I didn’t know if I’d make it, but here I am in one piece! I made it to the last day of school! It has been crazy these last few weeks and my work isn’t near done yet, but I am done giving classes for this year. I’ve not only been busy wrapping up school stuff but I’ve also been trying to squeeze in fun activities with friends since the weather has been nicer. Last weekend a bunch of us took off for a beach about 3 ½ hours away called Manuel Antonio. It was a beautiful place and a great chance to hang out with our Bible study group from church and a few other friends. We came back from the beach Sunday night and dove right back into exams Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was our last day with our students in which we celebrated the end of the year with a talent show/Christmas presentation and an outdoor carnival. It was a beautiful day for a Christmas party, about 82 degrees, sunny, clear blue skies, and a nice breeze- what everyone here calls Christmas weather. I think it would be pretty easy to get used to this kind of Christmas weather.
The party was really fun and a great opportunity to meet parents and hang out with the kids one last time before the end of the year. I took lots of pictures and talked to parents for a long time and enjoyed feeling like a kid as I ate McDonald’s for breakfast, nachos for lunch as well as granizados, cotton candy, and soda throughout the day. I didn’t get to go on the inflatable toys though. :) I did however get to take part in the talent show by accompanying one of the secretaries 
who has a gorgeous voice. We performed a Christmas song by Jaci Velasquez. It was really fun and my students cheered so loud for me. It was really sweet.
Anyway, so yesterday began our 10 days of staff work days to wrap up the year. This includes entering grades, completing exit profiles for some of our students, organizing all the material we used this year (digital and paper copies), writing and giving make up exams for students who didn’t pass, meeting with parents, organizing the library, and cleaning the school. When I first heard that we had over two weeks of extra work days at the end of the school year I was surprised and couldn’t imagine why we would need so much time, but now that we are here I am grateful that these days are built into the schedule. It has also been a really nice chance to spend more time with my coworkers. I am so blessed with a great group of people to work with. They help me figure things out, the correct my mistakes in Spanish, and they make sure I’m experiencing everything that is important to experience in Costa Rica. They also tease me a fair amount. For example, our whole conversation today during lunch in the staff room revolved around the theme of “Let’s find Lynne a Tico husband so she’ll stay here longer.” One of our administrators thought I should get to know her son but another teacher said she disagreed because she found the perfect man for me at her church. They make me laugh and sometimes embarrass me, but they have been so welcoming and helpful.
We have 8 more teacher work days but I can hardly think about work anymore because I’m so excited about my family coming a week from today!!! I can’t wait to show them my life here! And I am just as excited for the time I get to spend at home with them and a bunch of friends. My goal this week will be to try and stay focused on work long enough to get the rest of the things on my list accomplished. Right now I am packing up getting ready to head out on a church retreat with our young adults group. I only know a few people from that group but Leslie and I decided to take the opportunity to get to know more people and to get away and have some God time after these last few crazy weeks.
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