Friday, July 30, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Galletas con Celsy! :)
Today was so fun! I spent a lot of time making memories with Cellsy. All week we have been planning on making the second cookie on the list of recipes that I translated for her: Feinn family famous chocolate-chip cookies!! One of my favorites!
One cultural difference in Costa Rica is that the people shop on a daily bases rather than a weekly bases like we do in the U.S. Celsy usually stops at the super mercado in the mornings during her daily walk to pick-up the day’s worth of groceries. This morning before she headed out the door, she came and asked me what “manteca” was (an ingredient in the cookie recipe.). The English word for manteca is shortening. I thought that everyone must know what shortening is, but I was wrong. My attempts at trying to explain to her what this is, was not going well. I finally resorted to looking-up shortening online and showing her a picture. This too did not help. Of course, the only pictures that came-up on google were “Crisco” brands – a foreign brand in Costa Rica. I finally explained to her that it was vegetable oil in a solid consistency. She said she understood – I wasn’t so sure.
Next on the morning’s agenda: teach Cellsy how to use her new facebook! Her son, Carlo, helped her set it up last week, but she still didn’t really know how to use it. She was so cute. She had me change all of her privacy settings so that NO ONE can find her on facebook. She kept setting-up scenarios with “Juan etcetera” to ask me questions. Celsy: “If Juan etcetera sees me at the grocery store and somehow hears my name, then goes onto facebook and types in my name, can he find me? If Juan etcetera finds my facebook, but we aren’t friends, can he go and look at my friend’s pictures? That’s so dangerous. Ok, ok, can Juan etcetera send me an email?...”
On my way to school, I stopped at the grocery store to see if I could buy some shortening – not feeling too confident about my earlier communication with Celsy regarding this matter. Surprisingly, I found a little can of Crisco at the grocery store! The price: 2,500 colones ($5.00). Right next to it was a costa Rican brand that said: manteca (ah ha! So I was using the right word!) for $400 colones ($.80). The price difference made this a very easy decision and I bought the Costa Rican brand.
I gave Celsy the shortening when I got home after school, and she said: Oh, yes! That’s it! Our ancestors used to use this stuff! (haha!). I’m so glad that I bought it, because she had purchased vegetable oil thinking it was manteca. ☺
Cooking with Celsy was so fun! We talked about different cooking techniques and cultural differences. For example, Costa Rica is not an oven culture. Almost everyone has an oven, but they only use them to make cakes and to cook a turkey at Christmas time. Most ovens are used for storage. Celsy uses hers to store pots and pans. Instead, they use the stove and microwaves. She was surprised when I told her that at my house, we cook almost every dinner in our oven. I think the concept is that ovens are old-fashioned and Microwaves are the ovens of modern times.
For some reason, the cookies turned out nothing like they do when I make them in the U.S. Perhaps it was because we mixed it with our hands? Or possibly because we made our own chocolate chips by chopping-up chocolate bars which had raisins inside? Or maybe it was the fact that we guesstamated on most of the measurements? I’m really not sure! We placed the dough (which turned out to be a dark brown shade. When I make it at home, it’s light brown, almost white. The finished product looks burnt, but it wasn't. It's just because the dough was brown...) into balls and placed it on the pan. After about five minutes in the oven, the dough had spread all over the pan making one thin, giant cookie cake!
Ok, not what I was expecting, but still good! Celsy and Willy were so excited! As we were sitting down to dinner, Celsy was singing: “Vamos a comer las galletas! Vamos a probar! Wahooo!” (we are going to eat the cookies, let’s try them!) At dinner Willy said to Celsy: “You learned how to make these, right? Because Abbey won’t be living with us forever.” Haha! I told them that even my little brothers can make these cookies and they were surprised at this as well. (In Costa Rica, the men are very “machisto” and there is a large distinction between “women’s jobs” and “a man’s work”. Men never cook! Especially not young boys! Makes me proud of my brothers ☺ ).
Well friends, that about sums up my day! Now it’s time to work on some homework, go to bed, and then start all over again!! More to come tomorrow! Buenas noches! ☺
One cultural difference in Costa Rica is that the people shop on a daily bases rather than a weekly bases like we do in the U.S. Celsy usually stops at the super mercado in the mornings during her daily walk to pick-up the day’s worth of groceries. This morning before she headed out the door, she came and asked me what “manteca” was (an ingredient in the cookie recipe.). The English word for manteca is shortening. I thought that everyone must know what shortening is, but I was wrong. My attempts at trying to explain to her what this is, was not going well. I finally resorted to looking-up shortening online and showing her a picture. This too did not help. Of course, the only pictures that came-up on google were “Crisco” brands – a foreign brand in Costa Rica. I finally explained to her that it was vegetable oil in a solid consistency. She said she understood – I wasn’t so sure.
