Last Post from Central America

Wow. Even that title is really weird to write.

All the same, it’s true. Tomorrow morning I leave for 8 days in Panama. I’ll be back in San Jose for an afternoon and night, and then on the 14th we fly out for Miami. Gosh the time has flown.

I had a wonderful three weeks in San Cristóbal. So wonderful that I actually didn’t want to come back to San José. I really loved it out there, and it continued to be awesome having a brother close to my age. Luis, if you happen to see this, thanks for being awesome- you really meant a lot to me, and I know that you’re gonna accomplish your dreams. The kids in my school were SO great, and the more that I got to know them, the harder it became to leave them.

So now I sit here, taking in these last few moments of silence while my family is out at a church gathering. We’ve done a lot of Christmas decorating since I’ve been back, which is weird since it’s still 70 degrees out every day. It’s especially awesome hearing Christmas songs like “White Christmas” and “Winter Wonderland” and “Let it Snow”. Almost done packing my suitcases- I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m paying an overweight charge on one of them. Oh well. Having a few conversations with friends with whom I won’t get to talk most likely until I’m back in the states on the 14th. The states. Wow.

I’m interested to see what life will be like once I get back. I’ve had a pretty drastically life altering experience. Don’t get me wrong- I’m not SUPER different. But my thoughts about a lot of things have changed a lot. I’m still fighting with a ton of thoughts in my mind, and I know that I will be for months to come. It could lead to idealogical conflicts with some friends; it could lead to a deeper understanding of others. It definitely will be different.

That said, I’m excited. I’m excited to return to my country with just a little more understanding of life outside the borders of the USA. To know what other people think of us and of life. To not be so sheltered. To have knowledge which is capable of instigating change.

I now have three more families and a TON of friends in a pair of new countries. That’s pretty stinkin’ awesome. I’m gonna try my best to keep up with them. It’s not gonna be easy, but it’ll be worth it.

8 days in Panama. The US in 1o. Home in 12.

 

Life in San Cristóbal

Hey there my few faithful readers! Just wanted to shoot an update out to let you know how life is going out here in San Cristóbal, my home for this three week period.

I can honestly say that I’ve been LOVING my time out here so far. It’s so tranquil out here and the people are wonderful. My family is awesome- I’m living with Olman Ceciliano Núñez and his wife Noemy; they have four children, one of whom lives full time at home (Luis Angel, 17) and another who is there part of the time (Amanda, 20). As I’ve said before, it’s really cool having a brother who’s close to my age; we’ve been able to chat a lot about sports and music, two of both of our favorite things. Even cooler, he has a desire to go to college in the states, so we’ve spent several evenings with helping each other with the other’s language. It’s been really cool.

I’ve been having a blast working at the school as well. I don’t have any set role, which is nice in a lot of ways- I just come in and do whatever needs done for the day. Some days I help the principal, Don Esteban, with computer/paperwork type things; other days I help a teacher by writing on the dry-erase board for him/her; today I spent my morning grading Home-Ec exams. I’m really falling in love with the kids, too. I’ve been playing soccer with them pretty much every day at recess, and the kids even invited me to play with them on the weekends. I’m slowly but surely learning more and more names, and they always want me on their team, despite the fact that most of them are better than me at soccer. It’s often challenging to understand them because they speak SO quickly, but I’m getting better at it.

Like every interaction I’ve had down here, it’s really taught me a TON about valuing the people you’re with as if they’re the most important people in the world. I feel like I’m always the point of attention in a room- everyone always wants to include me or talk to me or make sure that I’m happy. And while it’s a little overwhelming at times for someone who borderlines the introvert/extrovert spectrum, I love it too.

Under a month left, which is really hard to believe. Being here in San Cristóbal with Luis and the rest of my family has really caused me to think, for the first time on the trip, that I’m not sure I want to leave just yet. Most of me does, but in the brief time that I’ve been here already with these people has made me fall in love with them. I really do feel closer to them than I do to my San Jose host family- with whom I’ve spent 6 or 7 weeks. Crazy.

29 days and I’ll be back in the WV. Miss you all.

