in Korea and Japan, both predominantly Buddhist and Shinto countries. In Korean high school, they go to school from 7:30 AM until 10 PM. Holy crap. Aye no.

We are going to Volcan Arenal together this weekend for three days. It should be cool to relax in some hot springs!! Pray that we see the Volcano erupt, I have heard that its spectacular, but the problem is that there has to be no clouds for us to see it. Which isn't likely because its really high up. But seriously pray that God would show us his beauty this weekend! Also pray that things go smoothly because traveling in Costa Rica is a little shaky at times. Here are some pictures off the Internet of where we will be:

Travel Travel...

2007-11-07T21:06:00.000-06:00

I have so many small trips coming up, I turned down an opportunity to go to the Carribean Coast last weekend because I just felt like I needed some chill time. I'm already far from my real home, and then to do so much traveling on top of that, it really wears me out. Blah. There are so many little trips coming up.

Nov 16th, 17th, 18th- Going with a friend Lucia (Korean Missionary that I work with at the Foundation) to Volcano Arenal and hot springs for three days. 4 hour bus ride.

Nov 24th- Going with Lucia and some other friends to Volcano Poas for the whole day. 2 1/2 hour bus ride.

Dec 1st, 2nd- Going with the family to the beach for a few days as a goodbye thing. 2 hours away.

Dec 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th- Going with Val and Steph (my sisters here) to Nicaragua to translate for a mission team from Ohio. 8 hour bus ride.

Dec 12th- Flying home to the United States of America where I will speak English, eat chicken fajita roll ups from Applebees, and have a cell phone once again.

On a happier note...

2007-11-04T23:21:00.000-06:00

We had a fiesta today for Graciela's birthday (another missionary here). It was a blast! Here are a few pictures from the evening:

Can anyone find the machita?

With my little amor Carlos.

I already told some of you this story...

2007-11-04T23:01:00.000-06:00

Last week I saw a fight in the street downtown while I was walking to my bus stop. I was crossing the street and these two guys had road rage or something. There was a guy on the motorcycle (late 20s and fit) and a guy in a taxi (40s and unfit). They both exited their vehicles and were swearing at each other. Then they started fighting and the motorcycle guy seriously cracked the other guys skull open on the pavement. He had his head, and was banging it against the ground. There was blood everywhere. All over his face. I was just screaming "Help him help him" because I didn't know what to do... I thought he was going to kill him. There was just a crowd gawking and finally two huge guys came and pulled them apart. The older man's face was ruined, all I could compare it to is when Edward Norton ruins the blond kid's face in Fight Club. I wanted to throw up, cry or something. I had a lot of emotion and adrenaline. I hate seeing human being treating other human beings this way, especially over road rage. I can feel God frowning at how stupid we are.

I wanted something from The States...

2007-11-03T17:28:00.001-05:00

So I walked to Taco Bell and got a chalupa. Now I feel like I'm going to throw up.

Aye no.

New Classroom for Child Care Choluteca

2007-10-30T22:05:00.000-05:00

"There are more than 2,000 children at risk in the community of Ciudad Nueva (Limon), Choluteca, Honduras.

Great Commission Latin America, Inc; through the Great Commission Church Choluteca is reaching, and caring for, more than 35 children at this point. We need to build a new classroom with the amount of $4,000 and we need it soon.

1. Bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations
2. Care for the orphan, the widow, the hungry, the naked, the imprisoned, the sick
3. Do it with a sense of empowerment, so they start walking on their own"

If you have a facebook, go to my profile, and join this cause. Donate if you can! Even if everyone donated 5 dollars it would do so much. After they reach $1000 they are going to start construction on this classroom.

Time Flies

2007-10-28T13:38:00.001-05:00

Exactly a month and a half until I'm home.

Me Gusta Reggaeton?

2007-10-27T03:41:00.000-05:00

So I hate rap in the states, it seriously makes me cringe. I hate to admit it, But I really like Reggaeton though. Everywhere you go here its blasting from the houses and shops. Some good ones are: "Ella me levantó" By Daddy Yankee and "Solo dime Que Si" by Tito El Bambino... Just, uh, dont translate that one...

Fundación para el Hambriento

2007-10-25T23:27:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures from the center where I volunteer:

Open The Eyes of My Heart Lord

2007-10-23T22:02:00.000-05:00

This is my favorite worship song that we sing with the kids and the feeding center during Club de Niños. It's really pretty in Spanish. The little show offs belt it out. Its so cool. Just 20 kids, three adults, and a dirty run down classroom in the middle of the ghetto holding hands and singing really loud.

Abre mis ojos o Christo
Abre mis ojos te pido
Yo queiro verte
Yo quiero verte

Yo quiero ver te majesta
Briando a la luz de tu gloria
Danos poder y amor
Cantamos, Santo, Santo, Santo
Santo Santo Santo
Yo quiero verte

On a not so cool note, two of the little boys from my class showed up today with their heads shaved. I asked the mom why they did that and she said "Oh you know because of the lice."

Ok please pray that I don't get lice, holy crap. Seriously. Latin culture is super affectionate and the little kids are constantly hugging me and kissing me on the cheek. AHHHH. They greet here with one kiss on the cheek for craps sake. My boss and I are both going to get lice shampoo just in case.

