Five Things I Accomplished This Week:

Wow, It has been exactly one week since I updated! I am sorry. This week was sort of uneventful so I feel like I didn't have much to write. So here are some things that I accomplished this week. It was my last week of My Core Seminar Class so I was busy with lots of school work!

Five Things I Accomplished This Week:
1) The first and most important thing that I finished this week was my Position Paper for Core Seminar (This was due Tuesday). I wrote about 14 pages on the relationship between the United States and Nicaragua throughout history. I had to take a position on the relationship and give suggestions for what President Obama should do in Latin America. I have never really had to write a paper like this before so it was especially difficult for me. I hope that I get a good grade because I worked REALLY hard!

2) On Wednesday, I had my second and final exam, which we call Reading Assessments. This is an all essay exam where we are given four possible essay questions and we respond to two of them in an hour and a half. The essays are graded on ability to think critically as well as incorporate the tons of readings we did and the speakers we heard. The first exam I did pretty well so I hope this one goes better!

3) On Wednesday and Thursday, I worked VERY hard on a group presentation. I was in a group of six people and we all had similar topics for our position papers (see #1). We had to make some kind of thesis statement that brought all of our topics together. We ended up doing a series of skits and on Friday we presented! Everyone seemed to really like our presentation and I saw a couple of nods of approval from our Professors-which was reassuring! After the presentations, we had a party to celebrate our last day of classes. We even had pizza-AMAZING :)

4) On Friday, I went for a run for 40 minutes! Before this trip, I don't think I would have considered running for 40 minutes a serious accomplishment because I used to run that almost everyday! However, here in Costa Rica, running is different. It is not a normal way of life and I can probably count on one hand the amount of people I have seen running on the street. I don't have a team of wonderful girls to go out and run with. I have to go when I feel like it or when it is safe. There are so many variables that I never had to think of before coming here! However, on Friday I was inspired. I ran for 40 minutes all by myself and I even finished my run UP a HUGE HILL! I realize how lucky I am to have the ability to run and I cannot wait to get home and start training for cross country!

5) I packed for Nicaragua. Now this is an accomplishment. In my next post, I will tell you more about my Nicaraguan trip but, I am only allowed to travel with a backpack for two weeks! It is definitely an accomplishment to have completed by packing!

What Has Happened and What's to Come?!

What Has Happened:
1) This week I graduated from my Spanish Class at ICADS ( Institute for Central American Development Studies). I got a certificate and everything! I spent five weeks and eighty hours learning Spanish and wow, I can't believe it is over! I had a presentation on Thursday. I spoke for almost 10 minutes all in Spanish about poverty! I hope it went well.
2) I met the coolest, most experienced old man in the world. He came to speak to us in Core Seminar on Thursday. He has been a missionary to Costa Rica for almost 50 years. The coolest thing about him was he actaully met and had a meeting with Fidel Castro. They talked about Revelation ( a book in the Bible). Can you imagine meeting Fidel Castro and discussing the bible with him just like he is an old friend? He told us story after story about his life adventures. He is one of those people who has done it all and experienced everything he possibly could. What an inspiration.
3) I went for a run today with two of my friends. We went to the same park that I go to every time I run. Guess what we found? A TRACK MEET. I felt like I was in heaven. I had no idea how much I missed running and being at meets with my team. We didn't actaully see any running events but we saw the introduction of all of the athletes. If I didn't have a paper to write, I would have stayed there all day. I took for granted going to meets and being with a team because now as I am sitting here I am really missing being with the team and competing in track and cross country meets. Go Messiah Track and Field!

