2 weeks In

I have enjoyed my stay here in Costa Rica thus far.  There have been some minor difficulties...mostly not sleeping well.  I wake up a ton during the night and rise about 5-5:30.  The sun comes up around that time so it doesn't feel too early.  I am fortunate to have been thrown right into the mix at the program and with the church on the beach.  I have done an intake interview and I also had the opportunity to teach/preach this past Sunday.  There are 7 men in the program thus far.  Two have left since I have been here.  It is definitely different than the program I went through and served at.  It has been refreshing to see a different approach and I have quickly learned that one way is not the best and there are multiple routes to what we call "success"(sobriety?).  They don't teach complete abstinence from alcohol here and it works.  The old AA-NA philosophy of never again is not so much followed here, only it is taught that if you have had trouble in the past and you cannot handle it then it is best that you never drink again.  It has been something I had to wrestle with quickly and wisely.  I understand the approach and I completely respect it.  I am learning quite a bit of Spanish being around it daily and studying from anywhere to a half an hour to an hour and a half a day.  There is one guy who speaks both Spanish and English so he translates for me.  A couple of the program men are very interested in learning English and I am very interested in learning Spanish so we are usually going back and forth learning new words and phrases.  I get to teach bible study on Monday's and Tuesday's and they also threw me into the preaching-teaching rotation.  Church is on the beach and some local surfers come and join us.  The church is very small right now, but it is pretty cool to worship God on the beach in public.  Locals watch curiously during the service.  Kim Stillwell is the man whom started the program down here.  He knows just about everyone.  He introduce me to the "drug kingpins" the other day.  You can go right up on the dyke and watch repeated deals of marijuana and crack cocaine go down.  The police station is right next door and I mean right next door. They also patrol it, but only harass users and kids.  It is pretty backwards, but it is what it is.  I killed a black widow spider the other day the size of my hand.  It was freaking big man and it has not helped me to sleep wondering if I am going to wake up to one of those on me.  The people here are very nice and welcoming.  It is very common for the majority of the people to say hello and if they don't you can and they will say it back....much different than the states.  Sometimes I say hello to people and they look at me like I have lost my mind.  America in my opinion has lost a lot of it's personable skills. Why???  Jared and Eileen the couple I am staying with are in Brazil right now which has left me home alone for about 8-9 days.  It has gotten a bit lonely at night but I pass the time reading, playing video games, studying spanish, and chatting online.  It is rainy season here, but the weather has been great.  I sweat all day and I quickly learned that I needed to up my water intake a ton.  It almost seems pointless to take a shower because I sweat more after I take a shower that I do the rest of the day.  Ok....that is my update.  Cool life down here and much opportunity for the present as well as the future.