I promised that I would write a long entry about what I’ve been doing so far, and here it is!
I’m staying with a “tico” (Costa Rican) family. My mama tica’s name is Janira and my papa tico’s name is Fernando. Their English is about as good as the average American’s Spanish: “hello”, “goodbye”, and “no problem”. So from the time I wake up in the morning to the time I go to bed, I’m communicating in Spanish. My tico parents had three children who all died of a degenerative disease of the throat/neck. They have been through some very hard times, but when they pray at mealtimes they have nothing but thanks for God for all He has given them. This is a common theme here: the people have suffered more hardships than anyone I’ve met before, but they’re also more grateful to God and more generous than anyone I’ve met. I think when people live in poverty their desperation for everything in life gives rise to a stronger faith in God and a more accurate understanding of what is really important in life.
The project I work at has three foster homes for abandoned children, a daycare/school for poor children in the community, a church, and an adult education center. They are in the process of building a large multipurpose building which will house professional offices (to provide medical/legal/other services to the community) and an indoor soccer field (the best way to attract anyone here). My job as an intern is to help with teams from the U.S. who come down to volunteer in construction and in the daycare. Right now there is a team here from Tennessee. They arrived Saturday and left early this morning. I worked in construction alongside them, giving them tips and translating directions from the tico workers. Yesterday I had to translate several prayers and parting messages between the ticos and the team. These kinds of translations always make me nervous because there is a lot of meaning behind what the people want to say to each other and I don’t want to mess it up! I’m much more relaxed translating “Katie needs a hammer” or “It’s time for lunch”.
Speaking of lunch, while the teams are here, my mama tica comes to the project every day to make a big lunch for the ticos and the team, about 40 people in total. She is a phenomenal cook! I’m hoping to learn from her while I’m here. Everyone who found out that I get to stay at her house was so jealous. Last night for dinner we ate pan fried fish, yucca root (?), black beans, rice, and a variation on pico de gallo. I haven’t had any frozen food since I’ve been here, and she goes shopping every morning for what she needs for that day. There is freshly chopped cilantro, onion, and garlic in almost everything. I’ve learned to eat what is put in front of me because it’s always good. I heard they eat chicken hearts where one of the other interns stays, but I haven’t encountered anything like that yet.
This seems like a good place to list interesting things about living in Costa Rica. They eat rice and beans with almost every meal. Their dish soap is a crumbly solid and they scrape the sponge across it to use it. They don’t refrigerate eggs, milk, or cheese but nothing spoils. They think it’s freezing here right now because it’s “winter” but it’s really like 75 during the day and 40 something at night. My mama tica is always telling me to put on a sweater. Sounds familiar… (mom). It has rained every day so far. Mornings are cloudless but by 3pm it’s pouring. They very seldom use the oven – everything is cooked on the stove top. Right now even though I’m almost the same longitude as the East coast, we’re on Mountain Time in the U.S. The sun comes up SUPER early and I end up waking up at 5:30 or so because it’s already so bright in my west-facing window. They love American music. I woke up today with one of our neighbors blasting “You Give Love a Bad Name” by Bon Jovi while he washed his car. It must have been a mix CD because the next song was “I’m a Barbie Girl”. I never said they only liked good American music…
The people here worry a lot less than people do in the U.S. They love to laugh and joke and embarrass each other in funny ways. You can almost never get a straight story out of anyone here. Especially the high school and college age boys are much more “squirrely” than Americans. They’re ALL class clowns, they ALL do physical comedy and tackle each other, mimic each other, and pretend that they’re in the video game “Mortal Kombat”. I just know my mom wouldn’t be able to watch them horse around because you really think someone’s going to get hurt. This general attitude is with the adults too. My mama tica actually gets offended when I put on my seatbelt in the car. She’s also so excited that I brought my driver’s license because it means I can legally drive here. I’m not sure if she’s joking when she tells me I’m going to have to drive her around. Sarcasm doesn’t always translate.