“It’s Raining, It’s…Flooding? Uh-oh.”

For those of you who have been reading my blog, you’ll remember how I’ve said that it rains down here. A lot. It’s not too atypical- the period from roughly June through early December is considered the rainy season down here. However, recently, it’s been a lot worse that what it normally is. The rains have been more intense than normal, and that’s led to a LOT of flooding and landslides, which combined have killed at least 24 people, destroyed lots of houses, knocked out and collapsed at least 16 major roadways, and left around 100,000 people without water or with contaminated water. A lady at the church my family attends lost 11 cousins. There just aren’t words for that.

The flooding has affected several of us within our program as well. We were all supposed to be leaving yesterday for our “internships” for the next three weeks, where we all go and live with a family and work in a more rural setting within Costa Rica. Seven of us were unable to leave for our destinations, and a few of us- myself included- were relocated to other parts of the country.

I actually was supposed to catch a bus at 5:45 this morning. I showed up at the location I was given at 5:30 and stayed there til about 6:05 and never did see a bus at that location or anywhere within a few blocks of the location. Finally, after asking about 5 people who didn’t know where the stop was, I found someone who did. No big right? Wrong. I actually have to make a bus switch, and the other bus I have to catch only runs at 7 and Noon. So now I’m chilling in a Burger King, taking advantage of the free wi-fi and while I wait for just a bit longer to catch a bus to Cartago, before heading on another to my ultimate destination of San Cristóbal- where I will be living with a new family and working in an elementary school for the next 3 weeks. I’m pretty pumped to see what it’s gonna be like, and it will kinda be nice to have a change of pace.

Don’t know if I’ll have internet access during these three weeks, so for those of you who DO indeed keep up with me on here or Facebook, don’t be surprised to see no posts from me. If I do have net, I’ll let people know. Hope everyone’s doing well! Just over a month left in my time down here, and I’m gonna try to live up every moment!

Beaches. Hostels. Fun People. (a.k.a., My Time in Manuel Antonio)

As much as my body probably could have used the entirety of fall break to rest, Friday morning I re-packed my backpack and headed down to the National Theatre to meet up with some of my friends to head to Manuel Antonio- a beach on the Pacific coast- for four wonderful days of what I hoped would be a wonderful time. After wandering around San José for a bit looking for the correct bus station, we bought our tickets for the noon bus and soon were on our way. We got into the Quepos-Manuel Antonio area around 3:45, and soon enough we were walking into our hostel.

Let me tell you a little bit about the Vista Serena Hostel. 1) It’s awesome. 2) It’s cheap. 3) It has a big-ol’ ocean view (the website actually advertises it a bit differently, but I don’t think that the folks at MVNU would really appreciate if I used the actual word.) 4) You should stay there if you are ever in Manuel Antonio.

Oh, so now for some actual details. The hostel is run by a guy named Conrad- his mom opened it up several years ago and now he runs it with the help of 2, maybe 3 other people. He is possibly the most chill guy in the world, though I suppose you would have to be to operate a place like that. It’s almost at the highest point of the ridge that overlooks the ocean, and therefore it does indeed have an INCREDIBLE view of the ocean.

Sunset view from the hostel lodge porch.

We rented out a dorm room with 14 beds, so each of us only had to pay $9 per night. The room had a little fridge and a bathroom (which was a bit difficult, but no big deal), and they provided towels. They also provided coffee and toast with butter and jelly for breakfast. Oh, and did I mention that there was a porch full of hammocks overlooking the ocean? Yeah, I’d say that it was definitely worth the $9 a night.

Friday night we bought some pasta, made a simple dinner, and just hung out around the lodge area of the site, meeting some of the other cool people who were staying there. The first person we met was Dan, who was from New Zealand. We took the opportunity to hear a little bit about his other travels and listen to his perspective on stereotypes about people from the US. We also met Kyle and Zach, a couple of 20-something guys from Delaware who were down there to live it up and get away for a bit. Ali was an Iranian-American (I’m pretty sure he was born in the states) who had been to Vista Serena several times and had spent a lot of time traveling outside the states- sadly, despite his great number of experiences in other cultures, he still seemed to have a very self-centered perspective. That might be putting nicely my thoughts about him. Aled and Chris were a pair of guys from Cardiff, Wales, who were enjoying the last of their four weeks of travels in the CR, and there were also two other guys whose names I can’t remember- one from Italy and another- Pao, I think- who was of Asian descent. There was a couple from Minnesota there, and a few other people, too. It was really interesting getting to know some of them.

