Just Keep Running

   
If you have been following my blog and my adventures over the past year, you would know that I am a runner.

Well, I guess being a “runner” isn’t exactly what I would call myself. But I definitely have gotten into the sport in the past couple of years thanks to my great running parter, Marjie.

 
 
 Since, I started running I have ran a few 5k’s including a muddy buddy  and a Turkey Trot with my love.

Another Muddy Buddy (on my birthday!) with my sister and other friends

And a 5 & 10k with Marjie.

(The 10k is pictured at the top of the post)

Well then I moved back to the east coast in July. My running partner was 2 hours away and I kind of lost interest in running. Our plan was to start training for the Disney Princess Half Marathon at the end of February however,  Marjie got knocked up (happily) and I didn’t want to run it by myself. So I pretty much stopped running and worked out here and there weight training.

Then my mom started to find interest in 5k’s and signed a group of us girls up for the “Pretty Muddy 5K” in November. An all women’s run in Miami.

Me, my cousin Tara, Carla, and Mom -Terri.

We went, had a blast, and got muddy for sure. It was a great time. It was my mom’s first 5k and a great first one at that. I was so proud of her watching her complete all of the obstacles and having a great attitude the entire time. We all enjoyed the time together!

I love this one. I think we look like the Fantastic Four with out stances.

After that race I started getting back into running again. Taking low mileage runs throughout the week to keep up my cardio and de-stress.

Then, in January we were at it again. We signed up and ran/walked the Color Run 5k right down the street from our house.

The Fantastic Four were at it again.

This run was a blast. You get colored powder packets at the beginning of the race and have a “color party” throwing them at each other before the race begins.

Then during the race at certain points you go through “color stations” and they throw even more powder on you.

The Color Vibe was a blast!

We had a blast together. I am so happy that I found a new “running group”.

Last weekend, another run came up. The Foam Fest 5K.

I did not participate in this run, but my sister took my place and I went along as the photographer.

It was a blast for me to watch them, laugh as they got shocked in the “electric mud crawl” and photograph them.

We always have a great time together. It is so much fun being with family and laughing. I am so glad that my hobby has become their hobby. Having other people to do it with is so much better than completing these by yourself. You don’t have anyone to laugh at you 😉

Now that my cousin Tara has gotten into running, the training for the 1/2 marathon is back on. She told me she had signed up for the Disney Princess back in November and I got so excited I signed up that day!

Now for the past 2 1/2 months I have been training regularly for the big day.

February 24th

I am excited, scared, and nervous all at the same time.

I have had some interruptions with my training due to some severe knee pain the past month. But since I have taken it down a notch in my running mileage the knee pain has cleared and I am back at running again.

Yay!

I can’t wait to cross that finish line and cross “Finish a 1/2 marathon” off of my bucket list!

2 more weeks to go!

  
 
 
 

Hello 2013!

Hello blog-world!

It seems as though the last of 2012 and the beginning of 2013 has gotten away from me. (As always)

I have been busier than ever, especially the holiday season, and I am sad I didn’t document all of the wonderful times we had over Christmas and New Years. But I enjoyed them in real life and am happy that they are in my memories. Times enjoyed with family and good friends and of course my first and only holiday season having a fiance! It was pretty spectacular!

We had a good time on Christmas, that is for sure!

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Speaking of getting married 😉

 Wedding planning has been, well, stressful. I am not the planning of an event type. Especially when I have to make all of the decisions. I have not been enjoying it to the extent that I should, sadly. But thankfully things are starting to come together and I have a maid of honor who is more than outstanding at helping out.

My sister, Jeanna. Love her!

When venue after venue wasn’t working out for our wedding site she stepped in researching, calling, e-mailing and helping to a greater extent than I ever expected. She landed us a venue that I could not be more happy with. Thank you, Jeanna, you are amazing! I told her she could take over the entire thing, just asking me opinions here and there and I would be happy. She didn’t go for it.

July 6, 2013 is our date.

It is now less that 5 months away and I am so extremely excited! Life moves so quickly. I can’t even imagine how quickly that day will come upon us. But I don’t care. I don’t care if the details of the ceremony don’t come together, if the flowers aren’t the kind that I like, if it’s the smallest wedding attendance ever. All that matters is I get to have this man as my husband at the end of the day.

In preparation for our wedding my mom has been a great help as well. She is having a lot of fun with the wedding planning and the thought of me getting married so she suggested we go to a bridal show in town. A couple of weeks ago we ventured down to a hotel on the beach where a million other brides it seemed walked around getting ideas and trying to win things for their wedding.

I am so thankful, after that experience, that I am not having a ridiculously huge wedding, that I am not bridezilla (although some woman tried getting me to audition for a role on the show Bridezilla’s), and that my wedding will be out of the state.

Goodness gracious, wedding’s are CRAZY!

My mother, grandmother, and my mother’s best friend (my second mom) accompanied me to the bridal show.

We had a good time tasting more than enough sweets, taking fun pictures, and getting free stuff. Always a good time!