What is To Come:
1) Next week is my last week of Core Seminar. I have my big research paper due on Tuesday. I am frantically trying to write it today. It is about the relationship between the United States and Nicaragua. It is actually very interesting to research. At Messiah, I am getting used to writing papers for my major so this is a stretch because I have to write about something that I don't know ANYTHING about.
2) March 2, 2009- March 13, 2009: LASP (Latin American Studies Program) will be traveling to Nicaragua. I am not completely sure what we will be doing but I do know that it will be an eye-opening experience. Once I know what we are doing I will be sure to update!
3) For the last couple weeks in March and a couple of weeks in April, all LASP students will be splitting up and doing something completely different then we are doing right now. There are three concentration in the LASP program. ALL (Advanced Language and Literature), LASC (Latin American Studies Concentration) and ESC (Environmental Studies Concentration). I am in the Latin American Studies Concentration. There are something like 20 of us. We will be all spread out throughout the country of Costa Rica, working in some sort of community project and living with a different family in a very rural area. All I know about my community project is I am working in a school. I have no idea what age group or if I will be teaching. I do know that I will have some sort of interaction with the kids. I am also aware that I will be living with an elderly woman who works at the school. One of my professors said that this is one of his most favorite projects.
4) When I return from my concentration, I stay in San Jose for a bit with the family I am currently living with and then I go to Cuba (April 19-April 27). More to come about this trip!

I hope you feel informed about what I am up to these days and what I will be doing in the coming days. Even though I gave you a tenative schedule for the next couple of months everything might and probably will change. LASP always tells us to be flexible!

What's New?

I have been waiting for an exciting story or something really cool to post but so far I don't really have anything! This past weekend was really great. Saturday I went for a nice run by myself and it was awesome. It was great to get some alone time outside of the house! All day on Saturday, I attempted to do homework while I read and answered e-mails.

Sunday was a great day. I got up early with my family and we went to church. The service was really long but it was better than it has been. After church, we went to this restaurant called, Spoon. It is this cute chain restaurant all over San Jose. It was so delicious. Then we went shopping at Price Smart, which is like a Sam's Club. At night, we watched Madagascar 2 (definitely not as good as the first one). Overall, it was an uneventful yet wonderful weekend.

This week has been busy but really great so far. Yesterday, I played "mother" and went with one of my friends to the doctor because she was sick for awhile. Let me tell you, the system is so different than in the United States. It was an adventure figuring out how to get her to see a doctor. Everyone was laughing at us because we had no idea what was going on. Eventually, we figured it out and now she has medicine and hopefully she will get better soon! It sure makes for a crazy story though.

Thanks for the continuing prayers and thoughts. They are very much appreciated. I have a big Spanish presentation tomorrow that I must continue working on so that is all for now!

Video Tour of my house!

Here is a video tour of my house in San Jose! Hope you enjoy it!

Field Trip #2

Today, we went to the U.S Embassy. The Embassy is located just outside of central San Jose. To check into the Embassy we had to pass through security which took FOREVER (everything takes forever with over 50 people!). Anyway, we waited for awhile and were "escorted" by a woman to a small auditorium where our speakers were going to meet us. This woman then made an announcement to anyone who had to go to the bathroom. I thought that she was just going to lead us to the bathroom but, No! She was our escort to the bathroom. Never in my life have I been escorted to the bathroom!

Anyway, the talk we had was very interesting. We talked with two women and one man who were very good speakers and very nice people. However, I had a lot of problems with their points of views. If you remember a blog from last week when Otton Solis came and talked to us about his problems with U.S Foreign Policy. Well, these people had a view completely opposite of that! Basically, I heard lots of information on how countries in Latin America are weaker than us and therefore we need to help them and spread out principles to everyone who doesn't practice them.

Has anyone heard of CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement)? My guess is probably not, because we don't really talk about policy in the United States very much. Basically, this agreement is supposed to promote prosperity in the people and reduce tarriffs between seven different countries. It sounds really great for the United States because we basically have free trade with a lot of different countries. Unfortunately, this makes the United States seem like the bad guy because we fail to look at the consequences that this agreement has on other countries, like Costa Rica. Yes, there are two sides to every argument BUT, it sure does seem like the U.S pressured Costa Rica and other Central American countries into agreeing to CAFTA. Others (especially other Americans) would say that there was absolutely no pressure applied to agree to CAFTA.

