Day 14

If this isn´t funny. I am sitting in the internet cafe and the high school band with puppets and all just strolled by playing their fancy music. Kind of a fun experience. Actually it has been quite neat here because it will be Costa Rica´s independence day this coming Monday so every night this week they have had events in the park across from our hotel. Last night I watched them sing and dance and act (all in spanish) while nani lied in bed not feeling so hot. It is quite a cultural experience. I was able to talk with some locals about it too. Makes me feel good knowing i can sort of hold a conversation with a person and somewhat know what is going on. So yesterday, we had class, went to lunch with our friends from London, Menai and Rujita and Audry. It was so much fun. I really am so happy that Nat and I found some new friends that we truly love to hang out with. We both had been praying we would meet some girls our age traveling around and we did! God always answers prayers... It is interesting because at the beginning of this trip in Arenal I was thinking to myself, I feel like I am on a missions trip just not a actual missions trip and man has the Lord done some amazing things. I have been able to share my beliefs whether it be in just the moral views I have or just acting differently. Even today, Nat and I were able (now I say that we were able, but we felt forced at first) to sing Amazing Grace in front of the entire high school here. at least 300 students. What a radical oppertunity most people don´t receive. Granted, at first I attempted to say the little espanol i knew and told them to sit down while they were already sitting when i meant to say stand up... but whatever... they laughed at me... haha but really we got to sing to all of these kids about GOD. it was cool. Yesterday nat was not feeling good as i said so she slept in our hotel while i went out with the students in my class and Andre (our guide) to an ecolodge here... it was more like a tiny rainforest with a trail and a pond in the middle... we walked through a butterfly room (similar to the one in san diego) and found a blue gean frog, which is so poisonous it can supposedly kill you if you touch it... Andre preceded to touch it... and then he was touching plants and catipillars that were also harmful to touch. i asked him kindly, if it hurts so bad, why do you touch it and his response was, i dont know it doesnt hurt me... we then went on a hunt for a cayman... he told us it was very small and when we asked how small he said a meter and a half... if you convert that it is like 4-5 ft long... mind you, the pond did not have any walls or anything around it and we couldnt find it... i got bite by 8 mosquitos too... not my favorite... but it was neat in the end... my grandma may would love it there. i went out with the girls again for coffee drinks while nat continued to sleep. it has been so fun getting to know all of them. nat and i did our homework and to bed we went. this morning we had medical class at 7am and our teacher never showed. kind of a waste to get up early... we had class and then our show... an english teacher came to our school and asked if we could sing an english song... classical, romantic... we choose amazing grace... we also taught them TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME... that didnt go so hott... Our friend audry wanted to do it... just think of the most awkward situation and we were in it. it wasnt so awkward for me because i had numerous awkward moments in the philippines... but we were up in front of the school and our teacher left us... these girls were saying something in spanish we didnt understand and supposedly it was our entrance call... we stood there for a good 3 minutes with everyone staring... finally a teacher told us to sing... we sang beautifully and then attempted to teach them our song... they just sat there while we belted our tune... haha pretty sure they dont know how big baseball is in america and had no idea what our song was... the english teacher didnt help either and really didnt speak english at all... sort of funny...
after that we went back to our medical class... ruj, menai, nat and i got to travel to a nursing home around arenal (20 min away) terrible driving, i was sick to my stomach... we got out and then our dr. told us that we were going to meet with some patients and just ask them medical questions... our london friends have sat in class only 1 time and nat and i.... well you know how we are... it ended up be really cool. menai and i were able to talk to two guys about all of their health problems and then all of us including nat were able to give them advice on what they needed to do. it was really cool. my only problem was i would ask a question and they would talk fast and you know how old people are... they dont totally enunciate their words so i would hope i knew what they were talking about. we were then supposed to have medical class but decided not too so we went and got more coffee and are now at the internet cafe... tonight we get to learn how to cook a costa rican meal so hopefully we will be able to cook for you when we are home!

ps- we decided that we are going to go with our new friends to domincal (a beach on the south pacific) for a few days and then go to puerto viejo. as always, thank you for your prayers. i do feel like our lives are changing and that we are making some sort of impact.