Change is here.

Laura leaves today - in about an hour she will board her bus to Panama City, the first stage of her week long journey home to Greece (she'll spend a few days in England visiting friends). We had a good time at the beach - the food was indeed very good. The waves unfortunately were not ideal. The sea was quite flat until, few and far between, really big swells came but still only the really experienced were able to ride them. I, weakling that I am, did not even try the second day. The sun was too hot and also I knew if Laura and others were having difficulty there was no way I would really succeed... so I just watched and learned. Perhaps next time (after some serious training or something) I'll be able to go in and be a pro.

A friend who's been traveling around Costa Rica came down for a day from San Jose.. which is a long enough journey as it is.. and he came on his motorcycle. Wow. And he had a rough journey as well - the long hours, getting soaked by the rain - twice, the clutch on his bike fell off. Poor guy. But we all had fun and hopefully that made up for it all. We did some surfing, biking, walking, ping-pong, saw 'wild' horses running on the beach, met some new people from Holand, Norway and Costa Rica and had some good food and good conversation.

It will be so strange going home today. I'll get back to the house and everything will seem normal - Doña Delsa will be there waiting for us to return, I'll go in a get a drink of water, then I'll head up to my place and it will be empty. Only a few of my things will be there. I'll take all the time I want showering because no one will be waiting. After dinner I'll go up alone, I won't hear anyone else zipping and unzipping their tents, in the morning I'll start my day without anyone there. It's so interesting - one of the hardest parts about my year of service was accustoming myself to never being alone and now at the end I'm alone again and not really looking forward to it. But really, it's only at the beginning and the ends of the day that I think I will feel it. Inbetween I will be with friends from the community or they will come to the house to visit. I'll have to prepare and give all of the classes that previously we were all doing. And besides, soon a large group of youth will arrive and I certainly won't feel alone :). I wonder what they'll be doing - I've heard quite a few different versions, but I don't know what will turn out... I think tonight I will try to get out the plans from Anne.

Well, farewell to Laura and Linda, it's been a pleasure. We'll keep in touch - you guys need to start that process 'cause I'll still have little internet access for a while - and I can't wait to visit you people in Iceland and Greece!

A quick one

I have quite a bit of news to share... changes are coming. Linda has left this part of the world. She is currently in England with old and new friends doing a Ruhi book 5 study for two weeks before she heads back to her beloved Iceland. I am happy for her - I know how much she was looking forward to her trip to England and to being home in Iceland where apparently the Faith is having some good growth. She is going back with some great skills and I know she'll be a great asset to her community.

The community was really sweet saying good-bye to her. She hadn't planned on having a despedida (a good-bye party) but the very last night she was there they threw something together at the Baha'i center and many people came to wish her well in the future, tell her how much they appreciated her service in the community, and to assure her that she would always be welcome back in Progresso.

I am also getting ready to say goodbye to Laura. She also has had her despedida and left Progresso. Again, the community came to give their heartfelt thanks, love and well wishes. I personally tried to say a little and couldn't get everything I had planned to say about her out... and Besigo continually teases me about how I "fell" and started crying.. and then when she's done teasing she admits that she almost cried too - but that was my fault.

At the moment, Laura and I are in Pavones, a world famous beach for surfing. Unfortunately it isn't being to kind to us - no good waves. I am sorry for Laura - but for myself I'm not sure I could have handled surfing anyways - I am just not strong enough to get myself out there. Of course, to be completely fair, I am rather exhausted. I have been hiking all over the mountain with Laura as usual, having unusual late nights, and then on Saturday I participated in the community soccer games. I am so sore. It is so weird.. I could have run for much more time.. but my muscles were so tired. I guess I am not used to usuing all the ones you use for soccer. I almost scored twice.. like quite close.. but I it did not happen and although everyone says I played well, they also wont let me live it down.

Anyways, Laura and I need to go bike back to the place we are staying to get back in time for the family like dinner.. everyone comes when the bell is rung to eat together. It is cute. They tell me the food is good. I sure hope so.. I am starving.

more later.. either tomorrow or on Wednesday. ciao

In Canoas, once again... but what comes next?

The rains are coming back to Costa Rica. I can't tell you how happy I am that they are - I was beginning to fear that I wouldn't get to see the rain forest again before I leave. Of course, this means that I now have to wear boots again (and live through a couple weeks of blisters) and it really means that I have to stay on top of my laundry - no more slacking off and then doing it all in one day because my clothes will dry in a couple of hours of sun. No, back to every day laundry that might take days to dry. But, with the bad comes the good: beauty. With the rain comes the colors. I have never seen such blues and greens as I see here. The sunrises are absolutely spectacular. As I walk down the mountain at 5 in the morning I have to simply stop and take it all in at least 7 times before I reach the bottom. Across the valleys the mist passes through. Over the bay there are dark storms, that sometimes come our way, but sometimes just let us know they're there with the sound of distant thunder. I love this weather.

There are, I admit, times it goes a little too far. For instance, a couple weeks ago, lightning struck a tree about 2 meters away from the girls house. It practically exploded. The bark flew off the tree, the tree itself split and it was smoking - literally for seconds it was on fire. I, personally, was a bit "asustado" and I ran out of my house without my shoes, in the rain, getting my book wet and my feet very muddy. I saw the bright lightening, the smoking tree, heard the popping of the tree and I was not positive that it wasn't going to fall over and crush my house right then and there. I realize now that it will take a while for the tree to actually die and fall but at that moment I wanted to get to as low ground as possible.

Even so, I am really looking forward to sharing it all with Casey and Alex and Greg. I am so glad they get to experience it. Can you believe it's only a little over a month away? By that time both Linda and Laura will have gone. I will be alone, thinking continuously that I have only a few weeks left, and then they will come and cheer me up! I will forget that I soon will go back home and need to search out the world and find a new place for me in it. Of course, I know that for a few weeks my place will be home (perhaps even months!) and it will feel completely right. I am so excited to see everyone in Huntsville again - my family and friends have been missed (I'll probably realize just how much when I get there again). I do fear that in this current economic situation I will not have quite as many opportunities to choose from as I might otherwise have hoped, nevertheless I am hopeful and really interested to see where life takes me next and what great things I'll get to do. After all, it's an interesting question: what comes next?