So a little over a week has passed since I last wrote and I feel like I could write a book. One exciting part of my life here that I forgot to mention in my last blog is that I’m slowly growing accustomed to sharing my room with cockroaches…. So a little background for those of you who don’t know, I’m not a big fan of bugs, especially large ugly ones that are fast and blend in well with anything dark. Therefore, my goal here in Costa Rica is to learn to appreciate all animals for what they are and “to be one with nature.” ☺ Anyways, my first encounter with a cockroach in my room occurred last Sunday night as I was getting ready for bed. I spotted the “beautiful creature” on my wall, shrieked, and ran to my host mom’s room to tell her that there was a cockroach on my wall! She laughs and slowly saunters over to my room with a can of Off bugspray and starts to spray it. It just sits there like “yeah right, as if that’s going to do something,” so she just keeps spraying until it moves enough for her to reach it to hit it to the floor, and then she steps on it. She just kept looking at me as I sat horrified on my bed like “what is wrong with you?” I just found two more in my room tonight, for a total of probably about 15 now. I killed one this morning and let it sit on the floor for about 15 minutes, and when I went to clean it up it was already surrounded by ants. So yes, slowly becoming one with nature….
Side note—my host brother just walked by my bedroom door and whispered, “I hope a ‘montón de cucarachas’—a LOT of cockroaches—fall on you tonight while you’re sleeping.” Sweet dreams bro.
Where to begin since last Tuesday? They keep us extremely busy here in Orosi, with Spanish classes in the morning, teacher training in the afternoons/practicum, and family activities in the evenings. Oh yes… so last Wednesday was my dad’s birthday and I really wanted to call him (I had yet to talk to my parents at this point). I had class until 4:30, called Robby for the first time, and then went home with the intention of eating dinner, doing homework, calling my dad, and going to bed early. I get home and my host mom is telling me to hurry up because we’re leaving for a rezo in 5 minutes (blessing-the-nativity-scene party so that this house can put away the nativity scene for the year—every house has to have a party for this purpose). I for some reason am extremely agitated by this, but just tell myself to calm down and go anyways. I told my host mom, too, that I needed to be back early to call my dad because it’s his birthday, and she says we’ll be home before 9. Not ideal but okay. We jump in the car and drive to my host mom’s sister’s house for the rezo, and when we get there they tell us it doesn’t start until 7 (it’s now 6). So now we won’t be home until around 10, and this just puts me over the edge for some reason…. I cannot hold in the tears, and yep, start crying. I just turn and walk away from the house, and my mom sends my youngest host brother after me so that I don’t go alone. She thinks I’m going to call my dad from a pay phone, which I originally intended to do but also refused to call him while I was bawling. I ask Osvaldo to just let me go alone, so being the 12-year-old that he is, he complies. I walk for a few minutes, trying to calm down, and then go back to the house because I know my host mom is probably freaking out that I’m walking alone (although it really is pretty safe in Orosi and I was in a very populated part of town). So I return to the house and am standing outside contemplating how to open the gate without drawing a lot of attention to myself when my host mom walks up behind me. She had gone out looking for me! So we go into the house and I seriously cannot stop crying. I met my host mom’s entire side of the family absolutely bawling, to the point where I couldn’t form words to explain to them that it was nothing to do with them, that I was just sad because I missed my family and friends. And just to give you a picture, my host mom has 8 brothers and sisters, so it was a lot of people! Costa Rican culture is a very warm and friendly culture, and they don’t value personal space the way we do in the US. All I needed was a little time by myself to gain composure, but they would not leave me alone, so I eventually just decided to go with it and let them sit with me, hug me, give me tea, stare at me, laugh at me, whatever. They were actually extremely nice to the crazy American girl crying in the other room, and my host brother sat with my for a long time and cracked jokes until I forgot why I was so sad in the first place. I was able to eventually explain to my host mom that I loved living in her house and with her family, and that I did want to come here, but that at the same time it’s really hard to leave my friends and family for a year. I’m not entirely sure she understands this part because most of her extended family lives within a 5-block radius, but I’m sure she can imagine. As embarrassing as that night was, though, I think it made me closer with my family here in Orosi and I think they understand a little bit more now. My host brother Ury still always makes fun of me saying “Don’t cry!” whenever something happens….
