Today is Tom and Angie Yoder's 25-year anniversary! Miguel and Karina made sure that we celebrated right, with a special cake they ordered to celebrate. Emily Troyer and Christopher Schlabach write tonight's blog.
Emily - We started off the day by venturing off to one of the local elementary schools. We were met by one of the school psychologists who took us to a garden that they were trying to make. She was telling us how she wanted to create a safe and comfortable space for the children that most offices lack. The kids will be painting rocks and making butterflies to decorate the outside. She had us clear the brush and trash that litered the outside areas. Lots of kids would come and test their english with us while we worked. We then went inside and spoke to some of the kids more as we helped them with their English and they taught us Spanish. The girl I spent a lot of my time around spoke very quickly, so it was difficult to keep up. But I learned many things about her and her family, even though I will admit, most of it flew over my head. We played a few games, like Simon Says, with them before we had to leave and go back to the church.
Christopher -My favorite part of today was when we went to Alajuelita's Central Park in thet afternoon. To connect with people, Woody made a game to see who can get the most points by either saying hello to people or giving them a handshake or carrying on a conversation. People in the park were doing different stuff like skateboarding, biking, and yoga. It was busy, and we made some good connections. On the end of the park we walked to Alajuelita' cathedral, famous for its black Jesus, crucifix. The cathedral is over two hundred years old, and was built by people who imagined Christ who had their dark skin. Black Costa Ricans are a minority in the country. After the cathedral, we stopped to get some smoothies at a smoothie stand. Supper was very good. We played games then about 7 o’clock and we went back to our hotel.