Day 26.

Observations:

-I HONESTLY WITNESSED A MIRACLE TODAY! So I was walking to my friend Dana's house, running a little late as usual (tico time). Anyways, as I was walking I saw two young woman getting out of their gated home, heading for a taxi. Nothing unusual about that. I glanced at one of them, the older one, and our eyes passed over each other's faces and locked -- it was Melisa!!! Melisa was our empleada (maid) that came with our first house when we lived here six years ago. That sounds much more condescending that it's supposed to be. Melisa's family is from Peru and we went to church with them for the entire 13 months we were here. While we visited four years ago, we tried to find them, but had no luck. Now, six years after I saw her last, I happen to live less than a block away from her! If I wasn't put with this family, if I wasn't going to Dana's, if I wasn't running late, none of this would have happened. MIRACLE!
-In other news, I started The Kite Runner last night. I finished it this morning. Read it if you haven't already.
-Last night my tica mom had a family gathering to pray for her brother (the doctors are giving him absolutely no hope now). We all ate dinner together, laughed, cried, prayed. For dessert, we all ate multi-colored marshmallows. No, there were no kids present.
-I talked more with Dana's gringo boyfriend's sister. This time it went much better (she's a big Harry Potter fan!), and I reminded her about how six months ago she absolutely hated everything here. Now she only dislikes it. Who knows, I said, maybe in three years she'll learn to love it.
-One more thing: today I got my nose pierced.

-Hannah