One Complete Year in Costa Rica

January 4th is my one year anniversary of being in CR for a consecutive period of time without being home to the US. The entire year of 2014, I was not in the US.

It also means I've been living in CR a little over a year and a half.

This is a huge deal as before coming here, I could have never imagined being away from home for a whole year.  But, just like many other things I've done (and continue to do) that I couldn't have imagined - I did this, too.

It's weird being outside of your home country for a whole year.  There are many things that you miss, like weddings or not having heard any of the top songs of the year. Yet for all the things missed, there are invaluable things that I have gained.  That's the cost and reward of this lifestyle. 

As I ride on a motorcycle today with my friend's aunt and her little cousin, waves of emotion and joy flood over me.  I watch the palms flash by as the wind splashes my face and the dust becomes a canvas for the rays of light shooting through the palms. 

It soaks in, how far I have come in becoming a part of the community... and letting the community become a part of me.  I have been invited to places that other North Americans don't go. I have sat on front porches and watched ATV tours filled with tourists drive by - marveling at the fact that I am on the other side... remembering all of the times I have peered out bus windows as we rode by people's houses... wondering what was happening on those elusive front porches.

 I have eaten "leche agria"  and liked it. I've been tentatively given "sopa de leche" by the sweetest old women and I've proven that North Americans can like this type of food, even despite all of the woman's "verguenza."

I have been taken in by a group of children in a river who shrugged in acceptance after I answered their question of who's family member I was by saying I was just a friend.  I've taught some of those same children how to float on their backs and do front flips in the water as they clung onto me as if they had known me for years. 

I have caught falling oranges in a sack contraption and picked culantro that was growing like weeds and I've ridden on the bar of a bike as my friend precariously peddled us to  another cousin's house along the same dirt road. 

I've spent an entire week speaking only in Spanish.... day and night.  I've played, laughed, cooked, cleaned, and above all... I've been accepted into a family. 

I've been told I am different, that I am open and willing to try anything without judgments.  But more than that.... I feel that I have been given trust and have learned to trust more than ever before.  I have learned to be open and vulnerable... to be myself and be confident that that self can be loved.  I have learned from people who take life in stride.  I have learned from people who's laughter rings through difficult times, so loud that sometimes the neighbors can't sleep at night and give thanks to God when the family disperses back to their respective homes.

"Si Dios quiere" and "Si pasa bien, y si no... tambien" are phrases I am slowly soaking into my life philosophy. 

I have seen that people with very little give to people with even less.  I have witnessed that a Christmas gift can be as grand as buying more groceries for the family and that the celebration can be eating the result of those delicious groceries and playing ridiculous games on the floor of the front porch.

I've slept in a pile of five "primas hermanas" on two mattresses and  I've been woken up in the early morning by fireworks in the living room.  I've laughed hysterically as we all  lifted up our plates in a wave so that a cockroach could run across the table without getting on our nachos.

I've been a part of bathroom humor, toilets overflowing, and waiting in line to use that toilet.  I've learned slang and been told to say funny things without knowing what they were.  I've been the recipient of many pranks and felt like I had sisters.

I've taken friends to the hospital, and stayed with them through difficult times.  I've used Spanish in contexts of doctors, police, and many more than I can remember right now.

I've started and run an improv troupe completely in Spanish.  I've started a drama program in a school with extremely low resources.  I've toured with a children's play to a school so rural that it only had one teacher and all of the grades learned in one classroom. I've performed in a full length play in SPANISH!  I've taught a full year at a HS.  I've taught English at a pharmacy and at a fishery. I've seen two private students progress over a year and a half!  I've been a blog writer and a receptionist. I even taught two weeks of Spanish camp to teenagers from Texas.  

As I write this, the memories keep pouring out until this page is overflowing with events of the past year.

This year was a year that has shaped me and held experiences that I know will stay with me always, affecting the way I walk through life.

Here's to the coming year being another one of trust, growth, and laughter - always remembering to choose love and not to let fear turn me against my playful heart.