Los Animales

Not only does being in a different part of the world bring a new language, it brings new creatures too. Okay, I guess not new creatures, but definitely ones that I'm not so accustomed to seeing on a daily basis.

First of all, DOGS! There are dogs all over the place. Pets, strays, big, little, fat, mangy, nice, mean... oh, and dogs that attack me! We were doing a home visit last week and upon being let in the front gate to the home, the youngest boy was holding down a dog. Unfortunately, he wasn't holding on tight enough and the dog got away and attacked my foot, biting me on top of my sandal. The dog didn't break any skin, but my foot sure did hurt! Here's an example of what most of the dogs look like:



While doing some produce deliveries for Funda Vida, we came across this man and his "pets" traveling down the road. Yep, right in the middle of town.



You know how birds will run into your windows at home? Well, we had a humming bird INSIDE the house trying to get out through the window. Here is me taking him outside:



Second attack: Although this one I'm sure didn't do it on purpose, it wasn't comfortable when my foot found him inside my shoe yesterday morning. I'm sure glad I had socks on for some cushion.

Home Visits

At least twice a week, Marsha and I venture out to do a home visit with a family. We are always trying to make new contacts, but at the same time we want to continue to deepen relationships with families we already know.

Last week, we visited a family that is fairly new to Anonos. They moved into the area about five months and have a home that is about 10 by 20 feet in size. Winston and Ana (the parents) have three children: Ani is their oldest, and they have twin daughters, Nicole and Jacqueline. The twins are two-years-old; however, Jacqueline was born with part of her brain paralyzed. She hasn't developed at the pace as her twin and has to eat through a tube in her stomach.

The visit was really good. We took bread and some desserts in celebration of Holy Week. We shared the bread and some Coca-Cola with the family. As the children colored, Marsha found out that the reason they moved to Anonos from another nearby community was because the other community had a lot of marijuana smoke that was affecting Jacqueline's health. They have since got plugged into the church down the street from them and seem to be doing well.

Mom and Dad are very grateful for their special daughter and allowed us to pray for her healing. We also were blessed to pray for them and be an encouragement to their situation. Winston works away from Anonos and is probably only home on the weekends like many of the men here. Please pray for healing for little Jacqueline and for this family.

One down, five to go.

I've been gone from Columbus for a month today. It doesn't seem like it has been that long. I honestly don't even want to think about it... if the rest of my stay goes this fast, I will feel as though I've only been here for a couple of weeks.

My days through the week have a pretty predictable pattern. Getting up, getting ready, having breakfast (there is so much fresh fruit I don't know how to contain myself). Several days a week, the team gets together to pray for everything that is going on, and on Tuesday mornings we have a staff meeting to discuss progress and upcoming projects. During the day we are busy with house work, running errands, and doing administrative work for the projects we are involved in. The late afternoon is a good time to do home visits with families in Los Anonos. Most of the ministry however takes place in the evenings when people are home from work and school.

In the near future we are going to start/resume several projects that I will be heavily involved in. Every other Saturday, we will be doing clean-up in the community. This basically means picking up trash as there is a huge litter problem here and the river water is very unsafe. I will also be starting an English program for a small class of adults. Next week, I am meeting with an attorney in San Jose, Rosio, who has access to a great free dental clinic. We would like for more people in the community I live in to be aware and take advantage of this opportunity. So, I will be doing some organization to get that up and running.

On Monday, I will be starting with a Spanish tutor. His name is David and he is originally from Columbia. He will be working with me for about four hours a week.

Blah, blah, blah.

I knew it would happen sooner or later, and I was hoping for later. I got a stomach virus. It isn't anything that warrants a visit to the doctor, but rather just a dozen visits a day to the restroom (sorry to those of you with a weak stomach reading this).

At first, I thought it was just my body adjusting to the new diet and bacterias in the water. However, my roommate had a similar experience on Sunday and my symptoms match almost exactly. We're hoping no one else in the house catches it!

I was out of commission yesterday for any work that needed done, and I didn't make it to the English lesson at the Kindergarten class this morning. So, I stayed inside and was able to get some house chores down at the very least. However, I'm hoping to be back up and running to help set-up for the children's ministry program tonight. They are always short on hands, so I'm going to do my best to tough it out.

Being sick while not at home makes me realize how many things I take for granted: easy access to medicine, a bed that I'm super comfortable in, Blockbuster down the street, and Simply Orange orange juice.

Teaching English

On Mondays and Wednesdays, I go with my roommate Marsha to the school in Los Anonos. In the mornings there is a kindergarten class of about 30 students; in the afternoon there are about 20 preschool students. Marsha gives them lessons in English to help them learn another language and get a perspective on a different culture. This past week they were learning colors, body parts, and animals. We had a lot of fun doing the song, "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." The kids are SO cute!!! Like every class in America, there are the really sweet girls and rowdy boys. Ha!

Sometimes the children try to speak to me and I have no idea what they are saying. I feel so dumb not being able to understand a four-year-old. Thus, I will begin intensely learning Spanish in two weeks with my teacher, Xenia. She will be with me for two hours a day, four days a week. I'm excited to get started!!!

Hablo espanol un poco.

Three years of Spanish in high school was good, but surely not good enough. To know how it feels to be living in a Spanish-speaking country and not speak the language well, check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngRq82c8Baw. I think you will be able to empathize with me.

I'm here, finally.

Home, sweet home. I arrived in Costa Rica yesterday around 2:30 in the afternoon. Marsha, who will be my roommate for the next month, picked me up at the airport. We went home so I could get unpacked and settled in. There is currently a team here from Maine. It was nice to sort of jump in with some activity going on. This first picture is the front porch at the house I'm living in.

Today, I'm just relaxing and getting acclimated. The weather is about 80 degrees, but not humid at all (sorry to all the Ohio people that just read that).

Here is the view from the house. The barrio that you are looking at is Los Anonos which is the community that I'll be working in.

From the house, you can see mountains and an active volcano.

The house is really nice that I'm living in. There are five bedrooms and four bathrooms, a great kitchen, several living areas, plenty of hammocks to lounge around in, and porches with great views. We also have a guard dog, Biscuit.

This morning I was awakened by the "egg-man". This is the guy that walks through the barrio selling eggs early in the morning. I think he must use a megaphone of some sorts because he was very loud! He's like an alarm clock with no snooze button. Oh well, work has to start sometime.