Other than sweating in places I never thought were possible, I am having a great time in Los Angeles de Nandajure. Sunday night we went to a quinciniera (15th birthday party for girls) on the same field as the cabalgata. The birthday girl wore a blue ball gown and there was lots more singing and dancing and another Costa Rican piñata (ie gift bag on a string that inevitably gets knocked down on the first try). I guess the way it goes in this community is if you have your party in a public place, everyone is automatically invited and must be fed, even us visitors. We were served a rice dish and leche burro (basically Costa Rican eggnog with more alcohol) and some homemade sweets for dessert.
Monday we spent most of the day planning for our week and prepping for classes. I was assigned to teach an 11th grade English class, an ICT class (laugh if you must) to a women´s group, and to co-faciliate a talk on contamination and recyling at the elementary school. In the evening we went to observe a meeting of the Community Development Association, which is basically the local government entity in small towns across Costa Rica.
Tuesday morning I taught my English class, which I thought went pretty well except that the subject was food and I brought pictures of delicious dishes that stirred up some cravings within me, including frozen yogurt and turkey sandwiches. Speaking of food, here are some reasons why I will mostly regain the Freshman 15 while living with a host family:
- Fried cheese
- Fried chicken
- White bread
- Natilla (basically milk fat)
- Spaghetti served over rice
- Oil, oil, oil
Oh man, I´m doing some serious hill running, but still...
In the afternoon Derek gave us a tour of the coffee plant where the local cooperative brings their coffee beans to process and toast. It was pretty cool and smelled AMAZING. Then we took a drive up to a finca with lots of orange and mango trees and amazing views of the Pacific Ocean and Nicoya Gulf and had Spanish class there. Pictures to follow. In the evening we went to observe a meeting of the local microfinance organization, during which I spent most of the time trying to convert from colones to dollars in my head. Ugh.
We spent this morning making signs and drawing pictures of trash for our recyling talk this afternoon, which will be followed by my ICT class, a group English class, and a marketing lesson. They are definitely jam-packing this week, but it is all pretty interesting and will definitely be helpful when I have to run these activities on my own. Now it´s back home for a lunch that Rachel Ray would most definitely NOT approve of...
P.S. The first case of swine flu made it to Costa Rica yesterday. We have been instructed not to hug or kiss in public. Huh?
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
The other LA
I am writing from a computer lab in Los Angeles de Nandajure, Guanacaste. I´m here with 7 other CED volunteers on our technical visit observing a volunteer who has been working here for the past year and a half. It is really hot and dry here but really beautiful. We are in the mountains on the Nicoya peninsula, so you can see both the gulf and the Pacific Ocean, and the vegetation is really luscious and colorful. I have heard, but not yet seen, a bunch of monkeys so hopefully there will be a siting some time within the next 5 days.
After three bus rides that began at 5 am from Tarbaca with a stop for lunch in Carmona, we arrived a little after two and were met by Derek and some guys from the town who were drinking beers at the bus stop. We dropped our bags off at his old host family´s house and went up to the soccer field, where they were setting up for the evening cabalgata, which is a party that people come to on their horses or in cars and drink and eat and dance to raise money for some cause in the community. This time it was for the new high school that just opened a few months ago. We took a little hike and played some soccer with the kids before the guests began to arrive around 5 pm. All of a sudden there were men and women on horses and the music started and the food and drink began to flow. The volunteers were helping out at the bar and restaurant, so I got to bartend for a couple hours, which was a fun way to meet people without having to sustain long conversations. Nicole and I danced cumbia for a couple songs with my host sister, who is 21, and some of her friends. It was a really cool scene because EVERYONE in the community and neighboring communities comes, so there are the old guys getting drunk and the little kids running around and drinking Coke and everyone in between.