Saturday morning I went to Palo Verde—the little town where I’ll be teaching this year—for the first time just to visit for the night. And by “little,” I mean 15 families! They had originally told me 40 families, but my host mom said nope, 15. But it is so gorgeous. It is literally up high on the side of a mountain, and it overlooks the valley below and the other mountains. I took a bus with three other girls from Orosi Saturday morning to Cartago, and then from Cartago two of us took the bus to Palo Verde. The other girl will be in La Estrella, a bigger town about a 40 minute walk from Palo Verde. On the bus ride to Palo Verde, I literally thought we were going to fall off the mountain, it was so steep! My “new” host mom, Silbana, brother, Justin (9 years old), and sister, Abigail (5 years old), were waiting for me at the bus stop. The bus driver helps me get my massive rolling suitcase off the bus and then I greet my new family. The kids are absolutely adorable, and both give me a kiss on the cheek (how people greet each other here). My host mom helps me carry my suitcase down the mountain to the house. We try to roll it at times, but it’s all gravel and extremely steep so we had to carry it most of the way. Unfortunately they have no idea that this is only like half of my stuff…hehe. The other half is back in Orosi for me to bring when I come for good. We pass two other houses on our way, and then come to a little house next to a field of skinny brown cows and she says “this is our house!” It’s very small and simple, but definitely better than I had imagined! The staff person who had gone out to the house to meet with the family and to set everything up told me that the walls of the house don’t touch the roof, which is very possible as many of the houses here are like that. I, not yet being one with nature, was extremely uncomfortable with the thought of cucarachas having free reign over coming and going from my room. So good news, the outside walls of my house do touch the roof, it’s just the inside ones that don’t. So there is absolutely no sound barrier between any of the rooms, including the bathroom, but at least I’m not basically living outdoors like I had pictured. There are three bedrooms, one bathroom—with WARM water!! Ah heaven—a kitchen, and a small living area. The walls and floor are cement/wood, and the roof is metal, and there is no drywall. It’s kind of as though they just didn’t finish off the house. But really, it’s much better than I had pictured! And I’ll just have to get used to the lack of sound barriers, which I’d much prefer over sharing my room with cockroaches.
We sat on the couch and talked for a while. My host mom asked me about my food preferences, and I told her I pretty much eat all fruits and vegetables, and rice and beans (given), and the only thing I don’t eat much of is meat. She said that’s perfect because they don’t eat much meat. I also told her I love eggs which made her incredibly happy. She seemed really worried that I wouldn’t like the food they eat. It’s really pretty simple—rice, beans, eggs, and the occasional fruit or vegetable—which I’d prefer anyways over lots of meat or seafood. They told me a little about the town and that an English teacher came two times a week last year to teach the kids, but that they didn’t know very much. She said she and her husband had debated for a while whether or not to host a volunteer, but that they decided to as it would be a good experience both for her kids and for the town. I told her I’d like to speak English with the kids as much as possible so that they can learn a lot of English this year, especially since they’re at such ideal ages to learn a new language. We ate lunch—rice, beans, a little meat (from an ox? Is that the same as a cow? Lol), and a little salad. It was good except very salty, even for me! Oh well. After lunch the kids and I went out back and they picked some fruit off of their trees and had me try it. One of them was really sour but good, and the other was kind of weird. I don’t think these fruits exist in the US so I’m not sure how to translate the names, which I don’t remember right now anyways. They also showed me their chickens—they have two—and the old house next to their present one that they used to live in. Then we took a walk around the town. And by around the town, I mean straight down and straight up the side of a mountain, lol, passing the school, church, soccer field, and about three houses. I slipped on the gravel walking down from my house to the school literally at least 5 times. The kids thought it was hilarious, and my Justin told me that he and his friends run down the mountain to school each day. It will be very interesting walking down the dirt road while it’s raining, which it apparently does a lot!
Both of the kids melted my heart, they were so sweet! Abigail, the 5-year-old, kept laughing at me and they she’d say “oy Estacey.” So cute! I can’t wait to show you all pictures! And when she smiles her whole face crinkles up. And the little boy is so good with her! They both showed me their toys when we got home, and after playing Barbies and kitchen, we watched Strawberry Shortcake (Rosita Frescita). I also took out my electronic Spanish-English dictionary to look up a word, and they LOVED it. We literally played with that for over an hour. Abi doesn’t know how to spell or read yet though, so she’d just make up words if we didn’t tell her which letters to press. For dinner later that night we had eggs with green beans cooked into them and rice and beans. I played with the kids for a little while longer, and then we put the kids to bed and I literally went to bed at 8!
At 5 the next morning I woke up to my host parents whispering and laughing in bed (remember, no sound barriers…), and then a few minutes later Abigail woke up and right away asked if she could come get me. Her parents said no, and then she called to Justin (sleeping in her room with her since I was in his room), until he woke up, lol. After a few minutes of silence, Abi says “Papi, te quiero.” (Daddy, I love you). And then a few minutes later, “Daddy, aren’t you proud of me for not calling for mommy last night?” ☺ I decided to actually get up around 5:30 or so. I showered and then we had breakfast, and the whole time Abi was asking if we could play some more. My bus left Palo Verde at 7:30 am, so we played kitchen for a few minutes and then I had to go! It was a good trip and it’s really nice to know now where I’m going to be for the next year. And my family seems very sweet.
Just to give you all a little perspective as to where I am in the country, Palo Verde is about 30 minutes south of Cartago (pop. I think around 200,000?), almost right in the middle of the country. The weather is pretty much the same year-round, with a few months getting more rainfall than others. The temperature averages around 74 degrees, and it rains almost every day in the afternoon, or if not rains becomes very overcast.