Tan emocionada, voy a hacer poo poo en mis pantalones

2007-10-21T17:49:00.000-05:00

So I have three friends who I have been my best friends since middle school, and one since we were 4 years old. Audrey, Anna, and Kirsten. This year, we have scattered to all different parts of the globe. I of course am in Central America until December. Kirsten is in Mount Pleasant, MI going to school at Central all year. Audrey is going to Central for the fall semester also, but in January she is going to school in England. Anna is an Au Pair in Barcelona until June. The longest I have went without seeing these girls has probably been about two or three weeks. When I get back I will see Audrey for two weeks, then she's off to Europe.

So I asked my friend Katy what she thought about going back to Europe for spring break (We went to Paris last year together). Of course she was all about it. We are going to Barcelona for a week to visit Anna and Audrey is going to meet us there! To make things more exciting, my dad told me today that he wants to come with us!

We of course are changing planes in Amsterdam once again, just to keep the tradition going.

And for those of you who didn't get it, the title of this post means "So excited, I am going to poop my pants."

No more rice and beans for awhile POR FAVOR.

2007-10-20T00:56:00.000-05:00

I am house sitting for another missionary family while they go to San Fransisco for a wedding. I am also taking care of their puppy.

It is so nice to cook my own food for a few days. I need a break from Latin food, I have had an overload. If I have to eat any more rice, beans, and tortillas soon I think I might throw up. I went to lunch today with some friends and they asked me where I wanted to go... I could only think about a cheeseburger. We went to McDonald's... YES, FAMILIARITY!

This week was the first week I could actually notice that my Spanish has really improved, and it was an amazing feeling. Its such a slow process, so discouraging and humbling. So many times feeling like an idiot after you give someone a blank stare for the hundredth time in 3 minutes. It is amazing when you can actually see a little bit of progress. My English is starting to suck though. Today I seriously said "I didn't went there yet". WOW.

I can't wait to speak to the people at the bank in English again. That seriously sounds so exciting. My freaking ATM card wont work in the ATMs here, so I have to go into the bank and wait in line for 40 minutes every time I want to take out money. Then I have to have a long conversation with the teller and then be escorted to a desk where I have to answer other questions. Where do I live? why am I here? Where am I from? How long am I here? How am I here that long without a visa? Why wont my card work in the cajero automatico? Its like they think I am a drug lord or something, understandable because I REALLY look like one. It's so tiring to try and understand what they are saying. Sometimes I just give a random answer, brace myself pray that it made some sort of sense to whatever they just said to me. Going to the bank has never taken so much out of me. When I get home it is going to feel like pure joyness to just go to an ATM, take out my money, and leave. Pure joyness.

I am seeing a lot of cool stuff here, the problem is that I cant take my camera out in public because I will get robbed. So that is why I have not posted many pictures of San José. Someday I will go with my whole family and it will be safe for me to take it out in public. I really want to show everyone how beautiful this place is, but I also dont feel like getting shanked... so I'll just go ahead and be smart about it!

Manuel Antonio

2007-10-15T00:20:00.000-05:00

I went to Manuel Antonio National Park for the weekend, here are some pictures:

Sunrise from the hotel.

Pool at the hotel.

I had to walk across this river to get to the National Park. Apparently there were crocs in it.

5:30 AM

The Key to the Missionaries Work

2007-10-15T00:17:00.000-05:00

Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ’All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . .’ —Matthew 28:18-19

The key to the missionary’s work is the authority of Jesus Christ, not the needs of the lost. We are inclined to look on our Lord as one who assists us in our endeavors for God. Yet our Lord places Himself as the absolute sovereign and supreme Lord over His disciples. He does not say that the lost will never be saved if we don’t go— He simply says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . . ." He says, "Go on the basis of the revealed truth of My sovereignty, teaching and preaching out of your living experience of Me."

"Then the eleven disciples went . . . to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them" ( Matthew 28:16 ). If I want to know the universal sovereignty of Christ, I must know Him myself. I must take time to worship the One whose name I bear. Jesus says, "Come to Me . . ."— that is the place to meet Jesus— "all you who labor and are heavy laden . . ." ( Matthew 11:28 )— and how many missionaries are! We completely dismiss these wonderful words of the universal Sovereign of the world, but they are the words of Jesus to His disciples meant for here and now.

"Go therefore . . . ." To "go" simply means to live. Acts 1:8 is the description of how to go. Jesus did not say in this verse, "Go into Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria," but, ". . . you shall be witnesses to Me in [all these places]." He takes upon Himself the work of sending us.

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you . . ." ( John 15:7 )— that is the way to keep going. Where we are placed is then a matter of indifference to us, because God sovereignly engineers our goings.

"None of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus . . ." ( Acts 20:24 ). That is how to keep going until we are gone from this life.

--Oswald Chambers

2007-10-11T18:53:00.000-05:00

After my class that I teach on Thursdays, I watch this 5 year old little girl walk by herself to a shack made of tarps and rusty sheet metal. Her drug-addicted mother who weighs no more than 85 pounds is usually outside sitting on a bench, shaking like she is freezing even though its 80 degrees out, smoking a cigarette. Her father abandoned her when she was born. She is malnourished because her mom thinks that a bag of Cheetos mixed with water is "soup," and this little girl often eats that for dinner.

