Friday 11/28/08

Today was my last full day in San Jose. It’s crazy to think it’s been months now since that nerve-racking arrival in the San Jose airport when people, places and the life ahead of me was foreign. Now I look back and smile at those times as Costa Rica has become home and a place of familiarity, family, and friends. When I woke up, Mami and Papi had to head to the hospital and so it was just Pamela and I for the morning. I spent the morning packing and sorting through all my stuff. I needed to go to LASP to drop off some money, but had to wait until Pamela woke up because she wanted to come with me. She didn’t wake up until 12:30, so we got a bit of a late start to our trip. We took a taxi to LASP, quickly dropped off my money and then headed into San Jose for a nice lunch together. We headed to the open market so I could buy some last minute items, ran into a bunch of my friends doing the same thing, and then headed home. Pamela really wanted to bake something with me and so I taught her and some cousins how to make sugar cookies. Later in the evening we had a nice last family dinner and reflected back on these fast last 3 months. After dinner my family asked if I would like to go to a “mirador” (a look-out spot up on a mountain that looks out on the whole valley of San Jose). I of course said yes and we made the commute up the windy mountain. We got to the lookout spot where we went to this amazing bar/restaurant that was decorated in all these old Costa Rican antiques and overlooked the entire city. It was amazing! Everyone ordered hot drinks (except myself, yuck…hot drinks!) and just enjoyed our time together. We finally made our way back to the house around 11:30 and called it a night.

Exit Survey

Exit Survey
Thanks to Kelly Glenn, I am using this survey (with a few of my own revisions) to help me process the last 3.5 weeks I spent teaching English in La Virgen (as it was an experience much more profound than sitting in the classroom in San Jose). Again, thanks Kelly! This survey really helped me personally reflect on and sum up my time in La Virgen

Name: McKenzie DeBow

Site: La Virgen de Sarapiqui, Costa Rica

Nicknames: “Niña” (this is what the kids call a teacher), “profe”, “teacher”, “gringa”, and my favorite was“McKenzie, la trailera”

Biggest accomplishment: keeping classrooms of 30+ first through third graders entertained in a language they don’t even speak for 3.5 weeks

Biggest disappointment: the Saturdays we spent watching movies all day instead of getting out and doing something

Biggest regret: I don’t like regrets; I just like to think I learn from my mistakes

Biggest fear: That I would get hit by a truck on my way home from school (there was only one skinny main road in town and trucks zoomed through town inches away from pedestrians)

Defining moment: Of course there were many defining moments, but to mention one, my mom, Maria, looked at me and said “I truly feel like you’re my daughter. I feel like I’ve known you your whole life” in the sweetest most sincere way ever

Things you will miss most: all the kids at school, being greeted at school by swarms of girls ready to give me kisses and hugs, being crazy with my family (dancing, singing and just being silly), deep conversations with Maria, knowing everyone in town, listening to Maria sing while she cleans, being able to have conversations in bed due to ceiling-less rooms

Things you will miss least: eating when I’m not hungry but to be polite, watching massive amounts of TV, walking up with itchy bug bites

Biggest Irony: we locked the front door, but hung the key on a nail right next to the door (so much for a “hide-a-key”)

Worst illness: I didn’t get sick, just occasional bouts of the squirts

Biggest freak-out: There were no major freak-outs, but I was always on edge during recess because the kids would run wild (no such thing as recess duties) and I was convinced I was doomed to see a broken bones or a kid run through the glass window of the library. Thank God somehow none of this managed to happen!

Most useful things I brought: camera, computer, umbrella, and knowledge of how to bake cookies and cakes

Least useful thing I brought: sweat pants (it’s freakin’ hot and humid!),

Favorite activity when bored: solving the hardest puzzles in the Sudoku book my sister gave me

Weirdest thing I did when bored: used the macro setting on my camera to take close-up pictures of anything and everything including my eyeball

Favorite Costa Rican slang: ¡Que toque! and “juey pucha”

Greatest lie I told at my site: I convinced some snobby tourists that I was a Tica who simply learned English in school. They even believed me when I told them that Licho and Maria where my real parents even with my blonde hair and blue eyes (which I told them came from my grandma). My whole family thought it was hysterical!

Favorite Costa Rican inquiry: "How did you learn English?”

Best Costa Rican gesture: puckering and pointing with the lips instead of the finger when you want to point to something or someone

Favorite CD/song during my service project: “Marinero” and Maria’s mariachi music

Song I would be content to never hear again: crappy North American pop music kids listen to

Favorite book(s) during my service project: Unexpected News (I had to read it as homework, but it was good)

Favorite Costa Rican fashion: actually I loved the fact that in the country people care way less about fashion than in comparison to San Jose. I could wear whatever and just be comfortable (and barefoot!)

Best drive: The amazing family road trip to Volcan Poas (the views the entire road trip were indescribable)

Worst bus ride: The bus ride back to San Jose on my last day (I hate goodbyes)

Favorite food: Maria’s banana pancakes (even though she fed them to me all the time) sweet bread she made the very first day I was there, and fresh pineapple from Licho’s pineapple farm

Worst thing I ate: flan and rotten papaya

Worst thing I smelled: farm animal manure

Stupidest thing I did: I forgot a book I need to read for class in San Jose and had to go all the way back to San Jose to retrieve it

Untrue fact told to you as undeniable truth:

You know you’ve been in La Virgen too long when…: you know everyone in town, untamed classrooms seem normal and you assume bathrooms won’t have toilet paper

I never thought I would…: be able to feel so at home and part of a family in 3.5 weeks

When I grow up I want to be…: someone who loves God and loves people

If I had to do it all over again I…: would have planned better daily lessons for each class session

Favorite Ropa Americana T-shirt: A little boy wearing a shirt that said “Don’t you wish I was your girlfriend?”

Favorite animal story: One day, I was in the kitchen baking with Maria when suddenly a gecko fell on my head. I felt like Meredith in the Parent Trap if you know what I mean.

Best habit acquired: Being flexible and going with the flow, learning to be “tranquila” about everything, eating everything I was served with a smile

Worst habit acquired: going to the internet café on my breaks

Thing you missed most from San Jose: my San Jose family and my friends from LASP

Thing you missed least from San Jose: wasting hours on the bus, the loudness and chaos of the city, and always guarding my stuff as if I’m about to be mobbed

Favorite location in La Virgen: the property behind our house along the river

Things you’d wish you had known before you came: When schedules change no one will advise you about the change (one of the moms told me this, unfortunately it was the last day I was there. If only she would’ve told me on the first day and not the last!

Best advice for others coming to La Virgen: It’s all about being “tranquilo” and “pura vida”. You’ll have to come to figure out what that means

Thursday 11/27/08

Happy Thanksgiving! I celebrated by going to class from 8-5 (what fun!). That’s right, Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated here at all and so we had class all day. It actually ended up being quite an interesting day as we spent the morning reflecting on all our different experiences and then in the afternoon having a class dedicating into orienting ourselves for our trip to Cuba. I came home and Mami was the only one home. She left within minutes of my arrival and told me she was going to pick up Pamela and would be right back and that afterwards we would head to her mom’s house because it was her birthday. Sadly enough, I ended up spending most of my Thanksgiving evening home alone and hungry (a stark contrast to how I have spent every other Thanksgiving in my life). There was literally no food in the house, but it was already dark and knew that Mami wouldn’t want me to be out in the dark by myself. They finally came home much later than the told me and then disappeared again to go pick up the birthday cake. After sitting around waiting for Mami to come back with the cake we finally just decided to go to my aunt’s house, where the birthday party was supposedly supposed to take place. When we got there, my grandma had already left to go home and everyone was in bed ready to go to sleep. This is where I have yet to understand Latin American culture. Mami finally showed up around 10 and made my grandma come back to my aunts house so she could blow out the candles, even though everyone else was already asleep. It was somewhat strange and immediately after they scarved down a piece of cake, Mami said it was time to go. We came home and waited another 1 for dinner. We didn’t sit down for dinner until about 11. Afterwards Mami and Papi said they had to go to a candlelight service for the owner of our house who passed away. So, Pamela and I had a sleepover and talked and talked and talked knowing that this was our second to last night together. If you’re at all confused about the second half of my day and this entry didn’t make any sense, don’t worry, I was just as confused as you all evening!

