My Life Is Average...but not really :)

So for those of you who know me well you know that i rather enjoy the blog site My Life Is Average...if you havent already been there dont go...you will either get addicted to it or will be thouroughly confused by the harry potter and ninja references. anywho...so i have a tendency to take funny/average moments in my life and put them into the MLIA format and qoute myself. When you live in a foreign country experiencing a million new things a day you begin to think wow my life is not even the slightest bit average...and then the clock strikes 4 o clock and a string of average events happens. So this is my afternoon in MLIA format...

Today, i went to get out of the car and my leg bumped my bag, which holds my absolutely necessary umbrella, and hit myself in the face...I now have a semi fat lip. MLIA :)

then about 30 minutes later i had this little bit of averageness...

Today, i asked my tica mom for the keys to the house. I couldnt get them to open the gate that leads to the stairs that lead to the door. the gate is metal and has bars so i stuck my hand through the bar and tried to unlock it from the inside. it was raining and my hands were wet. i droped the keys. the bottom of the door does not have bars so i couldnt get them out. i took the walk of shame back to my host mom and told her i had dropped the keys inside. she laughed and pretended to scold me and then got the spairs from the neighbors house and walked in the now pouring rain to let her poor incompitant gringa in the house. MLIA

Yesterday, i was telling my host family about why we were taking the bus in the mornings now and not getting a ride with our neighbor. i was exhausted and the spanish was coming out a bit sloppily. i told them that we couldnt ride with Domingo anymore because his car was ugly. they burst into laughter. and when it subsided i corrected myself and told them his car was broken. there is no doubt in my mind that Domingo heard about my calling his car ugly and that being the reason for me taking the bus. MLIA

Anywho. in all reality life is anything but average here and i am loving it. For example my host family bought peanut butter...Amazing. Also this morning i was served hot chocolate. made my day. even on the most exhausting of days there is always at least one little unexpected bit of goodness...like going to bed at 9 last night. Things are getting busy with the ministry as i am getting a bit more responsibility and am sorting out the way we want to run the ESL ministry. I´m learning my bus route...although my next door neighbor is a gringa as well so i rarely go alone...and getting comfortable in my surroundings. Dont miss the physical comforts of home just the people :)

So for those of you who spend all day thinking of questions to ask me and then never get responses (hi aunt shirley :) here are some of the every day details to help paint a picture of what i do here...
Host family is dad-randall, mom -ebruana, 12 year old bro-jonathan, 8 year old bro-emanuel, and 6 year old sister and roomie- emily, and a cat named kele...that i actually really like...mostly because it acts like a dog :)
Monday through Thursday i teach ESL in the mornings from 8am till 11 or 9:30 depending on the day.
then i hike up the hill about a half mile or less with my teaching partner and help tutor girls at el refugio, the alternative high school here for girls that arent in regular school for one reason or another. i usually help with math b-c i´m the only one there who enjoys-remembers it. Thank you elementary ed major. :) this is till 12 when we break for lunch, rice beans and something else, almost every day
then in the afternoon there is more tutoring and usually a craft of somesort that i sometimes help throw together and sometime in the next month im going to start helping with a bible study for the girls.
then monday and thursday afternoon we walk back down to la segunda and tutor young kids who just need extra practice...im super helpful as long as they are not doing spanish work...i have discovered that although i can read at probably a 5th grade level in spanish when it comes to first grade type things like syllables and rhyming words...i am sorely lacking :)
wed afternoon is kids club, basically a bible club where the kids hear a story and do a craft...there are anywhere from 40 to 50 kids who all want to hug and tickle you. Tuesdays end a bit earlier...thus the reason im home on the computer. and fridays are all at el refugio.
so there that should cover just about everything you could want to know for now logistically.
If you made it thus far...thanks for sticking in there...now go find a book to read, or get back to work shipping books...hi sandy and pam and ladies!
Love you all
have a great day
pura vida
kt

1st week done!?!?

