Boot camp

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?