Blogging laziness

I'll admit it, I have grown tired of blogging. I don't know what to or not to include. There's just so much, and I cannot ever encompass it all. Even though I may do interesting things or have adventures, the fact of the matter is that everything just seems like it's a part of my life living in Latin America these days. Maybe what I'll start doing is writing a thought of the day, that way it's just a short quip or a photo with a tidbit of information. That way updating won't seem so overwhelming... like this recap of the last two and a half months is about to be...

Return to the CRC:
I returned to Costa Rica August 17 to start another year working at Whitworth's Costa Rica Center. One year after the opening of Whitworth's CRC, things continue to change and progress rapidly... sometimes more rapidly than others.

• Our former 24/7 colleague-compañera Emily Dufault finished her 1-year contract, and another Whitworth grad, Travis Walker ('08) joined our CRC staff as a "24/7" asistente/coordinador de vida estudiantil (Student Life Coordinator). These are the ambiguous titles by which we label our jobs, though it is hard to encompass or specifically pinpoint all that we do. Trav has taken on sustainability as his main endeavor on the campus of our 27-acre academic center.
• We prepared to receive another group of students: this fall semester (Sept. 3-Dec. 10) we have a small group of just six students. It's actually a nice breather from the spring semester of 20 students, with conferences and visiting groups occupying the campus intermixed during that time and throughout the summer. 
• We took a staff trip to visit University of Georgia (UGA) campus in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica.
• Bean (Kristina), my female 24/7 counterpart, and I moved into the spacious (and drafty) Suite in room #5 of the dormitory building. It's nice to have space to do Zumba and Get Yoked with Yoder dance aerobic workout videos! We wished the fireplace didn't spit smoke back out into our living room though. The bathroom is the warmest, and quite possibly the driest place on campus as rainy season plagues us again.
• Also, we are busy prepping for the many upcoming groups: JanTerm will bring not only 33 freshmen students and a prof, but also 9 Health Sciences students and their prof. The Whitworth Wind Symphony comes for a week (during their spring break) to tour key locations at the end of March. The spring semester students (at least 21 at this point have registered!) will be here from February to mid-May.
• "Prepping" for me primarily involves coordinating internships and working on homestay placements with Tico families (all of which involves lots of email correspondence). Scheduling and logistical details are intertwined amidst it all, of course.
• We are still occupied when we receive visiting groups on our campus, many of which of late have been prominent Latin American theological associations, groups, seminars, retreats, and conferences. It is quite a blessing and a privilege to receive people from all over the world, who oftentimes will sit around with us chatting in different languages, dialects, and accents, offering great insight, company, and sometimes even speak to the students' classes (that we get to sit in on!).
• We are building a greenhouse on campus! We have some small ones already, where spices, small veggies, and herbs are being grown!
• We're making it a point to have down time and do fun weekend things such as, but not limited to, the following: beach trips (even if that means in the stinging rain!) to the Pacific and Guanacaste region along the Nicoya Peninsula--just a ferry ride away; hanging out with host families, friends who live/work in nearby here in CR, and students; hiking; baking; found a church in Escazú we like to attend; gardening (when it's not raining); playing with/trying to train our puppy Feijão (the Brazilian word that means "bean").
• Nicaragua: we three 24/7s took the students to Nicaragua Oct. 5-15. We planned portions of the trip to visit some places I had never visited before, so that was exciting. The trip included the cities of Managua, León, Masaya, Matagalpa, Jinotega (and communities further north in the campo where we visited coffee farms). I will never stop learning things when I travel to Nicaragua. SO many memories, good stories, and hilarious times shared with the students. Great photos and inside jokes resulted.
• Today, we (us three 24/7s) just got back from a 2-day work-related visit to Earth University to learn about what their program looks like... what can we integrate into our program and Whitworth University? It was a fun, educational trip, and nice relief from the rain and cold on our mountaintop (we traded our 55º nights and goteras (rainy leaks) for 85º+humidity and bug bites that have caused me to now have no left ankle).

There is SO MUCH more to report on, but those are the general highlights for now. I'll try to get my act together in order to update more frequently and with more interesting tidbits in the future. Until then, check out some of the new photos on the photo menu to the right -->