Christmas break

People have been giving me a hard time about not blogging...so I thought I would send a quick shoutout. I didn't blog for so long because Kate and I moved to a new apartment. We were too cheap to buy internet for just 1 month and then have to pay while we were home on Christmas... so we didn't get it and we only used it sparingly at school. A lot of good things happened though. Our new apartment is great and we have loved living there so far. We are going to have to improve our eating habits and break down and spend the money we need on meat once in a while...although it is nice to pay only $5 for all the fruits and vegetables you need for the week. I also was able to return to New York for 4 days for one of my best friend's wedding. It was so incredibly fun. I loved being with Melissa and her family. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and I was even able to eat Thanksgiving there! It was wonderful...I mean except for the old turkey server man at the church dinner that called me big :). When I got back...it was pretty difficult but after two weeks of school and lots of Christmas parties, I was able to come home. It's freezing and there has been snow but I love it. It's been wonderful to see everyone and eat some great food. God has also been showing Himself in some wonderful ways. We've had a family living with us here. It's a long story...but their daughter fell really ill 2 months ago. They live near Dayton, but they were tranferred to a hospital here. Kiera is 22 and was first thought to have the flu...then the swine flu...then meningitis...the psychotic problems because her body started attacking itself. Anyway, they found out she had these awful and rare tumors on her ovaries that were making her lose her mind and kidneys shut down and all this other stuff. Well she had surgery today and she is doing well. They are hoping that taking the tumors out fixes everything. What was amazing was that Kiera was supposed to go to another hospital but her paperwork got screwed up and she was sent here...where a doctor was that is one of the only people that has ever diagnosed what Keira has and he did it almost immediately. Plus we have had the opportunity to share with Kiera's family about Christ and get to know them so well. On top of that...one night their transmission went out in their car and our friend Carl offered to put a new one for free labor...and our church came together and paid for the transmission. Just so many things have been wonderful and we're so thankful to see God's hand blessing this. Well more updates to come soon. Please pray for complete healing for Kiera. God bless and Merry Christmas!

Melissa's wedding

It's been FOREVER since I blogged last! Things have been pretty hectic around here as we finish up the semester. Over the last few weeks we have been finishing up basketball, moving into a new apartment, having crazy things go on at school, and I went to New York for the wedding of my friend Melissa, my roommate from college and one of my best friends. Basketball ended well. We had a tournament here. We took third place...not bad huh? I was going to neglect to mention that there were only three teams, but I felt a little dishonest :). But all that matters in that we had fun and we looked good doing it :) lol. School has been good, but we are in a major time of transition and testing. Please pray for Sojourn Academy and that God would help us to overcome obstacles and that we would not allow discouragment to get in. We also moved into a new apartment. It is so great and super cheap. Thankfully Kate and I are living together again, which is so great! We got a great deal for an awesome place, so God has definitely blessed us in that. Finally, I went to the U.S. this past weekend for four days for the wedding. It was absolutely awesome. God provided the money for me to go and it was great. It was absolutely freezing...but really good. I had so much fun with Melissa and her family. I was also able to see Kim (the one whole lived in CR with me last year) and we were able to catch up a lot as well...so it was just really great. I even was able to eat Thanksgiving there! Now I'm back in CR and trying to wrap up things before I got home in two weeks! Crazy...but really exciting! Please pray that we finish strong! Thanks!

New apartment!

We've moved to a new apartment! All went well! Pictures to come :) We don't have internet at the apartment yet, so no blogs yet. Just real quick I wanted to say something so that my grandma doesn't think I died! I'm going to the States this week for Melissa's wedding in NY, so there will be pics of that to come as well!

