Thursday, August 17, 2006

Week 2 Email

Hey there yall!! I don't have long to type... I need to get back home before it is dark. And it's a bit of a walk.

I have now moved in with my homestay family, and they are very nice. The parents are SO sweet, and they have 3 kids. The oldest is 14, and he speaks perfect English. The other two are an 8 year old boy and a 6 year old girl. They are fun, but tiring (what kids aren't)? And the 14 year old is so helpful. I mean...I don't know...I already am struggling to cover all the language barrier plus keep up with class and not be rude. So, his help is a blessing from God. But yall remember, I still need prayers.

Speaking of God, I wanted to let yall hear about something cool that happened at my homestay right after I moved in. I actually am pasting this from and email I wrote April earlier...last night I just was struck with how much comfort the Lord can give me. I opened my bag at my homestay house (I moved in yesterday) and was looking for something, so I took out my big bible and the dad asked me what it was. I told him it was my bible, and this look of awe came over his face. He asked if he could hold it, so i said of course, and gave it to him. I wanted to cry at the look of wonder on his face. He held it with such reverence...and he touched it as if it was more precious than gold...which it is, actually. And he looked all over at it, but he couldn't read it since it's in English. So he showed it to his wife. Then his oldest son, who is 14, looked all over at it as well. They all told me that they thought it was beautiful by saying "Que Linda!!" as they turned the pages, which means "How beautiful"/"That's beautiful!" It was so humbling to realize that I often ignore my bible when it is maybe the most important thing I own.

Then that night, oh my gosh, the bugs are ATROCIOUS. (sp?) Anyway, they are awful. And they were all in my room, and you would have laughed at me freaking out (silently so as not to wake the family) and batting them away. But I felt so alone, even though the family is just great. And I didn't want to read anything long because the light from my flashlight kept attracting bugs. So, I put aside my book and my journal, and I read in my bible. I looked for and read the passage by Paul about learning to be content in every circumstance. I was so grateful for it, and I was finally even able to fall asleep despite the bugs...until one bit me on the neck at 4:30AM. But we won't go into that. lol. Suffice it to say I am really learning to appreciate my relationship with the Lord more than ever...being removed from all that is comfortable will do that to you, won't it?

I have NEVER, and I repeat, NEVER had more appreciation for all the blessings I have in my life in Georgia. I knew I was blessed, and even spoiled, but I never knew what it was like to live in any other way. Well...now I do. There are bugs in the house all the time, and actually, they get into every place in Costa Rica...the UGA Ecolodge, the hotels...everywere. There are rice and beans with every meal. And I mean-EVERY-meal, even breakfast. And they are the staple. The house I am in is smaller than half my basement, and none of the walls are thick or even go all the way to the ceiling (maybe are 9 ft tall), so everyone can hear into every room in the house.... I have never had my mom talk to me while she cooked and i took a shower, but that happened with the mom this morning. Speaking of showers, I have found the cure for long shower takers. It's called: Cold Water. I guess, to this family, the water is hot compared to the water some families have, which comes from a mountain waterfall. (no joke). The roads here are the most rocky I have ever ridden on, and no gravel driveway is worse in GA. I would say April's driveway is comprable to the roads here. I am also going to eat everything (yes, I swallowed zuchinni last night), including fish if need be, except crab meat since I am allergic. I feel that I should since I am in their house.

That being said, I feel like I am exactly where I should be. The family is nice and was so excited to have me. They actually think my Spanish is alright (it's pretty bad), because the people that have lived with them before barely tried to speak Spanish. Besides the 14 year old, no one speaks English, so it's helping me to learn. I have the little girls' room to myself. And the first thing they did when I put my bags down was take me outside to see their dog's 4-week old puppies!! There are 3, and they are PRECIOUS!! They have also got a pretty cat, 2 horses, and some cows and chickens. I don't want any jokes about how it's no different than UGA from you people, because it IS. It's a lot more like Covington than Athens. =) And of course, the fact they love God made me sure He was over this trip. Yall don't know how much I appreciate your prayers.

Amazingly, I haven't gotten sick so far. I assume that is due to prayers as well, because I am normally SO sick. Everyone else here seems to have awful allergies and fevers and all kinds of stuff, stuff I normally get at home. It should be even worse here, but so far I have been fine...I've only even had ONE upset stomach, which is nothing compared to what I expected.

This weekend was very full. Friday night, we all went to Santa Alana. We all did salsa dancing (our teachers want us FULLY emerged in the culture), and I was very pleased at the tastefullness of it all. I only danced 3 times, no worries, Tom!! just teasing! =) It was fine, we were like...a foot apart. Lots of spinning and stuff, and our teachers went and did the same stuff we did. In fact, they were really good dancers. I stepped on feet a lot and turned the wrong ways, but it was fun. Saturday morning we all got up and went to a mountain to walk a suspended bridges hike through the cloud forest, and I saw my first Costa Rican monkey!!! It was really cute, and I don't think he liked us very much. That afternoon we repacked then took off with most of our stuff to move in to our homestays. The rest of our stuff is locked up here. This morning I woke up early, showered, ate, and came back to the Ecolodge because we all went on a zipline tour of the same mountain, and it was SO awesome. We were SUPER high up (maybe 436 ft on one of them) and sometimes came down at speeds up to 40mph. You could slow yourself down, but I always made myself go as fast as I could until they made me slow down! I was also waving at people and looking behind me and flapping like a bird at times...I got a lot of "Girl, you're crazy!" and at the end, one teacher asked if I was the bionic woman. hahaha I am grateful not to have a fear of heights. Now my fear of sharks...that might keep me on the sand at the beach. We go in 2 weeks to the beach, I think. I also rode to get groceries on the 14yr old's dirtt bike with him. (see previous comment on roads) That was my first time on any motorcyle-ish thing, and it was rather scary, but he was really good and slow.

Ok, if I don't leave now, then I will get stuck walking those roads in the dark, and I don't want that since they have a good amount of snakes here.
Much love,
Megs

No comments: