Mucho que hacer!

It's been a busy week since I last wrote. Highlights include painting two bedrooms at the biological reserve, resulting in clothes I should probably never wear in public again and one elbow that may be permanently stained yellow. Another family party with a cake that literally served 50. A beautiful and relaxing day at the beach in Dominical, about an hour bus ride from San Isidro. Posting flyers for the English class I am going to start teaching and having to come back and scratch out and rewrite the date and location twice because of communication issues regarding who has to approve the use of the classroom (Ileana told me that Paula told her that I could use it whenever, but then Luz told me to talk to Paula directly so when I finally found Paula, who it turns out works for Ileana, she said I have to write a formal letter to get approval from the board of directors in charge of the room, who will discuss it Tuesday. Get the idea?) Making a presentation about Peace Corps and my ideas for projects and the board of directors meeting for FUDEBIOL, my counterpart organization, and actually being able to communicate what I wanted to say in Spanish and understand what was going on during the rest of the meeting. Eating homemade chicken soup and empanadas after the meeting. Getting used to waking up before 6 when my host brother is getting ready for school and watching cartoons two feet from my bedroom door. Getting used to walking uphill and hour every morning to get to the biological reserve and then have energy to do work. Playing Spanish Jeopardy in English class with Richie and Ines, the other volunteers. Meeting the town's priest last night and being the first Jew he has ever encountered. Drinking a frozen cappucino in town with Nicole, another volunteer near San Isidro.

This brings me to the present moment. Over all everything is going great and I am contentedly settling into my new community and getting to know my surroundings. There's lots to do here and, knowing myself, I of course want to do it all, so the challenge is going to be narrowing down to a few projects that the community is most interested in and that can be sustained once I'm no longer in the picture (though that won't be for a while).

Sunday there are lots of Fathers' Day celebrations to attend (for some reason they celebrate it the week before here), including a hike to a Christ statue in the mountains, mass, and dinner después. Not the typical way I've celebrated Fathers' Day in the past, but should be fun.

Pura Vida!