Independence Day! - Photos

Today is Independence Day here in Costa Rica and throughout Central America. All of Central America celebrates the same day because they were considered one territory all together for Spain. In 1821, Central America gained it's independence from Spain but Costa Rica didn't actually get the news until late October of that same year. You see, the news was spread from the North to the South by a guy that ran with a torch proclaiming their liberty from Spain.

So every September 15th, the schools are in charge of putting on festivals and teaching the next generation the history of their independence. The communities gather at the local schools to go celebrate. Luckily, we live right behind a large church that also has a pretty good sized school with it.

Beautiful flowers on the walk over to the school around 5:30.

The students where all dressed up and really excited about the celebration.

Our friend who works at CINCEL, Rudy, with his niece.

The hostess of the evening passing out programs. Festivities started at 6 p.m. with the national anthem as it is always played at 6 on September 15th.

Dawn, my classmate and our neighbor, holding up a "farol," or lantern.

All the students performed dances according to their age groups.

Even some of the youngest ones danced. They were too cute!

As tradition holds, the torch was run in as it had been back in 1821. Now it's run from Cartago at 6 p.m. to all the different cities and is taken from one school to the next throughout the evening.

The older students have more complex dances.

It was so interesting to see the dances that are so deeply rooted in culture.

Then there is the tradition of the faroles, or lanterns. The little kids have a parade of lanterns and they are judged and winners are given prizes. The lanterns are traditionally made with the families, however nowadays you can buy them in the stores or on the street.

The parents walked with some of the smaller ones as there are lit candles inside each of the lanterns.

A local band made it's way over towards the end of the celebration and they were terrific!

Talented young men...

As the band played, the "masqueradas," or masks, came out. They are actually about 12 feet high and have large heads on the top of them. They spin and twirl and the arms fly about. The older kids LOVE this, but the younger ones are afraid of them because of their size and because traditionally they carry small twigs which they swat the kids legs with. There are also some children running around with masks on. The masks and masqueradas vary from presidents and policemen to devils.

We finally went home around 9 and they were still playing music and dancing around but we were STARVING. Hope you enjoyed some of the photos of what we experienced tonight!

Out And About Downtown - Photos

Today we were given the afternoon off after a morning of Independence Day celebrations. Dick and Cynthia Nicholson came in today to celebrate with us and see our presentations. Dawn and I had to talk about faroles which are lanterns. We decided to do a skit of a teacher (me) and a helpful student (Dawncita) telling the history of faroles. It was really funny and everyone seemed to really enjoy it!

So, this afternoon several of us decided to go downtown. Luckily, Dawn likes photography too so we went to the main plaza in downtown San Jose where there are a TON of pigeons. The first week here, Rudy (a tico friend from the school) took us downtown and showed us around. He told us that just about EVERY Tico has at least one picture of themselves as a child coming to this plaza and feeding the pigeons. So, we wanted some pictures of this somewhat cultural event. :)

Clowns make balloon animals for the children

Josh went with some of the guys for a cup of coffee.

Then we all went to a "tostador," a coffee roaster. They will roast and grind the coffee right there and it's SO cheap and super delicious!

David Turner, a fellow missionary to Honduras

Josh loves the coffee

Labor Day? Not in Costa Rica!

So on facebook I kept seeing messages about three day weekends starting on Friday and I thought maybe just a few people had asked for the day off or something. Then I realized that it was Labor Day yesterday (after several more facebook status updates from friends)! Seriously, is this what my memory has come to? Facebook?

That reminds me of when Michael Jackson died this summer. In El Salvador, we didn't have constant access to internet and we didn't have an access to television. So, after several days of not being online, I checked my email and then facebook and I had seen that Michael Jackson died and there were a million status updates about it. When, out of shock, I commented on one of them to find out what happened, I got the reply, "He died 3 days ago. What rock are you living under? It's been all over the news." I realized that I was seriously disconnected from the US culture and from society.

That's not always a bad thing. Sometimes we need to get away from the hustle and bustle of life to give God the chance to really speak to us, to show us things about His character as well as things about ourselves.

However, back to the story. That was the moment that I realized the importance of the role facebook would be playing in my life for the next few years. It's kinda funny.

