Holy Cow!!! I’m behind. March 15, 2009

Oh my gosh, I’m soooo behind.  This is going to be a long post.

I had a busy weekend last weekend and returned home to have no internet access, so here is a very long awaited recap of the last 12 days (yes, it really has been that long).

Wednesday I volunteered all day, which was okay.  The ladies I work under are somewhat cold so it’s not always the most fun job, but whatever.  At the hospital everyone finds their niche.  Some people like the babies, some like the older kids, personally, I like the “game room” (which I just learned is NOT call the toy room, haha).  I hang out with the little asian woman in the game room watching the equivalent of “Good Morning, America” and doing work for the labratory until a nurse calls and says that there’s a kid that wants to go to the game room.  It’s my job to go pick the kid up from their wing/room/bed, and take them there and play with them.  Anyways the 7 hours went fast and I got several compliments on my flip-open Optimus Prime watch (granted, they were from young boys, many of whom would thoroughly enjoy owning  a watch that cool, thank you very much).

About half of the kids in the program were leaving Thursday for Nicaragua to renew their Visas (Since we’re only here for a semester, we can’t get student Visas… We had to enter the country as tourists which only gave us a 90 day Visa.  Our program, however, is longer than 90 days, so as to avoid problems while exiting the country, to renew our Visas, we have to leave Costa Rica for three days).  Wednesday when I got home, I had made plans for the weekend to go to the beach, but when my friends went to book the hostel, there was only room for five, and I was the sixth person to express interest in going.  I could’ve gotten a hostel bed by myself in a different hostel, but I was not about to spend my birthday weekend alone in some hostel, thank you very much.  So I made plans with a different group of people to go to a different beach.  But, again, the hotel had room for four, and I was the fifth and there was no way I was paying for my own hotel room.  Sorry.  Between the trip to Nicaragua and the two beach trips, almost no one was staying in San Jose for the weekend, and I decided that staying alone in San Jose being bored all weekend just wasn’t what I wanted to do for my birthday.

So I got online, found a super cheap flight (only $20 dollars than my whole trip to Panama *the original “renew my visa plan”*) and decided that I was going home for the weekend.  Home, yes, Nebraska.

The plans got finalized at midnight (technically) Thursday morning, and the plane left at 8:00 am.  I didn’t sleep that night, left the house at 5:00, and was ready to go.

The flight to Phoenix was long, and we plane, the people, and the luggage weighed too much so we had to stop in Mazatlan, Mexico to refuel.  We got to Phoenix, and Caitlin, my best friend from high school, and her friend Cory came and picked me up for my 7 hour layover.  I hadn’t seen her in over three years, so it was lots of fun hanging out with her again.  We went shopping and I bought (for my sister [who had no idea I was coming home]) a prom dress (we online shopped together and picked one out, but when she went to look at it again, it wasn’t on the website anymore, well I found it in her size, at Macy’s, 50% off, SCORE!).  After the mall, we went to PB Loco (a store devoted entirely to peanut butter *Costa Rican PB is awful*), and got sandwiches, then to Sprinkles (a cupcake store), then back to Caitlin’s new apartment.  It was a very fun layover.

Some things never change...

Cute!

Airport shot as I was leaving.

So after being in Costa Rica for 2 months, and Phoenix for seven hours, I headed home to chilly Nebraska.  My parents met me at the airport and I slept most of the way home.

My sister was working at a youth retreat all weekend, so she was gone when I got home, but was coming home at 5:00 the next morning to shower.  I hung her dress in the bathroom where I knew she would see it with a note that said “Come wake me up!”.  So 5:05 in the morning I get a knock on my door, my sister looking dumbfounded hugs me.  She tries on the dress and it looks flawless on her (score!).  We talk for awhile and then I go back to bed and she showers and leaves for the retreat.

After I woke up for the day, I headed up to Omaha to see all of my Creighton friends before they left for spring break.  My friend James was at work at the front desk of a res hall, so I walked right on in and his jaw dropped (seriously, I wish I could’ve filmed peoples’ reactions– Bianca did a happy dance, and Anjali was dumbfounded).  Then, I went to visit the people in the office where I do my work study (it was so nice seeing everyone again).   The rest of the day was spent surprising people who had no idea I was in the country and catching up with friends.

Bianca, my roommate, and I.

Saturday morning, I drove back to Lincoln (I spent the night in Omaha, in my old dorm room).  Got ready and went to go help out at the youth retreat Andrea was working at, where I got more dumbfounded looks, and lots of hugs from lots of people who had no idea.  After that, my parents, my brother, and I went out for dinner (first time seeing my brother in two months), and I went to bed early as I was getting sick (thanks, chilly Nebraska).

Sunday, I went to church then out for coffee with Shelbi (she has lived across the street from me my whole life and has and always will be my partner in crime).  We got caught up and exchanged birthday presents (hers February 9, mine March 8).

I'm still awestruck that I am more tan than Shelbi.

After that I went home for a big, all family birthday dinner, complete with Coldstone ice cream cake!!!

Me and my mommy!

Ice cream cake!!! Chris, me, and Andrea (my siblings and I).

After dinner, everyone kind of went off and did their own thing, so I went to hang out with some of my guy friends whom I got to know a long time ago through the same retreat that I had worked at the night before.

Tim, me, Dustin, and Josh.

I flew out at 6:00 the next morning, had another 7 hour layover in Phoenix where I hung out with Caitlin again.  This time we just kind of laid around and napped and chatted because we were so tired.

I'm a duck, quack quack! (Some things never change.)

Tuesday was a decently unexciting day, had classes went home and relaxed.

Wednesday I volunteered all day.

Thursday I had class then went home and read all day.  A couple friends and I went out to Caccios (a bar) to celebrate Katie’s birthday where we met up with Matt, the guy who arranged our Bungee Jump.  He said the guys at the Bungee place want to have us back.  I’ll update you about that when I know more.

Friday I volunteered and then went shopping with Jennifer.  Well apparently, Friday was the day to wander around downtown San Jose, because on our way there, we saw Jorge (a kid in our group, who said he had seen lots of the ISA kids downtown), Jennifer and I went to eat out on the balcony of a Japanese restaurant and heard our names being called.  Joe, Elizabeth, and Tiffany were on a balcony across from us getting drinks.  We looked down just in time to see the Emilys and Katie walk by.  There were also people dressed like a giant tree (a man on stilts) and a butterfly.  I’m still not entirely sure why…

You never know what... interesting things you'll find in downtown San Jose.

Elizabeth, Joe, and Tiffany across from us.

Saturday is a completely different story that merits its own post, so I shall do so when the pictures are posted. 

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