Lluvia

6/18/2010

 
Well I made it here. The flights were uneventful so I will spare you the details with those. I made it to the ALE Spanish language center where we unloaded all our equipment and met our host parents. Ours is a wonderful lady.. whose name i sadly did forget right now and I feel awful about, and we headed back to her house. There are four girls from the program who are all staying with me, and so far so good. The shower doesn't have heated water so when I stepped in at 8pm last night that was a cold awakening, however the family is extremely clean and hospitable. We had a good meal of.. you guessed it rice and beans.. but we had empanadas, and cabbage salad as well.

Today we headed to school at 8am (looks like no sleeping in for me this summer as I still had to get up at 6am) and headed back to the school where we had our first hours of training and orientation. We learned all about blood pressure monitors today and then labeled all our tools in Spanish. It is going to be just like school at home with daily quizzes and homework, but the difference is that it will all be so useful in the second month. So I am really excited to learn!

There is a small stand that serves a pretty solid meal for lunch right around the corner and I had.. rice and beans ;) haha the stereotype really is true. But also fried chicken and pasta salad, cabbage salad, and fried plantains. Sorry that I keep writing so much about food but I really like food..

I suppose I should explain the title of this blog as well. Costa Rica is a RAIN forest. Today it has pretty much POURED for the better second half. And by pour I mean floods of water running down the street. As we left school for the bus the water really started to come down and my roommates and I missed the bus twice.. haha oops. but we were able to find our stop on the first try, which is pretty impressive since none of us really had any idea where we

As I was thinking about what to blog about yesterday I was thinking about all my initial impressions of Costa Rica. Then today we talked a lot about stereotypes and I realized that I had already formed so many... oops.

And spiritually I am excited to find out that there are several other christians on the team and I would love to gather them together and just pray now and then. I think that would be such a great experience for us to all gather with one purpose. This trip is so different from all the others I have been on because they were all centered on sharing about Christ. It is a different sort of challenge, but I am constantly praying that God gives me a peaceful heart and an ability to grow.

I always see many sides of myself that I am ashamed of when I am stressful situations, and this is already true, so your prayers that I would be a humble servant and eager to place others before me would be spectacular!

well in that mindset I don't want to hog the internet so my roommates get a chance as well. I am going rafting tomorrow so I will certainly have plenty of adventures to tell after that!

ONE MORE DAY

6/16/2010

 
So I am leaving tomorrow night at 12:30am from LAX. I am feeling a little nervous as I still have not put a single thing into a suitcase, nor do I have malaria pills.. However I still have a full day and I am sure it will all come together at the last. I started listening to Spanish radio here so I can start to accustom myself to  hearing Spanish all the time.

Anyway, I need to get to bed here, but I am so excited for this journey and look forward to what tomorrow may bring.

S
 
Hey All,
Just a quick update on how things are going. I am in the process of gathering all my needed equipment. I just purchased a few sets of Scrubs to wear in the hospital and it is rather amusing. I feel like a little bit of a poser wearing them, but they are fun :)

I also purchased a webcam last night so for those of you who have Skype ability I would LOVE to set up a Skype sesh with you while I am down there!!

I don't remember if I mentioned this anywhere yet but I found out that for the second month of my trip I will be in a tiny little city called Olanchito, Honduras up near the north-east coast of Honduras.

Lastly, I have been incredible blessed by all the support that has poured in. However I still have $1234 left to raise. I would be super grateful if you would consider donating to my trip. If all of you give just $10 then I would be there :)

Again you can send checks to
Jen Van Donk
1630 Fairview st Apt B
San Luis Obipo, CA 93401


Or on my website www.jenvandonk.weebly.com you can also click on the paypal link and donate right online.

Also, a few prayer requests: I have just been praying fervently that God would maintain a right heart in me and that this won't just be a humanitarian trip to do good things but that it will really be a time to serve the people out of GOD'S love and that I will have many opportunities to share the gospel. Furthermore I know that it will be a challenging summer so I have just been praying for endurance and a cheerful heart throughout even the heat and humidity and illness.

Thank you for blessing me! Can't wait to share more of my adventure with you all!

BENEFIT CONCERT

5/4/2010

 
Hey All,
This Saturday May 8 is my benefit concert. It will be at Sally Loo's from 7-10pm  with bands

Painted Soul
Mo Hensler
Lindsey Ringer
Meredith Hobbs

I am excited to have some fun and am praying that it is a successful experience

Update on funds I have currently raised nearly $2000 so I am almost halfway there! I have just 6 weeks left so I am eager to see how the rest of these funds are provided. Thanks for your continued support!

Post Title.

3/12/2010

 
Upcoming EVENTS!!

I just booked Sally Lou's on May 8 for a benefit concert. I am still in the process of finding a band and getting some goodies for a raffle. If you have any ideas or suggestions feel free to shout it out and let me know. Keep an eye out for an invitation to that soon.

Also April 24th I will be having an open house down in So Cal to give all my friends and family down there a little better idea of what I am doing. So again keep an eye out for that invitation.

Thanks for keeping up with me in this journey!

Preparations

2/22/2010

 
Thanks for checking out what is happening on this crazy journey. I will use this blog to help update you all on the latest happenings and hopefully post some pics as they come. I am excited to have you along on this journey!