Last night was the most glorious cold shower I´ve ever experienced, followed by a very deep night´s sleep. This morning we got up to help clean up after the party, but most of it was already taken care of, so we hiked down and along a river and some waterfalls. The water wasn´t high enough to swim, but we got our feet wet and scaled some serious rocks. We each retreated to our various family homes for lunch. Rice and beans is a lot less appetizing when it´s 90 degrees out, but fortunately I got some salad and a refreshing drink as well. Now we´re catching up at the computer lab that Derek runs and teaches classes out of, and this afternoon we are going to meet the director of the elementary school here to talk about a potential project we can do with them this week. Tomorrow the real work begins, when our language teachers and Program Training Director show up. We are going to be attending lots of community meetings, helping teach English and computer classes, and have some Spanish language class as well. All the while being evaluated by the staff to see if we have what it takes...
After three bus rides that began at 5 am from Tarbaca with a stop for lunch in Carmona, we arrived a little after two and were met by Derek and some guys from the town who were drinking beers at the bus stop. We dropped our bags off at his old host family´s house and went up to the soccer field, where they were setting up for the evening cabalgata, which is a party that people come to on their horses or in cars and drink and eat and dance to raise money for some cause in the community. This time it was for the new high school that just opened a few months ago. We took a little hike and played some soccer with the kids before the guests began to arrive around 5 pm. All of a sudden there were men and women on horses and the music started and the food and drink began to flow. The volunteers were helping out at the bar and restaurant, so I got to bartend for a couple hours, which was a fun way to meet people without having to sustain long conversations. Nicole and I danced cumbia for a couple songs with my host sister, who is 21, and some of her friends. It was a really cool scene because EVERYONE in the community and neighboring communities comes, so there are the old guys getting drunk and the little kids running around and drinking Coke and everyone in between.
Last night was the most glorious cold shower I´ve ever experienced, followed by a very deep night´s sleep. This morning we got up to help clean up after the party, but most of it was already taken care of, so we hiked down and along a river and some waterfalls. The water wasn´t high enough to swim, but we got our feet wet and scaled some serious rocks. We each retreated to our various family homes for lunch. Rice and beans is a lot less appetizing when it´s 90 degrees out, but fortunately I got some salad and a refreshing drink as well. Now we´re catching up at the computer lab that Derek runs and teaches classes out of, and this afternoon we are going to meet the director of the elementary school here to talk about a potential project we can do with them this week. Tomorrow the real work begins, when our language teachers and Program Training Director show up. We are going to be attending lots of community meetings, helping teach English and computer classes, and have some Spanish language class as well. All the while being evaluated by the staff to see if we have what it takes...
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Exito!
After some lessons in communication and miscommunication, today was a more successful week. On Monday, Team Tarbaca completed our service learning project at the local elementary school. We decided to do a "charla" about the environment and recycling in honor of Earth Day on Wednesday. We had a captive audience of 37 students, grades 4, 5, and 6, and presented for about a half hour on why picking up trash and recycling is important, what you can and can't recycle, what happens to the materials after you separate them, etc. At first it was a little tough to get people to raise their hands and participate, but then we broke out the candy, and every hand shot up. Another important lesson learned: ALWAYS bring food if you want people to stay, listen, and participate. After the talk we all went outside and a bunch of the students were given garbage bags or transparent bags for recycling and were assigned either cans, plastic, or paper and we collected trash on and around campus. Everyone was excited to be running around and getting their hands dirty, and we found some interesting things, including a LOT of dirty diapers. But in general I think they got the point and enjoyed the activity and we pointed out after how much cleaner and prettier the campus and the streets looked. The school principal invited us into the cafeteria after for a cafecito and homemade tortillas with cheese (which are NOT called quesadillas here), and she was really happy with how it went as well.
Today we FINALLY did our SWOT analysis with a new organization, the Organic Cafeteria that we volunteers already frequent almost every day to use their wireless Internet. We were worried about having to start over again, but because we had already had so many informal conversations with the manager and employees and because we were customers ourselves, it turned out we knew a lot about their business, which was really helpful in identifying strengths, weaknesses, and future opportunities. They were pretty engaged in the conversation and came up with a lot of interesting ideas about marketing their products, educating people about the value (both environmental and health-related) of organic food, and of course teaching English to their employees so they could better serve the tourist population. We got pretty positive feedback from our Training Director, who was there observing, so after all that, I think we learned from our (two) mistakes and the third time was indeed the charm.
This weekend I leave with half of the CED group at 5 am for Guanacaste, which is the northwest province of Costa Rica. We are going to visit a volunteer in a site called Los Angeles for six days and attend community meetings with him, observe his projects, and do some of our own mini-projects, including helping teach English and technology classes. We are each going to be living with different families in the communities, which should be interesting. We are also encouraged to "integrate" into the community through playing pick-up soccer games or attending evening social events. It should be a fun and interesting week, and I am looking forward to seeing a different part of the country.
Not much else to report except that my friends back home have notified me that, unfortunately, Rod Blagojevich will NOT be joining me in Costa Rica to appear on NBC's "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!" due to a court ruling. Apparently he still has some business to take care of in the states, but hopefully some other corrupt politicians or B-list celebs will make it down here in the near future. I think they'd especially love the cold showers...
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Ahorita
I learned the meaning of this word the hard way this week. We are now in the thick of our training and have lots of assignments, including a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of a community organization, a service learning project, a survey of all the resources and assets in our community, and a mock set of regulations for microfinance organization. This week we had our SWOT analysis scheduled with Donde Alcides, the meat restaurant that has been so generous to us. When we showed up on Tuesday at 6, the time we had scheduled t meet with all the owners of the restaurant, it turned out all the owners were in a meeting until 8. We decided there must have been something lost in translation so we explicitly explained what we were trying to do and that we needed the whole family present and asked when would be a good time, and they said Thursday at 2 would be perfect, that they would all be around and available and that this project sounded very interesting. So after having prepared for three hours before our meeting that day, we brushed it off and decided the meeting on Thursday would be that much better because we had made our objectives clear and would have even more time to prepare. So we show up on Thursday at 2 and no one is around and our main contact is busy working, but she says everyone will be ready ¨ahorita¨ (meaning not just now but soon!). An hour later, we approach her again and it turns out her brother is sick, her sister has to take care of her baby, and she is busy working, so they are not going to be able to meet with us today. Ugh. Anyways it was a major lesson in the indirect forms of communication here and being careful when choosing an organization to work with. Now we are starting over and working with a new organization next week, which is frustrating but I think we will all be more mentally prepared.
A more lighthearted lesson in the meaning of ¨ahorita¨ was Friday night, and Mark´s host brother Kenneld´s 9th birthday party. All the Tarbaca volunteers were invited over for cake and ice cream, which was going to be eaten ¨ahorita¨ after we arrived. Two hours later, after many rounds of musical chairs, salsa and merengue dancing, and finally a pinata made of a gift bag tied to a rope that was knocked down on the first try, we sang feliz cumpleanos and ate some delicious cake. Celebrations continued this morning with Brigitte´s mom Jackie´s birthday. We ate French toast and sang some more, and then all the CED volunteers spent the morning at our Program Director Luis´ house meeting with current volunteers about their projects. His house has a beautiful view and a hammock and great patio and his wife made us a feast of soup and beef and salad for lunch. Then we all headed into San Jose, where I am now at an Internet Cafe, for the annual Volunteer Advisory Committee diner. This one is to say goodbye to the Tico 16 and 17 volunteers, who will be leaving in May and September, and to welcome our group, Tico 19. It should be really fun to meet everyone at once, and the most exciting part is that we´re having Lebanese food, meaning I will go a whole day without eating rice or beans!
A more lighthearted lesson in the meaning of ¨ahorita¨ was Friday night, and Mark´s host brother Kenneld´s 9th birthday party. All the Tarbaca volunteers were invited over for cake and ice cream, which was going to be eaten ¨ahorita¨ after we arrived. Two hours later, after many rounds of musical chairs, salsa and merengue dancing, and finally a pinata made of a gift bag tied to a rope that was knocked down on the first try, we sang feliz cumpleanos and ate some delicious cake. Celebrations continued this morning with Brigitte´s mom Jackie´s birthday. We ate French toast and sang some more, and then all the CED volunteers spent the morning at our Program Director Luis´ house meeting with current volunteers about their projects. His house has a beautiful view and a hammock and great patio and his wife made us a feast of soup and beef and salad for lunch. Then we all headed into San Jose, where I am now at an Internet Cafe, for the annual Volunteer Advisory Committee diner. This one is to say goodbye to the Tico 16 and 17 volunteers, who will be leaving in May and September, and to welcome our group, Tico 19. It should be really fun to meet everyone at once, and the most exciting part is that we´re having Lebanese food, meaning I will go a whole day without eating rice or beans!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Que linda la playa!
