No matter how hard some people try to deny it, everybody poops. Many of us have the luxury of flushing a toilet afterward, which is really pretty awesome if you think about it. Sometimes, the magical process of flushing is interrupted, and a clog in the toilet occurs. Although this can make a person sad, there is something called a plunger that can make everything all better. The real problem occurs when there is no plunger. This was my situation this morning. Sometimes Abuelo (grandpa) forgets that here in Costa Rica we do not put toilet paper in the toilet. This is interesting to me, because he has never lived anywhere else, but bless his little heart, he does it anyway. Today, I fell victim to following him in the bathroom, which means the toilet clogged after I was finished.
Given that we do not have a plunger, I walked 10 minutes to my aunt's house to borrow hers. No problem, right? Wrong. First of all, I needed to be at the school teaching Kindergarten in 20 minutes, and still hadn't showered after working out. Second of all, by the time I got the plunger it was covered in poop from the last time my aunt's family had used it. Third, when I finally got to my house to use it, it was of course the worst plunger ever made. It was stiff, and flipped inside out with every plunge, splattering EVERYTHING everywhere. As if turning inside out didn't spatter enough nasty-ness everywhere, it was even worse trying to get the thing right side out again. I finally got it to work, and went on with my day.
What's my point? Not surprisingly, I don't really have one. No, wait, I got it - this is just one of millions of examples of how everything takes sooooo much longer here, which is something I'm trying to get used to. Although I think it's lovely that people are much more "tranquilo" here, it does not always agree with my super-Type-A personality...but I'm trying to become more Type-T (Tico).
I am, however, going to buy a plunger for my family this afternoon. There are some things that I don't really want to develop more patience for, and fixing a toilet clog is one of those things.
¡Buenas!Feliz Día del Padre (Happy Father’s Day) everyone!
Although Mother’s Day is not celebrated until August here, Father’s Day this year was celebrated on the same day as in the States. We had a whole mess of people over today to celebrate, which was a lot of fun (see photo for the mess of people). My host Dad (the short, happy gentleman who is farthest to the right in the photo) could not be more adorable, and I absolutely love our relationship. Today I made him and my host brother-in-law (and the rest of the family) chocolate and banana pancakes, which they obviously loved. None of them had ever had pancakes or maple syrup before, so they it was kind of a big deal. The other day I introduced them to peanut butter, which might have been the most significant cultural information that I have shared with anyone at this point. I plan to spread my love for peanut butter all over this country. Here you can find small jars of it in big supermarkets, but hardly anyone actually buys it because it just isn’t part of the culture (and it’s expensive). I’m going to start making it my just putting a bunch of peanuts in the blender. I’ve become partial to peanut butter and guayanaba jelly sandwiches here. Guayanaba is a super common fruit here, and if you can find guayanaba jelly in the States then I highly recommend it. Guayanaba jelly is to Ticos what strawberry jam is to people in the States…everyone has it. There are so many fruits and vegetables here that are not available in the States, and I know them well now because, unlike in San Jose, here in Buenos Aires I get to eat food with… (wait for it)…nutrients!!! I actually get a little sad when other people invite me to eat meals with them, because it is never as good as the stuff I get at home. Come visit me and try it for yourself, contact your travel agent today.
So, I haven’t written in a while because I’ve been very busy making the world a better place. Actually, I’ve been busy trying not to screw up while taking over projects while the volunteer who I’m replacing is out of town. This week, I taught English classes by myself for the first time, which was scary. People go to college for 4 years or more in order to learn how to teach English as a second language, and that is the way it should be. My second class was certainly better than the first (which was just short of disastrous), so I’m hoping they will just keep getting better. I also teach English to 3 kindergarten classes, which is the cutest thing ever. First of all, they are in kindergarten, which automatically makes them adorable. Second, as if the little blue dresses that all the girls wear weren’t precious enough, the little boys wear smocks - that’s right - SMOCKS!!! If you are not familiar with the “smock,” it is like a normal boy’s collared shirt, but the bottom part has a little skirt on it, and they wear them with little blue shorts. I’ve got to take a picture of them – you will die of adorableness poisoning for sure.