Wedding invitations are now ordered, venues booked, and now we take it a step at a time. So thankful for an awesome, loving support team, and an incredibly helpful fiance who loves me beyond anything  I could hope for.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Today, is a sick day for me. (hence me actually having time to update this blog of mine). Monday night I started feeling not-so-great after a long day of work and watching Rob play basketball that night. Tuesday I woke up stuffy and achy and was pretty sure I had a fever all day at work. Each day it has been getting a bit worse until yesterday when I chose to call out sick and the sub system would work. I took it as a sign to go to work, since it was only a half day, and prepared my room for a sub today. It was quite glorious sleeping in and getting over 11 hours of the good stuff last night. And today, I am relaxing, re-cooperating, and finally starting to feel better.

The life of a teacher.

The Second Half

Phew! I am back! Let’s see if I can get right down to business and finish up this engagement trip of ours. . .

November?!

Wow, here we are in  NOVEMBER.

Can you believe it? I surely cannot. . .

I don’t feel like we are actually into the holiday season.

I don’t feel like it’s fall, being in South Florida we don’t get much of it.

I don’t feel like  the last time I posted was all about Labor day!

Where did October go?

Behind the times once again it seems. . .

Welp, since all of those things are true and time passes by all too quickly

here is a little recap of my past two months. . .

Rob and I celebrated 7 years together in September.

Crazy right?! Where does the time go?

Time flies when you are having fun!

During our second year together. We were so little! 🙂

We wined and dined at Seasons 52 to celebrate the occasion. I

f you haven’t ever been before, I highly recommend it.

It was delicious and so unique!

We have a tradition, every year I give him a picture frame with a picture of us from that year in it.

This year I wanted to do something different so I turned to Pinterest, naturally.

Alas, I found a tutorial for a DIY canvas print.

I was pretty excited with the way that it turned out. It really isn’t too hard at all!

I was even more excited when Rob was ecstatic about it and showed it off to everyone around. Success!

In October, I was able to celebrate a couple of occasions for friends of mine.

First on the list was my friend Jen. We met in high school at youth group and ended up going to the same college and became closer over the years we were there. Lucky enough we are now back in the same area and are able to have dinner dates once a week. I love it, and her.

I was invited to celebrate her soon-to-be bundle of joy, Lucas who will be arriving in January. It’s so exciting!

I love him already!

Such a cute preggo lady!

I started to get crafty around this time and found a tutorial for pacifier clips so I dug out my sewing machine and went to town.

They turned out quite spectacularly so I made a few more for all of the other pregger friends I have in my life!

Cute and Easy!

At the end of October I was able to be a part of  a very special day for a special “brother” of mine.

We grew up together with our mom’s being best friends and having it set in their minds that we would be married one day. Well that never happened being as how we thought of each other as siblings. Still to this day our mothers talk about how we ruined their plan to be sisters. I might have started dating Rob first, but Phil ruined the plan altogether with getting married. We’ll just blame him 😉

Despite the fact that we found each other gross and annoying as kids, we grew up in high school developing a great friendship.

I was honored to stand beside my “big brother” on his special day as his “Grooms-maid”.

This was was my favorite of the day!

My Sis and I

The women of the family

The “Three Amigos” all officially hitched!

It was a gorgeous and fun wedding. Full of friends, family, yummy food, and lots of dancing! I am so happy that I was able to be a part of their day that was so special! Love you, Big-Bro!

Well that has been my life in a nutshell. That only touches the surface of what has been going on, but it’s all that I captured in pictures it seems. Life has been different, an adjustment living back on the east coast where I grew up. But it sure has been fantastic getting to see Rob all of the time and being with family and friends again.

Today my county closed schools for Election Day. It is a wonderfully amazing blessing to have a Tuesday off. I am relaxing, cleaning, and enjoying my day with no kids. Rob and I are going away this weekend for a 3-day adventure (Thank you Veterans Day!). So I gotta get crackin’ on this to-do list of mine.

Remember to Go Vote ! We are blessed and privileged to be able to have that right and to choose our leaders.

My students held an election yesterday and Obama won by a landslide.

Until next time, Happy Tuesday!

NC Road Trippin’

Two days in a row!? What is this about? Tropical Storm Isaac has helped a bunch with getting things back in order and keeping myself busy with things to do around the house. Although, I must say being cooped up in here is getting to me.

I told you all that we had some more adventures after CR this summer. So I decided I should reminisce a bit and share them.

When we arrived home from Costa Rica in July, Rob and I got the traveling bug again and decided that we needed to take a trip up to the NC mountains to visit friends and family. Before he sold his life over to medical school and wouldn’t have the opportunity again.

 

 

Rob is from NC and I grew up vacationing there so we both love going back and seeing the beautiful mountains. Since we still have loved ones there, it makes it even more fun to go back.

The first stop on our wonderful road trip of ours was to one of my very best friend’s houses, Bethany.

 

 

Bethany and I have been friends since the 5th grade. We met because we were both homeschoolers and our mom’s did the homeschool newsletter together. Her family then joined our church and we became fast friends. She moved away to NC when we were in 7th grade and we have stayed great friends over the years. I was privileged to be a part of her beautiful wedding a year and a half ago when she married her husband, Drew. Now times are changing once again and they are expecting their very first little one just before the end of the year. I am so very excited to meet their sweet little girl on our next trip up. But I hadn’t seen her since her wedding over a year ago that I knew seeing her on this trip was not an option.

