If God Wanted Man to Fly, He Would Have Given Him Wings.

The arrival back to Costa Rica was nice, considering we fled as a community to the NW part of Costa Rica (Guanacaste) for five days. The were some of the most beautiful beaches i have seen. It's no Edgewater Park, but it will have to do.

Brother Jim and Sister Ann arrived on the 10th of January to commence our re-orientation retreat. It was excellent to see them, and to have some time to reflect and look back on the of months down here. Each day on the retreat was a different aspect to review, but I found the reevaluating of goals to be the most influential; it was interesting to see our community goals in week 2 without knowing each other or the country we were going to live in. Some were lofty, while others we had and continue to make into reality. Many of the community goals would be seen in a family if family made goals...i.e. be forgiving, learn life experience from each other, humor and hugs, share thoughts and experiences but do not dump them on each other. We also bolstered our individual goals. My goals for the remaining part of the year are as follows:
- read 17 books by August 1st
- keep journal and blog updated
- speak Spanish with reckless abandon. enjoy learning sign language
- do not generalize...look at the individual
- keep in contact with friends and family
- win respect/trust of children I work with
- bench press 300lbs by August 1st
- run 10 miles in 90 minutes
- use balance in all things
- initiate retreats
- create website for my ministry site
- enjoy free time; I won't have it next year
- emulate Christ in every opportunity
Feel free to challenge me by asking the progress of these goals; that's why they're public.
In other news, yesterday the community, Brother Jim and I went canopy touring flying several hundred feet in the air across 300 meters of cable. It was awesome! Hence the title of this blog entry. With this said, there was a good quote said on retreat that can be applied to not only canopy tours but life as well.
"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God."

Back In The USS...Costa Rica

Christmas break was a most enjoyable time! I was greeted lovingly by my family, had an excellent first weekend filled with Angelo's Pizza, reunions with family and capped it off Sunday with an excellent Rockette's Christmas show to put us all in the mood. Later that evening, Moore made the trip up and Marty was in town, so we needless to say had some excellent man talk coupled with glasses of whiskey. It was frigid as I walked off of the plane in Newark; but now the reciprocal is true; 80 degrees and sunny. I suppose all things have there contra positive.
Break lasted two weeks; but I seldom was bored. Everyday was an opportunity to meet with friends and family to find out what they were up to and to share the experience I have had down here. On the eve of Christmas Eve Scott and I sat courtside of the Cavs vs. Rockets game...it was unreal. Yao Ming is the largest human I have ever seen. It truly is a different game when you're down there.
Christmas Eve at Grandma Smith's was heavenly as per usual. Christmas day was a treat to just hang out with my brother, sister, mother and father. Seldom, is it just the five of us, but it was an excellent dinner and cut of meat and a great memory I will have for the rest of my life.
After New Year's Eve, Erin and I went up to the Wilderness Lodge in PA to sit fireside and go cross-country skiing. Although I prefer downhill skiing, the atmosphere of the lodge makes up for the work one needs to do during cross country skiing. Friday, Nate and Angela met Erin and I there for an enjoyable Friday afternoon. It was awesome to get out in the country with some close friends. That evening, Marty treated Scott and I to a send off steak...stellar conversation and laughs. As evidenced by the above statements, my break could not have been better. I look forward to getting back into a regiment down here and hopefully giving some solid blogs! Thanks to all who made the break one for the books.

"He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul's estate."
-Henry David Thoreau

"a la parilla"...spanish for "on the parilla"

Today is Tuesday; no work today because the teacher I work with, Laura was sick, and it is very difficult, if not impossible to find a substitute teacher that knows sign language. I relaxed today and we later celebrated the birthday of Erin(one of my roommates.) It was enjoyable; Italian food, little vino, cake and laughs.
The weekend was enjoyable. Friday night there was a work party with carne a la parilla which basically is marinated grilled meat...it was awesome. It was excellent to hang out with and get to know the people with whom I work outside of the workplace. Sunday after an delicious meal with the Friars at lunchtime; Liz and I decided to venture to a free concert up in the mountains. The name of the group was "Malpais" a well-known Costa Rican group. It was a worth-while experience. They reminded me a little of Dave Mathews band in that they have a violinist, pianist, flautist mixed with a bit of rock. All in all, the past few days have been enjoyable; but I look forward to seeing my friends and family in ten days!
I came across this quote today which I reflected on a bit and I think is interesting.

