So, since it's summer vacation here we have a lot of time on our hands. We spend a lot of the time drinking coffee, watching cartoons and playing with our puppy. When it actually gets sunny we get to go outside, play in the yard, go on walks and do my little sister's favorite thing: fishing. You must understand that our "fishing" is actually catching minnows in old margarine containers, but it's still pretty fun. It's usually my little sister and I,

sometimes we bring our cousin José, and one time we even brought one of our dogs. (That sounded like a good idea 'til I was the only one willing to wash it after it got super muddy. Ha.) The place where we "fish" is about a 10 min. walk from our house toward another little town called Marsella. To get there you cross a hanging bridge, cows, horses, chickens and a giant turkey. It's really pretty over there so I took some pictures on our last adventure so you could see.

Here's a couple pictures of my house and the little area around it. We have a little soccer field, and some lovely palm trees lining our driveway. On a clear day you can see above the palm trees up to the mountains...it's really pretty on those days, though right now they are few as it's been raining a lot. Every time I think of taking pictures of the town, it's raining. I figured out not to wait to do something if it's raining because it's not going to stop. When I first got here I was going to wait out the rain to go for a run. I waited 5 days. In my defense, pictures are different and really don't turn out very well in the rain. So, just hold on, on a clear day I'll get some more pictures. Also, the other picture is my little sister, Camila, and our dog, Cookie.

I get asked all kinds of questions that strike me as funny or strange, or that I simply don't understand where they come from. So just for the sake of entertainment, and maybe to make you think a little bit, here are my three favorite questions of the week. And, it's only Wednesday so we'll see what the rest of the week brings.

1. Are all the people in the United States obese? My answer: No, though it is a problem. Follow-up question: So, they're not all really fat, but if I go there and look around they will all be kinda like the humans on the movie WALL-E, right?

2. Have you ever driven a Lamborghini? My answer: (Laugh) No. Follow-up question: But there (in the U.S.) they are basically on every corner, right? And if you wanted to you could get one?

3. What do you mean all the young women in the U.S. want to be really skinny? They don't like having a round backside and curves, that's a lot nicer looking don't you think?

While all the questions put at issue parts of American culture that may not be necessarily great, the last one is one that really gets me. I am going to be working here in a high school with groups of young women and it is really important to me that they learn what being beautiful is about. That they learn about being good, honest people who value themselves and others, and in that respect themselves and others including their bodies. I want them to understand that being skinny, or blonde, or having perfect teeth or hair, does not make them beautiful. I feel like being in a Latin American culture that values curves puts me at a little bit of an advantage, but not much because then they feel like they need more curves if they are skinny. It's such a catch-22 for young women, if they are one way they want to be another; It seems inescapable the pressure to look a certain way.

I was gonna let you think about these things on your own, but I just had to throw in my thoughts on that one. Anyway... I'll keep a mental list of these questions and I have a feeling it'll be pretty long by the end of the week.

So, I’ve been here at my site for about 3 weeks and I feel like I’m making some headway with my work, but there is a whole lot of down time seeing as a lot of my work is in the school and we are currently on “summer” vacation. In this case, I imagine your question is, “what have you been doing?” Great question. One I ask myself every day. It’s kinda hard to feel like I’m working with some of the things that I’m doing, but I guess I am. I've been meeting people, getting the lay of the land and explaining who I am and what I'm doing here. In addition to this “work” I do, I’ve also been spending a lot of time with my family, drinking lots of coffee and generally getting comfortable here.

Here are a few things I wanted to share that might give you a little window into life here in Venecia:

1.Hold on to your hat, literally.
I’ve been doing a fair bit of running here, some of it on the main road, which is a “highway” where big trucks, buses, etc. pass. (Even if I decide to run somewhere else I have to run on the highway about 5 min to get to the other areas) Big trucks create a fair bit of wind as they pass and I have learned that it is essential that I hold on to my hat. I tried the looking down strategy so my hat would not blow away, but after a few unsuccessful situations which ended with my hat in the muddy ditch I concluded I must hold onto it, or else. I usually come back from runs a little muddy anyway because it’s been raining a lot and it’s unavoidable but I’m sure my family wonders how exactly that mud manages to make it onto my head…or better yet, how my head would manage to make it down into the mud.
2.Cows.
I think I mentioned when describing the area that I was going to live that there are a lot of cows. This is true and I had heard that sometimes traffic has to stop for them. I didn’t really think this part was true until I was on a bus on New Year’s Eve headed to meet some friends and we came to a screeching halt because of a herd of cows crossing the road. The first of many cow crossings I’m positive.
3.Even the dogs are Pura Vida.
When I was in Ecuador I had a lot of trouble with angry dogs chasing me when I was running. I’ve never been scared of dogs, but there I became really scared of them due to an incident in Ecuador where I came to the dead end of a path along the river and with 5 angry dogs surrounded me. I just stood there because as long as I didn’t move they just barked, but if I were to move they would have bitten me. I was there on the verge of tears ‘til someone on the other side of the river started yelling to startle them and showed me how to move to intimidate them and I managed to scare them off. The point of this story is that now I am quite nervous around street dogs and when they approach me I clap my hands and yell to scare them off. Here there are lots of street dogs, but when I do that to them they just kind of look at me and wag their tails. They seem to be very confused as to why I’m yelling and they just give me puppy dog faces and wait to be petted. When I’m running sometimes they run with me, or they just watch me as I go by. I still stiffen up a little when I’m coming up to one, but I’m almost used to them. I say they are pura vida because that’s how Costa Ricans say “It’s all good” or “Chill” or “Relaxed” or “Really nice” or “Cool”. It has a lot of meanings but in this case it means, “Even the dogs are chill around here”.

I also have to admit that I really am missing skiing. I know that I claim to dislike winter, very strongly I might add. But I have found myself dreaming of snow and wishing I could be skiing. Basically I'm saying that you are all right and I do miss the snow even though I swore up and down I would not. Despite this I will feel better about winter when they figure out a way to separate skiing and snow from feeling unreasonably cold for months at a time.