The End

          I just finished packing my bags and everything is set to go for my departure tomorrow. I have decided to write one final blog while I am still here in Costa Rica. I have mixed feelings about leaving San Jose. Looking back, this month has gone by fast; however, I am way more ready to leave Costa Rica than I was when I left Peru. I believe that every experience abroad is beneficial: being here has reminded me what it’s like living in another part of the world, I have been able to learn more Spanish, and although being away from home is a struggle, it’s definitely good for the soul. Since I arrived and as the days have continued to go by I have noticed how many homeless people there are here. They sleep on the streets and literally pick through people’s trash, eating leftover food and taking anything they can get. Seeing this really does break my heart. Moreover, this trip more than ever has made me realize how blessed I am to live in America. Costa Rica is rather dirty: the streets are filled with trash, pollution can be felt in the air, bugs lurk throughout the house, and mud can be found everywhere because of how much it rains. Also, Costa Rica is a dangerous place to live. Just yesterday the citizens of San Jose began strikes against their government. A few main streets were barricaded and hundreds of people holding signs marched to the center of San Jose in protest. While working out I saw a story on the news about a murder that happened last night and over the weekend and into this week police have been lining the streets pulling over any black car is search of some suspect.

            On a more positive note, I will miss some things about Costa Rica. I truly do love speaking and learning Spanish and will be sad to see everything back in English again. Also, it has been awesome experiencing the climate and wildlife here. How many people do you know that can say they went zip-lining in the jungle? Or was able to see an actual volcano with smoke coming out of the top? Above all, I will miss my host family and the other UNK students. Our host family has been nothing but hospitable and kind these past four weeks. They bend over backwards at our every need and you can just tell by their mannerisms that they really do love hosting foreigners. Also, I will miss living with Nicki, Amanda, Jen, and Liz. When you live with four other people, there is always someone to talk to, watch a movie with, or go on an ice cream run to POPS. Between the five of us, we have had our fair share of unfortunate events; however, we are always able to laugh them off and lift each other up.

My roomies and I! :)

            Every since I returned from Peru I have had this desire to go abroad after I graduate and help others. Believe it or not, in less than a year I will hold a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Spanish and some big changes will be happening. After coming to Costa Rica, my mind has shifted a little bit as to what I want to do. However, I’m trying my best to relax and “let go and let God.” I know He will point me in the exact direction I am supposed to be. So, this means one of two things: this could be the end of me ever living abroad, or a year from now all of you might be reading a different blog about my newest adventure! Either way, thank you so much for all your support while I have been away!

                                                                        Mary

Random Happenings

A few exciting things have happened since the last time I blogged. On Wednesday classes were cancelled so we could all take a day trip to see a volcano and spend some time at the hot springs. It was a four hour trek before we actually reached Volcán Arenal, but it was awesome to be that close to a real volcano. You could even see the smoke emitting from the top of it! After taking a few photos, we said our good-byes and headed to the Baldi Resort. This five-star hotel had five different hot spring pools that were heated by the nearby volcano. One of these pools even had three slides you could go down. The slides were a little bit crazy and some students got fat lips and bruises from them! After we were done swimming, we ate at the buffet on the resort. The food was good and we were all stuffed as we loaded the bus for our four-hour return.

            We didn’t have any trips planned for this weekend and the girls and I thought it would be a great opportunity to stay put and enjoy San Jose. After eating some much needed McDonald’s for lunch on Friday, we went back down to the center of San Jose and finished our souvenir shopping. Saturday was spent getting pedicures and watching movies at nighttime. My favorite activity of the weekend was going to Cartago on Sunday. Cartago is another province in Costa Rica that is about a 30 minute bus ride from where we live. In Cartago is a beautiful basilica that we were able to take pictures of and spend some quality time in. We got back home last night in time for dinner and afterwards finished off our relaxing weekend by watching a movie.

The Basilica

People making their pilgrimage to the altar

            Today marks my final week here in Costa Rica. It seems like we have been able to do so much in so little time: zip-lining, going to a National Park, seeing a volcano, enjoying the Hot Springs, going on a City Tour, listening to a nice relaxing performance at the National Theatre, attending a soccer game, etc. I feel so blessed and grateful to have been able to have all of these experiences. Although Costa Rica is nothing like Peru, I still believe all experiences abroad are worthwhile. This trip started off on somewhat of the wrong foot and it didn’t seem to get any better as the days went by. However, rather than reflecting on everything that has gone wrong, the past few days I have been trying to focus on all the special, God moments: The kind taxi driver that warned us to never walk in the dark-always call a taxi beforehand. Being able to sit inside a beautiful basilica. The kind man who gave us directions and was extremely helpful. A woman who actually smiled at me in passing.

