This week: Este Semana

This is just some funny things from this week...

Question number one: Where do all the birds go that migrate from the u.s.a., when it is migrating time?

Answer: To my land lords back yard!!! Yes friends, Costa Rica is a bird watchers PARADISE!!!

In the bird picture, i was taking a small nap, when these birds woke me up, and the worst part is that they are totally not afraid of me. These same birds perch outside our window at 5:00 am. They sing their song, and by 9:00 am. They leave.... It is crazy, and they sort of make me crazy, but it is sort of funny... I have video taped them, i will put that on so you can hear the crazy noise they make..

The regular pictures are from the weeks events.. We got our FIRST tests back and Andy placed number one in class.... He is a Genius... I posted them so you could see. But i can't get a good shot of his score, he scored 145 points, but i was not to far behind with 141 points...

Lastly is some pictures of our kitchen, because my mom has told me she wanted to see what it looks like.

Other than that news, not much else. I have been praying for my friends and family a lot. You all have been on my heart... I have been reading alot about Love in the Bible.. It could be a topic that i spend my whole life striving to be better at..... Jesus love is so inspiring to me....

Volcano Irazu

It was the weekend, and time to get out of the city.. You cannot imagine how much we wanted to go see something other than the 15 block radius we have stayed in for the last 3 weeks.
So Andy and I, and our friends Jeremy and Kelly Darabaras from Alabama all hopped on a bus and headed toward one of the many Volcanos in Costa Rica. Volcano Irazu.

This is pictures and some video of our trip to Volcano Irazu.. It is about an 1.5 hour trip by bus to this city of Cartago where the volcano is... This is a video of the weird animal outside of the volcano called a Coati.. They are sort of like Coyote's someone told us.. It was really odd looking. The rest of the volcano was okay looking. We arrived their at 9:35 am. And everything was clear looking. By 10:10 it was all the fogged over. So, the best advice was to go early.... Anyway, it was really cool to see, and we had lots of fun.

We hope to see some other volcano's. This was a volcano, but it had lots of crater's like the moon's surface so, it did not really feel like a volcano. They have other one's that actually look like real Volcano's. But are a longer trip away. So you need to spend the night at a nice hotel, and spend the day exploring....

Things that i miss..

okay this is a picure of our old apartment.. And it is under the category of things i miss, because it had a DISHWASHER!!!!! and i know it is lame to people who have never had this luxury item, but yes it is true i miss it....
We have been here for about 3 weeks, and we are missing our GRILL !!! i missed grilled food. I miss BARBEQUE RIBS made by my dad... I miss them alot... Rice and Beans for this iowa girl, are just not workin... They are okay,, but thier is only sometimes i am in that kind of mood.....
Okay, these are really bad pictures of Andy and I . But what we want to show is how much we miss our nephews... Ethan is on top, and Jaden is on the bottom....
We miss our family lots and lots. We can't wait to see them at Christmas.... And you better believe that i will be chowin down on some barbeque....


Here is a list that Andy and i have thought of, just some funny things we miss:
Chlorox Wipes
Era
Walmart/ Target/ Jordan Creek mall.
Famous Dave's
Carpet!!!!
Fall
a car!!!!
working at the hospital!!!
Reagen, she was my hairstylist..
DES MOINES
Starbucks
and ENGLISH, english church, english lots of things..

I enjoy learning a different language, but it has it days where i hate it too..
I am so thankful for the friends we have made and the other group of missioneries here. They are very encouraging...Also i am thankful that i am not doing this alone.. God is with me everyday, he is my strength and Andy helps me a lot... I think that he can tell, when i hit my breaking point...

Also, i wanted to add, this week we went to a movie theater called the VIP.
We saw the movie The Bourne Ultimatum. This might be the coolest movie theater, that i or Andy have ever been too. You buy a ticket for the movie, which was 4 dollars a person, and then you enter the theater. The seats, are not normal seats, they are LAZY BOYS... And then you order your food of the menu, and servers come and bring you the food. Plus the film is in English. With spanish subtitles.. It was the funnest experience...

Anyway, it has been a pretty good week. We had 2 tests today.. And we think that we did pretty good. Also we got to watch Survivor and The Office.. on our t.v. here.. We have the Denver, Co. channels in English...

