Post vacation

Drew and I thoroughly enjoyed the time we were able to spend with my family in Costa Rica.  It was so good for us to be completely removed from our context here, breathe some fresh air, and look at monkeys and ocean waves all day long.  We knew that coming back would be a monster, as we had a sense of the work that would be waiting on us as we came back.

Things in Santa Cruz are getting drier, and we appreciate that.  The temperature is very pleasant these months, as we get our ¨Spring.¨

One thing we have been extremely thankful for is our visa process has been painless so far.  We officially have our one year resident´s visa, and are so thankful to not have to worry about that.  The last step in being a resident is getting the ID card.  We left our house this morning at 6 am to get in line because we had been told the line was really long these days.  When we got there, the line wasn´t terribly long, but as we began to talk to people, we realized very quickly, this might be the most painful part of our resident process.  The office is understaffed, and only able to attend 25 people per day.  The people who we saw waiting in line had been there since 4 am yesterday!  And some of those people wouldn´t be attended today, and would have to wait another day to be able to finish their process.  We were fortunate to find a friend in line who advised us to wait another week, because it isn´t always like this.  It scared us to think we might have to spend a night and a whole day waiting in line for our ID cards.  We have too much work right now to consider doing something like that.  But, sometimes you have to do what you have to do.  I guess we will see how this turns out for us.

In the meantime, Drew is working furiously on the details for his National Conference that is next month.  With a trip in the middle of this month, there isn´t too much time to finish up the details.

I keep plugging away in the office where there is a neverending mountain of work that keeps appearing.  I am not sure how that happens, but it does.  I will be taking a trip in September to the States to help recruit more volunteers for Peace and Hope.  I will be based in Chattanooga for about 2 weeks.  I am excited to be able to be home for my birthday, and see a few friends while I get some work done.