We stayed with Bethany and Drew for a couple of days in Marion, NC just outside of Asheville. Since I had never seen Asheville before, we drove the short distance for a day trip around the city. We were able to see some pretty sights around town.

 

 

Our first stop was The Grove Park Inn. What a gorgeous hotel! It was huge, I couldn’t believe the grounds. We spent a good couple of hours there touring the sights.

 

 

Even the stairwells are huge. They have sitting areas.

 

 

 

 

 

We visited the Antique Car Museum outside of the hotel. It was really neat to see how old some of those cars were.

 

 

 

The sights from the back of the hotel were breathtaking!

 

 

 

 

 

We then drove to downtown Asheville. Drew and Bethany lived there for a short while when they were first married so she walked us around the quaint downtown and even showed us this double-decker bus converted into a coffee shop.

 

What a neat idea!

 

We got our coffee fix at The Green Sage right down the street.

 

Asheville was gorgeous. I’m glad I finally was able to see some of it. Although next time I will definitely make a stop at the Biltmore House. It’s just so darn expensive, I couldn’t bring myself to pay for the tour.

Our second day there was leisurely spent around the house. Drew made us a campfire complete with S’mores one night and the next was full of board game action and corn hole. We had a blast together!

 

We had such a wonderful time seeing their brand-new home and spending time together.

 

I am so glad we were able to see on another and have some time together.

 

The guys got jealous and needed their own picture together.

 

We left their house and had more stop on our agenda. On our way across the state to Raleigh, we stopped in on Rob’s grandmother in his home town. We were able to have a short visit with her and drive past Rob’s old house. He has always talked about it, but I was never able to see it until this trip.

 

 

Then we drove on down the road to Caroline and Jeremy’s house, Rob’s sister and brother-in-law. We always have a great time with them no matter what we do. This trip was no exception.

 

Jeremy and their Great Dane, Fritz, dancing.

 

We ate a delicious breakfast one morning at the farmers market and walked around the market a bit afterwards.

 

Rob in Jeremy’s shades. Jeremy quote “I don’t look that ridiculous in them, do I?” haha

Then one afternoon after all of our outdoor plans were canceled due to rain, we decided a trip to the new science museum down the street would be fun. It was gigantic, and we sure did have a great time!

 

 

 

 

Rob, the giant mosquito.

As soon as we walked inside of the butterfly garden, this little guy became my friend.

 

 

 

 

We were also able to spend some time with Jeremy’s parents at their home. One evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner there and some leisure time outside.

 

Caroline and Rob

 

Thanks, Jer.

 

 

 

Oh, the love.

 

Some amazing people that we get to call family.

 

It was a fantastic trip with some great people. We had so much fun with everyone and loved being up in the mountains. Oh how I hope one day to be out of Florida and enjoying that beautiful state.

 

 

On our way home we stopped by Biscuitville, Rob’s favorite breakfast place. Those biscuits are truly amazing. McDonald’s has nothing on them. Too bad they don’t open outside of NC.

 

Before we drove all the way down to South Florida, we decided to stop in on Rob’s old stomping grounds in Orlando. His cousin Kent and his wife still live there and hadn’t seen them since their wedding a year ago. We thought it was high time we caught up and stayed over night for some good time fun. They are always good company and make us feel at home. I have known Kent since I was in middle school, before Rob ever existed in my world. Kent introduced us. Although Rob does not remember that day, I know it happened. It was love at first sight. Ok, maybe just a major crush on my part. . .

All in all it was a great trip. I am so happy that I got my mind off of the job search for that week and enjoyed my summer break with traveling. I love traveling. Why does work always have to get in the way?

Life As I Know It

Wow. . . It’s been a long while since I have been on here.

Life has gotten away from me. Well, the last of my summer sure did. I have been so busy I haven’t had time to reminisce on  here of all the fun times we have had since we returned from Costa Rica.

Here is just a few of my Instagram pictures I have taken over the past couple of months.

We traveled to the NC mountains to visit some family and friends.

 

Grove Park Inn, Antique car museum

The Grove Park Inn

Raleigh Times with Rob’s sister and brother-in-law

 

Their gigantic dog, Fritz

 

North Carolina Museum of Science

 

It is now August once again. School has started up. Life is back to the same routine of work everyday. . .

But this year it’s a bit different.

You see, God has been blessing us, Rob and I, tremendously over the past few months.

Starting with Rob getting into medical school.

Then we were able to go on our AMAZING Costa Rican adventure this summer.

Once we returned home, I started looking for a job like a crazy person. Since Rob was moving down to Miami to start medical school, I figured it was about high time to be close to him. Out of our six years together we have lived near each other for a total of one. So I kicked my butt in gear and applied EVERYWHERE on the east coast of Florida. I handed in my applications to every school that had a position available for me and God intervened in his amazing way that he does and landed me a position.

