Q & A

aaahhh yes, i know, i know.
i ask for blogging ideas, i get plenty of them, and then i don't follow up.
sorry

local info...hmm. well, the multiplication center is in a town called San Isidro. we are in the mountains and it really feels...country-home-ish to me, (but that might be because i have pretty much always lived in the city). the main people around from day to day are those who have their offices there, but there are a lot of different things go on around the multiplication center such as retreats, seminars, youth groups, bible studies, and of course english classes :) on the other side of the compound after a beautiful garden and a soccer field there are houses where several IT missionaries live. this is where we are at. we have been staying in woody and su roland's house, the leaders of all of teams of IT Latin America. they have been away for the past two weeks and we have been holding up the fort, house/dog sitting for them.

the people here are great. we have had some really great times, especially with our english class. we have not really connected so much to the gringas (north americans) as much as i would have thought, even tho we live next door to several gringa families. but this weekend we had the chance to spend some time in the home of some ticos and they were just so sweet and so hospitable. i am really glad we got to do that. (kendra will write more about that.)

the food here is so delicious! fruit is my favorite thing, and i think i've already talked about the papaya smoothie i have for breakfast every morning... honestly, that might have to be my favorite thing about costa rica - that is how serious i am about loving this smoothie. haha, anyways, there are always fresh juices with every meal, and there's always beans and rice, and often "platanos maduros" which is another one of my favorite things: fried plantains. so good! this weekend we went and stayed with a tico family and so i got to have some REAL, home-cooked, costa rican meals. so good! reminded me of hogme, just with a costa rican feel to it :)
and yeah, the ice cream here is delicious too! graneizado is some goood stuff. it's ice cream, and fruit, and powdered milk and condensed milk all layered into a cup to make a sort of sundae - sounds odd, especially with the powdered milk, but it is good. oh, and the powdered milk they have here has brought my enjoyment of coffee to a new level. i am definitely not leaving the country without some.
i wish i could say i have been cooking for us now that we have a good kitchen and a house to ourselves, but i haven't been. i have a few times (and it's been quite delicious!) but before su left she took care of all of our meal plans, most of which we have with our neighbors, the other IT missionaries. i can't say their exactly invites, because it's more a scheduled thing, whose turn it is to feed "las grekas" (that's what they call us :) i guess we are being well taken care of tho, so...no complaints.
the few times i have been able to cook, i was able to get a little taste of home - i don't know if i am just deprived from my mom's cooking, or what, but i was pretty impressed! (yes, i was impressed with ME!) just simple things, but still...home :) i've also made a few desserts for the class coffee break and stevie, the butloa came great - the whole tray went! (odd name, i know..it's a middle eastern sweet.)

ok, enough about food haha.

weather is GORGEOUS - i love warm and sunny. i am so thankful that we are here during the summer months where is always warm and sunny, because in their "winter" months, it is hot and humid and rainy - lots, and lots and LOTS of rain. rain and me don't get along and humidity and me...we are enemies. i love hot dry summers :)

ah and sandi asked about finances
honestly...i don't really know. i think i'm (we're) fine. but yeah, honestly i don't pay so much attention to my bank account. maybe it's faith, maybe i'm still a kid and too ignorant and irresponsible to pay attention to such grown-up matters. i'd like to give myself the credit and say i have faith, i know God has is all under control, but...i think it might be a bit of both.

i'm good for now tho, and i have no idea what the philippines will be like financially either, but i am REALLY really hoping that we have enough at that point to make one last stop in our journey.
you see, i don't know if we ever mentioned this but we are no longer going to kenya, as was originally planned to end our trip before returning to athens. with the civil war that went on there..just didn't work out. a little bit of a disappointment to no longer be going to africa. so now we are thinking and praying for a new place to open up for those last 3 weeks. it's more exciting this way, not knowing yet... :)

thanks again for helping me out with all the questions. i probably should have spread them out a bit and used them for a couple of different blogs but..oh well. too late! we are going through some changes now tho, so we should find more to report on.
i'm sorry if my writing makes me sound like i'm bored, or disinterested. it's just the writing that i am bored and disinterested in, not life!! but, i do need to get back in the habit of it, so don't let me slack anymore!