"Where your deep gladness meets with the deep hunger of the world, there you will find a further calling."
~Frederick Buechner

Tico Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving! We, the community, went to Marta's house for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, which was an excellent "taste" of home, (pun intended.) Her husband is from the United States, so that was the reason of the traditional dinner and football (americano) being watched. It was a great substitute to the Thanksgivings at the Smith Household, but it was still a substitute. I missed being awoken by the smell of cooking turkey, watching the Macy's Parade and having my mother have fresh muffins and coffee ready. It just makes one appreciate more the familiar amenities.
The weekend was enjoyable; relaxing and reflective. Today was the beginning of Advent, and so we celebrated with a turkey lunch with the friars and the community after mass. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon; much enjoyed.
For prayer this evening, I found this excerpt and thought it appropriate for the beginning of Advent:
We prepare lists of things to do; We prepare lists of things to buy; We prepare lists of names for sending greeting cards; We prepare to decorate our homes, trim a tree, plan a Christmas dinner We spend hours of time in preparation Preparation is also a time for anticipation: We anticipate having a great holiday celebration; We anticipate reunions with family and friends; We anticipate the excitement in giving and receiving gifts. Within the preparation and the anticipation, do we make time for waiting? Waiting in quietness to hear God speak Waiting in wonder to know Christ being re-born in us; Waiting in silence to experience the Holy Spirit enfolding us. Let us prepare, anticipate, and wait during this season of Advent. God of my quiet times, you know how difficult it is to be still when I am busy preparing to celebrate Your birth. Give me the will to create quiet spaces in the everyday, as my life gets busier.
Amen.

Karaoke Bond

The Internet gods decide that Sunday is an appropriate day to work, usually gods rest on the seventh day...any who, all is well down here in Costa Rica. The Internet was down all week, but not too much had occurred this week. I did not have work on Friday, so I took that day as a day of relaxation and cleaning. In the evening, a friend of ours, Katherine invited us to go out near the University down here, so we had some good times and enjoyed the night time. We went to a karaoke bar and did some dancing. All the songs were familiar to the Spanish speaking natives, but foreign to me; it would be the equivalent Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" being sung at a karaoke bar in the US...everyone knows it. It was an interesting and fun night.
Last night, Liz, Erin and I went to see the new James Bond movie; entertaining as usual. It was drastically cheaper than the US theaters...entrance was roughly 2200 colones (4 US dollars) and a large popcorn and pop was 2600 colones (5 US dollars). You can't even get a small coke at Crocker Park for 5 dollars, so this proved to be an awesome find for me.
Today, we had the standard awesome lunch with the friars, and soon i am heading to mass with Fr. Jorge. Other than that, things are going well...
I'll leave you with Padre Pio's daily thought on courage

“It is always necessary to have courage, and if some heaviness of soul or weakness of spirit comes upon you, fly to the foot of the Cross, place yourself amidst the heavenly perfumes and you will be unduly comforted and refreshed.”

Jaco Rhymes with Taco

This weekend, Mike and I went to Jaco Beach and it was awesome. The people who live here said that the beach was dangerous and not a "typical" beach of Costa Rica. I did not find it too dangerous, and the beach, although was not pristine, was still breath-taking. It is surrounded by mountains and palm trees, and the water was luke warm.
We left Saturday morning after we had some breakfast in downtown San Jose, then headed off to the beach for the 2 and a half hour bus ride. This distance is more or less equivalent of Cleveland to Columbus; however, here in Costa Rica, the bus cost roughly 1,980 colones, or a little less than 4 dollars; pretty amazing contrast. Bus rides are about the only thing down here that are inexpensive, that and rice and beans.
It was an enjoyable weekend of good conversation and relaxation. As for now I am prepping for the long Monday which is coming soon. Hope all is well on your ends!

Communication is Key

Today, was another manic Wednesday. All went well actually, standard day at the school and an enjoyable English tutoring session in Escazu. The 3 and 1/2 hour tutoring after work can drain me a bit; however, I cam home to some birthday cards and a package with Erin's famous cookies in it, so that made it all worth while! I am blessed to have great family and friends.
In other news, on Monday during my sign language course I met an interesting person. He had audiophones in his ears, and during the class did not speak; surely he was deaf. He was, but suprisingly he said "hey, how's it going?" To my complete surprise, because he had darker skin and hair and appeared to be of Costa Rican decent. We got to talking, and he was in fact costa rican, but had lived in the US for 10 years where he learned english. Here I was talking to a deaf man, one who happened to be bilingual and learning the sign language of Costa Rica. It is difficult enough to be hearing and be bilingual; I cannot imagine how you learn to speak several languages without the ability to hear. The conversation was awesome, and cool because he did not hear my English words, he read my English-speaking lips...mind blowing.
We got to talking about our future goals and why we are where we are. He said while living in the US, the education for deaf is focused on speaking and to communicate in society, and in Costa Rica the focus is lacking and accepting of only signing rather than speaking. I am not saying he is wrong or right, it was just interesting to see his persepctive; I am sure there are people of the deaf community who are against learning voiced language because it detours from the deaf identity. Like all things, there are pros and cons, I look forward to learning more about the issue...

P.S. This picture is of Liz and I at Volcano Poas...not relevant to the entry above.