1)TEFL Group at Swearing In
2)Chicas de Rio Conejo
3)Christmas picture with my Rio Conejo host parents
4)Rio Conejo Christmas picture
12/27/2010
Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I have to say it’s really weird spending the holidays somewhere where it’s always warm. The lights, santas, wreaths and reindeer definitely add Christmas cheer, but it’s not quite the same. We celebrated Christmas nonetheless and it was really nice. My family made me feel very at home and I got to Skype with my real family which made me feel almost like I was there.
Before I talk about Christmas though, I want to mention that I am now officially a volunteer. Then 10 weeks of training finished up on the 17th when we got sworn in as real volunteers. There was a formal ceremony in San Jose at the Ambassador's house and we all got dressed up and stuff. I put a couple pictures of it up here, one of my Rio Conejo training group and the other of my whole TEFL group.
The Sunday after swearing in I officially moved here to San Carlos where I'm gonna stay and have being spending some quality time with my family.
About Christmas...We had Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve it was composed of a roast, mashed potatoes, salad, Christmas cookies, Christmas cake and candied orange rind. If you didn’t notice half our meal was dessert. Mostly I think it’s because they considered the cookies I made a course of the meal. It was very sweet (no pun intended), but I could have lived with being combined with the cake in the dessert course. Either way, the meal was delicious and it felt quite a lot like being at home for a holiday dinner. We had the nice tablecloth out, candles and people were a little dressed up and a little festive.
I think the best part of Christmas Eve day was the making of the Christmas cookies. I think it took us about 4 hours to make them, but it was totally worth it. We ended up with about 5 dozen beautifully decorated sugar cookies (if I do say so myself). I made the dough then Camilla, my 8-year old host sister, and my 20 year-old host cousin Jose David helped cut the cookies. Jose lives next door and when he came into the house looking for a cell phone charger I helped him out and jokingly asked if he wanted to help us with the cookies thinking that he’d think it was a silly, girly thing and that he would rather hang out with his buddies like he usually does… but he really got into in. He stuck around for 3 more hours until the last cookie was frosted. I was really impressed with his willingness to help and even more impressed with his cookies, which were way better looking than mine. When we finally had them all baked, everyone participated in the frosting: Camilla, Jose David, my host brothers Daniel and Josue and I. It was a really fun thing for all of us to do together and the kids had fun seeing whose cookies were the best. It wasn’t really even a contest because Jose David is very artistic and won by a long shot. I came in second, and they were quick to point out that is only because I’ve been decorating Christmas cookies for give or take 15 years, and Daniel came in dead last…he’ll admit it, and so that no one saw his cookies he ate about 10 of the cookies or he told us :“About 10 of them broke,”. I was really lucky that Jose David dropped in when he did because as much help as Camilla was with the cookie baking (a.k.a- almost none, but great company) it definitely would have taken about 5 times as long with out Jose.
On Christmas day we all woke up late because our dinner the night before had begun at 10:30 and ended at about 1:30am. We hung around the house all day, eating Christmas cookies, watching Christmas movies and just relaxing. I may have been away from home, but luckily my family here made me feel very at home.
Before I talk about Christmas though, I want to mention that I am now officially a volunteer. Then 10 weeks of training finished up on the 17th when we got sworn in as real volunteers. There was a formal ceremony in San Jose at the Ambassador's house and we all got dressed up and stuff. I put a couple pictures of it up here, one of my Rio Conejo training group and the other of my whole TEFL group.
The Sunday after swearing in I officially moved here to San Carlos where I'm gonna stay and have being spending some quality time with my family.
About Christmas...We had Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve it was composed of a roast, mashed potatoes, salad, Christmas cookies, Christmas cake and candied orange rind. If you didn’t notice half our meal was dessert. Mostly I think it’s because they considered the cookies I made a course of the meal. It was very sweet (no pun intended), but I could have lived with being combined with the cake in the dessert course. Either way, the meal was delicious and it felt quite a lot like being at home for a holiday dinner. We had the nice tablecloth out, candles and people were a little dressed up and a little festive.
I think the best part of Christmas Eve day was the making of the Christmas cookies. I think it took us about 4 hours to make them, but it was totally worth it. We ended up with about 5 dozen beautifully decorated sugar cookies (if I do say so myself). I made the dough then Camilla, my 8-year old host sister, and my 20 year-old host cousin Jose David helped cut the cookies. Jose lives next door and when he came into the house looking for a cell phone charger I helped him out and jokingly asked if he wanted to help us with the cookies thinking that he’d think it was a silly, girly thing and that he would rather hang out with his buddies like he usually does… but he really got into in. He stuck around for 3 more hours until the last cookie was frosted. I was really impressed with his willingness to help and even more impressed with his cookies, which were way better looking than mine. When we finally had them all baked, everyone participated in the frosting: Camilla, Jose David, my host brothers Daniel and Josue and I. It was a really fun thing for all of us to do together and the kids had fun seeing whose cookies were the best. It wasn’t really even a contest because Jose David is very artistic and won by a long shot. I came in second, and they were quick to point out that is only because I’ve been decorating Christmas cookies for give or take 15 years, and Daniel came in dead last…he’ll admit it, and so that no one saw his cookies he ate about 10 of the cookies or he told us :“About 10 of them broke,”. I was really lucky that Jose David dropped in when he did because as much help as Camilla was with the cookie baking (a.k.a- almost none, but great company) it definitely would have taken about 5 times as long with out Jose.
On Christmas day we all woke up late because our dinner the night before had begun at 10:30 and ended at about 1:30am. We hung around the house all day, eating Christmas cookies, watching Christmas movies and just relaxing. I may have been away from home, but luckily my family here made me feel very at home.
11/30/2010
As promised, I will now tell you all about what has been going on down here. It has been far too long since I updated, but I’ll just be honest, I’m too lazy to go to the Internet. That’s why I don’t update or write you e-mails. Sorry. I’ll try to get better about it. Where I’m going to be living next has Internet access in the town and in the school where I’m working, so the chances you’ll hear from me will be exponentially increased come Dec. 18th.
Rain
So as you may or may not have heard, there was a huge rainstorm that hit Costa Rica. We thought it was just raining a lot, but it turned into a much bigger problem. I mentioned that there was a lot of rain when I wrote my last blog and that night when I went home the power went out at about 9 pm. The next morning when we woke up it still wasn’t back and the water system was also down. In my house we were very lucky because we have reserve water tanks so we had water coming out of our taps even if the water system wasn’t working. We passed that Thursday with out power until about 5 or 6 at night. It wasn’t a huge problem, especially seeing as we had water, but we had no way to cook. Here it’s a big deal for a wife if she can’t put a hot meal on the table. I saw nothing wrong with eating sandwiches or something for lunch and maybe dinner, but my host mom wanted none of that. As goes the saying, come hell or high water we were going to have hot rice and beans on the table. Fortunately we were able to cook at a neighbor’s house that had a wood-burning stove.
I must also mention that even more worrisome for my family than the lack of a way to prepare hot food was the lack of coffee. I’m glad that somewhere in the world I have found a group of people who worry as much as I do about daily access to coffee. My host parents reluctantly decided in the morning to have tea with water boiled at the neighbor’s house. This was a very hard decision, but everything turned around when I suggested we drink my instant Starbucks. Turned out to be a lifesaver. Everyone was much happier when we discovered we could in fact still have our coffee.
More important than all of that about food and coffee is what was going on with the weather around the country. Here where I’m at we were affected in that our water and power were out, but in other parts of the country it was much, much worse. There were terrible landslides on a big portion of roads in all parts of the country and flooding was rampant through the lowlands. Many people were killed in the landslides and the floods and the country was in a state of emergency for a couple days. It was hard to really understand at the time what was happening because we were without power for a while, which meant we were without news. There was also no way to leave our town because landslides blocked the roads to the towns on either side. I personally was in no real danger, and neither were most other volunteers and Peace Corps was taking the situation very seriously and making sure to check in with us often and ensure that we were prepared for anything that could happen.
Things were in a pretty fragile state for about five days, but about Wednesday of the next week things started to come around and normalize somewhat. There is still a lot of rebuilding to be done in communities throughout the country and many highways that are in disrepair, but I am very impressed with the efficiency at which they are putting things back together.
Spiders
I realize that on a list of concerns a natural disaster should rank way higher than spiders, but in my mind when I thought of what to tell you about in fact spiders came up second next to “nation paralyzing natural disaster”. You may not understand, and/or agree with the gravity that I place on the spider situation, but either way I know that you would not want spiders of the size I’m describing in your bedroom.
I have had two encounters with tarantula-like spiders since I’ve been here. I’m sure these are only the first of many encounters I will have in the next couple years, and while unfortunate that’s the way it goes I guess, and I have to say right now that there is no way I will get used to them. I would have to say, very proudly, that I am doing well in reacting to spiders. I don’t scream when I see a really big one. I just calmly leave the room, close the door and call my host mom. I call her in a calm voice so as not to upset anyone, and she comes quickly to help me. How calm I am about it might be influenced slightly by the fact that the two times I have seen tarantula-type spiders the house has been asleep and I feel really bad screaming bloody murder and having them think someone is dying or something. This feeling might also have something to do with the fact that one time last week I called Daysi to kill a large non-tarantula-like spider in the bathroom and she doubled over laughing. It went something like this:
Me: “Daysi, there’s a really big spider in the bathroom.”
Daysi: “I’m coming, let me get the bug killer. Where is it?”
Me (refusing to enter the bathroom): “On the shower wall.”
Daysi: “Where? I don’t see anything.”
Me “On the shower wall.”