Saturday morning, McCall, Jared, Alicia and I got up early to hike around Manuel Antonio National Park. It was a lot of fun, though I really wish I had worn sandals; tennis shoes don’t do so well for crossing creeks. I actually elected to go barefoot most of the time. The different beaches there were absolutely incredible, and we got to see a lot of the sweet wildlife of the region. We saw LOTS of monkeys (including one that jumped on Alicia’s bag), raccoons, sloths, a toucan, a coatimundi, and another animal which may have been a tayra. We also enjoyed some time fighting the super-intense waves on the beach. After being in the water for just a few minutes I understood how people get carried out by the riptide so easily. We also had to fend off the raccoons and monkeys that kept trying to open our bags.

Saturday night was another pretty chill night of relaxing on the porch and meeting people. McCall and I made some fajitas for the crew, and they were delicious, if I do say so myself. I’m definitely going to be investing in some Lizano- a wonderful sauce that is commonly used here- to bring back home. Honestly though, Saturday night there ended up being SO many people on the hostel porch that it was kinda crazy, and I had to make my way out of there and went to sleep at a fairly decent hour.

Sunday was dedicated solely to the public beach. As nice as the national park is and as beautiful as it’s beaches are, most of them aren’t swimming beaches. But the Manuel Antonio public beach had plenty of white sand and plenty of bright hot sun for us to enjoy. I actually may have enjoyed it a little too much; I was pretty toasted once we got back to the hostel that afternoon.

After showering up back in our dorm at the hostel, we headed down to the lodge to relax a little and (hopefully) check out the sunset. When we were down there, we got to meet a new arriver to the Hostel- a guy by the name of Sam who turned out to be a VERY interesting fellow. Sam lives a pretty free-flowing lifestyle. He’s sorta just traveling on a whim right now, and has been to Costa Rica several times. He actually grew up as a missionary kid in Peru, before moving to Georgia when he was 11 or 12. It was really cool just talking with him, hearing his perspectives from within and outside of the church. To question and think through issues and understand why his views are what they are. To share stories. To simply be. I got to chat with Aled that afternoon as well, and it turns out that we have a little bit in common. He was a sports journalism major and is a little over a year out of college; ultimately, he wants to work as a television sportscaster, but right now he’s working as a plasterer. We got to chat a bit about dreams, ambitions, why we enjoy the sports we do, and life as well. He’s a pretty cool dude, and I hope things work out for him.

Sam went to dinner with us that evening, where we continued to here  a bit more about each other’s lives, and then we went back to the hostel and chatted with him until late in the evening. He’s possibly one of the most open people I’ve met, and it was refreshing to hear someone so freely explain their thoughts and their reasoning for thinking them, especially concerning matters of faith.

The morning saw us preparing to head back to the central valley. We packed up our crap and headed down to Quepos- the bigger town about 3 miles away from the beaches- to buy our bus tickets. Unfortunately, they had none left for the noon bus, so we were all relegated to taking the 2:30 bus. We wandered around the town for a while, ate some lunch, ate more ice cream (let’s just say that I ate a LOT of ice cream throughout our trip. Maybe more than I care to admit), and finally piled on the bus to come back to San José.

It was a great weekend. I didn’t really want it to end. At the same time I’m pumped to be back in my home in San José with my family here. I guess God really knows what we need and when we need it. And I can say that I had a more awesome fall break than anyone else up at MVNU.

11 Days as a Nico

So, I guess it’s time for a real update about life in Nicaragua.

