Comptine D'un Autre Ete

Shay and Brittany Brewin and Paige Hoover are visiting from Washington! The apartments have taken on the appearance and atmosphere of a very small hostel, and we're having loads of fun. More on that below.

Inside of OrangeFridge. Beauteous bags of frozen fruit for smoothies in the tiny ice box... cantaloupe, strawberry, papaya, pineapple... below them, Trit (excellent CR ice cream) containers serve as tupperware since plastic is really expensive, curry paste awaits a special occasion, and margarine (blegh, I didn't buy it) has come unwrapped.

Last Tuesday there were quite a few people from Spanish that joined English for Nicoya day. I worked with Anita Schnaible and her kids Abel and Ella.

Anita and Ella. Anita is from England, and the kids have mostly American accents but they pronounce words such as "ball" and "sweetie" like their mum.

Ella wanted to work with Bill for a bit, so he told her she had to hold his hand so he wouldn't fall. Reminds me of Josiah walking with Grandpa so that Grandpa wouldn't run in the Kingdom Hall.

They know how to work the camera... Ella had a black eye because she ran into a couch, but if you ask her she'll tell you that Abel pushed her. She's already got it all figured out.

Jimmy and Jessie are here with another couple (collectively known as the Bostonites), visiting for a couple of weeks. They're staying at the Flying Crocodile a little way down the road.

The Schnaibles at lunch at La Bomba. Lovely family. 

Eric called me during service yesterday to inform me that he was going spear fishing that afternoon and Bryan had volunteered my sushi-making skills, and if he caught anything that day would I like to make sushi for everyone? If not, he said, we could all just eat rice and beans and enjoy each others' company. As Jamie put it however, "The ocean does not skunk Eric Schnaible. Eric Schnaible skunks the ocean," and we had a delicious dinner of fried fish, sushi, and carpaccio. It was my second time ever making sushi, but between Paige, Brittany, and I, we turned out quite a number of decent-looking sushi rolls. I forgot my camera, but I'll get some pictures from someone and post them soon-ish. 13 adults and two kids, and we still had leftovers.

Jamie Detwiler looks on as Lou demonstrates his idea for a literature platform-equipped frontpack for witnessing.

These yellow flowers are in bloom everywhere right now.

The guys looking slightly Mormonic, waiting for a householder to come to the gate.

Pipas break! That's Megan, Jamie's wife.

They started witnessing to the vendor next to the pipas stand. Sam got to practice his Spanish.

Washingtonians party! Shay, Brittany and Paige are here for a couple of weeks visiting Lou. Paige is staying with me while the other four share the top apartment. It's hotter and crowded with guy stuff up there, so Brittany comes downstairs to hang out with us a lot during the day.

Catan + Pilsens. Paige laughs at Shay while Lou takes a picture of his tower.

Shay rocking out to Firework. He was our DJ of the night.

Ministry in the far end of Carillo, which is the beach to the east of Samara.

A paved road?! How novel...

They spent a couple of weeks in Nicaragua before coming down to CR, so they're pretty well adjusted to the heat.

Never gets old.

Lots of trees grow on the beach with exposed and weathered roots, impervious to the heat, rains, and changeable geology.

Aww.

What I believe might be a termite on the tree I was sitting in. Whatever these guys are, there's a colony of them living in a hole on the outside of my front door, and at night they swarm all over it and then disappear come morning. They haven't bothered me so far so I forget about it, but it gave my visitors quite a shock.

I was sitting in an almond tree.

Karen Zuñiga is house-sitting for Mike and Lura while they're visiting Chile, and we had dinner and Watchtower prep there tonight.

"Wait wait, did you get me cutting tomatoes in the picture? Here, take it again."

Bird's-eye view. Chris conducted the Watchtower and the material was greatly appreciated by all since the only native there was Karen. Lots of great comments in both English and Spanish.

Afterward, Chris and Sarah entertained us. Sarah made small talk while Chris gestured for her, and they had us all in stitches.

Comptine D'un Autre Ete (Lullaby of Another Summer) is a song by Yann Tiersen