I’ll never get through this post if I don’t just sum up some of the other stuff that went on this past week:
- I led a community meeting with residents of the ghetto that is close to where I live, which went extremely well. Last week I created a community survey in order to collect baseline data regarding their living situations, but because a large number of the residents cannot read I ended up spending hours individually interviewing people, which was better because I learned a lot more about each family. Every now and then I run into someone from the community and they tell me that someone else in their family wants to meet me, so I often have lengthy, impromptu visits to the community as well. I have so much respect for the people who are living in the conditions over there…I honestly don’t know if I would be strong enough to do it and still remain sane.
- My exercise classes are going really well, although I’m still spending hours preparing for them in order to get a handle on the exercise vocabulary, which is not exactly something I’ve had the opportunity to study before. I’ve decided that making people sweat, walk funny, and feel really good about themselves at the same time is one of my favorite things in the world.
- Still keeping up my morning walks with a couple of women who are trying to get started in the world of exercise. The one who has been walking with me since I arrived said she’s lost 15 kilos and can wear all kinds of old clothes that she hasn’t worn in years. I am very proud of her.
Okay, talking about work is boring, here are some random thoughts:
- I am trying to master salsa, swing, bachata, meregue, and cumbia…I received a crash course from two of my coworkers at the high school the other day…hoping to be a pro by 2011.
- My coworker at the high school invited me to her neice’s quincernera (15th bday party), which was a lot of fun, and in true Tico fashion I was welcomed into their family with open arms. I was invited to spend a weekend with about 5 different families, and my coworkers sister even invited me to her wedding next week. People are SOOOO nice here!
- The water company here keeps shutting off the water because it’s the rainy season so it’s more vulnerable to contamination. I really like water a lot, not just to drink but also to cook, bathe, flush the toilet, wash my hands after using the toilet…the list goes on. As you can probably imagine, I get pretty sad when it goes away.
- I am in heaven with my new host family. Yesterday I spent the day about an hour away in Perez Zeledon, and when I got home at night my 21 and 23 year old host sisters practically tackled me as they ran over to greet me and tell me how much everyone missed me (I was gone from 11am until about 9pm). I also got eaten alive my mosquitos and these other little “bichos” (bugs) that are balck and really small but make big red bites that are twice their own size. I hate them…hate them. My legs are all swollen and look diseased and it kind of hurts to walk. Oh, my trip to Perez was super fun though. I went to my coworker’s niece’s quinciñera (15th bday party).
- Today marks the third time that my host family has forced me to sing karaoke to Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.” They don’t actually force me, but these people are so sweet that it is basically impossible to say no to them. Also, they do not play when it comes to karaoke…it is unfortunately something about which they are genuinely (and painfully) passionate.
- Next time you are eating salted peanuts, sprinkle some lime over top, eat them, and then send me a pretty thank you card. You’re welcome.
- Ticos use the word “culantro,” pronounced “koo-lan-trow” instead of cilantro. It’s funny because it sounds a lot like the bad word for butt, “culo.”
- Tuanis (pronounced too-AH-neese) is a word to describe something as being really good, but in a cool way. It’s like “awesome,” but with actual street cred. Apparently, the word evolved from English-speaking people on the Cariibean side of the country saying “too nice.” I try to use it as frequently as possible.
That’s a little taste of just some of the things going on in my head right now…I’d love to hear from everyone so keep me updated with emails. I’m hoping to have a cell phone in the next week, so email me if you want my number, and if I actually know who you are I’ll send it to you.
