Hummus

What does Hummus have anything to do with anything? Well I have been enjoying all of the sights, sounds, and smells of a different country I often pause and realize that I have not thought about my own or the things that I enjoy there. Last week I asked my parents if they knew what hummus was and they said that it is a slang word that they use here for drunk. I asked them if they knew about the food hummus and they stated they did not. That evening when we went to the supermarket I found some hummus in the refrigerator section, so they bought it and we brought it home for a snack. They really enjoyed it and it was fun to share even a small thing with them about my life at home. Later I made a joke about three women on tv that looked hummus-ed and they laughed. It feels good to actually be able to make a joke in a different language.

My evenings are usually spent with family and since all the family lives in one compound I have cousins over at all times of the day. My cousin Yadiella is a few years older than my sister Anahi, but they get along great. They have been teaching me the popular school girl hand games that they know and I taught them Miss Mary Mack. The other morning when I was getting ready for school I heard them playing Miss Mary Mack with the few words that they remembered. They reminded me to just give life a go, and not be worried about knowing all the correct words or even worry what others think about my language skills. 

Being a language learner is very hard and sometimes it gets very tiring. For example, sometimes I am simply too tired to be able to think or speak in Spanish, or when I am somewhere where there is a lot of background noise and I simply cannot understand anything, or when I am at a family gathering and there are 10 Spanish conversations happening around me and I cannot follow one. I often have to remind myself that I am not just learning another language, I am learning another culture. Languages often have rules and guidelines you can go by, but cultures do not and there are many things that just cannot be communicated in words. However, many of my high moments happen when I understand what my 2-year-old tico brother is saying, or when I can have a conversation with a person on the street, or when I read the newspaper article and learn something new about Costa Rica, or I learn to communicate something I could not communicate before. I have learned so much and still find myself needed to learn more, I have to trust that God has a plan and place for me that will incorporate all of the things that I love. 

 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

As I hear people telling me their goals and plans and ambitions I realize that I have many, but I do not have my life plan laid out, and I realize that I once did. I realize that my plans have changed a million times over and that Gods plans are so much better than my one. So while I do have things that I want to do, and places I want to go, I want to trust God and follow Him, because His ways are far superior to mine. 

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9