Mi primer dia en Costa Rica!

Yesterday was a crazy day! And I am fighting back the urge to write all of this in Spanish, but I know that will not be helpful to any of you, so I'll run back to my English, for a few minutes.

By the grace of God we got through the airport yesterday and made it here safely. The flight was roughly 3.5 hours long, and really nice. The sun was not shining when we got here, but that was to be expected because this is their "rainy season". However, Marco, the school director told us that they are experiencing the phenomenon of "El Nino" and because of that, there are rain clouds and dark skys, but no rain.

The airport was interesting, very very clean, and easy to get through. The craziest part was after passing through customs, we started to walk to try to find Marco who we were told would be waiting for us. Carrying our (really) heavy bags, we start walking towards these outside doors and there are TONS of people on the outside of the airport, looking in, with signs, trying to find their guests. It was the most overwhelming part of the day. All of these people and we had no clue who we were looking for. Cole was able to find Marco though, and we were off.

We talked to Marco through the drive from San Joaquin, where the airport is. (FUN FACT: The San Jose, SJO airport, IS NOT in San Jose.) We drove through Santa Barbara and then to Barrio Jesus, the neighborhood we'll be staying in. We dropped Lindsay off at her house and then Marco took me to my house.

I have the most wonderful new family in the whole world. When I arrived, I was greeted by 8-10 people just hanging out at the house, including my 1 year old little brother Santiago, who is more precious than anything. He reminds me of my kids at home that I will miss during my time here. God provides beautifully.

And here the blessings just multiply- in my house right how are Abuela, the matriarch of the family, Laura, the daughter of Abuela, Laura's children Danna, Samantha and Santiago. Another American exchange student, Rebecca, from CA, who is wonderful, Rob who is from England, and me.

Yesterday was Rob's birthday, and so the day was spent preparing for the Fiesta! Paula, Abuela's granddaughter that lives next door, was with me most of the day and we played with Santiago and talked to Laura. Laura is a hairdresser and we were sitting in her salon room at the house, she was cutting the hair of a young girl, and then she looked at me and said in spanish "You want your hair cut too?" I really wasn't sure. So she sat me down, and cut my hair! She cut like 2.5 inches off! I guess I needed it. WELCOME TO COSTA RICA! PURA VIDA!

The fiesta didn't start until about 8:30 their time, which was 10:30pm US time. I was exhausted. We had a huge cake and this wonderful white bean soup and there was lots and lots of loud music. There were probably 35 people in the house at one point. It was insane, but TONS of fun. We basically sat around together and talked and watched Victor (who is the dance teacher at the Insitute) and Yerlin (who is our neighbor and a granddaughter of the family i'm staying with) and her boyfriend dance the Cumbia, a dance that Victor began to teach me last night and that has a very unique rhythm to it. The are such good dancers!

After what seemed like hours, we finally cut the cake and to my surprise it was only 11:30 when I went to bed, although it felt much later than that. The party was still going full swing, but I slept like a rock.

God has provided in such tremendous ways already. It's like i'm a part of this family, and I've only been here for one day. The food is good, the people are friendly and wonderful, and I am speaking a language that I love. Gracias a Dios por todo!