Daysi: “Where? I don’t see anything.”
Me: “It’s right there!”
Daysi: “Oh… that little thing.”
Me: “No, that big spider right there in the middle of the wall. The big one.”
Daysi (realizes we’re talking about the same spider and doubles over laughing): “HAHAHAHA. That little spider. HAHAHA. I thought you said it was big. HAHAHA. (Much laughing, then a deep breath) Ok, ok…. I’ll get it. (Out of breath from laughter)”
I kind of smiled and laughed because I didn’t know what else to do, but that made me think I should not get to upset about spiders otherwise they will laugh at me. You have to believe me though that the spider was big. I measure spiders by making a circle with my index finger and thumb and if the fingers don’t touch because the spider is bigger it’s time to call someone to help. It was bigger.
So…that brings us to the tarantulas. I don’t know if they really are tarantulas. I call them that because they look exactly like the kind of spiders adolescent boys keep for pets in the US. My friend’s host mom told her that they are definitely not tarantulas because tarantulas are much bigger. Doubtful. Actually, I have no idea, but the spiders in this story are about the size of a baseball. And black. And hairy.
The first encounter I had with one was in the bathroom as I was getting done with my shower. I had just turned off the water when I opened the shower curtain to find a HUGE spider a foot from me on the ledge above the sink. I frantically grabbed my towel and clothes and ran to my room. It was 4:30 in the morning and I didn’t really want to wake anyone up. I was leaving at 5 for a weekend trip so all I needed was my toothbrush, toothpaste and face wash from the bathroom. I got dressed and decided I was going be brave, run in, get my stuff from the bathroom and be on my way. So… I grabbed a broomstick and I was going to stand in the doorway and use the broomstick to knock my stuff down and move it to where I could grab it. I got to the doorway, opened the door and stuck the broomstick in to turn on the light, but… I couldn’t do it. I was convinced the spider was gonna jump out, or worse climb right up my broomstick and on to me. So I dropped my broomstick and ran to call Daysi. She came quickly, may or may not have killed the spider (I’m pretty sure she sprayed it and it just ran away) and got my stuff for me. I packed quickly, the whole time looking over my shoulder, convinced the spider was gonna get me.
The second spider incident happened two nights ago. I was in my room with the music playing, making some birthday decorations for Daysi’s birthday. I stayed up pretty late, because I had to wait for her to go to bed so I could put up the decorations. As I’m on my bed drawing, I notice something out of the corner of my eye. I look over and there is a HUGE spider sitting on top of my shoes. I calmly, but rapidly, leave my room. I stood outside my room a minute deciding if I should wake Daysi up, then concluded I had no where to sleep if I didn’t. I called her, she came, and we (and by that I mean she, I just stood outside the room and watched) spent the next half hour chasing the spider around the room with bug killer (which by the way is not really made for tarantulas) and taking almost everything except my armoire out of my room. By the time the spider was caught we had all my books, shoes, bags and whatever else was on my floor out in the dining room so the spider had no where to hide. When finally caught, the spider was not dead and Daysi had to kill it with the broom. The bug killer may have weakened it, but I have serious doubts about this method. She swept the spider out the door and we checked my room up and down, even under the covers to ensure there was not, as I was convinced, a family of tarantulas hanging out in there. I slept with the door and windows tightly closed so as not to allow spiders in, and because of that incident I am pretty sure that every other night tarantulas have been coming in my windows and climbing over me in my sleep.
Being gassed out
So one the worst morning I have had in recent memory, I woke up after only 4 hours of sleep, to mariachi music. This is very normal in my house, but this particular day I was really tired and the music came on at 5:02. That is really to early to crank up the music. Especially music with mariachi howling. Not 10 minutes later my host dad's co-workers arrived and summoned him to the door not by knocking, but just by yelling really loud. My room is right next to the front door so essentially they were yelling into my window. This happened at 5:12. The proceeded talking loudly right outside my room until, at 5:18, a large truck arrived to pick up some work supplies which were right outside my room. The truck, according to my neighbor, sounded like an industrial washing machine and was parked approximately 4 feet from my window. If the sound wasn't bad enough the exhaust was coming right into the window. I was determined not to get out of bed. I had 30 more minutes to sleep and I was going to stay in bed until the last possible minute. I waited about 2 and a half minutes, until I really couldn't breathe and finally got up. I ran into my host dad right outside my room and he asked me if he woke me up. "No." I said "I've been up for a while." Yeah right. I proceeded to take a cold shower and head to breakfast where my host mom went on about what a beautiful day it was. I was not having any of that. It was not a beautiful day. To make matters worse I spilled my oatmeal all over me. At that point I considered just going back to bed. I decided to carry on... and fortunately all the bad things in the day were over before 7am.
Rain
So as you may or may not have heard, there was a huge rainstorm that hit Costa Rica. We thought it was just raining a lot, but it turned into a much bigger problem. I mentioned that there was a lot of rain when I wrote my last blog and that night when I went home the power went out at about 9 pm. The next morning when we woke up it still wasn’t back and the water system was also down. In my house we were very lucky because we have reserve water tanks so we had water coming out of our taps even if the water system wasn’t working. We passed that Thursday with out power until about 5 or 6 at night. It wasn’t a huge problem, especially seeing as we had water, but we had no way to cook. Here it’s a big deal for a wife if she can’t put a hot meal on the table. I saw nothing wrong with eating sandwiches or something for lunch and maybe dinner, but my host mom wanted none of that. As goes the saying, come hell or high water we were going to have hot rice and beans on the table. Fortunately we were able to cook at a neighbor’s house that had a wood-burning stove.
I must also mention that even more worrisome for my family than the lack of a way to prepare hot food was the lack of coffee. I’m glad that somewhere in the world I have found a group of people who worry as much as I do about daily access to coffee. My host parents reluctantly decided in the morning to have tea with water boiled at the neighbor’s house. This was a very hard decision, but everything turned around when I suggested we drink my instant Starbucks. Turned out to be a lifesaver. Everyone was much happier when we discovered we could in fact still have our coffee.
More important than all of that about food and coffee is what was going on with the weather around the country. Here where I’m at we were affected in that our water and power were out, but in other parts of the country it was much, much worse. There were terrible landslides on a big portion of roads in all parts of the country and flooding was rampant through the lowlands. Many people were killed in the landslides and the floods and the country was in a state of emergency for a couple days. It was hard to really understand at the time what was happening because we were without power for a while, which meant we were without news. There was also no way to leave our town because landslides blocked the roads to the towns on either side. I personally was in no real danger, and neither were most other volunteers and Peace Corps was taking the situation very seriously and making sure to check in with us often and ensure that we were prepared for anything that could happen.
Things were in a pretty fragile state for about five days, but about Wednesday of the next week things started to come around and normalize somewhat. There is still a lot of rebuilding to be done in communities throughout the country and many highways that are in disrepair, but I am very impressed with the efficiency at which they are putting things back together.
Spiders
I realize that on a list of concerns a natural disaster should rank way higher than spiders, but in my mind when I thought of what to tell you about in fact spiders came up second next to “nation paralyzing natural disaster”. You may not understand, and/or agree with the gravity that I place on the spider situation, but either way I know that you would not want spiders of the size I’m describing in your bedroom.
I have had two encounters with tarantula-like spiders since I’ve been here. I’m sure these are only the first of many encounters I will have in the next couple years, and while unfortunate that’s the way it goes I guess, and I have to say right now that there is no way I will get used to them. I would have to say, very proudly, that I am doing well in reacting to spiders. I don’t scream when I see a really big one. I just calmly leave the room, close the door and call my host mom. I call her in a calm voice so as not to upset anyone, and she comes quickly to help me. How calm I am about it might be influenced slightly by the fact that the two times I have seen tarantula-type spiders the house has been asleep and I feel really bad screaming bloody murder and having them think someone is dying or something. This feeling might also have something to do with the fact that one time last week I called Daysi to kill a large non-tarantula-like spider in the bathroom and she doubled over laughing. It went something like this:
Me: “Daysi, there’s a really big spider in the bathroom.”
Daysi: “I’m coming, let me get the bug killer. Where is it?”
Me (refusing to enter the bathroom): “On the shower wall.”
Daysi: “Where? I don’t see anything.”
Me “On the shower wall.”
Daysi: “Where? I don’t see anything.”
Me: “It’s right there!”
Daysi: “Oh… that little thing.”
Me: “No, that big spider right there in the middle of the wall. The big one.”
Daysi (realizes we’re talking about the same spider and doubles over laughing): “HAHAHAHA. That little spider. HAHAHA. I thought you said it was big. HAHAHA. (Much laughing, then a deep breath) Ok, ok…. I’ll get it. (Out of breath from laughter)”
I kind of smiled and laughed because I didn’t know what else to do, but that made me think I should not get to upset about spiders otherwise they will laugh at me. You have to believe me though that the spider was big. I measure spiders by making a circle with my index finger and thumb and if the fingers don’t touch because the spider is bigger it’s time to call someone to help. It was bigger.
So…that brings us to the tarantulas. I don’t know if they really are tarantulas. I call them that because they look exactly like the kind of spiders adolescent boys keep for pets in the US. My friend’s host mom told her that they are definitely not tarantulas because tarantulas are much bigger. Doubtful. Actually, I have no idea, but the spiders in this story are about the size of a baseball. And black. And hairy.