Wednesday 11/26/08

Today was the heart-wrenching goodbye to the small town of La Virgen, a beautiful place filled with beautiful people who have become family in the short time of 3.5 weeks. The morning began with a trip the piñera (pineapple farm) where Licho works transporting pineapple to the port city of Limon. I said my goodbye to Licho and we headed home for my last breakfast of pinto. Jose Manuel didn’t go to school (although I tried to tell him he should being the teacher I am) because he wanted to stay with me until I left. We spent the morning switching my room back into Maria and Licho’s room (as they had all shifted rooms for my visit. I wasn’t aware of this until today) Around 10, we headed to Puerto Viejo so I could catch the 11 o’clock bus to San Jose. The car wasn’t starting but the muscles of Jose Manuel, Andres and I pushing finally got it to start up. We stopped at my cousin house and she gave me a small souvenir-like gift of a frog on a leaf she had painted. Since we couldn’t turn off the car at the bus station, my goodbyes were very simple. Maria was having a really hard time with the fact that we were saying goodbye, so she just had to tell herself I was going to San Jose to run an errand and would eventually be back. The bus ride was emotionally tough, but luckily safe. We were a little concerned because the road had been closed for the last few days due to the flooding (which is now being considered a “national emergency”, but don’t worry San Jose isn’t affected at all, which means I’m now away from the flooding). When I finally got back home in San Jose, I was greeted by my family in San Jose and we had a nice lunch together. Although I love my family here in San Jose and am extremely grateful for the love they’ve shown me over the last few months, I was having a little bit of a difficult time transitioning back into the city life (as it is so much louder and chaotic and less personal, intimate and “tranquilo”). My time in La Virgen was much more down to earth and fit extremely well with my personality. I have never felt more at home than I did during my time in La Virgen and I already miss my family in La Virgen a great deal. Hopefully at some point in life (either this one of the next) we will find ourselves back together again. The afternoon was very low key. I took a nap even though I was more emotionally drained than physically drained. My family was gone for the rest of the afternoon so I simply hung out alone (checking my e-mail, listening to Christmas music, and reflecting over the last 3.5 weeks). Even as I write this I still cannot process what an amazing experience I have had these last few weeks. I eventually showered up because I was informed that we were headed to my grandma’s house for Papi’s sister, Tatiana’s birthday. My parents eventually came home and we headed to the party in our new car. Tatiana’s new puppy was the center of attention at the party and it was a nice time to catch up with everyone in Papi’s big extended family. After the party we ran a few errands for Pamela’s school project and made our way back to the house. My parents headed out yet again to pick up a Guatemalan pastor who has been staying with my family for the last few days and is spending his last night here tonight. I said my goodnights and prepared for getting “back to the grind” of school.

Tuesday 11/25/08

It’s extremely bittersweet to be saying that today is my last full day in La Virgen. I absolutely love my life here. I’m teaching, I have family and friends who loves me, I walk around town and am known by name, and I live in the tropical rainforest. Yet at the same time I’m freakishly excited to be back in the States where I have family and friends who love me, independence (and a car), and I live in the most beautiful part of the country (I know, I’m biased) I told my family last night that I feel like all my limbs are being tugged by different parts of the world where I have made such beautiful connections and how I have several places I feel I can call home (Costa Rica, Mexico, Seattle, Eugene, etc.). After an elliptical workout due to the flooding/intense rains and some pinto and pancakes, we made our way one last time to the school. I worked with my classes on last time, said goodbyes throughout the day (with plenty of kisses and notes and gifts). We had an assembly and I said my official goodbyes and an overall “thank you”. I came home content with the hard work I’ve put into my time at the school, yet also said to think that this chapter of my life is coming to a close. It has truly been an experience I can say no one else has had (since I am the first gringa ever to work in the school). I spent the afternoon simply enjoying my last afternoon with my family. The boys and I played cards and Licho finally came back from Limon (he’s been working for days straight and I was worried I wasn’t going to be able to say goodbye. We had a nice last family dinner, took family pictures and I gave them some gifts I had brought from home. I showed off my magic tricks and had the whole family in awe and/or convinced I was a witch. We had a bittersweet evening reflecting on the last 3.5 weeks. We eventually said our final goodnights knowing that the morning would be a difficult goodbye.

Monday 11/24/08

Today was my last Monday here in La Virgen, as I will be leaving for San Jose on Wednesday. Since the school year is finishing up and the English teachers don’t come on Mondays, I didn’t really have that much to do in terms of working at the school. I woke up late (7am), worked out on the elliptical and enjoyed having the entire house to myself (as everyone had morning classes or work). I ate pinto and eggs my mom had left for me and sang at the top of my lungs (somewhat forgetting that we don’t have glass windows. Therefore, I’m sure the neighbors were well entertained all morning). I made a final trip to the internet café and then eventually made my way to school for lunch. When I came home, I watched the news with my brothers while helping Jose Manuel study for his English test tomorrow. The national news highlighted our area of Sarapiqui because we’ve had so much constant rain in the last 72 hours that many areas are beginning to flood and people are having to evacuate. Luckily, we have not experienced any flooding and my brothers said that due to our location on the river, we won’t experience flooding. The news said that it has rained more in the last 3 days than the usual average for the entire month of November. The only thing I’m beginning to worry about is my journey back to San Jose as both my options may be struggling with mudslides (something I had to deal with on the way here). We finally found a deck of cards (something we’ve been looking for) and I taught the boys Shaft, Speed, and Spoons. I then taught Maria to make Snickerdoodle cookies. She’s been asking me to show her as many recipes as I know before I go so that she can bake lots of Christmas treats. We had our “cafecito” (a part of the day in which everyone sits down and drinks coffee, usually around 3 or 4) with our fresh Snickerdoodles (I of course substituted my coffee for water)

For Wes...(on Nov. 25th!)

Sunday 11/23/08

This morning I woke up to the heavy rain pounding against our metal rough. It is such a loud noise that you cannot even carry on a conversation. It has been pouring rain for quite some time now and unfortunately ruined our hopes of making a trip to the river this weekend. We ate pinto and watched the Mulan and the Lion King. When my family popped in Lion King 2, I decided to go for a walk (as the rain had somewhat stopped). I came home and they were already done with Lion King 2 and watching Over the Hedge. We had lunch and the rain began pouring again (thank goodness I took advantage of my short gap of time to walk). I helped my youngest brother, Jose Manuel, study for his English test (as he is also my student). Licho, my dad, came home from a work party and had won a blender. My family here is extremely lucky when it comes to winning things. Earlier in the week my mom, Maria, won 50,000 colones (approx 100) worth of products at a beauty shop in Puerto Viejo. She is claiming all her winnings and then selling everything to people here in La Virgen. She also won a karaoke contest (but that wasn’t luck, but her amazing mariachi/ranchero skills). In the late afternoon we made a pudding/yogurt-ish treat made from pineapple (including the outside parts!) and lemon bars that Maria had wanted to make while watching Bruce Almighty. Baking with me has become one of her favorite past times. In the evening we had yet another night of great conversations. While showing everyone some more pictures on my computer a gecko managed to land on my head. Just a little later while climbing in bed I found a cockroach stuck in my mosquito net. It also jumped on me and almost managed to fall into my sweatshirt. Apparently all the baking must have made me a sweet target for small creatures.