Running water, eating when we’re hungry, toilet paper, soap, education, and roofs made of solid material…no matter how hard I try to appreciate everything that I have in my life, these resources are so readily available to me that it is nearly impossible not to take them for granted at times. Today I visited a community that is a 5 minute walk from my house, where the people would do anything do have access to some of these things that I am able to obtain so easily. Lomas del Sol is a precario (ghetto) that sits on land owned and abandoned by the government, where about 50 families with no other options used whatever materials they could find in order to construct shelter for themselves. About 4 years ago, the government began a housing project there, but after constructing just 6 houses the municipality declared the land uninhabitable, and the project was terminated. The six constructed houses were quickly occupied, in spite of there being no running water, and other families with no place to live used scraps donated by the pineapple packing company PINDECO to construct shantytown houses on the remainder of the vacant lot. The people who currently inhabit the 66 houses carry water to their houses in buckets, after filling them in one of the just 2 tubes that are available to them.
Today I had the privilege of meeting five community members of Lomas, and the experience definitely influenced my priorities and perspective with respect to my service. I spent nearly four hours talking with them about their emotional and economic statuses, families, education, religion, health, exercise, nutrition, and the politics surrounding their current living situation. In spite of the fact that Peace Corps has been in Costa Rica for over 45 years, none of them had ever heard of it. Buenos Aires as a Peace Corps site is quite a large area for one volunteer to cover, and unfortunately communities like Lomas can easily get lost in the bigger picture. I could easily spend my 2 years working solely with the people of Lomas, however I will need to find a way to incorporate them in my work with the schools, health clinics, child protective services, and other social and governmental institutions here. They are very interested in having more programs for their children and youth, many of whom are not currently attending school. Education is “free” here, but students still need money for materials, copies (even of their own exams), etc., which is only one reason why keeping kids in school presents a challenge to families of very limited economic means. Even children who are in school have very limited access to extra-curricular activities, so access for those not in school is completely nonexistent. As a result, the community members with whom I met in Lomas were very eager to discuss potential youth projects for their community. We talked about mentorship programs, English classes, recreational opportunities, and leadership groups as possibilities for the young people in the community. In addition, it came up that I’ve been teaching an exercise class in the community center, and the women in the group seemed to love that idea as well. They were also eager to get more parenting resources and support, so I think the counselor at the elementary school and I are going to do some workshops with the parents of Lomas.
After meeting for a couple of hours they invited me to have cafecito, which I accepted, as always. I never drank coffee before coming here, but it would be nearly impossible to spend 2 years here and not turn into a complete addict. Peace Corps volunteers in Costa Rica don’t actually need to be provided with meals by their families during the day, because it would be completely doable to survive (albeit unhealthily) off of cafecito alone. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like coffee and cookies and white bread and butter…you take the time to have cafecito anyway, because it is absolutely the most valuable time one can spend with members of the community. I feel like my heart is going to tear through my chest it beats so fast when I drink the stuff, but the crazy symptoms and slow damage to my personal health are without a doubt worth the emotional gains and relationships formed by consuming coffee and white, processed flour and sugar. Oooh, ima need to write about food more in the next post, because I am eating SOOOOO much better in my new home with my new host mother, who spoils me completely rotten. It is very likely that I am eating more vegetables that you, which makes me happy.
I just finished my first full day as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. I feel tired and sweaty and itchy, and I smell like feet. Pura vida.
A lot has happened since my last post, so I’ll try to recap. On May 29th, all 50 members of Tico 19 were sworn in as volunteers at the house of the U.S. Ambassador. It was a lovely ceremony, with the entire PC Costa Rica staff and almost all of our host families in attendance. Saying goodbye to several staff members and fellow trainees felt very strange, and I was especially sad to part with one of my language teachers, to whom I have become very close. I seriously owe our staff more than half the brain cells in my body right now. In spite of a limited time frame and even more limited budget, they did an incredible job preparing us for service.
Besides becoming a Peace Corps volunteer, I also turned a half century old this week. My training host family threw me a big surprise party and invited all my friends from training to our house. We all crowded into my little tiny house, reflecting on our training experience, talking about our future sites, eating arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), and listening to my friend Jerred sing and play guitar (which always makes me cry).
