Looking Back and Forever Changed

So it seems that the season of change is upon us once again and we are moving back to the States for good. I am typing this on the plane as we are flying back to our homeland. Our time in Costa Rica has been amazing and challenging for me all at the same time. I can't believe it's over. At one point, it felt like we would never get back, even though I knew we would.

When we got back to CR after the Holidays, the time we had in CR was immensely fulfilling and I knew my attitude changed and I began to embrace this opportunity that was handed to us. Let me start off from the beginning.

We moved here right around 9 months ago, the end of August of last year. Jonathan and I worked for an International School, so we could have the opportunity to learn Spanish. I worked at the school as a Preschool/Nursery teacher. I loved my class, but the school as I have mentioned in previous blog entries, was difficult to deal with. Plus, I went through a long season of emotional withdraws from leaving my family and my homeland, America. Secondly, I was vastly thrown into culture shock, and from August until we came back to Costa Rica in January, things started to change. My entire perspective changed and how I started to view our life as something different. More opportunities opened for new friendships, and I especially became close to a women who was also a teacher at the school. She and I in these last months, became inseparable. This friendship that developed has changed my life, and if the soul purpose of this trip was to meet this person, it would have been all worth it. Father was also doing other things in my soul by giving me a profound understanding of learning to live with much less and to rely on very little, which took a whole lot of trusting Him. I learned so much through this season of my life it has been incredible. Many things we lived without were a means of personal transportation. We relied on local transportation, cabs, and our feet to take up places. It was a cool experience learning how to ride like the Tico's did. After we got back to CR after the Holidays, this seemed to become second nature to us, but at times it was annoying and took extra planning whenever we went places. Being around the locals was awesome. The language barrier was hard at first and took time to adjust to it. Though as time went by, that also became somewhat normal. I am now to a point where I can follow a conversation in Spanish, (mostly) but yet I still have difficulty joining into conversations. I only can speak small and more than likely choppy sentences at a time. I've really been trying to speak more, as of late whenever we would go out to dinner or take a cab or whatever the opportunity I found, I would try to speak at least a couple of sentences. It's been somewhat of a goal of mine to at least try to speak, even if its without those conjugated verbs. I'll miss speaking, or should I say, given the opportunity to try and speak Spanish on a regular basis.

There were a few shaky times during the duration of our time there... We went through 2 earthquakes. One in January during a school day. I had the kid's inside the classroom and immediately felt the and saw the entire room move and I knew it was an earthquake, and rushed the kid's outside to the middle of the playground where there was open space. It not only freaked the kiddo's out, but I was somewhat in a daze and was very freaked out, that being my very first earthquake. The second one was just about two weeks ago. I was in my apartment, and was alone and a rush of movement happened and I ran outside as fast as I could. It was scary because I was by myself and Jonathan wasn't home. That one was a 6.2 magnitude. It was strange. That day, we also found out that we were going to come back early to the States due to Jonathan getting a job. It was crazy how everything happened all at once. I remember saying once the earthquake hit, 'get me the hell out of here'... Sure enough, I got outta there! :)

We have also gotten the chance to visit other countries in Central America. In November of last year, we visited Panama and stayed there about a week. It was a great trip, and that was the week I first met my good friend, Monica. In March, we went to Nicaragua for Spring Break with our friend Aaron who joined us. Those two experiences were invigorating and inspiring, and created this desire inside of me to want to go explore other countries and expand my mind even more and learn about different cultures.

Over all, this trip and time in Central America has been moving. Moving in the sense of how I think about the world, and visualize a different way of life. It moved me from the only way of thinking I knew in America, to outside the confines of the status quo and normalcy of what I have always known. I am honored and blessed to be married to a man who wants to discover the world around him and I am super privileged to be by his side during this great adventure that will live on for the rest of our lives. (Thank you babe, I am truly blessed) I never thought I would be the one to venture outside of what was always expected of me; Getting married and settling down right away. This trip has awakened a desire in me to live a life I never dreamed of, and to find that I am only capable of limiting how far I go. My ability and trust to see God and His lead beyond what I have always known has changed my life forever. And that I am forever grateful for.