Laura

This is Laura and it is early Tuesday morning...we are heading off to our work site soon. Costa Rica is absolutely breath taking! We wake up each morning to the sounds of roosters crowing, birds singing, and the aroma of pure fresh air AND THE VIEW IS ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR! WE heading off to our work site which is less than 20 minutes away and the scenic route these is breathtaking too. I enjoy watching the native Costa Ricans (called Ticos) living their everyday life.

As we arrive at the work site, we begin our warm up exercises, discuss our daily jobs and off to work we go! Today, we are finishing our dig of a septic tank which is approximately 40 feet long and 1 - 1 1/2 meters deep, I have enjoyed working with all my new friends, getting to know my co-workers better and I especially enjoy the laughter and hard work of our students. Every time I get tired, I just look at our sponsored family and see how little they have and I am inspired to begin work again. Next, we mixed cement, carried huge cement blocks and began to design a wall. Thank goodness for our master interpreter, Tanya, she has made the language translation so much easier for us...and she has made it FUN! We worked hard and completed a whole side of a wall and we are almost finished digging the "never ending" septic ditch.

We are in for a treat, we get to experience the culture of our local family. They cooked us some tortillas and a mixture of plantains, tomatoes and spices. We showed them the American tradition of coke floats and everyone seemed to like them. Afterward, we wrapped up our day with a Costa Rican club dance performance by 3 teenage girls. It was a great show and a pleasant way to end our work day.

What a beautiful and rewarding day! Other than being a little homesick for my family, this has been such an incredible experience for my soul. :) I am so proud of Lily, Abby, Sam, Alex and Mike (our students), they have worked so hard and always have such a positive attitude (they are my inspiration too). Their laughter is contagious too.

Also, I forgot to mention, we have completed more in two days than our work supervisor has ever seen from another group. Not that we are competitive or anything!

Oh yeah, today is Mufasa's (Jim Fossa) birthday too. Some of our local habitat workers brought him a cake and we sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

"What a memorable day!"

Laura (a.k.a. Bozzie)