It was a heavenly weekend at the beach. Not at all in the way I would have planned a weekend getaway MY way, but that's why I joined the Peace Corps. For new experiences beyond my control.
We left Saturday morning at 4AM! This would not have flown with Robin Russell...There were 11 of us, but this time we had two cars. Jake and his family in one (Pablo, Teresita, Tito, Paula, and Sharon) and Brigette and her family (Jackie, Melanie and Stephanie) in the pick-up truck, plus me. We had to take the same road we took last weekend to the river, but this time I was mentally prepared and our car had shocks, so it was an entirely different experience in the best way possible. We arrived at Manuel Antonio around 7:15 and were the first people at the beach (shocker). We got a prime parking spot under some trees, and I had my first Costa Rican monkey siting! They were just hanging out in the branches checking out the tourists down below. We had gallo pinto and coffee for breakfast and then spent the next eight hours walking, swimming, lounging, sleeping and eating more (hot dogs that weren't hot for lunch, not sure what you call those...). It was pretty wonderful. The beach got really crowded by around 11 am with gringos and ticos all on their Semana Santa vacations. It was super hot all day and us three gringos got a little sunburned, but no worries mine has already turned into a nice base tan.
Around 4:30 we all piled in our cars and headed to Parrita, about a half hour away where Jake's family has a family friend who invited us to stay on her property. The road to her house was all palm trees, and then we arrived at a modest piece of land with an even more modest house. It had two bedrooms and an open kitchen area, unfinished cement floors and walls, a hanging hose for a shower, and some chickens in the back. Dona Signa lives there with her 12-year-old son, Justin, who had down syndrome, and she happily welcomed all 11 of us, smelly and covered with sand from a day at the beach, to enter her home, use all her running water to shower (literally, it shut off that night), and sleep on air mattresses in her kitchen and in tents on her front porch. Costa Rican hospitality and its finest.
Sunday morning we woke to roosters crowing around 6 am and packed our lunches for the day (I learned how to make arroz con pollo, a staple here) and headed out to a nearby beach called Playa Bandera, which was completely empty and SOOOOOOOO beautiful and peaceful. I guess there are no tourists there because no buses go there and there are no restaurants or shops, but it was awesome. Brigette and I found some palm trees to sit under and try to protect ourselves from a second day of sunburn, but our two hour walk in the afternoon ensured a somewhat painful car ride home. After an even more perfect day, epitomized by eating the juiciest watermelon and then jumping directly into the warm, refreshing ocean, we headed back to Dona Signa's to drain her water supply once again and then hit the road.
I'm feeling very recharged and relaxed, which is good because we have a LOT of work in the next two weeks as we are hitting the halfway point of training and are actually being expected to know and speak Spanish. Que lastima!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Semana Santa!
Tuesday we had a birthday party for my Spanish teacher, Karina, during class, and she gave us our first official Tico dance lesson. She kept it simple so we could all actually do the steps, but for some reason she just makes it look a whole lot better than we do. Fortunately it's much harder for the guys, who actually have to lead, the girls just need to know how to take directions, so if we find good dance partners we're safe. After class, we went back to the meat restaurant, Donde Alcides, to meet Maritza, who had offered to take us to explore her finca. She was all decked out in a matching grey and pink spandex exercise top and capris, think LuluLemon except her brand had a cross on it. She took us through a private gate and on this beautiful hiking trail that only she and her family and special guests have access to. She was in GREAT shape and gave us a workout, and then on our way back up to the restaurant we stopped by the pig sty, where there were some pretty cute pigs being fattened up for you know what. I considered becoming a vegetarian for about five minutes, until she invited us back into the restaurant for a "cafecito," which this time included Smirnoff ices, coffee, tea, Coke, a GIANT plate of pork and beef, baked potatoes, sweet plantains stuffed with cheese, cabbage salad, and grilled pineapple for dessert. When we paused to take a break from eating, she asked us if we wanted more!
