8/25 – We collected 113,000 colones in all, which is over 230 dollars. I think we did pretty well. My group consisted of the 5th graders. There are only 2 of them. Brandon and Keidyn. We had a really good time. We ate lunch at Tere’s house. She’s a part time teacher at the school. She’s very sweet and brings us coffee when Yolanda is gone because Yolanda doesn’t allow coffee at school even though she drinks it. It’s kind of odd, but, oh well. I think I ate beef at her house or whatever hamburger meat is made of. I really know nothing about meat. It was in a tomato sauce that I ate with my rice. It tasted just like vegeburger, which means…I like it. Alright, go ahead. Gasp, freak out, whatever. I’m still not converted. It gave me a stomachache later. Haha. Being Thursday, we went to the reuñon de jovenes at Ivan and Mayi’s house. We may be starting a choir! As would be expected, it won’t be able to replace being in I Cantori, but you all know how much I love to sing, so I really hope it happens.
Monse (one of the first graders) came to the reuñon because her sister is part of the youth group. She wanted to sit on my lap on the ride up because I am her teacher and there wasn’t very much room in the bus. I tickled her and said, “Viene la araña. Te come, te come. Te comió, te comió, te comió!!!” It means, “Here comes the spider. It eats you, it eats you. It ate you, it ate you, it ate you!!!” It’s what my mommy and daddy used to do to me when I was little. She really enjoyed it. She hugged me and said, “Teacher, teacher, teacher.” I laughed and said, “Student, student, student.” It was a nice bonding moment. If my schedule stays the same, I teach almost all her classes so it’s good that we get along. She’s really great to have because she’s virtually fluent in English. She’s helpful too and translates for the other kids in her class when necessary.
8/26 – Yolanda gave us the day off to recuperate from the craziness of collecting money yesterday. It was nice because I was tiiiireed. We all agreed to meet at the school at 11am, but Calle had to help paint hotel rooms at her house and Daniel just didn’t show up, so Nate and I went to town and used internet. Yay!!! On the way back, I realized that I forgot to download Daniel’s lesson plans (I’m taking over a few of his classes) which I will need to on Sunday to get ready for next week. So we stopped at a little coffee/smoothie/wifi place. It started raining while we were there so we took shelter inside and took some more time to vegetate and watch videos and what-not. When we got back to school, Daniel was there practicing violin. He showed me the piano part so tomorrow at church, I’m accompanying him. I haven’t touched a piano (in this case, keyboard) in quite a long time. I’m just doing simple stuff, but at least I agreed to it. I almost didn’t. Now I get to have another full night of sleep. I’m happy. I’ve been tired. It’s just been tiring adjusting. This is good timing for having a long, restful weekend because on Monday, I begin teaching my own classes, rather than just assisting or subbing. A blessing straight from God. =]
8/27 – Playing for church went rather smoothly. It was nice and well received. Daniel did pretty well. Neither one of us have played for some years so considering that fact, we did a fine job. This Sabbath was communion. It was really nice. Melissa and I washed each other’s feet. In Spanish, communion is referred to as Santa Cena. After church we had Potluck!!! It was wonderful. I ate so much. Everything was vegetarian and there was even vegemeat and habanero sauce for my rice and beans. Nashka Paroza! After we ate we had choir practice. That was…interesting…The man leading out is not very musical. He has knowledge as far as technique goes, but his hearing and pitch is just a bit off…Since they found out I can play piano, I was in charge of playing the different parts. That’s a wonderful idea. The problem is, he was trying to do all the different parts at once. He also tried to make up harmony and didn’t believe me when I played the parts. It was a bit frustrating to say the least. In the end, we had the semblance of a choir, but it’s going to be quite rough starting out. In the evening, Daniel went up to Ivan and Mayi’s and the rest of us went to Calle’s for internet and Movie Night. On the way back to my house, there was the most amazing lightning storm. It was beauuuuuutiful!
So...If my sources are correct, this is my address:
Andrea Johnson
Centro Educativo Adventistade Monteverde
Monteverde 5655
Puntarenas, COSTA RICA
Send me things or letters! I'll write back, promise. If this changes, I shall inform you immediately. =]
