Theme Verse

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."
-Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

"Ya te lo he ordenado: ¡Sé fuerte y valiente! ¡No tengas miedo ni te desanimes! Porque el SEÑOR tu Dios te acompañará dondequiera que vayas."
-Josué 1:9 (NVI)


Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Home Again

Sorry this is a couple days overdue. I've been trying to think about what I'm going to say, and so have been putting it off. But it's on my list of things to do today, and since I'm leaving for Chicago tomorrow, I figured it would be best to get it done. So here goes.

Sunday went fine. I made it to the airport SUPER early. My plane left at 1:50, so I decided to leave my house around 10, thinking it would take me a while to get to the airport, and then I'd have to go through checking in and all that, and you're supposed to arrive 2-3 hours early for international flights. But literally 45 minutes after I left my house I was at my gate. So I had some time to kill. My friend Kelly, who's another ISEP student from Minnesota, happened to be on the same flight, so she met up with me later, and we actually ended up sitting in the same row! How crazy is that? It was nice to have a friend to travel with. One of the weirdest parts of being at the airport was hearing so much English. While some people, mostly workers, still spoke Spanish, it was strange to walk by people and hear them speaking in English. And I realized I was going to miss hearing Spanish all the time. Strange, after going so long being frustrated at not being able to understand, to suddenly missing it.

The plane ride was fine, and we got into Houston just a few minutes late. Unfortunately, Kelly's flight was supposed to leave at 7, so we rushed through the airport, trying to hurry so she could make her flight. But then we had to wait in line at Customs for a while, and then we had trouble finding her bags, so that by the time we made it through the next line of customs, she had missed her flight. So she had to go change to the next one, which unfortunately didn't leave until the next morning. But she got that worked out, and we went over to the terminal my plane was leaving from, and then found something to eat. We said good-bye, and I got on my plane and flew home to KC, where my family met me with a green welcome home sign. It was great to see them. :)

Monday morning when I woke up, the house was quiet. Outside it was chilly and the leaves were bare. Dad made me coffee, and I unpacked my suitcase. Everything was pretty much as I remembered it; it was like I had never left. I think that's been the strangest thing: I feel like the past four and a half months was a dream, like it never happened. The small house full of people, the long walk to school, the rain, my classes, the mountains, the beach, the forests, my friends. It took a long time for all of that to feel like home, but eventually it did. Now, I am happy to be back in the States. It's great to see my family, and I'm excited to visit North Park this weekend, and all of that. And yet... I miss Costa Rica, especially the people. I think it will take some time to adjust to being back in the states (I still have to stop and think before I throw the toilet paper in the toilet). But just because I'm home doesn't mean the roller coaster ride is over (reference to first ever blog post). It's still going, the adventure continues, and God is still teaching me, building on what he taught me in Costa Rica. He hasn't left me now that I'm home, and He won't ever leave. Of this I am sure.

I don't know if I'll keep blogging or not. The Costa Rican part of my adventure is over, at least for now. But I've really enjoyed this, so I'll keep an eye out for a chance to continue.

Hasta luego for now.
Holly