A good place to begin...This is a pic of John's side of the bed getting pooped on by a friendly gecko...good times...ok jk on to the real stuff.
We've been making monkeys, potato turkeys, rainbows and celebrating birthdays and last days in Brasilito with Abriendo Mentes.
My mom came to visit over Thanksgiving. She got to volunteer with me, meet my adult english class student's chancho(pig) for Navidad, visit the beautiful Monteverde cloud forest, go ziplining, and of course we had lots of beach time. In one of the pics we are even dressed as twins from the hat (thanks to Hanya's gift to me) to our beach cover-ups.
Celebrating our last days with the kids in El Llanito by watching movies and celebrating birthdays.
Helping with sex trafficking fairs for the past week and ending by helping to raise money at the Gala on Saturday night. Lots of organization's partnered to make the week possible: Light Force Int'l, CEPIA, Global Connections; The Human Traffic Initiative, Serve One, AM, etc. Costa Rica is actually a hub for sex trafficking and after the first safety fair a few girls were rescued from a nearby club. During the safety fairs, the kids learn about protecting their bodies along with having a little fun at different stations that reiterate all the main points.
The teachers of El Llanito invited me to their end of year retreat on the beach. They grilled out tons of meat (sausage, chicken, beef, etc), molido/chips, and even had a birthday cake for Stephanie. They had all drawn names for presents and each said something very special about the person they bought for (a very formal production). Yentry presented me with 2 Costa Rican displays which were really precious! A very relaxing afternoon before I headed to Brasilito to play a round of bingo for our last Thrilling Thursday of the year.
We attended the CEPIA end of year party where there were more games for the kids and they were all recognized for the extra curricular activities they had participated in. John's group of soccer guys and our english class kids from Brasilito were all invited and recognized. I am now happy to say that I am a pro at facepainting. I was put on the FP team for the safety fairs and I got to do it again at the CEPIA end of year party. Maybe that's a skill I'll be able to put on my resume one day :) I loved the ladies and gents that showed us a Typical Costa Rican dance too!
Lastly for this blog...we also attended the Brasilito kinder class end of year party. We made a chocolate cake for the event that was split into 30 tiny slices. They hired a clown and more facepainting (these kids love FP), and we ate pizza, fresco, and icecream. The clown was an absolute hit with the kiddos!
Busy times in Costa Rica....and there is more to come! We had an amazing day with Serve One Ministries in El Llanito and I'll try to write more about that in my next blog. Adios amigos!
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