It is for a school that I didn’t know existed. It was on my list to go to one day but as I sat in traffic wasting my gas thinking I was wasting my time I was planning on skipping it and going to other schools instead. But as it came down to be next on my list I had a strange feeling that I needed to go to it. Something inside me said not to bypass it but go and hand in my resume. When I walked in the front office, there stood the principle manning the front desk. I handed my resume straight to him and chatted with him about my resume and where I was coming from. It just so happened he used to be a principle in that same county and knew exactly where I had been teaching. We chatted for a few minutes and he told me that they would be in touch. I received a phone call that day to schedule an interview. When I walked into the interview a few days later I wasn’t nervous. It was for a third grade position, a grade that I really didn’t want to teach so I didn’t mind if I received the position or not. But as I was on the interview with the asst. principle she told me that the principle loved me and the position was mine as long as I wanted it. I walked out of that interview in awe of God. It was mine? But, I had never taught 3rd grade. I was the only person they interviewed for the job? Why would they want me? If I hadn’t walked into that office  a few days earlier when handing out my resumes I wouldn’t have had this position. I would have been another resume on the stack of 1,000 that she had on her desk in front of me. I received a phone call later that day officially offering me the position. I screamed and shouted, cried and hugged all of Rob’s family around me. I couldn’t believe it and knew that this was exactly where I was supposed to be and the move back home to my family was supposed to happen. I was amazed. In awe. And so very thankful for all of the blessings that were coming my way.

It’s been a rollercoaster ride ever since my hire. I went back to my old school, resigned, and gathered up all of my classroom belongings. I even got switched to first grade, my favorite grade, at my new school while I was deciding what to take with me and what to leave behind. Needless to say, the phone call of the switch was perfect timing and I was able to take all of my belongings with me. I cried as I left my old school saying goodbye to friends I had gained over the past 3 years there. I knew that God had wanted me there for that season, but had no doubts that he wanted me elsewhere in the next.

 

I think my car was a little full, eh? Sad truth, this was only the first load. . . .

 

As school has started up, I have been working my little tushie off. I have adjusted to new routines, new students, new rules and procedures, and new co-workers. It’s such a weird experience. But I am thankful that after 6 years of living away from my loved ones and going home to an empty house each night after work, I get to go home to family and see Rob at the end of a long day. It’s such a blessing and I am so very happy that this is where I am.

I even had my little sister in with me to help in my classroom. Something I was immensely thankful for. She helped a ton and put together my outside bulletin board to go along with my classroom theme of Dr. Seuss. . .

 

“Dr. Seuss is on the loose in first grade!”

 

During all of the hustle and bustle of work happenings. Rob has started medical school. He is loving it, but is as busy as ever trying to get all of thousands of pages of information into his memory. The analogy they use was the amount of information they are required to know over the next four years will be like trying to drink from a fire hose. Fun right?

One of the most amazing days of both of our lives came and went after his first week of orientation.

 

 

 

Rob’s White Coat Ceremony took place on Friday August 10th. It was an amazingly wonderful day. Reality sunk in on that day. He received his first white coat welcoming him into medical school as well as his first stethoscope. He’s officially a doctor in training. I am so very proud of this man. I am so thankful that I get to be a part of this journey. Although it’s going to be one wild ride!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a great day, indeed!

 

After one week of my school year under my belt, we have a hurricane day. Tropical storm Isaac is mowing it’s way over south Florida so we are held up inside here for the next couple of days. I am getting work done for my classroom and catching up on my leisure activities that I haven’t had time for. While Rob has been sitting in this position for the past two days, and will be in the same for two more. . .

 

 

Ah…this is my life. . . and I love every minute of it!

The Last of It

I know it’s been forever since I have last posted. We have been home for two weeks now and I still haven’t updated to recap our final days in Costa Rica. But I’m back, and let’s get down to business. . . .

 

We spent our last day here with our families. I had breakfast, cleaned the house and talked a bunch with my family. Then they left for town to head to the market, and Roberto and I went to play in the river for a bit near my house. It was a much needed clear your head kind of time for me. After, we wandered over to his house to play a bunch with the kids. . .

 

 

My families dog, Willie, is my constant companion. Following me everywhere!

 

Greatest picture!

 

Justin breakdancing

 

We went into Turrialba with them this afternoon to meet with Hugo and get some shopping done around town. We wanted to buy gifts for our families and finally nailed it down to the perfect gifts.

When we were finished with our errands we returned to Hugo’s shop to see the family and spend some more time with them. When we arrived, they had Costa Rica t-shirts waiting for us from our “Tito & Tita Gamboa”. As well as the framed picture that Roberto bought from Margarita. . . .

 

 

This pictures was hand painted/sewn by Margarita herself. It took her 4 months to complete and many days of sore fingers from stitching through the canvas. It is amazing to me how talented this women is. Her entire house is decorated with things she has painted, sewn, or crafted together. Roberto had this hanging in his room his entire stay here. When he asked if he could buy one of the other pictures from her, she stated no that it was a gift. So he asked to buy this one as well. They had a frame specially made for it this week and I couldn’t believe how gorgeous it was when it came back. I absolutely love it. I love it even more because it was hand made by someone so near and dear to my heart.