Mary

Costa Rica vs. Panama

Waiting for our bus!

           Tuesday evening we ate dinner early and then were on our way to meet up with the other UNK students to watch the soccer match between Costa Rica and Panama. It was just our luck that it started raining right when we decided to leave. We had been warned at school earlier that day to not bring umbrellas or coins because they were not permitted inside the stadium; the reason being that people would throw these objects at the players from their seats in the stands. We decided to carry our umbrellas with us anyways in hopes that we could leave them on the bus and pick them up after the soccer game.

The madness outside the stadium before the game!

            We sat in traffic for about an hour and a half before finally arriving at the game. There were people everywhere when we hopped off the bus. We finally made our way to the entrance gate only to be told that we were in the wrong section of the stadium and would have to walk to the exact opposite side before we would be allowed inside. At this point, it was a downpour, we were umbrella-less and were a huge target to any robber out there. As we tried to make our way to the other side of the stadium we were greet by complete chaos-mud was lurking everywhere, people where grabbing onto the fence and trying to chimney their way around, and our group continued to become separated as time went on. By the time we made it to the East side of the stadium our group had shrunk down to 5 girls. We first had to walk through lines where security men checked us. We then had to make a mad dash for this Coca-Cola tent where everyone huddled together waiting to go to the next station in the process. After making sure all five of us were together again, we made another mad dash to the next barricade where people took your ticket. We finally entered into the stadium, located our seats, and sat down. Some people tried to sit on the edge of their seats since they were all wet; however, Molly and I just embraced the wetness because at this point we had been outside in the pouring rain for a good 45 minutes or so.

            Throughout the first half, no goals were scored. The event that attracted the most attention was a poor worker who fell walking down the stairs. This worker was carrying a tray filled with drinks to sell to fans when he slipped going down the stairs due to the rain. He happened to fall directly in front of where the UNK students were sitting. We looked up and noticed that at the ends of certain stands there was a stretcher with a red light that flashed accompanied by a paramedic. We tried to do our best to get the attention of this man. However, it seemed like an eternity before someone finally came to help. And, when the paramedic did finally come he came and examined the man and then had to go back up the stairs to find additional help so the process was quite lengthy. I felt awful because the employee appeared to be in a lot of pain and it took quite some time before he was finally taken away.

            At halftime Molly and I decided to go on a hunt for these blow-horn things. A lot of people in the stands had them and they were awesome. Unfortunately for us, they were only sold outside the stadium. So instead, we went ahead and bought donuts. The second half of the game started and four minutes later Costa Rica scored!!! Three minutes after that Costa Rica scored again making it two to zero. When the clock hit 90 minutes signaling the end of the game, the rain magically decided to stop. However, becoming soaking wet was totally worth it because the game was awesome!

            You would think our little adventure would end there, but things really started getting crazy when it was time to exit the stadium. After the game was over, a fight broke out on the field between Costa Rica and Panama. The UNK students were told it was time to leave and so we all started filling out.  When we reached the top of the stairs, Molly asked if I would take her picture. I snapped the photo real quick and the two of us went to join the rest of the group. Unfortunately, everyone had magically disappeared in the time it took for me to take the photo. Molly and I tried walking fast in hopes of catching up to them, but they were nowhere in sight. We decided as long as we stuck together everything should be fine. We made our way out of the stadium into the crowd of 40,000 people. We decided that the fastest route would be grabbing onto the fence and shimming our way around everyone. Mud and people lurked in every corner and we did our best to avoid both. We finally made our way to the street and Molly turned to me and asked if I remembered how to get to the bus. I told her that I hadn’t really paid attention when we were walking because I didn’t think we would ever be in this situation. She had the same thought so we decided we would head in the direction we thought we came from. After crossing a few streets we saw a bus. Neither of us thought it was actually the one with UNK students; however Molly decided we should just try taking a peek anyways. Luckily we did because it happened to be the right bus. Molly and I were jumping up and down with joy because we were so relieved. We climbed on the bus and then sat back and enjoyed our traffic-filled ride back to our part of town!!!