Unfortunately later on Sunday I started to feel nauseous, and Sunday night I was up a good portion of the night throwing up. ☹ Not fun. My host brother and niece in Orosi both had the flu the week before, so I apparently caught whatever they had. I was sick from Sunday until Wednesday afternoon this week. It’s now Thursday and I just ate my first actual meal since Saturday night. I didn’t eat anything at all for three days, and then I just drank yogurt and ate a few mashed potatoes on Wednesday. Even now food tastes really rich and I can’t eat a lot at one sitting. This week we began practicum. World Teach offers free English classes for a week in Orosi to 1st-5th graders who are on summer vacation right now, which is our time to get some experience teaching. Monday and Tuesday I taught second graders, who were so cute and of course full of energy! Then today (Thursday) I taught 5th graders, which for me was harder because I’m used to working with younger kids. I really wanted to challenge the fifth graders, and my lesson today ended up being a little over their heads. Oh well, I guess that’s how I’ll learn! It was a really busy and stressful week, especially being sick, but it was fun, too. This weekend we have a “free” weekend, so our whole group of volunteers is heading to the beach! We’re going to the Caribbean side near Puerto Viejo. A few people in Orosi have told us not to drink the water there, but also not to shower! And to be very careful of what we eat. I’m PRAYING I don’t get sick again! But I’m so excited to have a relaxing weekend!
I just got back from my host mom’s sister’s birthday party—so much fun! They hired a mariachi singer to come, and they sang and danced until 11 pm, kids and elderly included! They forced me to dance, probably so they could laugh at the “gringa” attempting to dance, but nevertheless, it was lots of fun! Their family is huge and crazy but I really like them. They are extremely welcoming and warm, and they are always looking out for me. I’m so lucky to have such a great family here in Orosi!
viernes, 22 de enero de 2010
jueves, 14 de enero de 2010
Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010
It’s currently around 6:30 pm and I just got back from charlas (group talks/lectures.) I’m sitting in my room while my host family is sitting right outside the door at the computer looking something up—Uriel, Osvaldo, Marcela, Pamela, and Carlos—while my host mom is making dinner in the kitchen. I tried to say hi to Pamela, the 2-yr-old, when I came in and she started crying and stared at me with huge frightened eyes, so I thought maybe it would be better if I hung out in here for a little while. So where to begin today….
Sunday afternoon I went with my family to my host dad’s mom’s house for “un rezo,” a party to bless the nativity scene so that their grandma can put it away for the year. I met a lot of the relatives, none of whose names I can remember, and listened while they all prayed. It was interesting and very religious. A woman at the front of the room read the prayers and sang, and everyone else repeated after her. This lasted for about 20 minutes, and was followed by a typical Tico dish that was similar to a chunky soup, with corn and pork. I soon found out that this filling dish was just an appetizer, and was followed by rice and beans (of course). Just a side note, ticos do not consider it a meal if rice and beans are not included. This usually includes breakfast, as well. We also had a delicious Tico alcoholic drink called rompompe, which is creamy and tastes similar to Bailey’s. Surprisingly everyone at the party was given a Dixie cup of this drink, including the two-year-old children…. The rompompe was followed by grape fanta. I’m learning that Costa Ricans LOVE sugar and salt (the latter is just fine with me). All their drinks are extremely sweet, and they love Coke. The only diet drink I can find here at all is Coke Light. A carb-lovers heaven!
Anyways, after eating we all played Bingo! People in Orosi—I’m not sure about the rest of the country—LOVE their bingo and are extremely serious about it! My extended host family gets together once a month on Sunday to play bingo together, and the money they save from this they use for a big game at the end of the year. Winners won little prizes like a plate, Tupperware, ball, chocolate, etc., but they get pretty excited about it. After bingo, I sat with my host dad’s brother, Uriel (although I didn’t know it was his brother until two days later...), who was really nice. He said he’s had a lot of foreigners stay with him over the years, and he was telling me about his experiences with them. He said people in Orosi really like having foreigners here, as they bring a lot of business, as well as cross-cultural exchange. He was also telling me about what he does for a job—works with an electric company that produces energy for the entire country, called ICE. My host dad works for the same company. He was explaining to me the different means of producing energy. I’ll spare you guys the details.
When we went home, I decided to shower so that I didn’t have to do it in the morning. I washed my hair (in freezing cold water), and when my host mom saw me she freaked out. She seriously was running from room to room telling everyone in the house that I washed my hair and it was wet. I just kept telling her it was okay, but she was so convinced that I was going to get sick. So she sat next to me on my bed and watched me dry my hair with her hair dryer, lol. Then we talked for a while and she looked at more of my stuff. She unfortunately found my pepper spray, which I took away from her right away and explained to her what it was and that my dad and boyfriend wanted me to bring it “just in case.” She thought it was absolutely hilarious and yelled to my oldest host brother, Mauricio, to come see it. Awesome. I also showed them the Frisbee I brought for my placement site and the little erasers and things for the students. She also found my flashlight and thought it was also funny. Apparently they don’t own a flashlight…? She was saying how great it would be for their farm. Anyways, eventually we both decided to go to bed.