I spent my last day in San Jose baking whole wheat banana bread and whole butter and sugar apple pie with my dear friend Chamisa and her lovely host family, and then went home to spend my last night with my family. While my host Dad and I watched a movie, I could tell that my host mom was putting her heart and soul into something big in the kitchen. We usually eat in their big bed, but this time she asked us to turn off the movie and come out to eat in the dining room, where she had prepared a beautiful candlelit dinner. I was a little sad that we weren’t eating our last dinner in their bed, but it was really quite lovely, and my host mom was very pleased with herself, which is what made me happiest of all.
I am now in Buenos Aires, this time to stay. Although I could not have felt more ready to move here and begin working, everything is quite overwhelming right now. There is an incredible amount of work do to, so figuring out where to begin is going to be an enormous challenge. Another challenge will be prioritizing projects, because my community is quite large. A major strength of Buenos Aires is the energy and motivation possessed by its people. Many people have good ideas about changes they would like to see, and seem willing to participate in and offer support to the community development process.
To give you all an idea of how easy it is to find potential projects, after just one day I was asked to teach exercises classes, coach soccer, help with parenting workshops, teach two adult English classes, teach English to kindergartners, help run a mentorship program in the high school, start a leadership group for young women, help construct a public playground, organize a swim camp…the list goes on.
Our first 3 months are supposed to be spent getting to know the people and collecting data that allows us to write a diagnostic analysis of the community. The diagnostic is to be used to prioritize projects and form an initial work plan. As one can imagine, it needs to include a ri-hog-ulous amount of information (e.g. history, demographics, health, education, social issues, social institutions, recreation, and gender roles). Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I am a big nerd, so I’m looking forward to the process of data collection and analysis, and also a little nervous about getting everything done while simultaneously working on projects.
Did I mention that it is hot here? Cuz it is. I might melt into thin air before I have the chance to return home. The best part about living in a place this hot is that ice cream is always in season, and there is absolutely no guilt linked to eating it because every time it feels like the best idea you ever had.
Today I returned from a week-long visit to my future site, Barrio Santa Cruz, Buenos Aires, Puntarenas, Costa Rica. It is real hot there. Everything about the trip was fantastic, the only bad part being that I had to return to San Jose. We have 9 days left of training, and while it has been an excellent experience, we are all quite ready for it to end. I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this, but San Jose is by far the worst city I have ever been to. Also, although I am very close to my host family, things have been hard for them recently. Our already dirty house and unhealthy food have now reached hazardous levels, so it’s going to be much easier than I thought it would be to leave. Maggots make it very easy to leave a place. Also important: if you are an ant, do not walk by a hungry maggot unless you want to die a horrible, horrible death. Trust me, it is not cute.
So anyway…my site visit. In each site where a volunteer is to be sent, Peace Corps staff selects a local “counterpart,” with whom the volunteer will be able to work and get started on projects and networking in the community. Before visiting our sites, we met up with our official counterparts in San Jose, and travelled with them to a training center in the mountains. There we spent 2 days attending various training sessions that involved getting to know each other and learning about our respective roles. My counterpart’s name is Eyohanid (even Ticos have a hard time pronouncing it), and she might be one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. In addition to being a high school counselor (which is an enormously important, but thankless, job in this country) she’s an athlete, dancer, arts aficionado, and karaoke singer extraordinaire. Oh, she’s also hilarious and strikingly beautiful (kind of to the point that it makes you sick). I have no doubt that she will be an excellent professional and social resource, and she appears to be just as enthusiastic about working with me. Another perk is that she’s in the English class that I will be teaching after the current volunteer, Jenna, leaves at the end of August.