I really had a wonderful time with the team from Tennessee. They were from a church called Love and Truth. They were mostly adults: some were carpenters and one was an electrician who helped with the new building. I got to know the women the most. One of them is Kate’s mom. (Kate has been an intern here since January, the last time I was here). Another one also has a daughter who interned at the Project several years ago. They were all so nice to work with, and such hard workers with great attitudes. I learned some new songs with hand motions like “Peach of a Savior” and “The Beaver Dance”. The ticos were especially fascinated by our strange songs. There were also four young girls: two eleven-year-olds, one ten-year-old, and one eighteen-year-old on the team. They made me laugh so much. They always had huge smiles on their faces and called me “Miss Julie” with their southern accents. If they didn’t hear something that I said, they’d say “Ma’am?” They’d always have to get hugs from me in the morning and when their bus dropped me off at my house they’d sing a farewell song to me. The three youngest are on a dance team at the church and they performed for everyone Friday night during the sendoff activity. I am really going to miss the whole team!
This week I’m going to get things organized for tutoring high school students in Math and maybe English. My responsibilities aren’t fully defined for when there are no teams from the U.S. but I’m confident they’ll find something to keep me busy!
Last night Briand and I went to dinner at Jonathan and Amy’s house. They are a missionary couple from the U.S. who previously lived in India as missionaries. They’re really nice and they have the cutest baby ever! They also invited me over every Saturday from now on to watch college football! They’re huge Georgia fans, but I’ll put up with their SEC talk if I get to see and talk football with someone.
I uploaded photos to a picassa album. It is located at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/JulieBlumie/AbrahamProject1?authkey=j2qCDrYLIh0#
Just copy and paste it into your internet browser window thingy. Let me know if it doesn't work and I'll ask someone smart!
That’s all for now! I miss you all and I hope to update again soon, especially about things that God has been showing me and teaching me. Pray that I can be more outgoing and brave with my Spanish.
<3 Julie
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Safe, Sound, and Well Fed
Well folks, I made it to Costa Rica safe and sound.
Brian and I got to O’Hare only 45 minutes before our flight’s departure time. I know there is never a “good time” to be late to the airport, but when you’re going international for three months at a time, you can’t afford to miss your flight!
I have almost no time to update, but everything here is going well. My Spanish is improving quickly and I think I might get a tutor for a few hours a week so I can improve even faster. There is a team of volunteers here from Tennessee and one of my jobs is to take care of teams while they’re here. The team is mostly adults but there are three 11-year-old girls who are so much fun! We’re laughing and joking all day on the work site and acting really silly.
I went to church on Sunday and it was great. I love singing and worshiping God in Spanish. I’m always amazed when I remember how many different kinds of people God created and how many different languages sing His praise. There's so much going on in the world that I don't know about!
I miss family and friends but I am already feeling so welcome and loved by the Costa Ricans. I am eating really well too, the food is great!
That’s all for now but I will write a really long entry soon!
Julie
Brian and I got to O’Hare only 45 minutes before our flight’s departure time. I know there is never a “good time” to be late to the airport, but when you’re going international for three months at a time, you can’t afford to miss your flight!
I have almost no time to update, but everything here is going well. My Spanish is improving quickly and I think I might get a tutor for a few hours a week so I can improve even faster. There is a team of volunteers here from Tennessee and one of my jobs is to take care of teams while they’re here. The team is mostly adults but there are three 11-year-old girls who are so much fun! We’re laughing and joking all day on the work site and acting really silly.
I went to church on Sunday and it was great. I love singing and worshiping God in Spanish. I’m always amazed when I remember how many different kinds of people God created and how many different languages sing His praise. There's so much going on in the world that I don't know about!
I miss family and friends but I am already feeling so welcome and loved by the Costa Ricans. I am eating really well too, the food is great!
That’s all for now but I will write a really long entry soon!
Julie
Thursday, September 18, 2008
The time is near
I'm starting to get very nervous about getting everything done. I want to see like 100 people and spend one more fun time with each of them before I leave, but my to-do list is a mile long. But I've been here before. Going off to college and then graduating from college were both so difficult for me. Leaving is always the hardest part. And it's never the places, it's always the people that I hate to leave behind.
I had such a nice time last night playing Spades with my aunts Carol and Laura and my grandma. We laughed and joked and ate candy corn and peanuts mixed together. It's times like that where I just thank God for the wonderful family he has given me. I wish many of them lived in Wisconsin instead of Colorado and Georgia.. you know who you are... because I just love spending time with them!
Yesterday morning I gave the chapel message at my old elementary school! The kindergarteners through fifth graders were there, and I realized it's been 17 years since I was in kindergarten. woah. I told them all about how some children in the world don't have food or clothes, and don't have parents to protect them from bad people in the world. I told them how the Abraham Project in Costa Rica helps children by feeding them, clothing them, educating them, sheltering them, and teaching them about Jesus. I had a slide show of pictures to show them how scrap wood donated to the project is used to make beautiful buildings for the children. The kids seemed to really like it and there were tons of hands up for questions at the end!
