Day 4, 5 & 6: Goodbye Paul, Hermosa & I fell in love with a little boy named Andres

So I guess I have missed a couple days... it's been a pretty busy couple of days. I'm going to try and keep my summaries to only a couple paragraphs each.

Day 4: Goodbye Paul (Thursday)

Thursday was a pretty interesting day for us interns. The morning was spent with a deadline in mind. Laura came to us the night before with a project that needed to be completed by 2pm our time and 4pm Sarah's time. So around 10:30am we started on a project that took us all the way till 2pm. I had the longer end of the deal because I took what we had, put it together electronically and then e-mailed it to Laura. After staring at my computer screen and several hours of formatting my brain was a little fried. I was excited for the challenge and felt really great with what we finished. :)

Oh... and our friend Henry came to visit the girls while I finished final touches on our project. They made lunch, cookies, danced and learned to dance.

That afternoon we walked down to the market to get Costa Rican coffee. Paul left us on friday so it was his last chance to get some goodies before leaving. We also ate some CR (Costa Rican... I'm going to use this for short) Churros. Nothing like the US churros we know from places like Disney World or 6 Flags Over Texas. They were pretty good but super sugary. On our way back home we came across a painter that Laura knew who's name was Jose´. He was a super sweet little Tico man who painted on sections of fabric. I hope he is down there the next time we make our way there because I want to buy one from him. 

Later that evening we went out to eat with Paul since it was his last evening with us. Kate, Laura's cousin also joined us she's pretty awesome. Dinner was nice and gave us some quality time with good eats. 

Day 5: Hermosa - Jaco (Friday)

Friday we went to the beach in Jaco. As you will see in my last post we went to a black sand beach. It was cleaner than the beaches in St. Augustine or Virginia Beach that's for sure. Yet, the people here consider it to be a dirty beach. When you are a gringa the black sand is pretty outstanding and gets alllllllllll over the place. 

We took a two hour bus ride there and a two hour bus ride home. Needless to say, we were all exhausted by the time we got home. 

Day 6: I fell in love with a little boy named Andres

This morning we got up early to make our way to a kids soccer outreach ministry. This is the first saturday that we are helping with this ministry. We will continue to work with this outreach every saturday morning. All the girls dressed to kick the ball around but little did we know what we were actually getting into. Kicking the ball around was only practice. Anna and I watched the bags as the other girls ran drills and conditioned with the kids. It was a hoot to watch from the sides. I got plenty of footage... don't you worry! It's all documented... from pushups to high knees to racing across the court. I say court only because we weren't on an actual field... we were using the basketball court. 

So it started to rain. It rained a little... then it rained a lot. Who decided to embrace her outdoors side today without a rain coat? That's Me! So I got soaked and it was a little chilly. 

There was a little boy who was probably around 8 or 9 who's name is Andres. He was the smallest of all the other kids but boy could he dribble a soccer ball! I think he was trying to show off a little for Anna and I. Anyway, I wanted to take Andres home with me. Seriously the cutest, driven, little tico boy! He didn't want anyone thinking he couldn't take them on, that's for sure! 

So this ministry outreach has been going for about two months now. It is held in one of the more underprivileged areas of San Jose. These kids don't have much. Their families don't have much. But to see them running and laughing and playing even through the pouring rain was beautiful. I wish I could have captured some of the latter moments of that morning but it was raining too hard. 

I got to have some good conversation with Anna as well as with Amy and Anna when watching the boys and girls play. I have been so touched by some of our random conversations here over the past 6 days. 

We jumped on a bus home exhausted and ready to get out of wet clothes. I showered and put on some comfy clothes that I wore for the rest of the day. We all kinda napped and then our friend Yamil made a visit. Yamil left for Jaco and we continued to rest. Amy and Brooke went to a surprise party for a Coronado friend's birthday. Anna, Laura, Megan and I stayed home, made dinner, and drank cocoa. Which brings me here. Writing. I'm pretty past exhausted and tomorrow is a big day. I will have to tell you about that later.

Buenas Noches.