A Hike Through the Rain Forest

     Today, I accompanied a few of my new friends on a 5 mile hike through a Costa Rica rain forest. Part of Costa Rica's beauty is that so much of it is protected in the form of natural parks and such. For example, this virtually untouched rain forest is only a forty minute bus ride from downtown San José!

     We hiked two separate trails and also had time to check out a small waterfall. The dense foliage does a great job at camouflaging much of the wildlife in the forest, but I was able to catch glimpses of a few birds, a couple lizards, and the largest, fuzziest tarantula I've ever seen! And ants...oh the ants!!! Without exaggeration, there were millions of them. Many were leaf-cutters, a species of ants who carry pieces of leaves weighing several times their body weight long distances.

     When I paused for a rest near the waterfall and gazed around, I couldn't help but think of the hymn "How Great Thou":
   
     When through the woods and forest glades I wander 
     And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
     When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
     And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze:
     Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee;
     How great Thou art, how great Thou art!

     I don't think I will ever understand how anyone can see the majesty of nature, the way in which animals and plants perfectly operate in peaceful placidity, and deny there is a Supreme Being who created it all. As Job said, But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare it to you. Who among all of these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. (Job 12:7-10)


     There is much that nature can reveal to us about God that we fail to see in our hectic, self-constructed lives of routines and appointments, deadlines and distractions. Perhaps most of all, nature affords us an opportunity for silence. There's a maxim that instructs one to make time for quiet moments- God whispers and the world is loud. How true! But we need not go into a forest to find quiet, although to do so periodically does great good; we need only to commit ourselves to a few minutes of quiet mediation each day. If everyone could but spend 10 minutes each day in reflection, how much less anger and anxiety would there be in those who currently let such feelings fill up their hearts and their minds until they leave no room to let in the Lord.

     Costa Rica has meant so much for my peace of mind and focus so far in these first two weeks. Being in a place where I literally knew nobody has helped me to shift my focus from my friends and family back home towards the One who goes before me and walks beside me wherever I go. The Lord has provided me with a supportive home-stay, and the chance to make friendships with many people who amaze me with their intellect and their goodness. Many of them also write blogs about their trips, and many of their blogs are much better than my own!

      The people on this trip come from numerous backgrounds, but the one common thread between us all seems to be our desire to make life a little more manageable and fulfillment more possible for those who are not as fortunate as ourselves. There is so much for me to learn from so many during my four months here, and I hope others can learn a bit from myself as well. I am a firm believer that God puts people in certain places for a reason. At this time last year, I had no interest or even any knowledge of this program in Costa Rica- yet here I am, and I couldn't picture myself anywhere else right now!

 

On Rest

     This past Tuesday, the Church celebrated the feast of Saint Augustine of Hippo. In part of his Confessions, he talks about the restlessness our hearts find in the world and the restfulness that God alone can provide us. I find his message rings true:

Great are you, O Lord, and exceedingly worthy of praise; your power is immense, and your wisdom beyond reckoning. And so we men, who are a due part of your creation, long to praise you – we also carry our mortality about with us, carry the evidence of our sin and with it the proof that you thwart the proud. You arouse us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you.

Grant me to know and understand, Lord, which comes first. To call upon you or to praise you? To know you or to call upon you? Must we know you before we can call upon you? Anyone who invokes what is still unknown may be making a mistake. Or should you be invoked first, so that we may then come to know you? But how can people call upon someone in whom they do not yet believe? And how can they believe without a preacher?

But scripture tells us that those who seek the Lord will praise him, for as they seek they find him, and on finding him they will praise him. Let me seek you then, Lord, even while I am calling upon you, and call upon you even as I believe in you; for to us you have indeed been preached. My faith calls upon you, Lord, this faith which is your gift to me, which you have breathed into me through the humanity of your Son and the ministry of your preacher.

Augustine speaks to a duality found in the human relationship with God. On one hand, the human mind realizes that, if there is a God, he must be infinitely more powerful than the World. We are awestruck by the might of our Creator. Because of this, however, we are also cognizant of how pathetic this makes us. We become aware that even the best men and women are woefully impotent on their own; they have no talents and no possessions accepted those which have been provided by the Lord. We realize that we our completely dependent on God's Providence, like babies who are completely under the care and protection of their mothers. 

What's more, we are marked with the stain of our failings and carry the odor of our mortality ever before us. No person can, of their own doing, wipe clean their own slate. It seems to me that people choose one of two actions when they confront their sinful state. Some chose the comfort of wallowing in the drudgery of this imperfect world. They fear the leap of faith, and so are condemned to a life devoid of rest. They move from place to place, from activity to activity, never quenching that aching for fulfillment that comes from the very core of one's being. This life has its allures. Since a person who chooses this life chooses this world as their home, they are perhaps more comfortable, more familiar, with this world. This world, created perfect by God but deformed by human rebellion, either allows us to live lives of selfishness or challenges us to live lives of holiness.

