I ate cow tongue- the things a person will do to stay culturally sensitive…and a visit to a finca (farm)…

Since being here in Costa Rica, I have been stretched in many ways. Not in real dramatic ways, but stretching nonetheless. One of those ways being eating meat in general. Before coming down to Costa Rica, I virtually became a vegetarian. This is because I simply don’t like eating meat in general, and I’ve found that my body isn’t too fond of meat. However, just like in many other countries, meat is a main meal item. Here in Costa Rica, a ‘typical meal’ is one with rice, beans, plantains, and of course some sort of meat. So as you can imagine being a vegetarian can become a difficult task, especially when you aren’t able to cook for yourself. My host family loves eating meat, and of course thought it strange that I didn’t. But with my desire to be culturally sensitive, I have learned this means to open my mind and stretch myself in ways I wouldn’t naturally do.

So on Sunday, my host family and I went to my host mom sister’s house located in a very beautiful part of Costa Rica. Their house is gorgeously on top of a big hill surrounded by many green hills/mountains. They also have a pretty spacious farm with many chickens, geese, parrots, corn fields, and many fruit trees. So cool, I loved it. I took tons of pictures and got to hold both of the mini parrots on my hand. They were so beautifully and creatively colored- bright green, orange, blue, and red. They were suprisingly gentle and the two parrotkets were the best of friends. It was so cute to see how attached they were to each other. Anyhow, for lunch the main menu item was cow tongue. At first I thought they were joking, but then realized this was for real. So, since I was already served a plate and everyone else began eating, I decided I had to do it. So there I went from hardly ever eating any meat to eating cow tongue. Something I had never really imagined doing.

There has been several other instances that I have been challenged with making the choice to step down from myself and be culturally sensitive. Another instance was when I was asked to take out the nose ring that I have had for almost four years now. I was asked this because the Christian church here in Atenas that we go to is really conservative in general. And since I live with the pastor and family, they brought it my attention that many people sometimes think that people with piercings and tattoos are assumed to be involved with drugs or have problems with authority. My host family of course knew who I was and knew better than to think this about me, but they wanted to bring it to my attention. So since I am down here to be a servant to the people here, I decided to stay culturally sensitive and take it out. It took a lot for me to not go against the grain of what they were saying and to not attempt to try to change their way of thinking. Through this I am slowly learning to be patient and willing to give up my “rights” as a person for the sake of not causing another brother/sister in Christ to stumble. Also, I’ve realized that we are just so lucky in the US, with so much diversity and acceptance that saving face isn’t completely necessary in light of knowing the truth.

Anyhow, here are some fun pictures from the finca (p.s. I survived from eating the cow tongue ☺)…(As you can tell I love birds!)