We met EARLY Monday morning to hop on a pair of people-mover type buses for our trip to Nicaragua. Including a stop for brunch and some time at customs at the border, it took us about 10 hours to reach our first destination: Managua, the capital city. We stayed our first three nights in a retreat center run by the Church of the Brethren called CEPAS Nehemias. It did the job. We spent our days exploring the city and hearing from some pretty awesome speakers- such as Dora Maria Tellez,

Javier, Anna, Dora Maria Tellez, y Trevor

one of the four major leaders of the Sandinista revolution against Somoza, former Minister of Health, and leader of one of the nation’s major political parties. One day, we visited a really cool church that is full of murals expressing the real history of Nicaragua from a liberation theology influenced perspective. It was really cool to see the great expression of artwork, and I was really grateful for Hermana Luz Beatriz, the nun who explained the murals to us in spite of the potential personal risk. In the nights, we played a lot of cards. Dutch Blitz and Nerts (very similar to Dutch Blitz, only played with playing cards) were the most popular games, although I did get in a game of Euchre after Keith and I taught a few others how to play.

 

Thursday morning the pastor of each our respective churches came to take us back to their communities. There were four or five of us in each community, and I was with Ruth, Shantry, and Anna in a community called Cuatro Esquinas, a little village about a mile off the highway between Managua and Masaya at kilometer-marker 13.2. I actually ended up living with Pastor José, his wife Sandra, and their kids- Cesar (20), Saraí (19), and Brenda (15).

I thought that the family/community in Costa Rica was really close. In Nicaragua, it’s SO much closer. There were two other little houses in the same fenced-in area as ours, and there were other family members in and out all day. I really connected with my cousins Daniel (15) and Eliezer (11), who were at the house a lot. My grandfather- Roger, who fought for the Sandinistas- and grandmother lived in one little house, and my cousins and their kids- including little Isaac, an almost two year-old- lived in another little house.

There were many aspects of life that were REALLY frustrating. It took me a day or so to really adjust to the accent; Nicaraguans don’t really pronounce the letter s most of the time, and the leave off the ends of their words a lot, so for the first day and a half I had to ask everyone to repeat things two or three times. I was often frustrated with my Nica dad. He constantly spoke to me like I didn’t know obvious things, told me the same things three or four times, and frequently asked me if I was upset (aflijido) when I was smiling way more often than any of my family. It took me a long time to feel like I was actually a part of my family there- that they really wanted me to be there. And then there was the cheese. I don’t think I can even go there.

But there were SO many more positive aspects about my time there. It was incredible cool having interaction with people close to my age there. It’s something I really feel like I’ve missed out on during my time in Costa Rica, and I was pumped to have that opportunity here. The church is such an integral part of their community here, and it was really cool to be in a church where the people were joyful. Sure their singing was often more like yelling, but you could tell that they were into it and actually wanted to be there- something that can’t be said for many churches stateside. The daily life and the community revolved around the church. We went to our church two separate nights, went to another church on Sunday afternoon, and had activities with a large portion of the church on both Sunday and Monday night. It was so cool piling 19 of us into the back of a truck and riding into Managua, just to share two pizzas and see the mall. I got to go to my sister’s high school and watch a program that celebrated the Day of the Races, a day of cultural activities of the provinces of Nicaragua. Brenda and her friend Jonathon ROCKED their dances- hopefully I’ll get it up on Facebook sometime soon to show it.

It was really tough to leave them. The night before we left, we had our official send-off; everyone came over to our house and we played Pictionary and Anna and I taught them Upset the Fruit Basket, which they LOVED. They actually got WAY more into it than I ever would have expected. It’s been a while since I’ve laughed that hard. We took some pictures that evening, and then everyone headed out. I especially hated seeing my cousin Daniel leave- we’d bonded a little bit over the course of my stay, and I really hated to see him go.

