erin’s day off

I woke up this morning wondering just how I should spend my very last [work] day as an unemployed woman.  I start at the law school on Monday and could not be more ready to begin working!

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

Hemming a new pair of pants…

Reading the local Indy newspaper, eating a sandwich, and enjoying a mid-afternoon beer…

And most importantly…

Watching my all-time favorite film, “Pride & Prejudice,” (duh) and quoting all my favorite lines.

“What excellent boiled potatoes.”

Enjoy your Friday!

Love,

e

saxapahaw

This past weekend we drove to a town called Saxapahaw, about fifteen miles west of Chapel Hill.  Every Saturday night they have live music, awesome barbecue, and a farmer’s market (with local people selling everything from homemade wine to organic potatoes).

We thew out some chairs and a blanket and had us a good ol’ Carolina time.

It was also great to have friends to share the experience with; props to Parker for the suggestion!

Our First Visitors

Over the last 24 hours, we entertained our first overnight visitors to Berkeley Street.  Whit & Tim, one-week fresh off the plane from Bolivia, came to Durham for our second annual Daniel-Scarborough retreat.

After a gourmet breakfast cooked by my chef husband, we spent the day yesterday walking around Duke’s campus and downtown Durham.  Then we enjoyed the rest of the evening on the porch eating the meal of B’s…brats, burgers, broccoli, baked beans, and beer.  Oh yes, and not to forget the showing of Mean Girls after the festivities.  “Oh my God, Danny Devito!  I love your work!”

These friends are so, so dear to us!  Not only were they the pioneers of overseas teaching adventures, but they’ve known us for our entire relationship, and then some.  We are so honored they took time out of their short summer in the US to stay with us.

Whit & Tim are on the move this fall…they’re headed to Doulos Academy in the Dominican Republic.  If you’d like to learn about their heart, click on their blog link on the right & visit this site.

marquee

We’ve watched several good movies over the past week, which is partly thanks to the free dvds at the Lilly Library!

My top two picks are both jaw-droppingly intense and highly entertaining, although in such different ways.

a totaled coffee maker

Below is a picture of what happened to me (Erin) today upon washing breakfast dishes:

So this is why people invest in stainless steel carafes…or in a dishwasher!

In case you were wondering, this is carafe #2!!  We have now officially “totaled” our coffee maker.

Campus

We went driving around tonight and took some pictures of the area.  Hope you enjoy!

East Campus, which is about a block from our house…

The drive to downtown Durham…

West Campus, the home of Duke Chapel and Duke Divinity School

Have a great weekend!

Berkeley Street

As most of you know, we are officially MOVED IN to our new place in Durham: 810 Berkeley Street.  And we love it.  Its been a typical “new kid” sort of adventure so far – driving to a new place once a day, renting $1 movies, grilling out, moving furniture around rooms like 1 inch at a time (and sometimes back to its original location), chatting on porches with neighbors, jogging on campus trails, stopping by the Div school and library, etc.  We are getting to know our new home.

Our major stresser at the moment is with jobs.  Playing around in Durham is really fun for now (although it does have that sort of “deadish” college town feel about it at times).  But the bulk of our time is spent JOB hunting.  Bah.  So, if you think about it, please pray for us!  We are so hopeful for what God has in store for us here…just not quite sure what that looks like yet.

On a random note: our second official Saturday in Durham was spent doing the following:

1.  Venturing a whopping 1.5 miles to downtown to catch the local farmers market.  Here’s a snapshot of the American version of the Tibas Feria (no scruffy men with xylophones here though, and more expensive than Kroger prices).  It was really cool to see so many folks in serious support of local farmers.

2.  Next, we hopped on 15-501 to Chapel Hill and toured the UNC campus.  And after an afternoon of walking, we found some relief from the heat in a Thrift Shop.  And it was love at first sight.  For a total of $5.50, we bought a pair of pants, a belt, and 4 books (including one by Suze Orman, finance guru!).  Lucky for Blake, we stopped in on their summer book clearance: $.25 for paperbacks and $.50 for hardbacks.  It was a true success.

Here are the most updated pictures of our home…Still in progress, but you get the idea.

Love to all.

Erin

Transition

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven.

We have spent the last couple months trying to discern what’s next for us after Costa Rica.  Although our time down here has been incredibly rich, we knew that it was only for a season, and that this season may end sooner than expected.

So, to break the news, we are leaving Costa Rica at the end of April and heading to the Divinity School at Duke University!  Blake has committed to begin a Masters of Divinity program in August (or sooner, if summer school classes pan out), which means we need to get Stateside and get situated before the storm of seminary hits.  Therefore, we are now one day into our last week of teaching at ICS!  It is shocking how quickly time flies, and how much we have learned over the past 8 months.  Please pray for us this week as we say our goodbyes to the 145 students who have made a lifelong impression on us!

Arenal

This week we made the jaunt to Volcan Arenal, in the northern part of Costa Rica, with Blake´s uncle Gary (who was in town for the weekend). Check out the pics below…

Overheard in Room 86, or: Why Teaching is Hard

The following are actual quotes from my dear students at ICS:

“Mr. Daniel, there are just some things you need to realize about Costa Ricans.  Number one, Costa Ricans are always late.  That’s just a fact.  Get used to it.  Number two, we love to talk.  I think we talk more than any other country-  more than all of them combined.”

- One of my 9th grade students, after breezing into class ten minutes late, sitting down in the back, and proceeding to start a conversation with his classmates.

***

“No.  But then again, I never do.  I never learn anything in your class.  I only study from the book.  In fact, I’ve never learned anything in here.  I only learn from studying at home.”

- One of my 8th grade students, after I asked her if she felt prepared for my test.  Now excuse me while I remove this ice pick from my back.

***

“Mr. Daniel, can I go to the bathroom?”

“Not right now.”

“Please!  Fast, fast!  PLEASE!!!”

“Are you begging?”

“PLEASE!  I will pee!  I will pee in my pants!  It will ruin your desk!  I will POOP!”

- One of my 7th graders, whom I later caught talking out in the hallway.  His pants were unsoiled.