non-fair weather friends...

Hey All (6 of you that read this =)!
I hope you are doing superb-ly (?, superb?) I can no longer speak any language "well." This is what occurs when your brain turns into a kind of mush that confuses rules and words in languages that you know and/or are learning. Sometimes, Krysta and I find ourselves speaking a more gring-a-fied spanglish, inserting words in spanish (with English pronunciation) into our otherwise English sentences. For example, I would say, "Alright, I'm gonna get ready to acostarme (go to bed)." While it sounds, and may actually be a little crazy, we actually understand each other fine this way and I feel that we are on the verge of doing it sin darnos cuenta (without realizing it ; ).

This last Saturday we had the opportunity of meeting and talking with a young couple- the husband is Costa Rican, the wife is North American, but has lived in Costa Rica for about 8 years. The husband actually used to work with YWAM and the wife works with Food for the Hungry in and area called Los Guidos, which is in Desamparados. This is an area that we have strongly been considering going to work in. Talking with this couple was AMAZINGLY encouraging as the vision that they have, as well as for Food for the Hungry, seems to match the vision we have for Students International Costa Rica. We are hoping to meet with the director and staff from Food for the Hungry some time next week. We look forward to being able to share and potentially partner with this ministry in the future. It was really exciting to hear that other people have the same heart for these people as we do and to be able to learn more through their knowledge and experience. We'll see what happens!

In other matters.....it has been COLD lately!!!!! Okay, we realize that in comparison to some places, what we are feeling is not really that cold, however, it is colder than we expected and a lot colder than we have ever experienced in Costa Rica. Please witness for yourselves:



A Costa Rican snowman!!!!




Okay....so, this snowman was actually made from an overabundance of ice in our freezer. But he held up pretty well!


The other day in the grocery store, Krysta and I, no joke, saw a lady wearing a furry wintery hat and a long wintery coat--inside--in Costa Rica. Yeah- we think its cold, but not that cold! It was kinda crazy. But there has been a lot of rain and wind and sideways rain and clouds and misty rain. I think its probably been almost 2 weeks in which we haven't really seen the sun much. Not my and Krysta's favorite, but, hey, we're figuring it out.

On a few side notes, after two weeks of being the only two students in our language school, two older women from the states have come to study for a little bit. Their names are Francie and Susanna and they are really sweet and fun! Then, last Saturday or sometime around then, Krysta and I got to watch a little demonstration of Costa Rican cheerleaders in the parking lot of a McDonalds near our apartment. They were actually pretty good- a little scary at times (near power lines and all), but overall very entertaining. They made me miss gymnastics and Krysta miss dance. But they still made my heart happy, as did meeting the new students at our school. So, things are going relatively well- not without their dips and low points of frustrations with language and missing family, friends and home, but we press on! =)

and so are the days of our lives....

So, as the weeks go on, I feel like we've begun to fall into our own groove of things. It's nice to not feel completely clueless ALL of the time. There are still plenty of opportunities to do so, though! This has been a really good time of sorting through all these new experiences and feelings, so that when January comes around and we intentionally begin ministry, hopefully we'll have gotten a pretty firm grasp on things. As for now, we are taking advantage of this time to really focus on language and cultural learning.

This last week, Krysta and I were the only two students in our language school- the other six or so students that had been there before left. Kind of crazy! But it was a good week. On Friday, during our conversation class, we got to go with our teacher to the National Museum. It wasn't super big, but it was really neat to see. They have a beautiful butterfly garden there. We got to walk around, dodging all of the amazingly colored and huge butterflies. We also got to see some really cool exhibits of Costa Rica's history, as well as an amazing wood sculpture exhibit. It was funny because as our little language school class was walking around with our teacher, there were a bunch of elementary school students that came around at the same time- we fit right in! ; )

On Saturday, Krysta and I were able to hang out with Tracey, Olivia and Sawyer Dixon for a while (Jeff was out of town). We went to the Feria (local farmer's market) with them, had fresh fruit smoothies and then hung out for a while. It was a good time talking with Tracey and the kids are always entertaining. That night, Krysta and I had the amazing and unexpected opportunity of going to the Russian Ballet at the Costa Rican National Theater. This was exciting for both of us! Well, maybe a little more so for Krysta, as she has a background in ballet, while I just pretend to. The tickets were a lot cheaper than anything we would have ever found in the states and we had great seats! But I did feel bad because there was a little girl sitting behind me and she had to sit on 2+ pillows to be able to see past my big, ballet-blocking head. I felt less bad afterwards when we were walking out and I saw that probably about 1/5 of those in the audience had to sit on pillows. Afterwards, Krysta and I went to the Gran Hotel, a place we have been a number of times with teams, and enjoyed a nice cup of cafe con leche there, which was a perfect ending to a great day/week!





