Day 9.

This life of mine is way too amazing to be true. Let me tell you all that happened today:

-I saw lots of cool things, such as: a Costa Rican version of Nick Jonas, a pair of Nike Air Force 1's (thought of you Double G), and a midget! Yup!
-Today was Katy's (the only girl I recognize from before) birthday, so Susie (a CFCI missionary who has been here for over 30 years) invited me to come into Carpio to celebrate early as a surprise. I met them at the clinic where Katy now works four mornings a week and we had some of "Susie's Chocolate Cake", a recipe that my mom uses a lot in the States. Last night I was writing Katy a little card and suddenly I had this image of one of our sleepovers when the two of us stayed up all night making hemp bracelets. So I stayed up all night last night making her a hemp bracelet.
-Another memory about that night with Katy: she helped set up the beds on the floor while I was taking a shower. I came out and she had put the sheets on top of the blankets -- she had never used sheets before.
-Later I started teaching Ana Virginia (a young woman from Pavas who also teaches classes at the Refuge) how to type. It was amazing how quickly she learned.
-I also taught a sixteen year old how to "borrow" in subtraction today.
-This morning I made the mistake of re-reading the goodbye letter my mom snuck into my backpack before I left. The first time I read it (in the airport a few hours after I had said goodbye), oceans were pouring out of my eyes. This time I held it together, but it's really starting to sink in...nine months is a long time.
-When I was leaving Anacortes, all I pictured was the hugs I'm going to get as soon as I return, all the good times I'm going to have next summer at the lake with friends and how senior year absolutely flew by (that was also nine months). Having said that though, today as I was walking through San Jose, I realized I still have a lot of Costa Rica ahead of me...a whole lot in fact. Between teaching, three to four hours daily in transit, and straining my brain just to communicate, I feel like every day has a week packed into it. I don't know if these nine months are going to "fly by" like I thought.
-With those thoughts in my head, I meandered into La Casona, a cespool of cheap souvenirs. I was searching for postcards when I recognized one of the vendor's faces--when we lived here for a year, my mom and I would come occasionally to get gifts for friends states-side and we struck up a conversation with this woman a few times. So I saw her today, asked her name, and said, "I'm sure you don't remember me, but I lived her six years ago with my family and I remember my mom and I talked with you a couple times." Her face brightened--she couldn't believe how tall I had grown, that I remembered her, etc. She asked, "Are you here working in La Carpio again?" It was so fantastic to have somewhat of a stranger recognize me after six long years and be so excited to see me. We talked for a while about all sorts of things (particularly how she wants me to find a boyfriend here, no matter how short he is) and our conversation ended with her saying these words: "If you ever need anything, anything at all, call me. I'm another tica mami for you." I almost started crying. Just this morning I was thinking about how much I missed my mom, and here God sent me another woman who was full of so much love. We hugged for a long time and I promised to return soon (plus she cut me a great deal on postcards).
-As if that wasn't enough, when I caught the bus from downtown to San Francisco, my realy tica mami was on the same bus as me! The odds of that are incredibly small. We talked about our days and I told her how I was missing home this morning, but then I ran into that woman and I realized how all these little miracles keep happening that perk me up and keep me hopeful. Her response? "Hannah, I think your parents are praying for you a lot."
-I think that's true.

-Hannah