Monday I had to get up early for our Spanish placement test followed by class at 7:00 am. My class challenges me, which is good, and my teacher (Margarita) forces us to speak. There are only 6 of us in the group—Me, Flynn, Kerry, Peter, Erin, and Colleen—and she is constantly calling on us randomly to answer questions, give examples, translate, etc. It’s probably a good thing though, as it forces me to speak and make mistakes without being so self-conscious about it. After Spanish we had a charla and then lunch at OTIAC—hamburgers and fries. Nice change from the past few days of rice and beans. I tried to savor every bite, as anything that is not rice and beans will probably be very rare this year. In the afternoon we continued with more charlas, and then I came home for dinner. At 7:00 we went to OTIAC for bingo night with our families. Julieta and Osvaldo came, and I bought each of us two cards. We sat at a table with Julieta’s brother, Carlos, and his wife, and the married couple in my group, Alix and Jim. Julieta was so excited that she won!
This morning I woke up at 5:30 to go for a run with Liz and Meryl. We were planning on meeting at the Plaza at 6:00, but after waiting for Meryl for 10 minutes, Liz and I just decided to go by ourselves. We ran across this crazy suspension bridge—it’s really narrow and swings as you walk across it! And the river is really wide and rough at this point. It’s really cool, though—I definitely need to take pictures of it. Then we ran on a road at the bottom of the mountain. It was gorgeous, and it was really nice to be out early and prepare for the day. I definitely need to keep running this year, not just for the fact that I’m going to gain 20 pounds with all these carbs, but also for my mental sanity!
I came back and had to force myself to take a freezing cold shower. The weather is actually pretty cold here right now, and it’s been raining for two days straight. I’ve been wearing jeans, a sweatshirt/long-sleeved shirt and jacket, and I’m still cold! And my family told me that Palo Verde is a little bit colder than Orosi. I may not be using my dresses and tank tops a whole lot…. Oh well. Cooler temps mean fewer bugs, which is a pretty fair trade to me! Anyways, I ate a massive breakfast of an egg, sausage, gallo pinto (rice and beans), and coffee, and then went to class. Spanish was fine, and in our charlas we discussed teaching techniques, warm-up activities, how to use our resources, and tico culture. At the end of the day, I had to walk home to get my passport to make more photocopies of it for my visa, and then I stayed at the school to buy postcards and use the internet for a while. It’s now 7:30 and I just finished dinner and am seriously tired enough to go to bed now. Unfortunately I still have homework to do and I really should get some stuff organized. More to come soon!
Sunday afternoon I went with my family to my host dad’s mom’s house for “un rezo,” a party to bless the nativity scene so that their grandma can put it away for the year. I met a lot of the relatives, none of whose names I can remember, and listened while they all prayed. It was interesting and very religious. A woman at the front of the room read the prayers and sang, and everyone else repeated after her. This lasted for about 20 minutes, and was followed by a typical Tico dish that was similar to a chunky soup, with corn and pork. I soon found out that this filling dish was just an appetizer, and was followed by rice and beans (of course). Just a side note, ticos do not consider it a meal if rice and beans are not included. This usually includes breakfast, as well. We also had a delicious Tico alcoholic drink called rompompe, which is creamy and tastes similar to Bailey’s. Surprisingly everyone at the party was given a Dixie cup of this drink, including the two-year-old children…. The rompompe was followed by grape fanta. I’m learning that Costa Ricans LOVE sugar and salt (the latter is just fine with me). All their drinks are extremely sweet, and they love Coke. The only diet drink I can find here at all is Coke Light. A carb-lovers heaven!
Anyways, after eating we all played Bingo! People in Orosi—I’m not sure about the rest of the country—LOVE their bingo and are extremely serious about it! My extended host family gets together once a month on Sunday to play bingo together, and the money they save from this they use for a big game at the end of the year. Winners won little prizes like a plate, Tupperware, ball, chocolate, etc., but they get pretty excited about it. After bingo, I sat with my host dad’s brother, Uriel (although I didn’t know it was his brother until two days later...), who was really nice. He said he’s had a lot of foreigners stay with him over the years, and he was telling me about his experiences with them. He said people in Orosi really like having foreigners here, as they bring a lot of business, as well as cross-cultural exchange. He was also telling me about what he does for a job—works with an electric company that produces energy for the entire country, called ICE. My host dad works for the same company. He was explaining to me the different means of producing energy. I’ll spare you guys the details.
When we went home, I decided to shower so that I didn’t have to do it in the morning. I washed my hair (in freezing cold water), and when my host mom saw me she freaked out. She seriously was running from room to room telling everyone in the house that I washed my hair and it was wet. I just kept telling her it was okay, but she was so convinced that I was going to get sick. So she sat next to me on my bed and watched me dry my hair with her hair dryer, lol. Then we talked for a while and she looked at more of my stuff. She unfortunately found my pepper spray, which I took away from her right away and explained to her what it was and that my dad and boyfriend wanted me to bring it “just in case.” She thought it was absolutely hilarious and yelled to my oldest host brother, Mauricio, to come see it. Awesome. I also showed them the Frisbee I brought for my placement site and the little erasers and things for the students. She also found my flashlight and thought it was also funny. Apparently they don’t own a flashlight…? She was saying how great it would be for their farm. Anyways, eventually we both decided to go to bed.