Wednesday was our last day of class before Semana Santa, and my family has been off of school/work all week so they have been staying up CRAZY late, like I'm talking pushing 11pm here...My host mom's brother and his wife and baby are in from Buenos Aires (CR, not Argentina), and he brought his guitar so I got a little impromptu performance after dinner. My host mom and her brother played guitar and she and her daughter harmonized and they could WAIL. It was amazing, like they had a whole routine down. From what I could understand, all the songs were about Jesus, but beautiful nonetheless. I guess it was the closest to a seder I'm going to get.
Thursday morning I was awoken by Mark, Jake, and crazy Geraldo outside my window, on their way to hike up a mountain. I decided to join them, somehow blocking out the vow I made Sunday never to go anywhere with Geraldo again. It was a beautiful day and he pointed to an antenna on a mountain waaaaaaaay in the distance and said we were going to the top of it, and we smiled and nodded to humor him as we have learned to do. But two hours later, we were indeed hiking straight up a mud path through a jungle to reach said antenna, which he promised was the best view in Costa Rica. After getting over the fact that my knees would never be clean again and that I might die on the antenna, it was pretty beautiful. Fortunately we made it back in time for lunch, and my host mom had been making bread all day, so it was straight out of the oven and delicious. In the afternoon I went to mass with my host sister and cousin. The church is small and all the doors were and windows were left open so there was lots of natural light and fresh air, and it was a very nice, simple service. Again, I understood little except the name Jesus Christ being said repeatedly. Last night we had movie night at Brigette's house and watched Slumdog Millionaire with Spanish subtitles, which was confusing when they spoke in Hindi because then there were English subtitles too. Today I am planning to take it easy and help my family cook lunch, and tomorrow I am going camping for the weekend with Brigette and her family, which should be a little more tame than last weekend...
Monday, April 6, 2009
You might not be believe me when I tell you, but...
Okay where do I even begin. Yesterday morning I woke up at 5:30 to meet Mark, Jake, Brigette, and 6 members of their families for our trip to "the river." Geraldo, the crazy grandfather, told us he had rented some kind of bus to take us there. We all met at the church at 6 am, and Geraldo had packed a giant sack with a machete sticking out as well as his birdcage, live bird in toe. The "bus" finally showed up around 6:45, which ended up being an SUV that his friend from the feria was driving. SO, 5 of us sat in the way back, 4 in the middle, and two in the front. Being the smallest of the gringos, I got the way back with the kiddies...big mistake. Two hours and MANY winding, unpaved roads later, I was not feeling so hot. We finally made it to a house in the middle of the woods near the river, and I didn't make it much past there. Por Dios, the family had a functioning restroom they let me use, and then there was this bed outside next to their lunch table with this giant stuffed tiger that I basically slept on all day. It was super hot out but there was a nice breeze and the bed was covered by a roof woven from palm leaves. The whole thing was pretty surreal. I was totally out of it and I could just hear people speaking Spanish in the background and coming over and looking at me for a while and offering me pills and drinks and food, none of which I was able to ingest. I finally walked down to the river to meet everyone (having to make a couple pit stops on the way) and laid in the water for a while, which was pretty refreshing. Then bag to bed with the tiger until we headed home around 4. This time I got the front seat, and things were going okay until Geraldo started yelling and all of a sudden we pulled over and he and our driver decided to go for a spontaneous hike in the woods. We gringos were confused and a little bit annoyed, but everyone else seemed to think it was funny. They came back about 15 minutes later with some lemons they'd found and then we kept on driving. About 5 minutes before we returned to paved roads, we heard a giant pop and suddenly our car was lower than it had been. Thinking a tire had been punctured, we got out to check it out, and turns out the whole wheel had fallen off. Simultaneously, the car started steaming. Simultaneously, I started to feel pretty sick again. It was getting dark and things were getting desperate, but somehow our driver was able to replace the tire with his spare and we were on the road again within a half hour. This time we made it all the way back to Tarbaca, a place I never thought I'd be happier to see. When I got back to my house, I told my host mom that I was sick but mistakenly used the masculine form of the word, and she immediately responded, "Estoy enfermo! No! Estoy enfermA!" Then I went straight to bed and slept for 12 hours...
