Oops, I guess it's been a while...

Hey there! So...I just realized that I have not been keeping up very well with my blog, sorry about that!  I don't want to write 8 million pages filling you in on all the details (and I'm pretty sure no one wants to read that) so I'm going to try and keep it concise (we'll see how that goes though...)

Karlayne and I have kind of made it a tradition to go out and do things on Fridays because neither of us are at Rahab then.  Last Friday there was a group of students performing downtown, and here is a little of what it looked like.  During the time the students were just playing their instruments (no dancing) some people in the crowd started dancing.  By "some people" I mean an elderly gentlemen, an elderly woman (who kept trying to get her husband to join her) and a middle-aged woman.  They had a blast and it was really fun to watch them just go for it!

Sunday was Carrie's birthday and it was also the day I went to church with the Kampers (another LAM family here, and Liz (the mom) picked me up from the airport when I first got here)--and their church is surprisingly close to my house, I might be considering visiting again.  After church we all headed to the INBio Park, which is pretty zoo-like, and it was pretty great.

There was a butterfly garden and so obviously I had to take pictures!

 

This one is so shiny and blue on the inside

Like this Google image butterfly. It's actually the
national butterfly for Costa Rica

And, I was too caught up in taking pictures of butterflies to remember that I should take pictures of the PEOPLE I was with.  But thankfully the Kampers were a little more prepared and took some great pictures and then uploaded them to Facebook. So, thanks to the combined efforts of Liz and Noah Kamper, I'd like to share with you some more photos to show you more of what we did that day!

Here are the Kamper boys (left), thrilled to have a basket and a bunny each (ok, they weren't the only ones thrilled with this opportunity...we were ALL pretty excited about holding little bunnies)

Quinn (right) was especially excited though.  He would start to grab a bunny, but then get too excited and have to let go before he could actually pick it up.  It was really cute!

And of course, the reason for the trip to the park--Carrie's birthday :)

An Elliot-fly! So rare this time of year!

Clearly, Sunday was a pretty awesome day.  Most of the rest of my week was unremarkable.  I've been helping out a lot in the offices lately, helping to organize files and newspaper clippings.  It's tedious work, but is IS helpful to the people of Rahab, and so I'm glad I can be helping out with things that they don't have time to do.  Unfortunately, it's not exciting enough to take pictures of.  Well...I guess that's not entirely true.  I did take one picture.  It was of all the little pieces of paper that come from a hole punch.  I did a lot of hole punching.  So much that the hole-puncher wouldn't punch any more because it was too full (thus giving me the opportunity to take a picture.....and a video.  THERE WERE SO MANY DOTS!!!


Thanksgiving Day I found myself at work for the first half, and then headed over with Karlayne to a get-together for ex-pats hosted by some LAM people.  It was so great to be able to have a place to go for Thanksgiving.  I had been feeling so lonely and down seeing all my friends on Facebook posting things like "Yay! Finally made it home--can't wait to spend the next few days surrounded by my loved ones" or "wow! What a blessing to be surrounded by family this time of year!".  It was really, REALLY difficult to be surrounded by posts like that, and not be surrounded with family.  But Wednesday one of my dear friends Elena made me a video for Thanksgiving (ok, it was just her talking for almost 7 minutes, but it was seriously the best) and I watched it at work; my co-workers MIGHT think I'm crazy because I was doing a mixture of laughing and crying as I watched it...but I'm pretty sure almost everyone was still at lunch...so I might be ok.  I also got to talk with my sister, Ana, on Wednesday, and that was also awesome.  It was so great to see people reaching out an remembering me.  It sometimes feels like I've fallen off people's grids since coming here to Costa Rica, but getting emails, facebook posts, and phone calls definitely help me realize that I'm really not alone and that even if I'm far away I'm still relevant to people (so send me emails (kikinoa@sbcglobal.net), Facebook posts, and phone calls peeps!).  I also want to say I am so grateful and thankful for everyone who is supporting me, in every way, right now.  I really couldn't be here if it wasn't for you, and I am truly grateful to all of you.

Here are a few more pictures before I sign off to continue my Sabbath day.

My Thanksgiving meal

Karlayne and her food

And me and mine :)

I hope you enjoyed this post (and I REALLY hope you enjoyed the GIFs (moving pictures) because it took me a long time to get them how I wanted) and please give me some feedback on what you liked or didn't like, want to see more of or less of, just let me know what you're thinking about this post.  Also, please email me (or something) because I really do love to keep in touch with people and know that I'm not forgotten! (Ok, that's a little bit selfish, but I'm ok with it because it can get pretty lonely being away from everyone you know and love!)

Love and miss you all,

Kiki