did you know...

well, did you know its perfectly legal to drive a car in costa rica without any special license if you are an america. your us license is valid for up to 3 months here. with that being said, i drove with this crazy latin american drivers this past week. multiple times actually. karla needed a ride to the bus stop so since i told her i could drive a manuel car she said i would drive to and from school for practice, then take her to the bus stop. now let me go ahead and explain the honking policy in nicoya. you honk if you see someone wanting to pull out to say, hey dont come. you honk if you are going to pass, just to give a heads up, you honk if people just do stupid things, and lastly you honk to your friends. now in the us, we do the double toot, just a honk honk, like 2 small taps. here in costa rica, its 3. so when i gave the dance instructor a ride home he kept pointing out his friends walking, so i honked at all of them, and the students walking. karla was crying laughing in the back seat and the dance teacher had no idea what to think of me. so yep, heres a picture of me in the drive way getting ready to leave the house:

karla went to san jose this weekend to see some family, so christy and i have been left on our own. its been rather uneventful, except for yesterday. theres a festival in nicoya called pica [d]e leña, that basically involved a lot of wood chopping and big oxen pulling carts full of wood. theres a long story, that i can explain another time, but christy and i went with some of karlas friends to the top of the mountain to watch people cut wood for a few hours then saw the parade later. we were really excited to go, and kind of disappointed by the end of the day, but its ok. i at least worked on the tan by being outside all day long. my backpack tan lines are almost as bad as the life jacket tan lines i had this summer. #stellar (yes i just trended in my blog.)

sunday i did something i havent exactly done before. not even in the states. i randomly went to a church without anyone with me, nor knowing anyone there. i wasnt meeting up with someone. i just walked in the doors, and started talking to someone. the pastor came right up to me and greeted me, and introduced me to almost everyone. there were about 20 or 30 people at the church, and i think i kissed everyone on the cheek. cheek kissing is cultural. dont go run and tell scott im going around kissing everyone. not true. ANYWHO. i love how the lord can speak to me in other languages. they did a prayer at the beginning of the service that seemed just like prayer at summit. people were walking around, lifting hands, and speaking all about the holy spirit. now yall, this was a methodist church. just found it a little different for them, but i LOVED it. i hadnt had a hug in over a week, and church came at just the right time. this one old lady came up to me multiple times and spoke with me and hugged me, and was the most genuine person. i want to know more about her. but one of the most exciting things was that, i understood almost the entire message. it was about carrying your cross daily, regardless or ages, and seeing how the lord can bless people at all ages of life. simple, and great, and oh i love spanish church.

and to end this blog i thought id finish by telling a few fun facts that go along with the title.

so, in costa rica, DID YOU KNOW...

- you can buy milk at the liquor store. i thought it was a long shot when we walked in there, but they had it

- a rooster can jump nearly 9ft in the air to hop on the roof after they accidentally fall into your patio

- trucks randomly decide to do parades for no reason at all...and by parade i mean tractor trailers, weaving in the streets, blowing their horns, thats all.

- cowboys can ride their horse right up to the bar and get a beer.

and now im having thinking problems, so ill quit for now, and leave you with two more pictures. one is of my morning alarm clock, and the other is of my afternoon cup of joy.

ciao mi familia.