Last Post

Well, I may as well get this over with. This is my last post. Due to personal reasons, most importantly a situation at home, I am no longer in Costa Rica. Since I have no idea who is reading this, I am not going to elaborate any further. I think it is the right decision for me though.

at my site

Hey hey. So, first of all, I am an official Peace Corps volunteer. We swore in at the Ambassador's house (which, by the way, is quite impressive) on Friday. Basically, we all got fancied up, listened to a few speeches, and swore to defend the US Constitution, so help us God. We got to invite our host families, and my host parents came. Oh yeah, the weekend before we had a family party for all our host families, which turned out really well. We were responsible for planning the whole shabang, from finding a room to taking care of the food, and everything in between. It was just for the CYF families, but still, that added up to about 100 people. My job was to be in charge of the money, which by the way, was about $400. So basically, this party ran at $4 a head to cover decorations, a room, food, entertainment, and even a homemade pinata. We ordered a bunch of pizza and then made some other stuff to go with it, like salad. Wow, I never want to make a 100-person salad again—it took about 4 people to chop up all the veggies, and my hands were still sore afterward! Oh also, the day before, I helped make the cakes. We made four sheet cakes, and each one was a different shape (one being a heart). All in all, I would say it was a success.

Anyway, back to swearing in... so, after that I had to go back to the office and reconcile all our receipts from the family party, then I went to a grocery store to get the stuff I needed to make dinner that night. I wanted to say thank you to my host family, so I made them spaghetti and meatballs with homemade sauce. It turned out pretty good, I think. Mainor and Maryuri and their three kids came, along with Esterlyn and Karen. They all said they liked it, although tico spaghetti usually involves a much sweeter sauce, sometimes tuna, and always rice and beans mixed in.

So, Saturday I said goodbye to my host family and took the rest of my belongings to San Jose. The VAC dinner (basically a dinner for all the volunteers in CR) was that night, so everyone comes into the capital and stays at the same hotel, goes to the dinner, then goes back to the hotel, then goes out in SJ. It was cool to meet some of the other PCVs and to hang out with everyone from training one more time before going to our sites. I got to my site around 1:30 in the afternoon on Sunday and found that my host dad had already called my boss and my training host family to find out where I was... (of course, neither party would have had the answer to that question).

Anyway, I started unpacking my stuff (fun fun), and then in the evening, I went with my host family to a birthday party up the road. Then we just hung out and watched a movie. I really don't know what I am going to do this week. Some people say that the first week in your site is the longest week of your life.

site visit

I suppose I should put an update in here. I will just state the facts (not that I have been lying in the past or anything, but I just mean it will be brief).

I went to my site. I met the family. There is a mom and dad, a great-grandma, a 16 year old girl (Cherry), an 8 year old girl (Charon), and a 4 year old boy (Abraham). They also have a puppy that likes to bite, and his name is Benji. My site is in the country, up in the mountains. It is really beautiful, with lots of tropical plants and such, and it has a dirt road. About 6 km away is the bigger town which has about 10 000 people and all the basics (post office, bank, etc). I can work in my site and in the bigger town, since my site has nothing but a pulperia in terms of non-residential stuff. (A pulperia is basically a gas station minus the gas pumps).

Some of the animals I saw: a snake, a toad, roosters, cows, horses, a goat, and obviously dogs. All animals were alive except the snake, thank God.

Some of the things I did: played an entire game of Monopoly, looked at a whole box of the family's pictures, ate hot dogs for 4 meals straight (I have no intentions of eating another hot dog again...ever), watched “in Pursuit of Happyness”, walked through my entire town (the far part is know as “Infiernillo” aka “Little Hell”, due to the cholos and guaro...cholo means unintelligent country person prone to fighting, and guaro is hard alcohol). Anyhow, I also went to the PANI office and the high school in the big town, went to the church, and went to a local Tae Kwon Do class with my host sisters.

