One week later = officially Ticos!

It's officially been a week since we've been here! Yet, it feels like we've been here much longer, and at the same time like we just left the States. It's been great so far meeting lots of people (Ticos as they call themselves), trying new foods, being immersed in a new culture with new customs, being adopted into the family by the Baits, surviving the crazy narrow and pot-hole roads and the insane driving (I thought Spain driving was crazy but at least they had lines on the road), speaking Spanish all the time, etc. It's been a surprisingly easy transition due to the awesome circumstances, but I will say that Christopher has had to adjust even more to the Spanish language factor. His mind is exhausted at the end of each day after continually being bombarded with new vocab and attempting to decipher Spanish conversations. He's picking things up very quickly and continually receives compliments on his newly-learned Spanish.

In addition to the new skills we're learning when it comes to construction, painting, or cooking at the work site, we've also discovered the following 6 items that we'd like to share with you:

1. There's a greater difference between hotels and motels here. Motel=brothel. Hotel=what we normally think of a hotel/motel in the States. Be careful when booking a night's stay!

2.People do not have the right of way here, and it's obvious that the cars do. Don't expect cars to stop or even slow down if you are crossing the street, because they surely won't and you'll be hit if you don't jump out of the way. Talk about something to adjust to!

3. Dogs are EVERYWHERE. And they are only too happy to have an excuse to follow you when you take a dog walking with you. (I may be rather quick to observe this since they terrify me in this situation. Bad experiences you know.)

4. Many of the stores have guards posted outside watching the cars to ensure they aren't tampered with/broken into (paid by the grocery store) but then there will randomly be guards other places, and often self appointed. For example, if you park at the outdoor market (la feria) there will likely be a guy standing near the parked cars and it's just a given thing that you will tip him when you leave for the "protection" he provided for you.

5. Cafecito is a daily occurance between lunch and dinner, so around 3. They LOVE their coffee here and I'm the odd man out for not wanting to drink their very strong, hot coffee on a hot afternoon. Instead they they serve me fresco, which is great with me. Coffee is served with some sort of snack, like bread, cookies, crackers, or even tamales. There isn't a shortage of food here to say the least.

6. There are stop signs at every intersection even if there's a stoplight. I kept thinking Gary was blowing through them but little did I know they are just there in case the power goes out and I just couldn't see the lights from the back middle seat.

Why 6 things? Because that's all I could think of at the moment. :)

Well, as of late we've continued to be at work at the church in Alajuelita and we were joined by 

the group on Monday from Illinois. The church has already come a long way with over half of the concrete floor being poured, the walls painted with plaster bond, and half the walls covered with their first layer of concrete stuff (really technical I know). We also finished building walls to divide Sunday school classrooms, which are being used as "dorms" for the group staying there this week, so we set up bunk beds for them.

Constructing one of four wall pieces.

Beds for the group

Putting up the walls/dividers.

Yesterday was the first day we didn't work at either church since being here. We decided it was time to explore on our own, so we caught the bus for the first time and headed to the walking street in San Jose. It's pretty great b/c cars can't drive down the center and there are tons of shops, parks, people, and restaurants. There's also an awesome market called El Mercado Central. It's a very confusing maze of vendors, pet shops, and little restaurants. It's huge though, inside, and quite the site. We ate an authentic Costa Rican lunch here, followed up by this delicious type of ice cream. Then that evening we went to the movie theatre in the mall with Micah and Gary since it was half off night. The guys decided we should wear weird hats and make fools out of ourselves just for fun...this is not a Costa Rican kind of thing to do. Appearance is much more important to them and they wouldn't find this entertaining. We did however. :)

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Pescado Entero (whole fish) that is battered and fried.
I know it looks weird, but it was great!

Wearing the funny hats (before giving them to the kids
for dress up) in the waiting area befor the movie.

Micah, Chris, and Gary...before we switched the hats around.

Today we went to La Guacima with the intention of making candles, which is one of the ministries Mylinda heads up there to provide local women with a past time and also some extra income. However, several of the women were sick, so we painted, fixed the play structure, started building a little play house/puppet show structure, and cleaned the yard up some. We hold our plans lightly, as Mylinda says.

Painting the Sunday school classroom for the youngest children.

Painting the room used for the Preschool and for Sunday school.

Building the kid's play house and puppet show structure
 based on what we learned the past few days.

Tomorrow it's into the kitchen for me as Guis is going to teach me how to make some Costa Rican dishes and more work in Alajuelita. Thanks so much again for all of your prayers and support. It's quite the opportunity to be here and be available to people and the needs here. Oh, we also have an address now! If you'd like just send us an email; we'd love to hear from you via snail mail.

Dios te bendiga!