So, yesterday and today I have been jealously reading about everyone's Labor Day and how great it is to have a 4 day week...blah, blah, blah. When my in-laws asked how our Labor Day was, I just laughed and gently reminded that Labor Day is only a holiday celebrated in the states.

However, we do have a holiday coming up next week. It's Independence Day for all of Central America. September 15th is the day that they won their independence from Spain. So, in celebration, we won't have any classes (as the professors have the day off) and Dick and Cynthia Nicholson will be here to share with us for a few hours in the morning and the whole student body (there's about 13 of us plus children) will be going with them to lunch.

Overall, schools been awesome! It's interesting being out of school for a while and then trying to get back into the routine of going to classes and having homework again. But, it's definitely a welcome change and we're really enjoying it.

Josh has classes in Grammar 1, Phonetics, and Conversation 1. I have classes in Conversation 3 and Grammar 3. Then, we both have an interaction class which really isn't a class at all. It's more of a weekly assignment to go out and speak to several Costa Ricans (here they call themselves Ticos) and have conversations with them. It's purpose is two-fold, to use the Spanish we've learned and also to learn about the culture. We just started yesterday and I'm really excited to go out and meet some new people and hopefully make a few friends. Josh is a little nervous but he'll do great. Say a quick prayer for courage if you think about it.

I've already had two presentations in my conversation class and got an A on both of them. I took a quiz last week and got an A and I took another one today which I'm pretty sure went well. Josh has had two quizzes and received an A on both of them. So, God is with us, helping us, and we're doing great!

We took video of the feria, or farmer's market, on Saturday and will hopefully have it up soon. Until then, God bless!

Costa Rica....B-E-A-U-tiful

Well, we've officially been in Costa Rica 2 weeks on Wednesday. This is an absolutely beautiful country. The city of San Jose is in the middle of numerous mountains and is a wonderful city. The people here are friendly and willing to talk to just about anyone, which makes it a lot of fun living in this culture. We had a great trip here and it feels good to finally unpack all the bags and put things into dressers, especially after living out of a suitcase for 3 months!

We are getting ourselves settled still and learning about the area and the people. The climate is awesome right now, as it is the rainy season. It can get a little cool in the evenings (down to the 60s) and during the days I think the hottest it has been is 85 or so, but it hasn't really been hot, which is quite a nice change from El Salvador. This is a very different culture from El Salvador even though we are only 2 countries away from there. For one, it is completely safe for gringos (that would be anyone white) to walk around on the streets without fear. Yes there is still crime and people get mugged, but the danger is so much less than that of El Salvador. In El Salvador we can't walk on the streets in the city safely, can't go to the markets, can't ride the bus or any public transportation. Here, we can walk or ride and can go to the downtown area or open markets without much fear. I must admit that I love that about this culture.

We have had the opportunity to experience the open market or feria, which is essentially like a farmer's market. We loved going in Orlando and it is even better here. The prices are mostly pretty cheap in comparison, with the exception of some of the foods we typically get in the states. You make trade-offs in prices, but overall it's not too bad. We love going downtown and walking around or just exploring in general. We have gotten lost a couple times and had some unique experiences, but overall we love being here.

Things we miss the most:

1. Cell phones - Can't get them without residency and it makes it hard at times

2. Car - while it is nice exercise to walk everywhere, sometimes you just don't want to

3. ESPN - this is more for me than for Lisa...it is football season after all

I'm sure there are other things, but for right now everything seems pretty good. I'm going to try and make this a regular habit just to give everyone insight in the life of a language school student in Costa Rica. I'll talk more about CINCEL and classes later. Blessings!

Feria - Video

Here's us at the Feria, an open-air market...kinda like the farmer's markets we have in the States. We come here just about every Saturday morning for all our fruits, vegetables, cheese, and meats. Nothing beats fresh from the farm!

Our House - San Jose, Costa Rica - Video

Here's a quick tour of our house here in Costa Rica.

July Update

July 2009 Update

Faces thus far.... - Photos

I just thought I'd take a moment to upload some pictures of some of the faces we've seen so far. Please pray for the lives and families of these children.