welp first week at carpio is done. it was very enjoyable but exhausting. i shall be sleeping in tomorrow morning...till at least 7 or 8 if the roomie permits :)
so here is what i have learned so far...
1. do not tell a child with an accent to say the word easel...it will not sound like easel and he will wonder why you are laughing so hard.
2. i have absolutely no ability to guess the ages of costa ricans...b-c they all look about 10 years younger than they are :)
3. my cue to get off the first bus is this...pass the burger king, ring the bell when you see the subway. ha...love it.
4. if jaclyn the canadia short term missioner...brings her umbrella...it will not rain until we are home from the bus stop
5. if one host sibling shows you a picture...there is a very good chance a younger host sibling will drag a heavy box from her room and show you 100 pictures :)
6. lab dogs are adorable in every country
7. my new least favorite way to be woken from a nap on a desk is via a change in the wind that brings the smell of garbage from all of san jose :)
8. if i am on the computer i will have at least two host siblings in the room with me...so i test them by writing there names in the blog to see if they are trying to read it :) ...they are.
9. spanish keyboards are still annoying. <ñ this is how my smily face turns out if i´m not careful
10. rice and beans are still yummy

thats all for now...i´m sure i have learned some much more meaningful things but well my brain is fried and i wish to take a nap so thats all i got
however
here
is my
mailing address here
if you
get the urge
to mail me.
takes about 2 weeks. cards or letters are almost guaranteed to get here. boxes not so much. expensive to send much bigger than a letter so...letters are best :)

Katie Gremar, CFCI
apartado 509-2350 San Francisco de Dos Rios
San Jose, Costa Rica; Central America

its a po box number so make sure you get it down right :)
love u all! thanks for the thoughts and prayers!
pura vida
kt

Soy missionera : )

so...absolutely love the ministry here and the work i am doing so far. i´ve been teaching ESL to 2nd through 4th graders in the mornings for 1.5 to 2.5 hours then i hike up a hill to the edge of la carpio to help with the tutoring of some girls at an alternative school. these girls have amazing stories and for many it is an absolute miracle that they havent given up hope completely. afternoons are more tutoring, some crafts, and tomorrow there is a chaotic thing called kids club that i plan to help with. my host family is absolutely amazing...super funny...so even if i´m not particularly funny in spanish i still get to laugh a lot. the other missionaries here are excellent as well...although the canadian i teach ESL with and i had a debate over whether Z is Z or Zed. i think we may have confused the kids just a bit :)
I get introduced here as a missionary which for some reason is really odd feeling b/c i would always say i am going to teach for a missions organization before i left. It makes me take my responsibility here even more seriously, knowing that i am seen as a representation of Christ has been rather humbling.
I realize that i am still in the honeymoon phase where everything is new and exciting but I genuinely enjoy what i am doing here and feel as though i will not loose interest anytime soon. hope all is well in the USA! miss you all! take care y pura vida!
kT

Day one ramblings

so here are some random shout outs to you all reading back home.
1. Becca...i have another brother named emanual and i saw the name manuel grafitied on a wall...ha ha ha
2. hannah...i have a cat...it is a healthy weight.
3. sarah...my host family was trying to remember the word new hampshire and they said manchester...i thought of you
4. i live in a pink bedroom filled with princesses...dream come true
5. when they say katie with their accent it sounds like KT...makes me happy.

k my new 6 year old sister wants to bond...she hasnt quite grasped the whole we have the next 8 months to bond concept just yet :)
love you all
pura vida
KT

Hellos and Goodbyes--Holas y Adioses

So in a few short hours...and I do mean very few, I should probably be sleeping right now...I will be up in the air heading back to Costa Rica. This is my third time making this journey which is a comfort but I still get mariposas in my stomach when i think about what I am about to do. For 8 short months I will be doing...actually I don't know what I will be doing yet. :) Sooooo....just like me...you have to wait to find out. :) Anywho. I hope that the journey I embark on will be filled with exciting and entertaining moments...otherwise no one will read my ramblings. For real though, thank you for taking the time to read my blog and more importantly to pray for the people I will encounter in Costa Rica. For the next 8 months I want to live outside my comfort zone and I want to encounter God in a way I never have before. Hopefully you will be able to experience this amazing and faithful God through the my random thoughts on this blog. Buenos noches y'all.

Pura Vida
KT

On the road again!

As promised I said I would keep this up again the next time I went back to CR and indeed in a week and a few days I will be back in San Jose. September 18, bright and early in the morning I leave for my home away from home. I will be staying with a new host family and working with Christ for the City International. The details are still coming together but I expect the next 8 or 9 months will be an amazing time of challenges and growth. I look forward to keeping you all updated with God's story in my life!
Pura Vida
KT