Monday I had to get up early for our Spanish placement test followed by class at 7:00 am. My class challenges me, which is good, and my teacher (Margarita) forces us to speak. There are only 6 of us in the group—Me, Flynn, Kerry, Peter, Erin, and Colleen—and she is constantly calling on us randomly to answer questions, give examples, translate, etc. It’s probably a good thing though, as it forces me to speak and make mistakes without being so self-conscious about it. After Spanish we had a charla and then lunch at OTIAC—hamburgers and fries. Nice change from the past few days of rice and beans. I tried to savor every bite, as anything that is not rice and beans will probably be very rare this year. In the afternoon we continued with more charlas, and then I came home for dinner. At 7:00 we went to OTIAC for bingo night with our families. Julieta and Osvaldo came, and I bought each of us two cards. We sat at a table with Julieta’s brother, Carlos, and his wife, and the married couple in my group, Alix and Jim. Julieta was so excited that she won!
This morning I woke up at 5:30 to go for a run with Liz and Meryl. We were planning on meeting at the Plaza at 6:00, but after waiting for Meryl for 10 minutes, Liz and I just decided to go by ourselves. We ran across this crazy suspension bridge—it’s really narrow and swings as you walk across it! And the river is really wide and rough at this point. It’s really cool, though—I definitely need to take pictures of it. Then we ran on a road at the bottom of the mountain. It was gorgeous, and it was really nice to be out early and prepare for the day. I definitely need to keep running this year, not just for the fact that I’m going to gain 20 pounds with all these carbs, but also for my mental sanity!
I came back and had to force myself to take a freezing cold shower. The weather is actually pretty cold here right now, and it’s been raining for two days straight. I’ve been wearing jeans, a sweatshirt/long-sleeved shirt and jacket, and I’m still cold! And my family told me that Palo Verde is a little bit colder than Orosi. I may not be using my dresses and tank tops a whole lot…. Oh well. Cooler temps mean fewer bugs, which is a pretty fair trade to me! Anyways, I ate a massive breakfast of an egg, sausage, gallo pinto (rice and beans), and coffee, and then went to class. Spanish was fine, and in our charlas we discussed teaching techniques, warm-up activities, how to use our resources, and tico culture. At the end of the day, I had to walk home to get my passport to make more photocopies of it for my visa, and then I stayed at the school to buy postcards and use the internet for a while. It’s now 7:30 and I just finished dinner and am seriously tired enough to go to bed now. Unfortunately I still have homework to do and I really should get some stuff organized. More to come soon!
domingo, 10 de enero de 2010
Sat., Jan. 9th, 2010--Orosi, CR
Wow, I can’t believe only two days have passed since I last wrote. It seems like two weeks. Where to begin… so I met most of the WorldTeach group at a deli outside of the international terminal in Dallas on Thursday at 12:30 for a pre-departure meeting. The assistant field director from last year was there to meet us. He handed us our WorldTeach ID cards and emergency cards, and then we just sat and got to know one another. It was funny to be able to put faces to a lot of the emails I’ve been getting over these past few weeks. Everyone seemed really nice and it seemed like a very interesting group of people. I immediately felt better knowing that we were all in this together. Eventually we all headed through security and boarded the plane. Luckily, I was able to sleep most of the flight. As we approached San Jose and made our descent to land, the winds were really strong. We were literally only a couple of feet from the ground when the pilot pulled the plane back up because the winds were too dangerous. He tried to land again and couldn’t, so we flew to Managua, Nicaragua to re-fuel and then head back to San Jose to try again. Once we were in Managua for more than 30 minutes, though, we apparently had to go through customs, so we had to stay the night and then take off in the morning.
The hotel was right across the street from the airport, and it was really pretty. The temperature in Managua was around 70 and humid, even though it was around 11 pm. Despite its beautiful appearance, however, very little actually functioned at this hotel.... Also, when I was getting into bed I found a dead bug, so of course as I’m laying there, I’m thinking that for sure there are more bugs in my bed, or at least under it that are going to come out in the middle of the night for an easy meal. As far as I know though, I didn’t get bitten that night…. I woke up at 6:15 the next morning to shower, eat, and head to the airport. We figured out that although there was a handle to turn for hot water in the shower, it was for appearances only and did not turn. So I took a cold and very short shower, and then headed to breakfast. Our flight to San Jose was successful this time, and upon landing we went through customs. The lady that I went to was not happy with my explanation of what I was going to be doing there for a year and only spoke Spanish, so I was trying to explain everything to her and she kept wanting to see my return ticket, which clearly I don’t have. Eventually she let me through with my 90-day tourist stamp. We then all got our luggage, which was a miracle in itself, and then went to meet the WorldTeach staff and the rest of our group. Most of us struggled to carry all of our bags out of the airport... how I'm going to get all this stuff to my little town on the side of a mountain is beyond me!
We spent the next few hours in San Jose. First, we went to la Clinica Biblica, which is a large private hospital where the doctor who we’ll be contacting in the case of an emergency works. The doctor managed to scare most of us pretty well with warnings of snakes, crocodiles, parasites, the fact that pedestrians do not have the right of way in Costa Rica (which I’m learning is very true!), different tropical diseases that we could get, food, not to touch brightly colored and interesting-looking insects and animals, etc. He also decided to tell us a wonderful story about how he was chased by a rattling snake at dusk. Usually I'm okay with snakes but aggressive ones... hmm. Then we headed to the US Embassy where several different people talked to us about Costa Rican politics, economics, crime, safety, culture, etc. Although the talk was slightly morbid, all countries have crime and problems, so there wasn’t a lot that we heard that would not happen in the U.S.
Around 4:30 we jumped back on the bus and headed to Orosi to meet our host families for the next three weeks! Scary! We unloaded our tons of luggage and then had a brief meeting before being told who our host families were. The host families had gathered outside of OTIAC (our school), and we were called one by one to step up in front of everyone, get our luggage, and then walk with our host moms to our houses. My host mom is Julieta, and she is very sweet. We are one of the farthest houses from the school, so it was a good 15-minute-walk with my luggage to the house. I have three host brothers, one who is 12, Osvaldo, and Uriel, who is 25. My other host brother, Mauricio, also lives at the house but I haven’t met him yet, as he works in San Jose. I also have a sister, Marcela, who lives nearby with her husband and 2-year-old daughter, Pamela. My host dad is Carlos, and I really like him so far.
The first night went okay. My host mom made me dinner right away, which consisted of rice, beans, a fried egg, some sausage-type thing, yucca, fried plantains, and fresh mora juice. Moras are like tiny little raspberries, and they are sour when you eat the fruit but the juice is sweet. Needless to say, tons of food! Anyways, I met everyone that first night. They were all really nice. My host mom came into my room as I unpacked and looked at all my stuff, which was really embarrassing, and I showed her all the little things I got for the students I’ll be teaching. I also showed her my pictures of home, which I felt bad doing just because our house would be HUGE for them, but oh well I guess. Their house is actually really nice. Osvaldo, my 12-year-old brother, also poked his head in and was like, “Whoa! You have enough clothes for 5 years!” And then he left. Thanks Osvaldo. Orosi is the most beautiful town!! It seems to be pretty well off, too, as there are many beautiful houses. I have my own room which is pretty nice. I’ll try to take pics of things and post them. Around 10:00, I was so tired I could barely move and I had to go to bed. I slept pretty well—it was a long day!
Today I woke up at 6 when everyone else in the house did, but around 7:00 I fell back asleep until about 8:30. My host mom and dad were going up to their farm in the mountains for the day, where they grow all kinds of fruit. They said they’d take me up there sometime. So my 12-year-old host brother showed me where my host mom had left me breakfast—pretty much the same thing as my dinner last night. I chose to just eat two little bananas instead which he thought was weird, but I think they’re used to weird American quirks, as they’ve had close to 30 volunteers. Osvaldo kept laughing at me during breakfast and after, and he tried to lock me out of the house at one point! He also made up the name of a fake sport and tried to tell me he played it, so I looked it up on their computer and he starts laughing and says “no existe!!” haha. He also has some game where he points at things and then I look at where he’s pointing, and then he laughs. He thinks it’s so funny, and he just says “no it’s a game” when I asked him about it. So it was an interesting breakfast. Then Osvaldo and I walked to the Plaza where the volunteers were meeting at 10:00 to play games with their host families. As soon as we get there though, Osvaldo says he’s not going to stay because “his stomach hurts.” I said that was fine if he didn’t want to participate or stay, and I asked if he’d done this before with other volunteers and he said yes. He did actually stay for the whole thing, though, and just watched and goofed around with a friend, who after I couldn’t pronounce his name, told me to call him Steven. Osvaldo is very much so a typical 12-year-old. They did get pretty excited about water balloons, though.
