Feliz Cumpleaños Papi!

Feliz Cumpleaños Papi!

It was Dad’s birthday tonight and when I called home through Skype, I was less than overjoyed to see my family decked out in Xavier gear on the other end of the video. I leave for 3 weeks and this is what happens? When I get back, I plan on things being different. Goooooooooooo Dayton Flyers! FUXU. : ) Sorry Hermana Osa, but Xavier? Really? Just kidding. I couldn’t be happier or more proud of my younger sister (I can’t say little sister these days, she’s bigger than me). But seriously, the Xavier shirts have to go. : )

On the phone tonight however, when I mentioned that I could relate to the dog in my last blog, my grandma thoughtfully informed me I should take ExLax. I think I’ll just lay off the rice and beans for a while…

It was great talking/seeing the family tonight though. I always look forward to those moments. It makes me feel closer to home. I’m not homesick, but it’s always good to hear from them and my friends back home. I also called John tonight and got to talk to him. I wonder if he ever got all the rubberized synthetic field turf out of his shorts yet… A handful and a half can take a while to clean out. We talked about him and Kristen attempting a triathlon coming up. I’ll put bets on Buddy. He also told me that coming up in a few weeks the family is going to Centerhill Lake for vacation. Boy, am I going to miss that vacation. I’m holding out for a short end of summer trip to Lake Cumberland when I get back though. I think my life will be in peril if I don’t make it to a lake to ski/wakeboard this summer. My thoughts of summer always include the lake. Some of our favorite family memories always include the lake. I hope you’re reading this carefully Dad : )

Today we took the kids to La Carpio which is an impoverished town outside of the capital that is populated mainly by Nicaraguan immigrants. It reminds me a lot of what I saw in Comas, Peru. There is a lot of hope but little to eat. There is much love but little to survive on. Days go by when mothers can not feed their children. Housing is limited to where you can place slats of tin and wood to form a house. From what I understand the town is much further developed than in the past and legislation is moving along so that the immigrants can own the land, but life is still very tough. A bad day in the U.S. is when child’s Nintendo breaks. A good day in La Carpio means the person survived to make it to the next day.

These days are always the hardest for me at work. I go and I see that there is so much need and that our lives were meant for so much more, but that we rarely give of ourselves to others. It’s hard for me to watch some people come in and leave completely unchanged by what they have witnessed. I understand that most are here on vacation but all we ask for is 4 hours of selfless giving and sometimes even that is asking the impossible. It truly breaks my heart and I feel it in the deepest recesses of my soul the pain that come with living like this and that I have remained so stagnant in trying to make a difference. I don’t know how to make that difference just yet, but I trust God to show me the way. Even the very smallest effort makes a difference. I want to be that difference.

Today, however, was different. My group today was wonderful. They went into the kindergartens and read to the students and sang head, shoulders, knees and toes with them. I was so proud of these young students. At times, I felt as though they understood it more than adults sometimes do.

In some ways, this trip is much more than I could have ever imagined. I didn’t know I was going to be doing service down here, so that part is incredible to me. The next group I have is a service group. I am truly looking forward to that.

Anyway, this is long and I am getting hungry. Go figure : ) I love you. Take care.

Dios les bendiga,
Jessica Lynn

After Hours in the Office

I'll add more later but... it's after hours in the office and karaoke night just set in. : )

This is a great place to work.

So today I witnessed a dog trying drop the kids off unsuccessfully for 7 minutes. I concluded that maybe he'd had too many carbs in his diet too...

Mango Grenades

I love this picture...I finally figured out how to upload some of the pictures I take.

Hola Todos,

Estoy en Heredia esta semana hasta sabado, entonces voy para Guanacaste y Flamingo. Bueno, if you want to see pictures, take look at my facebook. I haven't figured out if I can upload pictures here yet!