After I was done speaking, the principal (my 8th grade algebra teacher) went up and told the kids how my brother Mark had gone on one of the mission trips with me, and how my mom was currently in South Dakota for her 10th time chaparoning the annual 8th grade trip there. He stated that Mark and I had learned to serve others from our mom's example. It's completely true. My mom has always been a fantastic example of service in my life. Whenever I run into people at church, they always tell me "your mom has such a good heart." It's a consensus among her peers and I see it so clearly in her. I always think of Proberbs 31:10-31, "the wife of noble character." Check it out.
Many of my elementary school teachers are still teaching and they all came up to hug me and tell me that they're so proud of what I'm doing. I never thought of what I'm doing as extraordinary or realized what a fantastic part of God's plan for my life this year will be until they made me see it. The whole experience put things into perspective for me. I'm going to be an international missionary. God is going to use me in ways I can't comprehend and He's going to show and teach me amazing things this year. Praise God!
That's all I can think of to write for now. My next post may be my first from Costa Rica!
I had such a nice time last night playing Spades with my aunts Carol and Laura and my grandma. We laughed and joked and ate candy corn and peanuts mixed together. It's times like that where I just thank God for the wonderful family he has given me. I wish many of them lived in Wisconsin instead of Colorado and Georgia.. you know who you are... because I just love spending time with them!
Yesterday morning I gave the chapel message at my old elementary school! The kindergarteners through fifth graders were there, and I realized it's been 17 years since I was in kindergarten. woah. I told them all about how some children in the world don't have food or clothes, and don't have parents to protect them from bad people in the world. I told them how the Abraham Project in Costa Rica helps children by feeding them, clothing them, educating them, sheltering them, and teaching them about Jesus. I had a slide show of pictures to show them how scrap wood donated to the project is used to make beautiful buildings for the children. The kids seemed to really like it and there were tons of hands up for questions at the end!
After I was done speaking, the principal (my 8th grade algebra teacher) went up and told the kids how my brother Mark had gone on one of the mission trips with me, and how my mom was currently in South Dakota for her 10th time chaparoning the annual 8th grade trip there. He stated that Mark and I had learned to serve others from our mom's example. It's completely true. My mom has always been a fantastic example of service in my life. Whenever I run into people at church, they always tell me "your mom has such a good heart." It's a consensus among her peers and I see it so clearly in her. I always think of Proberbs 31:10-31, "the wife of noble character." Check it out.
Many of my elementary school teachers are still teaching and they all came up to hug me and tell me that they're so proud of what I'm doing. I never thought of what I'm doing as extraordinary or realized what a fantastic part of God's plan for my life this year will be until they made me see it. The whole experience put things into perspective for me. I'm going to be an international missionary. God is going to use me in ways I can't comprehend and He's going to show and teach me amazing things this year. Praise God!
That's all I can think of to write for now. My next post may be my first from Costa Rica!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
It's official
Well everyone, it's official. I purchased my flight to Costa Rica last night and got a fabulous deal on it. Brian and I will be flying together on September 20. This is a little later than I'd originally planned, but it will give me extra time to save up money and take care of business in WI.
In addition to some teaching in English and math, we'll be helping to coordinate with short-term mission teams from the U.S. to come down to the project and serve. I'm really looking forward to this portion of my service, not only becasue the people from the U.S. will speak English :) but also because I know that God prepared me for this role. By leading me to organize the mission trip from Hopkins in January, God taught me what goes into planning such a trip and exactly what responsibilities fall on the team leader. I will be a better contact and facilitator for having planned a trip myself.
August 1 is the closing date for the house I grew up in. We've been very busy packing, selling, and moving things to relatives' houses and storage units.
I currently work at a pump manufacturer in Hartland, WI called Hartmann Controls. I'm an engineering intern and I do whatever they ask of me! I've been learning how to put together pumps, how to run some of the different machines, and how to package, label, and ship the pumps. I'm writing "work instructions" (powerpoint files with step by step instructions and pictures) for some of these tasks - so that in busy times they can hire temps to help out.