At 11:45 Osvaldo and I walked home, where I showered…. So my family supposedly has hot water, so I asked Osvaldo on our way home if he could show me how to use the hot water. Showers have a little water heater on the spout, so it has to be low water pressure so that the water can heat as it comes out. He tells me, though, that they don’t have hot water. I thought he was trying to play another joke on me, so I’m like yeah right. He says no, really, we don’t have hot water, the heater is broken, which Uriel later confirms for me. So I say no problem, I’ll take a cold one. But “cold,” I soon find out, does not just mean “lukewarm,” it means ICE cold! I could not breathe, and I was gasping so loud they had to have heard me outside the bathroom. So my shower was quite short, and this cold water thing is going to take some getting used to, lol. We then had lunch—rice and manicotti-type pasta filled with tuna, and then I had to go to OTIAC to meet up with my group. We played some ice breakers and talked about some other things that I already don’t remember, and then we broke up into groups of 4 for a scavenger hunt around town, where we had to ask locals all kinds of questions and take pictures with them. Embarrassing but fun at the same time, and the locals are apparently used to it. I’m attempting to post these pictures. Orosi, by the way, is like a large suburb in the US, so it’s a decent-sized town, and it really is beautiful. I then went home for a quick dinner—rice, beans, pork (I think), yucca, and a weird fruit that I’ve never had and cannot remember the name of, but the best way I can describe it is a cross between a potato and a pear. Then I met up with the WorldTeach group at a bar called Nido (“nest”) for a few drinks and to socialize. It was fun and good to talk to people. Tomorrow we are apparently going to a party, called a “rezo,” at my host dad’s mom’s house, with all the relatives, to bless the nativity scene so that she can put it away for the year (all the houses do this), then eat food and play Bingo. No school stuff tomorrow, it’s a free day! Spanish classes and the serious stuff start on Monday. I’m actually looking forward to that part though. Structure can be comforting. Good night everyone!
The hotel was right across the street from the airport, and it was really pretty. The temperature in Managua was around 70 and humid, even though it was around 11 pm. Despite its beautiful appearance, however, very little actually functioned at this hotel.... Also, when I was getting into bed I found a dead bug, so of course as I’m laying there, I’m thinking that for sure there are more bugs in my bed, or at least under it that are going to come out in the middle of the night for an easy meal. As far as I know though, I didn’t get bitten that night…. I woke up at 6:15 the next morning to shower, eat, and head to the airport. We figured out that although there was a handle to turn for hot water in the shower, it was for appearances only and did not turn. So I took a cold and very short shower, and then headed to breakfast. Our flight to San Jose was successful this time, and upon landing we went through customs. The lady that I went to was not happy with my explanation of what I was going to be doing there for a year and only spoke Spanish, so I was trying to explain everything to her and she kept wanting to see my return ticket, which clearly I don’t have. Eventually she let me through with my 90-day tourist stamp. We then all got our luggage, which was a miracle in itself, and then went to meet the WorldTeach staff and the rest of our group. Most of us struggled to carry all of our bags out of the airport... how I'm going to get all this stuff to my little town on the side of a mountain is beyond me!
We spent the next few hours in San Jose. First, we went to la Clinica Biblica, which is a large private hospital where the doctor who we’ll be contacting in the case of an emergency works. The doctor managed to scare most of us pretty well with warnings of snakes, crocodiles, parasites, the fact that pedestrians do not have the right of way in Costa Rica (which I’m learning is very true!), different tropical diseases that we could get, food, not to touch brightly colored and interesting-looking insects and animals, etc. He also decided to tell us a wonderful story about how he was chased by a rattling snake at dusk. Usually I'm okay with snakes but aggressive ones... hmm. Then we headed to the US Embassy where several different people talked to us about Costa Rican politics, economics, crime, safety, culture, etc. Although the talk was slightly morbid, all countries have crime and problems, so there wasn’t a lot that we heard that would not happen in the U.S.
Around 4:30 we jumped back on the bus and headed to Orosi to meet our host families for the next three weeks! Scary! We unloaded our tons of luggage and then had a brief meeting before being told who our host families were. The host families had gathered outside of OTIAC (our school), and we were called one by one to step up in front of everyone, get our luggage, and then walk with our host moms to our houses. My host mom is Julieta, and she is very sweet. We are one of the farthest houses from the school, so it was a good 15-minute-walk with my luggage to the house. I have three host brothers, one who is 12, Osvaldo, and Uriel, who is 25. My other host brother, Mauricio, also lives at the house but I haven’t met him yet, as he works in San Jose. I also have a sister, Marcela, who lives nearby with her husband and 2-year-old daughter, Pamela. My host dad is Carlos, and I really like him so far.
The first night went okay. My host mom made me dinner right away, which consisted of rice, beans, a fried egg, some sausage-type thing, yucca, fried plantains, and fresh mora juice. Moras are like tiny little raspberries, and they are sour when you eat the fruit but the juice is sweet. Needless to say, tons of food! Anyways, I met everyone that first night. They were all really nice. My host mom came into my room as I unpacked and looked at all my stuff, which was really embarrassing, and I showed her all the little things I got for the students I’ll be teaching. I also showed her my pictures of home, which I felt bad doing just because our house would be HUGE for them, but oh well I guess. Their house is actually really nice. Osvaldo, my 12-year-old brother, also poked his head in and was like, “Whoa! You have enough clothes for 5 years!” And then he left. Thanks Osvaldo. Orosi is the most beautiful town!! It seems to be pretty well off, too, as there are many beautiful houses. I have my own room which is pretty nice. I’ll try to take pics of things and post them. Around 10:00, I was so tired I could barely move and I had to go to bed. I slept pretty well—it was a long day!