Saturday 11/22/08

This morning I woke up and finally learned how to make pinto. I’m sure you’ve read the word pinto several times now if you’ve been so kind to actually read my “chatty Kathy” blog. Anyways, pinto is a traditional breakfast plate that we eat all the time. It’s a simple plate in which you cook the rice and beans together rather than separate. I eat it almost daily. After learning how to make pinto and letting it digest, I hopped on the elliptical while my family watched Beauty and the Beast. There is a certain innocence of the people here in La Virgen (the campo, aka the country). I think the fact that three teenage boys still watch Disney movies (by choice) and the fact that my middle brother Andres who is 15 looks like he’s 10 best explains this innocence (although, it is still difficult to comprehend if you are not here). There life is simply different than what I’ve been exposed to and their experiences have left them with a sweetness and innocence that is indescribable. I headed to the internet café (as I could tell it was going to be a movie marathon day) and finally had the chance to talk to my parents via Skype rather than e-mail (I can tell I’m getting anxious to see them as it almost brought me to tears by simply hearing their voices). While at the internet café, I copied a basic sugar cookie recipe so that I could teach my family to make Christmas cookies (something they’ve wanted to do). We spent the afternoon making sugar cookies. I couldn’t find cookie cutters anywhere in town and so we had to use a cousins, Karen (aka la loca), play-do cutters, so our cookies were “mini-cookies” to say the least. Everyone enjoyed being creative and making their own shapes with simply a knife. After making homemade frosting (since there is no such thing as pre-made here) we all frosted cookies and licked our fingers like 5 year olds. We spent the rest of the day watching Rocky, eating dinner and working on a 500 piece puzzle. If you didn’t already know this about me, I’m somewhat obsessed with puzzles and so I didn’t go to sleep until we finished. The boys were shocked at how fast I worked (as I had my sections done 10x faster than they’d finished a small section). Andres, my middle brother, would continually look at me and then tell his brothers, “She’s just lucky”.

Friday 11/21/08

Happy Costa Rica’s Teacher Appreciation Day! Hey, that now includes me! We didn’t have school today in order to do exactly what the day entails, appreciating ourselves. I ran on the elliptical while my brothers watched some weird Eddie Murphy movie and we all ate pinto and banana pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast, it was off to getting our chores done. Luckily I convinced Maria to let me help with the household chores. I swept the house, washed the dishes, and cleaned the kitchen while listening to Maria belt out some amazing Mexican mariachi music. We had a nice lunch and afterward (due to the fact I could tell it was going to be a slow going day due to rain and my family’s TV and movie watching consumption) I decided to go for a walk around town and stop in quickly at the internet café and buy a bag (as I know I won’t be able to cram everything back in the way I packed it. Does anyone else have that problem of being able to pack for a journey and then never fit your stuff in on the way back?) I came home, ate my daily snack of pancakes and then I headed to Puerto Viejo with Licho, Maria, Andres and my grandma (Maria’s mom). We were going to visit a friend who has stomach cancer. We delivered fruits, breads, meals and ice cream and did what we Latinos do best, “platicar” (simply sit around and talk and talk and talk). We eventually headed back to La Virgen and ate dinner, watched part of Harry Potter (thanks to our new TNT) and headed off to bed.

Thursday 11/20/08

Typical school morning (elliptical, a pinto breakfast, and out the door by 6:40). Today I again worked with the 4th through 6th graders and led somewhat of a review session because their English final is next week. Around 10, my professors came from San Jose to visit and check in with me. They told me I look “very content”, which is of course very true. It is hard to think I will have to leave this life in just a few days. After a nice school day I headed home and hung out with Maria and Jessica (the other lunch lady). They are two of my favorite ladies and so we had a wonderful afternoon of laughter and silliness. Jessica had figured out to get TNT (a cable channel) on her cable-less TV and so she came over and showed us how to wire our TV likewise. It worked and Maria was jumping up and down she was so excited to add a new cable channel onto or 4 other non-cable options. My oldest brother went to mass (first time someone in my family has gone) because Nancy, his major crush was going to be there. We all made fun of him for the rest of the night. Before dinner I helped my brother, Andres, with his homework of translating the story of Sleeping Beauty he was given in English into Spanish. We had a nice late dinner while watching Lord of the Rings on our new favorite channel TNT. The boys and I got into a pillow fight and laughed the night away. Our silliness even continued as we all climbed in bed as we retold our many inside jokes from ceiling-less room to ceiling-less room until eventually quieting down and falling asleep around 10.

Wednesday 11/19/08

Today was yet again a day where there were not English classes. I came at an unfortunate time of the year where the English teachers are gone at a training every single Monday and Wednesday. I slept in (aka 7am) and worked out on the elliptical while watching Battle of the Sexes with my brother (basically today was exactly like Monday morning). After spending the morning making final touches on my three essays, Jose Manuel and I headed to the school around 11:30. After lunch since I didn’t have classes to teach, I offered to help Maria in the kitchen. I became the new dish washer and enjoyed my time with Maria and Jessica in the kitchen. Afterwards I headed to the internet café to send my 3 essays back to my school via e-mail (Technology these days!). When I came home I hung out with my brothers and Maria gave me my daily afternoon snack of pancakes (if my pancake consumption doesn’t show up in a daily entry it is simply because it has such a daily event that that I forget to add it in). Later in the afternoon I helped my middle brother, Andres, by teaching him to bake chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cake. He and his classmates will sell them tomorrow as part of a school project. Other than a minor burn on my middle finger (which became the joke of the night due to its placement) my cookies were a huge hit and the family was addicted. Before dinner we all got out our school notebooks and compared handwriting (I won!). This eventually led to tons of doodling and drawing, which we did until dinner. As usual, dinner was accompanied by amazing conversation and plenty of laughter (especially about our first impressions of one another and laughing about how much more comfortable we are now in comparison to that first day together). We played checkers (which entails a few different rules here) and eventually headed off to bed.

Tuesday 11/18/08

The morning began with a workout on the elliptical while watching Wall-E. Unfortunately, it has been raining non-stop which makes it nearly impossible to go for a nice run in the mornings, so the elliptical will have to do. Today at school I worked with the 4th through 6th graders because my younger classes were taking final exams all morning. I had a small gap of time that I used to catch up with Wes and Becca via Skype. After the school day, I came home and watched Blade with my brothers. The afternoon was as the ticos would say “tranquilo”. Later in the evening my uncle Alvaro came over and talked our ears off about every conversation topic imaginable. Much of the time was spent listening to his perspective on the US. It was interesting to hear his perspective and the assumptions he was making about all the US based on his short trip to Florida. It was also a good opportunity to simply be quiet and listen to an opinion, rather than get defensive (our natural human response). We watched some of CSI: NY and Grey’s Anatomy and headed off to bed.