Next on the morning’s agenda: teach Cellsy how to use her new facebook! Her son, Carlo, helped her set it up last week, but she still didn’t really know how to use it. She was so cute. She had me change all of her privacy settings so that NO ONE can find her on facebook. She kept setting-up scenarios with “Juan etcetera” to ask me questions. Celsy: “If Juan etcetera sees me at the grocery store and somehow hears my name, then goes onto facebook and types in my name, can he find me? If Juan etcetera finds my facebook, but we aren’t friends, can he go and look at my friend’s pictures? That’s so dangerous. Ok, ok, can Juan etcetera send me an email?...”
On my way to school, I stopped at the grocery store to see if I could buy some shortening – not feeling too confident about my earlier communication with Celsy regarding this matter. Surprisingly, I found a little can of Crisco at the grocery store! The price: 2,500 colones ($5.00). Right next to it was a costa Rican brand that said: manteca (ah ha! So I was using the right word!) for $400 colones ($.80). The price difference made this a very easy decision and I bought the Costa Rican brand.
I gave Celsy the shortening when I got home after school, and she said: Oh, yes! That’s it! Our ancestors used to use this stuff! (haha!). I’m so glad that I bought it, because she had purchased vegetable oil thinking it was manteca. ☺
Cooking with Celsy was so fun! We talked about different cooking techniques and cultural differences. For example, Costa Rica is not an oven culture. Almost everyone has an oven, but they only use them to make cakes and to cook a turkey at Christmas time. Most ovens are used for storage. Celsy uses hers to store pots and pans. Instead, they use the stove and microwaves. She was surprised when I told her that at my house, we cook almost every dinner in our oven. I think the concept is that ovens are old-fashioned and Microwaves are the ovens of modern times.
For some reason, the cookies turned out nothing like they do when I make them in the U.S. Perhaps it was because we mixed it with our hands? Or possibly because we made our own chocolate chips by chopping-up chocolate bars which had raisins inside? Or maybe it was the fact that we guesstamated on most of the measurements? I’m really not sure! We placed the dough (which turned out to be a dark brown shade. When I make it at home, it’s light brown, almost white. The finished product looks burnt, but it wasn't. It's just because the dough was brown...) into balls and placed it on the pan. After about five minutes in the oven, the dough had spread all over the pan making one thin, giant cookie cake!
Ok, not what I was expecting, but still good! Celsy and Willy were so excited! As we were sitting down to dinner, Celsy was singing: “Vamos a comer las galletas! Vamos a probar! Wahooo!” (we are going to eat the cookies, let’s try them!) At dinner Willy said to Celsy: “You learned how to make these, right? Because Abbey won’t be living with us forever.” Haha! I told them that even my little brothers can make these cookies and they were surprised at this as well. (In Costa Rica, the men are very “machisto” and there is a large distinction between “women’s jobs” and “a man’s work”. Men never cook! Especially not young boys! Makes me proud of my brothers ☺ ). 
Well friends, that about sums up my day! Now it’s time to work on some homework, go to bed, and then start all over again!! More to come tomorrow! Buenas noches! ☺
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Culture Day and Tamarindo
Dear friends,
I must first apologize for being the worst blog-update procrastinator that ever existed! I’m embarrassed at how long it has been since I posted anything! I know this may be hard to believe… but I have set a goal to write something on my blog every day until I leave (which is one week from Saturday!!!! Where does time go?!? I’m soooo looking forward to having some family and friend time in the U.S.A. for a few weeks!)
Although there is MUCH that I could write about, as it has been so long since I have written an update, I will tell you about some of the happenings from last week and my beach adventure this past weekend in Tamarindo. ☺
Last week was a great week! Wednesday was “culture-day” which included a cultural dance performance, cultural classes (I learned how to Salsa dance!), and food (Tamales. Definitely a Costa Rican dish. Apparently it is very typical around Christmas although my Tico family occasionally eats it. The outside part has a jelly, bland consistency. It is not really one of my favorites...).
Culture day was in celebration of the annexation of Guanacaste, otherwise known as Guanacaste Day. Guanacaste Day was this past Monday, which meant that we had a three-day weekend! Friday finally arrived and got off on a great start. Instead of having classes, the whole school went on a field trip (so essentially, it was a four day weekend!) to a wood factory (La Madera de Costa Rica). 
I thoroughly enjoyed our field trip! It started out with a guided tour of the factory. We saw everything from the storage of the wood, to the cutting, to the fine details, and finally to the creation of incredible wood products – such as bowls, jewelry, treasure chests, toys, house décor etc. The smell of the wood and sawdust brought me back to my childhood and made me miss my dad. It’s funny how sometimes a song, a food, a picture, or a smell can represent something in our lives like that. I vividly remembered so many moments with my dad, watching and helping (or hindering, haha) him in his workshop, craftfully constructing various creations. I’ll always love that smell because it reminds me of him.