Although these thoughts may not make sense to any of you, these are the kinds of things that are going on in my head. You never learn the severity of what the United States does in other countries until you can see FIRST-HAND what effects they have on those other countries. Everything is not as easy to figure out and I don't know whose side to take. I am not going to lie, down here Americans don't have the best image in the world! I hope and pray that I can try to change that image a little bit in my short time here! Thanks for reading my thoughts. If you would like to talk more about this, feel free to e-mail me.

Field Trip #1

This past Tuesday (February 10), the group visited an organic farm outside of San Jose. It was great to give up classroom time to actually go somewhere but the experience turned out to be a lot more than missed classroom time!

We arrived at the farm and we were greeted by a young guy with his wife and his two year old son. We came to learn so much about this man as we shared a couple of hours with him. Basically, his family owned a farm for all of his life. However, it wasn't organic. Years ago, this man completely turned his farm completely organic all by himself. This meant that his production went WAY down and his workload went WAY up. But he was the most content men I have ever met. He never complained about having to do all of the work by himself. In fact, he has no idea how everything in an organic farm works. He does things by trial and error (Can you imagine how long that takes him to grow crops?)

He told us how blessed he was because God has given him this farm and a wonderful family. He reminded us that although we have so much it can be taken away in an instant. It's hard to explain what an eye opening trip this was because basically we just toured the farm and nothing monumental happened. However, I learned that sometimes God provides us with opportunities that are challenging yet these are the opportunities that change the way we live the rest of our lives.

Daytrip to Cartago!

On Sunday, I spent the day in a near-by city called Cartago. Cartago is the oldest city in Costa Rica! It is very different than San Jose, where I live now. I started the day at 5:30 and met part of our LASP group in downtown San Jose at 7:00 a.m. We took a couple buses and finally we arrived at this small town outside of the city of Cartago. It was so peaceful and we were surrounded completely by mountains and even by a volcano!

1)We first visited this guy's house and he gave us a lot of information about the indigenous tribes that once lived in Costa Rica. We even had some things from 200 years Before Christ was born. It was so neat to see!
2)After that we went over to the soccer field. We split up into two teams. One of all girls and one of both girls and boys. I was on the all girls team. We played an all girls Costa Rica team. We lost but it was still so much fun. The score didn't reflect how surprisingly well we did! The mixed team only lost 9-8! It was such a good game. We had fun cheering and supporting our teammates and our new Costa Rican friends! I actually hurt one Costa Rican girl's ankle because she stuck her leg up right in front of where I was running! Oops!!!
3) We then went to a farm where we ate lunch and played volleyball and basketball. We were there for a couple of hours and it was really beautiful and relaxing.
4) Next we made a long trek up a mountain to an indigenous museum. This cute little old man was so incredibly excited that a huge group was there to visit him. He gave us a tour of the place and if we weren't on a schedule he easily would have kept us there all day.
5) We hiked up the mountain even more. This is where I saw the most beautiful view I have ever seen. I could see for miles and the mountains were gorgeous. There was even a rainbow over the city of Cartago (you can see it in the picture!) The pictures that I have do not even capture the beauty of it. I wish you could all see it for yourself in person.

This blog doesn't really describe what a great day it really was. We met the nicest people and had so much fun. The best part was it cost us less then $10 for the whole day (bus fares, meals, soccer, etc!) Plus, we got to witness God's creation at its best!!

A relaxing Saturday :)

This week was really busy. I had a test and two papers. Needless to say, I didn't get a lot of sleep. So, today I decided was my day to relax. I got up around 9:00 and my friend from LASP, Molly, came over to my house to run. We walked to the nearby park and ran together. It was so nice to exercise and I definitely realize how much I miss running every single day. After the run, we met some girls who were clearly Gringas! They are students/missionaries here and have been here since September. We all just became Facebook Friends and we hope to get together with them soon. After the park, Molly and I walked home. On the way home, we stopped at Mas por Menos which is a huge grocery store owned by Walmart actaully. Molly and I were practically salivating at all of the food that we typically have in the States. Everything we normally eat, like peanut butter or chips, is really expensive. Sometimes it is just worth it though!

