Full Circle

If you had to represent life as a diagram, how would it look? Some people think its like this:

The Circle of Life

Others think its like this: 

The Line of Life

Here’s my current view:

The Line of Life with Circles

Life is a series of stages. Each stage has a beginning, but it seems that every stage ends where it started – like a circle. That’s how I currently feel about Costa Rica. My time is at its end but I feel like I’m coming back to the beginning. It’s like I never left home and yet I’ve come back a different person. I have to return to regular life and try to hang on to the new things I've discovered and learned. It's hard to hold on to the new when the old is so comfortable, so easy.

We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backward, forward, or fix us in the present. We are made up of layers, cells, constellations.

Anais Nin

You may wonder, 'How can I leave it all behind if I am just coming back to it? How can I make a new beginning if I simply return to the old?' The answer lies in the return. You will not come back to the 'same old thing.' What you return to has changed because you have changed. Your perceptions will be altered. You will not incorporate into the same body, status, or world you left behind. The river has been flowing while you were gone. Now it does not look like the same river.

Steven Foster

May each of us find a way to change for the better.

Party it uP

It’s difficult to get inspired to write a blog when you don’t have any pictures (My camera was part of the whole robbery fiasco). However I now have some pictures from my fellow volunteers and have been re-inspired to share with you.

My last month in Monteverde has been a hodge-podge mix of traveling and finishing up small projects at school. Nate, Calle and Daniel have officially taken over all teaching so Nickele and I have to wander around to find small projects to keep us occupied. We've been tutoring some newly arrived students who don't know English, making signs for the school, and organizing the library, a project which I started the first week I got to Costa Rica. We’ve also been trying to fill our free time with fun activities with our friends here since our time in Costa Rica is coming to an end. Here is a quick recap of the last month-ish:

Chillin at a student's pool with the other teachers.

Doing what we do best - lie in hammocks in Nicaragua.

Playing with the monkeys at our hostel in Nicaragua.

Nickele's friend Ashley got to come visit. We went to the beach and made a stop in Monteverde.

Ometepe Island, Nicaragua.

Nickele and I in our hostel with the duck of evil. Scariest animal ever.

Us at Ruben Dario's house. In case you didn't know, famous poet from Nicaragua. Had to beg to go take a picture at this house.

Just a normal breakfast on the steps of one of the many cathedrals in Leon, Nicaragua.

Swimming in the lagoon on Ometepe Island.

WALK THE EARTH WELL

So the moral of the story???
-Don't trust people???
-Don’t get into cars with strangers? (My parents probably should have pushed this one a little more when I was a kid)
-Don’t take any valuables with you when traveling?
-Don’t travel at all?

Nope, none of those.

HERE IS THE MORAL OF THE STORY: No matter who you are, no matter what kind of a person you are, something bad will happen to you. You can’t avoid it. You will get gypped. You will suffer. Life will not be fair. Some people decide to stop doing things in hopes that they will get luckily and not have to go through any miserable experiences. That doesn’t really work. You still suffer and life still isn’t fair.

So what do we do?

I guess everyone has to find their own answer but I’ve decided that while I’m here, I have to enjoy everything that comes my way. Fear is a silly reason not to do things. There are too many wonderful things to experience in this world! So do good things, eat good things, feel good and be good to people. Enjoy the good moments because that’s the only real way to live

