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