The first encounter I had with one was in the bathroom as I was getting done with my shower. I had just turned off the water when I opened the shower curtain to find a HUGE spider a foot from me on the ledge above the sink. I frantically grabbed my towel and clothes and ran to my room. It was 4:30 in the morning and I didn’t really want to wake anyone up. I was leaving at 5 for a weekend trip so all I needed was my toothbrush, toothpaste and face wash from the bathroom. I got dressed and decided I was going be brave, run in, get my stuff from the bathroom and be on my way. So… I grabbed a broomstick and I was going to stand in the doorway and use the broomstick to knock my stuff down and move it to where I could grab it. I got to the doorway, opened the door and stuck the broomstick in to turn on the light, but… I couldn’t do it. I was convinced the spider was gonna jump out, or worse climb right up my broomstick and on to me. So I dropped my broomstick and ran to call Daysi. She came quickly, may or may not have killed the spider (I’m pretty sure she sprayed it and it just ran away) and got my stuff for me. I packed quickly, the whole time looking over my shoulder, convinced the spider was gonna get me.
The second spider incident happened two nights ago. I was in my room with the music playing, making some birthday decorations for Daysi’s birthday. I stayed up pretty late, because I had to wait for her to go to bed so I could put up the decorations. As I’m on my bed drawing, I notice something out of the corner of my eye. I look over and there is a HUGE spider sitting on top of my shoes. I calmly, but rapidly, leave my room. I stood outside my room a minute deciding if I should wake Daysi up, then concluded I had no where to sleep if I didn’t. I called her, she came, and we (and by that I mean she, I just stood outside the room and watched) spent the next half hour chasing the spider around the room with bug killer (which by the way is not really made for tarantulas) and taking almost everything except my armoire out of my room. By the time the spider was caught we had all my books, shoes, bags and whatever else was on my floor out in the dining room so the spider had no where to hide. When finally caught, the spider was not dead and Daysi had to kill it with the broom. The bug killer may have weakened it, but I have serious doubts about this method. She swept the spider out the door and we checked my room up and down, even under the covers to ensure there was not, as I was convinced, a family of tarantulas hanging out in there. I slept with the door and windows tightly closed so as not to allow spiders in, and because of that incident I am pretty sure that every other night tarantulas have been coming in my windows and climbing over me in my sleep.
Being gassed out
So one the worst morning I have had in recent memory, I woke up after only 4 hours of sleep, to mariachi music. This is very normal in my house, but this particular day I was really tired and the music came on at 5:02. That is really to early to crank up the music. Especially music with mariachi howling. Not 10 minutes later my host dad's co-workers arrived and summoned him to the door not by knocking, but just by yelling really loud. My room is right next to the front door so essentially they were yelling into my window. This happened at 5:12. The proceeded talking loudly right outside my room until, at 5:18, a large truck arrived to pick up some work supplies which were right outside my room. The truck, according to my neighbor, sounded like an industrial washing machine and was parked approximately 4 feet from my window. If the sound wasn't bad enough the exhaust was coming right into the window. I was determined not to get out of bed. I had 30 more minutes to sleep and I was going to stay in bed until the last possible minute. I waited about 2 and a half minutes, until I really couldn't breathe and finally got up. I ran into my host dad right outside my room and he asked me if he woke me up. "No." I said "I've been up for a while." Yeah right. I proceeded to take a cold shower and head to breakfast where my host mom went on about what a beautiful day it was. I was not having any of that. It was not a beautiful day. To make matters worse I spilled my oatmeal all over me. At that point I considered just going back to bed. I decided to carry on... and fortunately all the bad things in the day were over before 7am.
11/26/2010
It has been quite a long time since I posted here and all kinds of stuff has happened. Natural disasters, a beach trip, my birthday, days without power or water, tarantulas in my bedroom, being gassed out of my room at 5am. I´m really not exaggerating, all that stuff happened. I´m gonna take some time this weekend to write all about it, but for now I´ll leave you with some very important news.
On Wednesday we found out where we are going to be placed for the next two years. It was a really big day, you know seeing as it determines two years of your life. I found out I´m going to be near Quesada de San Carlos in North Central Costa Rica. There I will be working with one large high school training the teachers and working with high school classes and the community teaching English. I couldn´t be more content with my placement and I´m really looking forward to getting there at the end of December.
I´ll make a long post to tell you all of my adventures soon, but in the mean time you should all check out a map to see where I´m gonna be at. It´s close to the only cylindrical volcano in Costa Rica, that´s pretty cool I think.
On Wednesday we found out where we are going to be placed for the next two years. It was a really big day, you know seeing as it determines two years of your life. I found out I´m going to be near Quesada de San Carlos in North Central Costa Rica. There I will be working with one large high school training the teachers and working with high school classes and the community teaching English. I couldn´t be more content with my placement and I´m really looking forward to getting there at the end of December.
I´ll make a long post to tell you all of my adventures soon, but in the mean time you should all check out a map to see where I´m gonna be at. It´s close to the only cylindrical volcano in Costa Rica, that´s pretty cool I think.
11/03/2010
It has been raining for three days straight. Because of the rain we thought we might not have class (because that´s how it works down here). I still chose to wear sandals. I am not at all too cold. I have been in three different provinces, in 5 different towns and on 4 different buses in the last 2 days. This, my friends, is Costa Rica.
It is supposedly close to the end of rainy season here, although no one is really sure when it starts and ends exactly, but we think it´ll be over soon. Because of the hurricane that is approaching the Florida area there are big rains coming through the entire country. The coffee harvest is just starting and althought the rains are necessary becuase it didn´t rain as much as it should have in October my host dad is still very worried about the effect of this much rain on the ripe coffee because it can knock it from the plant to the ground, which means less to harvest. Let´s hope the rain slows down :)
This past weekend was a very good weekend. I was just what I needed to pick me up from a down period I fell into last week. Last week was very difficult and I started wondering what I was doing here, whether this was right for me, and if I was every really going to get to help anyone with my work seeing as all I do is sit in a classroom and learn the theory about helping people. All of these are very legitimate questions, but they can be very discouraging to think about all at once. It was easy to get my mind off them because I had an excursion this weekend to the site of a current volunteer to see what her life and work were like. The visit was really interesting and really helped me to put this whole thing back in perspective. Although her project is different from mine (she is a Children, Youth and Family volunteer) I was still able to see some of the things real volunteers do. I was able to see not only her work, but her community, her friends, how she spends here time, how people react to her.
What I saw on this visit was just what I expected and wanted to see. She is doing really well with her work and is content with where she is, the community and what she is doing. I was really glad to see the human side of Peace Corps after a month of being inundated with the theoretical, methodological vision of my new job. I feel much better now about being here having seen a real town with real people who really do appreciate our help.
Outside of the official stuff I´m doing, the other volunteer trainees and I have been meeting for drinks after class and having fun together. This weekend we are going to a picnic in San Jose for all volunteers in the country. Should be fun to meet all of the people who are already in their sites. Another note, we didn´t really celebrate Halloween, but we are having an early celebration of Thanksgiving on Friday for a teaching activity...mmmm...pumpkin pie.
Here are a few pictures of my friends and the views around here. The last photo is of my host parents, those on the left. ENJOY! Miss you, yes... all of you!
10/27/2010
Hello all! Not having access to internet is kind of an adjustment. It´s nice on one hand because I think we in the US are addicted, especially people my age, and on the other hand it makes me feel really far away. I think this in addition to lots of other things have make me realize that I´m here for real. For two years this is my home. I don´t get to just pack up and head home. It´s not that I necessarily want to go home, but it´s just weird the first time you realize that you´re somewhere for good.
Fortunately I have my instant Starbucks coffee, my Clif bars and some Vanilla Chai tea I brought from the States. I´ve learned that just because a place has everything you could need doesn´t mean it has the smells and tastes you crave. Of course they have granola bars and tea here, not to mention that coffee grows behind my house. Still when I start to miss home and make a cup of Starbucks I instantly feel better. (Note to family who may send packages- send Via coffee and or Good Earth Vanilla Chai Tea :))
Training is becoming very long... I´m sure volunteers all over the world feel that way, but that doesn´t change the fact that you have to sit in class all day everyday. I understand the methodology, but I still get really tired. This week we do have something fun to do though. On Saturday each of us is going to visit a volunteer and spend the weekend wih them. I´m really excited to see what real live volunteers are doing in their communities. It´s hard listening to so much theory and not actually seeing it applied. I´m hoping this visit will help put the training in to perspective and help me connect real human need to what I hear all day.
Despite long classes and studying, I can´t leave this post without mentioning how absolutely beautiful it is here and how wonderful my group of trainees is. I have met some really interesting and caring people here and I am really glad to have them as my new friends to talk to and share this experience with. I also make sure I take a good look around as I walk places to remind myself of where I am and how incredible it is to be here.
Fortunately I have my instant Starbucks coffee, my Clif bars and some Vanilla Chai tea I brought from the States. I´ve learned that just because a place has everything you could need doesn´t mean it has the smells and tastes you crave. Of course they have granola bars and tea here, not to mention that coffee grows behind my house. Still when I start to miss home and make a cup of Starbucks I instantly feel better. (Note to family who may send packages- send Via coffee and or Good Earth Vanilla Chai Tea :))
Training is becoming very long... I´m sure volunteers all over the world feel that way, but that doesn´t change the fact that you have to sit in class all day everyday. I understand the methodology, but I still get really tired. This week we do have something fun to do though. On Saturday each of us is going to visit a volunteer and spend the weekend wih them. I´m really excited to see what real live volunteers are doing in their communities. It´s hard listening to so much theory and not actually seeing it applied. I´m hoping this visit will help put the training in to perspective and help me connect real human need to what I hear all day.
Despite long classes and studying, I can´t leave this post without mentioning how absolutely beautiful it is here and how wonderful my group of trainees is. I have met some really interesting and caring people here and I am really glad to have them as my new friends to talk to and share this experience with. I also make sure I take a good look around as I walk places to remind myself of where I am and how incredible it is to be here.