 

 

I had to head back into Tuis while Roberto stayed with his family as they played futbol. I needed to get back to my family’s restaurant for they wanted to make me a lovely goodbye meal since I was leaving in the morning. I hopped on the 6:00 bus and prayed the entire time for God to keep me safe. It’s not the greatest thing in the world to be a gringa walking around by yourself at night, but I had to do what I had to do. A nice gentleman spoke with me in Spanish the entire bus ride (almost an hour) to my town. He made me feel a little more at ease. When we stopped in Tuis it was pouring, I mean cats and dogs, so I opened my little umbrella and forged ahead on my 20 minute walk up the steep muddy mountain. It was dark where I was walking, so I had my flashlight out for some light. Then I noticed this one man walking behind me the entire way. Not the most comfortable feeling, let me tell you. He walked behind me the entire way but stayed a good distance behind to not be right on my butt. It was strange, but I believe he was there protecting me in some way. With how hard I had prayed to be safe, who knows?

When I arrived at the restaurant I was soaked through and through (in my white t-shirt, no less). My family told me to have a seat and they would serve me so I found a fellow classmate, Jamie, and his family eating dinner so I decided to join them.

 

Another terrific family. I enjoyed my meal immensely and the laughs we had together. I was so thankful that I was able to get to know them as well.

Once Roberto returned home from town, he ran up to the restaurant to pick me up. His family decided to have a pizza party for us that night and the ENTIRE family was coming over his house. It wasn’t raining by this point, so we had a nice and dry walk down the hill. Thankfully, his papa Hugo came to pick us up not too far into our trek. What a sweetie. . . .

Once we arrived at the house, they informed us that we needed to put on our Costa Rica shirts to see if they fit and they all commented on how great and perfect they were. Rob adores his.

 

Hugo trying to be tall enough

 

 

Then we all gathered around, eating pizza, laughing, joking and tearing about us leaving. We all mushed in around the table for a Gamboa Family Picture!

 

 

I had an amazing time getting to know this family. We would laugh, joke, and love on each other like they were my own. We couldn’t have asked for a better experience, I am sure. God truly blessed us with who we were placed with and the people in our paths. I only wish we lived right down the street from them.

 

 

Justin and I had a silly face contest. Can you guess who won?

 

 

 

At the end of the night, we said our goodbye’s with lots and lots of tears. The older sons, didn’t want to leave at all. They had become really attached to Rob and got all of our phone numbers and face book names to keep in contact with us.

When it was time for me to go back home, it surely was not very pretty. I started saying goodbye to Margarita and couldn’t stop crying. She went on and one telling me that I would always be in her heart, and would be missed greatly. She made me promise to return and hugged me tight as we stood saying our goodbye’s. Hugo wouldn’t say goodbye to me. He wanted us to stop by his work the next morning on our way out of town and he would say goodbye there.

Roberto and I finally left the house, despite every reservation I had. I cried walking down the hill and asked how in the world I could cry that much over people I had just met three weeks prior. It was like I was leaving my family.

The next morning we were up early to pack up the last of our things and spend some last minute time with our families. MY family made me a deliciously wonderful last meal for breakfast. It was full of all of my favorite foods that I had grown to love here. Fruit, fruit and more fruit was first on the menu. My family did not eat a lot of fruit. But she knew that I did so she would make me a ginormous platter full of chopped fruit every morning. Even at family meals, I would be required to eat 3/4 of it. It was amazing!

I gave my family the gifts that I had bought them as a thank you. They loved them and gushed over them which made me feel so good. It’s weird how you can get to know people so quickly.

 

Mi y Mi Hermanos

 

Mi Madre, Samia

 

Mi Familia

 

Then it was finally time to depart. Roberto came with out ride to the airport around 9:30 and we headed out to San Jose airport to catch our flight. We did stop to see his papa, Hugo, on our way though. We all balled once again as we hugged, kissed, and made promises to return once again.

It was a 3 hour drive to the airport and then tons of standing in lines once we got there. They have an “exit fee” of $30.00 that you must pay to leave the country. Pretty crazy, huh? We laughed when we saw it.

We were starving when we landed around 7:30 pm Florida time. It was a very long, and draining day. But we made it safe and sound with all of our bags in tow just as my mother arrived at the airport.

---

It’s just amazing to me still that we had that trip. IT was such a whirlwind experience and so blessed. Everything we did, even venturing around the country, went off without a hitch. We were able to get to know wonderful people, see a beautiful country, do all types of amazing adventurous things, and learn a lovely language in the process. I won’t ever forget this experience. I am amazed that I was adventurous/brave enough to actually go and do it. It had been a dream of mine for a long time and it finally came true.

Thank God for his blessings and his protection over us. I miss it tremendously. . . .

Pura Vida!

Dia de Independencia

Feliz Cuatro de Julio!

Today we were able to celebrate in normal fashion for our country’s independence. The school put on a big backyard barbecue for the students, teachers, and families that house the students.

We were able to sleep in a bit due to classes being cancelled and the barbecue not starting until 11:00. I slept in and ate breakfast with mi madre y hermana nice and late and talked up a storm with them both.

