Hey hey everyone, and Happy Birthday Paul!!! The big 2-0...ahh those were the days... haha. So, I went to the beach for the first time!!! Well, the first Costa Rican beach, I guess. I have been to “the beach” once or twice in my day, to say the least. Anyhow, I keep getting this stupid song stuck in my head that we listened to in Spanish class on Friday. We learned all these different words that pertain to fairy tales like “wand”, “fairy godmother”, “troll”, “spell”, etc, and then my teacher handed us a page of song lyrics that had a bunch of blanks, and we had to fill them in as we listened to the song. The song was basically a fairy tale about a prince and the beautiful fairy he fell in love with blah blah blah, so, needless to say, I was a bit caught off guard when the song turned out to be a hard rock, heavy metal, lead-singer-screams-all-the-words kind of song. And when I say “caught off guard”, I mean “laughed uproariously the whole time”. Okay, maybe not the whole time, but quite a bit. And now the song is still in my head.
So, back to the beach. We were finally able to take a night “out of site” this weekend, so a lot of people had plans to hit the road. I went to a beach called Jaco (“Hah-koe” not “Jack-o”) with four fellow trainees and one of their host-sisters. Her name was Susanna, and her aunt and uncle own a little condo in Jaco, so we stayed there. We left really early on Saturday morning and got there around 10:30. We had to wait a little while for the guard at the gate to verify that we had permission to use the condo, but as soon as we got through, we put on our suits and headed to the beach. It was beautiful, and I keep hearing that it isn't that great of a beach, so I can't imagine what the good ones are like. The water was really warm, like bathwater pretty much. The waves were pretty big too, and apparently a lot of people have drowned there. Fortunately, that was not the case for any of us this weekend. I was in the water most of the time, and it was a lot of fun.
I was really afraid of getting sunburned though, so I put on SPF 55 (waterproof) and reapplied two times. Strangely enough, though, I felt myself burning after a little while! I ended up getting a sunburn, which both annoyed and perplexed me. Later, upon closer inspection (or rather, noting which parts of me felt like they were on fire), I realized that only my arms and shoulders, face, and toes were burned. Hmmm that is odd, since I wasn't wearing a sleeveless wetsuit with partial footies attached. Then it hit me: I didn't have sunscreen on when we got off the bus and walked to the condo, and then waited (a total of about 45 minutes all together), and I was wearing a tank top and jeans that covered my feet except my toes. Aha! I was happy to have solved The Case of the Mysterious Sunburn, but also mad that I didn't put on sunscreen before I left the house, since I do that every day. I was in a hurry though to get out the door, and then I forgot. Ah well, the best laid plans, blah blah blah, right?
So, that night we ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant which was delicious, albeit a bit pricey (it's a tourist town). They also played a mix of classic 80s and early 90s tunes, which definitely included “The Right Stuff” by the beloved New Kids on the Block. Unfortunately, they only played each song for approximately 20 seconds (no exaggeration), so the nostalgia was frequently interrupted. Later on, we went to a place called The Monkey Bar (haha), which was a lot of fun. They played all sorts of good songs, American stuff at first, then Reggaeton. Two of the guys I was with were joking around about how they were going to milk the Peace Corps thing and say stuff like, “Oh yeah, I saved four kids this week...Oh, you went on a four-hour hike? Yeah, I went on a four-week hike, and that was just to find some water for the kids...Yeah we just built a pool for the community--out of their tears...etc etc” (obviously none of this is true...yet...jk, it isn't true). Oh, that reminds me, my Spanish teacher taught us a pick-up line once that goes “Me gustaria ser bizco para verte dos veces” which means “I wish I were cross-eyed so I could see you double” which I thought was hilarious especially since I think being cross-eyed would kind of hinder one's chances in that department.
Anyhow, at one point in the evening, this 45ish year old man started talking to me and was asking where I was from (since I was obviously a fellow gringo). Anyway, he was wearing this crazy red and white Hawaiian shirt and was in CR to surf and was just “livin' the dream”. He asked what I was doing in CR, to which I replied “Peace Corps” and he was like “WOW!” and then he asked what my degree was in, and his jaw dropped again, but THEN he saw me dancing by my Peace Corps buddies and he literally shouted, “Kate!!! You continue to impress me!!!!!!” and offered to buy me a drink. (Don't worry Dad, I declined!). Ah, drunk old guys, I guess they're good for the old self-esteem, haha just kidding. Actually, I am going to start a series of workshops with some 5th graders in my town on Self-Esteem for part of training; maybe I should just tell them to go the Monkey Bar and look for Jim...
Anyway, we got back Sunday afternoon/evening, but we had Monday off for a holiday. My host parents told me that they wanted to take me to their “casita” (little house) in the country, so on Monday we went up with two of their sons and their wives and kids. The casita is in the little town where my host mom grew up, so she has a lot of other family there too. It is surrounded by coffee fields, so I finally saw what coffee looks like au natural. It was up in the mountains too, so it was really pretty. Pretty much, it was just green wherever you looked. They have banana trees and lime trees and avocado trees mixed in too, and some others, so it was pretty cool, needless to say. We just had lunch up there and they gave me a tour of the little town and whatnot, and then got back around 5:30. I really had a good time though, and I liked being out of the city too.
Well, I have a loooong day with all the other trainees Tuesday, then another loooong one with just the CYF (children youth and families) program on Wednesday, but then we have Thursday off since it is another holiday. This is the one that people from all over the country walk to a city called Cartago (it's called a “Romeria”), and it's a really big deal. I am planning to walk with my host parents' sons and their families (I don't think my host-parents are making the trek), which should be a pretty cool experience. We aren't too too far, but it will still be a 5-6 hour walk or so. Apparently the roads are just full of people walking, and in fact, some people have already started, but I haven't seen any yet, just on the news.
Well, that's all for now. Adam, I hope it's up to par with your standards and you don't need a jar of anti-wrinkle cream by the end. Maybe you should learn how to read faster...oh! As for the rest of you, chao!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
What what? Look who posted again...
Hello everyone! Well, I bet you are surprised to see another post so soon! By the way, I don't go back and read these things, so sorry if I repeat myself. I can't always remember what I said before.
Anyway, I think I last left off with Saturday. By the way, I finished Harry Potter last night, and let me say, it was AWESOME, definitely the best book yet. There are a few other PC trainees who want to read it now, so it is making the rounds. Okay, so Sunday was pretty relaxing. I love the weekends because I can do whatever I want, like read HP for example :) Anyway, my host-dad just turned 70, so the whole family (their 3 sons, 3 daughters-in-law, and 6 grandkids) and I drove up one of the mountains and had lunch at a restaurant at the top. It looked down on the whole San Jose area, and the view was pretty incredible... for about 15 minutes. Then, it just started POURING. And that is putting it lightly. Not to mention, the restaurant had a tin roof, so it was really loud. It was cool though. The place was all windows (to take advantage of the view, obviously), but all you could see was white, because we were inside a cloud. The food was really good though. It was typical CR food: rice, beans, plantain, some other veggies, a little chicken, the usual.
We came back to the house after that and had cake and ice cream, but they only put 5 candles on the cake, so of course my host-dad blew them all out...cheater. Just kidding! 70 candles would be a bit excessive, I suppose. When I was on my site visit, I bought a wooden turtle at the reservation. It was handmade and really cool. I gave it to my host-dad for his birthday gift, and he really liked it. I didn't even realize that they have a couple other turtles made of stone and something else, so that was pretty cool. Turtles are kind of a symbol of CR, since a bunch of them lay eggs in a certain part of the country. I don't know too much about it though. Anyway, the family stayed over for a while, and then I think I just read and went to bed.
So, Monday I was going for a run in the morning, and I decided to go a new way. There is a fork in the road I usually run on, and I have only ever veered to the right, so this time I went left. I have driven on this road before though, so I knew it went into another town. Anyway, I had just reached the fork and gone a little down the left road when I saw about 5 large dogs in the road ahead. There are a ton of stray dogs here, but usually they're pretty calm, and its the ones who are behind the gates that bark like crazy (the grass is always greener on the other side of the big black metal bars, right?). Anyway, I was a little hesitant about approaching these dogs and was contemplating turning back when I heard loud barking and saw a big black dog the size of a small bear come tearing down a driveway across the street. I got really scared, but fortunately, a car came speeding down the road right between me and the dog, and it retreated. I turned around and ran straight home, and luckily, the dog stayed put. Apparently, in one of the other training communities up the road, any dogs that are dangerous and/or diseased they paint completely green, to warn people to stay away. I haven't seen any green dogs, but I am not sure I want to either. I did, however, just get my pre-rabies shot today, so I'll be okay if I do get bitten. That shot really hurt going in, and I can hardly lift my arm now! It is really sore...but better than rabies, no doubt.
Let's see, today we just had a long day of training with our whole group, got a couple shots, had some of the staff talk to us about health and safety and security and whatnot. The health talk was kind of a joke though because we have no control about what we eat; we eat what our host families make us. I guess once you get to your site, you can negotiate how many meals you want your family to cook for you and then pay your rent accordingly, so I'll probably just get my own food then. Apparently it's only a little more expensive than if you just ate all your meals with them. Also, we had another downpour like the one on Sunday last night—I thought the roof was going to cave in! It is amazing....I have been here for a month, and every morning it is really sunny and warm, and I can't imagine that is is going to rain, and then 3:00 rolls around and it gets darker and cools off, and it pours. One of these days I'll learn...
Oh, in other news, I guess someone was murdered just up the road from my house yesterday. I don't know the whole story, but I think it started out as a fight between two brothers over some cigarettes...maybe I should sing some of my T. A. T. U. songs (“Smoking stinks, aha that's right!.....”). But really, isn't that awful? I do not understand some people (actually, I don't understand a lot of people since everyone here speaks Spanish, but that is not what I'm talking about. Oh yeah, Lindsey, quería un poco de espanol, verdad? Pues, si quiere Espanol, necesita venir a CR para visitarme!).
So, the rest of the week I just have Spanish, but tomorrow I am also going to the elementary school to observe a classroom and interview a teacher. It is part of our training program; I will also start working with a group of fifth graders there soon! I am excited for that, but I don't know what I am going to do with them yet. I have to talk to the teacher, and then think of what I want to do. Then on Sunday, I am going to the beach with some other trainees! It is just for fun, not part of our training. We are allowed a few nights out of our site during training, and we can start using them this weekend, and Monday is a holiday, so we're going Sunday, staying that night, and getting back on Monday. I'm exciiiiiited!!! In case you are wondering, Monday's holiday is to celebrate when the Nicoya peninsula seceded from Nicaragua and joined CR. It really falls on the 25 of July, but it is observed on Monday to make it a long weekend.
Well, I guess that's all that's new for now. Also, thanks a lot Adam for the “tech support”! And Ange, just for kicks, you're my favorite little sister in the whole wide world! :) That should get me some brownie points, hey?? Okay, take care everyone, and I miss all of you a lot!
Anyway, I think I last left off with Saturday. By the way, I finished Harry Potter last night, and let me say, it was AWESOME, definitely the best book yet. There are a few other PC trainees who want to read it now, so it is making the rounds. Okay, so Sunday was pretty relaxing. I love the weekends because I can do whatever I want, like read HP for example :) Anyway, my host-dad just turned 70, so the whole family (their 3 sons, 3 daughters-in-law, and 6 grandkids) and I drove up one of the mountains and had lunch at a restaurant at the top. It looked down on the whole San Jose area, and the view was pretty incredible... for about 15 minutes. Then, it just started POURING. And that is putting it lightly. Not to mention, the restaurant had a tin roof, so it was really loud. It was cool though. The place was all windows (to take advantage of the view, obviously), but all you could see was white, because we were inside a cloud. The food was really good though. It was typical CR food: rice, beans, plantain, some other veggies, a little chicken, the usual.
We came back to the house after that and had cake and ice cream, but they only put 5 candles on the cake, so of course my host-dad blew them all out...cheater. Just kidding! 70 candles would be a bit excessive, I suppose. When I was on my site visit, I bought a wooden turtle at the reservation. It was handmade and really cool. I gave it to my host-dad for his birthday gift, and he really liked it. I didn't even realize that they have a couple other turtles made of stone and something else, so that was pretty cool. Turtles are kind of a symbol of CR, since a bunch of them lay eggs in a certain part of the country. I don't know too much about it though. Anyway, the family stayed over for a while, and then I think I just read and went to bed.
So, Monday I was going for a run in the morning, and I decided to go a new way. There is a fork in the road I usually run on, and I have only ever veered to the right, so this time I went left. I have driven on this road before though, so I knew it went into another town. Anyway, I had just reached the fork and gone a little down the left road when I saw about 5 large dogs in the road ahead. There are a ton of stray dogs here, but usually they're pretty calm, and its the ones who are behind the gates that bark like crazy (the grass is always greener on the other side of the big black metal bars, right?). Anyway, I was a little hesitant about approaching these dogs and was contemplating turning back when I heard loud barking and saw a big black dog the size of a small bear come tearing down a driveway across the street. I got really scared, but fortunately, a car came speeding down the road right between me and the dog, and it retreated. I turned around and ran straight home, and luckily, the dog stayed put. Apparently, in one of the other training communities up the road, any dogs that are dangerous and/or diseased they paint completely green, to warn people to stay away. I haven't seen any green dogs, but I am not sure I want to either. I did, however, just get my pre-rabies shot today, so I'll be okay if I do get bitten. That shot really hurt going in, and I can hardly lift my arm now! It is really sore...but better than rabies, no doubt.
Let's see, today we just had a long day of training with our whole group, got a couple shots, had some of the staff talk to us about health and safety and security and whatnot. The health talk was kind of a joke though because we have no control about what we eat; we eat what our host families make us. I guess once you get to your site, you can negotiate how many meals you want your family to cook for you and then pay your rent accordingly, so I'll probably just get my own food then. Apparently it's only a little more expensive than if you just ate all your meals with them. Also, we had another downpour like the one on Sunday last night—I thought the roof was going to cave in! It is amazing....I have been here for a month, and every morning it is really sunny and warm, and I can't imagine that is is going to rain, and then 3:00 rolls around and it gets darker and cools off, and it pours. One of these days I'll learn...
Oh, in other news, I guess someone was murdered just up the road from my house yesterday. I don't know the whole story, but I think it started out as a fight between two brothers over some cigarettes...maybe I should sing some of my T. A. T. U. songs (“Smoking stinks, aha that's right!.....”). But really, isn't that awful? I do not understand some people (actually, I don't understand a lot of people since everyone here speaks Spanish, but that is not what I'm talking about. Oh yeah, Lindsey, quería un poco de espanol, verdad? Pues, si quiere Espanol, necesita venir a CR para visitarme!).
So, the rest of the week I just have Spanish, but tomorrow I am also going to the elementary school to observe a classroom and interview a teacher. It is part of our training program; I will also start working with a group of fifth graders there soon! I am excited for that, but I don't know what I am going to do with them yet. I have to talk to the teacher, and then think of what I want to do. Then on Sunday, I am going to the beach with some other trainees! It is just for fun, not part of our training. We are allowed a few nights out of our site during training, and we can start using them this weekend, and Monday is a holiday, so we're going Sunday, staying that night, and getting back on Monday. I'm exciiiiiited!!! In case you are wondering, Monday's holiday is to celebrate when the Nicoya peninsula seceded from Nicaragua and joined CR. It really falls on the 25 of July, but it is observed on Monday to make it a long weekend.
Well, I guess that's all that's new for now. Also, thanks a lot Adam for the “tech support”! And Ange, just for kicks, you're my favorite little sister in the whole wide world! :) That should get me some brownie points, hey?? Okay, take care everyone, and I miss all of you a lot!
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Sorry this took so long!
Okay, this is going to be a looong one! I wrote a note to myself when interesting stuff happened, so now I can remember a few good stories. Before I launch into that, though, I just want to say thanks again for the good comments-- I love reading them! I am not sure if I should respond with another comment (is that weird to comment on your own post if it's part of a conversation?), or if anyone else even reads the comments besides me, or if I should reply in my next post, or what. Okay, too much thinking about that! Without further ado...
I remembered a couple things I was going to say before but forgot when I was typing. First of all, one of the cultural things here is that, while the mom of the house does everyone's laundry, all the girls in the house are responsible for washing their own underwear. That's just the way it is. So, I waited a while till I had enough underwear to do a small load and had my host mom show me the ropes with the laundry machine. The machine is on the back patio, which is covered with a roof, and that is where they hang up all the laundry to dry (no one has dryers here). Anyway, after I was done, the whole patio was covered with my underwear hanging from the ceiling...quite a site. I should have taken a picture...
So, last week on Friday I tried to make contact with the youth group in town for the next part of my technical training. I went to the church and found out the name and number of the director, so when I got home, I called him. I got a little nervous though, and all my Spanish flew out of my head, and it was the worst phone call ever! Okay, I am exaggerating a little, but imagine calling someone up and then having to repeatedly say, “I'm sorry, I don't understand what you said, can you repeat that?”. It's like, why did you call in the first place? The man Berni was very nice, but he did tell me the group was meeting that night, but I was the only one that showed up. I think it was because kids were still on winter break (yes, it is “winter” right now).
So, then Saturday came and it was time to go on our site visit. We left our communities at 5:30 am to get to San Jose, where the buses are. We were early for our bus, so we walked through all these fruit stands that were on the street the bus station is on. It was pretty cool, but for some reason, the carrots here all look like they are on steroids—they are huge! We got on the bus and rode for a while when the bus suddenly stopped and the driver informed us that we would continue on in an hour and a half. What could possibly cause such a delay, you might ask? Well, the road was being painted up ahead, so everyone had to wait. Incidentally, there was another bus a couple cars behind us, and some other trainees were on it, on the way to their site visits as well. We got off the buses and hung out for a little bit. I really had to go to the bathroom though, so the bus driver advised me to just go in the trees on the side of the road. This is not an easy feat, considering we were driving through the mountains! I literally had to climb a practically-vertical hill and hide in the trees, since the road was full of stopped cars and buses that were pretty much in plain view. Good times. Anyway, the bus eventually got rolling again, and I was looking forward to seeing the pineapple fields that are apparently all over the place. I have no idea what pineapple looks like when it is growing, so I was curious. Unfortunately, it was like when I did the Lighthouse Run and never saw the actual lighthouse, despite running right past it. I was reading a book, and so I have yet to witness a pre-slaughter pineapple.
So, we arrived at our first destination: a reservation of about 500 people. We were out in the country where there are approximately 17,000 mosquitoes per person. We walked through the community with the volunteer there, and I was wearing shorts and no bug spray (ahhh!). Needless to say, I was devoured in no time, but miraculously, the bites disappeared about 15 minutes later. Not everyone was so lucky... That night, we went to the common area where every Saturday and Sunday night they play lots of music and the people do fancy dances like cumbia and merangue and whatnot. It was cool to watch. Since the area is really rural, the family I stayed with there had an outhouse, but hey, that is still better than poppin' a squat on the side of a mountain, hey? They did have a shower inside, but it was cold water, but since it is hot and kind of muggy, the water felt really good. It wasn't icy cold either, more like swimming pool temperature.
The next day, we went on an awesome 3-hour hike. I have never really been hiking before, but I loved it! The reservation is in the mountains, so we basically climbed one of them up to the top and came back down. It took three hours in total, but the views were incredible. I took some pictures, but of course, no camera can do it justice. It was really nice to get out there after being in a pretty urban area the whole time I've been in CR too. Anyway, as we were walking, I noticed that it smelled a lot like Pledge, and then I realized how conditioned I am from doing chores every Saturday morning as a kid that I am comparing the great outdoors of Costa Rica to dusting spray...thanks Mom... A guy from the community who was about 18 years old came with us on the hike, and it was so funny. Here we are, all in our hiking boots, and he is leading the way in nothing but an old pair of flip flops! And he kept popping out of nowhere too! He'd be behind us, then next thing you know, he comes out from the trees 10 feet ahead of us. He helped us through the barbed wire along the way, and when we were almost back to the town area, he made a leash for his dog out of a vine so the dog wouldn't get hit by cars on the highway. Maybe you had to be there, but he was pretty hard core.
Before the hike, we had a little history lesson about the tribe, and they showed us these wooden masks they make that are part of their culture. They are so awesome, I took a few pictures. The colors and carvings are really impressive. We also cleaned the school one morning, asked the volunteer a bazillion questions, and heard about her projects. It was a really good experience, and I definitely think I could really enjoy a rural site like that (in spite of the fact that I have a picture of a scorpion that the volunteer shook out of her bandana!).
After the rural site, we took another bus to visit an urban site a little ways away. It was a lot different from the first site, but it also has it's advantages. Since there are so many people, the volunteers there have lots of projects going on, and there are usually more resources available in terms of finding funding at the local level and such. The volunteers there have their own neighborhoods where they work on various projects, but they also come into the city and work with PANI in the orphanages. We went with them to an orphanage and did an activity with the two kids that were there. We had to make a chart of all the high and low points in our life (part of a bigger project they were working on). Anyway, one of the current volunteers was showing us his, and he had a drawing of what looked like an asthma inhaler, so I assumed he was diagnosed with asthma at one point in his life. When he explained all the drawings, I learned that the “inhaler” was actually a gun, and it represented when someone held a gun up to his head in Honduras...so I was a little off. We also visited a school, and later we had some free time, so we went to the mall and saw Harry Potter (dubbed in Spanish of course). It was pretty cool though. I could definitely see myself in a site like that too, so who knows where I'll end up! The one thing I didn't enjoy was being constantly in a group of people for five days straight. I really need my me-time, even if it's just a little bit each day, so it was hard to not have that freedom for a while. But, I asked a lot of questions and I learned a lot, so it makes me excited to finish up training and get to my site, but one thing at a time.
Okay, it is now 9:30 pm (I am pre-typing this at home, not in an internet cafe), but it is waaaay past my bedtime, so I'm out. Also, as a side-note, Mom, I am not going to talk about my dreams because you are the only person on the face of the planet that actually likes listening to people's dreams! On another side-note, Mom, you'll be most pleasantly surprised to hear that coffee has become....palatable. Okay, I have a long day of technical training tomorrow, so that's all.
Okay, it´s not all… After much frustration in trying to get this thing up, I finally figured some stuff up, but it has been a couple days. So, to summarize, let´s see…a friend of mine from training named Alex did something really nice for me (long story), but I decided I would attempt to make him some cookies to say thank you. I went to the grocery store, which is part of a chain that is ubiquitous here. It isn´t a full fledged grocery store, but it has the essentials. In other words, there is an entire aisle of rice, and another entire aisle of tang and kool aid. They don´t, however, have chocolate chips, so i got stuff to make sugar cookies. My host mom watched me make them and asked for the recipe, and I gave half to her and half to Alex.
Alex and I had plans to meet up yesterday, since we are both Harry Potter fans. We went to San Jose to buy the book (in English), and then we coincidentally ran into some other PC trainees. We hung out for a little bit, then Alex and I went to the mall to see HP movie in English with Spanish subtitles. So yes, I have seen the movie twice, but seeing it in English really made it 10 x better. All in all, it was a good saturday. I can´t believe I have been in CR for a month! I guess I could say the ¨novelty¨ is wearing off, and sometimes I do get frustrated and wish I were just at home, but for the most part, I am really happy to be here, and it is a great experience so far.
I remembered a couple things I was going to say before but forgot when I was typing. First of all, one of the cultural things here is that, while the mom of the house does everyone's laundry, all the girls in the house are responsible for washing their own underwear. That's just the way it is. So, I waited a while till I had enough underwear to do a small load and had my host mom show me the ropes with the laundry machine. The machine is on the back patio, which is covered with a roof, and that is where they hang up all the laundry to dry (no one has dryers here). Anyway, after I was done, the whole patio was covered with my underwear hanging from the ceiling...quite a site. I should have taken a picture...
So, last week on Friday I tried to make contact with the youth group in town for the next part of my technical training. I went to the church and found out the name and number of the director, so when I got home, I called him. I got a little nervous though, and all my Spanish flew out of my head, and it was the worst phone call ever! Okay, I am exaggerating a little, but imagine calling someone up and then having to repeatedly say, “I'm sorry, I don't understand what you said, can you repeat that?”. It's like, why did you call in the first place? The man Berni was very nice, but he did tell me the group was meeting that night, but I was the only one that showed up. I think it was because kids were still on winter break (yes, it is “winter” right now).
So, then Saturday came and it was time to go on our site visit. We left our communities at 5:30 am to get to San Jose, where the buses are. We were early for our bus, so we walked through all these fruit stands that were on the street the bus station is on. It was pretty cool, but for some reason, the carrots here all look like they are on steroids—they are huge! We got on the bus and rode for a while when the bus suddenly stopped and the driver informed us that we would continue on in an hour and a half. What could possibly cause such a delay, you might ask? Well, the road was being painted up ahead, so everyone had to wait. Incidentally, there was another bus a couple cars behind us, and some other trainees were on it, on the way to their site visits as well. We got off the buses and hung out for a little bit. I really had to go to the bathroom though, so the bus driver advised me to just go in the trees on the side of the road. This is not an easy feat, considering we were driving through the mountains! I literally had to climb a practically-vertical hill and hide in the trees, since the road was full of stopped cars and buses that were pretty much in plain view. Good times. Anyway, the bus eventually got rolling again, and I was looking forward to seeing the pineapple fields that are apparently all over the place. I have no idea what pineapple looks like when it is growing, so I was curious. Unfortunately, it was like when I did the Lighthouse Run and never saw the actual lighthouse, despite running right past it. I was reading a book, and so I have yet to witness a pre-slaughter pineapple.
So, we arrived at our first destination: a reservation of about 500 people. We were out in the country where there are approximately 17,000 mosquitoes per person. We walked through the community with the volunteer there, and I was wearing shorts and no bug spray (ahhh!). Needless to say, I was devoured in no time, but miraculously, the bites disappeared about 15 minutes later. Not everyone was so lucky... That night, we went to the common area where every Saturday and Sunday night they play lots of music and the people do fancy dances like cumbia and merangue and whatnot. It was cool to watch. Since the area is really rural, the family I stayed with there had an outhouse, but hey, that is still better than poppin' a squat on the side of a mountain, hey? They did have a shower inside, but it was cold water, but since it is hot and kind of muggy, the water felt really good. It wasn't icy cold either, more like swimming pool temperature.
The next day, we went on an awesome 3-hour hike. I have never really been hiking before, but I loved it! The reservation is in the mountains, so we basically climbed one of them up to the top and came back down. It took three hours in total, but the views were incredible. I took some pictures, but of course, no camera can do it justice. It was really nice to get out there after being in a pretty urban area the whole time I've been in CR too. Anyway, as we were walking, I noticed that it smelled a lot like Pledge, and then I realized how conditioned I am from doing chores every Saturday morning as a kid that I am comparing the great outdoors of Costa Rica to dusting spray...thanks Mom... A guy from the community who was about 18 years old came with us on the hike, and it was so funny. Here we are, all in our hiking boots, and he is leading the way in nothing but an old pair of flip flops! And he kept popping out of nowhere too! He'd be behind us, then next thing you know, he comes out from the trees 10 feet ahead of us. He helped us through the barbed wire along the way, and when we were almost back to the town area, he made a leash for his dog out of a vine so the dog wouldn't get hit by cars on the highway. Maybe you had to be there, but he was pretty hard core.
Before the hike, we had a little history lesson about the tribe, and they showed us these wooden masks they make that are part of their culture. They are so awesome, I took a few pictures. The colors and carvings are really impressive. We also cleaned the school one morning, asked the volunteer a bazillion questions, and heard about her projects. It was a really good experience, and I definitely think I could really enjoy a rural site like that (in spite of the fact that I have a picture of a scorpion that the volunteer shook out of her bandana!).
After the rural site, we took another bus to visit an urban site a little ways away. It was a lot different from the first site, but it also has it's advantages. Since there are so many people, the volunteers there have lots of projects going on, and there are usually more resources available in terms of finding funding at the local level and such. The volunteers there have their own neighborhoods where they work on various projects, but they also come into the city and work with PANI in the orphanages. We went with them to an orphanage and did an activity with the two kids that were there. We had to make a chart of all the high and low points in our life (part of a bigger project they were working on). Anyway, one of the current volunteers was showing us his, and he had a drawing of what looked like an asthma inhaler, so I assumed he was diagnosed with asthma at one point in his life. When he explained all the drawings, I learned that the “inhaler” was actually a gun, and it represented when someone held a gun up to his head in Honduras...so I was a little off. We also visited a school, and later we had some free time, so we went to the mall and saw Harry Potter (dubbed in Spanish of course). It was pretty cool though. I could definitely see myself in a site like that too, so who knows where I'll end up! The one thing I didn't enjoy was being constantly in a group of people for five days straight. I really need my me-time, even if it's just a little bit each day, so it was hard to not have that freedom for a while. But, I asked a lot of questions and I learned a lot, so it makes me excited to finish up training and get to my site, but one thing at a time.
Okay, it is now 9:30 pm (I am pre-typing this at home, not in an internet cafe), but it is waaaay past my bedtime, so I'm out. Also, as a side-note, Mom, I am not going to talk about my dreams because you are the only person on the face of the planet that actually likes listening to people's dreams! On another side-note, Mom, you'll be most pleasantly surprised to hear that coffee has become....palatable. Okay, I have a long day of technical training tomorrow, so that's all.
Okay, it´s not all… After much frustration in trying to get this thing up, I finally figured some stuff up, but it has been a couple days. So, to summarize, let´s see…a friend of mine from training named Alex did something really nice for me (long story), but I decided I would attempt to make him some cookies to say thank you. I went to the grocery store, which is part of a chain that is ubiquitous here. It isn´t a full fledged grocery store, but it has the essentials. In other words, there is an entire aisle of rice, and another entire aisle of tang and kool aid. They don´t, however, have chocolate chips, so i got stuff to make sugar cookies. My host mom watched me make them and asked for the recipe, and I gave half to her and half to Alex.
Alex and I had plans to meet up yesterday, since we are both Harry Potter fans. We went to San Jose to buy the book (in English), and then we coincidentally ran into some other PC trainees. We hung out for a little bit, then Alex and I went to the mall to see HP movie in English with Spanish subtitles. So yes, I have seen the movie twice, but seeing it in English really made it 10 x better. All in all, it was a good saturday. I can´t believe I have been in CR for a month! I guess I could say the ¨novelty¨ is wearing off, and sometimes I do get frustrated and wish I were just at home, but for the most part, I am really happy to be here, and it is a great experience so far.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Noticias
Alright, first order of business is to attempt to reply to some comments (which are great, by the way!!!). Okay, first of all, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Angela, aka Gangsta A. Does that make you happy? Also, I do intend on replying to your late-night chitter chatter, but I´m sorry, I´ve been really busy lately, and I don´t exactly have an all access pass to the internet, hey? I promise a good email soon though! (That goes for anyone I have not replied to yet, including Megan and Adam, and Brianna, I have to send you an email too!).
Okay, now that that is resolved, EJ Eva and Liv, I love all of you and loved reading your messages! I miss you so much and wish I could hang out with you guys and do lots of fun stuff. As for the stuff in Mercado Central, it is very inexpensive, and some things are not stuff you find in your average mall, like machetes and the lining of a cow´s stomach. So yeah, I can tell I´m in Costa Rica... Also, I haven´t used names of my PC friends because I don´t want to put other people´s info on the internet I guess.
So, this week was really busy. Monday I had to go to San Jose with my whole PC group to visit the mercado central and some other places. The post office is a really sweet really old building that is huge and green. Then on Tuesday, I had technical training with the whole group in a nearby town. Then Wednesday I had to do a presentation using Nonformal Education techniques (in English) for my small group in my community (just PC trainees). I did mine on HIV, including some stats and the molecular mechanism...gotta use that science education somehow, hey? It turned out well I think. Then Thursday we visited the PC office in San Jose, which is pretty cool. There is a library there for the PC vols and trainees to just take books from and bring back when you´re done, so I grabbed a couple. Then let´s see, today, just class, but I´m going to try to make contact with the youth group at the church in my town to do a project with them (a continuation of the nonformal education stuff--part of our training). I have a little more Spanish class this afternoon too.
Then, I´m really excited for tomorrow since I´ll leave with the other trainees in my community and one other to go to the south of CR for a five-day field visit! We are going to visit a real site of a current volunteer, have interviews with our program directors, talk to volunteers, see some of the area, etc. I am really really excited for that!!
Okay, again, sorry, I can never think of good stories to put in here! I will have to start taking notes or something when good stuff to write about happens. Till then, this will have to do. Chao!
Okay, now that that is resolved, EJ Eva and Liv, I love all of you and loved reading your messages! I miss you so much and wish I could hang out with you guys and do lots of fun stuff. As for the stuff in Mercado Central, it is very inexpensive, and some things are not stuff you find in your average mall, like machetes and the lining of a cow´s stomach. So yeah, I can tell I´m in Costa Rica... Also, I haven´t used names of my PC friends because I don´t want to put other people´s info on the internet I guess.
So, this week was really busy. Monday I had to go to San Jose with my whole PC group to visit the mercado central and some other places. The post office is a really sweet really old building that is huge and green. Then on Tuesday, I had technical training with the whole group in a nearby town. Then Wednesday I had to do a presentation using Nonformal Education techniques (in English) for my small group in my community (just PC trainees). I did mine on HIV, including some stats and the molecular mechanism...gotta use that science education somehow, hey? It turned out well I think. Then Thursday we visited the PC office in San Jose, which is pretty cool. There is a library there for the PC vols and trainees to just take books from and bring back when you´re done, so I grabbed a couple. Then let´s see, today, just class, but I´m going to try to make contact with the youth group at the church in my town to do a project with them (a continuation of the nonformal education stuff--part of our training). I have a little more Spanish class this afternoon too.
Then, I´m really excited for tomorrow since I´ll leave with the other trainees in my community and one other to go to the south of CR for a five-day field visit! We are going to visit a real site of a current volunteer, have interviews with our program directors, talk to volunteers, see some of the area, etc. I am really really excited for that!!
Okay, again, sorry, I can never think of good stories to put in here! I will have to start taking notes or something when good stuff to write about happens. Till then, this will have to do. Chao!
Monday, July 9, 2007
So, I had a really great weekend, and I went to two different cities on two different days! Saturday I went to San Jose with two of my PC people. We took the bus and just walked around for a little bit. The central part of the city is full of tourists, but we felt cool because we actually live in CR…ha! So, we went to the Mercado Central (“You know I don’t speak Spanish!” Okay, Central Market, ha) and checked it out. It was not what I expected. It was all inside, and they sell EVERYTHING. Lots of Jansport backpacks for some reason, plus souveniers, grocery food, restaurant food, clothes, shoes, you name it. Aka, I will definitely hit that up when I need to send home Christmas gifts—ha ha! We kind of strolled through it, then stopped and had some ice cream at one of the vendors. (Oh, note to Christina, it kind of reminded me of the Deer and Turkey expo in a way, and I felt like I should be raucously manning a ticket booth somewhere, yelling crazy stuff at customers and teetering on the edge of getting fired…). Anyhow, the ice cream was a little heavier on the ice, lighter on the cream than what is in the US, but it was really good. It came with these long edible sticks that you use to scoop up the ice cream, and all together, it tasted like pumpkin pie…yum yum (although I know Emerick wouldn’t like it!).
So, after that, we walked around some more, then went to an internet café (where I sent out my last post), and afterward we sat down at an indoor/outdoor restaurant (no, that does not mean it had indoor/outdoor carpeting…) for a beer. After that, we caught the bus home and got back around 5ish, so it was just a really relaxing afternoon. I hung out at my house the rest of the night with my host parents’ granddaughter who is nine. She is a lot of fun though! Oh yeah, we went to church that evening. By the way, I don’t know if I mentioned this, but the sun sets around 6:30, which is why I go to bed and get up so early. It feels later than it is. Besides, I doubt I had anyone convinced that I was cool before, so if going to bed at 9 on a Saturday night is the straw that broke the camel’s back, well, sorry. Oh, at one point, this old man bumped into me really hard, and I thought he was trying to steal my bag, but turns out he is just clumsy, or drunk, or a really bad thief. (Or I am just that intimidating…)
Sunday, okay… let’s see. I took a new running route that I like and will do again. My family had a funeral thing to go to, so they brought me along. We got in my host brother’s car and drove to the gas station. After filling up, the car wouldn’t start. My host brother kept trying to start it though, and I think that flooded the engine. We pushed the car out of the gas pump area and some of my host parents’ other sons showed up and brought a mechanic I think, and they monkeyed around with the engine for a while, and we waited some more, and then we all got back in the car and drove away. We got to our destination and had lunch outside (we brought it with us). We ate right behind the most famous basilica in CR, and my host family showed me around it and told me some of the stories about it. Apparently, every year there is a huge pilgrimage to this church from all over the country. People come on foot and just camp out along the way and at the church. When it happens in August, I will see tons of people walking down the street on their way.
Anyhow, after that, they took me to a building that is really just the perimeter of what was once a church. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times, but after a big earthquake in 1910, it was destroyed and not rebuilt. What remains are the walls of the church, maybe one story high, (no, two) (ish) with no roof. Inside is a huge garden with lots of flowers and other gardeny stuff.
Finally, we went to my host mom’s sister’s house for the funeral thing. Actually, it’s just a gathering of people to pray for someone who died, and they do it once a month for the first year after someone dies, then once a year after that. It was just in the garage, and there was a lumpy shape covered with a sheet, which for a split second I thought was the body. Don’t worry, I am sure it was just to cover a workbench or something. After a long prayer session, they passed out a cafecito and people just chitchatted and whatnot. Then we came home around 4ish. So yeah, that is pretty much a play by play of my weekend. Nice work if you can get it, hey? Everything is just kind of nice and easy right now, so, sorry I don’t have a bunch of crazy stories or anything. This week I have some different things going on, including a field visit next weekend and into next week. I’m excited for that! So yeah, that is all for now, and I hope things are going well back home!
Oh, sidenote: Irish, I saw someone who looks JUST like you, except with brown hair, really really tan skin, about 25 years older, and hot pink lipstick…but other than that, TWINS! I swear, it was wild!
So, after that, we walked around some more, then went to an internet café (where I sent out my last post), and afterward we sat down at an indoor/outdoor restaurant (no, that does not mean it had indoor/outdoor carpeting…) for a beer. After that, we caught the bus home and got back around 5ish, so it was just a really relaxing afternoon. I hung out at my house the rest of the night with my host parents’ granddaughter who is nine. She is a lot of fun though! Oh yeah, we went to church that evening. By the way, I don’t know if I mentioned this, but the sun sets around 6:30, which is why I go to bed and get up so early. It feels later than it is. Besides, I doubt I had anyone convinced that I was cool before, so if going to bed at 9 on a Saturday night is the straw that broke the camel’s back, well, sorry. Oh, at one point, this old man bumped into me really hard, and I thought he was trying to steal my bag, but turns out he is just clumsy, or drunk, or a really bad thief. (Or I am just that intimidating…)
Sunday, okay… let’s see. I took a new running route that I like and will do again. My family had a funeral thing to go to, so they brought me along. We got in my host brother’s car and drove to the gas station. After filling up, the car wouldn’t start. My host brother kept trying to start it though, and I think that flooded the engine. We pushed the car out of the gas pump area and some of my host parents’ other sons showed up and brought a mechanic I think, and they monkeyed around with the engine for a while, and we waited some more, and then we all got back in the car and drove away. We got to our destination and had lunch outside (we brought it with us). We ate right behind the most famous basilica in CR, and my host family showed me around it and told me some of the stories about it. Apparently, every year there is a huge pilgrimage to this church from all over the country. People come on foot and just camp out along the way and at the church. When it happens in August, I will see tons of people walking down the street on their way.
Anyhow, after that, they took me to a building that is really just the perimeter of what was once a church. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times, but after a big earthquake in 1910, it was destroyed and not rebuilt. What remains are the walls of the church, maybe one story high, (no, two) (ish) with no roof. Inside is a huge garden with lots of flowers and other gardeny stuff.
Finally, we went to my host mom’s sister’s house for the funeral thing. Actually, it’s just a gathering of people to pray for someone who died, and they do it once a month for the first year after someone dies, then once a year after that. It was just in the garage, and there was a lumpy shape covered with a sheet, which for a split second I thought was the body. Don’t worry, I am sure it was just to cover a workbench or something. After a long prayer session, they passed out a cafecito and people just chitchatted and whatnot. Then we came home around 4ish. So yeah, that is pretty much a play by play of my weekend. Nice work if you can get it, hey? Everything is just kind of nice and easy right now, so, sorry I don’t have a bunch of crazy stories or anything. This week I have some different things going on, including a field visit next weekend and into next week. I’m excited for that! So yeah, that is all for now, and I hope things are going well back home!
Oh, sidenote: Irish, I saw someone who looks JUST like you, except with brown hair, really really tan skin, about 25 years older, and hot pink lipstick…but other than that, TWINS! I swear, it was wild!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
A Day in the Life...
Okay, sorry about that last entry--terrible! I am still getting used to the keyboards here though, so sorry about that. Anyway, I{m visiting San Jose with a couple other trainees right now, and it{s kind of nice to get out a little bit. I{m really looking forward to seeing other parts of the country, but all in good time, right?
So, I thought I{d write what a typical day is like for me here. I wake up at 5 to the rooster next door (ha! yes, there is a rooster, and I{m in a pretty urban area). I stay in bed till 6 though, then I get up and go for a little run (usually, but I didn{t today). It is very hilly where I am, plus we are at altitude, plus I haven{t really been running regularly for the past few weeks, so needless to say, it is not super relaxing yet. I don{t go for very long. Anyway, I return home, take a shower (not a cold one, yay!), then get dressed and such. My room is all organized, and I am unpacked, so it{s a nice little set up. Then I go into the kitchen and eat gallo pinto, which is a mix of rice and beans. Sometimes I have an egg, or some cheese, or something, and I have the best orange juice I{ve ever had, and even a small cup of coffee. I feel like those commercials for cereal that have the [part of this complete breakfast[ message.
Anyway, then I walk up the road to this little building next to the clinic. It{s kind of like a garage, because it{s made of cement and has an window in front with bars but no glass. I meet with my spanish teacher and two other pc trainees, and we have spanish class. It{s interactive stuff though, and sometimes we have to go ask people on the street about stuff, or we draw pictures and describe them, or whatever. I go home for lunch )more rice and beans, sometimes some chicken, maybe a little salad or avocado) then return for another hour and a half of spanish. Once a week, I have to go to a bigger town for technical training, and that kind of sucks because it is a long day next to a dirty river that doesn{t smell the greatest. Oh well, lo que sea (ie whatever).
So, in the afternoon, I come home, do some homework, have a cafecito with my host parents (a cup of coffee and some crackers or bread or something), and I actually really like the cafecitos. My parents are really sweet, so it{s a good time of the day. Then, I do some more homework or read some of the paper or visit my compañeros (ie pc trainee friends) or go to the nearby internet cafe, or whatever.
At 6, 6:30 ish, we have dinner, which is similar to lunch, but we have fruit afterwards usually. Then just do some more hanging out, homework, reading, whatever, until 8, 8:30 when I am pretty tired, then go to bed. Repeat.
It might sound kind of eh, but actually, I really like it! I have a little routine, and it varies a bit, but it{s nice, and I really like the people I{ve met so far. I might be going to a funeral tomorrow though, so we{ll see how that goes. I wish I had some funny stories to put in here, but maybe I{ll have to wait till next time I post. My time on the internet is almost up anyway. Okay, that{s all for now, until later, ciao! Also, thanks for the emails and such--they are great to read! I really appreciate it. Okay, that{s it.
So, I thought I{d write what a typical day is like for me here. I wake up at 5 to the rooster next door (ha! yes, there is a rooster, and I{m in a pretty urban area). I stay in bed till 6 though, then I get up and go for a little run (usually, but I didn{t today). It is very hilly where I am, plus we are at altitude, plus I haven{t really been running regularly for the past few weeks, so needless to say, it is not super relaxing yet. I don{t go for very long. Anyway, I return home, take a shower (not a cold one, yay!), then get dressed and such. My room is all organized, and I am unpacked, so it{s a nice little set up. Then I go into the kitchen and eat gallo pinto, which is a mix of rice and beans. Sometimes I have an egg, or some cheese, or something, and I have the best orange juice I{ve ever had, and even a small cup of coffee. I feel like those commercials for cereal that have the [part of this complete breakfast[ message.
Anyway, then I walk up the road to this little building next to the clinic. It{s kind of like a garage, because it{s made of cement and has an window in front with bars but no glass. I meet with my spanish teacher and two other pc trainees, and we have spanish class. It{s interactive stuff though, and sometimes we have to go ask people on the street about stuff, or we draw pictures and describe them, or whatever. I go home for lunch )more rice and beans, sometimes some chicken, maybe a little salad or avocado) then return for another hour and a half of spanish. Once a week, I have to go to a bigger town for technical training, and that kind of sucks because it is a long day next to a dirty river that doesn{t smell the greatest. Oh well, lo que sea (ie whatever).
So, in the afternoon, I come home, do some homework, have a cafecito with my host parents (a cup of coffee and some crackers or bread or something), and I actually really like the cafecitos. My parents are really sweet, so it{s a good time of the day. Then, I do some more homework or read some of the paper or visit my compañeros (ie pc trainee friends) or go to the nearby internet cafe, or whatever.
At 6, 6:30 ish, we have dinner, which is similar to lunch, but we have fruit afterwards usually. Then just do some more hanging out, homework, reading, whatever, until 8, 8:30 when I am pretty tired, then go to bed. Repeat.
It might sound kind of eh, but actually, I really like it! I have a little routine, and it varies a bit, but it{s nice, and I really like the people I{ve met so far. I might be going to a funeral tomorrow though, so we{ll see how that goes. I wish I had some funny stories to put in here, but maybe I{ll have to wait till next time I post. My time on the internet is almost up anyway. Okay, that{s all for now, until later, ciao! Also, thanks for the emails and such--they are great to read! I really appreciate it. Okay, that{s it.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Í´m in Costa Rica!
Okay, I have to make this snappy since i´m runnig out of time on the computadora. Also, sorry if there´s weird punctuation, but this keyboard is a little goofy.
Anyway, I am at my host family´s house in CR, near San Jose. I Love love love everything!!!! my host parents are a bit older, retired, and they are very friendly. My spanish is getting better, but wow, i need lots of learning! I placed into intermediate high )much better than I expected yay), so i can´t get kicked out of peace corps for not knowing enough spanish, but there is lots to learn still. i really like the way the spanish classes are set up. i´m getting a real taste of cr, now that we´re done with the retreat.
i drank my first cup of coffee ever yesterday, and my second today. Since I don´t like coffee at all, i can almost drink it black, since it tastes the same to me no matter what. but hey, it´s a cultural learning experience, and maybe someday i´ll love coffee. ahhh only two minutes!!! okay, so the people are great great great. i like my little community. the ticos aka costa ricans are really nice, and so are the pc volunteers. I don´t know what else i can say quickly. okay there´s a community pool right up the road from me, and my companeros de spanish class )interestingly all three of us are the ones from wisco) want to invite some of the other vols to come swim there maybe this weekend. tomorrow all 35 of us are back together for some technical training, which happens approx once per week.
okay, gotta go, love you all!!ª! mucho much!
Anyway, I am at my host family´s house in CR, near San Jose. I Love love love everything!!!! my host parents are a bit older, retired, and they are very friendly. My spanish is getting better, but wow, i need lots of learning! I placed into intermediate high )much better than I expected yay), so i can´t get kicked out of peace corps for not knowing enough spanish, but there is lots to learn still. i really like the way the spanish classes are set up. i´m getting a real taste of cr, now that we´re done with the retreat.
i drank my first cup of coffee ever yesterday, and my second today. Since I don´t like coffee at all, i can almost drink it black, since it tastes the same to me no matter what. but hey, it´s a cultural learning experience, and maybe someday i´ll love coffee. ahhh only two minutes!!! okay, so the people are great great great. i like my little community. the ticos aka costa ricans are really nice, and so are the pc volunteers. I don´t know what else i can say quickly. okay there´s a community pool right up the road from me, and my companeros de spanish class )interestingly all three of us are the ones from wisco) want to invite some of the other vols to come swim there maybe this weekend. tomorrow all 35 of us are back together for some technical training, which happens approx once per week.
okay, gotta go, love you all!!ª! mucho much!
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