Culture shock :)

So, I am back from the U.S. It was a whirlwind of a weekend. I left very early on Thursday morning, but I was so excited, so it was okay. I got through customs and navigated through the airport, so that was good. I had a lot of interesting conversations with people and met a lot of random, but awesome people. God really hooked me up in that way. When I landed at my first stop in the U.S., I was a little emotional. I didn't realize how mentally stressed I was with constantly speaking Spanish and traveling on my own. It was so relieving to be back in a familiar place where I knew what people were saying all the time. It was weird because I had no idea how overwhelming it would be. The first U.S. person in customs said, "hello!" and I replied, "Buenas!" (the normal greeting here). :) oops. Then when I arrived at my final destination and I hugged my mom, I actually cried. It was so random. It was just such an overwhelming release, that I just started crying. Really weird for me. We had so much fun though. We talked long into the night. It was wonderful to walk on carpeted floors, throw my toilet paper in the toilet, and eat lots of wonderful things. For example, when I landed in America, I ordered a huge plate of cheese ziti (since we ration cheese so much here due to the price) and I bought a big bag of peanut m & m's. It was great. I probably looked like a pig just gulping it down, but it was great! On Friday and Saturday, we were in the Outer Banks for Britt's wedding. It was such a blast. We had so much fun dancing and hanging out. It was great to be able to stay in the same house as her before she got married. The wedding was beautiful...right on the sound...and so the water and the sunset were beautiful. It was awesome. Oh how I love that family. Plus, I was so encouraged by how much Britt and Sam love each other. It was just so neat to see my best friend from my childhood go from a crazy little girl to even crazier, but beautiful and wonderful married woman. So awesome. I loved it. AND, I caught the bouquet...which made it even better! With all the weddings I've been in and at this summer and with my height- can you believe I've never caught the bouquet? But I did and everyone kept saying, "your next!" lol yah right. I doubt it...but I mean God is in control. I don't even have time for a guy right now, but that is besides the point. Anyway, so then I came back home and I was really emotional again and feeling pretty sick . I think it was a combination of eating all the American foods and all the excitement and nerves going on. My body was just going crazy. But I made it back, after a pretty scary and traumatic experience with a random taxi driver late at night (thank you for your prayers of safe travels...I definitely felt them). And now I'm here...readjusting to Costa Rican life. It's tough to go back in forth, but it was fun. It made me think a lot about life. I keep thinking about the verse that Jesus talks about "leaving father and mother" for Him and reminding myself how this is what God is calling me to do now :/. So that's a basic summary. Thank you for your prayers. I also was welcomed back by having one of my student's families ask me over for dinner. We had wonderful food and ice cream and played hide and go seek :). It was so much fun. Between this weekend and today, I have so much to be thankful for. It's so encouraging to me to know that I have people that love me and want to care for me both at home in America...and at home here thousands of miles away in Costa Rica. Gracias a Jesus :)