That is all for now, From COSTA RICA

Happy Birthday Costa Rica

our first supposed american meal.. We went to Friday's because i have been craving american things and it was pretty fun. We went with our friends. It sort of tasted like Fridays..

Here is a picture of the church we have been attending.. Pretty big, and fun.
This is us going to see the play Macbeth. We went to a really pretty town called Heredia. It has a cofee plantation on it, called Cafe Britt. Very ritzy. The play was done by a group of students from England. It was very different. Sort of hard to understand, Alvaro invited us to go see it. He of course loved it, said that it was a good adaptation of Macbeth. I thought wow, he is very cultured.. And i just really like romantic comedy movies.......
This is a picture of our teachers at Cincel, preforming authentic Costa Rican dances for us. We sort of had the day off. Because Saturday is Costa Rica's national Independence Day... Isn't it a cool picture!
Lastly, they served us authentic Costa Rican food. The green thing is a chicken tamale, wrapped with banana leaves. It was good. The other things are cornbread and tortillas with potatoes and something else on top. I have to admit, i do like American food better. Like a big scoop of mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and turkey. Like Thanksgiving food. But this was not half bad....

Crazy Flower Pictures

I wanted to just put up the some of the flower pictures, from the nice hotel/restaurant that Alvaro and his wife Sara took us too. This is a Bird of Paradise plant.. i really had never seen it before..But they sell them really cheap everywhere here.
I don't know what this is called either? But very pretty anyway..

This was a cool sculpture..But what is interesting is that the pine tree in the background is the one and only i have seen here in Costa Rica..
And this I have no idea! It is Crazy looking... Don't you think that it looks like some sort of animal...???

That is all for now.

Flowers, Rain and Spanish.

This is a picture outside of our Apartment "House" with the land lord. His name is Alvaro. He is a very sweet and nice man. Andy calls him his Costa Rican Grandpa. And he treats us like his grandchildren...
Here is Alvaro's House. It is sort of confusing but the garage they are outside of is like an open area, their is no roof. It is split up into three different apartments. Ours is on the top level on the right, where the tree is. Alvaro and his wife own the two vacant lots next to ours.
This is some Mountain, i don't even know the name of it. But we can see it when we walk to school each day. This picture was taken at the chuch we visited last Sunday. It was a church of 2,000 people... Crazy kindof.
This is a picture of a beautiful Hydrangea plant. Alvaro and his wife took us to a really ritzy hotel last sunday, and they had 2 acreas of just gardens. Lots of beautiful flowers. I took lots of pic's, i just could not put them all on.
Okay, so we have taken down all the curtains in our apartment, except these ugly ones, they are in a little corner, by the dinning area. Any way, we walked into our apartment last night and saw on the wall. YES a GECKO.. Like the Gieco Gecko. In Costa Rica, these little reptiles are everywhere, but they say you should leave them because they eat insects. But truly that would be the last option in my book. Andy trapped it in a tupper-ware box and then let it free.... Now, my family members might be thinking, Chelsea did you not at one time own a newt, with the name of Mr. Bojangles. Yes, i did, and this is pretty similar. But i am older and wiser and it Grossed me out...... i talked to my nephew Jaden, and told him that i would bring one home for him. If i found another. Just Kiding. But he did find some tupper ware, just in case i do.....

Anyway, those are the happenings of the last week. We have made alot of new friends. And been having a good time learning Spanish.. It still is a little hard, because i do miss seeing our family alot. The Skype, is so wonderful. But i really have found peace in the scripture 2 Timothy 1:12.. " I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day." I have been trusting God with my Family and with my heart. And it makes me feel lots better.... It would be a lie to say that i have not missed home, but it seems like God makes that feeling go away pretty quick, when i remember that he is watching over them and loves me...Plus i will get to see them at CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Classes have begun.. agggghhhh

Well today was the first day of classes..
The word to best describe the overall feeling that i got was.
I feel like i am a complete IDIOT.

The teachers speak in Spanish the entire hour, and during this time my brain is straining to remember what i was taught in highschool Spanish.
Our first class is Grammer, Second is Phonetics, and third is Conversation.
Thier is 6 people in our class and Andy is one of them.