Seeing this stuff makes me so mad. I seriously think that if college students at MSU didn't drink for one weekend, and instead donated that money, it would feed the entire community that I volunteer at for two weeks. Its just amazing that human beings are able to live out their daily lives and get upset over the stupidest things when little girls are going home to conditions like this (or worse) all over the world every single day. Like, it's all going on at the SAME TIME. No one will ever realize how blessed they are. There is real pain in this world, and its not when your lap top breaks or you can't go out and party because your friend doesn't want to go with you.

I remember Mr. Keckeisen telling me in my world geography class after we watched a child trafficking video: "Now you know, so you can't pretend like you don't." Well, now I volunteer in poverty and crime stricken "Sector Dos de Los Guidos" and it's the same thing. I will never be able to pretend like I don't know again.

Praise God!

2007-10-09T12:16:00.000-05:00

For those of you who didn't already know, my mom had surgery today. I am happy to report that it went good, and the doctor was able to complete the surgery laproscopically without any problems. She went in to recovery at 10:40 AM today! Thanks for your prayers!

Center for Malnourished Children

2007-10-08T17:00:00.000-05:00

No problem, I'll make you a ticket

2007-10-07T00:41:00.000-05:00

I was on the phone with Ryan today and Carlitos told me to ask Ryan when he was going to come visit his house. Ryan said "as soon as you buy me a plane ticket." Carlitos came back to me a few minutes later with these:

He is so cute. I would love it if life was as simple as it seems to be for a 7 year old.

"Operation Mariposa" was not a success.

2007-10-06T17:39:00.000-05:00

The other night, there was a HUGE moth in the basement. She was seriously the size of the palm of my hand. She wouldn't fly and she was just sitting on the ground. So Carlitos and I devised a plan to save the big moth. "Operation Mariposa." We got two pieces of paper and worked together to be careful not to touch her wings. We set her on the window sill, and she began to try and fly away. We looked at each other like "Yay! we saved her!!" Just then, the Gomez's dog came out of no where and ate her out of the air. I was just like "Oh, umm, lets not watch this..." Then Carlitos turned to me and said, "Summo just doesn't know how to live in peace and liberty."

Summo, half bear half lion.

Apparently the popcorn was really hot?

Awesome, maybe there is hope for my new addiction..

2007-10-05T17:57:00.000-05:00

Fact: Turning the contrast up makes people who suck at surfing look cooler.

2007-10-03T13:09:00.000-05:00

My 7 year old best friend teaching me about the Bible

2007-10-02T21:51:00.000-05:00

Last night Carlitos asked me if he could tell me the Bible verse that he learned at school. It was awesome. "God is love."

1 John 4:8-21

God's Love and Ours
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Very Important News

2007-10-01T11:13:00.000-05:00

High quality pedicures here cost $6 (I LOVE COSTA RICA)

I'm going.

Coronado

2007-09-30T18:44:00.000-05:00

Today Steph and I took a bus to this part of town called "Coronado". There is this beautiful church there that reminds me a little bit of Notre Dame.

Here are some pictures:

My Neighborhood

2007-09-30T18:40:00.000-05:00

Macha Rica

2007-09-28T22:39:00.000-05:00

So "Macha" or "Machita" means "little blonde/white girl". As you can imagine, I get it a lot. Yesterday was a record. I got called "Machita" 7 times while walking downtown to catch my bus. I keep track everyday because I think its funny.

I just joined a group on facebook titled "Costa Rica Love" because the description of an experience in Costa Rica is SO accurate it made me laugh:

"The sentence 'I have much itch' makes perfect grammatical sense to you... You think a $3 dollar meal is too expensive... You eat beans and rice for breakfast and drink coffee at night... You have either almost gotten hit by a car or attacked by a dog every day... You frequently answer English-Speaking people with Spanish, and vice-versa... You´ve grown accustomed to parroting "PURA VIDA" whenever you don't know what the heck is going on... You can immediately curl into the perfect position on the public bus and pass out for four or five hours... You like that you can finally be the foreigner talking crap about people who don't know what you're saying... in the course of one day, you expect to: sweat profusely, freeze to death, feel like the rain will wash your house away, and burn your poor gringo skin... you know where the nicest Internet cafes are in every single city... and you know that Costa Rica isn´t a place; its a lifestyle."

Pura Vida.

