"No quiero que tu vayas."

"I don't want you to go."

I have been getting this statement more and more as the number days until I leave this gorgeous country gets smaller. When I think back to my first day here it seems like a year has passed, but in reality the weeks here are flying fast. This past Friday is a school day that will stay with me forever; I will recap:

The day started with its normal and crazy Friday excitement so when recess #1 came everyone was ready to bolt outside. I had promised a group of my boys that I would play "bolinchas" (marbles) with them. I find the same group every day behind our classroom tearing it up with marbles of all kind and I wanted to join this fun. Immediately I had been gifted with a handful of marbles of various colors ready to learn. For the following 15 minutes my little boys were full of so much laughter and shouts of joy every time their marble hit the "profe's." One of my students, Kener, who acts so tough and tells the girls in the class he's not going to miss me when they talk about me leaving, jumped into my arms when the bell rang and looked up at me with the biggest smile and just said "Profe!" :)  He then grabbed my hand and we skipped off to class together. My heart couldn't have been happier to make this small connection with my students. For the rest of the day I would feel a little tap on my back every now and then to see one of my little boys giving me a new, even prettier marble then before, with a big grin on their face. Needless to say, I was invited back to play marbles the next recess (score!).

It was a short day for Kayla and I because we were going to meet the art teacher, Roxana, at her house in Guápiles to do some art projects. So, before I left I wrote a little message on the board to my students wishing them a happy weekend. Shortly after had a swarm of my students around me asking me not to go and literally trying to trap me in the room. I was then handed various works of art and pictures as a bribe to not go ;) My little boy, Kener, grabbed both of my hands and reached up to give me a huge kiss on the cheek and said, "te quiero, profe." (I love you, profe) I was honestly on the brink of tears just leaving my students for half a day. Three of them made sure to usher me to school entrance to see me go. I looked back and watched a group of my students just standing there watching me walk away. I felt my heart break at that moment knowing that in a few weeks I will have to walk away for good...I can't imagine what the end of one school year is going to be like someday with my students.

Oh, my beautiful crazy students, who have made a little nest in my heart...

To share some other happenings in the magical world of Costa Rica a weekend ago we traveled with Papi to meet his sister, Karen, and her husband, Carlos, to adventure throughout Cartago. Karen and Carlos are so friendly and were very excited to share new sites with us. Our first stop was the breakfast table at their home in Cartago; it was tasty and lovely. We then traipsed through town a little bit to see the beautiful Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles and the ruinas (ruins). The basilica was breath-taking and so peaceful. Outside of the basilica there is a little walkway to a spot where there is holy water flowing from a few different spots. A lot of people come there to pray, bathe different parts of their body that might need healing or to fill up bottles to take home. Inside the basilica was even cooler!

After visiting the basilica, we went to walk through the ruins, which was lovely. On the inside there was a gorgeous garden and small pond!

Our next stop of the day was Volcán Irazú. I loved the whole drive up to this spot; so much agriculture, cool air, and neat little towns. We could see Cartago getting smaller and smaller as we drove up, it felt like being in the clouds.  Once we made it to the national park we walked around and looked at 2 out of the 3 craters that Irazú has. I don't know how to explain being by a volcano, but it was pretty neat and inactive, so no worries. On our way out of the park we got some fresh strawberries and headed back.

An old church we visited in Orosi, which was full of much history!



After volcano Irazú we went through two indigenous pueblos, Orosi and Cachí, where Mamí was born. We ended up visiting Mamí's dad actually, who was so sweet and even played the guitar for us.
Afterwards we visited the house where Mamí grew up it- super awesome and huge!!




On Sunday Kayla, our friend Odie, and I went on a lovely adventure to a little place in Guácimo called "La Perla," where we trekked to an absolutely fantastic waterfall. The walk there was amazing as well; there were cool bamboo bridges and a BMX track!

Roxana's outside workshop is basically like a dream!

Kayla and I crafting/putting on a marionette show with Roxana :)

















Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! I wish and pray all the best for each of you :) Chao!

Yeudy...

Before the end of the day of the school day today, one of my little students, Yeudy, wrote me a sweet little letter asking me what I was doing this weekend and told me about his weekend plans. He wanted me to write my answer on the back like we were sending each other mail. So I did and returned the letter. A few minutes later he asked to borrow a small piece of paper so he could make something. This was the result...