Anna and me with our families/church family in Cuatro Esquinas

Tuesday morning, we piled back into the truck as my family and the families of the girls drove with us down to Granada, where we spent the last few days of our trip. Granada is a beautiful little city, full of colonial architecture and style. I ate with some people at TelePizza that first afternoon, and it was incredible; we spent the evening walking around, seeing the town, and taking some photos. Wednesday, we had a process group session to try to unpack our Nicaragua experiences a bit- something that I’m still trying to do and probably will be doing for months. After a few more hours of free-time- during which I shopped a bit and grabbed lunch at another little restaurant- we took a carriage ride down to the lake, where we took a nice little boat tour of Lago Nicaragua. It was a lot of fun, and a monkey actually jumped onto the other boat! McCall, Laura Starr, and I capped off the evening with a little internet café and post office action, a little shopping, and a few hours relaxing and eating at the Euro Café- which was SO good.

Thursday we all piled back into our buses to make the trip back to LASP, which only took about 8 and a half hours. According to the staff, it was their quickest trip ever- we really did fly through customs. I spent some time unpacking, catching up on life on the internet, and sleeping, only to wake up in the morning and re-pack for Manuel Antonio- which I’ll talk more about soon.

I have SO many thoughts about my time in Nicaragua. Lots to process. I sorta feel helpless in my desire to better the situation there; what can one guy do? I’ve also found myself struggling with the following question: was I content there because I was truly happy with my circumstances or because I knew that I would be leaving it after a few brief days? I’m not really sure how to answer that right now, but I hope that I continue to discover the answers to my questions.

More Details to Come!

Hey there to my few blog readers!

Just wanted to drop a note and let everyone know that I’m still alive and kicking down here. Nicaragua was a great experience, full of moments of frustration, joy, love, bitterness, and much more- I’ll definitely be writing more about that soon- after I’m back in San Jose and have finshed all of my assignments that are due tomorrow. Right now, I’m relaxing for a few more minutes in our hostel in Manuel Antonio- a beautiful beach/national park on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. It’s been a wonderful weekend with awesome people full of soaking up (a little too much of) the sun, good conversations, meeting new people, and just enjoying moments of simply existing. Within a few days, there will be some pictures up both on here and on Facebook of both trips.

Also, this Friday will mark the newest issue of the Lakeholm Viewer- MVNU’s student-ran newspaper, complete with an article of my experiences down here. Even if you don’t want to read more about me, you should definitely stop by the website to find out about what’s going on our campus!

Miss you all greatly and looking forward to questions!

Weekend…then Nicaragua! Btw…EARTHQUAKE!

SO incredibly pumped that it’s finally the weekend. This has been a long, big-assignment filled week, but I’ve made it through. And I’m pretty sure that most of them went pretty well.

Got to talk to a few of my best friends and my mom last night- always makes life a little bit better and enables me to not be completely ignorant to life back in the states. As awesome as things are down here and as much as I’m looking forward to what God has in store for these next two months, I’m also very aware of where December 16th is on the calendar.

Today we had our “graduation” from ICADS- two of our classes are now complete. Crazy, but incredibly relieving. I really will miss our walks to and from ICADS, though- at least on the days it wasn’t raining. We actually made it through the entire week without rain. Weird.

EDIT ADDITION: Tonight around 8, I was up on the computer talking to some friends on Skype when all of a sudden it sounded and felt like someone was jumping hard on the roof. I really wasn’t sure what was going on for a second, but then I realized that it must be an earthquake. About that time, my tica mom yelled to me from downstairs, “Roberto! Está temblando!” So I grabbed my laptop and ran downstairs to join them. It was really crazy- I’ve never experienced an earthquake before. We sat around for a while checking the news and eventually found out that it registered between a 5.6 and a 5.9 on the Richter scale- depending on the source you asked- and covered a span of 98 kilometers (about 60 miles). SO crazy!

Not really sure what I’m gonna do this weekend. At this point I don’t really have plans, but that doesn’t mean that my family won’t spring something on me last minute. I’m sorta hoping that happens this weekend, because, as I said, I didn’t really plan anything. If nothing’s going on tomorrow, I may just venture into San José and see what’s going on. I really need to get a haircut, if nothing else.

Monday we leave for Nicaragua for 11 days, including travel time. I’m sorta looking forward to the change of pace- it’s definitely coming at the right time. I know that a lot of us have been burning out a little bit of our current routine. It’ll be cool to experience life in another Central American country.

