11/4/12
Wow, April is here and has been a great month thus far. On March 31st a team from Montana arrived to work in Pital. They didn’t stay at the camp because Pital is a pretty good distance away and the church there is prepared to house groups as well as cook for them all week. What makes this totally worth mentioning is that the Pastor of the church from Montana is non other than Mark Calhoun! Mark was a member of our church in Wichita until he graduated from seminary and became a big(ger) deal and moved on to do big things. His whole family was on the team as well as a lot of other cool people. Went and visited them with Marion in tow on their first full day here.
Then on the 3rd another celebrity arrived! My mommy! It was quite an adventure getting her to the camp. Alissa and I left around 10:30 from the camp and drove to the bus terminal and took the bus to San Jose, a 2.5 hour ride that flew by because we were watching the end of season 2 of Glee. We got to the airport a bit early
and unlike the airports in the states if you aren’t a passenger you can’t go into the airport so we had to wait in this outdoor restaurant. Picked her up and took a cab to the bus terminal and the bus to Ciudad Quesada. This trip was not measure in Glee but in utter misery for my mom, who had already been traveling for 12 hours by the time the bus was moving. What should only take 2 and a half episodes of Glee ended up taking about 4.5 hours of misery due to traffic or some other nonsense. We thought we’d get in with enough time to make an evening out of it but, alas, absolutely not. We picked up a pizza – what a great first out-of-the-country meal for mom… and headed back to camp to get her settled in and tucked in.
We had a good time while she was here, definitely not anything you’d think of in terms of a Costa Rican vacation, but she came and was my mom and was there for me and that was what I needed and she got a couple trips to a bakery. So everyone was happy. We visited the group in Pital and went to Santa Rita for Easter and to visit Beatriz and Naomy and give Naomy a birthday present. After all of that we were starving and tried to find a nice place for Easter brunch. The church service was great and it was lovely to see everyone there we love, but had we not looked at the calendar, we never would’ve known it was Easter. Well, that theme continued with lunch… we found a little place in I-have-no-idea town that looked A. open and B. decent. Firstly, they didn’t have Coca lite so all of us caffeine addicts about went nuts; Alissa and I were semi-satisfied with coffee and mom just had to put on her patience pants and wait. Secondly, Mom and I ordered pollo empanazidos con papas and Alissa ordered fajitas de pollo. Mom and I received chicken nuggets and fries and Alissa got grilled chicken strips… whoops. It was good nonetheless but…
The rest of our time, aside from an interesting adventure in a old truck, was spent making food or typing Marion’s poetry. Editing and typing is right up my mom’s alley, however her doing it on her vacation makes her a saint.
She left Monday super early and I was sad to see her go, but am excited that I will be back in Wichita sooner than later in the scheme of this gig.
Mary has been gone since before we got back from Panama and she gets back tonight probably in the next hour or so (it’s Wed 10:07). Actually I think I just heard her car pull up. Marion misses her a lot so that’s good she’s back for him. She needed the vacation however, so I’m glad she was able to get away. We made a cake when my mom was here and yesterday I went into the kitchen to put a piece away for Mary and I couldn’t find the cake anywhere. Turns out Marion had hid the last two pieces for him and Mary to eat with coffee when she got back. Very cute.
The last team I will be here for arrives next Tuesday, the 17th and leaves the 26th and Alissa’s parents and aunt and uncle arrive on the 28th to take us on a four-day tour of Fortuna and Monteverde. The itinerary looks amazing and full of fun things to do, granted we were beyond sold when we saw that the hotels have mattresses. Real ones. With multiple pillows. Then after that little adventure begins about a 2-week-countdown till I make my return to the good ol’ US of A. Then what? Yeah I still don’t know. I’ve begun the hunt and thus far I’ve sent a lot out and received nothing in return spare an interview request… from a company that doesn’t exist and an email telling me that the position I applied for was in Hawaii and not Seattle… whoops. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I might have to start in Kansas to get experience and more importantly money… before I can just plant myself in a big ole expensive city.
Well Coconut refuses to let me type anymore.
Buenas Noches a todos!
Love Molly
p.s. A special shout out to Kim Vines!! Thank you so much for the card and the necklace. rock chalk! thanks for reading! Also, i'm super duper proud of Matthew!