bendiciónes

this update comes to you (and me) somewhat unexpectedly, therefore i have no lovely photo accompaniment. this evening we met the most beautiful family. seriously, i am on a cultural-exchange high right now from the past three hours we just spent conversing, laughing, and bonding with such buena gente.
our meeting could not have come at a better time. i know we like to present ourselves as fearless ambassadors for peace, but honestly, coy and i have been having a hard time the past few weeks. this peace corps thing doesn't exactly get easier, you see. sure, we have more experience now and we know what to expect (or not expect) sometimes, but we still ask ourselves, "what are we doing here?" and sometimes the answer doesn't come so easily. sometimes the answer doesn't seem to vale la pena, or be worth all the frustration, loneliness, and hard work that we put forth.
so we've been having that sort of week, where we find ourselves daydreaming of driving vehicles and sucking white balsamic vinegar off crusty italian bread in an air conditioned restaurant with bistro in the name. surely that would be easier than this stage we're in. true. it probably would be.
and we think back to the past two years...our life in belize...the frustrations, the tears, the small successes we worked so hard for. and it's all totally worth it. i think of my friend, elisa, and the women's group that wasn't even an idea before we devoted so many countless hours of our lives dreaming for something else. i think of our friend, arnaldo, whom i know is probably reading this right now, and the opportunity that chess gives him to do something more for his students and his community. and it's just so awesome. cause we're all just regular people, but sometimes when you get us together and shake things up a bit, extraordinary things happen.
so coy and i have been trying to stay level-headed about all these feelings of doubt we've been having. we recognize all the amazing aspects of our new life here in buenos aires. but it was feeling like something was missing.
you know that feeling you get when something is just so right? you can't necessarily explain (or need to explain) why or how...it's just exactly what it's supposed to be?
that's how it happened with this family. the principal had informed us last week that there was a woman who wanted to meet us. she used to be a teacher at the school, but now she works for the ministry of education in san josé. he asked if he could give her our number to contact us. then yesterday, on the bus ride home from pérez zeledón, the phone rang. unknown number. i took a deep breath and prepared myself for a mess of miscommunication. but, alas, this woman spoke more clearly than my spanish professor. i understood every word she said. this was amazing. she wanted to meet us, and i certainly needed to know this impeccable enunciator.
and so it happend that we were invited over for cafecito this afternoon. did i mention we spent 3 hours with them? we now understand even more about the educational system in costa rica, have borrowed several storybooks in spanish, and have a lunch date for next weekend. three hours of chatting and i left recharged...feeling like i could take on the world...or at least begin addressing the inflated teen pregnancy rate in our neighborhood.
anyway, what's my point? that this peace corps thing is crazy? one minute i'm mentally packing my bags and the next i'm designing a lifeskills workshop for at-risk youth? maybe. but more importantly, that it doesn't take much to impact another person's life: a phone call, a coffee, a hug. and also, that sometimes things happen right when and where they're supposed to. and being able to recognize those blessings for what or who they are is part of the lesson.