Dear Emily... Peace, Love, and Tilapia

Dear Emily,

Howdy, lovely lady!

It’s been great to keep up with you through your blog and as you already know, I am thoroughly impressed that you road on the back of a motorcycle. I’m still working on learning the area so I can ride one of the motorcycles of my host mother’s sons. Right before I got here, Meghan road on the back of motorcycle during a rescue mission, I’ll let her tell you all about that herself. I would’ve paid good money to see that.

I’ve haven’t had any big, but some pretty funny little adventures thus far. For example...

~ An amazingly courageous male student dressed up as a woman all day for his social justice project. I loved it! 

~ True story: Meghan and I were on the bus on our way to work and overheard a student talking about a birthday gift for someone who’s name sounded like our supervisor’s. When we asked him to repeat the name, he explained that he was speaking of someone else.

“Oh good,” I said, “because that would be bad that we didn’t know when our supervisor’s birthday was.

Later that day, I laughed and told my supervisor what happened and how embarrassing it would have been that we didn’t know if his birthday was happening.

Then, I asked, “By the way, when is your birthday?”

“Tomorrow” he said.

Talk about a coincidence!

Any who, today I’m having brunch with a few UPeace students then, Meghan and I will go hiking in the Altos mountains in San Rafael. I am so ready to be up in the rain forest! It’s the dry season right now, but to me, everything is still so green.

Afterwards, we will join in on a street festival called Tope, which means ‘Horses’. OH! Cool fun fact that I didn’t know…the term ‘El Paso’ is a term written on all of the yield signs here Costa Rica, which translates to mean ‘The next step’. My host mother explained that the city, El Paso, Texas is called that because it is the ‘Next Step’ into the United States. I suppose the city’s name may also reflect the US’s long standing history of not letting the indigenous people pass back into US territory as well much like Yield signs mean not to pass.

Whelp, I hope you’re having a good weekend in Vietnam! Can’t wait to catch up with you!

Me cooking dinner for my host family

Meghan is cook'n ya'll

Our host mother, Hannia. I decided to cook her dinner and giver her a break since she had been cooking our meals everyday. 

I made sautéed tilapia, curry potatoes, and steamed spinach and garlic 

And freshly squeezed juice from the fruit right out in the front yard.

And then she whacked me on the bum. Well, not really, but it could've happened. 

Danny and I during our jam session

Patrick and my drum. My drum has made it's way from Brooklyn, to New Jersey, to Jamaica, and now Costa Rica! Yay!

Patrick and I with Gandhi on my right shoulder. Yes!

UPeace students during the David Compas lecture

The sweet girl that hangs around campus <3

My lunch break. 

I love this painting! It hangs on the wall in one of the UPeace classrooms. 

Here are just a few inspirational sayings outside of the cafe-bookstore...

Below is a clip from my first jam session with Danny and Patrick...