People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

~~~ Mother Teresa

Now that's the rest of the story

So there we were…two travelers with almost no money, no place to stay, no idea where we were going, and heading into a big, dangerous city at dusk. I don’t recommend it.

Once on the bus, Nickele and I began discussing how we were going to find the embassy. Luckily we drove past a shopping center and caught sight of someone in a blue police uniform. Talking to the police seemed like a good place to start. The first officer we spoke to was the opposite of helpful but the second was a blessing. This officer was very sympathetic and helped us get a taxi to the embassy. She even paid for our fare! We rode around in the taxi for about 20 minutes and then turned a corner and there it was: a giant white building with a very large American flag flying out front. It definitely made it into the top 10 happiest things I’ve ever seen.

Nickele and I headed for the front gate and checked in with the guard. He called the duty officer and told us to wait until she came down. While we were waiting, an embassy employee came out of the building and asked us how we were doing. We responded honestly, “Not that good. We were just robbed.” In response, he kindly offered to let us stay at his home. Nickele and I automatically said yes. Now I know what you’re thinking. How could Nickele and I get in a car with a stranger after what we’d just been through? Let’s face it, when you’ve already had most of your stuff taken there’s not that much more that can happen to you. And sometimes you just gotta trust a person. As it turns out, Bert & Kelly Kraaimoore are pretty much the nicest people on the planet. They fed us, let us stay at their beautiful home, and drove us around the following day. Nickele and I couldn’t have found nicer people to stay with.

The following day Nickele and I went to work with Bert around 7:30 and walked out of the Embassy with a new passport in hand by 10:00. We then took a taxi over to the Nicaraguan Immigration Office to get a stamp in the passport. That took a bit more time but by 2:00 we had the stamp. I told Nickele that this was the most valuable stamp she’s ever had in her passport. By 4:00 we were pretty much back to normal and the Kraaimoore’s were kind enough to let us stay at their house one more night since traveling around by bus after 4:00 didn’t sound all that fun.

The next morning we got a ride to the bus station where we caught a bus to Ometepe Island. We had decided that a couple days on the beach sounded like a much needed break. Not going to lie, riding a public bus after being robbed wasn’t the funniest thing I’ve ever done but Nickele and I made it through. After enjoying our time in Ometepe (very relaxing except for the 6 hour hike up the volcano but you know…) we boarded our bus for Costa Rica. As we crossed the border and got on our bus for Liberia, I breathed a sigh of relief. So nice to be home!

The Robbery

Every day is full of moments that cause us to adjust or change. We are constantly tweaking our personalities and our viewpoints. But every once in a while, a moment comes that TRANSFORMS us. These moments ALTER who we are and how we view the world. Here is one of mine…

Recently, Nickele and I had to head to Nicaragua for our visas. As she and I were traveling by bus to our destination, we started talking to a friendly guy on our bus. When we got off at our stop, he offered us a ride with his family since they we were going to the same place we were. In light of the fact that his entire family was going, Nickele and I thought it would be a great alternative to another 2-3 hours of bus riding. Nickele and I spent the first hour getting to know the other three people in the car when all of a sudden I looked over at Nickele and saw that one of the other passengers had her arm around her neck with a knife. In my mind I thought to myself, “That doesn’t look good.”

And so began the process of being robbed. The two women in the car restrained Nickele and I while the two men in the car opened our backpacks and began to riffle through our stuff. Throughout this whole process Nickele and I were told to keep our eyes shut and encouraged to not talk. For those of you who know me, you can already guess that I wasn’t very quiet during the whole thing. I wasn’t concerned about my stuff or my money but I did REALLY want them to give me my passport back.

After using our debit cards to withdraw money, they drove us to a dirt road just outside the Nicaraguan capital of Managua and dumped us (They were fairly considerate criminals since they gave us about $10 so we could catch a bus and specific instructions on how to do it). Nickele and I quickly looked over our stuff and were fairly upset when we discovered Nickele didn’t have her passport anymore (I guess my begging worked because I still had all of my ID). My only thought at this point was, “GET TO THE EMBASSY.” So Nickele and I walked to the highway and hopped on a public bus heading for Managua without a clue of where we were going.

Did You Study?

I’ve been making tests all week. Mountains and mountains of tests and review sheets. I even made one for you. Let’s see how well you do….

Part 1: Circle the correct answer.

1. Which of these things did Tristinn hate to do before Costa Rica but now almost enjoys?

a) Walking around with shoes ALL the time

b) Waiting for hours in buses, for people, in line at the grocery store

c) Living with bugs all over the place

2. How long does it take Tristinn and Nickele to do their laundry?

a) 10 minutes of work

b) 20 minutes of work

c) 1 hour of work

3. How many months of fighting, begging, pleading and craziness do you have to go through before you have control of a classroom full of 4^th graders who speak a different language?

a) 3 months

b) Undermined – too many to count

c) 1 month

4. What is the best thing Tristinn has learned since living in Costa Rica?

a) Children are funny

b) Patience

c) People not things

1. B: I enjoy waiting now – it’s nice to just take it all in. As for the bugs, don’t mind them. The shoes I still mind.

2. C: When you have to rinse clothes by hand, put them in a centrifuge to spin, and then hang them up by hand, it takes a while.

3. A: After three months of experimentation, I can officially say that I can walk into class and not feel like the children are going to destroy me.

4. B: I’ve learned a lot in CR but the best thing I’ve learned and experienced is patience. Wanting patience is one thing, trying to have patience is another, but having to practice patience SO often and SO much that you actually get some is quite a feat.

Hope you got 100%

Take My Tour

!!Welcome!! to the 2011 school year at Centro Educativo Adventista de Monteverde.

My name is Tristinn Williams and I’ll be your tour guide. First off, let me show you our Kinder room. Kinder is home to 7 lovely students at the moment. It’s also home to our two newest volunteers, Nate and Calle Stowe. They just arrived and everyone is thrilled to have them here with us until December.

Next on your left you’ll catch a glimpse of our magical mural in our science room. This classroom is home to the “Profe Nickele” and “Profe Daniel” from Czech Republic who teach PE, art and math class. Spanish is taught by our local teacher Yolanda who also doubles the principal at the moment.

And last but maybe least, my classroom. I get the pleasure of teaching ESL, social studies, a math class, music and a dabbling of bible and literature. All our classes at CEAM are taught in English except the Spanish class. We provide educational services to almost 20 students and hope to grow in the future.

That concludes our tour. Come back and visit soon!