Wednesday

Today was a great day - probably my most favorite so far. Today the students were really initiating the interactions more than yesterday. It’s like we finally connected and tomorrow we have to finish and leave. I am not excited about the goodbyes. If you know me well at all, you know that I am very tender hearted and I will probably cry just as hard tomorrow as I did when I first walked through the gates on Monday.

I wanted to switch gears on you though, today and give you all a different view on the day.

First of all, I haven’t talked much about what we have been eating while here. We eat breakfast and dinner at the hotel - all in our meeting room space that we have had specifically for us the entire trip. It is unbelievably a LOT of food. (I swear I have gained 10 lbs from all the eating we have been doing - and it reminds me of my friend Kerri who is the ultimate hostess!)

For breakfast we have 2 or 3 main hot dishes, options for cereal and always hot coffee AND... FRESHLY MADE juice!! I didn’t say “squeezed” because we are not talking about JUST OJ here. We have had banana/pineapple, guava, papaya, and to be honest, some juices that can only be made from fruits native ONLY to Costa Rica that I can’t pronounce or remember. They are just SO good!

Dinner - same kind of thing - where we have 2 or 3 main hot dishes, 3-4 SALAD options, fresh fruit again, tiny rolls and tiny portions of desserts. More Juice, coffee and water as well!

I’m literally so full every night, I could explode.

Some of the things we have had for breakfast - pancakes, French toast, sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs, egg rice and bean burrito,  fried spam, watermelon, pineapple, papaya, mango, guava, blueberries, strawberries, hash browns.

Some of the things we have had for dinner - chicken cordon blue, boneless pork chops, steak, grilled chicken, nachos, mashed green beans (re-read that one!), stuffed peppers, sweet n sour pork plus all the various salads I can’t name because we really don’t have these kinds of mixtures in the US.

Lunches were served at the school - and we ate what the students ate. Every meal had some form of rice and beans with a meat - today’s was rice, pinto beans and beef with carrot strips.

Here’s a picture from earlier in the week of our lunch:

Also, each day we get a coffee break where we again get fresh juice or coffee. They make the coffee in a neat way - here’s a picture of the coffee being made:

Besides sharing about the food, I wanted to share some things that were interesting to me to learn/see/experience while here as well:
1. The school bell is literally a bomb raid siren. When we heard it the first day, we all thought we were in a war zone and needed to take cover.
2. Students keep their backpacks in their chairs -  not on a hook, a locker or the back of the chair - like their little butts share the space with their backpacks!

3. Students are very proud of their school, but told us today that they we were making their school beautiful and before it was not.

4. Kids are the same no matter what country they live in. They want to run and play and have fun.

5. Tag, freeze tag, hide n go seek, soccer and hand clapping games are very popular here! Both Brady and I were both “it” today. It was so fun - but I was worn OUT afterwards.

6. Language is a barrier - but only if you let it be. I spent 20 minutes chatting with a group of girls today and learned about their siblings, what TV show they liked (NCIS), when their birthdays were, what games they liked to play, how long they have been going to this school....and probably more that I have already forgotten. At the end every single girl hugged me, kissed me and told me they loved me. (Cue the tears...)

7. Free healthcare includes having an onsite dentist at the school. I think you can see in one of the pictures through the door there is a poster of a big tooth. THAT is the dentist office - and it happens to be the door that Brady & I painted yesterday:

8. When the bell rings for recess, there is no such thing as a calm, quiet line - no - it is a chaotic free-for-all bolt to the main play area with lots of screaming and running. The teachers don’t go with the students. They don’t seem to be monitored at all during their 10 minute recess.

9. During recess, there is a lady on the other side of the fence selling snacks and sodas to the students. I took a picture (seen below). I asked one of our interpreters...how do they know it isn’t drugged?? He said - because it would cost a whole lot more than 100 colones!! Ummmmmm, okkkkk??

10. Trisha is not a Spanish name. No one could ever say it.  Today I changed my name to Patricia and things were better. Same thing with Brady. So he, too, changed his name to Miguel. Technically that is his middle name. :-)

11. The bathrooms at the school don’t have toilet paper. There isn’t even a PLACE to put it on the wall. *color commentary* the students are only there for 4 hrs a day - so perhaps they don’t really need to even use the restroom??

12. It is hot, but almost everyone wears pants.  I was sweating a lot - I have really used my water bottle this week!!!

That’s it for today. Tomorrow is our last day. I am so sad it is coming to an end. Friday we have a different itinerary and we will not return to the school. 😭

In Love,
Trish