The School Year Begins

http://sojournacademycostarica.com/default.aspx There is a picture of me getting ready for school on the slideshow at the bottom of the school website.

Poco a Poco (Little by Little)

Poco a poco I am learning about the culture here. Sometimes through classes that the Spanish Language Institute offers their students during orientation that I´ve sat in on, sometimes through observation. A few interesting things I´ve learned...

It is an insult to walk around the house with bare feet.

Umbrellas are called paraguas if you are a man and a sombrilla if you are a woman (same object, different word depending on your gender).

Coffee here is much weaker (one fourth as strong?) as in the States and it and some form of bread/carbohydrate are eaten late afternoon, sometimes in place of dinner, sometimes more like a snack.

Most houses have a series of high metal gates that you have to unlock to get to the house. Cars are also driven into the garage area and locked behind the gate, though you can see through the bars of the gates and know that the car is there. It is unwise to leave your house unattended at any time.

The school was built on a hill. At the top is the gate where the guard sits to let you in as well as the registration building and classrooms for the Spanish Language Institute. As you continue down the steps, walking under awnings to sheild you from the rain, there are several other series of gates that lead to various areas of the school. First are the secondary classes on the right and the Spanish and MEP classses on the left (MEP classes are for Costa Ricans only, Spanish classes for Ticos/North Americans only), then Music and the upper elementary grades and lunch area are on the left and the Sojourn office and preschool (Rayitos de sol...little rays of sun) are on the right. At the bottom of the hill, the gym is on the left and the primary grades (with another gated entrance) are on the right. It is nice to be away from a bit of the hustle and bustle. My room was quite full of all kinds of trash and supplies and furniture, but I have sifted through it and cleaned out a lot. The principal publically acknowledged the transformation that occurred and said seeing me at the beginning of the week was like watching someone shovel through snow. It reminded me of my job teaching kindergarten, which I also got at the last minute and also involved cleaning out a whole room full of other people´s stuff that they´d left behind. It´s so fun when God shows us ways that he has been preparing us for the future. Several other teachers noted that having that room would have overwhelmed them too much, but it was similar enough to a past experience of mine that I knew it could be done if I put my mind to it. It reminded me of a friend who recently told me I have a gift of being able to stay calm and see clearly in the midst of chaos.

I have a class of 12, about half of which are Ticos (Costa Ricans) and half of which are gringos, children of missionaries who are going to classes at the Spanish Language Institute just up the hill. Our school is called Sojourn Academy. I think it is the coolest thing that my gringo students are going to deploy to Peru and Honduras and Costa Rica, the only Hispanic countries I´ve visited for an extended time. Another aspect of God´s affirmation that this country and this classroom are exactly where he´s called me.

I am blessed by my Tico family. Adrianna just turned 29 yesterday, and I got to celebrate with the family by eating Tres Leches cake and laughing A LOT and possibly learning a word that means "wedgie" that came about when Christian, the dad, was playing with the kids. Jimena is two and loves to look at me with big eyes and smile. We have a lot of fun dancing and tickling each other, though it is very hard for me to understand what she says to me. Fabian, ten years old, is one of my best language helpers. He is energetic, chubby, loves soccer and is almost constantly smiling. One night we played Super Banco together (a version of Monopoloy that has all Costa Rican landmarks for properties) and last night we played Blink, a card game I brought with me. Fabian is a charmer for sure, who lets the ladies go first as we enter the family car and says the thing he likes best about several girls he´s interested is that they´re beautiful just like his mom. Adrianna is pretty, but what stands out to me most is her gentle spirit and thoughtfulness. After a multiple hour adventure as a family, I bought an umbrella (It rains everyday). A few days later I accidentally left it at home becuause it was drying out and was in a different location than where I normally keep it. Not only did she notice, she carted it up to school and dropped it off so I´d have it when I went home that evening. Not only that, she insists on dropping my lunch off at the school so that it´s hot when I eat it. That is not normal here and is above and beyond the call of duty. The food here is quite tasty as well, rice, beans, fruits (a lot of bananas, pinapple, sweet bananas that taste like dessert, salad that looks kind of like coleslaw without the mayonaise sauce, bread, sandwiches of cheese-butter-something like ham-balogney).

Unlike when I lived in Honduras, there is running water that is safe for me to drink in the house as well as running water for showers. I was impressed by this because we had water every three days or so in Honduras, partly depending upon how much it rained and collecting it from outside, taking showers with a bucket. Not the case here. For a few days I thought there was only cold water, but realized that if you just turn on the water a tiny bit, then it is warm when it comes out! If there is too much water pressure, the heater can´t keep up. I was thankful to learn this in a culture session!