It was fun to be able to sit and talk with mi madre and actually converse. Now, this week, it it possible to carry on a conversation and understand what we are actually talking about. She told me that she was only 15 when she and Freddy, her husband, got married. Crazy right?!? I couldn’t even imagine!

Everyone thinks it’s absurdly crazy, and I do mean everyone that finds out, that Roberto and I have been dating for 7 years. Mi madre asked this morning and her eyes about popped out of her head. Then tonight while walking home with mi hermano he asked us as well and he said “WOW! Muy bien!”. It’s pretty funny to see their responses. When our teacher as well as Roberto’s family found out the kept saying we needed to get married while we were here. Our teacher planned the whole thing out and jokingly tried to convince Roberto to comply. It has definitely been funny!

After breakfast, Roberto came over and I got my daily dose of this little girl. . .

 

I am now “Tia Julia”

 

We then headed out to our barbecue to finish off the quequitos we made yesterday. We topped them with frosting and sprinkles, and finished with an American flag toothpick. They came out quite tasty if I do say so myself.

 

Francine, me, Kelsey, Ana

 

 

 

While we iced the cupcakes and chatted it up, Roberto found his comfy spot down a ways by the river

 

 

The rest of the barbecue consisted of tons of food, typical American style, lots of talking, and a great time had by all. The only thing missing was fireworks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then had to round out the day with our presentations on the fourth of July. The first student, Jamie, went and spoke about patriotic music and why it is symbolic. He translated America the Beautiful into Spanish and spoke the words to everyone. Then we, the Americans, sang the song in English for them. It was pretty neat. As Roberto said “I think this the most patriotic I have ever been on this day” haha!

 

 

Next went a couple of other students. Talking of the food and what we eat on 4th of July, the symbolism of the American Flag, then it was our turn. . . .

 

 

Francine and I did a great job of holding the cupcakes, while Roberto stole the show with why we celebrate on July 4th and why we made cupcakes. I’m sure everyone was so impressed with our presentation. . . haha

 

 

It was a fun picnic. I definitely felt like I was back home in the states!

After our fiesta, a few of the teachers/women from the school decided they were going shopping in Turrialba for the day at Ropa de Americana stores. American clothing stores right? Something like that, they are actually second hand stores here in Costa Rica. I thought it was quite interesting that it is solely clothing from American that fills their thrift stores. Who knew?

Roberto and I decided to join since we wanted to run some errands in town. It was a busy afternoon going here, there, and everywhere around that tiny city. One necessary stop however, was for café.

 

Complete deliciousness

One of the women that we were with told us we needed to go to a certain coffee shop for our afternoon stop. We all wanted something cold and when we opened the menu, all of the cold coffees included some type of liquor in them. I am pretty sure none of the women we were with minded and as I read over the menu, Roberto immediately read about the above pictured drink and decided that was the one we were getting. Once we ordered and received it, we fell in love. Wow! That coffee was SO GOOD!

 

 

We all tried and sipped on one another’s drinks and had a great time. Roberto, always the only male, loved getting to know every one better and they all most definitely love him as well.

 

Carla, Francine, Ana, Sadie, and I

One thing that we have figured out does not translate well into Spanish is our sarcasm. Roberto, Francine, and I are all sarcastic. We joke and laugh with one another but our Spanish friends do not always get it. Carla however, in the above picture,  is the most sarcastic person I have met here. She knows a lot more English than she will ever let on to us, but she most definitely gets our sarcasm and gives it back to us just the same. She is sweet, funny, and loves to have a good time joking with us back and forth.

While we were walking today through town I turned to Roberto and asked who Carla reminded him of. He responded with “Mrs. B”. Our very own Carla back home. He hit what I was thinking dead on!

As we were walking through town after our afternoon café, Sadie turned and pointed out to us that the volcano was smoking. The Irazu volcano, here in Turrialba, we haven’t been able to see since we have been here. In Tuis we can see it early in the morning from a far distance but it isn’t the best. Today however, it looked pretty cool nice and close.

 

We were glad that we finally were able to see it!

 

We high tailed it back to Tuis on the 6:00 bus and found my hermano, Pablo on their as well coming home from soccer training. He is a real cutie who loves to laugh. We talked with him on the way home, and went to the pulperia in town to get potato chips for dinner. While he was checking out he decided he needed candy to help his stomach feel better  and he bought us  the same candy to try. It was a flavored gel candy you squeezed into your mouth. Ew, nothing that I have eaten in a VERY long time! 

I think the best conversation that I heard today was one between Pablo and Roberto. As we walked back to the house tonight they started talking about Pokemon. Yes, Pokemon. Pablo loves it and Roberto used to, and secretly still does I’m sure. They went on and on and on about the different creatures names, ways to play the game, which ones were the best, and so on. As we walked up to the house Pablo says in Spanish “Wow, you know a lot about Pokemon!”. Oh yes, Rob still does! Too funny!

Tonight it has been pouring cats and does here. It was so loud in the house we were yelling over it at dinner to have a conversation. That was hours ago and it is still raining now just not as hard.

