Well I'll be derned...

When you read the title of this blog make sure you read it with a southern accent…its just more fun that way.
Anywho…as you may or may not know I have about 2 hours of bus time all by myself every day. Now you have two options on a bus by yourself you can A.) secure your bookbag around your arm, snuggle up to the window (or your neighbor I suppose…I always opt for the window), and take a nap. Or you can B.) stare out the window and contemplate everything and anything. Occasionally I choose option C which is form my blog in my head so I can write it later…problem is I always forget the really funny thing I was going to write before I get home.
And so today I shall be recounting things that--were I from the south--I might react to by saying “well I’ll be darned…don’t that just beat all.”
1. Sunday I watched the Superbowl in Spanish. I expected the English commercials to be dubbed over. Nope they were just totally replaced with Spanish commercials…which meant for the first and perhaps only time I watched the most watched sporting event in the USA with 70% of the commercials advertising upcoming soccer games. Loved it.
2. Also Sunday we sang the ever popular “hay vino celestial” song in church. The majority of words in the song are “hay vino celestial” which translates to there is heavenly wine. Super funny for a number of reasons…1 we would never sing that at good ol college church of the Nazarene and number 2 most evangelical Christians here are super anti any and all alcohol. Good times. I laugh through the whole song but that’s cool here they probably just think im drunk in the holy spirit.
3. This week I was given the privilege/ challenge of translating for a medical team that came to la carpio. Last time I got to do the eye doctor, it was easy and painless. Which meant that this time I was assigned to the dentist. There is nothing easy or painless about dentistry. And now I know exactly what the dentist is doing when he goes inside my mouth. Kind of wish I hadn’t seen the dentist tools that look suspiciously like they could also work to build a house. But other than watching lots of teeth being pulled, fillings being filled, and after having to get right in the face of a 88 year old man and yell the translations, I have decided one thing…I don’t want to be a dentist. Which is excellent news since I had always thought it would be super fun to spend my entire life looking in someone else’s nasty mouth (note sarcasm here) Really though it was a neat experience. The dentist and his wife were super nice and really appreciative of my presence (seeing as how they can’t communicate without me) I described this week as like watching a train wreck. You absolutely don’t want to witness it but at the same time it is so fascinating you can’t turn away. That’s how translating for a dentist is…although I definitely turned away several times.
4. I distinctly remember signing up for elementary education when I chose a college major for the fact that I rather dislike high schoolers. Too much attitude, not enough eagerness to learn. I also remember deciding not to get an endorsement in math, even though I like it, because I really didn’t see myself teaching it. Welp…God has a good sense of humor because now I am teaching 7th grade math to a bunch of high schoolers. I am dealing with attitudes I had wanted to avoid, teaching the subject that only math teachers enjoy, and to top it off I’m teaching it in Spanish.
5. I also remember not choosing to just flat out major in Spanish education when I started college because I knew I would never have the guts to study abroad for a semester. Ha. God changed that plan by junior year of college when I did study abroad, and now its just been blown out of the water since I have been here nearly 5 months and have another 3 to go.
6. Another fun Katie tidbit (that may very well only be interesting to me and my overly loving family) When I entered ONU in the fall of 2006 I had been to exactly 6 states (including Illinois where I have lived my whole life) I had never seen mountains, I didn’t have a passport, I had never even been to Michigan let alone seen the east coast. I had been away from home for exactly 1 week in my life. I lived in the same house my whole life. I went to college in the same town as that same house where I lived my whole life. I was a townie…to an extreme. It is now 2011 and it is shocking how much I have seen, done, and experienced in 5 short years.
2006…went to Colorado for soccer preseason…saw mountains, added 3 states to my list of states I have been to.
2007…went to Guatemala. Got a passport. Went on my first missions trip. Didn’t see my family for 2 weeks…longest time away on record. Went to florida for soccer…saw the east coast for the first time…added something like 5 states to my list.
2008…changed my Spanish minor to a major so I would have to study abroad. Worked at OnGoal soccer all summer, 3 weeks away from home two different times…new record. Added at least 3 states to my list.
2009…studied abroad. Added Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama to my passport stamp collection. 4 months away from home…new record.
2010…Graduated university. Went to Kenya. Had a layover in Holland. Two more stamps for the passport and two new continents.
September 2010…packed my life in a suitcase and duffle bag and moved to Costa Rica. Went to Nicaragua again to renew my visa. Two more passport stamps.
2011…still in CR. Went to Nicaragua again to renew my visa. More stamps. Currently 5 months away from home…new record.
Well I’ll be darned…if God just ain’t gone an turned my life right upside down! (ps the southern accent thing I think is brought on by the fact that the team I translated for is from Oklahoma…don’t hardly have accents but I like to pretend they do.)
And that’s my life in a nut shell. Lots of changes all of them for the better as far as I can tell…minus the whole spending increasingly more time away from home each year. What does the future hold? I have no idea. But I imagine in another 5 years if I look back on it I’ll probably be thinking to myself… “well I’ll be…if that just don’t beat all.”
Last thought…if you have never taken an hour bus ride by yourself you should do it…lots of time to think…in whatever accent you choose.
Hope your all surviving the snow storms. Its 80 and sunny here if you get the urge to come visit.
Pura vida
kt

