25 de julio de 2008

On July 25, the people of Costa Rica celebrate the Annexation of the District of Nicoya, or the "Anexion of Gauanacaste." Guanacaste is in the northwestern region of Costa Rica and is the largest of the largest and least populated provinces. It is CR's "wild west" due to the hot, dry climate, long stretches of plains and the many cattle ranches. The huge umbrella-shaped Guanacaste tree is native to the area and gives the province its name. The typical Guanacaste is a robust cowboy, taking care of cattle on horseback. Like the US, the legal holiday now falls on the Monday closest to July 25th so we will join the holiday on Monday with no school but Friday we celebrated the Anexión in the tradional way like people all over Costa Rica. That celebration includes folk dancing in beautiful costumes and marimba music. The women of San Jose wear white costumes while women of other cities wear different colored skirts. And then we enjoyed "horchata" a beverage made with milk, ground rice cinnamon, peanuts, chocolate and sugar, and "tamal" a corn dough filled with pork and vegetables, wrapped in a banana leaf and boiled. Wish you were here -
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Now THIS is my kind of class...

Yep, I've finally found My kind of class. We have been studying foods, cooking terms, recipes, etc. in my all female conversation class and someone suggested we try our spanish skills at a local restaurant for lunch. So today was our day...
Casa Conde, a local hotel and restaurant, was the place of choice and what a beautiful place it is. We "dined" on the patio beside the pool in beautiful surroundings and elegant dining - buffet lunch of soup, numerous salads, 2 meat and 2 starch entrees and bread, dessert and frescos for only 3 mill colones or about $6.
Ready to join our class?


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Cultural Day...

Well, I see that not many of you cared to try to take your Saturday night bath with only 3 cool whip tubs of water! (Guess you would have had to read last week's posts to really understand that statement.) I'm a bit disappointed in you that you didn't post your count but hope you enjoyed your full blast of a warm shower :).

Thanks for praying for our studies last week as we received the tests over direct and indirect objects and conversation exams and did quite well. We know that it is only as God opens our minds and tongues that we can learn and speak His Gospel in this beautiful language.

Friday was a retreat from classes as we enjoyed Cultural Day. The teachers had really worked to set up the campus like carnivals or country fairs which are held throughout the country to celebrate the area's annexation to the country, etc. In reality it can be for most anything as the people like to celebrate. Divided into small groups we played different games and won prizes. I even won a prize in dart throwing for popping the ballons of two teachers and David won two prizes - throwing the ping pong ball in the mouth of a clown and for almost getting a bullseye in dart throwing. We even had a time of crafts - making our own invidual monkey masks. After traditional taste testing, empanadas and frescos, a mask maker demonstrated the art of making the huge masks that are worn during the parades and for parties. The mask itself is about three feet tall or more and then is put on a wire base and "dressed" so that a person can wear it over his head or on his shoulders depending on the mask itself. Some of the taller masks are put on very tall base frames making the attachment to be worn about 7 or 8 feet tall. Later after the introduction by firecrackers, the parade began, complete with a small brass band and the masked dancers. They played and danced giving us a sampling of a local festival, similiar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Friday evening David and I continued our culutral day as we enjoyed traditional Mexican fare with missionaries who spent many years in Mexico and are now the mentors for IMB missionaries at ILE to celebrate the 40th anniversary of another couple of IMB missionaries in San Jose. "The oldies" got together and celebrated and played "chicken foot" dominoes. What a good fun day!

Proud of the Joiners...

We are very proud of Gene and Anissa Joiner, our niece and nephew, who direct Camp Rockfish and Operation Purple camps in Fayetteville, NC. Operation Purple is a free camp for kids who have a parent serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. View the video from Fox News and remember to pray for them as they minister to these kids. Copy and enter the web address below. Please pardon the commerical.

http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=2044083&referralPlaylistId=playlist

Name that Number...