My first thought was, "cool, a paper airplane..." and then I returned it to him with a smile. A few minutes later Yeudy came up to me and said, "No, profe, it's for you so you know my love can always fly to you."

How does one respond to this? These children are crawling into my heart.

P.S.

Remember that one time I just uploaded a post? Well, I have some news that I feel is very worthy of sharing.

While I have been here in Costa Rica, my parents, their best friends, and the people from my church at home have organized a project to collect school supplies and books to send to my school here. By their compassionate and genuine hearts, the members in my tiny little church have raised over $600 to ship things to the school. I am brought to tears by the grace of God working through people, I cannot even express how beautiful this effort is to me. I am in complete awe as I watch this connection of humanity from a few small churches in Janesville, WI to a school of eager learning minds in Guácimo, Costa Rica. Once again I affirmed that we all really need each other more than we think and we need to reach out to one another with nothing but love and dignity.

Entonces, to everybody at home who has reached out to Los Geranios in some way; through thought or prayer or however... thank you. :)

It's about that time...

for a little news from Costa Rica!

Sunshine has been MIA while it has been raining for the past week straight. It turns out the sun just wanted to use its "raincheck"...
 (that pun goes out to my ladies of 324 Marsh St.!)

Even in all this rain, Costa Rica remains top of my list as far as beautiful life experiences thus far. Every day Kayla and I wake up (a little too late sometimes), give each other "that look" like 2 seconds passed from the time we fell asleep, and wait for the "Muchachasssssss" call from Mamí to come to the kitchen table for desayuno (breakfast). Then it's quickly brush the teeth and cruise to school to be greeted by our happy, smiley children :)

I get the same uncontrollable happiness when I first see one of my students running down the corridor to greet me with a big hug every morning. Usually it is my little skinny Antonio with a big grin on his face, popping out from nowhere to hang on my side the whole walk to class. In all honestly, learning about and teaching in school here has been challenging in many ways, but when I look at my students I am reminded completely that they are who I'm here for. No matter how many times I feel disheartened or discouraged, there's nothing I want to do more than to encourage them, laugh with them, and see them thrive.

The more I learn about who my students are as individuals, the more I am attached to them. In some of my students' cases family life is inevitably not enriching and it breaks my heart what I've learned while being here with them. Out of respect I will not detail the hard and trivial experiences some of these students live with, but will rather focus on who they are despite not being given what they deserve and need.

For a few examples...
-Seeing the squeal and wide grin from my little José Alberto, the quietest student in class, when he basically "schooled" every one of his classmates in an around the world game of math problems
-My sweet Gerson, who begs to be given extra math problems with a big smile on his face once he is done with other work.
-Then there's my oldest student, Ricardo, who I catch him always sharing his small amount of colored pencils with other students or cleaning things up.
-Nissi, who loves everyone, I mean everyone...and has the demeanor of a mature adult.
-Yeudy, who insists his name is spelt "Yeudi" even after conversing long and hard with Profesora Saira about how his formal documents say otherwise (I can't help but chuckle about this), is a pro puzzle builder. He is the first one I see at recess coming up to me yelling, "Profe!!!? Rompecabeza!?"
-Kener and Josmiar, my suave dancers.
-Sebastian, who will someday I swear, be a fúbolista (soccer player) just like he dreams of. When walking home from school he is always waiting in his soccer gear to say hi.

Needless to say, there's a lot to each of my 28 students and I don't know how I am going to say goodbye to them in just a few short weeks.

 I got the great experience of observing some of the special education teachers today, which was really great. I love the special education teachers, they are very friendly and I can see how a lot of the students thrive under their direction. Also, I believe that every child needs that individual attention.

Once the school day ends, Kayla and I make the walk home, reflecting on the way. Before we make it too far we run into a lot of our students in their homes since they live so close. It's a beautiful thing.

In other news...this past weekend was really relaxing. On Saturday Kayla and I went to the home of one of my students to help with some English home and on Sunday we had a family visit (Kevin, Sandra, Sandra's father, and their daughter Kiyanni) complete with famous Rice and Bean, and fort-making with the little ones :)

The weekend best this last, Kayla and I went on another adventure with Xiomara to a rainforest near Guácimo. It was absolutely breath-taking.

I wish everyone reading many blessings and a happy rest of the week! :)

Hasta Luego, Amigos!