Between a Piedra and a hard place

This Sunday started out like any other. There were fights and whining and tears and we worked to get 6 people through the shower, dressed, and breakfasted before church. (for the record I neither fought, whined, or cried. Actually I went about my business and then sat on my bed and read for a half hour) Anyway. Church was the same as always, worship was loud and boisterous with lots of flag waving. Then the pastor started to speak at which point I began to day dream. It’s a bad habit I know but this pastor speaks loudly, quickly, and uses a lot of slang without a lot of Bible verses to keep me from getting lost. But then the pastor had to leave early so he had arranged for 2 other pastors to speak after him (you need 3 pastors to fill a 2.5 hour church service) so those two came up and both spoke slower and with lots of Bible verses so I was able to follow a bit better which made me happy. After church we walked for about 30 minutes around La Sabana park to get to the bus stop (it would only take about 10 minutes if I was by myself but well there’s nothing quite like a leisurely tican stroll after church…even when everybody is complaining they are hungry. Anywho we got home and the boys plopped down in front of the tv. Mama China my host mom got to work in the kitchen and I went to my bedroom and read the book I had been reading before church. We ate lunch mostly peacefully but when Emanuel and Emily started fighting about who got to drink the juice at the bottom of the salad bowl I decided I just couldn’t take another 6 and 9 year old whining match and so I went to my room and closed the door. Deciding to be utterly selfish and spend the day on me time rather than watching TV or hanging out with the family. I started out my Me time by finishing the book I was reading “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls a fascinating memoir that I borrowed from my old study abroad professor. Then I decided it would be a delightful time to take a nap. Well I laid down to nap and aside from the blinding afternoon sun which was streaming in the window and onto my eyes, I just couldn’t get my brain to shut off. You see from today I am a meager 106 days away from being home and I don’t know what I’m doing when I get there. And no I don’t have a countdown going I needed to see how far over my visa I will be when I return to the states to make sure I won’t get in too much trouble if I get caught (every 90 days I have to leave the country)…in case you’re wondering I’ll only be 10 days over so I’m not too worried. So I figured what’s the next best thing to do by myself that isn’t reading (I’m saving my last book for my trip to Nicaragua Thursday) and isn’t sleeping which just isn’t going to happen today. Well about the only other entertainment source I have is my faithful laptop. And so I pulled it out and decided to jot down some of my bajillion thoughts so that they aren’t still bouncing around in my mind when I go to sleep tonight.

Well what came out was 3 single spaced pages of questions and thoughts and reflections and absolutely no answers. Part of the problem is that I’m not one of those people who has felt a call since they were 6 to be a missionary and thus I’m not positive if it is meant to be a long term thing for me. Another part of the problem is that I feel incredibly useful here. Sometimes to the point of being overwhelmed with responsibilities but still it’s great to feel needed. And every time I think about having to say goodbye to all the people of La Carpio and my host family I start hoping the 106 days will drag on forever. Then there is the whole teaching question. I am teaching right now and am being challenged as a teacher more than I expected to be here but do I want to continue teaching the way I am without boundaries and with my own agenda but also with limited resources or do I want to teach in a more traditional school setting. (one of millions of questions I don’t have concrete answers to). And then there is the ever popular question of Where in this world will I end up? And world literally means world in my case as I am always open to the idea of travel (almost always anyway).

And so as I sat there, pondering the future I don’t have any answers to. I thought of one word. Trust.

It all boils down to Trust. If I really and truly trust God with my life then I don’t need to have the answers. He will always take care of me.

And perhaps he isn’t calling me to anything greater than Trusting Him at the moment.

And thus my decision to not make any decisions. At least for now. I am going to pour myself into my time here in CR, savoring every minute, and I’m going to trust that God will let me know what my next move is in his own sweet time. And so alas my day planner my host family bought me for Christmas (they know me too well) shall remain empty beyond May 14^th (the day I get home) with a few minor exceptions like the ever important date of Becca’s high school graduation J

SO…to those of you who may be just as curious as I am about what the future holds for me. The answer is I have no idea but I know I don’t have to figure it out in the next 106 days. (also if you’re every chatting with me and I begin to fret about the future please remind me of my little blog here and how its not in my hands anyway.)

And so to all of you who have no idea what you’re doing with the rest of your life and to those of you who know exactly what you are doing for the rest of your life. Enjoy each day. Or as the soccer team would say Carpe Diem. And Trust that it’s all in God’s hands anyway.

Love you all!

God Bless.

KT.