Songs

2007-09-28T18:00:00.000-05:00

I was going to my i-tunes today and realized that I have a lot of favorite songs. In case anyone cares, some songs that I will never get sick of:

Bebe- Siempre Me Quedará
Ben Folds- Not The Same
Ben Harper- Forever, Please Me Like You Want To
Bob Marley- Waiting In Vain
Brand New- Okay I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don't, Me Vs. Maradona Vs. Elvis, Degausser
Coldplay- Warning Sign
Copeland- When Finally Set Free
Counting Crows- Anna Begins
Damien Rice- Rootless Tree
Dashboard Confessional- Bend And Not Break, The Ghost Of A Good Thing
Dave Matthews Band- Some Devil
Death Cab for Cutie- Summer Skin, We Have The Facts and We're Voting Yes
Emilie Simón- Opium
Enrique Iglesias- Dimelo
Imogen Heap- I Am In Love With You, The Walk, Hide and Seek, Glittering Cloud
Iron and Wine- Upward Over the Mountain, Gray Stables
Jack Johnson- Rodeo Clowns
John Mayer- Split Screen Sadness, I Don't Trust Myself, Back To You, Why Georgia
Led Zeppelin- Kashmir, That's the Way
The Manchester Orchestra- Colly Strings
Muse- Map Of the Problematique, Exo-Politics
Norah Jones- Nightengale, Humble Me
The Postal Service- Brand New Colony, The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
Regina Spektor- Samson, On The Radio, Hotel Song, Edit, Loveology, Somedays
Something Corporate- Konstantine
Tegan and Sara- The Con, Nineteen, I Can't Take It, When I get up, Back in Your Head, Call It Off, Downtown

Food For the Hungry

2007-09-22T17:17:00.001-05:00

Thursday I went to the place where I will be volunteering for the next two 1/2 months. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays I will be helping teach a class, one in the morning one in the afternoon. We do crafts, play games, and talk about Jesus. All of the little kids who attend are so cute, but very malnurished and are provided lunch also at the feeding center. Its easy to tell when they are malnourished, their eyes just dont seem right. It is very sad, hopefully I will be able to see some progress in these children's health while I am volunteering here. My boss is a really nice girl from Korea. The only language we have in common is Spanish, so that's pretty cool! I'm going to be traveling by bus to the ghetto of San Jose for this. Dont worry, I have my mace and I will be traveling with people.

Para mis amigos que prefieren español:

Jueves fui al lugar donde voy a trabajar por el proximo mes y medio. Martes, miercoles, y jueves voy a ayudar ensañar una clase, una por la mañana, y una por la tarde. Hicimos arte, jugar con juguetes, y hablamos sobre Jesus. Todos los niños que atenienden son muy lindos, pero tienen desnutricion y comen en el comedor en el almuerzo. Es muy facil ver que tienen desnutricion porque sus ojos se ven mal. Es muy triste, pero yo espero que yo pueda ver el progreso en el salud de estos niños mientras estoy voluntariando aqui. Mi jefa es de Korea y es una muchacha muy simpatica. El unico idioma que tenemos en comun es español, asi que es muy chiva. Voy a viajar por bus al sector de San Jose para poder llegar ahi. No te preocupes, tengo mi macis y voy a viajar con otras personas.

Sidewalk Chalk Art

2007-09-21T16:15:00.000-05:00

This kid at Escuela Del Mundo showed me this website, if you have never seen it make sure you check it out. This guy does these incredible 3D drawings with sidewalk chalk. Its wild!

This is the website: http://www.etntalk.com/sidewalk/

Acts

2007-09-21T09:58:00.000-05:00

I just got done reading Acts last night. It was kind of like a good book that I didn't want to end. Now I dont know what to do. When I was done I set my bible down and looked around kind of lost. To be honest, the Bible has never been that way for me. I would read maybe 2 or 3 times a week when I was home in my little comfort zone. Here, reading is just a part of my day as eating. I never used to understand people who just couldnt wait to read their Bible, I would have moments where it really stuck a nerve, but in general it was kind of a chore. Acts was seriously amazing. Reading this stuff and then thinking, wow, that actually happend. Paul was actually in jail for years for spreading the truth. He actually got flogged like 4 times in the same chapter. Woah...

San Jose

2007-09-18T21:01:00.000-05:00

I'm all moved in with the Gomez family in San Jose. I really like it here. It is nice to have a family again, and to eat warm food. I have a cute room in the basement that I share with Theresa (the daughter of the other GCM pastor in Costa Rica). She is studying in San Jose so she stays here Tuesdays-Fridays. They have two daughters, Valerie (17) and Stephanie (16) who I get along with really good. They also have a 7 year old son named Carlitos. He is such a cutie-pie. (He is sitting right next to me) He wanted me to write in here that his dad eats a lot of chicken. :)

This week I will start volunteering at an orphanage for abused children. I will play with kids and help them with their homework. On other days I will be volunteering with an organization called "Feed the Hungry." I will be helping feed malnourished children at a nutrition clinic and then educate mothers on how to provide their children with proper nutrition. No one there will speak English, so that will be good for me, it will force me to speak in Spanish all the time. It is kind of tiring at the house because they are all bilingual. I keep switching between languages and it makes my head feel like its going to explode. It might be easier to just stick to one language. To get to the nutrition clinic I will take a bus for about an hour each way. The orphanage is very close to the house.

This city is really beautiful. The streets are windy and the hills are covered in bright colored houses. There are many beautiful Catholic Churches around the city, it reminds me a lot of Europe. On Sunday Stephanie and I went to a Crepe shop, went to an art museum, walked around down town, went to the mall, and went to a really pretty church. Socialist countries are like heaven because the public transportation is so nice. We just hop on a bus and go wherever we need to go. It costs like 30 cents each way. I would post some pictures, but my lap top is back in the Toshiba store getting fixed again. It should be back soon because there is only a small problem this time.

