Creativity is Contagious: Festival Nacional de las Artes Costa Rica

I really do love a good festival. This week just outside of San Jose was the annual Festival Nacional de las Artes in Santa Ana, Guayabo de Mora, and Ciudad Colon. It is a festival that features completely local talent. 

Here is some of the things I found:

So get this: I was just browsing around, admiring the beautiful, hand-crafted jewelry when I hear "Lauren!" I turn around and find a friend of mine (Ashley, pictured above) from the University of Georgia in the US. Remember, I am in Costa Rica right now. Of all the places in all the world, we were in the same country, same town, same art fair at the exact same time. It was so surreal! 

Carrying our bags of new art treasures!

Last year, I decided to be a mug collector because of my love for coffee & tea.
I was OBSESSED with this beautiful handmade/painted pottery that I found at the festival! And obviously, so was my sweet but mouthy furry friend.

So we might have gotten a little carried away with the pottery...

There aren't many things that I like more than "hecho a mano" or handmade art. It inspired me to do a little crafting this weekend as well! I will include those creations in an upcoming blog post. Stay tuned!

Circles Are Better Than Rows

Who would have thought that I would move thousands of miles away from home, to a foreign country- only to find a sister church (10 min down the road) to the church that I love and attend back in Athens, GA???

Isn't God clever?

Three years ago, thanks to encouragement from my older sister, I joined a community group at Athens Church that impacted my life immensely. In January, one of my hardest goodbyes was with my AC Small Group.

Upon arriving to Costa Rica, a new colleague mentioned to me a church in the area called "Open House". He said that it was a church for "unchurched people". I thought, hmmm...that sounds familiar.

So, I promptly looked up the website and discovered that Open House was based off of the North Point Ministries in Alpharetta, GA. I was so excited! I did the best that I could to write a short Spanish email to the director of small groups at Open House. She responded telling me that she was from Georgia and spoke English- but that she appreciated my Spanish effort. Whoops!

Before even attending Open House, I decided to join a Small Group...and offered to have them at my house every week (this helped solve the 'no car situation') because I knew like the back of my hand that circles were better than rows.

Now, I've been attending Open House and hosting community group at my place for about a month. The service is in Spanish and our community group is in Spanglish.

One of the deepest desires of my heart remains the same: I have to know Spanish to connect with these people!

Right now, I sit through the services, feeling lucky that I have a good background in the Bible and can piece together the sermon from the program, the verses, and the notes on the big screen. During small group, we have started sharing our "stories" to get to know one another and become more vulnerable with each other. I have been watching these girls pour their hearts out around my kitchen table- and I can only understand half of it. My heart is just longing to build relationships with, connect with, and minister to these girls. But how? 

I know that figuring out all this Spanish will take time. Everyone just keeps telling me "poco por poco"- little by little. But my fear is that just as I'm on the cusp of actually being able to use the language productively, I'll be leaving. 

Our lives are so dependent on the power of words! However, I know that my identity isn't in language. I can show who I am without all the right words, it's just a new way of thinking. Love speaks every language right? 

I just keep praying that I will get some of that Acts 2 Holy Spirit anointing!

Who can guess this song???

A Program from Open House

Easter Sunday

A CD of Spanish worship music that I bought!

They sing A LOT of the same songs. Just in Spanish!

"Dear children, let's not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions."  1 John 3:18

Grow Where You're Planted!

My dear friends, family, & anyone else who happens to be reading along--

Let me introduce you to Melissa. Melissa is one of my sorority littles, one of my bridesmaids in my wedding next January, and one of my best friends! She is a bundle of love, joy, and fun stories that she can't wait to share. Just when I was feeling like I would never see any of my Georgian friends ever again, Melissa arrived on my doorstep! Let me tell you about how she helped me explore more of the Rich Coast (That's Costa Rica in English for those of you who are slow on the uptake). 

When she arrived Friday afternoon, I couldn't believe my eyes! Melissa was here, in person, at my school. When she walked into my classroom, she instantly became a celebrity. The kids gave a few cute guesses about who she was (your sister? your cousin? oh I know! the sister of the boy you're going to marry?). Then, this dear lady helped me get through the worst part of the entire school week: Friday afternoon. 

Once we had pushed the last kiddo out the door, we headed on to San Jose to catch a bus to Ciudad Quesada and then another bus from there to La Fortuna. When we arrived at the bus stop, we were greeted by a taxi driver who told us that we would be too late to catch the connecting bus in Ciudad Quesada. I believe that this was probably a lie, but nonetheless we were happy for an excuse to get to our final destination faster. Melissa eloquently haggled the taxi price and then we were on our way!

When we got to La Fortuna, we directed our taxi driver to one of the nicest resorts in town:  

The Springs Resort and Spa

When we arrived, they greeted us by name, gave us a tour, and complimentary cocktails. We did the best that we could not to squeal until the door to our room closed behind us. We were in heaven! This was potentially the nicest place that either of us had ever stayed.

You may be wondering how we could possibly afford a room that cost $600 a night? Well, you may remember when I mentioned how I met the owner of La Paz Waterfall Gardens. As it turns out- he owns the The Springs Resort and Spa as well! So we were blessed with a complimentary night and day at the resort to enjoy the 20+ hot springs as well as all the resort accommodations. See for yourself!