Samia, mi madre, pulled out her old pictures and photo albums after dinner to share with me tonight. It was so sweet seeing the whole family from years ago. Pictures of the parents dating, getting married, having the kids, and the kids growing up. As well as past students they have had in their home and telling me all about where they were from. It was a lot of fun, and she loved reminiscing. Pictures are just so much fun and tell so many stories!

Tomorrow is our last day of classes and our ‘graduation’. I know I am going to be crying like a baby saying goodbye to people and knowing it may be the last time I see them. Oh, I do not like it one little bit!

I hope that you all enjoyed your celebrations today!

Happy 4th of July!

Quequitos

Classes were back in session this morning, with only a half day of studying with our teacher. Have I told you how awesome she is lately? I mean really, she always brings us the best things and is completely nice beyond words. I love her!

This morning she brought us some yummy bread delicatessen filled with fig jam. It was ridiculously good, as always.

We discussed out 4th of July speech we had to present tomorrow and decided on what to talk about. It was deemed that 4th of July cupcakes were completely necessary for the occasion and would be perfect for us not having to talk a lot in our speech. Great idea, Ana!

Once we were finished with classes today Roberto y Francine (another student in our class) and I headed off to Turrialba to hit up the supermarcado and do our best to find Ana’s house. She offered to have us over for café and making the “quequitos” (cupcakes). Listening to and understanding directions in Spanish is not so easy. I knew it would be a miracle if we actually made it to her casa. After a few stops in some stores, asking the man at the super market where the cake mix was (Yes, I did this all by myself IN SPANISH!), and seeing Hugo at his shop, we jumped on a new bus and headed in the direction of our maestra’s casa. 

But first we did stop at the panderia for some delciousness. . .

 

Yum…it was filled with Dulce de Leche.

 

We made it to Ana’s house! Success! We were quite proud of ourselves. Ana was proud as well commenting on how well we understand Espanol. I guess we really have made some progress these last couple of weeks.

 

She had quite the spread waiting for us when we arrived. . .

 

 

Her goal while we have been here has been to have us try all types off “typical” Costa Rican food. The vegetales on the top, I can not ever remember their name for the life of me, taste like a potato/onion and are supposed to be muy rico with mayonesa on top. Not in my book. . . .I am not a fan. However, the other deliciousness on the bottom consisted of potatoes and queso in some of them, then queso, milk and cocoa and sugar in the other ones. Those were deemed delish. As was the loaf of sweet, cinnamon and cocoa bread on the right. Oh man, these Tico’s sure do it right!

After much talking and laughing, in Spanish of course, we got to work on our quequitos.

 

Francine on the left, Ana on the right

 

 

It didn’t take much time at all to make the cupcakes, I really love that they call them quequitos, and we talked up a storm. Ana has two children, both in high school, and Roberto was super impressed with how well her son spoke English. They hit it off right away and became best buds while the women in the house baked.

 

Francine, Yo, Jennifer (Ana’s daughter), Ana

 

Ok, he did help a little when I was struggling to not make a mess

 

Chocolate en mi camiseta

 

She got it out like a pro!

 

We had a lot of fun and felt right at home in Ana’s beautiful house. We stayed a good 2 hours making a mess and laughing together and I loved every minute of it. The people that we have met here have been so much fun and so welcoming. They treat you like family instantly and make you feel at home. I really could stay here for forever!

We hightailed back to Hugo’s shop and asked him for a ride home. He was so excited for it and got us home in no time at all. Nothing like the bus system, which takes 1 hour to go the same distance that takes 20 minutes in a car.

I was in a rush and worried about not making it home early enough. I told my parents that I would join them tonight in a Zumba type class in La Suisa, about a 10 minute drive from my house. I didn’t know what time the class started but knew I needed to be home by 6:30. Well that surely didn’t happen, but we made better time than taking the bus. After Hugo dropped me off, I literally ran the hill (not easy, mind you) up to mi casa to find my parents getting ready to walk out the door at 6:45. I apologized up and down for being late, changed my clothes, and jumped in the car to head off to ejercisio de baila.

The room was full of Tica’s of all ages. Freddy, mi padre, was one of two guys besides the teacher to be there. Freddy is a really good dancer. If you saw my post from the first weekend here, there is a video of him dancing with Samia, his wife. However, tonight he COULD NOT get the rhythm for anything and had me dying laughing with his footsteps. I loved every minute of that class. I shook it the best that I could and kept up with the teacher. I couldn’t believe an hour went past, I was having so much fun. It was definitely a work out in the process though. I am feeling it bad in my legs and know that I will be ridiculously sore in the morning.

The dancing was a mix of merengue, salsa, and samba. They told me I had good hips and were impressed with my dancing skills. My goal, of course. I guess I can be a Tica after all! They also told me I needed to take my skills back to Miami and teach mi amigas y familia how to dance now. I don’t know how that will go over. . . .

I am so very glad that I made it in time to join them tonight. Gracias a Dios! It was a great experience, one that I will definitely remember for forever!

And for all of you who have been asking for a picture of my family . . I treat you with this. . .