CR medical system

This is going to quite possibly be my best blog ever because it's probably one of my favorite stories ever. Beware: it may be graphic. So I've been sick for the last several days and today I deciced to go to the doctor. Now that I am on the Costa Rican social security system, I get to go for free...so I decided to brave the confusion. For some reason my costa rican mother couldn't go with me and everyone else was at school, so I sucked it up and did it myself. So you have to go early in the morning, before 7a.m. and wait in a line to get an appointment time. If you come later that 7, you have to just wait in line for hours until they can get you in. Anyway, Kate calls me at like quarter till 7 and tells me to get my butt down there. I threw on some clothes and walked down there. I got lost, but eventually arrived. After waiting in the wrong line and not doing the right thing, I finally got the guts to ask like 9 people what I needed to do. I'm not sure if it was the fever or if I was just nervous, but I was serioulsy sweating. I finally got attended to by a lady and she started a new a file and set me up with an appointment...which wasn't until 3:15...what??? So I went home and went to bed. At 3:15 I dragged my butt over there. I sat in the waiting room waiting for my name to get called and after about 10 minutes I asked someone if I needed to sign in...yes. Come on Tricia. Finally get called in and explain my symptoms. Everything is going well until she asks me THE question. Now... in Spanish: Papá=dad, papa=potato. The lady asks me if I want to do a routine papa....something. I didn't catch the last word, I had never heard it before. (the word was papanicolao). I told her my dad wasn't there. That didn't work. Then I asked, what about potatoes? lol that didn't work either. Then she starts in medical terms describing what this dad-thing or potato-thing was. I didn't catch any of it. I started freezing up in Spanish until I heard one key word (this is not for the faint in heart, sorry for any men reading this): the female reproductive organ word. WHAT??? Then it dawned on me. She wasn't asking about my dad or offering me potatoes...she wanted to give me a pap-smear. LOL what the heck. I went in for bronchitis...why would I want to do the most miserable thing in the world on top of being so sick? lol but thinking it was free and that I might as well kill two birds in one stone...I did it. lol as if the gyno isn't awkward enough in English...try having some Spanish dude giving you orders. It was absolutely humiliating. I finally got finished and tried to compose myself and then they sent me off to another room. I got lost. When I finally got there, they told me to drop my pants again. WHAT??? They were giving me an injection for the bronchitis in the butt. Seriously, Costa Ricans get injections for everything! Oh my goodness, I just lost it. Then the lady starts blabbing in Spanish and I heard her say, oh some of the liquid got out...you're going to have "some" pain. She should have substituted some pain with a serious butt spasm and inability to walk normal for an hour. It was unbelievable. Then they hooked me up with three perscriptions and orders to come back in 8 days for a full body checkup (well what the heck did they just do??). I'd say that was a pretty "full body" check up. I finally got out of there running. lol not running, more like sauntering because my left butt cheek was numb and because you never feel much like walking after the gyno. I laughed hysterically all the way home and of course had to stop to catch my breath because I can't breath with this dumb bronchitis. It was incredible. So in summary, today was productive: I learned how to handle the medical system here, I learned a new word, I got an injection, and I got a great story. Fue un exito! (It was a success)

I'm a liar...

Me and my coaching expertise :)

So....yo soy mentirosa (I'm a liar). The problem with me and speaking Spanish is that sometimes its so hard to actually get out what you're trying to say that I just have to bend the truth if you will. Now...I'm not saying that it's okay or anything, but I really only do it when the information needed isn't important. :) This past weekend when we were shopping for wedding dresses, I had to lie. Carolina was driving and I was calling places to make reservations. My name is impossible for latinos, so when the lady asked for my name I said Patricia, which is not my name. Then she asked for my last name...so I said Carolina's last name: Vargas. lol then she asked for my second last name (for they all have two last names here). That time I said that I didn't have one...because I was gringo. When we got there, Patricia Vargas was called and then I had to go up. The lady was like...we need a last name for you. I couldn't think of anything at the moment, so I said my actual last name bringing the final count to Patricia Vargas Wegman (which it took me 10 minutes to explain how to pronounce Wegman). Then the lady asked the questions I hoped she wouldn't ask: how I acquired that name....which is where the lie grew and grew. I then said I married Carolina's brother and that I moved to Costa Rica and that she was my sister-in-law and blah blah. The girls are just dying as I squirm. We finally get to the dressing room and another asks how we know each other. Finally Carolina takes one for the team and tells how we're all related and then looks at me in Spanish and in a sickenly sweet voice says, "mi cunadita." (which is sister in law). Of course we all just lost it. So there you have it. I'm a bilingual liar. Besides that...it's been a good week. We celebrated Drew's bday on Tuesday. My middle schooler's had a game on Thursday...only lost by 6!!! Clearly paying attention to the game :)Then on Friday we had a double header...except for the other coach forgot to bring his middle school team...lol. So we just played varsity. My guys played so good though and I even got the middle's in. We only lost by 6 and we were up for some of the game. It was so great :) Now we're house sitting for some missionaries here and just living the life: sleeping and eating. It's wonderful. :) God bless!

