Stuck!!

Hello All, and welcome to COSTA RICA!

Ha. Just kidding. Actually, we're stuck in Miami. Heard about the little hurricane named Ernesto? Downgraded to a Tropical Storm, then down to a Tropical Depression. But, either way, our flight was cancelled. So, we leave tonight instead. But just over half of us still flew into Miami.

When I landed in Miami at about 3:00, there was little wind and no rain. It's been raining on and off and a bit windy, but nothing major. We slept in a church last night, which was a great chance to get to know each other and hang out. Tonight we're supposed to fly out and land in San Jose around 8:00pm (Mountain Time-ish). Tonight I think the plans are to stay in a retreat center and tomorrow we'll meet our host families.

So, that's what's been going on lately. Weather looks good, so we're pretty optimistic that we're going to be able to make it out of the country tonight. DEPORTATION :)

martes

tomorrow is the day.

i'm not sure what else to say. i leave tomorrow for costa rica, jump on a few planes and get on over there. i'm basically ready, except for a few packing things yet. it's been a good past few days, so i feel like it was worth being around for peoples' re-arrival at Dordt.

tuesday night included a fun sleepover in sioux city, hammock and all. thursday included an airport pickup in omaha, overnight in a shady hotel, shopping, another airport pickup (friday). Friday included a wonderful girls' night, leaving my friends in style! the weekend included a lot of hanging out, movie watching, mcdonald's run, and everything that equals college.

sunday was a great service, hangout with the fam, singing in praiseteam, playing in the offertory, and hanging out with the family again. today is a lot of things to make me feel better: clean my apartment so I come home to a clean place, finish packing, visit people galore I promised I would see before I left, and all sorts of good stuff.

tomorrow at 5am, I wake up to prepare to leave, then I leave by 5:45. so, while you're sleeping soundly in your beds, dream of my, flying on a plane!

you'll hear more from me when i'm there. i'm sure i'll have internet access, so I plan on keeping all ya'll updated.

Until then...

one week to go

well...

as you can see from the appropriate title, there's one week before I leave. At this time next week Tuesday, I'll be flying! Yay!

It's a good week and I'm looking forward to it. Last night was a wonderful spontaneous night of hanging out, Lion King, and being scared by Hjelle, which hasn't happened in months (all of the above, mostly!). Today involves a trip to Sioux City and overnight in a hammock. To steal a phrase..."w00t."

There's more to come this week. I just typed it all out and deleted it, realizing you probably don't want to read that. I'll probably post about it later, so we'll save it for after the fact.

In other news. I just bought a James Blunt CD, "Back to Bedlam," which I absolutely love. It's got some great music.

Okay. I go now.

should I start this blog off with a question?

does anyone have the song "Princes and Frogs" by Superchick? Because I like it a lot and have been attempting and failing to download it. So, if you have it and can somehow get it to me, you would really make me happy.

I realize I just posted, but I feel like it was such a superficial post that I need to post again. Today (Wed), I go to Sioux Falls! I get to pick up luggage that was repaired months ago so that I have stuff to pack in to go away for three months. I'm really excited, because that means I get to hang out with a good friend I haven't seen in months.

I keep saying that I want to hang out with Dordt people before I leave, but I'm horrible at making it happen. I've even called people to be like, "Hey, what's up?" and then proceeded to stay at home. I've been hanging out with the family a lot, which has been good. I've been getting in my fair share of baseball games, which is also good, but I'm also realizing how close my departure is (13 days!) and how much I want to see people. I'll have to get on that.

In just over a week, the myriad of people will indeed start to arrive. Hooray, sleepover in Omaha! I'm super excited for next week and all of the goodness it holds - sleepover in Sioux City, sleepover in Omaha, girls' night, packing, and everything in between.

There. Substantial post.

Oh, and extra special points to you if you can link my blog title to a song...

it's the little things

it's the little things that make my day, lately, like:

- my newly discovered hilarious song, "banana phone"
- having a packing list
- downloading a new version of mozilla
- getting to work today for hh
- drinking coffee (i'm not addicted...)
- sending e-cards!

a weird state of mind

I'm leaving in 2 1/2 weeks for Costa Rica. I'll be there for 16 weeks, basically. 10 days in Nicaragua, 10 days in Guatemala, a few days in Miami, maybe a trip to Panama, lots of host family time, classes, language, culture.

I'm doing what? It seems like I've barely finished with camp. I've been home, unpacking, re-orienting to home life, enjoying the change of pace. But now it's real. Now I've met with my friend who went last semester, and suddenly she's giving me concrete advice "do this, don't do this.." type stuff. I'm leaving! Hooray! Oh no! Right now I feel like there's a clash of sheer excitement and sheer anxiety running through my system. And I can't help but feel like it's going to be like that until I actually leave and get there.

So there you have it, my brain in a nutshell for the moment. I'm thankful for lunch dates and well-timed work projects to keep me occupied.

productivity

productivity feels good. like:

unpacked from camp.
windows washed.
laundry for whole family done.
plans for tomorrow's dinner done.
translations done.
babysitting done.
wal-mart run done.
gas gotten.
three cars washed.
bike ridden to church.
phone calls made.
haircut appointment made.
lists made.
evaluation filled out.
dining room cleaned.
rooms ready for vacuum.

changing gears

well, I'm home from camp.

It was a wonderful experience. I met a lot of wonderful people, some of whom who go to Northwestern. I got to know some Dordt people better. I got to know other people well, too. In general, it was a great, great time. Day camp this last week was great - a perfect combination of camper interaction and bonding time with some of our staff who had nights off. good stuff.

now i'm home. i have piles of stuff in the basement, waiting to be unpacked. coming home on saturday, i was exhausted and decided things would wait. now that time has come. tomorrow, i start working on my massive list of things that i want to get done before i leave again, in just over three weeks. the biggest on that list is figuring out what i need to take with me to costa rica (corpus christi...). i'll think about that after i unpack from camp, organize/clean everything, and have my head back on straight!

so, a good summmer/11 weeks spent at camp. so good. God is good.