 

Samia, Yo, Freddy

 

A picture of the entire family will come at a later time. Tonight was a night of loving on my parents. They are so much fun and keep me laughing every day! I love them!

It was a terrific day indeed. So many things jam packed into it with many different people that have made an impression on my heart. I am so grateful for today and all of those people that have been placed into my life on this trip.

Until next time my friends.

Feliz Dia de Independencia en los Estados Unidos!

(Happy 4th of July in English )

 

And as always,

 

Pura Vida!

Our Last Week

It’s hard to think about the fact that we are leaving on Saturday.

Really, it puts me in a bad mood and makes me extremely sad. As much as I miss my family and friends back in los Estados Unidos, I feel like I live here now and can’t help but feel sad knowing I will miss this country as well.

We started off our last Sunday, yesterday, con iglesia en la manana. (with church in the morning). Since church was in the morning, my family was able to go and we all sat together throughout. It was fun feeling part of the family and getting greetings from EVERYONE during greeting time, including a kiss on the cheek. When you are here, you are a part of the community and everyone wants to know you. It’s really cool how welcoming they are to anyone.

It’s funny singing songs in Spanish and trying to decipher what exactly it is you are singing about. They are so passionate in their singing and praise, I absolutely love it. It’s so powerful and strong. Sitting among them I just listen and can feel their praises to God.

The message was about something or rather. I was asked today how much of the sermon I understood on a scale of 1-10 and I said a 3. Not very good in my book, but the pastor deemed it to be very good. They spoke on The Prodigals Son as well as Jacob y Esau but I don’t know exactly what about them. Oh well, the experience of being there was enough and I understood a lot more than I did the last time I sat through church here. Success!

The rest of the day was spent lazily around Roberto’s casa completing homework and learning as much as we could. We were supposed to go into town with Roberto’s family, but they left without us so we took it as time to study. We did SO MUCH work, it was really good for us. His family, when they returned, were stood in as our professor’s and helped us understand what exactly was right and wrong. It was pretty funny, but we all enjoyed it a ton. They loved the fact that they were able to help us and we loved just being with them all.

One of the questions we had to answer was “How many times a day do you brush your hair?” They told Roberto he should write twice a year. . . .haha  “How many times do you shave your face?” Never, for Roberto’s answer and every day for me.  Laughing in any language is so much fun!

 

Monday started off bright and early with school in our face once again. Public schools are all off on summer vacation this week so I was the only one up and at em’ this morning. We discovered that we don’t have any school this Wednesday in lieu of “Dia de Indepencia”. They celebrate it with all of the students, even though they aren’t all from the U.S, with a barbecue lunch and us talking about the holiday and our culture in Spanish. Woohoo. . . . . get excited!

Our teacher brought in a another new fruit for us to try:

 

 

The large one was another Manzana de Agua, while the little ones were called Cas. Let’s just say – NOT GOOD! They taste like a lemon and are ridiculously sour, even with the salt she told us to put on them. They are supposed to be good in making lemonade – go figure – but straight up, not so much. She kept commenting on how her kids love to bite into them and eat them with salt. Ugh, I couldn’t imagine eating a whole thing.

Roberto felt the same way. . .. it was impossible NOT to make this face.

 

 

We had afternoon classes as well today which consisted of all of the students playing games together. We played different vocabulario y pronunciacion juegos. It was a lot of fun, except for the fact of being on the spot trying to think of words that start with a certain letter. But we all had a good time laughing and helping one another. We made the teachers, who are studying English at night at the university, state things in English instead. It was funny to see us all in the same state with two different languages.

Roberto took some of the other students on the same hike that we went on last week after school. Those who couldn’t/didn’t go with us on Thursday really wanted to and so Roberto being the adventurous and generous person that he is jumped at the chance to go. I passed on the fact and went home to lay in bed instead. I thoroughly enjoyed having café with mi madre and getting some studying out of the way.

However, I did take advantage of the fact that they were going to Cosechas after and they picked me up on the way.

 

MMMMM. . . .Muy Rico!

No, Roberto did not get to milkshakes. . . .although, it is not extremely unlikely that he would. Cosechas has a very weird menu with some of their smoothies and we decided to purchase one of them to try. The green one that he has in his left hand consisted of celery, pineapple, parsley, ginger, and sweet chili. Great combination right?  It was NOT GOOD. We made a deal that we couldn’t make a face when drinking it until everyone had a sip. Once Rob took a sip I knew it was bad. He tried so hard not to show face but he is too easy of a read. When it was finally my turn everyone burst out laughing at how bad it actually tasted. We should have known since the guy at the counter laughed when we ordered it, and when he handed it to us. All that I could taste was parsley and celery, ugh! No Bueno!

These are the same friends that we went with to Cosechas last week, as well as went rafting and out to dinner with on Saturday. They only attended CISA for one week, and are leaving tomorrow to tour around the country for a few days. They won’t be returning back to Tuis until Saturday night, after we leave, so it was sad to say goodbye to them. We became fast friends and enjoyed spending time with them while here. Now we at least have more places to visit in the U.S!

I hope that you all are enjoying your week. Tune in next time, mi amigos!

Pura Vida!