So there is a small update... more to come when I get my computer back.

Día de la Independencia

2007-09-17T10:38:00.000-05:00

This place is so rich with Culture...

Tortugitas Corriendo al Mar

2007-09-14T18:07:00.001-05:00

Last wave for awhile

2007-09-14T00:57:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow I am waking up at 6 AM to go with some other people from the school and watch baby sea turtles hatch and then run to the ocean. I am really sad to leave the beach. I got piped by a wave yesterday (where the wave breaks over your head and makes a tunnel that you can see down like a pipe) FYI I suck at surfing, I can do it, but I suck. It was just REALLY cool that the wave happend to break over my head like that, it was nothing I did because I suck.
So my last wave for awhile today. After I was done I sat on the beach and watched the sunset while my surf instructors caught their last wave. Wow I am going to miss this place. There is so much beauty that comes with an ocean.

Goodbyes suck

2007-09-13T10:14:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow morning at 9 AM I will take a bus to San Jose, and I will be living there for three months. No more surfing everyday, no more seeing the people that I met here, no more beach, at least during the week. Jacó really grew on me, I'm going to be so sad to leave this place... but I am really excited to get to San Jose.

Last night we went to this little bar on the beach and just sat in the sand watching the waves. I think I have to live by an ocean when I have a family. I just have to.

Yesterday my surf instructor Estevan took us to the waterfall about an hour away. It was huge with three different cascades. It was possible to jump into the second on because the water had cut this pool that is 18 feet deep. It was so fun, it was such a long way down. My surf instructors were so much fun, I'm going to miss them so much, goodbyes suck!

Chau Jacó

Un Fin de... Muy Loco

2007-09-13T09:55:00.000-05:00

Holy Moses, last weekend made a great story to tell my future grand kids someday…

A group of 5 of us from the school decided to go to this town in the Nicoya Peninsula named Mal Pais. There were beautiful beaches, the sunsets were amazing, and we met some really cool people. First we took a boat taxi from Jacó to Montezuma on Friday morning. It was crazy because this little boat was like catching air on every wave that we hit. Our butts hurt SO BAD but we were laughing the whole time. We made it to Montezuma, which is this gorgeous little hippie town, ate lunch, and took a cab to the other side of the peninsula. It was gorgeous, undeveloped, REAL Costa Rica.

We arrived at our hostel, it was amazing. There were hammocks everywhere. Minus the moldy pillow, our rooms were really nice too. They were two story apartments, the boys upstairs, Bryony and I downstairs. There were no windows though so I got eaten alive by mosquitoes. We found Leffe Brune in the little store right next to our hostel, so we drank good beer and watched the sunset Friday and Saturday night. There were people there from every corner of the globe. Hostels are so cool here because all of the same types of people are staying there. I have met so many people that speak so many different languages so I have just asked them all how to say “I love you” so I can take a little bit of that language with me. So far I have 9: English, Hebrew, Swedish, German, Swiss German, Japanese, French, Portuguese, Spanish. We just relaxed in our hammocks the whole weekend. It was great to get out of Jaco and not have to see any old tourists in there giant beach hats and obnoxious voices. The old tourists here are just crazy. They don’t speak a lick of Spanish, so they treat the people here like they are stupid for not speaking English. They like raise there voice and do some form of crazy sign language to get what they want. Then they just get frustrated and like walk away. Sorry, but you are in Costa Rica?

So we set out at 9 AM Sunday from the hostel. We couldn’t just take the ferry back because it didn’t leave that morning. The plan was to take a cab form Mal Pais to this little town called Cóbano, catch the 12:45 bus, then take that bus to Parquera, catch the 2:30 Ferry across the gulf of Nicoya to Puntarenas, then catch the 4:30 bus to Jaco from Puntarenas. (look at the map of the Nicoya Peninsula posted below)

