Stress Fracture

Hard to believe it's been a month already. Spanish lessons flew by and I've kind of been using these last few days before I leave for the University to try and slow down a little bit. It's really weird the emotions that come along with an experience like this. On one hand I can't help but miss everyone back home in the states and can't wait to go home in December. On the other hand I realize that 5 months isn't a very long time and I want to be able to experience all that I can. I can honestly say i don't know what to do about it though. How do you speed up/ slow down time, especially since there are times where I want one, and times where I want the other. I know that it's better for me to not try to rush through this since it's maybe a once in a lifetime experience and since I know that that's the only way I'll get everything I can out of it. But like i said, I don't know the formula for that. All I can do is ask God to change my heart and somehow help me slow down.

So where am i at now? Well I leave for the University on the 4th (Thursday) and we have orientation the 5th and I'll get a chance to meet the other foreigners who will be there this semester. After that I don't know what will happen before classes start on the 8th. As far as my Spanish goes I'm not where I expected to be. That in no way is a reflection on my teachers or even my ability to learn the language. I've come a long way already and don't know how I could have learned more than I did. I simply had false assumptions of what learning a language entailed. I guess I just expected it to click one day, which I admit sounds really stupid. That said, I'm almost excited that I'm where I am. This is hard, and I don't do hard things very often. I think it'll mean just that much more when all is said and done. I'm also excited because seeing how far I've come already helps me to see how much more I can still learn while I'm here and that pertains to things other than the language as well. While I'm at the University I'll have a roommate from another country, not necessarily Costa Rica. I have no idea who it will be and am anxious (both in the good and bad sense of the term) to find out who I'll be sharing my life with for the next 4 months. I'm also pretty anxious about classes as they will be taught completely in Spanish using vocabulary that I'm sure I've never heard before. But hey, that just means more stuff to learn, right? :-s No matter what happens I'm sure it'll be something that changes me, and I'm sure God will use it.

In other news, I'm still waiting on loans and there fore am pretty limited on doing anything only letting myself spend money on lunches for the most part, and entertaining myself anyway I can. (I actually got bored one night and gave myself sharpie tattoos. they're actually kinda cool and I have pictures if you want to see them. Anyway I'm a huge dork.) Mostly I've been walking, walking a lot. I spent the past three days trekking around San Jose this time trying to get away from the touristy stuff and experience the real San Jose. The other day I came across a cemetery that I spent about an hour walking around and taking pictures. It was probably the prettiest day we've had since I've been here and there was an odd sense of peace that I felt walking through grounds surrounded by mostly white raised burials, most of which sported broken or painted on crosses and long since gone name plagues. I know, it all sounds kinda weird to me too. Nevertheless, i was able to keep myself busy this weekend, and now have a really sore right foot to show for it, which I can only hope isn't a stress fracture.

Yesterday (Monday) was one of highlights from my time here. My friend Anna Wagner (who's dating one of my really good friends from Rolla and whom I've hung out with on several occasions) is in Costa Rica with a program from Greenville College where she goes to school. We'd talked only briefly before I left about the possibility of meeting up and weren't sure it was going to happen. Well, we eventually figured things out and made some plans. I walked across a crowded plaza infested with at least 100 pigeons eating seed that kids were flinging this way and that, and as i approached the "Teatro Nacional" I saw her get up from her bench and come over to greet me with a hug. It was so refreshing to see familiar face, and also very surreal at the same time. We spent the day along with one of her friends from the program walking around downtown as i showed them various places I'd visited and told them stories of my adventures here. I also got to meet her host mom, a very sweet lady who works at an art gallery down town, and who refuses to speak English with us (even though I think she's fluent) in order to help with the learning process. We finished the day sitting in Wendy's after I downed a jr. bacon cheeseburger (or JBC) just talking about everything from missing people, to what we're excited about and what scares us, to false expectations, and the general roller coaster of ups and downs. We even talked about dogs for a little bit. It was nice to be able to be really honest with someone and not have to pretend like every moment is absolute excitement and bliss. It was especially nice to realize that I'm not alone in those feelings.

So, I have a day and a half left, and after getting used to things here I get to dive head first into the unknown again. I'm beginning to like that though. I don't know what kind of lessons God has planned for me still. I don't know how I'm gonna get through classes, but I'm sure it'll be something I've never experienced before. I'm not sure who my roommate will be or what kind of people I'll end up befriending. I don't know what kind of church community I'll be able to find although I'm sure that'll be quite different than what I'm used to as well. I don't know if time will slow down or if tomorrow I'll wake up and it's a week before I leave. I don't know when my loans are gonna kick in. Heck, i don't even know where my favorite green T-shirt is right now. (the Key Sport 25th anniversary one) Surprisingly though, with all this unknown I'm not worried. In some way I feel that same sense of peace that I had in the cemetery. It's good to know that stress fractures are only effecting my feet and not my spirit or my mentality. Maybe God is working on me after all.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Prov. 3:5-6)