Monday 11/17/08

Today was somewhat like a day off because they weren’t any English classes and/or anything for me to do at the school. I woke up at the nice late hour of 7 and worked out on the elliptical while watching “La Guerra de los Sexos” (Battle of the Sexes) with my brother. I spent the morning doing homework. It was nice to have a huge chunk of time to dedicate to homework (since that is how I like to get my homework done). I wrote an entire paper, showered up and headed to the school for lunch (since Maria is the lunch lady). I spent a little bit of time at the school and eventually made my way to the internet café to update photos, blog posts and e-mails. When I came home I hung out with my brothers. Somehow we got into a conversation about music videos and so I showed them a Hives music video I starred in back in my younger years. We had a nice relaxing evening and the normal routine of dinner and news. After homemade plastic bag popsicles, we made our way to bed. For some odd reason I could not fall asleep and was tossing and turning until past midnight.

You know you've been living in Costa Rica when...

Zumba! Learning to Dance

Sunday 11/16/08

Today we were planning to go to the river, but the rain decided to spoil our planned river journey. Instead, we had a nice breakfast of pinto together and watched movies. Luckily, one of the movies ended making the morning a morning full of laughter. We decided to put in Zumba, which is a dance workout video. The rest of the morning was a sweaty workout (both from the dancing and the unending laughter). We all showered off and eventually had what I call “root soup” for lunch (a soup full of different vegetables that come from roots such as yucca) while watching Harry Potter. We all took midday “siestas” and spent the rest of the afternoon dinking around. I messed around on my computer and made a silly video with some of the footage from our morning dance routines. Before dinner we watched the news, as usual. The biggest piece of news was that the Chinese president is visiting. There are actually a large number of Chinese immigrants who live here in Costa Rica. We eventually ate dinner and finished the night by watching the Prince and Me (I’m telling, all these movies are wearing my eyes out). With the left over marshmallows from Rice Krispy treats, I taught the family how to make smores over the gas stove. The crackers weren’t quite the same as graham crackers so they weren’t as successful as I had hoped, but it was still fun watching everyone burn their marshmallows. We all headed to bed around 9.

Saturday 11/15/08

Today was family road trip day! I was so excited to hear the news because last Saturday we literally sat around and did nothing but watch movies. When I woke up and ate some breakfast I was notified that we were going to Volcan Poaz, one of the volcanoes I hadn’t visited during either of my trips here to Costa Rica. We headed out around 8:30 and made our way along the whindy roads of Costa Rica. We pulled over millions of times (to fix seatbelts, to move the noisy plates, to pee in the bushes. We pulled over for pretty much anything and everything). Two of our coolest “pull-overs” were at two different waterfalls. I had seen the waterfalls on my very first bus ride to La Virgen, but didn’t have the chance to get out, explore and take pictures, so today was exactly what I had hoped to do. We eventually hopped back in the car and finished the journey to Poaz. When we got there we realized that locals pay 1000 colones (2 dollars) and tourists pay 5000 colones (10 dollars). We did our best to pass me off as a tica and we succeeded and I got into the park for $2. We wandered down the trail and eventually made it to the look-out point. It was cloudy at first and I was concerned it was going to be like my first trip to a volcano earlier this trip (Volcan Irazu), but luckily it cleared up and we got to see the crater, take lots of pictures and enjoy our time exploring the volcano and smelling to strong smell of sulfur. One random thing is that we’ve recently been calling my dad (Licho) Santa Claus because of his big beer belly gut and the nickname has stuck. All day whenever we’d lose him or he’d be trailing behind my mom would simply yell for Santa. It caught quite a bit of people off guard as he would respond as if everything was normal. After spending the morning at the volcano, we headed back out by the parking lot, found a picnic bench and ate our homemade lunch of arroz con pollo. My family was fascinated by a little squirrel that came and ate near us and I told them to come to Oregon where there are plenty. As we made our way back to La Virgen, we stopped again for everything and anything including a small lagoon where we took some more pictures. We eventually got home around 4 and enjoyed looking at all our pictures on the bigger screen of the computer. While the boys watch Sylvester Stallone movies, I taught Maria how to make Rice Krispy treats and she taught me how to make arroz con leche (Kim, I think this is the treat you had mentioned a friend really enjoyed). Before dinner, Maria, Miguel and I went to the internet café to get their computer looked at because it wasn’t working. It took forever to fix and so we searched google for my family members (Mom and Dad, there are pictures of you when I googled your name) and used Google Earth to show them where I live. We came home and ate dinner and somehow got into an amazing conversation about millions of things. We finished the night by watching the grand finale of “Bailando por un Sueño” where Franklin and Viviana (our favorites) won! Today felt like how I would spend a Saturday in the States and therefore I felt especially “at home”. Prior to this trip I didn’t realize how much I love this feeling.

Friday 11/14/08

This morning I woke up and ran on the elliptical while watching the morning news. There happened to be 3 things on the local news channel that had to do with Oregon (the pregnant man is pregnant again; a little girl fell down a lookout on the coast; and a river flooding in Portland area). My mom was up making breakfast and was shocked at what a “happening place” Oregon is. After breakfast we headed to the school. One of the frustrations I’ve had at school is my schedule. Everyday the classes I end up teaching never match the formal schedule I was given and am told to follow. I arrived ready to teach at 7 and Junior was nowhere to be found. He failed to tell me that our first periods were cancelled and I didn’t need to be there until 8:40 (he does this quite often). Luckily I brought a book of Sudoku (yes, I’m a nerd) and solved a bunch of puzzles. After the first period, I decided I couldn’t handle sitting around anymore, so I went with Adolfo to the 5th grade class for 2nd period. For some reason many of our classes were cancelled today and I had a big gap between the morning and afternoon classes and spent the time catching up at the internet café and going for walk and exploring new parts of town. I came back to school, taught a few more classes and headed home around 3:30. It was a relaxing Friday as we spent the rest of the day simply hanging out, eating dinner and eventually making our way to bed.

Thursday 11/13/08

The mornings are beginning to become somewhat of a routine (it’s strange what a wonderful thing familiarity can be) and we left the house as usual around 6:45 to get to school by 7. This morning I went to the morning English classes with Adolfo, who teaches English to the 4th through 6th graders. Many of the kids in these classes (including my youngest brother) have been begging me to come to their classes instead of the 1st through 3rd grade classes with Junior. So this morning, I went spent the morning teaching simple sentence structures with “to do” and “to be”. There was a longer than usual gap between the morning and afternoon school session and so all the teachers ate lunch together in the “comedor” (small “cafeteria” like room). We spent the midday laughing about the upcoming teacher Secret Santa gift exchange. The teachers were creating their lists of what they would and would not like to receive as gifts. Their lists had everything from Victoria Secret to Pringles and I was the official “list reader” since I could probably pronounce the brands. I went back to my normal 1st through 3rd grade classes for the afternoon session and reviewed nature and animals. The kids got really competitive with a game I created to make the review more fun. Ironically, one of my 2nd grade classes did better than one of my 3rd grade classes in terms of memorizing the names of the different natural resources and animals. It was a beautifully sunny yet ridiculously hot and humid day. As hot and humid as it was, I simply enjoyed the fact that I was in the intense sunshine in the middle of November (knowing that back home it’d be about that time of the year in which I’m wearing the pea coat and a few layers underneath and still freezing. It’ll be a rough change in climate when I come home in December). I came home and began reading the book that I went all the way to San Jose to retrieve yesterday. Around 5, Maria, Jose Manuel and I headed to Puerto Viejo to run some errands. One of our errands was a failed attempt to find chocolate chips. Andres, my middle brother, wants to make chocolate chip cookies for a school project since they are a treat I’ve mentioned I know how to make. Unfortunately, chocolate chips are no where to be found here in La Virgen nor in Puerto Viejo (the barely bigger town 15 km away). We had a nice dinner together and spent the rest of the evening (literally hours!) sharing stories of bad accidents (e.g. broken bones, scars and stitches and anything and everything that entailed a good story that made the tummy a little queezy). Andres (middle brother) had the best stories to tell including four different incidences of broken bones. The night ended with the sweet words from my family telling me how much I’ve become part of the family. For my parents, Licho and Maria, I’m the daughter they never had (or rather they lost due to a stillborn baby girl). For the boys, I’m the “cool older sister” they claim “they’ve always wanted”. Although I truly love and feel loved by my family in San Jose, the way love is expressed and lived out in the “campo” (countryside of Costa Rica) is much much different and in my opinion much more profound. It was simply one of those nights I will truly never forget.

Wednesday 11/12/08

Today was a somewhat unplanned journey. Earlier during my time here in La Virgen I realized I forgot a book I need to read in order to write my 3rd and upcoming paper. On Wednesdays the English teachers attend training and therefore we do not teach English. I decided today would then be the best time for me to make the journey back to San Jose (although I really did not want to do so). I also thought today would be a good day to make the journey because it was Pamela’s (my host sister in San Jose) 11th birthday. Junior, my co-teacher, advised me to take a different route than the 4 hour route I took to get here. He also told me that although his route required some bus transfers it would get me to San Jose in less than 2 hours cutting my travel time in half. I left the house around 5:30 and headed towards Puerto Viejo. The bus from Puerto Viejo went directly to San Jose and I even managed to get the bus to stop before San Jose and drop me off in Tibas. I arrived “back home” in Tibas (so many different home, host parents, etc) around 8:30 and Mami was surprised and excited to see me. I went to the store to pick up cake ingredients and a small gift of candies and trinkets. I spent the morning baking a cake for Pamela and catching Mami up on my new life in Sarapiqui. When Pamela arrived home from school we threw her an impromptu surprise party. I’ve never seen anyone so happy to see me. She immediately jumped into my arms and gave me the biggest hug ever. It was great because although the cake was a tasty treat, she was happier to see me than the cake. We ate a nice lunch, followed by cake and presents. Mami was extremely thankful because she had told Pamela they would have to wait to celebrate over the weekend when Papi earned a little more money, so although cake and a small present of little candies and trinkets don’t seem like much, today they was extra special as Pamela was expecting nothing. Pamela and David had to head back to school for end of the year exams (as summer break here is less than a month away) around 2 and so we said our goodbyes and I once again turned around and began the journey back to La Virgen. This is one of those situations where I feel extremely torn. I love my new life in La Virgen. At time I miss my family in San Jose. Some days I want to go back and live with Maria in the small shack I called home in Nicaragua. Other days I’m ready to pack up and see everyone I miss so much in the States. Other times I want to head north in Latin America and make my 14th journey to Mexico (have I beat Jamie yet?). Some days I want to be like Che Guevara and ride a motorcycle farther into South America. Everywhere I go and travel only makes me feel more and more torn. Anyways, I arrived “back home” in La Virgen just in time for dinner and was just and anxiously greeted as I was by Mami in San Jose (again, the torn feel sets in). We had a nice dinner together and had a night of amazing conversations. We had a conversation about currency and I showed some American coins and bills and Maria showed me really old colones (currency here) that she had saved when she was a little girl. Somehow we got onto the subject of cars and the boys brought out a few books they had and I of course explained all I knew about cars (which is little, but daily increasing due to certain grease monkey). I also showed the few pictures I have on my computer of cars (Wendy’s bug and Wes’ favorite car in Mexico). Since the computer was out, I began showing pictures from all parts of my life and the family enjoyed the wide variety of pictures I have to show (Oregon, Washington, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico and other parts of Costa Rica they have yet to explore). The majority of the family went to bed around 9:30, but Miguel (the oldest) wanted to show me all his pictures. The two of us stayed up late looking at all his pictures and then watching funny videos he had downloaded at the internet café. We stayed up until midnight (way later than my usual 8 or 9 o’clock bedtime), but I knew that investing time in the relationships I am making here is much more important to me than getting a few extra hours of sleep.

Tuesday 11/11/08

Happy birthday Wes! I celebrated the day by waking up at 4 am to the sound of someone vomiting. Although I’ve mentioned in earlier entries that I love the fact we don’t have ceilings in each room, this morning was little different. My room is right next to the bathroom and so I got to hear my middle brother, Andres, puking his poor guts out. I eventually got out of bed at 5 and headed to the soccer field for some sprints and running. When I came back around 5:40 the door wasn’t open as usual (meaning Maria must have slept in a little than usual) so I wondered around until about 6. We all ate a nice breakfast of gallo pinto, eggs and homemade bread and headed out the door in time to make it to the school by 7. Today I worked on zoo animals with the kids and apparently my drawings were “muy bonita” and way better than Junior’s (my co-teacher) according to the kids. We’ve been working on all different sorts of animals because the kids have an upcoming test and animals and nature. Today was a long day, as I started at 7 and didn’t end until 4 (with just a short break for lunch). I came home and switched modes from teacher to student and worked on my paper I started yesterday. Maria headed out with my stepbrother, Marlon, to the “clinica” (small hospital-like clinicts) and my 3 brothers and I spent the night alone (as Licho was still in route home from work). The oldest, Miguel, impressed us by cooking us a nice dinner and we all just hung out. Licho, Maria and Marlon all eventually made their way home around 9. Since our stepbrother Marlon was staying the night and had bronchitis, Jose Manuel got booted out to the living room. I thought this meant he was going to simply sleep on the couch, but all of the sudden he began setting up a small tent in the middle of the room. They explained to me since the living room/kitchen does not have glass windows (simply open air windows) the bugs and mosquitoes at night are unbearable so the tent is a necessity. Nothing like camping out in the middle of your living room!

Monday 11/10/08

This morning I woke up and got ready for my run, but as I was tying my shoes I began to hear the rain pounding against our tin roof. The rain here is not quite as bearable as in Oregon and Washington and when it rains, it pours (I’ve played soccer in it and it is not pleasant in any way shape or form). I remembered that Maria had a small elliptical type machine in her bedroom and so I decided to give it a try. I watched the morning news to distract my brain from the fact that it was working out on a stationary machine (not my favorite thing). There aren’t English classes on Monday so I didn’t have to get to the school until 10 for some personal tutoring I had set up with a couple small groups of girls. I headed to the school after a relaxing morning and met up with the first group of girls. They informed me that we were going to meet at one of the girl’s house (basically, the girls were inviting me over with the excuse of homework). We worked on their English homework (forming sentences with –ing verbs) accompanied by a little snack (it was quite cute to see how intricately they had planned their time with me). I eventually had to head back to the school because I told another girl I would meet at 12:15. She had forgotten about previous plans and couldn’t meet so I just ended up heading to the cafeteria, eating some lunch and hanging out with my host mom, Maria, and Jessica (the other lunch lady). I made my way to the internet café to upload more pictures and send birthday wishes to Wes (since I can’t make it to the internet café tomorrow due to a busier schedule). I came home and spent the majority of the afternoon writing a paper. Before dinner we watched Shrek 3 and post dinner we watched Wall-E. They asked me if the “tranquila life” (tranquil country life) was boring me and I said “no”. Although I do get rather bored watching movie after movie, I do enjoy the calmness and the people much better in this small town of La Virgen as opposed to the chaos of San Jose. Besides the massive amount of TV I’ve watched, I’m extremely happy here in La Virgen. I love teaching and watching kids learn and grow every single day. I love the way my family here has made me feel more at home than anywhere else in Costa Rica. I love walking down the street and getting waved at by toothless first graders who call me “Niña”. I love listening to Maria’s stories and her laugh that accompanies them. Even amongst the daily challenges that arise and the occasional times the familiarity of my real home, I love my life here in La Virgen.

Sunday 11/9/08

A random fact about Costa Rica that I don’t think I’ve mentioned previously is that they start celebrating Christmas much earlier than we do (since they don’t celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving. Therefore, Costa Rica began decorating for Christmas sometime in early October). After breakfast we spent the morning cleaning and watching Christmas movies. Today was the rainiest and coldest it has been here (although, by cold I don’t mean anything extreme as I still was wearing shorts), but before the rain hit we spent some time outside weeding. Eventually the rain forced us back inside for more Christmas movies and soup for lunch with some extended family who randomly showed up. After lunch, my host parents took a nap while Jose Manuel and I hung out and watched the Polar Express (again, I could’ve sworn it was Christmas Eve). Eventually after “siestas” more extended family showed up randomly and we spent the afternoon goofing around. Licho (my host dad) took us for rides up and down the street on his motorcycle and let us play around on his truck (he’s a trucker who transports pineapple and oil to and from the Pacific and Atlantic coasts). Around 4, he jumped in his truck and headed off to Limon (if you remember, this is the biggest shipping port in Costa Rica. It’s the same town that I visited long ago where there still remains a huge Jamaican English speaking culture). I couldn’t handle watching more TV so I walked into town and attempted to go to the internet café, but it was closed, so I just went for a nice walk around town. It has been really hard for me to spend the last 2 days watching movie after movie after movie and so I’m brainstorming how to get my family to get out of the house the next few weekends I have here. When I returned from my walk more family randomly showed up and joined us for dinner. After dinner things finally quieted down as all the extended family members made their way home. My older to brothers were on their way home from a trip from Monteverde and Licho had headed off to Limon so it was just Maria, Jose Manuel and I. As we sat at the table around all the dirty dishes that needed to be cleaned somehow we got into a deep conversation about some really rough things Maria has experienced in her life. It was quite the heart to heart as she shared with me stories and stories of difficult life situations. I spent the whole night listening and learning from this amazing woman who has become my mom here in La Virgen.

Saturday 11/8/08

This morning I slept in until the late hour of 7am. I wasn’t sure exactly what the day would look like since it was my first weekend here in La Virgen. The morning began with empanadas and banana pancakes (I’m still trying to kindly explain that I don’t need banana pancakes made specially for me as an addition to every meal) while we watched Ice Age (which is ironic because I still have yet to see this movie in English or in the US. For some reason I’ve seen it multiple times in various parts of Latin America) When I realized we were going to have a marathon of movies I grabbed my homework and did some reading during Ice Age 2. While Maria was popping in movie after movie (literally! We watched 5 movies back to back) she was doing housework and wouldn’t accept my offer to help and told me to “descansar” (rest). This is extremely hard for me because I am such a go go go person and hate wasting a day sitting around. I finally grabbed the vacuum from my brother and cleaned just a little bit (anything is better than sitting and watching someone clean). Finally after a morning/early afternoon of movies, I headed to the soccer turf because some of the ladies at the school had invited me to play in a women’s soccer game. My youngest brother, Jose Manuel and I headed to the field and no one was to be found. I was a little bummed, but luckily within a few minutes some boys saw us and we created a pick up game of 3 v. 4. I have never experienced such sweat in my life. It was so humid that I was sweating more than I even have in the 120 degree heat of Mexico. We played for an hour straight and I think my willingness to be wild and crazy with a bunch of 4th and 5th grade boys gained me the title of “the cool teacher”. Immediately when we stepped in our front door it started to pour rain harder than I’ve ever seen it pour. I jumped in the shower and a thunder and lightning storm began and knocked off the electricity. The lack of electricity was a blessing in disguise because it finally took my family’s attention away from the TV and we were able to spend the rest of the late afternoon sharing funny stories, demonstrating our random talents and learning more about one another overall. The electricity eventually came back on, but we were having too much fun without it that we didn’t even bother using and sat around chatting under candlelight. We eventually had some dinner and turned the TV back on (I’m getting rather tired of TV since it’s not a frequent pastime of mine in the States but seems to be on all the time here). We finished up the evening with ice cream while watching “Bailando por un Sueño” (an equivalent of Dancing with the Stars).

Friday 11/7/08

This morning I didn’t have to be at the school until 8:40, but since my brothers and I were up already we decided to go on an adventure. The boys showed me all the property their uncle owns just beyond our street. We walked throughout the whole property looking at cows, listening to the toucans and making a visit to the baby pigs. Then Andres, my middle brother, asked if I wanted to go down to the river because their uncle’s property extended all the way to the river itself. I didn’t realize how close we are to the Sarapiqui River. After wandering barefoot (due to wet slippery flip-flops that wouldn’t stay on) through what I’m pretty sure was cow crap, we finally made it to the river. We put our feet in the cold water and wandered around for a few minutes, but I had to end our adventure early because I needed to get back to the house to get dressed and in teacher mode by 8:30. We headed back, cleaned off our dirty feet and I made my way to school. Even though I help teach literally hundreds of students it feels good to see familiar faces and luckily I have a very good memory for names so I know a lot of the kids by name. The strangest names parents have picked up from English include Wander, Dairy, Darling and Jock. There are tons of other names that are equally as interesting in which it is obvious parents learned them from TV or some other English source. After a tiring day of school (TGIF!) I headed to the internet café to catch up on life outside of La Virgen. I came home to my afternoon snack of pancakes and we spent the rest of the early evening singing karaoke. It was funny because singing karaoke is a usual event on Friday nights at my house in San Jose (and so doing it here was in some strange way comforting). After a nice dinner together we finished the evening with the news and Funniest Animal Videos (which was a perfect show for my youngest brother (11) who loves animals). During the show Maria brought in a bucket of hot water and told me to stick my feet in. She told me on Friday nights she likes to wash her feet as a way to relax and distress from the busy work week. As the water eventually cooled down, she told me it was time for my pedicure. Those who know me well, know my feet. After being hesitant towards Maria’s offer and explaining EB, Maria still insisted that she lotion and massage my feet. I gave in and was humbled at how much this woman has bent over backwards to take care of me and make me feel at home. Looking at how comfortable I’ve become to my life in La Virgen it’s strange to think I just arrived less than one week ago.

Thursday 11/6/08

Today I didn’t have to be at the school until 8:40 because on Thursdays we don’t teach English during the 7 am block of time. I woke up around 6:30 (it’s ridiculous, I don’t even have to set an alarm because I can no longer sleep in at all) and headed out for a run. Since I headed out a little later than usual (5am) the one and only main road was busy with big trucks beginning their day. To play it safe I went to the local soccer field and ran sprints. It was an extremely hot and humid morning so I returned from my workout covered in sweat and redder than a tomato (something ticos get a kick out of). I made my way to school after some banana pancakes (seriously, Maria thinks I’m obsessed with these and won’t stop making them for me). I started with the 6th graders (a group I usually don’t work with) and we worked on the verb “to do”. It is very difficult for me to explain English since I didn’t learn it by applying rules and strict patterns and that is the way it has to be explained to a non-native speaker. After the sixth graders, I headed back to my usual classes (grades 1-3) and we spent the day working on nature vocabulary (sun, moon, star, river, lake, etc.). It’s really hard since we only have 40 minutes with each class. At times I get a little discouraged by telling myself that the kids are going to forget. I’m always encouraged though when the kids seem to be truly trying to remember. Kids are so much better at this than adults. After finishing school around 4:30 I was greeting with some pineapple bread. I spent some time before dinner working on homework. It’s tiring going to school to be a teacher all day and then becoming a student by night. After homework, other than a nice visit from some extended family we did the usual dinner while watching the news and headed to bed around 9.

Wednesday 11/5/08

This morning I went on my first run in La Virgen. It was a little difficult because the only decently paved road is the main road that runs through town and is a main route for truckers, making it difficult to run (since I have to get off the paved road every minute or so). After my run and a quick shower, I ate a huge breakfast of gallo pinto, eggs, a pancake and some fruit (I’m still not quite sure how I’m going to get my point across to feed me a little less). On Mondays and Wednesdays the English teachers have to go to a class/training and so we’re still trying to figure out what I’m going to be doing on Mondays and Wednesdays. Today worked out perfect because a 6th grade class was going on a field trip and invited me to go along and get to see another part of the Sarapiqui region. We went to Tirimbina (which is a touristy rainforest conservation). It was awesome because I got to see a touristy type place from a much different perspective. Words cannot explain the rainforest. It’s absolutely beautiful. We spent the first half of the morning learning all about photosynthesis and plants before making our way out to explore the rainforest. In order to get into the rainforest you have to cross a huge and ridiculously long suspension bridge. Suspension bridges are held by cables and a rather rockety. The first suspension bridge we crossed was about 200 feet over a river. When you look down you can see the river below your feet as you are rocking back and forth (especially with a wild group of sixth graders). After the long long bridge we journeyed through the rainforest, saw toucans, bats, and millions of unique plants and trees. We finally headed back to the main center for a nice lunch (again, this was all free since we were locals! Things are so much better when you’re not a tourist!). After lunch the kids finished up their worksheets, played futbol and we jumped on the bus to make our 5 minute drive back (it’s amazing how close I am to such beautiful creation!) When I came home, I worked on some homework. Around 4, Maria informed me that a former teacher of the school had died in a motorcycle accident and invited me to come to Puerto Viejo (another part of this region) with her and some of her work friends. Before we left she made me banana pancakes (for some reason she thinks these are like my comfort food that make me think of home or something because she’s made them so many times for me) After pancakes Maria, the other lunch ladies and I headed off to Puerto Viejo for the evening. They said my presence made them feel young and free again. We went to the house and the women spent time at the open casket. This is the second time I’ve had to go to an open casket visitation (as I did this with the other Maria in Nicaragua). Maria suggested she and I go down to the river to chat while the other ladies spent time with the family and friends. Maria and I had a nice time chatting on the dock at the river and we met a nice chatterbox of a man who told us all about the beauties of this region. He thought that I was Maria’s real daughter (I love when people mistake me for a Tican). We headed back to the man’s home, picked up the other ladies and headed back to La Virgen.
We did what we seem to do every night which is eat and watch the news. After dinner we watched CSI Miami (first time we watched something other than the news) which is Maria’s favorite show. After Maria’s “date with Horatio” (that’s what she calls CSI: Miami. Horatio being the main character she likes) we headed to bed around 9. Something I love about not having ceilings in each individual room is that we can continue to talk even after we’ve climbed in bed. So last night, even though we were already in bed, we talked about the plan for tomorrow and said our goodnights once again without moving an inch.

Tuesday 11/4/08

Today was yet again a truly amazing day. Words cannot describe the things I learn, think, feel and do each and every day, but hopefully some of my scrambled thoughts make sense a midst the rambling of this blog. I woke up around 5:20, not to an alarm clock, but rather to everyone in the family getting ready for the day. Even though the rooms are divided, each room does not have a ceiling therefore you can be heard anywhere in the house. Therefore, I fall asleep and wake up to noise. I ate an amazing breakfast of gallo pinto, an egg, toast and fruit (I’m still trying kindly ask Maria not to feed me so much, but this seems to be the hardest point to get across to Latina women). Maria and I headed to the school around 6:40 for my first day on the job. I met Junior, the English teacher for grades 1-3 who I’ll be assisting. His English is mediocre and I’m a little concerned that he thinks my time here may be a time for him to slack off (as he simply let me do the teaching and answered his cell phone during class). This means that I was basically thrown into the mix right away, with no plan, lesson, anything! I was teaching within minutes of my arrival. There are lots of differences between schooling the States vs. schooling in Latin America (a conversation I would love to have on a later day, as everyday this blog seems to be increasing in length). Junior and I jump from classroom to classroom and teach in 40 minute intervals to all the 1-3 grade classes. There are tons of 1-3 grade classes due to the fact that this is the only school in La Virgen and school is split up where half the children come in the morning and half in the afternoon. Throughout the entire work day (7-5) we teach in 9 different classrooms, with a short break for lunch (which is awesome because I get to go see Maria and eat the same food she prepares for the kids). I spent most of my day frantically quickly creating engaging activities at the drop of a hat to keep the kids interested and excited about what we were learning. I definitely learned how essential it is to be an organized and plan-ahead teacher (which seems to be something Junior lacks). If I had more time I would love to invest hours in lesson plans and be just like my daddy back home (who, in my opinion is the best grade school teacher I know!). Although this would be my ideal (making lesson plans, finding creative learning tools, etc) I know that my short time here is not meant to be one where I “correct” the system that is already in place, but rather incorporate myself into the system and understand how I can be of assistance. I also learned a lot about what a privileged learning is when you have tools, educated teachers, a library, etc (something that seems to be lacking in the school I am working in). After what seemed like eternity (yes, I learned in one day how hard and exhausting teaching is and am eternally grateful for the people who invest their lives in such profession), I finally headed home around 4:30 and was greeted with a plate of banana pancakes (delicious, but I obviously haven’t got my point across about feeding me less. This may be difficult considering cooking is Maria’s profession). After delicious banana pancakes I worked on some homework for the rest of the late afternoon. After homework, we watched the news (the only form of TV we watch all the time). We ate dinner, continued watching the news, and ate some ice cream with granola before calling it a night at a whopping 7:45.