Jenna, who just has 3 months left of service, is a prime example of why I did not want to be placed in a site that currently has a volunteer. Basically, she has a hand in everything, the entire community is in love with her (for good reason), no one wants to see her leave, and I’m the one who has to follow her act. While I am confident that, with time, I will be able to fully integrate and successfully complete projects, people are going to have some pretty big expectations. I’m going to be compared to Jenna constantly, and it won’t be a comparison to Jenna when she first arrived - they will be comparing me to the Jenna who now has 2 years of experience working and living in their community. She currently has a number of projects going that I am very interested in continuing, including teaching English to both adults and kindergarteners, instructing exercise classes, development of a community recreational facility, organizing a mentorship program between the elementary and high schools, facilitating a parenting class, and working on a number of projects with the Patronato Nacional de la Infancia.
While it is great to have so many projects immediately at my disposal, one of my greatest challenges will be forming my own identity in the community, and reaching populations that have not been able to benefit from Jenna’s work. This will be a challenge because it requires that I either find local resources that can sustain her projects without me, or that I leave some of her projects behind. Although following a current volunteer presents certain difficulties, this trip made me realize that the advantages of having Jenna around during my first 3 months of service far outweigh the challenges presented by having to replace her.
My week was largely spent following Jenna around and getting to know the people with whom she works, however I also moved in with my new host family. Doña Christina and Don Hugo are a slightly older couple who live in a quaint but very well-kept house in Santa Cruz. They are extremely caring and friendly people, and I think that I’m going to be quite happy there. Christina seem to genuinely enjoy cooking and cleaning all day, and I admit the spotless house is quite enjoyable after my living situation in San Jose. The food is still quite heavy, and although it is easier for me to eat now that when I first arrived, I’ve accepted that it just isn’t going to get better until I live by myself. Knowing that many of my fellow trainees are living with families that eat very healthy foods makes it a little bit harder, but I am very grateful for every meal that I receive, and sometimes we just have to roll with the punches. Pura vida.
My host father, Hugo, works in the shipping department of Pin-Deco(sp?), the huge pineapple company that appears to be the employer of most of the men in my town. People here seem to think it is a good company that takes care of its employees. Christina’s father is also living in the house. He’s quite elderly, nearly blind, cannot hear very well, and sleeps on the living room floor, which makes me feel quite guilty about having my own room. When I first met him, neither one of us could understand the other, but luckily this lack of communication was short-lived. From day one I made it my mission for us to understand each other, and by day two we were chillin, talking for 3 hours our on the porch during the thunderstorm and downpour which occurs every afternoon now that the rainy season has begun. The man has got stories, and although his family treats him with all the love and respect in the world, I think it’s been a while since he’s has someone trying to learn more about him, hanging on to his every word. I won’t lie, I come in handy sometimes.
I have endless stories about my time spent with the family. Although I definitely had fun busting out karaoke (the Ticos go crazy when Americans sing Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On,” they cannot get enough), and teaching my little nephews how to play cards, my favorite family experience involved a walk to the pineapple fields with my host dad and brother-in-law. On my third day there, I was trying to put up my mosquito net, and my host mom told me to wait until Hugo could help me. Moments later, Hugo and Greivi (my host sister’s husband) were standing at my door, with machetes in hand. They wanted to go into the pineapple fields and cut a piece of bamboo from which to hang the net. I, of course, loved the idea, and they were both surprised and pleased when I asked if I could go with them. Along with my nephew and another little boy from the neighborhood, we searched long and hard for the perfect piece of bamboo, which is now hanging in my room. The pineapple fields are gorgeous, and since both Hugo and Greivi work for Pin-Deco, there were plenty of opportunities to teach me more about their work as we walked. For example, they pointed out that community members often burn their trash in the fields, damaging many of the plants, in spite of the fact that Santa Cruz has a fully-functioning sanitation system. It was at least promising that there are people like Hugo and Greivi who can identify that this is a problem, and who knows, maybe I can help facilitate the process of finding a solution.