After the wood factory, the bus driver dropped my friends and I off at a random bus station where we caught a different bus that took us the five-and-a-half hour long journey to Tamarindo. It’s important for me to tell you what we were “expecting” this weekend to be like… We had heard that Tamarindo was a great beach in Guanacaste but that it was known for being a popular tourist location. This meant lots of crowds and “gringos” (white people), our logic: it’s a tourist location for a reason – people must love it! We found a hotel online that looked wonderful! Online there were pictures of hotel rooms that looked like those that one would find in the U.S. – complete with towels shaped like swans laying on the beds. The website said that it included a fully equipped kitchen, therapeutic mattresses, Internet, and it even had lots of customer ratings and comments saying that they loved it! We booked our room ahead of time and told the owner that we needed a room for eight – which he agreed to. Well we finally arrived around 9:00. The town was almost deserted – so much for a crowed tourist location. We traveled the dirt road and finally arrived at our… hostel? We walked through the gate to find the 20ish year old owner partying with his guests. We were offered alcohol, pot, and some unknown meat – is this the right place??? Apparently. The owner, Christian, a former resident of L.A., CA informed us that our room could only accommodate six, but that he would bring us an extra bed. The extra person in our group would have to stay in a different room with two men! We told him that this plan was not going to work for us, and convinced him to squeeze two extra beds into our room. Well, we were quickly discovering that our three-day get away was nothing like we had expected! Hello false advertising! The “fully equipped kitchen” was equipped with a trashcan overflowing with the trash from the previous occupants. To add to the experience, the power in the entire town went out about an hour after we got settled into our room! We kept the door shut and locked during the night and there were no windows. Eight people sleeping in a crowed room with no ventilation or air-condition resulted in the hottest night of my life! I was dripping in sweat. It literally felt like we were sleeping in a sauna! Finally, sometime early in the morning the power kicked back on and so did our air-conditioning.
Although the weekend was nothing like we expected, it was still wonderful! In fact, out adopted motto for the weekend was: “It’s totally worth it!!!”. Sometime after arriving, we told ourselves: Ok, this is not what we were expecting, but this will definitely be an experience that we will remember forever! So let’s choose to make the best of this! – And we did! It was so much fun, and really was worth it! Saturday morning we woke-up and enjoyed an almost deserted beach all to ourselves! It was breathtakingly beautiful! There were mountains and jungles in the background and the water was cool and refreshing. For dinner we purchased the ingredients to make chicken tacos and guacamole. We made the most out of our little kitchen area by borrowing cooking utensils from Christian. We had a lot of fun working together cooking the meal. After dinner we played games together until we finally called it a night. Sunday was another great day. We started it out by having our own worship service together, and then spending the afternoon on the beach again. We headed back to San José very early Monday morning (5:30a.m.). On the way, our bus blew a tire, causing us to stop to replace it. But even this was worth it as we were able to get back around lunch and I enjoyed the rest of the day hanging out with my Tico family and preparing for the start of the week.
Overall it was a great weekend! There were many surprises along the way (including a clogged toilet one night, and having to pull the built-up hair out of the shower drain from past occupants to get it to drain!) but the Lord turned the experience into a blessing and something that I’ll never forget! It was great to get away from the normal routine of life for a few days and enjoy his creation in fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. It was totally worth it!! ☺
I must first apologize for being the worst blog-update procrastinator that ever existed! I’m embarrassed at how long it has been since I posted anything! I know this may be hard to believe… but I have set a goal to write something on my blog every day until I leave (which is one week from Saturday!!!! Where does time go?!? I’m soooo looking forward to having some family and friend time in the U.S.A. for a few weeks!)
Although there is MUCH that I could write about, as it has been so long since I have written an update, I will tell you about some of the happenings from last week and my beach adventure this past weekend in Tamarindo. ☺
Last week was a great week! Wednesday was “culture-day” which included a cultural dance performance, cultural classes (I learned how to Salsa dance!), and food (Tamales. Definitely a Costa Rican dish. Apparently it is very typical around Christmas although my Tico family occasionally eats it. The outside part has a jelly, bland consistency. It is not really one of my favorites...).
Culture day was in celebration of the annexation of Guanacaste, otherwise known as Guanacaste Day. Guanacaste Day was this past Monday, which meant that we had a three-day weekend! Friday finally arrived and got off on a great start. Instead of having classes, the whole school went on a field trip (so essentially, it was a four day weekend!) to a wood factory (La Madera de Costa Rica). 