With that said, this will (most likely) be the last post from me for a little while. There’s a really good chance that I won’t have internet access until the end of our trip, so I will bring some more news then. In the mean time, feel free to leave any questions that you might have about life down here, and I will be glad to answer them when I return to the land of the internet. Love and miss you all.

Good for the Soul

Even though I still have a LOT of work to do on my paper that’s due Tuesday and my oral presentation for ICADS on Wednesday, this has been a really good and needed weekend.

After a pretty awesome time of sharing of spiritual experiences with our group on Friday, a bunch of us got together just to hang out and relax in the evening. We stocked up on ice cream, Oreos, and popcorn and hung out at my friend Caleb’s house and watched “Dan in Real Life,” which was a blast. It’s been really cool recently to get to know more of my fellow classmates down here, and I can honestly say now that I have an appreciation for each and every person- which is a pretty awesome thing.

Saturday, I went with a few friends into downtown San José to the artisan’s market. It was cool to see how many different crafts and things they had- examples of the culture- and I was able to pick up a few gifts for friends, as well as a few for myself.

Today has been really good, too. My family and I went to the National Museum today, which was kinda cool- got to see a lot of artifacts and information about the formation of Costa Rica. Then, we went to an AMAZING Italian restaurant called Otero’s. Had some incredible lasagna, and they were showing Shrek on about 15 TV’s in that place. Fortunately, I’ve probably seen Shrek more times in Spanish than in English, so I understood it all.

Tonight was great for the soul as well. Got to talk to several of my friends with whom I’d not yet had conversations since being down here. Even though it took time away from working, I’ve come to realize that relationship is the most important thing in life. Very worth the sacrifice.

If you haven’t seen, I’ve put up some more pics on Facebook, so feel free to check those out! Miss you all greatly!

October?

Holy cow, it’s October already.

It’s weird thinking that I’ve been down here in Costa Rica for a month already. In many ways, it seems like the time has just FLOWN. I only have one more week of Base Seminar at LASP and Spanish classes at ICADS and I’ll have 9 of my 16 credit hours for the semester completed. I’ll knock out another hour during our time in Nicaragua the following 10 days.

I’ve got a lot due in the coming week. Need to knock out a 7-10 page paper in Spanish about the Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile, the exiles during that time, and how Christians should respond to the defense of human rights. Worth 45% of my Base Seminar grade. Oh, and I have a 8-10 minute oral Spanish presentation in ICADS that’s worth at least 25% of my grade. No biggie. At least I know that it’s gonna be downhill from there from an academic standpoint.

Got to lead worship- including playing the piano- for our praise and worship service Wednesday morning. That was really interesting but really awesome at the same time. We had a pretty good sharing time this morning to during our “Camino Espiritual” discussions. It’s nice to know a little bit about everyone and why they think how they think.

It’s been raining down here. A LOT. So much so that yesterday a big part of a mountain crumbled and is now covering a road in San José and that many of the major roadways leading out of the city have collapsed. Lots of families homes have been destroyed; I think in total I heard someone say that total damages right now are around 15 million. Not sure if they meant dollars or colones. Either way, it’s significant. Be praying for those families.

Getting ready to head over to a friend’s house soon to watch a movie or two and just hang out with some of my other American friends down here. I’m excited for it, but I’m a little nervous about what his family’s gonna think about a big group of English-speakers taking over their house. Gonna try my best to speak some Spanish while I’m there so the fam doesn’t feel completely uncomfortable.

Miss you all greatly! Oh, and I know it’s kinda late, but here’s my address if you wanna drop me a note or anything:

Robert Audia
Programa de Estudios Latinoamericanos
Apdo. 54-2070
Sabanilla, Montes de Oca
San José, COSTA RICA

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

The Return of Two-Ply

Three good things about life right now:

1. Aside from a lingering, annoying cough, I feel MUCH better.

2. I’ve gotten to eat Taco Bell, a brownie, and pancakes in the past week.

3. After a week of cheap-o TP, there is two-ply in my tico house once more.

Boo yah.