The first day..

Today was the first day in Costa Rica. On the plane ride I had so many emotions. I had many questions going through my head like ,"How did I get here? Why am I here? I am definitely alone..wait no, God has me where He wants me..I am excited! Wait this is a huge step!" And this remained throughout the whole day. One of my first thoughts (which should be a constant thought in America) was "I wonder how many people don't know Christ." It is a roman catholic country, we heard sweet bells from a church near by today..I thought I was in the movie sound of music for a second! Its been an emotional and physically long and draining day. We have two sponsor professors with us to help us out and that has made the transition so much easier.
Some Spanish words I learned:
que-huh? what?
como-say it again?
puertos-gate
vino-wine
damas-girls
Thanks to the Francis family for my Dora the Explorer coloring book. One of the only things I understood in Spanish on the plane was a little girl say "spanish spanish DoRa the ExploRa spanish spanish.." I am so fluent..
The people here definitely stare you down, I have never felt so out in the open and obvious to the whole world.

Funny to me spanish story: I tried to ask for bottled water at the bar/restaurant to the bartender and said Aqua, and did a twisty motion with my hand on my fruit bottle and he got some tap water and tried to put it in my fruit drink, then i said no no no, bottle, and then he got a glass with tap and handed it to me, and I said no no no bottle pointing again, he goes, "oh ice!!" It was frustrating..

Thanks for reading!
Que te vaya bien!

The Challenges

What I know right now about my trip to Costa:
-I know I am rooming with girls named Vanessa Voth and Carley Harrison from OSU. We are living at the receptionist from our school Blue Valley's house.
-My school-Blue Valley-is located west of San Jose.
-I am teaching (in english) 1st grade to students who speak Spanish
-I leave January 31st and get back May 1st.

Yep...that is all I know. No matter what way I look at this adventure I am about to take on, there is another challenge surrounding it. The challenges:
-"Ticos" or "Ticas" (Costa Rica people) speak Spanish...Do I know Spanish? Yes, I know the colors and I think numbers 1-10. I took French for 5 years of my life. Bonjour!
-1st grade...I want to teach Middle School, they have problems and are in the "punk" stages..I LOVE IT!! 1st grade..do they still wet their pants?
-People I am going with.. I don't know them well but I know they are awesome.
-The distance: I have been dating the love of my life-Travis- for over 2 years, we deal with long distance, but now its not an easy pick up the phone to have our quality time for the day.. My family and I are really close,I know that I will miss them a ton. My friends are experiencing their last hurah together this semester in Stillwater..

This will definitely be an adventure worth taking and worth risking. I am so blessed to have this opportunity. The Lord opened several doors for me to go, and I am going because I trust Him and feel His peace.
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