10/15/2010
Costa Rica!
If you are reading this I´m sure you know that I am in Costa Rica with the Peace Corps. Chapter 2 in Katherine´s Aventures. Actually more like chapter 107, but we´ll call it 2 for blog purposes. I´ll try to update as I can. Right now I only have internet if I go to the next town, so don´t hold your breath... I´ve been writing emails and blogs and saving them on a disk til I get to internet, so here´s a little something from the other day:
I’m sitting on the front porch of a little green house in Rio Conejo, Costa Rica, in a rocking chair looking at coffee trees, palm trees and flowers that definitely bloom all year. I’m here at my host family’s house, where I will be for the next ten weeks. I’m living with a lovely older couple that married after both of their spouses passed away. They don’t have children of their own, and instead have Peace Corps volunteers. They seem to really enjoy hosting the volunteers and seem excited that I am here.
I was welcomed to their home with a big plate of rice and beans, which I have learned is different than the traditional dish of gallo pinto (mixed rice and beans with a little bit of onion and cilantro). Why it’s different if you mix it or not is beyond me, but it’s kind of funny when they say “We’re having gallo pinto for breakfast and rice and beans for lunch”, as if they are distinctly different things.
No sooner had I finished my last bit of rice and beans did they tell me that we were leaving for a wedding in 30 minutes. No time to waste I quickly unpacked most of my things, which smelled a little funny because it’s very humid here and they were all packed up, and got dressed. We left for the wedding with the lady who lives next door and Marlene who is another Peace Corps trainee from my group who is staying with her. We took a taxi to the wedding, which was highly comical, and ironically just the kind of situation I was expecting in rural Costa Rica. We knew it would be a little tight with 5 people and the taxi driver, a.k.a- there was not enough space, but it got really tight when the taxi driver had a friend. Oh man…there we were 7 people in a old Nissan Sentra, 3- 60 year old people, 2- 22 year-old American girls and 2 taxi guys. We ended up with the four ladies in the backseat, my host father in front … and the taxi driver’s friend sitting in the open trunk. It’s a good thing I have spent some time in Latin America, or I might think this is dangerous or scary, but not to worries we were fine. The wedding was fun as well. The reception was held in a little town hall, they served what else but rice (no beans though) and we dance to all kinds of music from Elvis to Latin American standards to 90s rock. It turned out that there were four Peace Corps girls there even though we didn’t know each other was coming, since the whole town went it made sense that the girls the town was hosting went too.
We spent today eating. A favorite pastime, and something I must make sure I do not do too much of, and singing, or attempting to sing to a karaoke DVD they have. Now the family is going to church and I am going to attempt to walk to San Juan del Sur to post this and send a few e-mails at the internet café. My schedule is going to be very full for the next ten weeks of our training. We have Spanish and culture classes every Mon., Wed., Fri. and technical and Peace Corps training Tues and Thurs. The classes will last all day every day, so I won’t have much free time, but I hopefully will feel well prepared to start my work at the end of them.
I hope you are all well, as I am here, and as the Costa Ricans say: Pura Vida.
Sunday: Part 2
So I wrote that part of the blog, then failed to walk to San Juan del Sur, because, well it just didn’t work out, and it got dark at 5:30ish. So instead I decided to do a workout and go see Marlene across the street. The workout was fine. I brought out my iPod and speaker to the garage, which is actually a carport with a gate, but I was afraid to turn the iPod up too loud so I kept it quiet and did some jumps, plyometric stuff and used the exercise band I brought. I finished working out and immediately someone across the street started blasting music from their car, which changed my mind about turning the iPod up next time. After I took a cold shower, (which is what I will have for two years, haven’t quite adjusted, it’s really cold!), I attempted to go to Marlene’s. After knocking on the wrong door, I came back to my house to get a flashlight because the person told me I’d need one to see the way to her house. I tried to get back into my house and couldn’t because a key had fallen off my key ring. My host parents weren’t coming back for an hour, so naturally I tried to climb in the window. I got halfway in before I decided it wouldn’t work. I tried one more window and gave up. I didn’t want to have to explain why either I was hurt or a window was broken. Marlene actually came to my house at the exact moment I aborted my window-entering mission and we searched for the key. We didn’t find it, and in true Katherine fashion when my family soon arrived they told me the key wasn’t gone, it was the remaining key on the ring that opened the door, I had just been using it wrong. Cool. At least I found out I’m safe because it’s basically impossible to climb in the windows to my bedroom. Ahh…Pura Vida.
I’m sitting on the front porch of a little green house in Rio Conejo, Costa Rica, in a rocking chair looking at coffee trees, palm trees and flowers that definitely bloom all year. I’m here at my host family’s house, where I will be for the next ten weeks. I’m living with a lovely older couple that married after both of their spouses passed away. They don’t have children of their own, and instead have Peace Corps volunteers. They seem to really enjoy hosting the volunteers and seem excited that I am here.
I was welcomed to their home with a big plate of rice and beans, which I have learned is different than the traditional dish of gallo pinto (mixed rice and beans with a little bit of onion and cilantro). Why it’s different if you mix it or not is beyond me, but it’s kind of funny when they say “We’re having gallo pinto for breakfast and rice and beans for lunch”, as if they are distinctly different things.
No sooner had I finished my last bit of rice and beans did they tell me that we were leaving for a wedding in 30 minutes. No time to waste I quickly unpacked most of my things, which smelled a little funny because it’s very humid here and they were all packed up, and got dressed. We left for the wedding with the lady who lives next door and Marlene who is another Peace Corps trainee from my group who is staying with her. We took a taxi to the wedding, which was highly comical, and ironically just the kind of situation I was expecting in rural Costa Rica. We knew it would be a little tight with 5 people and the taxi driver, a.k.a- there was not enough space, but it got really tight when the taxi driver had a friend. Oh man…there we were 7 people in a old Nissan Sentra, 3- 60 year old people, 2- 22 year-old American girls and 2 taxi guys. We ended up with the four ladies in the backseat, my host father in front … and the taxi driver’s friend sitting in the open trunk. It’s a good thing I have spent some time in Latin America, or I might think this is dangerous or scary, but not to worries we were fine. The wedding was fun as well. The reception was held in a little town hall, they served what else but rice (no beans though) and we dance to all kinds of music from Elvis to Latin American standards to 90s rock. It turned out that there were four Peace Corps girls there even though we didn’t know each other was coming, since the whole town went it made sense that the girls the town was hosting went too.
We spent today eating. A favorite pastime, and something I must make sure I do not do too much of, and singing, or attempting to sing to a karaoke DVD they have. Now the family is going to church and I am going to attempt to walk to San Juan del Sur to post this and send a few e-mails at the internet café. My schedule is going to be very full for the next ten weeks of our training. We have Spanish and culture classes every Mon., Wed., Fri. and technical and Peace Corps training Tues and Thurs. The classes will last all day every day, so I won’t have much free time, but I hopefully will feel well prepared to start my work at the end of them.
I hope you are all well, as I am here, and as the Costa Ricans say: Pura Vida.
Sunday: Part 2
So I wrote that part of the blog, then failed to walk to San Juan del Sur, because, well it just didn’t work out, and it got dark at 5:30ish. So instead I decided to do a workout and go see Marlene across the street. The workout was fine. I brought out my iPod and speaker to the garage, which is actually a carport with a gate, but I was afraid to turn the iPod up too loud so I kept it quiet and did some jumps, plyometric stuff and used the exercise band I brought. I finished working out and immediately someone across the street started blasting music from their car, which changed my mind about turning the iPod up next time. After I took a cold shower, (which is what I will have for two years, haven’t quite adjusted, it’s really cold!), I attempted to go to Marlene’s. After knocking on the wrong door, I came back to my house to get a flashlight because the person told me I’d need one to see the way to her house. I tried to get back into my house and couldn’t because a key had fallen off my key ring. My host parents weren’t coming back for an hour, so naturally I tried to climb in the window. I got halfway in before I decided it wouldn’t work. I tried one more window and gave up. I didn’t want to have to explain why either I was hurt or a window was broken. Marlene actually came to my house at the exact moment I aborted my window-entering mission and we searched for the key. We didn’t find it, and in true Katherine fashion when my family soon arrived they told me the key wasn’t gone, it was the remaining key on the ring that opened the door, I had just been using it wrong. Cool. At least I found out I’m safe because it’s basically impossible to climb in the windows to my bedroom. Ahh…Pura Vida.
4/15/2010
So this week we are making a trip through Ecuador to see the jungle, Quito and then I´m going to spend the last week at the beach.
First stop was Banos a little tourist town where they have natural hot springs and lots of pools to visit. The hot water comes from underneath a volcano that sits right next to the town. Since it´s a toruist town there are tons of nice little places to stay and really good food. If any American is looking for a quaint little place to go in Ecuador, I would highly reccommend it. Additionally it is only an hour from the jungle and you can even rent bikes to ride on the beautiful highway to the next town.