Krysta is in awe of the butterflies


the infamous Morph butterfly




Sawyer strapping himself into his booster seat


Then he just crawled and walked around with it on for a good while.


And then decided to climb the toy box, still strapped in. No worries, he didn't fall.


Krysta and I, pre-ballet, very excited!


You couldn't use a flash inside the theater, but you get "the picture"....heh.


Krysta enjoying her coffee at the Gran Hotel, after the ballet.

Brain drain in a happy home full of produce

Hello All!
A lot has happened since I wrote last, or at least that's how its felt. Let's see......Krysta arrived safe and sound! The Monday after she arrived (last Monday) we started language school. The first few days we were still staying at the Dixon's house, so we had to hop on 2 buses, taking about 30 minutes to get there. It wasn't too bad, but we thought that having somewhere closer would make it a lot easier and save on bus fare. Our classes go from 8:15am- 12:15pm. We begin with 2 hours of grammar class, in which Krysta and I are the only 2 students, which makes it pretty much like private tutoring- its nice! Then, we have a short break to grab some coffee if we like and then we go back for 2 hours of conversation class. There have been a few times in which we've had this class with one or two other people, but for the most part, it's just us 2 in that class as well. This is good too, it's just a little more difficult for me. Can you imagine or even picture me talking for 2 hours straight?! Yeah- me neither, which is why I'm glad that Krysta is in the class and our teachers tend to talk quite a bit. No worries- I do talk, I just practice listening maybe a little bit more ; ) It's good- we're going over stuff that's kind of review, but also going over the rules is good for me to ensure that I continue improving my Spanish. Usually by noon, my brain has been drained of all of its functioning juices, leaving me in a catatonic sort of state---and then I go home and attempt to let all that we just learned sink in. I think its working ; )

Outside of all the school stuff, we've been pretty busy. Last Tuesday, Krysta and I were able to check out an apartment that Jeff Dixon had found for us. We'd really been hoping that this apartment would work out, as its super close to our school- you just go down the street from the school and turn left at the giant cactus to get there (I love that the directions include a giant cactus). We met the landlord, took a look and decided that it would work out great for us! So, the landlord, who is this super nice, older, American man drove us around the neighborhood in his car showing us all the good places to shop and whatnot. He did this on more than one occasion. So, Thursday of last week, Jeremy Janzen and a guy, Roni, that they know from their language school, helped Krysta and I move in! The next few days we spent finding places for everything and stocking up on food and everything. It's been SOOOOOO good to have a place of our own to come home too- it definitely makes it feel more permanent. If you'd like to see pictures prior to our moving in, you can check them out here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/krystaleanne9/Apartment#


I also made a little video tour after we moved in, which you can check out here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJDtQykhzsg

On Sunday our landlord, John, offered to take us to the feria (farmer's market), which takes place once a week. One of the biggest ones happens to be right down the street from us! So, we took off Sunday at 7am to check out what all the feria had to offer. John was super sweet, kind of like a grandpa type. He bought bags for each of us to carry all of our purchases around. And when we arrived, he took us to a little stand and bought us churros! Then, he took us around to the hundreds of stands, giving us little tips and showing us who had the best prices. So, we stocked up for the week, collecting a varitable cornucopia of fruits and veggies. Needless to say, we will not be suffering from scurvy any time soon!

Because we now have a more permanent living situation, we have also set up a phone line through our magic jack (via the internet) and it is a California number! I also have my skype account set up and sign on fairly often, and we are also able to receive regular mail through our language school. So, if you would like to have any of this information, just let me know and I'll e-mail it to you! Please continue to pray for my support to come in, as well as this time of preparation for the work that we'll be starting in January. Thank you!!!

Con cariño,

Cailah =)