Boundaries

Boundaries is the theme word of the week because Kate has been preaching them at me all week. So basketball season is always really crazy...but among other things, life has just been nuts. I have been running everywhere (all good things), but not getting any sleep. And Kate just got taken out with Bronchitis, so I need to be careful. :) We were everywhere so I'm going to give you a brief summary with some good pictures. On Friday we had character day. I dressed up supposedly as Jasmine in Aladdin...but really it was just some Arabian princess. Yes, I did dye my hair darker for the outfit. Yes, its permanent. lol if you're going to dress up, you need to do it right. There were some funny ones though. Kate was Sherlock Holmes, Eden was a pirate, we had the Joker from Batman, Michael Jackson...it was great. After that we had our first middle school basketball game. We got destroyed, but it was still fun. One of my players scored the first basket...given, on the wrong basket, but who's counting? Then, one of the highlights of the week- we went to the movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" in Spanish. The reason it was a highlight was for one it was funny, and secondly, there were times that I didn't even realize it was in Spanish I was understanding everything so well. Amazing :) Thank you Jesus. On Saturday, Carolina, Kate, Peggy and I went shopping for a wedding dress for Peggy. It was so awesome. She was so excited. Finally, on Sunday, we went to see the Harlem Globetrotters play with my basketball team. It was a lot of fun and a good team bonding time :). So that's a little summary. Sorry it's been so long grandma :)

Golden birthday

This weekend was so great. I had so much fun. My friends and family seriously delivered :). I turned 24 on 24th of October...therefore it was my golden birthday. And of course when you live overseas you need to do birthdays big. On Friday, my friend Albin took me out to this place called the pasta house and to get ice cream. So good. We had a lot of fun. On Saturday I slept in and went for a run to make some stomach space for our celebration. All I knew is that I needed to go to Kate's at 4 and that she had my outfit. So I went there and she gave me a painting that she painted for me. Seriously awesome. Then she told me the party wasn't there and we went out. Eddie was there and gave me a gold gaudy necklace. We then walked past the Jones' house and they gave me more gold chains. Then we went to my director's house, but the party wasn't there either. They gave me huge gold hoop earrings. Then we went to peggy's, but the party wasn't there...just a tiara. at this point...people are just dying laughing as I walk down the street. lol we were even offered drugs...don't think about that one too hard. After Peggy's we went to Medrano's and he gave me a bracelet. Then we went to Sondra's, which was the makeover house. Kate gave me this small bag with my outfit. I was nervous because it was so small. She found this amazing gold dress at a thrift store and then brown gypsy pants on which she sewed gold sequins. Then Sondra did my gold makeup and I was set :). Albin came and picked us up and we met at Erin and Courtney's where everyone else was. There was confetti cake and icing (that mom sent). The house was all decorated and Eddie made tacos. The cook. I love taco night. I seriously have the best friends here. How awesome to have such cool people around even though you live so far away from everything that you know. We danced and sang and played games. It was so fun. Then today we went to church and my Tico family made a dinner for me and celebrated. It was just so great. I'm so thankful. Such a great birthday...thanks guys :)

Erin with the nose ring and Drew with gold plated teeth :)

More mistakes...

Since I know the main reason anyone even reads this blog is to hear about my mistakes in Spanish...I thought I would share another one. So I'm trying to set up our basketball schedule and making horribly awkward phone calls in Spanish. Here is a basic summary. I was so frustrated. Please note that everyone is in the office listening to me speak in Spanish.