Monday 11/3/08

What a day, what a day! Generally a day with new beginnings is a day full of crazy stories and today was one of those days (so a pre-apology for today’s novel). I woke up at 4:51 (random fact: I never set my alarm for a normal time, e.g. 4:45 or 4:50, always an odd number you wouldn’t think to set an alarm to). I ate a quick bowl of Corn Flakes, said goodbye to Mami and headed to the bus terminal via taxi. Immediately upon arriving at the station I realized that I had left one of my most important items at home. I left the three envelopes LASP had given me for my trip. One that included the money I needed to give my new host family, the second with money for any emergency purposes and a third that had my evaluation sheets I was to give the director of the school. I called Mami and Papi (feeling terrible knowing that I was walking them up) in a panic and Papi kindly raced to the station as fast as he could and brought me the envelopes. Luckily, due to Papi’s crazy driving, he made it in plenty of time before my bus’ 6:30 departure. Calling Mami and Papi in a panic made me really feel like a daughter and made me realize what a relationship we have build over these last few months. The bus drive was amazing yet at the same time felt like my death bed. The windy and insanely narrow road that is not adequate for a bus our size was full on the amazing sights (huge waterfalls, big beautiful green hills, cattle, cute small towns, etc), but also extremely dangerous. At one point we thought we were going to have to turn around due to a terrible mudslide. We had to wait forever for things to get cleared up, but luckily didn’t around and head back to San Jose as everyone in the bus was encouraging the bus drive to do. Due to the unexpected waiting I arrived in La Virgen later than expected but was soon greeted and led to the director’s office. I met the director, Maria Elena, who will be my advisor for my internship. She then introduced me to Maria, who will be my host mom for this part of my trip. Maria works at the school as the cook. Every kid in at the school gets a free lunch. Maria gave me some fruits to munch on as she served the kids lunch. I’ve decided I really don’t like papaya and it is a very hard fruit to “smile down”. I headed back to the director’s office and we discussed what I’d be doing for the next few weeks. I’m going to be working with Junior, one of the two English teachers. I’m going to be working with grades 1-3. He was at a conference for the day, so I won’t start working until tomorrow. I went to an assembly and was introduced and expected to give a short introduction in front of the whole school. After the assembly I headed back to the cafeteria with Maria and she served me a nice lunch of arroz con pollo and a salad and papaya juice (once again, difficult to “smile down”). At lunch I met Jose Manuel, the youngest of my three new brothers. I headed home with Maria at 1 (when she gets off) since my co-teacher wasn’t there for the day. Never in my life have I felt more comfortable in someone’s home. She showed me to my room and I spent the afternoon with my oldest brother Miguel (17), his cousin Elisa and her 3 month old daughter Luna. I got to hold Luna all afternoon and Maria and Miguel seriously made me feel at home within a matter of minutes. Even though it had only been a few hours I was beginning to feel like I was going to like the way of life here a little better than the way of life in San Jose. As Ticans would say it is much more “tranquilo” (literal translation: tranquil) I took a quick power nap since I was exhausted from the stresses of a day full of change and the unknown and started on my homework (yes, even though I’m here doing an internship, I still have homework, readings and three papers to write). After homework, I met my host father who everyone calls Licho and my middle brother Andres (14) and we had our first dinner together. Other than mystery chewy meat, the meal was great. I was especially happy with how well the boys have taken me in as part of the family. When I originally found out that I would be living with three teenage boys I was a little worried how the situation would work out (since it’s taken me months to develop a relationship with David, my brother in San Jose). Here in the campo (country) life is much different, especially how people open up. The entire family wouldn’t stop encouraging me to do whatever I want around the house and simply live as if this was my own house. Maria was so cute. She put all 3 forms of silverware by my plate because she wasn’t sure what silverware I used for specific foods. After dinner we spent the evening getting to know one another while watching the news. I can already tell these are truly going to be a great 3.5 weeks, as my family is so nice and live a life much different than what I’ve become accustomed to in San Jose. After a good few hours of conversation about anything and everything with all 5 members of my new family it was off to bed. If you’ve made it through this novel, I’m seriously impressed. I promise I’ll keep it shorter in the days to come.

Sunday 11/2/08

This morning I woke up and began packing for my upcoming adventure. Tomorrow morning I am jumping on a bus and making my way northeast to the small rural town of La Virgen to Sarapiqui to help teach English for the next 3.5 weeks. I’ll technically still be in school myself as I have plenty of assigned reading and 3 papers to write during my internship. After packing and organizing my room we had a nice family breakfast of gallo pinto, eggs, sausage and bread (much more than our usual breakfast of Corn Flakes or eggs and bread). We decided that since I’ll be gone for Pamela’s birthday that we’d have a girl’s day and take her shopping for her birthday. While Mami and Papi did some errands, Pamela and I got ready for shopping. Papi was our chauffer and dropped us off downtown. We shopped ‘til we dropped. We stopped for lunch at Taco Bell (unfortunately my family loves Taco Bell and frankly it makes me want to vomit) and continued to shop all afternoon. I had my family cracking up as I would overexagerrate the proper way to cross a busy San Jose street. We finally made our way home and everyone took an afternoon siesta except me. I spent my afternoon getting ready for my trip tomorrow and making a phone call to a certain novio of mine to wish him a “Feliz Cumpleaños” since I’ll be gone on the 11th. We had a wonderful last family dinner together full of laughter…and more laughter. It was sad knowing that I would be leaving them for 3.5 weeks, but also a great time to reflect back on the last 2+ months we’ve had together. After dinner we all got a chance to drive the moped up and down the street. I had never driven one before, but Papi was very nice and let me give it a try. I said my goodbyes and goodnights and had a hard time falling asleep as my mind was filled with excitement of what was to come and sadness of what I was leaving behind.

Saturday 11/1/08

Wow. I never thought November would come this fast. This morning I woke up and headed on a run. I met up with Mami and Papi at the feria (farmer’s market) after my run and we bought a bunch of fruits and vegetables I’m sure you’ve never even heard of. Afterwards we headed to Moravia to buy all the necessary ingredients for Mami to make chocolate. She sells it to all the local pulperias and she’s also making a bunch of an upcoming chocolate feria. We were back to the house by 8:30 and a family breakfast of bread, eggs and coffee (which I thankfully do not have to drink like I did in Nicaragua). The first half of our day was pretty chill. I was extremely cold for some reason so I laid in bed covered in layers of clothes and blankets and watched part of Twister. I hate wasting Saturday mornings like this, but for some reason I wasn’t feeling that great (but don’t worry, I’m not sick) After lunch Pamela and I started to get ready to hit the town. That’s right. Some friends and I who have younger female siblings planned a day to go take our sisters to go see High School Musical 3. We left the house around 1:15. I could tell Pamela was so excited because she got all dressed up and couldn’t wait to get there. We met up at the National Theater. Pamela ended being the only sibling to show up so Pamela had the love and attention of a bunch of gringas. We headed to the movie theater. Unfortunately the soonest showing only has 4 seats left and there were 5 of us, so we had to wait an extra unplanned hour. Luckily my friend, Kayla, had some cards and we played cards in the food court and ate all our snacks that were supposed to be for the movie. We headed back to the theater and had to stand in line forever. Pamela was getting a little tired of waiting around, but was an overall good sport. We finally got into the theater around 4:45 and waited for the movie to start. Pamela was smiling the entire movie and I could tell she was very happy with her “movie date” with the gringas. We all made our way back to San Jose via bus, called Mami to let her know we were safe and then took our bus home to Tibas. Pamela was whipped and fell asleep on the way home. It was a Kodak moment to record the day. We came home and waited for Mami and Papi to arrive home for dinner. We had sandwiches and somewhat of a quiet dinner since we were all extremely tired. I did the dishes (I have dish duty on Fridays and Saturdays) and fell asleep to SNL.

Friday 10/31/08

Happy Halloween. Halloween here is different. Some people have adapted the Halloween customs of dressing up, but there’s no trick-or-treating. On my way to school I decided to stop by the store and buy candy for my classmates, as missing holidays is something we all admit that we miss about the States. My candy was the highlight of the day (as our guest speaker was a little dry). After class I headed into San Jose with some friends and wondered through the Mercado (a little market full of crafts and other “Saturday market-like” trinkets). Around 3:30 we met up with some other friends to head to dinner and a movie (only in reverse order). We indulged and went to the VIP Theater (where I’ve mentioned before. The theater with reclining lazy boy chairs. The movie was so-so. Around 7 we made our way to what we called our “dinner date”. You know you’re college students when this means you simply walk from the theater to the food court of the mall and call it a date. We eventually hopped on the bus and made our way back to San Jose to catch our respective buses to our various suburbs. I came home and sat with the family as they finished up dinner and made a few Skype calls before bed.