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!