Call 1: Couldn't hear anything because the rain was pouring on the room and this guy's gym class is screaming in the background. I'm screaming, he's screaming. Nothing accomplished.
Call 2: Same thing...this time a lady.
Call 3: No answer.
Call 4 (my favorite):
Man: How can I help you?
Me: Hi, I'm a basketball coach and I'm looking for teams to play....etc.
Man: Sorry this is a chicken store.
Me: (totally oblivious) oh that's fine, can I speak to the coach?
Man: Ma'am, we sell chickens here.
Me: What?
Man: Like, chickens you eat. They don't play basketball.
Me: I'm an idiot. Adios.
Everyone in the office: dying laughing.
Call 5: raining so hard I can't hear. I have to ask at least 7 times no exaggeration) to write down a correct email. Still don't have it right. Everyone now in office gathered around laughing.
Call 6: I ask to speak in English this time. Lady says yes. I talk for at least two minutes. Then she proceeds to forward me to someone who speaks English so I can do the whole thing again.
Call 7: Lady answers saying Good morning! Seeing as it's afternoon... I start laughing because thank God I'm not the only one who messes up phone calls. She doesn't think it's funny. I hang up.
Therefore, there is no basketball game this week. However, we might be able to get a good deal on a chicken dinner. Fail....

First Basketball game

Coming back from two weekends outside of San Jose has been exhausting. Life hasn't been all that peachy the last few weeks, but God is always faithful. He is once again reminding me that depending on Him is the only way. Prayers would be much appreciated :) Apart from that, here is a funny conversation for you about our most recent basketball game. We show up at this school that is virtually empty and that is also rumored to be the best around. I have to admit, some (very little) dramatization was added ;):

Me: Hi, we're here...is your team here?
Coach: Yes they're here...is this your team?
Me: Yes, where is the locker room?
Coach: All of them?
Me: Yes....
Coach: They're kind of small.
Me: I realize that. Where is the locker room again?
(interruption) Maug (my team member): Coach! They have a wood floor!
Me: I'm talking. Stop drooling on the floor, someone has to clean that up. Go to the locker room.
Maug: Where?
Me (to the coach): Where did you say that locker room was?
Coach: Over there...but I wish you would have told me your team was young.
Me: (to my players) boys! stop staring in wonder and go change. (to coach: I did tell you my team was young and small at least three times.
Coach: Oh well I just won't play my starters.
Me: Yah, I suggested that the first time we talked.
My team: Wow this gym is amazing! We're going to get killed!
Me: Shutup and go change.
Coach: But I didn't realize...
Me: Now you know.
Coach: Well I don't know if you know this but we have this tournament going on right now. We're hosting all the best teams from Central America.
Me: I think I might go find that locker room.

Yah...we lost. No need to report the score...but I was proud of those boys. They had fun and they had such a good attitude about it. It's not easy to play the best school your first game, but they were awesome about it. So, our epic season has started and we're doing the best we can. More to come after our next game :)

Nicaragua

We spent the past 5 days in Nicaragua and it was absolutely fabulous. We packed a lot in, but I learned so much. I love traveling to new places to see God's creativity both in people and in nature. It was so fun to see new cities, new beaches, new people and new food. I've definitely concluded that going to the beach is so good for your soul somewhere deep down. Kate and I went to Nicaragua with two missionary families for fairly cheap (prices are considerably lower than in CR)...plus since we were staying with a family, we rented houses for cheap. It was about an 8 hour bus trip, but wasn't bad except for passing the border. In Granada, we stayed in an absolutely beautiful house. Granada is an old European city, so the architecture and color are beautiful. There are many churches and the people are so friendly. I absolutely loved it. I could definitely see myself living there. We toured the city, visited some church plants, met some great people and ate the best calzone ever.

Kids from the church plant

We were able to drive and see the biggest lake in Central America and look at a local volcano.