So we caught our cab to Cóbano ok, it only costed about $3 each. Then we tried to figure out this crazy bus sign in Cóbano, prayed that a bus was coming, it looked like it was written in like sharpie marker. We went to a soda for some quick lunch. While we were there this guy kept asking me and Bryony for a hair tie. I knew he just wanted to know where we kept our purses because he was trying to steal our stuff. The waitress told us to watch out because he was sketchy. He kept telling me that he didn’t want his girlfriend to see him with his hair down... Good one.
We made it on that bus ok and arrived in Parquera. Everyone on the bus was going to the ferry. This place was like the New York Stock exchange on steroids. We had to catch the ferry because it was the only way we would make the bus in the Puntarenas. We ran to the line but it was like 2:15 and the ferry left at 2:30 there was no way we were going to make it where we were at in line. Cars fit on this ferry too, and all of the people with cars had to get their tickets first before they sold tickets to the people who were just riding themselves over. Bryony and I came up with the brilliant idea to sneak into the car line and act like we didn’t speak Spanish and see if they would give us our tickets. We got to the front and they rejected us, and it was like 2:25. We were almost screwed, but Bryony (a 5’0 British girl) decided to just bust through these like 200 pound Costa Rican women and just scream for 5 tickets at the window, she did it after getting elbowed in the face, and we got our tickets! We sprinted onto the ferry just as the horn was blowing and they were closing the gates. We were cheering we were so happy, we didn’t want to get stranded there. So we rode this awesome ferry passing these islands all over the place and jumping fish.
We made it to Puntarenas at like 4:10 and we had to travel to the other side of the island to get the bus, so we thought “ok we will just have to take a taxi.” To our luck there were no taxis in sight and we ended up sprinting down the busy beach street while people are yelling "Vamos! Andale!"to make fun of us. We had heavy backpacks so it was more of a waddle sprint. We ended up making it to the bus stop and it was 4:30 on the dot, and no bus in sight. Another driver told us that the last bus had already left. I honestly wanted to cry, and just then it started pouring raining to add to our hopelessness. This crazy guy named "Louis" introduced himself to us and he was like "hey man I got a friend he take you to Jacó for 50 dollar." We were like umm no thank you I don’t want to be robbed and killed today. We found out from this street vendor that we could take a different bus up into the mountains, and then intercept a bus that was coming from San Jose, basically flag it down.
So we take a 5:00 bus to San Mateo in the mountains, and the bus driver dropped us off on the side of this rainy dark highway. He was like "Walk. that way, you catch a bus." I was thinking “holy crap, we are honestly going to walk like 25 kilometers tonight." So we are walking towards Jacó on this dark rainy highway with semis blowing past us every 5 seconds splashing more water on us. Keep in mind its pouring raining this whole time, like sheets of rain. And we are all in flip flops. We stopped and ate some fries at this little soda and just laughed at our circumstances. We started hiking again and right then a bus to Jacó came zipping by and we waddle-sprinted to flag it down. It was sooo packed we had to all stand up, we were soaking wet too. It was a good laugh because we were all thinking, there is no way this is happening, we are actually going in the right direction? We finally made it home at like 9. I couldn’t believe I was still alive. I at least got to see a lot of Costa Rica in one day. What an experience, like I said it will be a good one for the grand kids someday.

Here are some pictures from the weekend and a map of where we were:

Bummer

2007-08-28T16:24:00.000-05:00

So a hard situation got even harder. I went to write some emails on Sunday and my lap top wouldn't turn on. I freaked out because the only thing keeping me sane was being able to talk to everyone at home. I took a bus into San Jose and met Carlos and he took me to the toshiba store. They said that my mother board was shot and it will be ready next Monday. Luckily it was under warranty. Feel free to keep sending me emails, and I will try to make it to an internet cafe as much as I can but I'm not sure how that will all work out. So if I dont email you back for awhile then that is why. Please pray for me.

-Fran

Conversation of the Day

2007-08-27T22:40:00.000-05:00

Carlitos: "You know what is the heaviest thing in the world?"
Me: "What?"
Carlitos: "The World."
Me: "Ohhhh I see."
Carlitos: "You know what is the heaviest thing EVER though?"
Me "What?"
Carlitos: "God. He must be really fat."

Costa Rica la Pura Vida

2007-08-24T16:04:00.000-05:00

OK! So I have been in Costa Rica for a little over a week so far. My dad flew down with me, and we had a small vacation before I started school. Saying goodbye to him was really, really hard. This has all been a lot harder than I anticipated. It is teaching me to seek God in a way I never have before. In Michigan I was home safe with all of my friends and family. Since I have been here, there have been moments where I have felt like I cant physically go on unless I reach out to God to help me. So far, this experience has been good, but extremely difficult, if that makes sense?

My roommate is a surfer chick from San Diego. A really cool girl. We have weekends off and she is going to the south-western tip of Costa Rica for the weekend, where there is the longest surf break in the world. I guess you can just ride the waves forever and its sweet. I'm going to lay in the sun, read, and sleep!

There are people here from all over the world. I have spent a lot of time with these two people from Germany. They are really nice. There are two guys from Switzerland and one from Brazil, but mostly everyone else is from California or Canada. I had a conversation with a friend named Marek a couple of nights ago, he lives in Canada. His Polish parents were doing medical mission work in north Africa so he was born in Tunisia. Then Poland wouldn't accept them back because this was before the fall of communism in Poland. They were political refugees so they were "forced" to move to Italy for a year, and then ended up in Canada. He speaks Polish, French, English, and Spanish. His dad speaks 7 languages. I felt like a very boring person after that conversation.

I have been surfing for two hours every morning, then studying Spanish for 2-4 hours every afternoon. Surfing has been amazing, I'm really glad I decided to do it. It is such a good work out. You have to paddle out as fast as you can while getting the crap kicked out of you by breaking waves. You then sit on your board and rest while you wait for a good wave to come. I really like that part. There is just you, God, the ocean, and islands in the distance. When a good wave comes you paddle as fast as you can to catch it and then you either wipe out really hard or you get the best rush ever! I am getting a little better each day, although I drank like a gallon of salt water when I wiped out today. Even if I have had a rough morning missing home or feeling lonely, surfing takes all of the tension away from me. It wears me out so bad I am then too tired to miss home.