Pyuo was the next stop. It´s the first town on the border of the jungle. Here you can find a big river surrounded by jungle looking trees and lots of wildlife. I wanted to see some monkeys, so we asked around and they pointed us to ¨El Rescate de Monos¨ or the Monkey Refuge, where monkeys who have been saved from captivity live. They are monkeys who were ¨trafficked¨ as exotic pets, in shows or otherwise in captivity, and many hae been mistreated. There at the refuge they live peacefully and free in the jungle in a very large area that belongs to the refuge, there is an electric frence so they can´t leave, but they told us the monkeys don´t want to leave because they have food and everything there, a river, tons of trees and they have dog friends who live there too. There are about 50 monkeys who live there and 5 or 6 dogs and they are all friends. It´s really adorable. The monkeys ride the dogs like horses, they play with them, they clean they´re fur, and they give them kisses. You can see the dog-monkey friends in the pictures. At first I was a little afraid of the monkeys because they were jumping around and climbing up the people and one came up behind me and slapped a mosquito on my leg (that kinda scared me) but after I played with them a little I figured out they we´re like little kids who just wanted to play with you and swing around and ride on your shoulders. I thought we were going to see one or two monkeys, but there were 50!
Now we´re in Quito and today we are going to do all the tourist things there are to do. Yesterday I saw the north part of Quito, which is the nicer modern part, and the historic center, and today we´re going to go back and vistit the downtown again to see it more carefully and take pictures and stuff. If there is one thing I can say about Quito from what I have seen is that the churches are incredible. In Quito there are at least 6 or 7 big cathedrals and they are all hand built and it is an understatement to say they are ornate. I can´t get over how big and beautiful the cathedrals are. I´ll take some pictures where I can, but in some churches you can´t. Look for some pictures of Quito tomorrow.
3/24/2010
It's hard work to live here (not for me, just in general)
The prices in Ecuador are said to be cheap. For this reason, and all of it´s natural wonders, like the fact that it is .19% of the earth with 10% of the worlds rain forest and larger diversity of animal species than anywhere in the world (just a fun fact), it is a popular tourist destination. It can usually be assumed in countries like this that tourists think it is cheap, but the people who actually live here think it is average priced and generally enjoy a lower level of economic satisfaction. This not as true here as I thought it would be, at least for many things.
The first day I arrived we went to the grocery store and I was surprised to find out that things cost about the same. Ok... for me it was nice because it wasn't a shock and they use the dollar, so it was really easy. It is important to note that we went to the grocery store. I thought this was normal and that everyone bought their food there, but what I found out is that grocery stores are only for middle class people and above. This was a very confusing idea. If you don´t buy your food at a grocery store where do you buy it? The answer is you buy meat, fruits and veggies in the markets, and bread at the bakery. There are markets all over town that have an abundance of fruit, milk products, meat and other kitchen staples. Might I add here that there is also no refrigeration in the markets, but that is for later discussion. There are bakeries all over the place that have every variety of bread you could want, and they smell delicious. There are also small tiendas, or stores, on every corner where you can find whatever you didn't find at the market. The prices at the markets are in fact inexpensive. For $10 we can buy enough fruits and for juice, salads, side dishes, to snack on and use in desserts for a family of four and 3 students for a week. That`s all the fresh stuff for 7 people for a week. The same thing with bread, for a week from the bakery maybe 6 to 7 dollars worth of bread. Conclusion, the food in the market is cheap.
The problem is that the food in the market is not necessarily safe. Remembering the lack of refrigeration, one would not be jumping to buy meat from this locale, nor dairy products. And although their views on what needs and does not need to be refrigerated differ greatly from mine, my family here agrees that this is not the place to purchase these things, so they buy them at the grocery store. In the grocery store they might pay $1.50 for a pint of milk, $1.50 for a dozen eggs and maybe $6-7 for a good amount of meat, a couple bucks for a thing of soda, $3.50 for a block of cheese. These prices to me are pretty normal, but now we get to the tricky part.
I think the grocery store prices are normal and the markets are cheap but... I come from a country where the poverty income line is $10,800, and a college educated person can generally find a job with a starting salary of $25,000 and above. To give you a little perspective, this means that if I had a job that paid $25,000 annually, I would have about $2,000 a month. And a single person just at the poverty line makes about $900 a month. Considering these facts, and the fact that Ecuador is generally "poorer" than the US, I would guess that average Ecuadorian has an average monthly salary around our poverty level. You will be surprised to know that the average salary is not even close. On average here an educated person working 8 hours a day 5 or 6 days a week makes $500 dollars a month, and that's a good salary. A woman who is a maid/cook for a family (which almost all families who can afford it have, including mine) makes $300 a month, and that is considered sufficient.
This is shocking considering the prices of things here. The supermarket prices are almost the same as in the States, apartments cost at the cheapest $150-200 a month and one you'd actually want to live in costs about $500 a month, clothes are much more expensive because they're all imported, cars as well. It just doesn't add up. There is no way that you could even live on this salary. I don't know if minimum wage exists here, but if it does it is very poorly calculated.
Since the salaries are so low the people generally have a couple jobs. This confused me very much when I got here and a person would tell me that he was a professor, but also worked for the water company, or that a person was an editor at a magazine and also worked freelance as well as being a professor, or that a person worked in the bank during the week and had another job in the evenings and weekends. In the US this is not at all uncommon for younger people to have multiple jobs before they are stable in one job, and it is also common for people without a college education because it is a necessity. The confusing part wasn't the issue of multiple jobs, but more the fact that these are well-educated people. All of the people I'm referring to here have college degrees and many of them have master's degrees from here or have studied abroad for their master's. The idea that an educated person has to work this much for so little pay is hard for me to wrap my head around. I can only imagine how difficult it is for the less-educated and privileged to live here.
This is shocking considering the prices of things here. The supermarket prices are almost the same as in the States, apartments cost at the cheapest $150-200 a month and one you'd actually want to live in costs about $500 a month, clothes are much more expensive because they're all imported, cars as well. It just doesn't add up. There is no way that you could even live on this salary. I don't know if minimum wage exists here, but if it does it is very poorly calculated.
Since the salaries are so low the people generally have a couple jobs. This confused me very much when I got here and a person would tell me that he was a professor, but also worked for the water company, or that a person was an editor at a magazine and also worked freelance as well as being a professor, or that a person worked in the bank during the week and had another job in the evenings and weekends. In the US this is not at all uncommon for younger people to have multiple jobs before they are stable in one job, and it is also common for people without a college education because it is a necessity. The confusing part wasn't the issue of multiple jobs, but more the fact that these are well-educated people. All of the people I'm referring to here have college degrees and many of them have master's degrees from here or have studied abroad for their master's. The idea that an educated person has to work this much for so little pay is hard for me to wrap my head around. I can only imagine how difficult it is for the less-educated and privileged to live here.
3/21/2010
Las fotos! Nos olvidamos, otra vez!!
I'm not a big picture taker to start with, and in addition my camera has sand in it from the beach and now doesn't work. So that leads us to the point we're at now, where I have very few photos of this beautiful country and my new friends and family. Luckily Hernán, my host brother, is forcing me to take pictures and even bringing the camera along for me since I always forget it. (Sometimes semi-intentionally because I prefer to fully take in my surroundings instead of viewing them through a 1/4 inch viewfinder. I wouldn't make a very good photographer, good thing I studied International Affairs these are much better observed with a wider lens anyway.)
Anyway... here are some photos of the amazing views from a couple of our car trips, a few pictures of the people here and our trans-national St. Patty's Day celebration. There's even a couple photos with me actually in them, because I didn't have any before and they told me a better take some or no one would believe I was actually here :)
Oh, and don't worry about the camera. I have a camera care plan and it will be as good as new as soon as it can make it's way to Best Buy, which is anytime after April 24.
Note: On St. Patty's Day in the States we drink Irish Car Bombs, which are Guinness with Bailey's and here the best we could find was a dark German brew and a Bailey's knockoff, not at all Irish, but it worked.
3/17/2010
The US vs. Ecuador
So everyone here wants to visit the US. Many want to live there. And, in fact, many do live there. New York City has the 3rd largest Ecuadorian population in the world. There's Quito, Guayaquil and then New York City ranking highest in Ecuadorian citizens. Here they refer to it as a country within a city, a miniature Ecuador moved about 4,000 miles to the north and lacking beaches, bananas and all kinds of other cool stuff. There's so many Ecuadorians there you could move there and not have to interact with anyone except people of your own nationality. Whenever someone asks me about where I live they always ask if it's close to NYC. "No, it's almost on the other coast," I tell them, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't mean anything. It's completely fair that they are not familiar with the US in the same way that I am not extremely well versed on their country. What interests me the most is the fact that there is an entire country that has an image of my country consisting of only one city. It reminds me of how important it is, for those who have the means and the ability, to learn about the world, to become cultured and not to depend on what they think they know about other places. Even more important is that people are educated and that a government works to improve the lives and minds of the citizens.
I've noticed since I've been here that I know more about basic science, weather, biology and physical health than the average bear. It is true that I am college educated, but on the same hand, so are many of my friends here and I seem to know things that they think are fascinating, and I think are normal because I learned them in grade school. One thing that I think is particularly interesting is that first day of spring is approaching (this Saturday), which I learned long ago is the day that the sun is directly on the equator, 12 hours of daylight and of night...so on and so forth. So yesterday, where we are, was the day in which the sun was directly above our latitude on it's approach to the equator. "The day without shadows" is what they called it here. Pretty cool that the sun was right above us, although in all honesty I forgot to look for the shadows. Anyway, the point is my family told me this day was yesterday and that the scientist thought it was supposed to be the 13th or the 15th but they we're mistaken and it was actually the 16th. 'Mistaken?' I was thinking... I mean, it possible that they were mistaken, but these things are pretty dependable. My entire life we have known which day is the first day of spring, that things change and there is leap year, how the length of days works... I was under the impression that these things are pretty much figured out. We were talking about this whole "phenomenon" of the sun being right above us and I was telling them about how this has significance where I'm from too and I was about to explain when they were like, "You mean the sun is right over your city too? On the same day?" Oye! No, that doesn't even make any sense. I continued explaining, but the lack of this scientific concept really surprised me. The thing is not that the scientists were mistaken, it's that these things are not well understood here, and I'm guess from this that they are not taught these things in school. To me this is kind of crazy. I learned in 6th or 7th grade how these things work and these people are still confused. Please note that I am not at all saying that they are ignorant or uneducated. What I am saying, is that the education system is completely different and things like this really make me appreciate the fact that I was educated in the United States where, for all the criticism and its problems, the education system is, in my opinion, really good. There have been all kinds of other things that have made me think, "Really? Didn't your learn that in school?" I can't remember them now, but it is really interesting.
Being from the United States and having been to college, having been exposed to many ideas, having spend a good amount of time around young liberal people I will honestly say that I have criticized many things about my own country. The goal of our criticisms as young people is to breakdown what we see and seek solutions that we can put in place when we're in charge. All we really want is a better ways to do things, but what is hard to realize when you are within a society your whole life is how good you really do have it and how well things really do function. Stepping out of that for a few months, having my college education under my belt, a desire to find out more about the world, and enough understanding to absorb and analyze what I see, has, up till now, served me very well.
3/16/2010
I have every intention of updating this more often and lots of things to tell, but somehow the Ecuadorian pace of life is getting to me. ¨Mañana..." we say, everything can wait until tomorrow. And that's the way it really works here. Everyone says that, and everyone waits. They even have a single word for the English phrase "you're taking forever..." or they add no and it means "it won't take very long". It's ironic and very telling, I think, that they have a single word to describe "taking FOREVER...". It must be because it's a word that serves an important purpose.
It makes a lot of sense because everything is slow. Service at restaurants, for example. They don't depend on tips here, and in fact no one really tips, so there's no reason to hurry up for your customers. They are late for everything, parties, any type of social event, dinners. The other week we went to a birthday/graduation party and the time was set for 1pm to 3pm. It was a semi-formal event with a sit down lunch and so I assumed everyone would be on time because of the nature of the party. Boy was I wrong. The guests trickled in from about 1:30 until the last ones arrived at 2:45 with no excuse as to why they were so late, and we ate a little after 3. It's very strange to me that being two hours late for a party is completely acceptable, especially when everyone is waiting to eat. The same thing happened when I was supposed to do something with my friend the other day and she told me she'd come by at 6:30. I was all ready to go.... and at 8pm there she was. Then we picked up another friend, went back to my house, had a snack, talked a bit and about 9 we went to do what we were going to do at 6:30. I'm more or less getting used to it, I don't think I'll every really be used to it, but now I just assume all our plans will take place an hour after the time they told me we were going to do something.
The fact that there really is no schedule makes life a little easier, I suppose, but it also explains why the government and banks and everything else don't seem to work quite as they should. Also... my host family told me if I think life here moves at a slow pace I should have seen it fifteen years ago. Interesting...
It makes a lot of sense because everything is slow. Service at restaurants, for example. They don't depend on tips here, and in fact no one really tips, so there's no reason to hurry up for your customers. They are late for everything, parties, any type of social event, dinners. The other week we went to a birthday/graduation party and the time was set for 1pm to 3pm. It was a semi-formal event with a sit down lunch and so I assumed everyone would be on time because of the nature of the party. Boy was I wrong. The guests trickled in from about 1:30 until the last ones arrived at 2:45 with no excuse as to why they were so late, and we ate a little after 3. It's very strange to me that being two hours late for a party is completely acceptable, especially when everyone is waiting to eat. The same thing happened when I was supposed to do something with my friend the other day and she told me she'd come by at 6:30. I was all ready to go.... and at 8pm there she was. Then we picked up another friend, went back to my house, had a snack, talked a bit and about 9 we went to do what we were going to do at 6:30. I'm more or less getting used to it, I don't think I'll every really be used to it, but now I just assume all our plans will take place an hour after the time they told me we were going to do something.
The fact that there really is no schedule makes life a little easier, I suppose, but it also explains why the government and banks and everything else don't seem to work quite as they should. Also... my host family told me if I think life here moves at a slow pace I should have seen it fifteen years ago. Interesting...
3/10/2010
"What does your house look like?"
I already knew when I got here that the mail system was not nearly as time-effective as that of the United States, and my dad's letter proved it when it arrived about 14 days after he sent it. This wasn't really of concern to me, as I didn't have urgent business or anything, but I thought I'd inquire about how it works just so I'd know.
They don't have house numbers nor do they have zip codes. "How does it function?" you ask... Well, if the bank, for example, wants to deliver something to you (your bank statement, maybe...) they call you on the phone, tell you they have something for you, and ask what your address is. Sounds simple enough, but most people don't have house numbers anywhere on the house and lots of them don't even know their house number, so they also ask what your house looks like so they will be able to find it. I though this was hilarious when I heard it. To get something delivered you have to describe the color, size, how many floors, that there are usually 2 cars, etc. Apparently it usually takes about two or three times of the bank calling to get the stuff to you, about two weeks. If you had a bill I would just hope they'd start the delivery process two weeks before it was due!
They don't have house numbers nor do they have zip codes. "How does it function?" you ask... Well, if the bank, for example, wants to deliver something to you (your bank statement, maybe...) they call you on the phone, tell you they have something for you, and ask what your address is. Sounds simple enough, but most people don't have house numbers anywhere on the house and lots of them don't even know their house number, so they also ask what your house looks like so they will be able to find it. I though this was hilarious when I heard it. To get something delivered you have to describe the color, size, how many floors, that there are usually 2 cars, etc. Apparently it usually takes about two or three times of the bank calling to get the stuff to you, about two weeks. If you had a bill I would just hope they'd start the delivery process two weeks before it was due!
2/26/2010
One month down...
So I've been here a month and things continue to be well. I'm finally feeling really comfortable with speaking Spanish, which is a relief because for a while I was having to think REALLY hard in order to talk and my brain would get tired really fast. Luckily most of the young people I hang out with speak English, some of them really well, so if I ever don't understand or don't get a joke they translate for me. They're all really nice and they call me ¨gringita¨which means little white girl, but apparently it's an affectionate term, so I'll roll with it :)
Everyday I encounter something new and interesting. Like the other day when I was with my host brother and our friend Lorena and we went to go look at cell phones. Ok, so they tell me we're going to a store to look at phones, cool. So we go and he goes into the store talks with the guys and then comes back and tells us to wait. About two minutes later a guy gets in the car with a few Blackberrys and we start driving somewhere to meet someone with more phones. Ok... it was kinda weird that instead of going to see the phones the phones come to you, but whatever. We drive to the next neighborhood and park on the street, a couple guys get in, we talk, we drive to an apartment building, we park, and they run up to get something. They come back with two briefcase type bags full of Blackberrys and computers and they each have at least two Blackberrys in their pockets. They unload all of it and there we are 5 people parked on the street in a car full of potentially stolen electronics. I thought it was weird. Something about it seemed a little fishy and slightly illegal. Especially seeing as some of the phones had people's personal pictures in them. No big deal, they told me later, it doesn't really matter where they came from. Ok, sure, I guess. That's just the way you buy a new phone here. It's informal commerce that I understand, it serves the vendors well. That it potentially involves a touch of illegality is probably not very cool, but that's just my American point of view I suppose.
In case you we're wondering both my friends bought new phones and they work just great. They just had to get them unblocked from security codes. But it's totally fine, they know guys who know how to do that too.
It's interesting here also that they sell lots of American clothes in little shops on the street. There's all kinds of American brands in little shops run by whoever, at to me it's really weird because they are selling stuff that in the States you can only buy at the particular store. For example in the mall and on the street they have stores that sell American Eagle, Gap and Hollister clothes. At first I really didn't get it because you have to go to that brand store to buy their stuff in the States. On top of that how could they possibly be certified vendors of these brands, and if they were why didn't the company just open a store here instead of giving the merchandise to individual vendors. Well, turns out there is no certifying of vendors or anything of that nature. Instead people go to the US with empty suitcases, buy clothes or whatever else and bring it back here and sell it. To us it's odd and I had a hard time understanding why it worked this way, but then they told me about the taxes on imports.
In Ecuador the tax on any import is 20%. So everything that I'm familiar with, food brands, car brands, home goods, cost 20% more. A Ford Explorer in the States might retail for $24,000 and here it's almost $30,000 with about $5,000 just going to taxes. 20% sounds outragous to me and here the people think so too, especially when it's not entirely clear where that fifth of the price is going once it makes it to goverment hands. Has the economy, infasturcture, education system or poverty level improved since the tax was put in place? From what I've heard, no, not much. Although in the government's defense the highways have been steadily and drastically improving.
The other thing about imports being so expensive is that what is produced here is really cheap, at least to me. So in general people don't buy imported goods that much unless they are rich, or so I thought. The reality is, though, that the people go to the US and privately bring items back to sell in informal commerce. There are also lots of people who have container businesses and they bring in cars, furniture, all kinds of stuff and somehow skirt taxes. That's how the clothes work, and the phones and the BMWs.
If you really think about it, its a really good business for those who "import" outside of the goverment. If the people are used to paying 20% more than the market price and they only have to pay 10 they think it's a bargain and the seller gains 10% on the investment. Legality doesn't seem to be a concern in this business, so I guess I won't concern myself with it, but it seems like a better system could exist. But I suppose that's true everywhere.
Oh also, a couple weeks ago a blacklist came out from a financial foundation that included Ecuador as one of the most dangerous places to keep your money for lack of security, stability and the prevelence of money laundering. The goverment refuted this assignation, but there's obviously something behind it and I'm just glad I don't have my money in an Ecuadorian bank.
Everyday I encounter something new and interesting. Like the other day when I was with my host brother and our friend Lorena and we went to go look at cell phones. Ok, so they tell me we're going to a store to look at phones, cool. So we go and he goes into the store talks with the guys and then comes back and tells us to wait. About two minutes later a guy gets in the car with a few Blackberrys and we start driving somewhere to meet someone with more phones. Ok... it was kinda weird that instead of going to see the phones the phones come to you, but whatever. We drive to the next neighborhood and park on the street, a couple guys get in, we talk, we drive to an apartment building, we park, and they run up to get something. They come back with two briefcase type bags full of Blackberrys and computers and they each have at least two Blackberrys in their pockets. They unload all of it and there we are 5 people parked on the street in a car full of potentially stolen electronics. I thought it was weird. Something about it seemed a little fishy and slightly illegal. Especially seeing as some of the phones had people's personal pictures in them. No big deal, they told me later, it doesn't really matter where they came from. Ok, sure, I guess. That's just the way you buy a new phone here. It's informal commerce that I understand, it serves the vendors well. That it potentially involves a touch of illegality is probably not very cool, but that's just my American point of view I suppose.
In case you we're wondering both my friends bought new phones and they work just great. They just had to get them unblocked from security codes. But it's totally fine, they know guys who know how to do that too.
It's interesting here also that they sell lots of American clothes in little shops on the street. There's all kinds of American brands in little shops run by whoever, at to me it's really weird because they are selling stuff that in the States you can only buy at the particular store. For example in the mall and on the street they have stores that sell American Eagle, Gap and Hollister clothes. At first I really didn't get it because you have to go to that brand store to buy their stuff in the States. On top of that how could they possibly be certified vendors of these brands, and if they were why didn't the company just open a store here instead of giving the merchandise to individual vendors. Well, turns out there is no certifying of vendors or anything of that nature. Instead people go to the US with empty suitcases, buy clothes or whatever else and bring it back here and sell it. To us it's odd and I had a hard time understanding why it worked this way, but then they told me about the taxes on imports.
In Ecuador the tax on any import is 20%. So everything that I'm familiar with, food brands, car brands, home goods, cost 20% more. A Ford Explorer in the States might retail for $24,000 and here it's almost $30,000 with about $5,000 just going to taxes. 20% sounds outragous to me and here the people think so too, especially when it's not entirely clear where that fifth of the price is going once it makes it to goverment hands. Has the economy, infasturcture, education system or poverty level improved since the tax was put in place? From what I've heard, no, not much. Although in the government's defense the highways have been steadily and drastically improving.
The other thing about imports being so expensive is that what is produced here is really cheap, at least to me. So in general people don't buy imported goods that much unless they are rich, or so I thought. The reality is, though, that the people go to the US and privately bring items back to sell in informal commerce. There are also lots of people who have container businesses and they bring in cars, furniture, all kinds of stuff and somehow skirt taxes. That's how the clothes work, and the phones and the BMWs.
If you really think about it, its a really good business for those who "import" outside of the goverment. If the people are used to paying 20% more than the market price and they only have to pay 10 they think it's a bargain and the seller gains 10% on the investment. Legality doesn't seem to be a concern in this business, so I guess I won't concern myself with it, but it seems like a better system could exist. But I suppose that's true everywhere.
Oh also, a couple weeks ago a blacklist came out from a financial foundation that included Ecuador as one of the most dangerous places to keep your money for lack of security, stability and the prevelence of money laundering. The goverment refuted this assignation, but there's obviously something behind it and I'm just glad I don't have my money in an Ecuadorian bank.
2/19/2010
Carnaval
So, we made it back safe and sound from our trip to the beach for carnaval, and I have not one complaint about sitting on the beach for 4 days and dancing all night. The van ride, on the other hand, is a different story. The van itself was really more comical than anything with 10 people, all their luggage and some DJing stuff in one minivan; but the driving was crazy and I was thinking most of the time that the beach would be really fun as long as we made it in one piece. We were fine, I was probably the only one who was worried because I'm just not used to it. They don't have lane line on the highways, only a median line, and therefore people can make a two lane into a three lane, pass whenever they want, stop at will in either of the lanes and the police are not about to do anything. The weird thing about it is that it functions. I have yet to see an accident here. No fender benders, nothing. I don't know how it works, but it does and it did for us on our whole 6 hour drive to the beach.
The town we went to this weekend was called Montanita and it's known for being a laid back little surf town (think Jack Johonson, board shorts and a beer). It was really cool and relaxed, all the roofs were thatched, the streets weren't paved, everyone was walking around in flip-flops and swim suits. The beach was incredible, soft white sand and really warm water.
In contrast to the beachy feel of the town was the air of carnaval that took it over come nightfall. There was music coming from everywhere, the streets were full of people drinking and dancing and people spraying you with foam all over the place.
We spent the days laying on the beach, eating delicious fresh fruit and seafood and right about midnight we headed out to dance. When we finally made it back around 6 we collapsed in our beds for a few hours until the sun was getting high on the beach again.
We didn't end up taking surf lessons, we're saving that for a trip we have planned to northern Peru. But we might go again to Montanita when there isn't carnaval music pulsing all night, and also get to know the other beaches around here.
Here's a couple pictures of our group and I have some videos and other pics I'll get to soon.
2/09/2010
"Everything seems to turn out a little different here..."
I am certainly not complaining about being here. The pace of life is slow, the city is beautiful and I spend lots of time with my host family always learning something, and usually there is delicious food involved. The only complaint I can think of is the incredibly ironic fact that I am living in one of the biggest coffee producing countries in the world and I have yet to have a decent cup of coffee. I was told by friends who had lived in South America that they drank instant coffee, but I didn't think it was a big deal, forgetting for a moment my love of coffee. So, three weeks into drinking instant coffee I was very interested in finding some espresso, or just good drip coffee. I went downtown with my hostbrother, Hernán, to find a café where I could read a paper and sip some coffee while he was working. He pointed me to the newsstand and the café, and I thought I had just what I needed. I got a paper and proceeded to the café. In keeping with the slow pace of life here, turns out most cafés aren't open at 8:30 a.m., seems strange to me, but there wasn't a ton open anyway. Instead, there was a resturant right above the café that was open. A full-service, white tablecloth, full-bar resturant nonetheless. They said they had coffee, so I took my pick of tables and there I was with a white tablecloth and a full table setting, including wine glasses at 8 a.m. I was the only person in the whole place and the waiter was confused as to why I only came in for coffee, I was confused as to why the resturant was open at all. But he brought me a cup of hot water, some sugar and a thing that looked like balsalmic vinager. I wasn't sure how a cup of coffee translated into vinager and hot water, so I just stared at it for a minute, then I smelled the vinager looking stuff and it turned out to be coffee concentrate of some kind. What it really was, I found out, was really, really strong instant coffee to be poured into hot water. It really didn't taste good at all, but what the heck, it was good enough. I read my paper and drank it, and for the whopping $1 price it was fine.
When I went home and told the American couple about it, we laughed and they said that everything they try to find turns out a little different too.
On Saturday night it was just Caroline, Jason and I at the house, because everyone else had various functions. We decided to watch a movie and have some popcorn. We went to make popcorn, but the stove didn't work. We figured it was just the igniter and that we could light it with a match, because we have to do that sometimes, but that failed. We went to the backyard to check the gas, couldn't figure out what was wrong. So we heated some food up with the microwave. Then we wanted some hot water. That didn't work either. They turn the water heater off a lot, and we don't know how to work it, so we we're out of luck 'til the morning. Then we went to watch a movie. Pirated movies are pretty much all they watch here because they're on every corner, they're pretty good quality and they only cost $1.25. So we found a couple movies, 2 pirated, and one original. We wanted to watch the one that was an original, but, low and behold, neither of the DVD players plays the original, only the pirated ones worked. All in all, we were fine, but we all had a good laugh about how they left the silly Americans at the house and we could not for the life of us figure out how to use anything. We laughed too at the irony of the fact that the DVD player only played pirated movies. Oh man...
A reprive from the lack of familliarity came for us on Sunday when we went to watch the Super Bowl. Jason, Caroline, Hernán and I all went to Sports Planet to enjoy good 'ol American burgers, beer and football. We had a really good time, and Hernán got to learn about fútbol americano.
This coming weekend is carnaval and I'm going to the beach with a big group of Hernán's friends. There are 11 or 12 of us staying together from Saturday to Tuesday. I can't wait! The town is called Montanita, and it's a tiny little surf town where people lay on the beach all day and go out all night. Oh yea, and they surf. I might take a surf lesson, they're only $12. Sounds pretty good to me.
When I went home and told the American couple about it, we laughed and they said that everything they try to find turns out a little different too.
On Saturday night it was just Caroline, Jason and I at the house, because everyone else had various functions. We decided to watch a movie and have some popcorn. We went to make popcorn, but the stove didn't work. We figured it was just the igniter and that we could light it with a match, because we have to do that sometimes, but that failed. We went to the backyard to check the gas, couldn't figure out what was wrong. So we heated some food up with the microwave. Then we wanted some hot water. That didn't work either. They turn the water heater off a lot, and we don't know how to work it, so we we're out of luck 'til the morning. Then we went to watch a movie. Pirated movies are pretty much all they watch here because they're on every corner, they're pretty good quality and they only cost $1.25. So we found a couple movies, 2 pirated, and one original. We wanted to watch the one that was an original, but, low and behold, neither of the DVD players plays the original, only the pirated ones worked. All in all, we were fine, but we all had a good laugh about how they left the silly Americans at the house and we could not for the life of us figure out how to use anything. We laughed too at the irony of the fact that the DVD player only played pirated movies. Oh man...
A reprive from the lack of familliarity came for us on Sunday when we went to watch the Super Bowl. Jason, Caroline, Hernán and I all went to Sports Planet to enjoy good 'ol American burgers, beer and football. We had a really good time, and Hernán got to learn about fútbol americano.
This coming weekend is carnaval and I'm going to the beach with a big group of Hernán's friends. There are 11 or 12 of us staying together from Saturday to Tuesday. I can't wait! The town is called Montanita, and it's a tiny little surf town where people lay on the beach all day and go out all night. Oh yea, and they surf. I might take a surf lesson, they're only $12. Sounds pretty good to me.
2/03/2010
Calle de Las Herrerias
Yay. I finally figured out how to make the blog be in English, which is good so now you all can understand what the little links mean and stuff.
Besides that, I've started going to the foundation where I'm going to be volunteering for the rest of my time here. This week we're learning how to do the art projects we will be teaching the kids, and it's pretty fun. We're working with clay, making animals, jewelry and murals. Next we'll be learning how to make little booties and hats out of wool. I'm working with a girl from Finland who is at the foundation as part of a study abroad program. She's studying art and she's the one who is teaching us how to do stuff. In addition to being a good artist, she is also 100% hippie. She has really long dreads and very eclectic clothes. She's really nice and we get along well, it's just funny because on the surface we're night and day, but it's great be able to get to know someone from another country. There's also another girl who's taking ceramics classes at the same place we're working who's from the Czech Republic. We've had a good couple of days working on our projects and taking breaks to have a cup of coffee or "cafecito".
Here are a couple of pictures I took yesterday on my walk to the foundation. The building we are in is a small museum (there's a lot of them in this town) and is located on the metalworker's street. Right in front of the museum is a big piece of art that is a monument to the metal workers. I took a picture of the street sign too because it's cool. All the street signs in the old part of town are like this. There is also a picture of the bridge right down from our house that crosses the river I run and walk by, and a picture of the cow I saw about 50 yards from the bridge. I think it's hilarious that the cows are grazing by the greenbelt thing.
1/31/2010
4 things
1. 1.Water Balloons- They celebrate carnival here the second week in February and everyone takes a long weekend and goes to the beach or the mountains and there are parades and concerts and stuff. That's cool, but what is not cool is in the weeks, usually the whole month, leading up to carnival people on the streets throw water balloons at you. Kids and teenagers throw water balloons from cars or from apartment windows or wherever on the street all the time. I hadn't seen much of it because I've mostly been in the neighborhood or parts of town where there aren't a lot of kids, but yesterday I went for a run and all the families were out in the parks and I got 3 water balloons thrown at me. It's kinda funny if you're just running because it's no big deal, but I guess they do it in downtown to people walking to work or to lunch. It would be awful to be in work clothes, on the way to a meeting, and get soaked. I need to watch out because it's getting close to carnival and I guess there'll be more water.
2. Cows and Chickens- The division of city and country don't exist in the same sense here. Nor are there neighborhood codes like there are at home. Therefore, there are sheep that wander right by our house and cows and chickens that live right down the hill on the walking path by the river. I think it's really funny when I round the corner and expect to see runners or walkers and instead I see cows. They just hang out on the path or on the grass next to it, grazing. It's not like we're in a rural area. There is not a lot of room for them to graze, but they're there, often with chickens and no one seems to mind. Yesterday while running I encountered way more cows than runners on the path. I'll take a picture one day.
3. Bugs- Oh my gosh. The bugs here are huge! There are regular bugs, but there are also ungodly large bugs. The other night we were in the back yard making french fries in the fireplace and the dog started barking and we went to see what it was and it was a tarantula. Not a little one, but a very large tarantula. They told me it was fine, normal, not to worry and laughed and said it was smaller than the one the week before. Yeah, no big deal just a spider almost the size of my fist. Now I'm afraid to walk in the grass at night and they think it's funny. Also when we were at their friends' house in the mountains we were in the pool at night and bugs kept flying into the water because there was a light under the water and they were attracked to it. At first they were regular flying bugs, some kinda big but not too bad and then there were huge ones falling into the pool. I took a picture of one. The biggest beatles I've ever seen.
3. Cooking- The food here is really delicious. Ofelia, my host mom, is a wonderful cook and everyday we have homemade soups, rice dishes and usually desserts. Yesterday she taught Caroline, the American girl, to make empañadas and is going to teach me soon. She's also going to teach us to make tamales. The tamales are different here than the Mexican ones I'm used to because they use a different type of masa and they wrap it in a huge green leaf instead of a corn husk. Caroline and Jason, the American couple, have been cooking a few things and I have been baking a little. We usually laugh at our food because it tastes virtually the same as we're used to, but it usually looks different. We've been able to find the ingredients we need but they're not quite the same, but we're figuring it out. They loved my chocolate chip cookies, and Stephanie, the college student, got the recipe. It was hard to find chocolate chips in the store, and when I asked for them they took me to the Chips Ahoy. On the right track, but not quite right. It turned out that there were no chocolate chips and I ended up with those round things you melt for fondue, they worked. My cake was so-so, but it tasted good. I'll just have to experiment with the different brands of ingredients and stuff.
Here are some pictures of the house and stuff: 1. The view from the mountain house about an hour from here, 2. The view from my window, 3. The backyard, with an eating area and fireplace, 4. Our delicious dinner of empañadas, 5. Giant Bug
1/29/2010
Way Cool
Today was my first day of doing "things", other than sitting in hammocks and relaxing that is. I was supposed to meet with the director of the charity yesterday, but that got moved to next week, so I had another day of vacation until today when I went with a friend of the family to help her with translations at a magazine. I wasn't planning on doing this, but it's a really cool opportunity. I don't get the impression they have a huge need for translation, but they do need some articles translated. The whole magazine used to be in English and Spanish and now they changed it to just Spanish with a few pieces in both languages. Today I helped them by translating an e-mail and making a phone call to a restaurant in New York. Some of the people speak English, but the phone is really hard, especially if the connection is bad. They were trying to get an interview with Anthony Bourdain from the Travel Channel show No Reservations. I thought it was exciting because I love that show. Anyway, it was fun and you can check out the magazine @ http://www.bgmagazine.com.ec/home.html.
1/28/2010
Hola Amigos!
Hola amigos! I wanted to let you all know that I'm doing just great here and give you a little view of what's going on. I took some video on my iPod so you can see my house and the park where we've been running (I was gonna put it up right now but I can't, I'll keep trying). Unfortunately today in the park I missed the aerobics classes that they have. I wanted to take a video because they're hilarious. The park is great though, and the city in general, save some parts, is really safe and clean. It's really interesting because it looks kind of dirty by our standards, but it's a matter of the buildings being older and of different materials, because if you look at the streets, parks and rivers, they are really clean. It's beautiful here too. The weather is practically perfect all the time, about 65, partially cloudy. It's really green and I have geraniums outside my window in the middle of January. The city is very historic. There are lots of cathedrals and old buildings. I've taken a tour and my family has taken me around a lot, so I'm getting to know it but there's still tons to see. I can't wait to visit some of the museums, in particular that has Incan ruins right behind it.
The family I'm staying with is wonderful. They have made me feel right at home and we get along really well. The house is full right now because they normally host students and right now they have me, a girl who's in college here, an American couple who's studying Spanish, the two kids and the parents. There's 8 of us total! It's great though, because there's always people around, we all eat together and talk. It's nice for me to have the American couple here because sometimes I need a break from speaking Spanish and English is sooo much easier. My Spanish is fine and getting better by the day but sometimes my brain gets tired.
Today I'm going to a meeting at the charity where I'm going to be volunteering three days a week. It's a place for disadvantaged students to come afterschool and learn, do crafts, play and essentially just have a safe place to be. In addition to that I'm going to have Spanish lessons and help with some translations at a magazine. I'm starting all that in the next couple days, should be good.
Up till now I've basically been on vacation. Can't complain about that at all. Last week I went out with Hernán, who is my "exchange brother", and his friends and then on the weekend all of us went to a family friend's country house. It was up in the mountains (which actually turned out to be down in elevation from here, but nevertheless in the mountains) and it was beautiful. We spent Saturday and Sunday lounging by the pool. They said they go up there often, so I'm looking forward to doing it again.
I'll keep you updated and put up some more photos soon!
The family I'm staying with is wonderful. They have made me feel right at home and we get along really well. The house is full right now because they normally host students and right now they have me, a girl who's in college here, an American couple who's studying Spanish, the two kids and the parents. There's 8 of us total! It's great though, because there's always people around, we all eat together and talk. It's nice for me to have the American couple here because sometimes I need a break from speaking Spanish and English is sooo much easier. My Spanish is fine and getting better by the day but sometimes my brain gets tired.
Today I'm going to a meeting at the charity where I'm going to be volunteering three days a week. It's a place for disadvantaged students to come afterschool and learn, do crafts, play and essentially just have a safe place to be. In addition to that I'm going to have Spanish lessons and help with some translations at a magazine. I'm starting all that in the next couple days, should be good.
Up till now I've basically been on vacation. Can't complain about that at all. Last week I went out with Hernán, who is my "exchange brother", and his friends and then on the weekend all of us went to a family friend's country house. It was up in the mountains (which actually turned out to be down in elevation from here, but nevertheless in the mountains) and it was beautiful. We spent Saturday and Sunday lounging by the pool. They said they go up there often, so I'm looking forward to doing it again.
I'll keep you updated and put up some more photos soon!
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