After our adventure, I plopped myself on my bed and caught up with a lot of people from home through Skype and e-mail! Mami just got home and we are going to relax together, which probably means we are going to watch a movie! Hope you are all doing well!

{I love you, Nonna and Pappy}

Four Exciting/Fun/Cool/Interesting Things that Happened in Costa Rica This Week!

1) I have never seen weather like this before every in my life. People keep saying that there is a cold front on top of us. I feel like we are in the middle of a cloud or something. It has been raining like all day for the past couple of the days but the sun has been out. But, it isn't normal rain. It's like a weird MIST. It's not enough for an umbrella but you still get wet! The wind has also been REALLY strong. Last night, the wind blew up a piece of our roof. I could hear it banging up and down. Probably the best thing about this strange weather, is the amazing rainbows that show up in the sky. They are so pretty!

2) Yesterday in San Jose, there was a taxi strike! Taking a taxi here in Costa Rica is not like taking a taxi in the U.S. In fact, I don't know many people who do take taxis in the States. However, here is is very common and not extremely expensive. All the legal taxis are red with a yellow triangle on the side. There are also illegal taxis. These taxis are not red and do not have a yellow triangle. Apparently, there is a lot of tension between the legal taxi drivers and the illegal taxi drivers. So, yesterday there was a strike. I have no idea the exact reason but I saw on the news a HUGE line of red taxis in the city somewhere. By the way, it took me about 20 minutes to get a taxi yesterday. Usually it takes less than five minutes!

3) Did you know that Costa Rica doesn't have an army? I didn't until about 24 hours ago. I am fascinated by this concept. Costa Rica has somehow maintained a state of neutrality amidst a world of chaos and violence. Since they don't have an army, the extra money is spent on education and health care systems. This helps Costa Rica maintain a higher level of living than other Central American cultures. How interesting!

4) A man named Otton Solis came to my class on Tuesday to talk to us about U.S. Foreign Policy. Many of you may not recognize his name. Let me give you some background information. Oscar Arias is the current President of Costa Rica. He was re-elected as the President in 2006. He ran against Otton Solis! Mr. Solis lost by just 1% of the popular vote. The next election is next year in 2010 and Mr. Solis plans on running again and this time winning the election. It was so interesting to hear him speak about the U.S. He brought up very valid points and he was an excellent speaker. I came home on Tuesday night and I told my family that I met someone famous. They said, Who? And I told them Otton Solis! They just laughed and laughed at me!

Five exciting/fun/cool/interesting things that I did this week

Here is a list of five exciting/fun/cool/interesting things that I did this week. They are very random but hopefully you will enjoy them!

1) On Monday, I went to the outdoor market to go shopping! In downtown San Jose, there are multiple markets that sell basically tourist stuff but, they have really unique jewelry and all kinds of different things. I must have walked up and down the aisle 10 times figuring out what I wanted to buy! I bought a purse for myself and a bracelet and a gift for my Mom and for my Dad! I can't wait to see what other treasures I find in the coming weeks!

2) On Tuesday night, we had CHEESEBURGERS and FRENCH FRIES for dinner! It was so good! My family kept saying, "Oh look we are eating Gringo (Gringo is what they call Americans) food"! It was nice to have a break from the typical rice and beans which I eat everyday for lunch and dinner. I made sure to stress how much I loved it so that maybe we will eat it again sometime soon!

3) Today one of my teachers made the announcement that we are DEFINITELY going to Cuba. It is very hard to obtain Visas to travel especially because we are Americans. We found out today that we were approved, which is really great. (We are going the end of April)

4) Today while walking to my Spanish class, we made a canine friend. He was a small dog cute but really dirty because he was a stray. Anyway, he was the strangest dog I have ever seen in my life. He followed for almost 30 minutes of our walk all the way to the door of our class. The strange thing about him was how he reacted to cars. Most dogs run away from the road when a car comes. No no, not our friend. He ran TOWARD the road. Every car that would pass he would run directly at and bark nonstop until the car left. Then he would return next to our sides. A car would pass again and he would do the same thing. I'm not quite sure how he didn't get hit by any cars. It was one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen a dog do.

