Really? Meh meh meh!

Well, it 1030 and the final work day is ending.

4 of us went running at 615, we could go 15 minutes later because it's saturday, and we didn't have to battle the school traffic. the hills get bigger every day I think... isn't it supposed to get easier  at some point?

We celebrated March 19 the feast of St Joseph the worker in  an appropriate fashion... we worked!
{cool fact> St Joseph is the patron saint of Canada AND Costa Rica}

The morning was a bit differenjt, as Ashley, Christine, Anna and I  were dismantling bunkbeds for a move to a different mission house, some were painting steel at the new mission houses, Tony was finishing up the welding, and a bunch were cementing in the playground / although they ran out of water  for an hour and ended up hauling water by bucket fuls for a while.

After lunch we hauled beds from site to site, and then finally for the first time we all worked together on the the smae job site for the last 2 hrs of our mission work. Everyone was inspired, trying to finish cementing the walkway . Shovels were flying, the assembly line of wheelbarrows, trowelers, bucket brigades ... the pace was amazing. But with everyone there, and everyone experienced and knowing which part of the assembly line they were, they had the energy of 10x the people. They were all working up a good sweat, but having a marvelous time, and oh so proud they got it done, lots of pictures and posing with their projects, and high fives all around.

The before and after pictures are pretty impressive actually, and it is easy to why the kids are so impressed with their own work. It has been a long week of incredibly physical work, and some of them are pretty worn out, but you'd never know by the mood they were in tonight. What a joyous bunch they were at supper.

Our after dinner prayer session turned into a 2 hr marathon! They had one journal question, asking them to tell something they learned this week about each group member. Then we went around the circle and talked about each person, one at a time. The kids really got into it, the stories and compliments were just a flying, at times we were laughing hysterically, and a few times we were brought to tears. It was truly touching, and to watch  each person just glow as everyone discussed all their finest qualities was such a rewarding experience.

It might interest her mother to know that everyone talked about how generous Sarah was, and how she never complained or whined, no matter what was asked of her. Or MG's father might be interested to know that everyone said how hard working she was, how she always took the dirtiest most unpopular jobs, and wouldn't quit until it was done and done correctly. Ashley got high marks for her generosity in both her spirit and her kind heart, while Alex was hardworking, helpful and sensitive {he even got an AWWWWW from the girls after one of the stories}. The siblings were pretty funny as they were amazed at the difference between behaviour here and at home[ I sometimes had to refocus them to talk more about behaviour this week as opposed to what they experience at home]!

Personally, I was most surprised by Colin. All I really knew about him was he was nuclear physicist, so I was kind of imagining the absent minded professot type who walked into walls while doing logarhythms in his head, or dreaming about calculus while sawing off his own hand!. I am very pleasantly surprised he is extremely good with tools, and very patient in showing kids how to do all the different jobs...a good reminder to not prejudge people for sure!

Lisa got lots of kudos for her sense of humour, in particular her one mannerism that has brought a high level of hilarity to each day. Thanks to Lisa , we are walking aroung saying in really high pitched whiny nasal voices

 "My name's {insert someone elses name here} I always {insert annoying habit\mild insult\random statement}
Meh meh meh" It is actually quite funny, as usually two of them go back and forth until someone runs out of responses.

An example of this from this morning {remember to usual really high voices and go really fast back and forth}

{they are playing "slapjack" a card game that appears to be a contact sport, and has caused several injuries}

Jesse "No Way! I had the card first!" 

Tristan " My name is Jesse. I alway think I have the card even when I don't. Meh meh meh"
Jess  " My name is Tristan. I always make fun of Jesse even when I'm stealing cards meh meh meh"
Tris  "My name is Jesse. I make fun of Tristan Making fun of Jesse becuase I'm mad 'cause Im losing meh meh meh"
Jess " My name is Tristan. I'm ..uhm... MEAN"
Tris " Myname is Jesse. I have a really small vocabulary Meh meh meh"

It is actually very helpful, because if anybody has the littlest whine everybody jumps on it Meh meh mehing or if they start arguing about cards , it quickly  turns into everyone laughing.

That hurt.

The boys just walked in and wanted to read the blog, and  I wouldn't let them [ they are technology free remember], so they started saying " my name 's Jennifer. I won't let anyone read the blog meh meh meh"

which started my laughing hysterically [ teenage boys in particular are  ugly with their voices]

Unfortunately I had just taken a big drink of water, which I ended up aspirating what I didn't spew all over myself. Which spawned " My names Jennifer. I spit water on myself MEH MEH MEH I can shoot water out my nose meh meh meh all I do is blog Meh meh meh I won't share meh meh meh I need a towel meh meh meh" and on and on and on 3 of them at me at once  the little monsters. I just made them go to bed.

The other saying we have is everybody says " Really?" in this drawn out nasally voice when anyone make any kind of statement. it started out as an imitation of Mary Gwen, but has spawned a life of it's own, and when anyone says it, several more people immediately echo it, to gales of laughter.

anyway, we leave tomorrow morning for the last time from this mission site, to travel to the cloud forest of Monteverde. It is a 4 hr bus ride , so we should be seeing a lot of new countryside. Our lelevation here is somewhere around 700 ft acove sea level, while Monteverde is over 5000ft, so the secenery is quite spectacular. I know from the last time that the internet was sketchy in places and you have to paytourist prices for it, but we are in a different hotel this time, so perhaps Colins little blackberry or whatever it is will work and I can use it.

At any rate, I will get  some sort of message out from there, but for now, the mission work is over, and we are off to learn more about the local culture. We will be going on a coffeeand sugar cane plantation tour, as well as visiting the national park cloud forest and learning about the  eco system and all it's inhabitants.

That's it for now, the kids have done incredibly well so far, and I expect the same to continue!