Oh, I also negotiated the “terms”, if you will, of my living arrangement. This was one of the objectives for our site visit. That was fun. And by fun, I obviously mean awkward. Let's just say my host dad called the house from the bigger city while he was running errands and asked how much I'll be paying and when. Fortunately, I had already tactfully informed my host-mom that I wanted to take care of my own food, but still. Oh yeah, I might get back on the 16th and find out that half of my room there has been turned into a bazar (basically a dollar store). They're thinking about it.

Schedule

Hey hey, I don´t have much to say, but I wanted to let you all know that in a few days, I´ll be on my site visit!!! Tomorrow is ¨counterpart day¨, which is when we all go to this hotel and stay for 2 days and meet our future counterparts. It is just a bunch of get-to-know-you stuff, apparently. Then, we will go with our counterparts back to our sites and stay there till Wednesday! We´ll be bringing half our luggage with us too, so we don´t have to haul it all there at once. When we get back, we´ll only be in training for one and a half weeks and then we move for good. Crazy!

Anyway, that´s pretty much all. I am at a training session today, but we had a break, so I came to use the internet. I thought I was going to be really late this morning because I accidentally hopped on the wrong bus, but fortunately, I was able to catch a different bus later on to get back to the training building, and I ended up being early! Sorry, that is not an exciting story, but it´s all I got. And Adam, despite your previous suggestions, no I will not fabricate stories for your entertainment. ¡Chao!

Still not a fan of making titles

Well, I know where my site is now!!! We had our site assignment day on Friday, which was actually a lot of fun. The Peace Corps went all out and took us to a country club outside of San Jose. We had breakfast there, and everyone was sooo excited to finally find out where we're going! I should mention that while I was waiting for the bus to SJ with Glenn (another trainee up the road from me), I was telling him how I had an Enrique Iglesias song in my head that I heard the other day, but he didn't know what song I was talking about. When we were riding the bus, it came on the radio, which I took as a good omen. Then when we got on the buses to get to the country club place, the same song was playing AGAIN! Definitely a good omen (or maybe just a popular song, but I'm going to ignore that).

Anyway, after breakfast, they put up a huge map of CR and started handing out our packets of information about our sites. For fun, they blindfolded the first few people, put a pin with their name on it on the map, and had them find the pin based on “hot/cold” from everyone else. I was not blindfolded, but I did get my folder right in the beginning. I couldn't wait to open it and read everything! There were maps inside, along with a profile of the community, its strengths and challenges, potential projects, local resources, and information on my future host family. I can't say exactly where it is, but I suppose I can say a few things: First of all, I think it is the PERFECT site for me!!!! I am so happy about it! I am about 45 minutes to an hour from San Jose, in the mountains, and apparently it is beautiful there (hello, it's Costa Rica). My town has 350 people in it! That is less than my graduating class in high school! So in other words, it is rural. However, it is a 20 minute bus ride from a larger city that has everything (post office, internet, grocery store, buses to SJ and other places, etc.). Plus, my PANI office (my counterpart agency that is like the Child Protection Agency) and the high school are in this town, as well as an albergue (orphanage), so I'll be doing a lot of work there as well as in my community. Also, my counterpart's name is.... Enrique! (Like Enrique Iglesias, so the song really was a good omen, haha).

I think there was only one other rural site assignment in my program, but I couldn't be happier. I think I have the best of both worlds (granted I haven't been there yet), and I like that I am close to SJ in case I need to go to the office to get resources or whatnot. Plus, I am glad I am close to my training community so I can come back and visit my host family. All in all, to say that I have no complaints is an understatement.

After that, I swam in the pool, as did most people, but some people also played basketball or ping pong or mini golf etc. The place was really fancy-- thank you, taxpayers :) Then we had lunch there, played some games to get to know some of the office staff we don't see as much, hung out some more, then left around 4. By the way, one of the games we played was kind of a variation of tag, and I definitely got tackled to the ground by the other program director! Don't worry, I wasn't hurt, despite it being a tile floor. Another guy was chased into a wall and smacked his nose, but again, no damage done. I guess the staff doesn't play around when it comes to recess games! Haha

So I got home and was talking about the different site assignments with my host mom, and I mixed up the name of one of the other sites and accidentally called it “Orina” which means “Urine”. Yeah, Rosa thought that was pretty hilarious. Anyway, I was really tired, so I went to bed at my usual time. Bed by 8 on a Friday night-- a day of fun really takes it out of you I guess.

So, Saturday, Jenna (another trainee) was having a talent show with a group of kids in her town as part of her NFE project (like how I work with the 5th graders). Anyway, she asked the rest of us in CYF if we could come and possibly participate, so Angela and I decided to make up a little dance. It was really fun though, even though our dance was veeerry simple, since we threw it together in the hour before the show. The kids in the show were really cute, even though ¾ of them did the exact same thing, one after another—twirling a ribbon around to music (they did have different songs though).

After the show, I went over to Kim's house (another girl in my group) with some of the other girls in CYF. We had a little time to kill before we headed back to my community for Alex's par-tay. We were ridin' in style though, since Kim's host-parents offered to drive us to Alex's in their microbus! Alex's party was awesome. Behind his house is a big barn that is kind of falling apart (or as he calls it, “a disaster waiting to happen”), and let's just say it makes the barn behind my house (in the US) look like something out of Better Homes and Gardens. Anyway, his host-sister is around our age, so she invited a bunch of Ticos, and Alex invited all of CYF and CED (the other program), and I think almost everyone from CYF was there (many with their host-brothers and sisters), and CED had a pretty good showing, which is impressive considering they live kind of far away. Anyway, they even had a disco-mobile there, so they were taking things seriously. It was so so fun, especially because everyone is so happy about getting site assignments finally, and our Spanish is getting good enough to converse with Ticos and not feel too too inept. Plus, Ticos like to dance almost as much as I do, so of course, that makes for a good time ;) There was of course the token creepy old guy that everyone was warned to avoid, but hey, what party would be complete without one?

Anyway, now I have three weeks left till I move to my site, and in less than a week, I will visit it for a few days. To quote one of my favorite movies, “It's really happening!!!” and 10 points if you can guess what movie that is ;)

Volunteer visit

Hello, hello! Well, I am back from my site visit, and it was really great! It was a really urban site, but it was a holiday weekend (Mother's Day was on Monday) so there wasn't a whole lot going on. I went with another girl from my program, Christine. We were a little worried about finding the bus stop in San Jose, but we got there without a problem. The scenery during the bus ride was amazing—we went through the mountains and a lot of it was out in the country and there were tons of trees and plants. Then we got down the mountain and it was hot hot! When we got on the bus, we asked the bus driver if he stopped at the church in “San Ramon” (note: I put quotes around that since that is the made up name, since I'm not allowed to put exact locations on here...you know, just in case anyone wanted to stalk me or something). So anyhow, he said, “Sure, just pull the cord”. Aka, “I have no idea where that is”. Unfortunately, neither did we. Apparently that wasn't the only place he didn't know—after a wrong turn, followed by him backing the bus up through the intersection and going the other way, then following another bus for a while, then having passengers on the bus directing him, Christine and I were a little worried about finding our stop. Fortunately, we noticed a sign on the side of the road that said “San Ramon” (again, not really) and saw a church, so I yanked on the cord. But the bell wasn't ringing! Ahh! Then I realized I was pulling on the curtain rod rope...

The bus ride was a bit longer than expected, but we made it in one piece, and to the right place, so that is what counts. Kelly (the volunteer we visited) is really cool, and even though she was once mugged at machete-point (if that is a word, which I doubt), her neighborhood seemed pretty cool too. We ate dinner in town that night, and of course, the TVs in the restaurant were all playing “Bailando por un Sueno”. The funniest thing about that show is that people totally vote for the sueno (dream, aka charity cause) and not based on the skill of the dancers. That would never happen in the US! Their way probably makes more sense if you think about it. One of the worst couples, in terms of dancing skills, is trying to get a plastic surgery operation for a little girl who has no nose or eyes and breaths through a hole in her neck (it is really pretty sad), and I would place money on them to win the whole thing.