Kate, Ellie, Karis and I at Lake Nicaragua

We also went to a town called Masaya, a town considerably poorer, but full of passionate Christians. We went to the market and visited a church there. Kate and I went into this service and absolutely everyone was singing at the top of their lungs. It was so bad! lol I'm not a good singer, so I can say that, but I mean tone deaf. I loved it. I belted it out. Anyway, they start talking about us in there. They said in Spanish that they were thankful for the poor gringos that came even though we didn't understand anything they were saying. lol I raised my hand and let her know, that we actually did understand. slightly embarassing. They apologized. Then they asked for everyone take out their Bibles (which of course we didn't have with us at the moment). EVERY single person turned around to look at us and see if we had brought ours. Now it was my turn to apologize. ugh. Really funny though. On Sunday morning we went to a baptism in Lake Nicaragua. Everyone got in with their clothes on. I really wanted to...but I unknowingly wore a white skirt and thought that would be a bad idea...bummer! We then walked around Granada and took pictures. There are a bunch of churches there, so we took lots of pictures. After that we visited a mission home for girls rescued from sex trafficking. It was awesome. It gave me some great ideas and freshly renewed my desire for working with sexually abused girls.

One of the children in the home :)

I'm really excited about that. On Monday we drove to the beach and had a lot of fun there. There was like no one there and we stayed in a cheap but really nice home. I loved it. Overall, I really just had a blast. There are more pics on facebook, but I put some of my favorites up on here. Well...I need to go to bed, thanks for reading!

Puerto Viejo...otra vez!

Greg begged me to take this picture with sand all over us :)

Our group minus Drew (who we couldn't get out of the hammock)

This past weekend we went to Puerto Viejo on the Carribbean for a couple of days. There were 9 of us and we rented a house there for super cheap. It was a little ghetto, but we love that aspect of life :). The weather was great and the waves were pretty good. It was so awesome to have guys with us on this trip for so many reasons. 1. Eddie can cook (therefore, we ate well) 2. Drew was a bouncer (therefore no drug offers or getting hit on too much) 3. Greg has about equal energy as me (therefore I was entertained the whole time without bothering Kate). lol so it was really good. We must have played football in the waves for hours. On Monday morning I didn't hear my alarm clock for the first 30 minutes that it went off and when I finally tried to get up I felt like I was hit by a bus. So great :) This week is going well...super-busy but good. We're leaving for Nicaragua this Friday, so please be praying for our safety. There is a lot on my heart and mind this well this week, so prayers would be much appreciated this week. I can't really go into specifics, but there are a wide variety of things and I would just love your uplifting. God knew exactly what I needed today though. I was working with one of my Autistic students today whom I just adore and he told me he loved me for the first time ever. I tell him all the time and he's never really responded...plus sometimes I can just be the crazy lady that makes him do his work all the time. :) He also cracked me up because yesterday he loved the lotion I had on. He kept sniffing my arm and telling me I smelled like cake. lol Sharon did give me this cake smelling stuff over the summer. Anyway, today when I came to school he kept smelling my arms at different parts of the day and finally just came out and disappointedly asked why I didn't smell good and cakey today ;) I love my job...

Me posing for Kate...awesome

Nerd Day

Student Council!

Andrew (my bball team captain) and I

Eden and I rocking the nerd look

Well this is going to be really short because I have a lot to do before tomorrow! I have to give a staff enrichment presentation on special ed for our inservice day and then right after we're going to the beach...so I need to plan and pack! I'm so excited! There are nine of us going and we're all staying in a house. Should be interesting. I'm hoping it's not super ghetto because I picked it :). This past week has been a good one. Sunday was great...Bengals won and we were able to watch the Colts win while eating chicken wings at the Mullinax's house. Amazing. Basketball is going well...I love my team and I feel like I have a way better idea of what I'm doing this year. I also got TWO packages in the mail this week and two letters! YES! I think it's because this is my golden birthday month... lol I'll be 24 on the 24th. We are planning a massive fiesta :). Anyway, the best part of this week was nerd day. I don't know if I mentioned it, but I am one of the student council teacher reps this year and we're trying to do it big this year. I've posted some pics for your enjoyment!