When I was waiting for a wave a couple of days ago, there were stingrays jumping all around me. I am scared to death of getting stung by one. They stick these two barbs into your body and inject venom. The wound swells up and you get dizzy and throw up for 30-90 minutes. Today I saw one swimming through a wave and I freaked out. Then my instructor Carlos proceeded to tell me about how when he got stung by one, he couldn't cry, couldn't breath, couldn't scream... because the pain was so great. Hah, please pray for me...

Spanish has been really good, I am learning a lot. I haven't had much of a chance to use it outside of the grocery store, but I am learning. My teacher is Sergio from Colombia. His style of teaching is very conversational, which is good because my weakness is comprehending what other people say to me. I can't understand what people say to me half of the time in English.

I went with a group of people from the school on a kayak trip two nights ago. We got in the vans and drove about 30 minutes north up the beach. We took the road on top of the mountains so we could see the ocean the whole time, it was beautiful. We drove up this little farm road that was lined with huge trees that the farmer used as fence posts. There was cattle on both sides of the trees. A little down the road there were two ticos (Costa Ricans) carrying machetes, walking with a horse. Interesting. We kept driving up to the beach where the kayak place was. We got in our Kayaks and paddled a mile 1/2 up the Gulf of Nicoya, passing huge rock cliffs with lava tubes all over them. It was so cool. I saw an iguana that was so big it looked like a dinosaur. We got to this secluded beach and played soccer, hiked up to a waterfall, ate pineapple, and watched whales jump in the distance. It was a pretty cool experience.

I like living so close to the beach and everything, and its beautiful here, but I really don't like Jacó very much. Everyone stares at me like they want to eat me because I have blond hair. I don't really go anywhere other than the school and the supermarket and I never go anywhere alone. I can't wait to move to San José. It is the capitol and biggest city in Costa Rica. I really liked it there. It is really diverse and liberal, reminded me a lot of Europe.

When I move there I will live with a GCLA (Great Commission Latin America) pastor (Carlos Gomez) and his family. They are Honduran. They are going to speak to me only in Spanish when I return to their house. They are the most amazing God centered family, I could not even dream up a better family to spend my time with while I am down here. I am really excited to live with a family again, to have sisters my age and a little brother. They have a Miami phone so I can call home (YES). I will be moving to San José just before the Costa Rican independence day. Valerie, Stephanie and I will take a bus downtown and watch the lantern parades. I guess they are a big deal, I'm excited to take lots of pictures. I will be doing mission work for the three months I am in San José. Most likely at an orphanage, or something else with kids. Kids who don't speak English. They said that the places I will be working there will be no way I will be able to speak a word of English. I can't wait.

I have found Costa Ricans to be very proud. They remind me so much of Europeans because they are extremely liberal and people are kind of ok with not having God. They just go about their day without a real interest in the purpose of life.

So God is shaping me quite a bit. "Knocking me on my ass" is the best way to put it into words I believe. And it has only been a week. I will keep updating about my little adventures.

Ok, here are some picures of inside and around my school:

My spanish classroom.

One of the dogs that wanders around the school.

The other dog that wanders around the school, Figi.

Miyah and Simon, speaking German in the Kitchen.

The spot where we have been surfing, on a cloudy day.

If I'm not surfing, studying or sleeping then I am here. Please send me emails, All of you, I seriously don't care who you are. I have a lot of time to sit in this little hammock chair thing, read books, and check my email, and feel lonely when I have no email in my inbox. It is easing the homesickness to hear from people at home. FrannyDeJongh@gmail.com

Take care wherever you are, ¡Pura Vida! as they say here in Costa Rica...

Muchas gracias to the toad

2007-08-17T18:32:00.000-05:00

Last night I had a five minute freak out attack where I realize that I am far away from what I call home and I am staying this far away for 4 months. Then, a toad the size of my dog hopped by and everything was ok.

2007-08-17T13:43:00.000-05:00

Devastating

2007-08-17T13:37:00.000-05:00

There was an Earthquake in Peru that killed more than 500 people and injured more than 1,500 people. I don't know if it made much news in the states but it is a really big deal here in Costa Rica. Read about it here.

Estoy en Costa Rica

2007-08-15T22:17:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Costa Rica at about noon today. Yes, they played "The Last Mimsy" on the plane ride here (you will only think that is funny if you went on the mission trip to Mexico). It was amazing to see Carlos and Gladys rushing towards me to kiss me on the cheek and welcome me to their home. We drove for about 45 minutes to get to their house. This is the coolest place I have ever been. It really reminds me a lot of Europe, not at all what I expected. The city is filled with art and architecture. We went downtown for dinner tonight, here are some pictures from my time in Costa Rica so far.

Tomorrow I will get up and drive the the pacific coast to a town called Jaco (where there is currently a tsunami warning). I will go to the language school there for a month. Check out the school's website if you want to : www.schooloftheworld.org

Tegan & Sara

2007-08-09T16:41:00.001-05:00

Justin, Devon, Mike and I went to see Tegan & Sara on Monday night at the Gem Theater in Detroit. Titled, "An Evening with Tegan & Sara", It was one of the most personal shows I've ever been to. They were really down to earth and told stories in between songs. The audience sat at bar tables and we were in the second row thanks to Mike's ticket buying skills. Seriously, listen to them. They are incredibly talented girls with a really unique sound.