Anyway, the next day a bunch of other volunteers in the area and their respective trainees who were visiting them met up and we rode the ferry across the water to the peninsula and then back again. It is really cool to meet other volunteers and hear about their experiences etc. I definitely learned a lot and got a lot of advice, which I think will be really helpful.

Yesterday we had interviews with our program directors to talk more specifically about our site preferences, and on Friday we find out where we're going!!! Aaah! I am so excited! However, you all will remain in suspense, since as I already mentioned, I cannot give out exact locations. If you really want to know though, you can email me. What else was I going to say? Oh yeah, so I had a session at the school yesterday. I have one more on Monday and then I'm done, which I'm kind of sad about because I really like those kids! Afterward I ran into Angela, who was also at the school, and we were talking outside when the policeman walked by. We said hi, and he came over and was talking to us. He was talking about all kinds of stuff and then next thing I know, he's pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket and starts reading us poems he's written! It is not every day that a police officer, in uniform and everything, is out on the street reading you poetry...

What else? Well, yesterday I freaked out for a second because I thought I saw a dead horse on the side of the road. As it turned out, it was just a log and some dead palm branches. Oh, and of course, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Livviebelle! (Em, you'll have to pass that along since as far as I'm aware, Liv has yet to learn how to read). Wow, three years old! I actually remember my third birthday. I remember sneaking into the closet and finding my presents, including a Ken outfit, and I was so excited since I hardly had any clothes for him. Then the whole time I was actually opening my presents, I was wondering, “Where is that Ken outfit??”, and it was the last thing I opened, but I was worried someone had found out that I peeked and decided to not give it to me after all. Okay that was just a bit of a tangent...anyway! I guess childhood memories aren't really the purpose of a blog, hey? Whatev... Well that is pretty much all anyway. Bye! Oh! I just remembered, I saw the movie “Volunteers”, which in case you are unaware, is about the Peace Corps. It has Tom Hanks in it, and it is actually pretty funny. It's about a guy who owes a bunch of money, so he runs away to the Peace Corps to hide. The best line was when he says, “It's not that I can't help these people, it's just that I don't want to!”. Rent it, and if they don't have that, rent “School Ties” instead... (hahaha)

I really hate making up titles

Okay, what´s up everyone? I thought I would put up a quick post before I head out of town this weekend (till Tuesday). I just found out today that I´ll be off to the BEACH! I am excited!!! I´ll be visiting a volunteer in her site with another girl from my program, and the volunteer, Kelly, was at our training session today, so I got to find out a little bit of what we´ll be doing. Apparantly she lives in an urban community, and it can be pretty noisy and stuff, but it is right by the beach, and apparantly it is very HOT. And buggy. But, I can´t wait! I am ready for a little change in the schedule; it´s gotten a tinch boring as of late. By the way, since Costa Rica is bicoastal, after all, I should specify that it is the Pacific Ocean I´ll be visiting.

Anyway, I really don´t have much else to report. Since I´ve been taking the medicine for my hands, they have gotten better. The Medical officer was at our training session today, and she told me she looked up the thing I´d been diagnosed with (which the name escapes me now) on the internet, and apparantly it can be triggered by stress... not too surprising I suppose. It can happen when you completely change everything about your life.

I am getting a little frustrated lately, but I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I am one month away exactly from swearing in and getting to my site, and training is bringing me doooooown!!! I love my host family, and I´ll really be sad to leave them, but at the same time, I have no control over my life whatsoever. I have a schedule that is made for me, all these little things I have to do, I don´t make my own food or even decide when I´ll eat, I don´t do my own laundry, I don´t choose anything! It gets very very frustrating at times, but once you are at your site, you are more of another family member than a guest, you negotiate what you want to do for yourself (you don´t have a choice in training), you set your own schedule, you go where you want when you want and do what you want. Aka the life of a normal adult (somewhat normal anyway). But it isn´t all bad! It´s just that sometimes these weeks of training feel soooo long, but all the volunteers say that training is the worst part, and it gets a ton better when you are at your site. Let´s hope so!

Also, I started reading a book in Spanish last night. I got through a page and a half. It is a book for 5th and 6th graders.....Ay.