Observations of Costa Rica - Week 3

 Here goes:  Number 1 - It rains a lot here in Costa Rica.  Almost daily, it arrives in sheets, inches an hour.  Then it subsides to a slow steady rain for hours.  It is good for sleeping but we can't sleep because...


Number 2 - ...we are always studying.

Linda is a nocturnal student while Jim is an early-bird one.  Then near lunch time, we collaborate our gleanings to try to make sense of the warmest Spanish lesson.  Learning a language keeps us laughing.  In class one day, Jim's mispronunciations put a palm tree in the chicken soup, let women comb his hair (!), and allowed him to camp overnight at the local mall.  Linda can't correctly pronounce the conjugated 1st person plural (We) verbs, so much so that she now pauses after using them in order to wait for the correction that she knows will follow.  But, we pause our studies here in order to...


Number 3-...watch Costa Rica win World Cup soccer games.  We were downtown San Jose during the first win against Uruguay, on the seminary campus with faculty, staff, and missionaries during the second win again Italy, and at the downtown Pizza Hut with our Spanish teacher for the tie game against England.  This city was united in celebration that reached long into the night.  Culture continues as we...

  Number 4-...participate in field trips with our fabulous Spanish teacher.  The program we selected here at the Nazarene seminary, www.callcostarica.com, was specifically custom designed to meet our  purpose and need. And the cost includes field trips!  So far, we have visited a Butterfly House and the National Museum, which used to be a military fort, and the Children's Museum, which used to be a prison.  Our brains are cracked open and new vocabulary and culture pour in.  We get to all these places...

Number 5-...on the public bus system: hot and crowded but very serene.  A cultural note - teens, young men and women instantly rise to give seats to the elderly.  Every time Linda gets on the bus, she is offered a seat! :)  Here!  Here!  Life is full of surprises and one delightful one recently waltzed into our lives...

Number 6-...as we met Helen here on campus.  Helen is part of the Genesis Project and will be training in the Dominican Republic with us in September-October.  She is an important link in the bigger picture of service as she helps to plant new churches in 28 major cities in 15 plus countries by 2020.  We celebrated our new friendship and  shared prayer requests as we became acquainted over a typical Costa Rican meal.  Blessings and a rare privilege are shaping up as we...


Number 7-...learn Spanish to be a part of future assignments in Spanish-speaking islands,Central and South America. 

Observations of Costa Rica continue...

...as we Keep Looking Up!  You Keep Looking Up, too!  And, thank you for following our blog.
Dios te Bendiga  (God bless you!)

J:m and L:nda

Costa Rica - Week Two

 Our experiences in Costa Rica continue to be awesome. Our teacher, Zeidy, is very patient and pushes as a second language instructor should!  The first week, we learned many useful sentence constructions that allow us to add new adjectives or verbs to quickly express activities and/or feelings.  On Friday, she introduced pasada/past tense of all the verbs.  This is NOT an easy construction, but we worked this weekend to memorize pasada in order to express past experiences.
On Saturday, we made our way to downtown San Jose to visit museums and learn our way around the area.  The bus costs 60 cents to go one way.  We strolled the pedestrian zone, had an excellent coffee break, where we ordered in Spanish and received what we wanted, and enjoyed the sights and sounds of Saturday.  This particular Saturday was especially important because Costa Rica was playing Uruguay in a World Cup soccer game. 

They won 3-1 and the city literally went crazy, and we were right downtown in the middle of it.  Horns blared and people lined the streets and sidewalks proclaiming their victory.  This continued non-stop until close to midnight.  The underdog advanced to the next round, and the people were ecstatic with celebration   

We found a restaurant and had one of Costa Rica's traditional meals: chicken and rice with french fries. 

Now full and happy for Costa Rica, we made our way to the bus station, paid our
60 cents, and were seated spectators of streets lined with celebrants.

On Sunday, we traveled with missionaries to the small town of Poas in mountainous Costa Rica for church services.   We have discovered that church services in Spanish-speaking countries are longer than in the U.S.  Their music is upbeat and rhythmic, which makes it almost impossible to stay seated.  So, standing and celebrating the blessings from God can last up to one hour...and that is just the music

 The church is very large and by the time the Father's Day service began, the church was full! 

After church, we stayed for lunch - of course, rice with chicken, salad and black beans.  Fortunately, we can drink the water anywhere in Costa Rica.  And, by the way, the coffee there was delicious!

We were inspired on this day to memorize in Spanish our Life Verses.  Jim's favorite scripture is Philippians 4:13 and Linda's is Matthew 6:33.  So, next time you see us, test us!
You probably already know your favorite scripture in your second language.  We are just now catching up with you!

The weekend was an enriching one.  We experienced all five senses!  There is more to come!

Keep Looking Up!  And, thank you for following our blog.
J:m and L:nda 

Costa Rica, Church and Coffee

We arrived in Costa Rica on June 7 at 5:15 a.m.  It was very warm, overcast and 100% humidity!  Our missionary connections were right there at the gate to pick us up.  We traveled about 45 minutes back to the seminary where we will live for 5 weeks and take our Spanish classes.  Our apartment-see side bar for photos-is a comfortable 2-story, 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath residence.  The 15-acre campus is very beautiful and very green.
That day, we slept, unpacked and slept more!  Our neighbors, a young couple from Indiana, here for long-term language study, took us grocery shopping.  On our return, we were bogged down with cloth bags and backpacks filled with staples, the flat of 18 eggs carefully cradled in the crook of an arm.  Then, the rain came, sideways making small rivers down the broken concrete street.  The mile back home seemed short and the eggs arrived fully intact.  We unpacked and slept...all through the rainy night!

Our first immersion:  Spanish church, where we didn't understand a word except Dios and Jesus (the J is an H).  We did recognize grace, baptism, glory and honor.  We sat and listened and were stupified - there is so much to learn.  We believe the dogs here know and understand more Spanish than we do!  But lessons start Monday, June 9!  Even though we did not understand, the spirit of Christ was profoundly present:  He is the I Am.

Sunday afternoon, several of our new friends introduced us to the bus system and what will be our new coffee shop.  Speaking of heavenly - The Coffee.  It's Costa Rica! It's worth making the flight and drinking up! 



Mini-facts:

• The time here is the same as Denver time. So, there is very little jet lag unless you are on an over-night flight.
• There are several Kroger-like grocery stores near us
• It rains up to 100 inches during the rainy season
• Five million population in Costa Rica, 2 1/2 Million in San Jose
• Basically 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daylight hours -always
• We can drink the water everywhere in San Jose
• Can't flush the toilet paper
• Don't have to chemically wash the produce
• If you find Linda's Kindle on Flight 86, please save it for me!

Our studies are from 1:30-5pm Monday-Friday.  We need to get this!  New churches are being established in many Spanish countries, and we are eager to become a part of this.

Keep us in your prayers and Keep Looking Up!
J:m and L:nda