Hey! Well this won't be a long one because I'm super busy with getting ready to go home!!!! yay! So excited! I'm trying to get everything finished before I go home so I can just relax. I'm so thankful my parents found a cheap flight home for me...so I'll be home for a week! Hopefully I'll get to see many of you!

Semana Santa

This past week we were on break for Semana Santa (Holy week). It was great. Kim V., Kate, and I all went to Montezuma, a beach on the Nicoya Peninsula (Pacific Ocean). We had so much fun. We met a lot of crazy people, had a lot of new experiences, and had a good opportunity to relax. We left on Wednesday morning and took a 2 1/2 bus ride, an hour ferry, and another 2 hour bus ride. We finally made it to our hotel which was on the side of a mountain, in a rainforest, overlooking the beach...it truly can't get better than that...but it can, because we only payed $14 a night. As soon as we got there, we heard something outside of our window and we saw two white faced monkeys just hanging out and posing for the cameras. They were so cute. Of course we went straight to the beach and pretty much from there on out we went hiking, layed on the beach, or ate. Here are the pictures of the different beaches we went to:

We also hiked to a big waterfall. It was beautiful and we swam there, but we didn't jump off. There were some people that jumped from the very top and it was scary. Half a dozen people have died doing it there, so we opted for no jumping :)

We could hear gorillas and howler monkeys in the jungle and at one point, Kim successfully had a gorilla respond to her lame "mating call". lol I was doubled over laughing. We were totally kidding, but this roar came back from the jungle and I seriously almost peed my pants.

Finally, we were on our way back and we had to fight for seats on the bus. It was so bad in fact, that we ended up standing on the first bus. I was so carsick, it was all I could do to not throw up on the ridiculous amount of people stuffed on the bus. We then made it onto the ferry and sat for a little bit. We made some friends with some Germans and then got off and got onto the bus back to San Jose. Problem was that it was crazy packed too...so Kim, kate, and I, the Germans and a bunch of other people were stuck sitting in the aisle, which of course translated into laying on the floor of that dirty bus because the trip took about 4 hours due to traffic. The funny part comes in when I was back to back with this German guy. lol we are joking around how we can sleep like this, so he lays his head back on my shoulder...I proceed to do the same but I am laughing hysterically. For one, he is very attractive, and for two, I have never met him, so having him up in my face was so awkward. So we decide to turn around with our legs in the middle of us...which I'm sure you can imagine wasn't much better. At one point I woke up...I was laying on Kate's legs and this crazy German's legs are intertwined with mine and one of my feet is under his butt. lol I mean, he didn't seem at all to mind but I was just dying. Anyway, much more came to pass...but nothing that I can describe with words...only actions :) Overall, it was so funny....my behind has never been that numb in my life. We all came back...did Easter with our "family" of missionaries here and just sat and talked for hours. We're saying goodbye to our wonderful friends Steve and Diane Wilson who are going to Ecuador...so it is bittersweet, but I am so excited for them. And finally, I talked to my whole family on Skype with video and I cried. lol I got pretty emotional. But I'm coming home in two weeks for a short bit! Yay!

Fools :)

This week has been great...extremely busy with the play our school put on, "Fools." It's a really cute and funny play. The students did awesome. Everyone was really impressed. All week there were rehearsals and different things and then we did the play Friday and Saturday. Of course, I wasn't hugely responsible for much...so that was nice. I did the hair for the girls and helped with soundboard and whatever else needed to be done. Kim and Kate did great jobs with directing and set building. Overall, it was a success :). And that pretty much consumed my week. Today we went out to a really nice hotel for Peggy's actual 50th birthday (thanks to Kim's parents who came down). It was so nice...I felt like we weren't in San Jose anymore. We ate a lot of good food and really enjoy our time. And now, we are just preparing for Semana Santa. I'm really excited because we are going to the beach and I just love Easter :). I'm excited to see how it is done here. I'm definitely going to miss being with my family on Easter...but I'm thankful for new opportunities. I'm also so excited about going home in a couple of weeks :) I was reading the book "I'll love you forever" to my students the other day (really cute book...my mom used to read it to me) and I started tearing up and getting all emotional. You should have seen me trying to keep it together lol. Please continue praying for me, as different realities in life hit me and as I get used to real life here. I love my life here and I am so thankful to God for who He is and what He does...now I'm just learning (again) that Christ is sufficient for me. God bless you!