Remember the old tv show, Name that Tune? Two contestants would guess the number of bars that would play before they could guess the tune. Well, today, was Name that Number...of bowls that it takes to "take a shower and wash your hair!" The bowl measure is a 12 ounce plastic bowl, you know the medium size cool whip plastic bowl?

Thursday afternoon we had no water, but no problema - it will come back on in the evening. And that it did. But since we are morning shower people we brushed our teeth and went to bed. Alas, Friday morning - no water. We had enough to brush our teeth and flush the toilet...once. But it was a paseo day, not important to look our best and surely it'll be on when we return and we'll take a shower then. It is not on when we return, but Daisey has enough for us to brush our teeth and flush the toilet. Ok, no problema. Good night. Good morning, Saturday! No water...problema, by now, we stinketh. Finally, it comes on not a whole lot but enough for Daisey to fill every large pot, boiler, and anything large she has. About midday, she tells me she had enough water to take a shower and wash her hair - not much pressure and not much hot water but enough to shower. GREAT! I get my stuff, get in the shower - NADA - NO WATER! But wait, no problem, Daisey has saved pots of water for the day. So now, how many bowls of water does it take to take a shower and wash your hair? Three, only three. I'm being conservative for David to shower and for us to have more water throughout the day. Amazing that so little water can cleanse a body and wash hair! So clean!

Well, now David's turn. He even boiled some water with the little coffee cup water heater he has. (Thanks Bill Hughes, it arrived!) As he gets his hair all lathered, he thought he'd check just to see if by chance the water had returned. It has so he finishes with much water and even hot water, at times. So at least for this time, we don't know how many bowls of water it takes him to shower and wash his hair. No problema...we're both clean and smell good too!

So how many bowls of water would it take you?!

What a NEEDED Break...

Ever had one of those weeks that you just NEEDED a break from everything?! Well, that has been us! With intense tests this week, we needed the diversion that Sarchi provided today.

Sarchi is the artisian town. It is where the traditional ox carts are made, now chiefly for tourism, and the home of the famous Sarchi rocking chairs. We visited the factory where many wooden handicrafts are made, including beautiful wooden jewelry. Then we traveled to the factory where the rocking chairs are made. About 50 years ago, they were still made totally by hand, but now the art has been perfected, though still hand crafted, not hand carved. These chairs are so neat because they fold up and fit in a box which can be shipped anywhere in the world (for a price, mister!) or can be carried on the plane as luggage. We are now the proud owners of one of the chairs which will be carried into Guatemala for us by some friends on their next journey. After a great typical lunch, we saw artisians at work painting sections of the ox carts. Such beautiful work! And we could have been the new proud owners of one of the large carts for use in our home...for the price of only $14.99...whoops...$475.00. We left that for some one else's trip. The only downer of the day...waking up to NO WATER, with no promise of having it until maybe next Monday! So when you take your Saturday night bath, think of us waiting until Monday for ours! Actually, we have friends who do have some so we will go therevisit them for sure!

It has been a different "Fourth of July" celebration but special too. We are so thankful for the freedoms that our country affords us both in the US and in foreign countries. We are blessed from our life in the US. This year is a year of great decision in the US. We are praying that God's people will take their place on their knees praying and then stand tall voting in the election booth. Don't forget to make your vote count. We have already voted in the July primary by absentee ballot and are awaiting our ballots for the November elections. Now, if we can vote from here, don't let anything hinder you!

Thank you for your prayers for us. This week has been intense as we have had several tests over much material. We have hit the midway point and the teachers are "putting on the pressure." In our midterm interviews, we received great reviews from each of our teachers but we know there is much more to learn. And in reality, we are our own worst critics - we demand so much of ourselves. Keep praying for us. Truly our minds are like rice, absorbing the water of the language and softening in the process so that the food we will give out in Spanish can be chewed and digested by those who hear and that much fruit will grow in the process. That is our goal and we must never lose our focus.

Enjoy a slideshow of the day...
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