I thoroughly enjoyed our field trip! It started out with a guided tour of the factory. We saw everything from the storage of the wood, to the cutting, to the fine details, and finally to the creation of incredible wood products – such as bowls, jewelry, treasure chests, toys, house décor etc. The smell of the wood and sawdust brought me back to my childhood and made me miss my dad. It’s funny how sometimes a song, a food, a picture, or a smell can represent something in our lives like that. I vividly remembered so many moments with my dad, watching and helping (or hindering, haha) him in his workshop, craftfully constructing various creations. I’ll always love that smell because it reminds me of him.After the wood factory, the bus driver dropped my friends and I off at a random bus station where we caught a different bus that took us the five-and-a-half hour long journey to Tamarindo. It’s important for me to tell you what we were “expecting” this weekend to be like… We had heard that Tamarindo was a great beach in Guanacaste but that it was known for being a popular tourist location. This meant lots of crowds and “gringos” (white people), our logic: it’s a tourist location for a reason – people must love it! We found a hotel online that looked wonderful! Online there were pictures of hotel rooms that looked like those that one would find in the U.S. – complete with towels shaped like swans laying on the beds. The website said that it included a fully equipped kitchen, therapeutic mattresses, Internet, and it even had lots of customer ratings and comments saying that they loved it! We booked our room ahead of time and told the owner that we needed a room for eight – which he agreed to. Well we finally arrived around 9:00. The town was almost deserted – so much for a crowed tourist location. We traveled the dirt road and finally arrived at our… hostel? We walked through the gate to find the 20ish year old owner partying with his guests. We were offered alcohol, pot, and some unknown meat – is this the right place??? Apparently. The owner, Christian, a former resident of L.A., CA informed us that our room could only accommodate six, but that he would bring us an extra bed. The extra person in our group would have to stay in a different room with two men! We told him that this plan was not going to work for us, and convinced him to squeeze two extra beds into our room. Well, we were quickly discovering that our three-day get away was nothing like we had expected! Hello false advertising! The “fully equipped kitchen” was equipped with a trashcan overflowing with the trash from the previous occupants. To add to the experience, the power in the entire town went out about an hour after we got settled into our room! We kept the door shut and locked during the night and there were no windows. Eight people sleeping in a crowed room with no ventilation or air-condition resulted in the hottest night of my life! I was dripping in sweat. It literally felt like we were sleeping in a sauna! Finally, sometime early in the morning the power kicked back on and so did our air-conditioning.
Although the weekend was nothing like we expected, it was still wonderful! In fact, out adopted motto for the weekend was: “It’s totally worth it!!!”. Sometime after arriving, we told ourselves: Ok, this is not what we were expecting, but this will definitely be an experience that we will remember forever! So let’s choose to make the best of this! – And we did! It was so much fun, and really was worth it! Saturday morning we woke-up and enjoyed an almost deserted beach all to ourselves! It was breathtakingly beautiful! There were mountains and jungles in the background and the water was cool and refreshing. For dinner we purchased the ingredients to make chicken tacos and guacamole. We made the most out of our little kitchen area by borrowing cooking utensils from Christian. We had a lot of fun working together cooking the meal. After dinner we played games together until we finally called it a night. Sunday was another great day. We started it out by having our own worship service together, and then spending the afternoon on the beach again. We headed back to San José very early Monday morning (5:30a.m.). On the way, our bus blew a tire, causing us to stop to replace it. But even this was worth it as we were able to get back around lunch and I enjoyed the rest of the day hanging out with my Tico family and preparing for the start of the week.
Overall it was a great weekend! There were many surprises along the way (including a clogged toilet one night, and having to pull the built-up hair out of the shower drain from past occupants to get it to drain!) but the Lord turned the experience into a blessing and something that I’ll never forget! It was great to get away from the normal routine of life for a few days and enjoy his creation in fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ. It was totally worth it!! ☺
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Slowly but Surely...
Today was the first day that I could actually see my Spanish improving. I feel as though my Spanish is like a growing baby. As a parent, with the baby every day, you never see or notice him or her growing. Then one day you see a picture of the precious child from months (or even weeks) before and you can’t believe how much your sweetie-pie has grown! I hope that’s how my Spanish is progressing. It’s hard to see the progress day by day. Along the way, I’ve had little successes that were truly exciting. For example, I’ll never forget the first joke that I made in Spanish! I was with Celsy and her daughter and they actually laughed, and not just a little chuckle, but a deep-belly laughter! One of my favorite moments of each day is dinnertime. Celsy, Willy, and I eat together every night at 6:30. The conversations that we have are so rich. This time every night may just be the most advantageous time of the day for my Spanish and for my relationship with them. I learn so much from talking to my Tico parents. The first week I understood them fairly well and we were able to communicate, but I felt very limited. Each night I desperately want to understand every word they say. And slowly, I think that is happening! Our conversations vary from night to night. They tell me a lot about their lives and the Costa Rican culture. And I, in turn tell them about my life and the U.S. Last night we talked about how in Costa Rica it is no big deal to have a nickname like “fatty”. I tried to explain to them why this would be such an offense in the U.S. They were able to see my point and we just laughed about it together. They have never heard of homeschooling, and a family of six children is very rare in their world – so those are both topics that we often return to.
What I love about learning Spanish in Costa Rica is that every thing that I learn in class can be immediately applied to my life. This week in my conversation class we are learning the parts of the body (this feels like anatomy all over again! Except instead of learning words to the complexity of every individual bone of the pelvis, I’m learning words like: finger, big toe, and liver. haha). Today as we were discussing the words used to talk about giving birth and pregnancy, my teacher taught us the word for pregnancy cravings. They are called: los antojos. This word implies something much stronger than what we say in English. In Spanish, a woman has antojos such as craving tacos at two in the morning. So she will ask her husband to go get her some. And if he doesn’t meet every one of her antojos, then they say that the baby will be born with its mouth open!! Well, my Tico parents are much older and no longer of the childbearing age, but whenever Celsy asks Willy to do something for her, Willy always does it, but I can hear him mumble under his breath: “¡los antojos!” Until today, I never knew what we meant, but now it makes so much sense and is actually really funny!