I’m hanging out in my host family’s house right now. They have really good wireless and it is Sunday evening which means everyone is relaxing and lying around. I need this. My group is really laid back which is fantastic, but the kids have sooooo much energy. I turned my back for 30 seconds today and when I turned around 3 of the boys had climbed all the way to the top of a Mango tree and were throwing ‘Mango Grenades’ at the other members of the group. While highly amusing, it was a potential danger to the students and surrounding fountains…

Anyway, this morning started out nicely, the rain last night had cleared away all of the cloud so we had a crystal clear view of Arenal volcano (or as John so eloquently put it, A-Renal volcano). The kids went on a canopy tour. I didn’t participate because I’m going in Monteverde in a couple of weeks and Monteverde has the best zip-lining in the country. (It’s like skiing on the waters in Cumberland and deciding that St. Mary’s is no longer good enough to even tube on : ) ). Anyway, we followed that with a drive back to San Jose, lunch and an hour long tour of the capital. We drove past the president’s house which is in the middle of a neighborhood and only has one civil cop that sits in a booth at the house. Every morning, the president goes outside for a run and then stands at his gate and greets people. There is no “White House” for the president to stay in here and no secret service. It was truly amazing.

My day finished with dinner with my host family and relaxing. I have a full week ahead with tours with my group and such, but I am looking forward to it! Now, if you’ll let me digress for a moment…

Today, while driving I took special note of the drivers and traffic in Costa Rica. While this was not the first time I noticed how the driving works here, I was particularly amused and wanted to share a few things. First of all, I’m convinced that every time you get in a car and dare to ease your way onto the roadways, you are putting your life on the line. What is particularly amusing is that parents who send young children down here forbid them to bungee jump out of fear that they might die. Might I suggest then, that parents not let their children get in a car or bus instead. The child stands a better chance bungee jumping!

Anyway, road rules here function more like guidelines (which you are free to change at any time). It seems that it is your prerogative to decide which signs you do or do not wish to abide by. There’s a no passing zone and a car approaching in the other lane but the car in front is too slow? Never mind them, I’ll drive down the middle and the cars on either side will move. It’s true, cars do this all time. Stops signs mean you pause…maybe. Horns are used constantly as a friendly greeting or when you are unhappy with someone else’s maneuver (probably one that prevented you from making a similar maneuver), thus horns are honking constantly. Of course, added to the madness is the fact that at many points along the way the drivers are also dodging potholes and mud holes which just adds to the chaos. So, added to the fact that you are passing someone illegally, you are now weaving wildly down the road to avoid major damage to the car. It’s a like a scene of a cartoon.

Needless to say, I’ve had my fair share of close encounters and there are plenty more to come. Because pedestrians absolutely do NOT have the right of way, drivers find it particularly amusing to come as close to you as possible if you are seemingly in their way. We nearly ran a cyclist off the edge of a mountain today. So is life in the bosque... : ) Me encanta.

All right, it’s nearly time for bed. Have a wonderful week!

Dios les bendiga,
Jessica Lynn

Lava! Lava! Lava!

Buenas tardes!

Tonight I'm at volcano Arenal and enjoying my down time. Last night, I received a new group of all boys (and a few moms/teachers). They range from 6th to 8th grade mostly. Their plane was supposed to land at 7:15 in San Jose but due to problems with hydraulic fluid back in Dallas, the plane didn't land until 11:42. We left the airport at 1:00 a.m. with a 2 1/2 hour drive ahead of us. We arrived at the base of the volcano at 3:34 a.m. Needless to say, the original 8:00 a.m. wake up call was postponed. Gracias a Dios...

Anyway, today, me and the guide Selma were awaken at 5:20 by people talking on cell phones outside of our room. Thankfully we fell back asleep until 8:30. We all had breakfast (beans and rice, naturally) and headed off to Arenal Lake. The lake is beautiful and landlocked. It's used a lot of hydro-electricity...but I saw a Malibu ski boat making a run. It was like coming home. Anyway, after the lake, we headed to Finca Don Juan. It's a farm where they try to show that we can live off of the things we grow naturally on our own. It's a simple 2 acre farm where they grow tons of different fruits, vegetables and sugarcane. It was fun for the kids to try some of the foods and eat the sugarcane before sitting down to an organic lunch. Rice and beans...

