Polina
It was Alexander’s birthday, so he got a lot of phone calls from his family and friends. Unexpectedly, one of Prof. Zapata friends from Colombia, which now is living in Costa Rica, invited us to her house. Her name is Alexis and she has been living in Costa Rica for seven years. When we arrived to her house, it was full of people, family and friends. They all were very friendly and nice to us. We talked for some time, while kids were playing soccer outside. Alex and Andrés went outside to join them. Soccer is very popular in Central and Latin America. All boys here know how to play soccer. We had a wonderful homemade dinner, which was traditional Colombian food. Everything tasted perfect; the chicken with vegetables, rice and salad. After everyone was finished eating, we went to mass at the Catholic Church. Alexis’ father had passed away one month ago, so we all went to the mass, except Alex and Andrés, who decided to stay to play soccer. Both of them are very good with the ball.
The church we went to was very bright from the natural light; it was built completely different that the other catholic churches I’ve seen. It was very simply decorated with not many paintings or religious icons. There were many kids. Most of them were orphans. They are living in the dorms near the church built by the priest. The whole philosophy of the priest is to help poor and the ones that are in need. Nearly a thousand kids belong to the church. He is like the father for them. I admire people like him; he does not put all the money into decorations for the church or for his personal use, like many churches do, but gives it to people. The mass continued for about two hours. It was a lot of singing, and reading a bible, but the most of the time the priest spent talking about how to be a good person. He talked about important values in life and many other things.
The church we went to was very bright from the natural light; it was built completely different that the other catholic churches I’ve seen. It was very simply decorated with not many paintings or religious icons. There were many kids. Most of them were orphans. They are living in the dorms near the church built by the priest. The whole philosophy of the priest is to help poor and the ones that are in need. Nearly a thousand kids belong to the church. He is like the father for them. I admire people like him; he does not put all the money into decorations for the church or for his personal use, like many churches do, but gives it to people. The mass continued for about two hours. It was a lot of singing, and reading a bible, but the most of the time the priest spent talking about how to be a good person. He talked about important values in life and many other things.
Alexander
Well, Today is my birthday. I am 22. Today was supposed to be our day off, but as I’ve learned, there is never a day off when it comes to Prof Zapata, and that could not be any more true than today. As it turns out, prof. Zapata’s brothers best friends sister lives in Costa Rica, and they got in contact. The sister also being Colombia and from the same city as prof. Zapata meant that they shared the same enthusiasm as one other even though they had never met before. The woman, Alexis, insisted that she come pick us up and bring us to her house for lunch.
Alexis had left with the girls to go to mass and when they returned, they brought with them a piña colada cake. It was so delicious. The whole family then sang. Then the kids started chanting that I take a bite out of the cake, of course I knew that they wanted me to do it so they could shove my face into the cake, but why not, it’s all in fun and games, so I did, and as expected, they pushed my head into the cake. It was all great laughs and everyone had a blast.
Alexis had left with the girls to go to mass and when they returned, they brought with them a piña colada cake. It was so delicious. The whole family then sang. Then the kids started chanting that I take a bite out of the cake, of course I knew that they wanted me to do it so they could shove my face into the cake, but why not, it’s all in fun and games, so I did, and as expected, they pushed my head into the cake. It was all great laughs and everyone had a blast.
Kimberly
Today was meant to be our free day, a day where we didn’t have to wake up super early, have a schedule, or walk 500 miles in the rain. It definitely did not start out that way when I woke up at 6:15 in the morning. Even with the curtains closed the room was pretty bright. I rolled over to try to get the rest of my 40 winks. It didn’t work out so well and I found myself crawling out of bed a little after 7. After laundry we met with the rest of the group who was having breakfast to think of something fun we could do that day. On the back of one of our brochures from a previous day there was an advertisement for the International Jazz Festival. We had also seen signs around town. When we looked up the information the dates said until the 4th of August so we thought we would be able to find a concert to go to and celebrate Alex’s birthday. No luck. The date was not accurate because the last concert was the night before. So Sra. Zapata asked a man in the hotel if he knew of any places around town. He gave her a list and she passed it to Alexis. I was under the impression that we were going to on Tuesday to listen to music so when they asked if we were ready to go I was looking forward to going to sleep in the nice warm bed. Instead we went to Castro’s Discoteque to dance. I am not a dancer but they pulled me out there anyway. We made it home finally around 1:30 in the morning. While the rest turned on music and did some work in the living room I laid down for the night. I have never missed a bed so much. It was a very long “free day.”
This isn't even all of our new group of friends. Someone had to man the cameras...
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