Granted, there are many people who do many good things for others without ever recognizing the holy presence of God. They engage in acts of charity and service, but their actions are not to glorify God, but rather to glorify themselves. Their good works are meant to assuage their own discomfort with living ungrateful lives. They act out of compassion for their fellow man or woman, but fail to acknowledge who molded that compassionate heart out of the dust of the Earth. I am more saddened by these non-believers than others because they are so close to salvation. Only stubbornness or lack of faith cause them to resist the 5 ton elephant in the room: our God! Augustine implores such people to seek first, and the Lord will reward you for your respond to His call for you to rest in Him. 

Jesus said Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened for you. (Mt 7:7). If you lack the faith you feel you need to recognize God as Lord, seek Him and He shall become manifest to you. Throughout time, God has done marvelous deeds when people offer Him something of themselves with which to work. Why not open your heart to the Lord? What is there to lose but our restlessness? What is there not to gain?

The Return of the Ants and Other Juicy Tidbits

     It's the last day of August, and many things have happened in the past few days, varying in degrees of importance and excitement. I shall now tell you, dear reader, about the aforementioned things. But first a fun fact: Costa Rica's legislative body currently boasts that 38% of the representatives serving are women. In comparison, if all the women who have ever served in the United States Senate served concurrently, they would make up 39%. Woo equality!! Now, the previously referenced happenings:

• The other day I was empowered to find in myself the strength to summon up the courage to accomplish a seemingly insurmountable task: broaching the subject of my living quarter's ant infestation with my host family. I decided it would be best to go to my host Dad for help, seeing as he might be more, how do you say in English, action-oriented? Upon telling him, he feigned ignorance that Costa Rica had any ants whatsoever within its wonderful borders. Thus, I feigned ignorance of the enormity of the colony and beckoned him to my bathroom to show him that there were "a few." When we arrived, we both tried to outdo each other in the category of "unbridled disingenuous shock." I thought all of our proverbial chips had just been shoved into the proverbial middle of the proverbial table, but I was sadly mistaken. He profusely apologized and then played the trump card of Costa Rican passive-aggressiveness: rather than doing anything about my concern, he summoned his wife, who had been watching her favorite telanovela to the scene. In short, she responded with a concerned look and words of shock and sympathy to my predicament. Her eyes, however, betrayed an inner dialogue that went something like this:

• When I returned home from school later that day, I was overjoyed to see an appreciable decrease in the ant population; mí Mama had kicked some butt and took some names!!! Alas, the queen's still there somewhere in the wall or underneath the floor and the population of ants is booming once more. But I've made an explicit agreement with them- I know what you're thinking and the answer is yes, these ants do speak English- that they can congregate in the northwest corner of the bathroom without fear of reprisal (i.e. death). Hey, it worked in the United States for the Native Americans right!? I love happy endings!!!
• In all truth, I love my host family and my host house! My mom makes two meals a day and my dad really takes the time to have conversations with me, rewording things when the need arises (very often).
• The first week of classes is over. I don't particularly enjoy three hour classes, but I do very much enjoy THESE classes. Some are more engaging and others are more lecturey. On the whole, however, it should be a stimulating and educational more weeks.
• I am really impressed by the caliber of people on this trip. There are many people passionate about helping others and all that good stuff you read about in movies all the time. When I grow up, I wanna be just like them!

Well, that's all for now. More to come!

What today's Gender Studies class reminded me

     Since my major is International Affairs and I am in a human rights program here in Costa Rica, a lot of the courses I am taking this semester abroad have similar material to classes I have already taken back in Washington. The one exception, however, is the class I had today, titled "Latin American Development from a Gender Perspective."

     While my university offers many courses in Woman's Studies, I have never been that enthused with the idea of registering for one. Within the first 30 minutes of class today, the professor, a petite Panamanian woman who counsels victims of abuse, rape and incest, made it very clear she has a dislike of the Catholic Church in Costa Rica. Her main problem is the role that the Church plays in public policy, being the official religion of the country. As she put it, the state cannot go to Mass, so it shouldn't have a religion; religions are for people, not institutions. Her point, I believe, is a valid one. The Church would do well to focus more on ensuring that Costa Ricans are good Catholics, rather than ensuring that Costa Rica is Catholic.

