I'm sorry for going so long without posting but my last few weeks in Costa Rica before visiting home were very busy.
I'm currently writing this from the "Brat House Grill" in Wisconsin Dells. I'm up here with my mom and brother for Christmas and it's wonderful but freezing. I'm even filming a "documentary" about snow and Wisconsin starring my family... Let's just say it's a low budget feature made on my little Canon digital camera and windows movie maker. We did get absolutely dumped with snow the last few days though so there have been ample snow piles and icicles to film :)
Just to fill you in, I'm home until Jan 13 and then I go back down to the Abraham Project - with my mom and her friend Heidi! Yep, they will be visiting me for a week to see the beautiful country and meet all of the people I work with. I'm getting pretty excited to do some touristy things while they are there. I keep reading and hearing about the beautiful beach at Manuel Antonio, and the erupting volcano at Arenal but I've never seen them. Also, January is supposed to be the month with the nicest weather in Costa Rica and it will certainly be a contrast to the current sub-zero freeze.
I'm also excited to see my mom's reaction to the interesting cultural things that I've been experiencing - she's like a fresh slate for social experimentation! What will she think of their driving? The cuisine? Their food storage habits? Their laid-back lifestyle? The church service? Hopefully I will have lots of interesting observations to report - I'll even take notes for you Janet.
Oh, I know they are long overdue but I have pictures from the Mennonite group and from my trip to Nicaragua. I took my time putting captions on all of them so it's like you're really there. You can access the albums by:
http://picasaweb.google.com/JulieBlumie/MennoniteGroup#
http://picasaweb.google.com/JulieBlumie/Nicaragua#
Also, if you didn't see my first album, the link again is:
http://picasaweb.google.com/JulieBlumie/AbrahamProject1#
I also have some neat pictures from my last month there which I will put up soon.
I especially realized how much I love what I do when I think that 3 months of my amazing experience have already gone by. I immensely enjoy what I'm doing and I think I've never been happier with my life. I really think I am called to education. Whether I am teaching or learning I am very content in a classroom with a good whiteboard marker. (no, I'm not sniffing the marker...) I hope God has more teaching and learning in my future!
Finally, as I was preparing to leave for a Christmas break at home I realized how attached I have become to the people of Costa Rica. I got huge hugs the whole last week and many people went out of their way to see me and Brian one last time before we left. One of our students even emailed me today to say "There are only 22 more days until you come back!".
Here is a picture of me, Brian, and some of our students. We took them out to see a movie as a treat for passing their final exams:
2 comments:
Julie--Manuel Antonio is definitely worth a visit! We were so disappointed by Jaco Beach, after hearing so much about it from Ashley. But Manuel Antonio is another story; very beautiful and more "civilized". Be careful on the bridges though, if you're driving over. I have some pictures that would freak out your mom. Old wooden planks with half of them missing - not a good feeling. But we survived!
You will also go by a huge West African Palm Oil plant and plantation. Very interesting that Costa Rica is the largest exporter of West AFRICAN palm oil!!
Have fun with your mom!
Sherri Cupples
Where have you been Julie? A whole month without any posts - very disappointing. You should let people know that you are back in Central America and spent a whole week in Panama. I guess they'll find out soon enough!
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