Today after school, I taught Celsy how to make No-Bake cookies (galletas sin hornear). It was so fun! She went shopping this morning to get the ingredients that we needed. Mom sent me our famous recipe and I translated it into Spanish for her. I also had my copy in English. So the two of us each followed our own translations to make sure we both were in agreement. We first measured everything out and got everything prepared. Then we began the process and I tried my best to explain each step to her. Unfortunately, the cookies came out in a liquid consistency instead of a nice firm cookie – I hate it when that happens! I was very disappointed by this, because I really wanted them to come out right so that she would truly get to experience them at their best – especially after all the work we did! And the flavor was not as rich as it is when I make them at home. I credit this to the weird peanut butter that we used (nothing compares to Jiff). None of this fazed her or Willy. They both loved them! We put them on plates and ate them with spoons… haha! Caty, Celsy’s daughter, came over and she also loved them and even copied the recipe! The rest of the cookies are now being stored in the freezer to try to both harden them up, and save them from the ants (or rather save us from the ants!). I translated four different cookie recipes for Celsy. Next week we are going to make chocolate-chip cookies! Yumm!
At the end of the day, I started thinking about the things I’m now able to communicate in Spanish, the confidence that I’m gaining, and the little successes that I have had. As I said earlier, it was the first time that I was able to see my little "baby", my Spanish, growing and improving. It’s truly exciting!Thank you to everyone for your prayers! This is truly the work of God! Last year, I began my first semester of Spanish at Western. It was terrible!! I had to drop back a level and repeat Spanish 202 because I just couldn't handle the level that I was "supposed" to be at. I remember telling my good friend Hannah about this (she is also majoring in Spanish and Nursing and therefore we had almost every class together!) and she said that she and I just needed to always speak in Spanish together to practice. So we tried doing this and after about two failed sentences I would switch to English because I honestly couldn't do it. And now to think that I'm in Costa Rica living with a family that speaks no English at all?! Only by the grace of God! He is so good and truly our provider!
What I love about learning Spanish in Costa Rica is that every thing that I learn in class can be immediately applied to my life. This week in my conversation class we are learning the parts of the body (this feels like anatomy all over again! Except instead of learning words to the complexity of every individual bone of the pelvis, I’m learning words like: finger, big toe, and liver. haha). Today as we were discussing the words used to talk about giving birth and pregnancy, my teacher taught us the word for pregnancy cravings. They are called: los antojos. This word implies something much stronger than what we say in English. In Spanish, a woman has antojos such as craving tacos at two in the morning. So she will ask her husband to go get her some. And if he doesn’t meet every one of her antojos, then they say that the baby will be born with its mouth open!! Well, my Tico parents are much older and no longer of the childbearing age, but whenever Celsy asks Willy to do something for her, Willy always does it, but I can hear him mumble under his breath: “¡los antojos!” Until today, I never knew what we meant, but now it makes so much sense and is actually really funny!
Today after school, I taught Celsy how to make No-Bake cookies (galletas sin hornear). It was so fun! She went shopping this morning to get the ingredients that we needed. Mom sent me our famous recipe and I translated it into Spanish for her. I also had my copy in English. So the two of us each followed our own translations to make sure we both were in agreement. We first measured everything out and got everything prepared. Then we began the process and I tried my best to explain each step to her. Unfortunately, the cookies came out in a liquid consistency instead of a nice firm cookie – I hate it when that happens! I was very disappointed by this, because I really wanted them to come out right so that she would truly get to experience them at their best – especially after all the work we did! And the flavor was not as rich as it is when I make them at home. I credit this to the weird peanut butter that we used (nothing compares to Jiff). None of this fazed her or Willy. They both loved them! We put them on plates and ate them with spoons… haha! Caty, Celsy’s daughter, came over and she also loved them and even copied the recipe! The rest of the cookies are now being stored in the freezer to try to both harden them up, and save them from the ants (or rather save us from the ants!). I translated four different cookie recipes for Celsy. Next week we are going to make chocolate-chip cookies! Yumm!
At the end of the day, I started thinking about the things I’m now able to communicate in Spanish, the confidence that I’m gaining, and the little successes that I have had. As I said earlier, it was the first time that I was able to see my little "baby", my Spanish, growing and improving. It’s truly exciting!Thank you to everyone for your prayers! This is truly the work of God! Last year, I began my first semester of Spanish at Western. It was terrible!! I had to drop back a level and repeat Spanish 202 because I just couldn't handle the level that I was "supposed" to be at. I remember telling my good friend Hannah about this (she is also majoring in Spanish and Nursing and therefore we had almost every class together!) and she said that she and I just needed to always speak in Spanish together to practice. So we tried doing this and after about two failed sentences I would switch to English because I honestly couldn't do it. And now to think that I'm in Costa Rica living with a family that speaks no English at all?! Only by the grace of God! He is so good and truly our provider!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Want to make God laugh?
Dear friends,
It has been almost a week since I have written to you! Opps….
