I love latin church services. …and they've got a SAXAPHONE on the worship team. Come on! :-)
I've happily been understanding MOST of the sermons at church the last two weeks.... just don't ask me to explain it to you in Spanish. I'm so glad the pastor speaks fairly slow and uses words I know. I write down all the words I don't know to look up later. Gotta expand that vocabulary, you know.
Jacó Beach is like being in Florida – everyone speaks English, and I saw a guy wearing an Indiana sweatshirt. What?! lol No me gusta Jaco. WAY too many people.
Fun trip though, and gorgeous scenery out the bus window. :-)
“Shirtless”
When we got to our hostel in Jacó, I checked us in and came out of the office to find everyone talking to a very shirtless, very friendly dude. We discussed this later in our room:
Jenny: “So, Emily and I thinking about taking a surfing lesson tomorrow.”
Me: “From Shirtless?”
Nate: “His name is Alan.”
Me: “If he wants to be called by his real name, he needs to not be running around shirtless at all hours of the day and night! How does he expect anyone to remember his name?”
Cindy: “Come on Nate, don’t even pretend you weren’t distracted by his pectorals.”
::::awkward silence::::
Me: “I didn’t look, personally…. I just saw he was shirtless and averted my gaze so I wouldn’t be lustful.” lol
Nate: “I just think you should call him by his name. He’s a person, you know. He has a NAME.”
…and then we realized he was sitting directly outside our room for the entire conversation. Oops. roflol!
- My first stay in a Hostel. Not bad!
- I killed cockroach #3 in my room on Monday.
- …and I’ve found 40 more colonnes on the ground since my last blog update. Haha!
- Maria: "I left my personality at home."
Me: "I noticed, but I didn't want to say anything." (she meant to say she left her flashcards for describing personalities lol) - The neighbor’s cat likes to dance on our tin roof at night – I never thought one cat could make so much noise hopping around! Last night I heard him meowing by my bathroom skylight. Crazy kitty.
- Sister Mary Kathryn: "You're like a Boy Scout, ...only prettier!"
- Playing the Spanish version of Settler's. Yeah, you know you're jealous. ;-)
- In conversation class:
Rita: "Como esta?"
Nate: "Casado." (which means "married," not to be confused with "CANsado," which means exhausted.)
Me: "Since YESTERDAY??"
Rita: "Felicidades!"
Angel, the man who cleans Parque Chino/Okayama/Japonese. He very graciously allowed me to sit at the picnic table where he was eating lunch and talk his leg off trying to practice my Spanish. I think he may have been slightly frightened at first, but he warmed up after a while. Lol
Carmen, a tiny elderly lady who spends most of the day walking up and down the street she lives on. She has a dog named Blackie, and a son who lives down the street. Sweet lady with beautiful eyes. She repeats herself a lot, but that’s okay, ‘cause I don’t always catch what people say the first time.
Roland, originally from CR, lives in California, home visiting his wife’s family. I was walking by his house, and somehow ended up in a conversation with him after my normal “Buenas Tardes” greeting. He asked if I go to the Institute, and what I plan to do with Spanish, so I shared with him a bit, and after I left, I realized I forgot to ask him if he knows Jesus. Maybe next time.
I've had some really good talks with my host family over the past three weeks, in spite of my horrific Spanish... It's funny how conversations like this have come up so naturally, and it's not weird or strange or awkward - it just happens. ...and afterwards I realize that I just shared the Gospel. Crazy. :-)
We were just watching TV on Monday (some Mexican Dr.Phil-type show) and talking about the world's problems, when Taty told me that she and her mother had been talking about how different I am from other University students who have stayed with them - I don't come home drunk, I'm not chasing men, and from the conversations we've had dating and marriage, they know I'm not a casual dater or whathaveyou.
She said I'm very different from what she knows of Americans, and wondered why. I just told her that it's really important to me to be obedient to God's Word, and that just threw open the doors to a great conversation about the Law and Grace, and Sin and the sacrifice of Jesus. She asked questions, and I did my best to answer with my limited conversational resources.
Towards the end of our talk, she asked me what my objective is in learning Spanish, if I'm planning to be a missionary or what. I told her I would love to be a missionary in Latin America, but only if God sends me, and she said (in Spanish) "You're going to make a good missionary, and you need to come help all of Costa Rica." :-)
I know that my pathetic vocabulary and wrong verb tenses butchered most of what I was trying to say to her, but I believe God uses my gigantic weaknesses for His glory. Please pray for Tatianna if you think about her. She has a lot of weight on her shoulders, and she's doing the best she can to raise her boys right.
...and that's the long way of saying it's been a good week. :-)
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