Walmart

          

We made it!!! :)

          At this point, many of you are probably thinking that I should just give up on ever making it to Walmart. Well, sometimes I can be a determined girl and I really just wanted to see what Walmart looked like here. So, on Monday afternoon the 5 of us girls set out once again in hopes of actually finding it. They say the third time is the charm so I was optimistic. We took the 20 minute walk to the bus station and climbed on a bus. This time, Nicki made sure to ask the bus driver if we were going to pass by Walmart because we were not going to make the same mistake for the third time in a row. The bus driver confirmed we would pass by so the five of us paid the fare and stood towards the front of the bus because it was packed. After literally being on the bus for 20 seconds Fin and Liz were calling my name because they could not understand what the bus driver was saying. I made my way to the front of the bus only to discover that the bus driver was trying to tell them that we would not actually drive by Walmart. We had no choice but to get off the bus and figure out a different plan.

            Once we got off, frustration really set in. How did the bus driver not know that we were going to pass by Walmart? Why was he so confused? Or did he actually know exactly what was going on and was trying to rip us off? Well, it was time to cut our losses and stay positive about the situation. The girls were trying to figure out which bus would actually lead to Walmart when I decided that I was going to walk regardless of if they came with me or not. I decided that the only way I was going to make it to Walmart was on foot. The girls decided to join me and every 10 minutes or so I would ask a random person on the street if we were going in the correct direction. Every person confirmed we were indeed heading towards the right way; however, they all looked at us like we were crazy. People kept telling us “Se falta muchisimo,” which basically means we had a long way to go. One woman even tried telling us that we were still 2 to 3 kilometers away-we were well aware of this fact; what this lady didn’t realize is that no matter what bus we would try getting on it would not lead us to Walmart.

The stray dog that lead us to Walmart

            After walking for 10 minutes or so we soon discovered that the majority of our hike would be via a highway. What a sight we must have been-five American girls with their umbrellas walking along the side of the road. Oh, and not to mention a stray dog found us and decided to join us on our trek. We left our house around 3 P.M. and finally arrived at Walmart around 4:25 P.M. The Walmart in Costa Rica looks very similar to the ones in America; the main difference is that all the signs are in Spanish. We made our way throughout the entire store before deciding it was time to head home in order to make dinner. Although it wasn’t the most amazing thing in the world, I am glad we finally made it to Walmart!

It basically looks the same as Americas' Walmarts

Manuel Antonio

            Friday after class we headed to Manuel Antonio which is a famous National Park here in Costa Rica. We were told in class that day that although Manuel Antonio is only 82 miles from San Jose it would take us four hours to get there. As we drove towards the park, we soon discovered why it would take four hours; everything was extremely hilly. It constantly felt like you were going up a mountain and then going back down. This of course led to carsickness for some and a happy arrival at our hotel four hours later for all.

            Saturday was spent actually exploring the park. If you are a citizen of Costa Rica you can enter into the park for free; however, for foreigners it costs $10. We then went ahead and spent the extra $5 per person to get a tour guide to show us around for about an hour or so. We were able to see some really cool animals through the tour guide’s telescope. My personal favorite was the rainbow grasshopper that you can see in the picture below:

            There are four beaches within the park and we chose one and stayed there for the duration of the afternoon. The water was nice and warm and the waves weren’t as huge and dangerous as they were in Jaco. While a group of us were actually in the water, we made sure at least one person was sitting with our belongings. The raccoons found within the park are notorious for stealing your things and while we were on our tour we saw “the robbers” take a few things more than once. If you are lucky, the police in the park will see the raccoons grabbing your bags and blow their whistle and chase them away; however, more often than not if you leave your belongings then don’t expect to have 100% of your things when you get back. After a few hours we decided to pack up and head back home. We took a different trail back that led us to this water area with signs warning not to swim in it because there are crocodiles. Consequently, they have men in boats waiting to transport you to the other side of the water. However, some people didn’t want to pay the extra money and thought we should just trying swimming across. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for saving money, however, I felt like it was worth the few extra dollars to avoid being eaten by a crocodile. But, I became outnumbered and before I knew it we were all taking off our shorts and shirts and holding our bags above our heads as we waded through the water. Luckily, the crocodiles stayed away.

