Day 62.

So much life has happened this weekend! So sorry I haven't kept you all posted. I'm going to scrap the current format -- I can't squeeze all that I did in five simple statements. Back to the list.

- Friday I spent the night in Carpio for the first time since I was 12. Alanna and I watched the Hannah Montana movie and all three High School Musical films with four twelve-year-old girls, a few of which will be in my cabin group. I slept. Alanna didn't.
- Saturday I led the Bible study for the girls. We took Psalm 139 and made a sort of mad-lib out of it, filling in our own fears, worries, dreams...it made the whole thing a lot more personal. Some of the girls had responses that were ingeniously creative and others had some that made my insides churn with heart-break.
- After that, Alanna, Tom, and I all went to Alanna's youth group. We watched a dubbed Focus on the Family film that I doubt I would've been able to comprehend if it was in English.
- Sunday I went to church and then talked to my parents on skype! That was great. Much needed.
- Sunday afternoon Tom and I ran into Alanna at a local internet cafe. We decided to hang out, and I volunteered my room as a place to lounge. Wrong. Idea. As soon as we walked up to my house, my tica mom was visibly flustered. I apologized to her, saying that we'd be out of everyone's way and just chillax in my bedroom. Another. Wrong. Idea. She told me that was simply not going to happen, so the three of us got out of there pretty fast...it was like you could cut the tension with a chainsaw. After spending a while in Tom's living room, it got dark and the three of us decided to depart ways. I got home and my tico folks had headed out, leaving me with my host sisters. I apologized profusely to both of them, expressing that I could tell how upset my tica mom was. They explained that in this house, you MUST ask in advance before anyone shows up, and they never ever hang out in their rooms (not even with their girl friends, but ESPECIALLY not their guy friends). Woops.
- Seven o'clock came and my tico folks still weren't back yet and I was exhausted. I lay down for a bit and ended up conking out. At 8 o'clock my tica mom knocked on my door and I leapt up, apologizing and blushing and profusely protesting that I learned my lesson and nothing like that would ever happen again. She just stood there in the doorway, each hand holding a candy. "Hannah," she said, "Raquel told me that you think I'm mad at you. I'm not. Here are two chocolates for you." We hugged and I felt like I was with my real mom for a minute -- you know how miscommunication can plant frustration which eventually grows into reconciliation. Sometimes you have to make a tear in a relationship so that you can sew it back up, making the fibre even tighter, even stronger.
- I spent the afternoon scouring for "Jockey" chocolates, a certain kind of sweet that was very famous in the 80's, and has been brought out of a twenty year retirement for the candy company's 100th aniversary. My host family has been raving about the treats for the last few months...so I bought some and presented them to my tica mom who smiled and hugged me tight. And all was right with the world.

--Hannah