I hope to write a more detailed update of what I’ve been up to soon, but for today, let me leave you with something that I feel God has been reiterating in my life lately. Today I heard this quote in chapel:
“Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans for your life.”
I’m not sure who first said that – but it couldn’t be any truer! For example, as a sophomore in high school, I decided that foreign languages really weren’t my “thing”. Knowing this, I decided to take the easiest road possible. I discovered that one semester of college credit was equivalent to studying one subject for an entire year in high school! Which means that instead of spending two whole years studying a foreign language, I could go to a community college and knock that out in one year (two semesters)! Even better, was that I would be a duel-credit student! Meaning that not only would I get high school credit, but I would get college credit as well! So essentially, I could spend one year at JCC studying Spanish (the community college in Louisville), and NEVER have to study it again! Not in high school – or college! I may be blond, but I know a good deal when I see one – and this seemed like the short cut of a lifetime; however, this situation is a perfect testimony to Proverbs 16:9:
“In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”
If you are reading this blog, then you must know that my “plan” in this area, did not succeed. God must have been laughing three years ago when he looked down on me and heard me tell Him how my course was all planned out in regards to Spanish. He knew that my Spanish study would not stop after one year; He had determined my steps even back them. And here I am today; I’ve now spent three years studying Spanish and am currently spending six months in Costa Rica for that sole purpose! God must have a sense of humor! Spanish is certainly not the only area of my life that turned out much differently than I planned! I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that I would go to a public university, that I would be majoring in nursing as well as Spanish, that I would have a sister, that my family would be permanently located in Louisville – and countless other examples! It makes me wonder what else God has up his sleeve.
I’m a planner. I have a list for everything! I constantly want to plan the future. I’ll admit, I have a very detailed “Five year plan” in a Word document, saved on my computer! But I wonder how many of my “plans” are simply me planning my course and not actually God’s determined steps for my life. When it comes to big decisions, one of my greatest fears is that I’ll miss it and some how make the wrong choice and ruin God’s plans for my life! Over the years, God has been showing me that we can’t mess-up his plans! He is so much bigger than that! Who am I to think that I can somehow put God in a box like that; and that my actions can somehow change His plans?!
How do I know that we can’t mess-up God’s plans? Well, not only have I experienced time and time again, circumstances that were completely not my plan and clearly God working his plan in my life – but the Bible tells us so!
Proverbs 20:24
A man’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way?
Proverbs 16:1
To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue.
Proverbs 16:3-4
Commit your way to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. The Lord works out everything for his own ends – even the wicked for a day of disaster.
Proverbs 21:30-31
There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.
Jeremiah 10:23
I know O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.
As these verse testify, God is the one orchestrating our lives – not us!
I don’t know about you, but I’m extremely comforted by that news! There is no one else that I could trust my life too – not even myself! How great is that - that the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE is the one who directs our paths! The one who is perfect, Holy, just, loving, kind, and all knowing!
How can we know God’s plans for our lives? God’s word gives us three commands in Proverbs 3:5-6:
1.Trust in the LORD with all your heart
2.Lean not on your own understanding
3.In all your ways acknowledge him
- And he will make your paths straight. – Proverbs 3:5-6
As one of my friends from the institute says: God makes His plans, and we simply join Him. Not the other way around.
In closing, here are the lyrics to one of my favorite hymns, Be Thou My Vision. I am not sure if anyone really ever reads this blog, but whoever you are, I hope that this encourages. Let’s trust God together and let Him alone be our vision and our everything….
Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee, Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Be Thou my battle-shield, sword for my fight,
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.
Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower.
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'ns Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.
It has been almost a week since I have written to you! Opps….
I hope to write a more detailed update of what I’ve been up to soon, but for today, let me leave you with something that I feel God has been reiterating in my life lately. Today I heard this quote in chapel:
“Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans for your life.”
I’m not sure who first said that – but it couldn’t be any truer! For example, as a sophomore in high school, I decided that foreign languages really weren’t my “thing”. Knowing this, I decided to take the easiest road possible. I discovered that one semester of college credit was equivalent to studying one subject for an entire year in high school! Which means that instead of spending two whole years studying a foreign language, I could go to a community college and knock that out in one year (two semesters)! Even better, was that I would be a duel-credit student! Meaning that not only would I get high school credit, but I would get college credit as well! So essentially, I could spend one year at JCC studying Spanish (the community college in Louisville), and NEVER have to study it again! Not in high school – or college! I may be blond, but I know a good deal when I see one – and this seemed like the short cut of a lifetime; however, this situation is a perfect testimony to Proverbs 16:9:
“In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”
If you are reading this blog, then you must know that my “plan” in this area, did not succeed. God must have been laughing three years ago when he looked down on me and heard me tell Him how my course was all planned out in regards to Spanish. He knew that my Spanish study would not stop after one year; He had determined my steps even back them. And here I am today; I’ve now spent three years studying Spanish and am currently spending six months in Costa Rica for that sole purpose! God must have a sense of humor! Spanish is certainly not the only area of my life that turned out much differently than I planned! I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that I would go to a public university, that I would be majoring in nursing as well as Spanish, that I would have a sister, that my family would be permanently located in Louisville – and countless other examples! It makes me wonder what else God has up his sleeve.