For those of you who have made it this far in the post, I will reward you with one of my favorite stories of the visit. My very first morning in site, I accompanied Jenna to what she thought was going to be a little meeting with some elderly people in the community. The president of the group knew that Jenna taught exercise, so they wanted her to lead everyone in some simple movements and stretches before their meeting. Upon our arrival, it became quite clear that this was no “little meeting.” Buses, yes buses, of elderly persons from six different towns were being dropped off in front of a huge amphitheatre. Not only were there hundreds of them, they were all wearing pretty nice clothes, and there was definitely a lot of diversity in terms of physical mobility. Taking all of these new factors into account, we quickly formulated a very loose plan of action, as we (yes, at this point is was “we”) were supposed to kick-off the event. Once the music was bumpin we realized there was nothing to worry about, because these Ticos were bumpin!!! Ticos love crazy gringas, especially machitas (blond girls), so it didn’t matter how ridiculous our different exercises and stretches were, they were totally into it. We then turned the whole thing into a big dance party, bringing older ladies and caballeros into the circle with us to freestyle, with everyone on the outside mimicking their dance. It was just like my hip hop class in D.C….
Now that I’m back in San Jose, I’m trying to do my best to spend lots of time with my friends and family here. Tomorrow we have our “Family Party,” which the trainees throw for all of the host families. We’re going to make typical foods from the U.S., have a D.J., put together a huge slide show of photos from training, play soccer, basketball, and frisbee, and do a little presentation with roses for our host mothers and certificates for all of the parents. Should be fun, as long as we manage to feed everyone!!!
We just bought a lot of vegetables, and I’m hoping some of them are about to come my way very vegetable-free week in my household, so I would pretty much be the happiest person alive if that is about to change. Ima go check…Peace.
About a week ago I went with my Tica friend, Margarita, to Volcán Irazú, the highest volcano in Costa Rica.The 20 mile bus ride took us high above the urban central valley, first through Cartago (the first capital of Costa Rica) and then past a seemingly endless number of small, agricultural towns.The landscape was beautiful, and Margarita could tell me literally everything that was growing on every single farm.She also pointed out various sites still showing damage from the last eruption, which occurred in 1963.We spent the day walking around the outside of the huge crater, which is technically still active, although it is not showing signs of erupting any time soon (don’t worry, Mom).
In other news, my host mom showed me her lesson plan for her next catechism class, which she teaches to adolescents every Saturday.The theme of the lesson was (wait for it) abortion, which is not exactly a favorite of the Catholic Church.She very thoughtfully offered to give me copies of her materials, such as a comic entitles, “Who killed Juanito?”Apparently, some people make comics that are not funny.I gingerly mentioned that as PC volunteers we are not permitted to teach the beliefs of any single religion, which was of course met by a look of confusion.As she flipped through horrifying photographs of aborted fetuses, and drawings of poor Juanito being sucked from his mother’s stomach via an evil vacuum cleaner, she argued that these books were clearly not teaching religion.They were just educating people about abortion.
A couple more random things that occurred to me today:
1. Obama was in La Nacion (our largest newspaper), but it was just a picture of him and Joe Biden eating hamburgers in Arlington.No article, just a caption that pretty much translates to, “Obama and Biden are eating hamburgers in Arlington.”Sooo…it was someone’s job to feature Obama in the Costa Rican news and, call me dense, but I don’t quite understand how it was decided that this was the best option.In any case, it had been a while since I’d seen his photo, and I found myself re-experiencing emotions from November and January, thinking, “Booyah!That’s my president!!!!”
2. Mangos are my new apple.Since apples here are gross and expensive, and mangos are cheap and delicious, they are my new go-to fruit.Here they eat lots of “mango verde con sal,” or slices of unripe mango with a little bit of salt sprinkled on top.If you like sour treats, I highly recommend it.
3. Ticos sometimes make refrigeration choices that I find questionable.For example, eggs are almost never refrigerated, and leftovers from lunch (meat and all) are often simply left out and reheated, however my host dad just put the rest of his chocolate bar in the fridge.Hmmm.
4. The house flies are back in full force.I´m trying to forget about the fact that they eat poop as they land all over my stuff.
I will be visiting my future site for the next week...should return with good stories.Hope this post finds you healthy and happy!!!Peace and Love!
