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.

One and a Half Weeks and Counting

I´ve finally moved to my training site, Jerico (there is an accent in there but I haven´t figured out Spanish keyboards yet). Jerico is a small community, about 500-800 people. There isn´t too much in it. I would compare it to Dennison, MN for all that know that area. There are 2 pulperias, which are basically corner store. They have the basics such as snacks, bread, some tolietries, some household products, candy, and pop. There are two churches, Catholic and Protestant, and a primary school. Oh and a futbol field, of course. ¨m going to be here until May when I get my permenant site. My family is really great. I have a mom, a dad, and a brother and sister. My siblings are both around 30. My sister works at a bank and is super nice and helpful with me. My brother is in a punk band, which is exciting because that is one of my favorite genres of music. I also have his room which is covered in articles and pictures of punk artists, so I´ve been reading up. My whole family is so patient with my Spanish, I still have a lot to learn, but I finally sat down with my dad and had a real conversation. There was some help from the dictionary, but overall I was able to communicate with him, although it was probably broken Spanish.

Other than my new town and my wonderful family, oh and the homemade meals I have 3 times a day, there are my classes whch consist of Spanish (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday), Technical training on Wednesdays (which we so far have learned about having successful meetings and leadership), other core training course on Friday (for example, country briefings, sexual assault awareness, and diseases), and once in a while on Saturdays we have extra classes (today it was about EFL classes). Its a lot of work and a lot of going out into the community to humilate ourselves with our broken Spanish. But its all in the spirit of it being better to do it with each other first so when we have to do it alone its a lot easier and less painful, perhaps even enjoyable.

Of course the most important thing in Costa Rica, at least for us hardworking Peace Corps trainees, is coffee breaks. My mom makes my coffee the real way (which will make it hard to go back to coffee maker coffee). The real way of course is boiling the water in a teapot and pouring it over a filter full of coffee, letting it drip into another serving teapot. Its strong, dark, and most importantly never burnt. Plus I have coffee three times a day, morning, noon and before dinner after my school/work. I don´t think I´m addicted yet, but of course that´s what all addicts say.

I miss you all... and think about you (in Spanish of course). My access to the internet is still a little shaky, I can only use it if I take the bus to San Jose which is only on Fridays and some Saturdays, but thats if I have someone to go with or nothing to do after class. Well thats about all I can think about right now... again any questions, post them and I´ll try to answer them to the best of my ability. Also I apologize about any grammer/spelling mistakes I¨ve made. Like I said before I´m still learning to use this Spanish keyboard. Hasta Luego!

I'm Here!

This is going to be a short blog since its late at night and I need sleep, I have been getting very little because of flights and full days.  

I have arrived safe and sound in Costa Rica.  Meeting all the great volunteers and staff, and it looks like a great setup and great country.  If you have questions you want answered, leave them in the comments and I'll answer them in my next post as best as I can.  I miss everyone, but I love it here too.

What I'll Miss

So I'm stealing this idea from both Rebecca and Kristen (my fellow Costa Rican Peace Corps volunteers)

With two weeks left in the states, and panic setting in at random times of the day, I think about all that I won't have and will miss dearly.  Here's a list that may or may not be added onto as I continue my adventure:

1. All my friends and family- Especially phone calls to and from my mom
2. Not being able to give my friends in China one last hug
3. My brother's dogs- they better not forget me and I better get picture updates
4. Being able to get in my car and drive to the wilderness when I need to get away
5. My car- although I'm hoping to come back only wishing to use a car for road trips
6. Pancakes and Chinese food- a pancake stand however maybe in a distant Costa Rican future
7. Winter and cold-I love my sweaters
8. Cooking/Watching cooking shows
9. Not having to worry about animals or bugs that bite or cause general havoc

Its been awhile

So, I haven't updated anyone, on anything, in awhile.  Well I'm leaving for Costa Rica March 10th to start work on Rural Community Development.  Well, technically I leave for Washington DC on the 10th for staging, and Costa Rica the 11th for orientation activities for 3 monthes, only to begin my actual community development work somewhere after that.  This process has been the longest I've ever had to undertake, and to be honest the most frustrating.  It is nice to finally have a set date, with set rules, and set expectations.  Now the complicated part is the packing.  I honestly have nightmares about that.  I'm going to set up a flickr page sometime so I can store all my photos, but right now, again, all I can think about it how to pack 2 years into the luggage limits they give us.  Any suggestions would be more then welcome.