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