El Día de la Amistad (a.k.a. San Valentín)

      Today was a day full of friendship. And sneezes. (For some reason, everyone around here was sneezing con mucha frecuencia (a lot!) today. And THE BEST VALENTINE'S DAY EVER.
      In honor of the cheesy commercialism of the (holi?)day, I sent a few e-card valentines (en español) off this awesome website: (if the link is still a valid one to follow, here's an example of such a cheesy valentine) http://www.postalesmerche.com/postal/create.php?card_id=899
      Today was nothing terribly out the ordinary. Got up at five to get a few things done before the break of dawn, took students to their internship sites, did some office work, organized and planned things, as is typical. But in addition to these menial work tasks, the day was sprinkled with fun surprises. Each of us female staff members were gifted with a lovely red rose from one of our students, Josh. It was such a sweet gesture!

Mil gracias, Josh!

      Another noteworthy gift of the day was from one of our JanTerm Honors Freshmen, Jonathan. He wrote, sang, and played on his guitar this awesome self-composed song entitled, "Happy Friendship Day Whitworth South!" It was seriously the best Valentine's Day gift ever! Sorry, Mom and Dad and other family members and friends. Your candies and cards and doo-dads have been really great over the years... but did you ever compose and record a song and then publicly share it on Facebook?! If you have Facebook, you might be able to see it at: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150100851949834&comments&notif_t=video_reply. We love that muchacho!
      Our spring semester students outdid themselves withValentine's Day gift to myself? This afternoon, Bean, Em, and I went for a nice long hike (again, huge, vicious dogs were a concern; one great dane sure had a nasty bark (but the tee shirt around him did nothing for his figure! A bunch of snarly dogs lunged at us... from behind a fence, threatening with a nasty chorus of barking. But the shirts didn't do much for their complexion of ferocity). Upon our return from the late-afternoon hike, we did ab workouts. The bod always feels better when the heart gets pumping and the blood starts moving faster. Happy Valentine's day, body!

Looking out over the valley into San Rafael, Heredia, San José,
and into the mountains beyond. Thanks, Bean!

The TaTaTas on our Día de la Amistad afternoon hike

So gorgeous in the misty sun and gurgling brook!
(Courtesy of Bean's photog skills)

Rutty, muddy hike!
(Photo courtesy of Bean)

A gang of dogs decided they
wanted to join us for our hike.
(Photo courtesy of Bean)

Our spring semester students also graced us with lovely valentines on our office door :)

Thanks, spring students!

Then, a great way to end the day, Lindy came back to us after a week Stateside, bearing many treasured items! Notes, letters, books, packages, hugs, Valentines, and our very own Whitworth calendars... it was like Christmas in February---only better! A great, big gracias to our beloved JTerm Honors freshmen and friends who sent notes and packages! Kyle, in all of your nerdy (<3) splendor, you really do take my breath away!

Some of the goods Lindy brought back from the States with him!

And to end the best Friendship Day of our lives? We TaTaTas are bedding down to watch some Community!