I’m a planner. I have a list for everything! I constantly want to plan the future. I’ll admit, I have a very detailed “Five year plan” in a Word document, saved on my computer! But I wonder how many of my “plans” are simply me planning my course and not actually God’s determined steps for my life. When it comes to big decisions, one of my greatest fears is that I’ll miss it and some how make the wrong choice and ruin God’s plans for my life! Over the years, God has been showing me that we can’t mess-up his plans! He is so much bigger than that! Who am I to think that I can somehow put God in a box like that; and that my actions can somehow change His plans?!
How do I know that we can’t mess-up God’s plans? Well, not only have I experienced time and time again, circumstances that were completely not my plan and clearly God working his plan in my life – but the Bible tells us so!
Proverbs 20:24
A man’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way?
Proverbs 16:1
To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue.
Proverbs 16:3-4
Commit your way to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. The Lord works out everything for his own ends – even the wicked for a day of disaster.
Proverbs 21:30-31
There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord.
Jeremiah 10:23
I know O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.
As these verse testify, God is the one orchestrating our lives – not us!
I don’t know about you, but I’m extremely comforted by that news! There is no one else that I could trust my life too – not even myself! How great is that - that the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE is the one who directs our paths! The one who is perfect, Holy, just, loving, kind, and all knowing!
How can we know God’s plans for our lives? God’s word gives us three commands in Proverbs 3:5-6:
1.Trust in the LORD with all your heart
2.Lean not on your own understanding
3.In all your ways acknowledge him
- And he will make your paths straight. – Proverbs 3:5-6
As one of my friends from the institute says: God makes His plans, and we simply join Him. Not the other way around.
In closing, here are the lyrics to one of my favorite hymns, Be Thou My Vision. I am not sure if anyone really ever reads this blog, but whoever you are, I hope that this encourages. Let’s trust God together and let Him alone be our vision and our everything….
Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee, Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Be Thou my battle-shield, sword for my fight,
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.
Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower.
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'ns Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.
Friday, July 2, 2010
The story of a great day...
Here begins the story of a great day…
I quickly ate breakfast early this morning and ran out the door to find the bank. I needed to withdraw some colones to spend at the market in downtown San Jose. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about Americans using the ATM, and then being mugged because someone saw them at the ATM and knew that they had money… but I figure that most criminals probably aren’t up and around at 7:00 in the morning. Just in case there was any danger lurking around the corning, God placed a security guard right outside the ATM for me! The bank had not yet opened, and I think that he was waiting for someone to come and unlock it so that he could begin his day’s work. He was conveniently waiting right by the ATM, which made me feel very safe!
I met my friends Esther and Emily outside of the institute and we hopped on a bus heading for downtown. We had such a fun morning! We went to two different touristy markets. The first one is pretty big. It has everything from balloons, hair-stuff, and hammocks, to gross smelling fish and other meats and foods. The three of us had a few “items” that we were on the search for. Every vender has a different price and every price can be made lower through bartering… We located the items that we wanted and then scouted around to see who had the lowest price. I wish I could tell you about the things that I bought because I’m very excited about them! However, I bought several gifts… and the recipients of those gifts will probably be reading this so I just can’t divulge. Although, I did buy a super cool skirt for myself; it is made of all kinds of different colored fabrics patched together – it’s very cool! I only brought one pare of pants this summer – since I was told that I couldn’t wear shorts. So this skirt will be added to my skirt wardrobe. (Today I wore pants to school for the first time and everyone was like – Wow! You are wearing pants?!!? How different my life is here! Haha)
After the first market, we went to a Musammani, which is a chain of bakeries that are here in San José. Let me tell you how much I LOVE Musammani. There is a huge one right up the street from where I live. Although it is out of the way, I try to walk by it at least once a day. As I walk by, my nostrils are flooded with the tantalizing aroma that seeps through the doors! There is no smell like it! The three of us made our purchases and enjoyed the delectable pastries. Then we headed to the artesian market. This is my favorite market. It is more of an open-air environment and the venders are much more friendly here. They even encourage bartering. They always try to talk to us in English, but we usually tell them that we are trying to learn Spanish, and they are very happy to help us practice! I was on the hunt for two specific items that I wanted to buy – one for my dad, and one for my brothers. I’m trying to find the “perfect” one – the right design, quality, and price! Although I saw many of these items today – I didn’t see the perfect ones that I am scouring for. Since I have six months here, I’m not too worried about it. ☺
After we were done shopping, we walked around trying to find the right bus to get back to school. We finally saw one but it was quickly passing us. All three of us acted fast and stuck-out our hands – hailing it down (there is a special hand movement that they do here to hail taxies and busses. It’s not like in the U.S.). It actually worked!! The bus stopped and we quickly got on feeling very accomplished and proud of ourselves!