 

After our luxurious nights' stay and day spent in the hot springs, we were exhausted. Who knew relaxing could be so tiresome? We spent one more night in La Fortuna at a hostel and even had the chance to check out the sketchy local discoteca! Sunday morning we took a bus to Ciudad Quesada and then a connector to San Jose. On our way from Ciudad Quesada to San Jose, we lucked out got the last two tickets! Or so we thought. Unfortunately, that meant sitting on the floor. But, we just laughed, worked our way back to the stair well, sat down, and enjoyed the ridiculous experience. 

It wasn't easy saying goodbye to Melissa the next day. I felt a pang of homesickness that I don't think I have ever felt before. But, as she often does, Melissa left me with one piece of valuable advice--

"Grow where you're planted"

God wants me to be effective where I am, with the people that I am surrounded by. No matter how I feel at one time or another, I am supposed to be here and I am growing.

"Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you." 

1 Corinthians 7:17

Traveling with two wheels instead of four.

No car and no money means you've gotta put in some extra leg work to go places.

Biking.

I figured out early on that as much as I like walking (read here to hear about my walking adventures), that wasn't going to cut it. So, I opted for the cheapest and quickest option and haven't looked back since!  

I started with the back roads. Scenic view...slow pace...but uphill the whole way to school. There sure is nothing like showing up sweaty 30 minutes after you just showered!

Although, I know that the mountainous back roads were probably a better work out, I began to build up the courage to conquer the next biking feat: The highway. 

I had seen plenty of cyclists doing it each morning... if they could do it- why couldn't I? So, I built up the courage and pedaled out into 5 lanes of traffic. The first time was pretty scary, but I just followed the cyclists and I'm still here writing this, so I guess I survived! After that, it became much easier. 

I'm no expert, but here are some tips that I can offer to the aspiring leisurely biker:

1. Helmet, helmet, helmet. I had a bit of a spill a few weeks ago and if I didn't believe in them before, I sure as heck do now!

2. Always bring rain gear. I bought a water proof bag for my computer during the rainy season!

3. Even when you think you're safe in the bike lane- watch out for motor bikes and pedestrians. I hit a pedestrian once. That was awkward. 

4. Just do it. If you over think it, you'll think about how you dread the hills and end up calling your neighbor for a ride. If you had just gotten on your bike and gone in the first place, you would have been there already! 

5. No matter how slow you go, you are already lapping everybody on the couch! 

Now, I just need some accessories!

My biking Wish List:

Brazil Meets Costa Rica!

Recently, I attended a Brazilian party right in the heart of downtown San Jose, Costa Rica. 

Normal.

In honor of the recent Carnival celebration in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, all of the Brazilian ex-patriates in San Jose gathered together to create their best Carnival themed party. Fortunately, the P.E. teacher at our school is Brazilian so he brought us along for the ride!

What we found when we arrived: lots of wild costumes, loud music, and a lot of dancing. 

One of my favorite parts of the night was when we had a chance to learn the dances to the popular "Samba music". Samba is a very rhythmic type of music that involves a LOT of drumming. 

We also got to see some Capoeira (Brazilian martial arts)! 

Our school hosts a Capoeira class after hours so I was very excited to ACTUALLY know what these Brazilians were up to! 

Last but not least, we also ran into a group of American guys in town for an international futbol tournament. It was weird to have a taste of home in the midst of this culture overload. They were surprisingly pleased to discover that we spoke English!

Unfortunately, I know that speaking English happens to be pretty common around here- a pretty big reason why I'm not fluent in Spanish yet. 

I promise, I'm working on it!

New item added to the bucket list:

Celebrate the real Carnival in Rio!

The First Day of School.

You may have noticed that it's been a while since I've posted. If you're a teacher, then you probably understand why. School started and we hit the ground running. I haven't had a finished to-do list since Day 1. Here's one of the biggest things that I've learned so far.

The First Day of School:

My traditional "First Day of School Picture"

There is so much hype around how important the first day of the school year is. Throughout my years of teaching experience, I have heard talk of things such as "you never get a second chance to make a first impression" and "day one sets the tone for the whole year"...

A lot of pressure, don't you think?

So of course I was more than just a little nervous. And on top of that, I had a huge (and strange) bug bite on my face and I had just broken out in a rash (possibly acquired from the aforementioned hammock experience?) both of which were making me itch incessantly. Plus, I had developed a cold that was making me lose my voice. Fabulous combo! 

I did the best to ignore these ailments and I kept running things through my head- how do I introduce myself? How do I teach them the rules? How many times will I need to model what to do when they come in in the morning? ARE THEY GOING TO UNDERSTAND MY ENGLISH?

I didn't sleep much the night before, to say the least.

So, I did my best to get through my whole grocery shopping list of things to do. Just to name a few:

• Introduce myself.
• Take attendance and learn how to pronounce their names.
• Have them introduce themselves.
• Introduce and model morning routines. 
• Introduce behavior plan.
• Create a class contract (pictured below).

I definitely didn't do everything on my list and I definitely didn't do everything perfectly. There are also plenty of things that have realized should have been on that list.

But I have discovered that it's ok.
These kids are still young.
They have moldable minds.

Even if I didn't think about making them put a table of contents in the front of their notebooks...
Even if I'm still not happy with planner/homework procedures...
And even if I simply can't look at those fabulous teaching blogs right now because they stress me out too much-- It's ok. 

Admittedly, I don't always let myself think that way. However, I KNOW that I have to stop telling myself that I'm going to "accidentally mess up their education forever"! and decide that it's a classroom and we're all still learning: even me.

My encouragement: "...let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy." 
Ephesians 4:23-24

Lord, it is my prayer to have renewed thoughts and a renewed attitude. You are working through me powerfully, no matter what my human nature neglects. Help me to put on my new nature and become more like you!

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