On Tuesdays I go to a class at Mt Zion Lutheran on apologetics. It's one of my favorite things to learn about because of how trendy it is to be an atheist in academia. Apologetics teaches how to defend the gospel (the death and resurrection of Christ for our sins) against the attacks of the secular and pluralistic world we live in today. The truth is, the historical and archaeological evidence is insurmountable. To deny that Jesus did and said everything in the Bible would require one to deny so much history that by the same arguments persons such as Julius Caesar could also be "proved" not to exist. It's extremely interesting and makes me with I could pull out my copy of "Mere Christianity" right now.
That's all I have for now. I'll update at least once more before I leave for Costa Rica.
Could everyone also please pray for my dad?
Thanks for the love and support!
-Julie
In addition to some teaching in English and math, we'll be helping to coordinate with short-term mission teams from the U.S. to come down to the project and serve. I'm really looking forward to this portion of my service, not only becasue the people from the U.S. will speak English :) but also because I know that God prepared me for this role. By leading me to organize the mission trip from Hopkins in January, God taught me what goes into planning such a trip and exactly what responsibilities fall on the team leader. I will be a better contact and facilitator for having planned a trip myself.
August 1 is the closing date for the house I grew up in. We've been very busy packing, selling, and moving things to relatives' houses and storage units.
I currently work at a pump manufacturer in Hartland, WI called Hartmann Controls. I'm an engineering intern and I do whatever they ask of me! I've been learning how to put together pumps, how to run some of the different machines, and how to package, label, and ship the pumps. I'm writing "work instructions" (powerpoint files with step by step instructions and pictures) for some of these tasks - so that in busy times they can hire temps to help out.
On Tuesdays I go to a class at Mt Zion Lutheran on apologetics. It's one of my favorite things to learn about because of how trendy it is to be an atheist in academia. Apologetics teaches how to defend the gospel (the death and resurrection of Christ for our sins) against the attacks of the secular and pluralistic world we live in today. The truth is, the historical and archaeological evidence is insurmountable. To deny that Jesus did and said everything in the Bible would require one to deny so much history that by the same arguments persons such as Julius Caesar could also be "proved" not to exist. It's extremely interesting and makes me with I could pull out my copy of "Mere Christianity" right now.
That's all I have for now. I'll update at least once more before I leave for Costa Rica.
Could everyone also please pray for my dad?
Thanks for the love and support!
-Julie
Monday, May 12, 2008
E-mail test for Parker
Test! Does this blog actually email people? Why does it only allow you to email a maximum of 10 people? Do I have to invent a listserve or something via google to make it email like 40 people? Help Parker!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Leaving Hopkins
It's very sad to be leaving Johns Hopkins after my four years here. It took me almost two years to settle in and find great church friends, and now I have to leave them. We'll keep in touch of course, but I will miss them all very much. It is also unfortunate that we all came together in such a weird city as Baltimore, as none of us really want to stay around here for too long after graduation.
I'm excited for what's coming next: a summer of working at home, and then 10+ months in Costa Rica. Afterwards, I'll be starting in Fall of 09 as a graduate student at Stanford. That's the plan as of now, but it may very well change throughout the next year and a half.
I set up this blog so that family and friends can keep track of me through it all, especially during the time when I am in Costa Rica. It will be difficult to make phone calls, and I will have limited ability to respond to personal emails.
For those of you who don't know, I will be volunteering as a teacher in English and Math at the Abraham Project in San Jose. I will be teaching younger children in the daycare center three days a week and will be teaching adults/youth in the evenings. I will also do some construction work, and will maybe get to put my engineering skills to use as the project is planning to put a retractable roof over a soccer field for their community center. I don't know all of the details yet, but I'll post more as soon as I know!
<3 Julie
I'm excited for what's coming next: a summer of working at home, and then 10+ months in Costa Rica. Afterwards, I'll be starting in Fall of 09 as a graduate student at Stanford. That's the plan as of now, but it may very well change throughout the next year and a half.
I set up this blog so that family and friends can keep track of me through it all, especially during the time when I am in Costa Rica. It will be difficult to make phone calls, and I will have limited ability to respond to personal emails.
For those of you who don't know, I will be volunteering as a teacher in English and Math at the Abraham Project in San Jose. I will be teaching younger children in the daycare center three days a week and will be teaching adults/youth in the evenings. I will also do some construction work, and will maybe get to put my engineering skills to use as the project is planning to put a retractable roof over a soccer field for their community center. I don't know all of the details yet, but I'll post more as soon as I know!
<3 Julie
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