My classes today went really well. I love my conversational class! It is two hours long and usually pretty fun. There are only four students including myself. Every day we have some type of assignment that we have to discuss and be critiqued on. Today’s assignment was to interview a Tico about technology in Costa Rica. What is their opinion on Internet and video games, do they have one etc. So I interviewed Celsy. I didn’t prepare anything for class; I just talked to her about it yesterday and then reported on it from my memory. Usually I have everything all planned out – what I’m going to say and how I’m going to say it. But today I just winged it (which I usually can’t do in Spanish!). And it was so great! Afterwards my teacher said to me: “Trabajo suber bien hoy. Tu espanol está mejorando cada día!” (Super good work today. Your Spanish is getting better every day!). Wow, that meant so much coming from her and was super encouraging! Now, I think she might have been just being nice – because I don’t feel like my Spanish is getting better every day… but it was still very encouraging!
Well friends, that sums up my wonderful Friday here in San Jose. I just finished eating dinner, I’m sitting upstairs, and I can hear the charming pitter-patter of the rain. I’m going to get started on my homework for the weekend – and then call it a night! I hope that wherever you are, and whatever your day looked like –that you are filled with peace and joy through our Savior! Buenas noches!
I quickly ate breakfast early this morning and ran out the door to find the bank. I needed to withdraw some colones to spend at the market in downtown San Jose. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about Americans using the ATM, and then being mugged because someone saw them at the ATM and knew that they had money… but I figure that most criminals probably aren’t up and around at 7:00 in the morning. Just in case there was any danger lurking around the corning, God placed a security guard right outside the ATM for me! The bank had not yet opened, and I think that he was waiting for someone to come and unlock it so that he could begin his day’s work. He was conveniently waiting right by the ATM, which made me feel very safe!
I met my friends Esther and Emily outside of the institute and we hopped on a bus heading for downtown. We had such a fun morning! We went to two different touristy markets. The first one is pretty big. It has everything from balloons, hair-stuff, and hammocks, to gross smelling fish and other meats and foods. The three of us had a few “items” that we were on the search for. Every vender has a different price and every price can be made lower through bartering… We located the items that we wanted and then scouted around to see who had the lowest price. I wish I could tell you about the things that I bought because I’m very excited about them! However, I bought several gifts… and the recipients of those gifts will probably be reading this so I just can’t divulge. Although, I did buy a super cool skirt for myself; it is made of all kinds of different colored fabrics patched together – it’s very cool! I only brought one pare of pants this summer – since I was told that I couldn’t wear shorts. So this skirt will be added to my skirt wardrobe. (Today I wore pants to school for the first time and everyone was like – Wow! You are wearing pants?!!? How different my life is here! Haha)
After the first market, we went to a Musammani, which is a chain of bakeries that are here in San José. Let me tell you how much I LOVE Musammani. There is a huge one right up the street from where I live. Although it is out of the way, I try to walk by it at least once a day. As I walk by, my nostrils are flooded with the tantalizing aroma that seeps through the doors! There is no smell like it! The three of us made our purchases and enjoyed the delectable pastries. Then we headed to the artesian market. This is my favorite market. It is more of an open-air environment and the venders are much more friendly here. They even encourage bartering. They always try to talk to us in English, but we usually tell them that we are trying to learn Spanish, and they are very happy to help us practice! I was on the hunt for two specific items that I wanted to buy – one for my dad, and one for my brothers. I’m trying to find the “perfect” one – the right design, quality, and price! Although I saw many of these items today – I didn’t see the perfect ones that I am scouring for. Since I have six months here, I’m not too worried about it. ☺
After we were done shopping, we walked around trying to find the right bus to get back to school. We finally saw one but it was quickly passing us. All three of us acted fast and stuck-out our hands – hailing it down (there is a special hand movement that they do here to hail taxies and busses. It’s not like in the U.S.). It actually worked!! The bus stopped and we quickly got on feeling very accomplished and proud of ourselves!
My classes today went really well. I love my conversational class! It is two hours long and usually pretty fun. There are only four students including myself. Every day we have some type of assignment that we have to discuss and be critiqued on. Today’s assignment was to interview a Tico about technology in Costa Rica. What is their opinion on Internet and video games, do they have one etc. So I interviewed Celsy. I didn’t prepare anything for class; I just talked to her about it yesterday and then reported on it from my memory. Usually I have everything all planned out – what I’m going to say and how I’m going to say it. But today I just winged it (which I usually can’t do in Spanish!). And it was so great! Afterwards my teacher said to me: “Trabajo suber bien hoy. Tu espanol está mejorando cada día!” (Super good work today. Your Spanish is getting better every day!). Wow, that meant so much coming from her and was super encouraging! Now, I think she might have been just being nice – because I don’t feel like my Spanish is getting better every day… but it was still very encouraging!
Well friends, that sums up my wonderful Friday here in San Jose. I just finished eating dinner, I’m sitting upstairs, and I can hear the charming pitter-patter of the rain. I’m going to get started on my homework for the weekend – and then call it a night! I hope that wherever you are, and whatever your day looked like –that you are filled with peace and joy through our Savior! Buenas noches!
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