Monday, November 30, 2009

If it’s December, Where’s the Snow?




Okay so I am seriously slacking on the blog writing. Here it is Nov. 31st and I haven’t written since the beginning of October. I blame it on my lack of Internet access. Once every one or two weeks to the Internet cafĂ© is quite a change from my previous lifestyle in which my gmail box was constantly open on the computer giving me a nice little alert noise when one e-mail came in. Well, those times have changed. When I get to the Internet I have a pre-written list that has been compiled over the previous week or two. This list can sometimes be quite extensive. It includes e-mails to specific friends and family, research over a certain project, picture posting of a recent adventure, etc. etc. I have actually been able to keep pictures reasonably up to date on Facebook, so hopefully all of my avid fans have been satisfied with pictorial news.
The big news is this: I move into my own rented house tomorrow, Dec. 1st. Woohoo! Finally my dog will have a place I can care for her without worrying she’s dirtying something up. Finally I will be able to decide if I want to eat giant piles of rice and beans at every meal of the day. Finally I will be able to enter my home and my room after 9pm without fear of waking anyone. Ahh, it’s like I’m 17 again, finally leaving the nest and going out on my own. Except this has been doubly hard because, oh yeah, I already did all that; college dorms, house with friends, apartment solo. But here there are 30-something’s living with mom and dad still. It’s partially culture and it’s partially economics. But anyway, my house is in the center of town, therefore safe with many neighbors. It is semi-furnished with beds in each of the three bedrooms, a couch, a couple chairs, a fridge, and the owner says he will soon be putting in a little washing machine for me. It’s a pretty large house, especially for one person, but I have decided this is a positive for when I start my girls youth group. We can have our meetings in the house and do baking activities, etc. I’m in the process of buying a few kitchen supplies like a mini oven, a blender, and a microwave.
English teaching is definitely my biggest project in terms of work. Once per week I teach a 3 hour adult English class. I have 19 students ranging from age 15 to 65. The class has a wide variety of levels as well, but I am very happy with the Centro Cultural program I’m using. It caters to every level in my opinion. Some students definitely catch on quicker than others, but there is a lot of group and partner work as well as games. We finished up semester two for the kiddos in the primary schools. I’m extremely happy with their progress. The only thing that saddens me is that I will be losing 3 of the students to the high school this coming February. The school year here ends in December and starts in February. I will be gaining three new students for first grade- three little hyper-active boys. This scares me a bit. I’ll admit I prefer teaching to the older students as they don’t have as much ADD. But I will just have to adjust, be creative, and do more interactive things with the younger ones.
My parents and grandparents are coming on December 9th for a visit. I am super excited and have already made a bunch of plans to incorporate them into community activities. We will have a fiesta for the kids English class where Grammie is going to bake Christmas recipes with us. Also my adult English class will practice their English with the group for conversational practice. There also happens to be our yearly town dance during the time of the visit. I can’t wait to see my grandparents dance kumbya.
I’ve taken several beach trips that are always a total blast. I now know the area quite well and the 4 or 5 beaches within a few minutes of each other in car. I went ocean fishing for the first time. My favorite part was finding the bait. Basically Ticos use this pipe thing that they make out of plastic tubes and they stick it into the sand where you see the little air bubbles. Then pull out the inner tube of the device really fast to create intense suction and the little alacran del mar pops out. Alacran del mar is ”scorpion of the sea.” But don’t worry they aren’t poisonous or anything like real scorpions. So you catch a bunch of those guys and stick them in a bucket, and when you have enough you thread one onto the hook of the fishing line. You walk out into the ocean about waist-height and lasso the fishing line into the water. Trying to get the line to real out was the hardest part for me. But I did it. So, I stood there for about three hours, didn’t catch anything, and got stung by a jellyfish. The group caught 4 fish, no thanks to me. But I did get my picture with one to put on Facebook for pride’s sake. I also went river shrimping one evening in Quebrada. You go when it’s dark and shine a pretty high-powered flashlight into the water. The shrimps’s eyes glow and they are temporarily blinded. This is when you have to stab them with this pitchfork thing. They are super fast so you have to get them when they are blinded. I got one of those dudes all by myself!
Early in November Peace Corps Costa Rica volunteers had a mandatory retreat up in the mountains. It was camping-style in tents and it was cold. But the three day event was a blast. I think it’s always good to go re-center yourself with fellow gringos who understand your culture, background, etc. We all shared stories of triumphs, disappointments, and failures in our communities. And it was a relief to hear many of my own concerns voiced by others. I must say though, I almost did not make it to the event due to rain and transportation issues. The road out of my town partially washed out and the one and only bus that leaves my site was cancelled. Long story short I used my extremely well-tuned survivor skills and excellent Peace Corps training to get myself to San Jose and then finally to the retreat site. I won’t even tell you the variety of transportation methods used.
My final topic for this blog is baby showers. Wow I feel like I have been to a million baby showers in the last couple months. Okay, so it was only three, but these things are serious here. Women are serious about their baby showers. And I guess I proved myself worthy because I was asked to help in the latest one (the third one). This is quite an honor. These baby showers go like this: It is planned secretly as to surprise the mother to be. Everyone gets to the house at a certain time a crouches within. Then it’s usually the poor husband who brings the woman home from errands, a trip, etc and leads her into the house to be shocked into premature labor by a group of 20 to 30 women who jump out and scream “sopresa!” Okay, so I have not yet witnessed the premature labor part, but it’s only a matter of time. So then the mother to be sits in a chair specially placed and prepared for her next to the table of gifts. She leads baby shower bingo, baby shower scavenger hunts, baby shower word scramble games, etc. while the hosts of the party take turns bringing out plates of little snacks and drinks for everyone. I was one of these servers in the last one. Oh, and of course I am always the photographer. This is a new addition to baby showers since I have come. There is also an interesting tradition of this milky vodka drink. It reminds me a white Russian but hardly has any alcohol and I’m not sure of all the ingredients actually. Someone gives a toast and we all drink it down with good wishes for the mother to be.
Life has a funny way of working out. Since being here, three community members have died (all elderly). And now we are waiting for the third baby to be born (due date is mid-December). So, thanks to nature I don’t have to change the population statistics in my community diagnostic-- just a little change to the ages. So I have been to three funerals, three baby showers, a wedding, and a first communion. And the fun only continues.