Sunday, Sunday

So, this past Sunday was the first time I went to church since I was in Orosi (my first month here...yikes!). I woke up super early on Sunday morning and decided to go for a run. While running, I had a sudden urge to go to mass. This is weird, I know. Although I would go every Sunday while living in the States, I think it was sometimes more out of habit than anything else. After looking at my watch, I realized I would have time to finish my run, take a quick shower and catch the 8:30 bus into Quepos in time to make the 9:00 mass.

When I arrived at the church, it was a lot bigger than I had expected. The pews didn't all match, which I loved. It gave the church a very "humble" feel. There were also a bunch of white plastic chairs on the sides of the church. These chairs were needed too! By the time mass started, every seat was taken. Mass was packed! It was definitely nice to see such a full church, especially after many months of attending a not even half full mass at SSJ.

I knew that I had made the right decision to come to mass after hearing the first song. It was very simple, and accompanied with clapping (as most of the songs were that morning). The words went as so:

la misa is una fiesta muy algre
la misa is una fiesta con Jesus

Translation: the mass is a very happy celebration/the mass is a celebration with Jesus

I just loved the simplicity of the song and the fact that it was sung by three women who really did not have the greatest voices in the world. The clapping made it perfect. As I was riding the bus back into Manuel Antonio after mass, I was thinking that this song would make a nice little prayer is you replaced the words "la misa" with "mi vida".

My life.

Fire on the Field!!!

I don't know if my mom and dad have shared this story with very many of you, but it is a funny one so I thought I would post it on the blog.

While my parents were here, we had another assembly at school. The first part of it was similar to our last assembly with kids from different grades giving little speeches and the English department singing songs that no one knows the meanings to. Towards the end of the assembly, some of my 6th graders put on a skit. They had dressed up in jeans and t-shirts and brought plastic toy guns to school. They re-enacted a battle of some sort. The entire re-enactment took place around a big fort-like thing they had made that morning with the help of the 6th grade teacher. The fort was made out of cardboard boxes and black plastic trash bags. Towards the end of their "battle", after almost all of the people had been killed (although Tico children have a hard time laying still so many of the "dead" people did a lot of moving around), the few remaining warriors doused the fort with gasoline. Then, they lit the end of a mop on fire and stuck it in the middle of the gasoline drenched fort. It went up in flames, everyone cheered, walked away and left the fort to burn to the ground.

There is a large, black, charred piece of land marking the area of such a heroic battle in the middle of our playground today.

My Scorpion Experience

So, I have quite the story for everyone. During Semana Santa my host family went to San Jose, so I had the house to myself. I was sitting at the kitchen table one night writing in my journal and happened to look up towards the ceiling (deep in thought I am sure) and saw two of the hugest scorpions I have ever seen in my entire life! They were sitting right where the ceiling and the wall meet. I did not know what to do (and didn't want them crawling through my bedroom window which is right below where they were) so I went across the street to my host aunt and uncles house and told them about it. They came over to see them and told me exactly how dangerous they were. Great. Then my host uncle and some other guy (I am still not sure if he is related or not) went back to their houses to fetch these long poles with small pitchfork things attached to the end. They, evidently, were going to try and spear the scorpions. After standing on the kitchen table and stools and an "uno, dos, tres" countoff, they lunged towards the scorpions with their pitckforks. And missed. The scorpions scurried back into our roof (we have hollow beams that run through our roof) dissappearing out of sight. Fantastic. There are two monster scorpions running around the house and I am home alone. Luckily, my host uncle sprayed the crap out of the roof with a very toxic bug spray (I ended up having to leave the house because it smelled horrible) and closed my bedroom windows. I have not seen them since, but I walk around with shoes on all the time now just in case they are waiting on the floor and constantly look up towards their "home". I have not doubt that they will return. I think I need to make a pitchfork...

¨Spring Break¨

I have been hearing lots of wonderful stories about everyone´s Spring Breaks and I am jealous! I have been on what is kind of like a Fall Break for us this past week but have been taking a class the entire week so it has not been all that relaxing or fun. A few of the other volunteers came down for the course, though, which has been nice. It has been great getting to talk with them and hear of their experiences in the classroom. It has also been difficult hearing of their experiences because they are so different from what I am experiencing due to the difference in site placements. The other sites are much smaller and do not have near the amount of discipline problems as the bilingual sites. One of the other volunteers that came for the class this week is from the other bilingual site. It has been nice to talk to her; I felt like she and I could really relate with one another.

The parentals are coming on Sunday and I am super excited! It will be nice to have them here and be able to show them around my ¨home¨. It will also be interesting to hear their opinions of Manuel Antonio and the school. I feel like my opinions are a little bit biased - it will be cool to be able to hear the opinion of an outsider/tourist.

Looking at my calendar, life is going to be busy until about July. Michelle and I get to go visit the other bilingual site in La Fortuna and the two volunteers at that site will come visit us. We also may have a possible rafting trip coming up and then mid-service at the end of May. My sister and Pat may be visiting in the beginning of June and then I have two weeks off in July. After July, things slow waaaay down and I have a feeling this is when I will start to get really bored. Until then, I am enjoying not having to teach this week and plan on hitting the beach all day tomorrow and then again on Sunday with my parents.

I hope everyone is doing well back in the states! Send me your updates - I love hearing from you!!!!

paz.