Some teaching staff :)

Volcan Irazu

The crater lake at the top of Irazu Volcano (they say the sulfur makes it that color)

Hola! I haven't blogged in a week and a half, so I'm coming with some fun stories and good pictures. Things have been good and busy. Since I blogged last there have definitely been some developments. Here is the basic rundown. I went to Volcan Irazu this past weekend. It was really neat. It's right outside San Jose and is active but rarely gets any action. Last time it "blew" ashes and things was when Kennedy was visiting in Costa Rica.

This is at the highest point at the volcano. It's a little hard to tell,

but we are looking down on the clouds.

Anyway, what else...My basketball team is looking good and I've been trying to work them a little harder than last year. Lol I love hearing a bunch of high school boys whine about defensive drills and how "hard" two practices a week are. Pathetic :). We had an outbreak of "piojos" (lice) this week at school. That was fun, especially since I was deamed as one of the "lice checkers" for the school. Que guacala (disgusting). I also loved waking up like 19 times last night after nightmares about having lice. ugh. Next, Kate and I bought tickets to go to Nicaragua with some missionaries here. We're going to tour around and also see a ministry that deals with sexually abused women. I'm so excited to see that...God continues to pursue my heart and remind me that someday I will be working with this. We were also able to meet our friend, Jared, that we met this summer this week. He is living and doing ministry on the beach and was telling us about how God has worked on his heart dealing with human trafficking. Can't wait to see how we can partner together in that someday! We also started our teacher Bible study this week. I'm excited to help lead and hopefully help our staff overcome cultural differences through studying the word. Please pray for me as I try to lead and teach in Spanish. Speaking of that, I do have a major praise. God allowed me to have the opportunity to translate from English to Spanish for an hour on Friday night. Not saying that to brag, but to let you know that God is answering prayers and blessing me with a desire of my heart, to speak Spanish. That being said, I'm continually humbled and reminded that I have a long way to go. For example, the other day I called my Tico uncle a chicken rather than a picky eater. Pollo=chicken, polo=picky...whatever. :) and...hmm. Oh one of my best friends had a baby in the U.S. I was sad that I can't meet her yet...but so happy for Britt and Sam. And there's the summary. I know it's really random and all over the place, but to avoid writing a book and to let you know what's going on, there it is. To end a random post, here is another random recent picture we took of a bug we found.

Saving changes to life

Kate, Andrew, and me on Costa Rican Independence Day. I made Skyline for us since Andrew is from Cincinnati too :).

My friend Greg and my Tica sister Maria Jose

Well school is well underway and things are going well. I love having a little bit more time on my hands doing just special education this year. I love working with a lot of different teachers and a lot of different grades. I feel like I am so much more confident and comfortable this year. I love it. It's been great getting to know other teachers better this year.

These are some of my friends at our coordinator dinner.

In fact, I feel like Kate and I have made so many more friends this year already. We've made some great gringo and tico friends. I love it because we've been going out a lot more already and we're not feeling so caged in or lonely. I'm really thankful for that answer to prayer. Tonight we went over to Courtney and Erin's and had a cookout for CR independence day. We ate cheeseburgers though (in honor of all the American holidays that we have missed recently). This blog isn't going to be long, but I am just writing to say thank you for your prayers. God has been blessing me a lot and I just can't even describe the peace that I have in my heart about how this is exactly where I am supposed to be right now.

Greg modeling the mullet wig...which of course somehow made it down to CR. :)

I'll leave you with a funny picture that seemed ironic to me. So I typed up this list of life goals and prayers and different things on a word document and titled it "life". When I finished, this little box popped up and it just struck me how funny it seemed. Yah there have been a lot of changes in my life... a lot of unexpected twists and turns...a lot of things I never would have planned. Yet, I wouldn't change them for the world. So in light of that and in light of all of I've learned...I clicked yes on that changes to life question. How could you say no to the best adventure ever with the love of your life who planned it out before time began???