5) Some of you may know that I am a huge fan of peanut butter. Well, they rarely eat it down here so I haven't eaten it yet! I was in the grocery story and I decided that I needed to get myself some peanut butter. I bought a package of Costa Rican cookies, called Chickys, for 300 colones which is about 60 cents. I bought an 18oz jar of peanut butter for almost 2,500 colones which is about $5.00!!!! It was worth every penny! It is comforting and exciting to be able to eat some of the foods that we take for granted eating every day in the U.S.! Chickys and peanut butter= DELICIOUS!!!

Viaje a Limon (Trip to Limon)

This past weekend, the entire LASP program traveled to Limon, Costa Rica, a province on the Carribbean Sea! Wow, what a busy weekend. We fit more into a weekend than most people fit into a week of traveling!

Friday:
We left around 10:00 a.m. and made several stops along the way to Limon. First, we stopped at a coffee plantation. I didn't know that coffee beans before they are picked look very much like berries. After the coffee, we made our way to a pineapple plantation. Did anyone else think that pineapples grew on big palm trees just like coconuts? Well, I did! Actually, they grow in a plant that isn't very tall. It was SO hot when we were learning about the pineapples. Next, we went to Restaurant Ellis and had a delicious buffet style lunch. The best part of the lunch were the drinks because we basically had pure pineapple smoothies. SO GOOD! Now that we refueled, we were ready for our next destination, DelMonte Banana Plantation. This was my favorite part of the day. I got to see how the bananas were grown, preserved, and packaged. I learned all about the horrors of pesticides and the monotony that the workers face each and every day. I have tons of pictures from this place and I would love to tell you what else I learned!

We arrived in Limon at about 5:00. We had free time and basically we could explore the city. We formed small groups and ventured out to complete interviews for a paper. We had to interview 3 people in Spanish about poverty and racism in Costa Rica. Trust me when I say that the people in Limon are very interesting! Dinner was very American: a HUGE hamburger, fries, and delicious juice. By this time it was about 9:00 and some of the group returned to the hotel. I stayed out with about five others and we went roller skating. This was unlike any other roller skating experience I have ever had. First of all, I was wearing flip flops and I had to stick my bare feet into gross skates. Second, the "rink" was about a quarter of the size of one that I was used to. Spanish rap music was blaring and we were basically the only people in the place. But, my first judgement were wrong because we had a BLAST. It was so much fun and I must have gone around at least 100 times!

Saturday:
Bright and early on Saturday morning, we headed out to see the Bri Bri people. The Bri Bri make up part of the indigenous population of Costa Rica. Unfortunately, the indigenous population all live on reservations and are quickly losing their culture. We talked with this really nice woman for a long time. She told us all about her culture, religion, and what it is like to have their culture disappear. The Bri Bri people raise iganuas, which can be used for food and making all kinds of stuff.

After the Bri Bri reservation visit, we headed to the beach: Cahuita National Park. This park was BEAUTIFUL! We swam in the Carribbean Sea, ate a delicious lunch, played ultimate frisbee, and saw monkeys! The rainforest is literally right next to the beach. It was great to relax but unfortunately it was cloudy all day and it even rained!

LASP had another really fun activity planned for us for the evening: dancing! We went to a educational center where they had a big room. We had a Carribbean style meal and a band play for us. We danced or attempted to dance for a couple of hours! So much fun!

Sunday:
Sunday morning I went to Catholic mass. It was half in English and half in Spanish. Very interesting to observe how other people praise and worship the same God I do. We left right after the service and got home around 2:00. I watched Miss Congeniality 2 with my family and then I even got to watch the SuperBowl! For part of the game, I attempted to explain the rules to my host family. That is very difficult to do for many reasons, 1) They don't really have football down here. 2) I would have trouble explaining football even in English. 3) How in the world do I say words like "quarterback" and "field goal" in Spanish?

Anyway, this weekend was the best weekend I have had since I have been here in Costa Rica. It was exhausting but I learned so much. I took over 100 pictures and I am going to put a few up. F.Y.I: the pictures don't really capture the beauty of everything!