Day 15.

Observations:

-As I was walking downtown today, I listened in anguish as a clearly mentally-unstable man continuously punched a metal door, screaming after every hit. I also watched as a man washed himself in a public fountain. Finally, I saw a homeless woman pick something from her matted hair and then proceed to eat it.

-The dogs here lay around on the street without moving and quite often I have a feeling they're no longer alive. The same goes for some of the people I've seen.

-This evening I hung out with Dana (an Argentinean girl who goes to the same school I did when I was here), along with her gringo boyfriend and his sister. I was reminded so clearly of everything stereotypical of a MK (missionary kid). Mainly the "I hate Costa Rica/I hate Latinos/I hate Spanish and refuse to learn it" attitude. At one point I stood up and yelled, "You are in a Latino's home! Your parents are here to help them! So many people would give anything to have the opportunity that you do to learn another language. Twenty years from now you are going to look back on this with such regret. These people are beautiful, this place is beautiful, this language is beautiful -- why do you try so hard to find the ugliness in everything? The only thing that ends up looking bad is you."

-Okay, I didn't really say that. But I thought it. And maybe one day I will share bits and pieces of it with the MKs I come across.

-I can now say I've seen a Costa Rican albino. That was cool.

-While I was talking with my tica mom about the whole missionary kid thing, she said something that really stuck in my brain. She told me, "Hannah, there is a saying here: 'Dios no tiene nietos' (God doesn't have grandchildren). We are all sons and daughters of God and the only way our children can be related to him is directly, not through us parents." Think about that.

-Hannah