2007-08-09T16:38:00.000-05:00

2007-07-30T14:19:00.001-05:00

During school, I could write blog posts instead of studying. Now that it's really nice out and there is no studying to be done, I suck at blogging. Don't worry though, I am leaving in 16 days to attend a language institution in Costa Rica so I will be using this blog to let everyone know how my life is going.

2007-06-04T01:07:00.001-05:00

About 11 weeks...

Siete Cosas From The past Couple of Days...

2007-05-30T21:46:00.000-05:00

1) I Had an allergic reaction to something I ate.
2) My face swelled up like a balloon (I got put on steroids and I'm fine).
3) I Decided that I love summer, being outside for BOB tonight was awesome.
4) I had an extremely awkward conversation with a senator in the elevator at work.
5) I learned a lesson.
6) I have realized how much of a blessing Kelli Hillard is.
7) God is such a mystery, too amazing to ever begin to figure out.

Estoy contenta!

The professor

2007-05-22T01:56:00.000-05:00

Katy and I went to see Damien Rice play last week at the State Theater. It was an amazing show, he is one awesome Irish dude. He sang one song unplugged, which was sweet because the State is so huge, and he sang some French. Reminds me of..

"La fille danse
Quand elle joue avec moi
Et je pense que je l'aime des fois
Le silence, n'ose pas dis-donc
Quand on est ensemble
Mettre les mots
Sur la petite dodo"

Pura Vida

2007-05-22T01:31:00.001-05:00

If everyone could please continue to pray for my trip to Costa Rica I would really appreciate it! It has been pretty stressful on my family and I to deal with my visa complications, money, and general planning for this trip. Thanks dudes... and thanks especially to everyone who has given me such helpful advice and connections (Randi-kay, your brother has been awesome.. and Aaron Kite- you rock dude)

I can't wait to be a Tica instead of a Dutchie

2007-05-09T23:26:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday was Liz's birthday so Katy and I surprised her by driving her to see Copeland play in Toledo. She had no idea where we were going and she started to think that we were kidnapping her when we passed Williamston. By the way, don't go to Toledo, all that's there is a creepy gas station, and a run down venue with poop on the walls, seriously. But the show was great, we were 2nd row and they were amazing.

On the two hour drive back home, I got to thinking about Costa Rica. I'm so freakin excited. I'm going to be learning spanish, living in a 100% Latino (Tico) community, and becoming a part of a latino family. I leave August 15th, and I'm coming home in late December.

2007-04-23T00:19:00.000-05:00

Tonight at Bible study we had a pretty cool discussion on what we like about Jesus, how we see him, and how we have trouble seeing him. I said I have a hard time trusting and relying on him as my father. I like to take hold of some issues and try to fix things myself, which only ends up in a mess. It is pretty cool to trust in God through a time of trial and have it all make perfect sense later.

Justin said one time "God is going to go there no matter what and if I don't let him it's just going to be harder and take longer."

Four Eyes!

2007-04-20T15:51:00.000-05:00

I went to the eye doctor today, turns out I need glasses, and I look like a total nerd in them.... cool!

Listen to her...

2007-04-16T15:27:00.000-05:00

Hah, who knew?

2007-04-15T01:15:00.001-05:00

Your Inner European is Dutch!

Open minded and tolerant.
You're up for just about anything.

Who's Your Inner European?

That is a really good picture to portray Dutch people, because we all look exactly like that. Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond... go orange.

Moving On

2007-04-13T00:16:00.000-05:00

We have mastered the art of moving on. It is the means for protecting ourselves in this world. If you do not posses the ability to move on from someone who has hurt you, you are almost certainly preparing yourself to face a lot of heartache. We are not fond of heartache. Someone hurts you, you start looking for someone else to love that you see as clean and blameless. This is because if you were to stay with the previous person who hurt you, all you would see in them would be the pain they caused you. It would consume you, and the sting would be too great to withstand. If you hurt someone, you move away from the relationship, you forget the guilt, you find someone who you can start fresh with. Someone you can love all over again. You try not to hurt them, at least as bad as the last one you loved and hurt previously. We are always looking for something better, something that will more satisfy ourselves, because we think mainly about ourselves. Our idea of love is for ourselves, but imagine loving for the better of the other person. Imagine Jesus. Imagine someone who would wait faithfully and patiently, welcoming us back to love them each time we go astray. Someone who loves us more passionately than any other romance this Earth has ever seen. Someone who would welcome us into their arms, after every single time we break their heart, again... and again. Imagine someone who, no matter what we do to them, no matter how many times we betray them or act as if they never existed, they see us as clean and blameless, white as snow. I can't picture that, none of us can, we only know how to move on...

2007-04-13T00:11:00.000-05:00

In this family picture when my dad was 6, he couldn't hold the pose because he saw a squirrel in the corner of the yard and decided that it was his duty to shoot it.

You have got to be kidding me.

2007-04-02T23:23:00.000-05:00

My frickin street is going to look like this again because Thursday-Friday are predicted to have highs in the 30s and snow showers. Curse you, Michigan.