            This morning we woke up and the girls decided to go lay out on the beach; I decided I had already had enough Vitamin D and would just chill in the hotel room. I went for a little run but kept it short because of the humidity here. Even when you are just walking around it feels like you can never catch a breath of air. On top of the pollution and dirt that is always felt here in Costa Rica, the humidity basically guarantees a feeling of death. I couldn’t help but think of my mom the entire time I have been here in Manual Antonio. I think this place would be the death of her. Our room has become infested with ants, they have no clean towels to shower with, no ice (let alone no clean water) and if you saw the kitchens where they cook your food in here you would choose not to eat. But being here truly does make you appreciate what you have back home. The first thing I want to do when I get back to the states is walk outside and actually breath in fresh, non-polluted air!

                        Happy Father’s Day!!!!

                        Mary

Snake!

Monkey!

Crocodile!

Raccoon!

Nicki, Amanda and I!

My 21st!!!

This past Friday I turned 21! I wasn’t expecting that we would really do anything because Friday was a travel day to Manual Antonio National Park. However, I was sitting at the table Thursday evening doing my homework when all of a sudden the girls and my host parents filed in singing “Happy Birthday” with a cake and masks. I was so surprised and felt so special!!!! The girls and my host family even bought me gifts. The girls gave me an umbrella since the one I bought here in Costa Rica really doesn’t work. My host parents gave me these guayaba flavored jelly cookies from CafeBritt. That evening we continued the celebration with cake and ice cream after dinner. Friday morning I woke up only to find balloons everywhere! Liz and Jen had woken up at 5 a.m. and blew up all the balloons and placed them throughout the house. They had also hung up “Happy Birthday” banners all throughout the house. After getting dressed, I walked downstairs only to find a decorated table filled with “Happy Birthday Hats” and these noise maker things. My host parents once again presented me with a gift-it is a necklace with a key on it. My host mom told me it symbolizes the entrance into this new phase of my life. She told me that she wished me many blessings and a life filled with happiness. It was so sweet of her!

            The girls and I then headed out to school with our backpacks and weekend bags for our trip to Manuel Antonio. At our break time I was again surprised when I was presented with a cake from our school and singing from the UNK students. I then received an additional gift of being able to skype with my parents from back home. Although the skype was in and out and cut off after 20 minutes or so, it was so nice to see everyone. I was greeted by exciting news from all: John passed his Driver’s Education course and will be able to get his license right when he turns 16. Dave and Annie have officially booked the church and will be married May 31^st, 2014. Finally, Paul and Katie informed me of their engagement earlier that morning. My family was sitting in our computer room skying me and would soon head out to the farm to celebrate its 125 year anniversary. I wish more than ever I could be home this weekend to see all me extended family and join in the celebration!

            We arrived at Manual Antonio late Friday afternoon and the girls and I got ready for a night out. I was surprised, touched, and blown away when I walked into the hotel lobby and saw that all the students from UNK would be heading out to dinner to celebrate. As usual, it was pouring as we tried to find a restaurant to eat at. We climbed on the bus and eventually found a nice pizzeria. We were planning on going out after eating, however, the rain put a damper on everything and we just decided to head home and hit the hay because we had an early day ahead of us.

The UNK crew and I!!!

            I cannot thank the four girls I live with, my host parents, and the other UNK students enough for helping celebrate my birthday. Liz, Jen, Amanda and Nicki went through a lot of work to make my day special. They went above and beyond in all aspects and it makes me realized how blessed I truly am. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart! I am so blessed to have each and every one of you in my life! I may not have been able to celebrate my 21^st with my blood relatives; however, I was able to celebrate with my Costa Rican family!!!

My roommates and host parents!

My parents!

The girls bought me a new umbrella for my birthday!

Unfortunately, this is what happened when I
tired opening it!

All four of us tried folding it back in!

I thought I might have already broken my brand-new umbrella!

Luckily, my host dad saved the day!

The morning of my birthday! Liz and Jen woke
up at 5 a.m. and decorated the house!

My birthday cake from the school!

Going out to dinner with Katie and Molly!

Photos from Zip-lining

Getting ready to go zip-lining!!!

The group of UNK students!

This is me, after almost finishing a line!

This is the moment I realized I didn't break enough and was
about to run into the tree in front of me!

Nicki and I on the two person line!

Zip-lining Superman Style!

This was called "The Tarzan." 

This is me at the beginning of the superman line!