From the farm, we headed into the town called La Fortuna. The students were given some time to walk around and Selma and I walked in the park and she pointed out different kinds of plants and landmarks. We finished up in La Fortuna and took a short rest at the hotel before heading to the Baldi Hot Springs. I didn't swim, but the students loved it! Selma, the bus driver and I sat down for a cocktail instead. : ) A Banano Loco is the way to go... After swimming and eating at the hot springs, we headed to the Lava Point to watch Arenal erupt. It was a really clear night and not raining too much. It was beautiful. I don't think I could ever tire watching such a natural beauty. Obviously, it can be very destructive, but against the night sky it really is beautiful.

Tomorrow we are headed back to San Jose and San Joaquin to spend the week. We are taking the students to a Canopy Tour tomorrow. I won't be going on it though...I'm holding out for Monteverde (it's the best in Costa Rica). We then headed to San Jose to the PreColumbian Museum that I visited last year. It's a small but unique museum with a great Aztec Gold display. The day will finish with the kids taking placement tests and acclimating to their homestays.

It's finally time to call it a day. I'm exhausted and sure to sleep well tonight. I hope all is well and that Renegade rocked the tent this weekend. Love you all and miss you!

Abrazos y besitos,
Jessica

First Weeks in Costa Rica

Hola Amigos,

I'm going to try this out and see how it works. It's tough to keep updates going, but I would like to think that this will work. Disfruta...

I've been in Costa Rica since May 30th and I'll be returning the U.S. on August 8th. I am working for a language school called Centro Panamerica de Idiomas or CPI. I am a chaperone for groups that come to Costa Rica and want to learn Spanish and travel around the country. While the kids are in class I do small tasks like confirming reservations and making reservations for their trip. I am the person that ensures their trip goes as smoothly as possible. I am also the "Fill in the Blanks" person. So when a kid asks, "Where are we going?" I can respond "White Water Rafting." We have a wide range of ages here. Last week I had a group of students from Franklin, Texas with their moms (FT!). Tonight, I am getting a group from Missouri who are mostly middle schoolers and a few parents. So for the next 2 weeks, I will travel with the group, get them to class, and go on all of their excursions with them. I'm getting paid to go rappelling and lay on the beach. Que vida dura... : )

Anyway, this past week was my 'training week' with the other chaperones from the U.S. Three of us are from UD. Gerry, a veteran chaperone, took us around to the different campuses and familiarized us with the personal and local hot spots. It involved a lot of driving and couple of days on the beach. Not bad. We also got hooked up with a snorkel cruise and got to see some cool fish and dolphins. It was my first time snorkeling so I had a blast. We met some great people on the boat from England and Germany and the U.S. We hung out with them later that night at a bar called Las Brisas. While staying in the apartments at the beach, we made friends from some students from Texas State. They are all in their last years or grad school. We watched the NBA finals and just hung out. They are really nice people and fun to chill out with.

Tonight, I am going to the airport to pick up my group from Missouri and we are headed to Arenal Volcano and a Thermal Hot Springs. I am really excited. Some of the Texas State people from Flamingo may be going, so it will be fun to meet up with them if possible. Groups really keep me busy, but that's what I'm here for. I'm learning quickly how to be extremely flexible and work to meet everyone's needs...especially those undergoing intense culture shock.

Well, I need to get back to 'work.' I've had the morning off to just relax and take it easy before my group arrives. I will write again when I can.

To those going to Poultry Days this weekend, have fun and eat lots of chicken. I'll be enjoying my beans and rice or weiners and huevos,

Love,
Jessica