      This brings me to the highlight of the class for me. My professor said that she has no respect for what in the U.S. we call "cafeteria Catholics": those that pick and choose the tenets of the faith which they wish to follow. She then proceeded to tell of a couple she had counseled. The wife had gotten pregnant unexpectedly at age 45 and their doctor told her and her husband that there was a good chance that the baby might have Down Syndrome and that they should perform an amniocentesis to verify. At one of the sessions the couple told my professor that after thinking it over they had decided again undergoing the test. Their reasoning was that since their Catholic faith forbade the practice of abortion, the test would not change their decision to carry the pregnancy to term. Several months later, my professor got a call in her office from the husband. He told her that the baby had been born and did, in fact, have Down Syndrome. She asked him how they felt, and he said that they were happy and content with their choice. 

     The story highlights the positive impression Catholics can make when they practice what they profess to believe. This couple lived by their faith, even when doing so became difficult and not perhaps in their own best interests. They took up the cross they were given and allowed the Lord to transform it into what I imagine is one of the greatest blessings in their lives today.

     I think if Catholics wish to be good representatives of the message of Christ, then we are called to be people of joy. Too often Christians, especially Catholics, are painted as a bunch of solemn masochists. While there is a certain amount of self-denial inherent in the faith, in order to better imitate and mold ourselves in the image of Christ, the prevailing message that Jesus taught is one of great joy: through His passion, death and resurrection, death was destroyed and the gates of Heaven were open to all. The world has never known better news! As people who have embraced this revealed truth, we ought to draw others into Christ's love by our happiness. I try to live my life in such a manner that joy permeates through all my words and actions. It is with joy that I can poke fun at myself rather than at others. It is through joy that I can be charitable with my time, talents and treasure. And it is in joy that I can share the gospel. As Saint Matthew wrote, Let your light so shine before men, that they might see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven. (Mt 5:16)

     It is naive to think that joy alone is enough to reverse the sin that permeates through our world and ourselves. There are many who lie in wait, ready to pounce whenever a Catholic fails in living out the faith. Jesus warned that those who chose to follow Him would be criticized and scrutinized. The errors we commit are magnified in the eyes of a world that is anxious for any chance to dismiss the Church as a hypocritical obstacle to the modernization of society. The only weapon we have to combat this slander is our humility. Humility is not a denial of our talents or a renunciation of our good works. Rather, the humble person will acknowledge any good done through him is only possible through the grace of God; that all the gifts we possess are really gifts given to us by good to use in His name.

     Class reminded me of the joyful obligation I have to always try to act in a way that brings respect and souls to the Lord. How fortunate I would be if everyday was as insightful as today!

¡New Blog Title and Más Observaciones!

     While I'm in Costa Rica and the blog's posts focus more on my travels, I've decided to change the title. Naturally, I chose to steal the title of a U2 song. The title's a very vague allusion to the fact that Costa Rican streets...wait for it...have no names! I'd like to thank Bono for writing the song and letting me use the title, free of charge. As a token of gratitude, I'll post the song via Youtube, ensuring that the band will not make any money whatsoever from my usage.

     As promised, here are, as this post's title already revealed, more thoughts and feelings from my first week (and second Monday) here in the country with the most internet penetration in Latin America (¡22%!):

1. Yesterday I went to the beach for the first time here in Costa Rica. There were tons of people despite the fact it was overcast and drizzled for part of the time we were there. The beach was on the Pacific Coast (my first encounter) and the water was a lot warmer than Lake Erie back home in Buffalo...as it should be considering its geographic location and whatnot.
2. Also went to Mass for the first time here Sunday Morning. The sermon lasted 30 minutes and was hilarious, at least it seemed that way from the boisterous laughter coming from those who could understand the priest (i.e. everyone but me). Nevertheless, I was proud to have been able to participate in every "Amen" and most of the Our Father. Most importantly, Jesus was there in the Eucharist and that does not change regardless of what language is being spoken.
3. Randomly saw my beloved Buffalo Bills on the NFL Network at a bar. Unfortunately, the game was tape delayed from Friday. More unfortunately, they lost 38-7. Most unfortunately, I started watching at the start of the second quarter, when they were winning 7-0. There's no joy in Mudville...
4. The visa process here is frustrating, in part because it is expensive and tedious and in part because it is actually unnecessary. At the airport upon arriving, customs stamped my passport. This stamp allows me to legally stay in the country for 90 days. The rub lies in the fact that the semester is about 105 days long. The way to circumvent this is to, sometime after my 15th day in the country, leave (go to Nicaragua or Panama) and re-enter. Upon doing so, customs would re-stamp my passport, allowing me to stay in the country without issue. Our program, however, won't let us practice this creative evasion of rules and regulations, and so the long process of getting a student visa marches onward. As they say in Costa Rica, C'est la vie...
5. Almost went the whole day without rice and/or beans. But then both made an appearance on my plate for dinner.

More thoughts from my travels to come soon. In Catholic news, today is the feast of Saint Monica, the patron of mothers. She prayed for her son, St. Augustine, until he finally gave up his life of debauchery and became one of Catholicism (and humanity's) most eloquent writers. My mom is awesome too, so shout out to her (especially now that she has an iPad and can actually read these).