Today I woke up at 6 when everyone else in the house did, but around 7:00 I fell back asleep until about 8:30. My host mom and dad were going up to their farm in the mountains for the day, where they grow all kinds of fruit. They said they’d take me up there sometime. So my 12-year-old host brother showed me where my host mom had left me breakfast—pretty much the same thing as my dinner last night. I chose to just eat two little bananas instead which he thought was weird, but I think they’re used to weird American quirks, as they’ve had close to 30 volunteers. Osvaldo kept laughing at me during breakfast and after, and he tried to lock me out of the house at one point! He also made up the name of a fake sport and tried to tell me he played it, so I looked it up on their computer and he starts laughing and says “no existe!!” haha. He also has some game where he points at things and then I look at where he’s pointing, and then he laughs. He thinks it’s so funny, and he just says “no it’s a game” when I asked him about it. So it was an interesting breakfast. Then Osvaldo and I walked to the Plaza where the volunteers were meeting at 10:00 to play games with their host families. As soon as we get there though, Osvaldo says he’s not going to stay because “his stomach hurts.” I said that was fine if he didn’t want to participate or stay, and I asked if he’d done this before with other volunteers and he said yes. He did actually stay for the whole thing, though, and just watched and goofed around with a friend, who after I couldn’t pronounce his name, told me to call him Steven. Osvaldo is very much so a typical 12-year-old. They did get pretty excited about water balloons, though.
At 11:45 Osvaldo and I walked home, where I showered…. So my family supposedly has hot water, so I asked Osvaldo on our way home if he could show me how to use the hot water. Showers have a little water heater on the spout, so it has to be low water pressure so that the water can heat as it comes out. He tells me, though, that they don’t have hot water. I thought he was trying to play another joke on me, so I’m like yeah right. He says no, really, we don’t have hot water, the heater is broken, which Uriel later confirms for me. So I say no problem, I’ll take a cold one. But “cold,” I soon find out, does not just mean “lukewarm,” it means ICE cold! I could not breathe, and I was gasping so loud they had to have heard me outside the bathroom. So my shower was quite short, and this cold water thing is going to take some getting used to, lol. We then had lunch—rice and manicotti-type pasta filled with tuna, and then I had to go to OTIAC to meet up with my group. We played some ice breakers and talked about some other things that I already don’t remember, and then we broke up into groups of 4 for a scavenger hunt around town, where we had to ask locals all kinds of questions and take pictures with them. Embarrassing but fun at the same time, and the locals are apparently used to it. I’m attempting to post these pictures. Orosi, by the way, is like a large suburb in the US, so it’s a decent-sized town, and it really is beautiful. I then went home for a quick dinner—rice, beans, pork (I think), yucca, and a weird fruit that I’ve never had and cannot remember the name of, but the best way I can describe it is a cross between a potato and a pear. Then I met up with the WorldTeach group at a bar called Nido (“nest”) for a few drinks and to socialize. It was fun and good to talk to people. Tomorrow we are apparently going to a party, called a “rezo,” at my host dad’s mom’s house, with all the relatives, to bless the nativity scene so that she can put it away for the year (all the houses do this), then eat food and play Bingo. No school stuff tomorrow, it’s a free day! Spanish classes and the serious stuff start on Monday. I’m actually looking forward to that part though. Structure can be comforting. Good night everyone!
Thursday, Jan. 7th, 2010
So I’m sitting in the Dallas airport trying to eat a sandwich and wondering what I’ve gotten myself into. In about an hour I’ll be meeting most of my fellow volunteers. I should be really excited to meet them, and a few weeks ago I was, but right now I just can’t imagine any of them being as wonderful as my friends and family at home. As usual when I leave home for an extended period of time, I am reminded of how important my family and friends are to me and how lucky I am. I just need to remember that those people will all still be there when I get back in a year. Right now, though, I feel like turning around and going home. Just got a text from my dad saying “You know why you do this! You’ll know why when you get there. Helping people and learning is what you do! Love Dad! Have fun!!” And now I’m sitting at a table in the airport crying and watching people trying not to look at me, lol. Oh god, I’m a mess. I know, too, that this is the worst part. All I can think about right now is all the people I left behind instead of all the people I’m going to be meeting in these next few weeks. In a year from now, I’m probably going to be sad to leave my tico family and friends that will become important to me. I just have to have faith that those relationships will happen, that there is a wonderful group of volunteers who will become great friends and a little town on the side of a mountain in the middle of Costa Rica that will hopefully become like a second family to me. And how lucky will I feel in a year that I have two groups of people that are important to me—one in Costa Rica and one at home? Some people don’t even have one of those....
I also keep going over all the stuff I packed and I know I have way too much. It really does help to not procrastinate when it comes to packing for a year…. probably something I will never learn. Okay, well, I’m off to meet my fellow volunteers, with a quick stop at the bathroom on my way so that I don’t look like the crying mess I do right now… more to come soon!
I also keep going over all the stuff I packed and I know I have way too much. It really does help to not procrastinate when it comes to packing for a year…. probably something I will never learn. Okay, well, I’m off to meet my fellow volunteers, with a quick stop at the bathroom on my way so that I don’t look like the crying mess I do right now… more to come soon!
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