Today was a better day and now I am able to laugh about my experience and look at it in perspective. Apparently Jake captured some of my finer moments on camera yesterday, I am yet to determine whether they will be posted. After class we stopped by the most popular restaurant in Tarbaca, Donde Alcides, to talk to them about a project we have to do for class. They asked if we wanted a "refresco," which is generally thought to be a light snack or drink, so we accepted and they came out five minutes later with beverages, three giant baked potatoes drenched in butter, and a GIANT plate of beef. Costa Rican hospitality has manifested itself in SO many different ways...
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Fun at the Feria
I finally have some free time! Since my last update, I went back to class for the rest of the week and Thursday, I taught my first English class to the 6th grade students in Tarbaca. We designed the lesson assuming they knew absolutely nothing, but it turned out they were familiar with the basics, hello, my name is, how are you, etc. So we got to work on some new vocabulary and they were really fun and enthusiastic to learn, which was kind of surprising and exciting. After class they showed us their favorite game, which is taking folded up cardboard boxes and ¨sledding¨ down a grass hill on top of them. Brigette and I attempted to follow with mixed success...
Thursday night there was a blackout in Tarbaca for about an hour. Fortunately my family was well prepared with candles and all 7.5 of us (there are now a grandma, sister, and baby living with us for a few weeks) piled into Yazmin´s room to read ¨Leyendas Ticas,¨which I think were kind of like ghost stories although I couldn´t quite follow the plot. Yesterday was training again in San Jose, and this morning we got up and took the bus (after waiting an hour and being passed by two that were too full) to Acerri for the feria, which is like a farmer´s market every Saturday. There are SO many fresh fruits and vegetables and people playing music and dancing and the weather is perfect, it´s AWESOME. Mark and Jake´s families come down at 4am to set up and sell eggs, oranges, tomatoes, squash and broccoli, so we helped Geraldo sell some eggs. Pictures to follow.
Tomorrow Mark and Jake´s families are taking us to some river about two hours away, where apparently we can swim, fish and cook sausage. Next week is Semana Santa, Holy Week, which means everyone has work and school off and everything is closed leading up to Easter. We have class Monday through Wednesday but then get a four day weekend, during which my family is planning to cook all day every day and go to church. They don´t do Passover here so I suppose this will have to suffice as my celebration.
More pictures and stories to come...
Thursday night there was a blackout in Tarbaca for about an hour. Fortunately my family was well prepared with candles and all 7.5 of us (there are now a grandma, sister, and baby living with us for a few weeks) piled into Yazmin´s room to read ¨Leyendas Ticas,¨which I think were kind of like ghost stories although I couldn´t quite follow the plot. Yesterday was training again in San Jose, and this morning we got up and took the bus (after waiting an hour and being passed by two that were too full) to Acerri for the feria, which is like a farmer´s market every Saturday. There are SO many fresh fruits and vegetables and people playing music and dancing and the weather is perfect, it´s AWESOME. Mark and Jake´s families come down at 4am to set up and sell eggs, oranges, tomatoes, squash and broccoli, so we helped Geraldo sell some eggs. Pictures to follow.
Tomorrow Mark and Jake´s families are taking us to some river about two hours away, where apparently we can swim, fish and cook sausage. Next week is Semana Santa, Holy Week, which means everyone has work and school off and everything is closed leading up to Easter. We have class Monday through Wednesday but then get a four day weekend, during which my family is planning to cook all day every day and go to church. They don´t do Passover here so I suppose this will have to suffice as my celebration.
More pictures and stories to come...
Thursday, April 2, 2009
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