{i'm back!}

and in one piece (barely)! costa rica was the absolute best trip of my entire life. i can't even think of where to begin to write about it (and certainly can't write it all!) so i'll start with some pictures.

these are some of the fantastic kids i got to teach the first week. my spanish skillz came in handy, but the fact that all of the kids are learning english kind of helped (a lot!). costa rica is on a different season schedule than those of us north of the equator (they're in winter right now!), so they had their winter break the second week. the girl in the middle of the last picture cried and cried when i left. she kept saying "kate, you're leaving me? i don't want you to go! don't leave me." it made me cry. i miss all of them so much!
i went to a zoo, and the parrot wasn't in a cage. it was pretty much amazing. when you spoke to it, it said "hola!", so i thought it deserved a space on the post. plus also i really liked the colors ;)

we did construction our second week. we dug ditches (shown here) that took forever, and i had a run in with a cement mixer we "fondly" called gordita (little fat woman, for those of you without spanish skillage). i have many bruises and sore muscles to show for all of this. plus a cement sidewalk and ditches for pipes. hooray!

costa rica was incredibly beautiful, and so were the people. even in the poorest parts of the city, eveyone was so welcoming and kindhearted. i could totally see the work of God everywhere. i felt so close to Him there-man. it was just the most amazing thing ever. i wasn't homesick once (much to my surprise {and my parents' dismay!}) and bawled when we left (our plane was delayed and we had a 28 hour travel day coming home with 4 hours of sleep, so i guess that's what i get!). i want to be a teacher when i grow up, and i can totally see myself teaching english on the missions field there. more on this later, but i just feel so full of spirit right now. best experience of my life.

in the creative department, i sketched project ideas out the whole trip. a couple of things are in the works. actually, many things. expect an influx of pictures coming soon!

i miss costa rica terribly, but it's good to be home.

ciao!