May you live every day of your life! 

Thoughts from Semana Uno en Costa Rica

     Here are some random thoughts and observations from my 6 days in the only Latin American country without a military:

1. The weather is consistently, constantly changing. Allow me to explain. Every morning is quite hot and humid. Sometime in the afternoon the clouds start rolling in and the temperature drops appreciably. At some point in the late afternoon or evening, those clouds beget precipitation in the from of a brief, torrential downpour and then a more prolonged period of drizzle. After, the evenings are mostly pleasant. I have been told that, mas o menos, this will be the prevailing climate until December, when the rainy season ends. I'm okay with that. In every life some rain must fall...
2. The Costa Rican family is extended in number but not in distance. I have met many relatives beyond my host mother and father, including children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. All of these people live within a two-block radius of each other. It's kind of nice in that they get to eat dinner together and see the little ones more frequently. However, I am certain the lack of privacy gets tedious too.
3. Many of the families here hire Nicaraguan women to clean their houses. These housekeepers take their job very seriously, as evidenced by the fact all my possessions in my room are tidied and put into new places each time the room is cleaned. I would say something, but I refrain out of fear that my room will then not get cleaned at all. And then who would make my bed???
4. Costa Rica is about 80% Catholic, and it shows in the multitudes of religious imagery in most of the houses I have visited thus far. Unlike some places that seem to venerate Mary almost in lieu of Jesus, Christ plays a much more prominent role here. Each little community in the suburbs of San José has a local park with a church next to it. Across the street, there is most often a soccer field. Like most places, the faithful aren't especially faith-filled, and sometimes its difficult to tell which is the true place of worship. My host family seems to be pretty devout, which is good for a Jesus freak like myself. Does that translate into Spanish?
5. Rice and beans. So much rice and beans.
6. It took me until breakfast of the sixth day to have a banana, although I think that was more an anomaly that will soon be rectified tenfold in the coming weeks and months ahead. Other popular foods are rice and beans and arroz and frijoles. And when they are not incorporating rice and beans into their meals (and even when they are) there is often a magical little fruit called the papaya. It is supposedly great for digestion (as if all the fiber from the beans weren't enough), but it has a unique texture and aftertaste that takes some acquiring. In addition, the watermelon here is the best I've ever had, and needless to say the coffee is top notch.
7. Costa Ricans are a people that are eager to please, especially when it comes to food. They require a lot of positive reinforcement, lest they get upset. I feel as though I could have written that previous sentence about any of the children I taught at summer school. Nevertheless, I am quite fond of the Costa Rican temperament. They take things as they go and are extraordinarily family-oriented; two things all humans should aspire to have said about themselves.
8. There are many, many ants in my house. This doesn't phase me of course, seeing as how I have never had an unusual aversion to the little guys. On the bright side, at least I will never be lonely in my room. Or the hallway. Or the bathroom. Plus, there are relatively MUCH fewer spiders, an organism I am even less fond of being in my dwelling place.
9. There are a TON of spiders!

     All in all, this first week has been an overwhelmingly awesome experience! The people I've meet are very interesting and most have been exceedingly kind and accommodating, seeing as I currently possess the vocabulary or a first grader and the grammar of a toddler. And let's not even talk about mí español!!! I have yet to get mugged or lose anything of value. I've been to a volcano two miles above sea level and managed not to fall into the crater. And so I march forth, much like the hundreds of ants in the corner of the room right now, taking one day at a time.

To be continued...

Abroad in Costa Rica

     It's been almost three weeks since my last posting, so I suppose I have a bit of catching up to do before I go any further. I am now in San José, Costa Rica, where I will be studying and living until Mid-December. I feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to take this journey. One of my friends recently said it's the "experience of a lifetime", and I could not agree more.

     What has made this journey so far is the people I have met. From the other students in the program to the family who has graciously let me enter their home and their lives for the next four months, I have encountered an abundance of kindness thus far. When I deplaned in San José, I did not know a soul. Yet after just three four days, I feel much more comfortable with my surroundings. It is just evidence that we encounter Christ through the charity of others each day, and thus we ought to be as generous so as to let Christ into others' lives as well. After all, He has no hands but ours to work through.

     Part of the comfort I feel is in the knowledge that wherever I go, the Lord has gone before me to prepare me for me a safe harbor. Whenever I get anxious about what lies before me, I am reassured by the words of Saint Paul: I can do all things in Him who strengthens me. (Phil 4:13)

     As I pray for all who read this, please keep me in your prayers during this semester. I will try to be faithful in updating this blog a few times a way, as my schedule permits.

¡Dios te bendiga!