Love the Love

**Please be forewarned, I may use the word LOVE excessively in this post.  But sometimes a synonym just won't suffice**

I have been living in Costa Rica for a little over three weeks now.  Since I've been here, I have eaten entirely too much rice.... and beans.  My brain has been overloaded with Spanish.  I have asked the question daily or even hourly, "Are we going the right way?"  I have done Zumba three times, each time very very poorly.  I have gotten locked out of my house.  I have fulfilled entirely too many American stereotypes.  I have walked more in one week here than I have in the past year.  I have experienced more rain in one HOUR here than I have in the past year.  I have seen some of the most beautiful scenery and of course pictures never do it justice.  And my love for coffee hasn't changed one bit.

Yet the thing that has stood out to me the most is the Love, the Joy, the Kindness.  Maybe it just takes leaving America to notice it.  But man oh man, let me tell you, these people love each other real well.  Neighbors take care of neighbors, and strangers are kind and helpful.  Like when I locked myself out of my house, yelled "Help"once, and the neighbors came to my rescue within minutes.  Or when, on multiple occasions, I've seen people give up their seat on the bus for a mother and her baby or an elderly person.  Or when Ashley (one of the other interns) and I got on the wrong bus, and the bus driver as well as 7 other people helped direct us to the right one.  Or how my host mom did all my laundry for me when I simply asked her if I could just wash my towels later.  Or even when people laugh with me for my terrible spanish rather than at me.

Sure, it's not all unicorns and rainbows all the time.  There's crime and poverty and sadness too.  But I'm learning that if we only focus on the bad things, it robs us of our joy.  I am thankful that the blinders are off and I'm beginning to see all the love around me.  Selfless love.  A kind of love that doesn't have an agenda or a price tag.  Just love.  And I love it.  

And No, I can't say I have truly loved everything in my time here.  Like the second degree burn I got from 2 hours at the beach or choking down rubbery cheese. But overall, this experience has been the greatest adventure and that, I have loved.  This place culture has taught me so much about myself in the last few weeks.  It has challenged me, stretched me, and put me in some rather uncomfortable situations.  And that's the thing, I think sometimes we forget that its OK to be uncomfortable.

"The Ways of the Lord are not comfortable, but we were not created for comfort, but for greatness, for good" ~ Pope Benedict XVI

I'm not saying you need to move to a foreign country, start an orphanage and live in a hut.  But find what challenges YOU and go there.

xoxo
Becca

I just LOVE this place... see what I did there. 

Beauty everywhere 

Ginger probz.