Almost a month in

Well, I've almost made it to the 1 month marker in my service. All is well so far. There seems to be so much to do right now. Next week I'll be helping to plan for the student groups who will be staying a week each (there are 2 of them, one from the states and the other from Canada). This means I need to think of a lot of fun activities to occupy them in the afternoon after they work on projects around the town and eat lunch. I'm also teaching English classes to the Kindergarten, the primary school. Theres about 4-5 kids in the Kindergarten and my class is basically I play with them and tell them different English words for various things (and become exhausted after they all decide they are going to misbehave in various ways at the same time), the primary school kids are much better and its a lot more fun. I have 30 minutes a piece with each group (1st-3rd graders, 15 of them and 4th-6th graders, 14 of these). We do lots of games (some I need to tone down unless I want the parents killing me for ruining their uniforms) and I even give tests! Overall its been quite fun, although I know for sure now I never want to be a teacher.

In the community, I'm still going on house visits. I'm going to try to do many of these next week, since there are fewer meetings this coming week. Of course, this also means I have to call people and talk Spanish on the phone. I was brave enough one night this week to answer the phone (actually twice, but the first time was my friend Georgina). Its strange to think how important actually seeing someone's mouth more is in understanding what they are saying. Although, here in Costa Rica, even if you just set up a time to visit you'll probably end up having lunch or at least cafecita with a snack.

As always I hope all is well with my friends and family. Pura Vida!

Its offical

I´m all settled in to my new home. I´m not going to type much here because the keyboard at this internet cafe is awkward (too bad theres no word in Spanish for awkward). I´ll give you a brief update and later upload an actual blog.

Next week I´ll be starting my English classes with all the kids in the primary school, so that should take up most of my Tuesdays and Thursdays. I´ve already attended some meetings and some project ideas are floating around, including a panadaria (bakery) and a biodigestor. I´m starting to remember peoples names but still have to ask 2 or more times what people´s names are which causes quite a bit of vergüenza. Anyways, I think my Spanish is getting better, or at least people are understanding that they need to speak slowly and are getting used to my bad grammer. Hope all is well in the States and will follow up with a better blog entry and news on how my first class went.

My new site

Well I just got back from my visit from my new home for 2 years. It is the most beautiful place in the world... well in Costa Rica at least. My town is very small, about 200 people, but they are really nice and seem to really want to work with me, and definately have me teach them English. I live with a really great family too. I have a new mom and dad, and 4 new siblings. There´s a 2 year old girl, a 16 year old boy, a 18 year old girl, and my oldest brother, whose 24, lives in San Isidro where he goes to the university and works at the muncipalidad. Theres a river (Rio Blanco) that goes right through my town. Last year tropical storm Alma destroyed one of our main bridges and we are in the process of rebuilding it. Below are pictures of them tearing down the old bridge that was just for pedistrians and putting the foundation of two huge trees in place of it for the new bridge. My house is great. The backyard is literally a jungle and then a farm. It has little pools and waterfalls and is perfect for hiking around in and reflecting. The farm is great as well. It is primarily coffee, potatoes, blackberries, and avocado trees. In other farms around the area we also produce corn and mangos. My family owns the local pulperia, so that is where I´ll be spending most of my time, eating lunch and dinner, hanging out with my family, and most importantly chismeing with all the locals. Thats all for now, but I´ve included a few pictures. I didn´t take too many because I didn´t want to be another just another gringo. First impressions are important!

My New Site

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been a combination of lazy/tired/having a bad internet connection or none at all/and super busy. But.... I did find out my permanent site a week or so ago. I'm going to the tiny town (250 people about) of Herradura de Rivas right next to Mt. Chirripo. Its going to be great I'm pretty sure, but I will miss my friends and my Tico family, but I know I'm going to have the chance to have a brand new family and great new friends in my new site. I'll hopefully post another blog as soon as I come back and tell you all about it.

Top 10 Lists

10 Things I Love

1. My Tica mama’s homemade biscuits (I’ve only had them once, but I want more)
2. The oatmealish with granola cereal I request every morning
3. Mountain hikes
4. The fog at night
5. A few select perros
6. My RCDers
7. Gallo Pinto
8. Coffee made the Tico way
9. Bus crushes (you have to do something on the long bus rides)
10. Days off

10 Things I’m Still Getting Used Too

1. The fact that 9 am is sleeping in now for me… never again noon and later
2. Not serving myself my own food/not making my own food
3. Not doing my own laundry or ironing
4. The bus schedule and how to flag down said bus
5. Getting around San José
6. Getting that perfectly hot shower
7. Carrying around 5 lbs of change, but actually needing that change
8. My hill
9. Assignments I’m sure I’ll appreciate when I’m in my site
10. Uncertainty

10 Things I Miss

1. My family
2. My friends
3. Dogs that you don’t have to wonder if it’s safe to pet them
4. Cooking my own food
5. My own food
6. Internet at my fingertips
7. My pumas
8. Free time
9. Being in complete control of my schedule/life
10. Really good pizza (someone FedEx me Basil’s)

A Few Pictures

The Jericó group, plus a random kid

The beach at Matapalo, the town next to my site visit

The waterfall I jumped off of.... or at least next to

A spider next to my room

Jericó

San Jose from my mountain The back of the mountain

A Quick Post on my Site Visit

I just wanted to write a quick post about my site visit. It was to a little town called Portolon, a little south of Quepos. My volunteer I visited was Bethany. She was amazing and it was scary how similar we were in interests and aspirations. She works heavily with the women´s groups in her area and is pretty much doing everything in her site and with the peace corps that I want to do. So she was the best help in the world. Portolon was amazing, and I didn´t want to leave. Also I surfed.... well kinda. I only got up on my knees but I think with a little more practice I could get good. I also visited a waterfall thats about a 30 minute hike from their house. I impressed all the boys by jumping off the highest ledge. It was a really great town and made me super excited for my real service.

On a more general note, food is about the same. A lot of beans and rice, so it could work on a vegan diet Leila, but I don´t think you´d lose much weight since they load you up on carbs. I´m supèr red from the sun and the beach and the walking, but know I´ll have a pretty golden tan soon. Life is about the same besides the site visit, although the big work is starting to pile up and I know I have to get moving on that. I finally have a full weekend to relax, so I will be catching up on lack of sleep and trying to compile a group for English classes, but I have to go. Again if you have questions post them in the comments.