One of my favorite things so far was meeting a few of my gringo students because they are in orientation right now, as are thier parents. Because I am a new teacher I do not have to help lead orientation, but one morning they had us come anyway and we got to sit down and talk to them for a while and then sing praise songs with them. I came alive so much then! (I have been exhausted from working hard at school, mentally translating everything, but maybe especially from the difference in altitude here.) One of the kids was crying, and I got to comfort him and talk to him about Jesus being there all the time for him when he´s sad, etc. I was struck by how easily this conversation occured as well as the fact that it couldn´t have happened in public school. In general, I am thankful that God is constant when pretty much everything else about my life has changed! I absolutely love singing praise songs as well. The first praise song we sang at a staff meeting was one of my favorite worship songs, Shout to the Lord, in Spanish. It was one of a few Spanish praise songs I memorized. Two of the songs at worship with the kids were ¨Your Love is Deep¨which is another of my favorites, though I just learned there are actions to it! I love action songs...they remind me of camp! Another was ¨Eres Todopoderoso¨ about how powerful God is. This song has particular sentimental value to me from my time in Honduras and is also one I´ve memorized before in Spanish. Though I have cried a couple times and miss the depth of relationships back home, I am also learning my way around, can get from my house to school by myself, and am developing relationships with teachers Mary and Esther who are also newer. Esther even came by my house to visit for a few minutes last night (which lasted an hour because we´re on Hispanic time now, and my family is super sweet!).

Thank you so much for praying for me! Prayers for rest and peace are appreciated.

I have limited access to Internet at school and hope to check e-mail etc. once on the weekends. I love you all!!!

Joanne

I'M HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've arrived in Costa Rica! I am at Darrin and Chrissy King's house right now and will soon meet my host family. They are super friendly! My first day of teacher meetings is tomorrow at 7:15....pray for some quality rest tonight! We drove past the school on the way to the Kings' house just a little while ago. Traffic was backed up, but not as crazy as it was when I lived in Honduras. It's so fun to be around Spanish again! All my luggage arrived, and I'm exhausted, content, excited, and hopeful! A few minutes ago I saw pictures of Darrin and Joe Belzer back in the day when they went on a mission trip to Thailand together :0) Joe totally looked like Andy does now! How fun! And I ordered in Spanish at a Subway on the way home from the airport. One of my first goals is to own an umbrella because it rains a lot. I hope to blog now and then during the first days/weeks and send out an update in September/still monthly updates.

Love you all!
Joanne

Good-bye to St. Louis

At 6am tomorrow morning, Monday, August, 23, I will board a plane for San Jose, Costa Rica, to teach first grade. I thought that saying good-bye here would be easier than saying good-bye in Florida, but I have found that I almost instantly blend back into life here, which made many of the times I spent with friends rich, natural, beautiful, deep experiences, but also made it harder to leave. It's funny how our giftings can make life difficult sometimes. At the same time, it was nice to reconnect. Hard to believe that I'll be living in another country at this time tomorrow. It hasn't sunk it totally yet. Be praying for that process, will you?

My New Neighbor, My New Family, My New Friend

Joy Cronin is an NMSI affiliate and missionary to Panama. Since Panama borders Costa Rica, we will be neighbors soon! It was a blessing to room with her during the NMSI Regional Conference in Panama. As of August 2010, we are the only single female missionaries serving in Latin America with NMSI and the only NMSI missionaries serving in Central America with NMSI. When I moved to Fort Myers in January 2009, Joy and I started corresponding about the NMSI Biggest Looser contest that we participated in and acheived similar results through. Not only that, it is safe to say that I grew more in my relationship with her than with any other affiliate through correspondence related to completing media job requests. In so many ways it has been incredible to see how God has prepared me for this opportunity to serve overseas...my relationship with Joy is just one aspect of that preparation.

The last weeks have held many good-byes. The hardest one will be saying good-bye to Matt, Seth, Lydia, and Sarai (Kylee's family), which will happen on Monday night. Please be in prayer for this time.

Wednesday I cried because it was the last time I will worship at devos with fellow NMSI staff (Wednesdays are praise and worship days at the office).

Next weekend I have the honor of worshipping in my home church in St. Louis. That will be the last time I will worship in an English speaking church for some time.

Though it is hard, I am generally peaceful and excited. One of my friends declared that I looked so joyful and secure, like I was going to get married, just got engaged. Later I was thinking that her observation makes sense... I am not engaged, but one of my biggest dreams IS coming true (to minister overseas to Hispanic children)! I have been working towards this and longing for it for a long time!

This morning I said good-bye to one of my favorite families here. Advocates of Spanish lunch, Uno card playing, bike riding, healthy food eating and more, the Blyckers have welcomed me into their home and their family. You may remember a recent post about Anders (4 years old) proposing to me! Recent graduates of the COAT training program, will you pray that God will enable them to raise support quickly? Their giftings are so needed here.

This morning I told Larsen (10) and Anders (4) that the Hispanic family I will live with in San Jose have children who are 9 and 3, almost the same ages as they are. Pen pals in the making! I am excited to build relationships with my new family and ask for your prayers along these lines. Will you pray that we communicate clearly with each other, edify each other, point each other towards Christ? I am excited that my school is only a ten minute walk from their house!

I will arrive in San Jose around 1pm on Monday August, 23, just a few minutes before Mary (the new fourth grade teacher at Sojourn) flys into San Jose. Will you pray that we quickly develop a deep friendship as we travel from the airport together?