The funniest part of the whole time was the Phonetics class. The teacher, her name is Lizbeth, had us hold up mirrors and say words and watch how we say them in the mirror. Andy was singled out as the young man who was prouncing the letter F wrong. So he had to say it over and over, with his mouth wide open and his jaw not moving. It was HILLARIOUS!

I have met a lot of friends. We are thankful for the slingbox and skype. I would be having a much harder time without this wonderful technology....

Happy Birthday Joe

My brother Joe turns 15 today.

5 favorite things about Joe.

1. He is kind hearted and cares about others

2. He is smart and is really good at art.

3. He is really good at sports, his ability far exceeds Melissa's and mine.

4. He is funny, he licks his fingers all the time. Sort of a little Quirk.

5. He Is the BEST BROTHER one could ever have...

Love you Joe-G.. Hope that you enjoy the Pics!!

Do you know the way to San Jose, la la la la la la la laaaaaaaaaa

We are finally here in San Jose, Costa Rica, here is some pictures of our Costa Rican apartmento. We are not done putting pictures up yet. But here are some pictures anyway. I' ll try to put up a blog of just our pictures. any how, we like it here. The place we are at is VERY SAFE.. and their is beautiful mountains next to us.. The first picture is our living room, next is flowers and outside our apartment. Next is the dinning area in our apartment. Then it is our bedroom.
Some weird things, we have cable and there is like 10 channels in english. Also we get the Denver Colorado news.. IT is the rainy season, and it rains everyday. as of right now, it has been raining non stop for 4 hours. They have fast food restaurants like Mc Donalds, Wendy's, Burger King, Pappa Johns. And manicure's are 5 dollars. YEAH. Also Andy said that San Jose was 3rd city in the world to get ELECTRICITY. Also Costa Rica is one of 2 countries in the world that does not have a Millitary...

Well that is all for now, keep you posted Chelsea and Andy

Spiders on steroids

Okay, our friends Jonathan and Erica Barthalow, left to go to India.

They live in northern India with their 2 kids, and she sent me a picture of the spiders that she finds sometimes in their new house. and this is one of them. She said they are the size of her hand.... SICKINING!!!!!!!

Just take a look at that and tell me that you would not be scared out of your skin..
So please pray for Jonathan and Erica, because this would be hard to transition to, after living in the u.s.a. for so long.

Crazy Month

This has been a crazy month, we have been busy all month....

These are some pics that i have wanted to post, i just have not had time.

The dirty little girl is Elle Davis. She has oreo cookie all over her face.

Their is a picture of Joe and Jaden and Ethan at the zoo. Which was a blast!!

Silly pictures of Katie and I, and my sister and mom and I.

Lastly is a picture of Andy and I with friends at Mary's birthday lunch..

We have eaten out alot with friends and Family before we leave, which is bittersweet. We leave in one week and it is going to be hard to be cut off like this. But we come home for Christmas on December 14th. Yeah...

I am thankful for family and good friends..

BIRTHDAYS GALORE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM: JEAN ANN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD: GREG

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FRIEND: MARY

AUGUST IS NATIONAL BIRTHDAY MONTH...

I LOVE YOU ALL AND AM SO GLAD THAT YOU ARE IN MY LIFE!!!

Making Memories

So here are some of the pictures of what has been happening in the lives of Andy and I. First off, I had a friends dinner at the Latin King Restaurant. I am leaving at the end of August and wanted to hang with my friends one more time. The picture is horribly not clear. A lady took this picture and it makes me sort of mad.. Also it is missing my mother in law and sis in law. They had to leave before the pic was taken. The next 4 pictures all take place in South Carolina. Andy and my family all went down to South Carollina last week for a VACATION.

I thought that these pics were very cute of all of them and the last one is of Boone Hall Plantation. It was were parts of the movie the Notebook were taped. It was interesting to see a live Plantation where their were slaves at one time and everything.

Anyway, Spending time with our family is what we are trying to do lots of right now. We leave for Costa Rica on August 29th. IT is sort of overwhelming to me. We have been planning to do this for so long and now the time has finally come.. Bittersweet....

I know that through it all that God has his hand on our Family and I believe that he is going to do amazing things through them all. Any way that is all for now...

Chelsea