Day 1.

I'm here. In Costa Rica. Yes.
Last night I said my tearful goodbyes at the airport to my friends the Traftons, to Mila, and to my family. Then I flew out of SeaTac at 11:45, landed in Houston at around 6:00 (where I saw a Fox News Channel Official Store--only in Texas), left that place at 9:05 and landed in Costa Rica a little after twelve. Everything went incredibly smoothly, I made it through customs all by myself, and nothing was lost/stolen.
Once I got here, Kellie O'Connell Alvarez picked me up with her one year old son Lucas who is far too cute to actually exist. I am staying with them tonight and going to the CFCI devotional in the morning, then I will be meeting my host family and moving in tomorrow at around noon.
Today I also went to the movies and saw Ice Age 3 (sort of...mostly I slept). My ticket cost a little over two dollars! It hurts to think about how much I've spent in the last month on movie tickets in the states.
On the topic of money, the exchange rate is currently at 590 colones to the US dollar. When we were here for a year, it was about 400. And we think our economy is going down.
Before I go to sleep, I just want to express how amazing it is to be back here. I've used this analogy before, but I feel like Lucy from the Chronicles of Narnia. It's as if I've returned to this magical land and it's hard to truly know what is the real world: home or here. Or if the truth is that here IS home.
-Hannah