Because of the extraordinary amounts of testing we have at the high school I haven't been teaching for over two weeks. It's not for a lack to trying to do my job, but for technical difficulties. I went to school everyday, but I just ended up talking with teachers about plans and activities we're going to start...after exams. So, I've been hanging out at home cooking, reading and drinking excessive amounts of coffee. The results have been some delicious biscuits, a new garbanzo bean curry recipe and a few dog-eared paperbacks. I can't say I mind just takin' it easy, but after a while I began to wonder when we were going to get back to having English class. Turns out the answer is today. You'd think I'd dread going back to work, but I'm actually really glad to be doing something productive after so many days of just hangin'.
Part of the reason I have so much down time is just the nature of being a Peace Corps volunteer. Things move slow. I have to get people organized, and once I do we have to schedule our work around other things that are going on. In the school that's testing, teacher trainings, staff meetings, holidays, science fairs, assemblies and the like. In the community there are the challenges of holidays, work schedules, meeting space avaliability and more. When it all comes together just right so a project or class can work, it's wonderful; it just usually takes a lot of time to get there.
But, starting to day it seem we are back at it. I went this morning to settle all the details for my next session of adult classes, I'm actually teaching some lessons at the school, and we have the next trimester schedule set. In addition I'm working on a committee for the regional English Day event and I'm working with a teacher in my school on what is my biggest project yet. It is a community service/cultural exchange project where the students will work all year on community service projects and next July will go to Boise to share their experience with an organization there and do homestays with American high school students. That's definitely the project I'm currently most excited about.
Glad to be back to work and I'll keep you updated about whether my students and I will make it stateside next year!
8/30/2011
8/23/2011
I like to move it, move it
It has been a while since I wrote on my blog and all kinds of things have happened lately, so if nothing else I have lots to tell! The quick rundown is that I went out of town, moved, went out of town again, started to get settled and now... I’m moving again.
What happened first is that I moved out of my host family and into an apartment. It’s an okay, but not great, place, and I was short on time for moving in so I decided to go ahead and move in. Here rent is generally month-to-month, so I was only committed to a month. I had decided that I’d keep my eyes open for other places, and it just so happens I went out for a run on Saturday and saw a sign announcing an apartment for rent. I called the number and by evening I was all set to move in on September 1st. It’s a much nicer place than where I am now for the same price. It was really too good to turn down. It’s also going to be much quieter than where I am now, as it’s an apartment completely separate from a house and here I share a wall with the landlords. Having walls that don’t go all the way up may be Costa Rican normal, but getting used to it is tough…thank goodness I don’t have to.
That’s the big thing that’s been going on here. Besides that, like I said, I was out of town; the first time in Turrialba with my host brothers for a fifteenth birthday party, or what they call a Quinceañera. In many Latin American countries, including Costa Rica, quinceañeras are a really big deal. It’s similar to an American Sweet 16. If you think some Americans go all out for their daughters’ Sweet 16s you should see how Latin Americans do quinceañeras. This event included a mass, a catered dinner and reception for about a hundred and fifty people. It was basically like a wedding, and I’m sure it cost about as much. In wedding fashion, the girl had 15 bridesmaids/groomsmen type young people in matching dresses and shirts made special for the occasion. That’s right, 15 pairs of teenagers accompanying her in the mass and into the reception! She wore a long prom type gown and was presented in front of mass and again honored at the reception. It was a very interesting cultural experience, I’ve heard about the big quinceañeras, but I had never been to one quite as big. I think one of the most interesting parts of it for me was that she has a twin brother who was also turning fifteen, but there was only one mention of him the whole evening and I couldn’t quite figure out which one he was. Poor guy!
The day after the party my host brother participated in a performance with his traditional dance group. They are a traveling group who perform in our town, surrounding towns and anywhere they are invited, like this quinceañera. They do folklore dances that tell stories about the history of Costa Rica, and they have really cool costumes. Here are some photos of the performance:
The second time I was out of town was for a little beach trip with two fellow volunteers. We spent three days at Manuel Antonio Beach enjoying the sun (kind of) and surf. It actually wasn’t really sunny. In the mornings it was, but each day in the afternoon about 3 it started pouring. We had heard of this thing called the rainy season, but it’s not something we actually know, because where we’re living it’s hardly raining at all. The girls I was with both live in the Upala area close to the Nicaraguan border where it is really hot and dry, and where I live it’s a little cooler, but not much, so we were kind of surprised to see that the tales we hear about daily downpours in rainy season are actually true. It was no matter though, we just got up and to the beach early, enjoyed the sun that there was and headed in about 3:30 to relax, read and rest up. Our few days there were really nice and I followed them with a visit with my training host family.
The couple I stayed with during training is Daysi and Gabelo. They are really wonderful older people and they were really happy that I came back to visit. Though, they did let me know it had been 8 months since I had been there and encouraged me to visit again, but a little sooner this time. It was wonderful to see them, and I didn’t realize before I went but I happened to be visiting on Mother’s Day weekend. In Costa Rica Mother’s Day is a national holiday celebrated every year on August 15th. This year it fell on Monday, but it seemed that people spent the entire weekend celebrating. It delighted Daysi that I came that weekend, and I’m just lucky it fell that way. I was at their house Saturday and Sunday, and did nothing but eat the whole time. After going back to visit I can see that it’s no wonder I gained wait during those first three months, the way Daysi cooks. She made me a snack when I got there at 3, a half a chicken for dinner at 6, then Sunday I had breakfast at 8 and again at 10, lunch at 12 and coffee and a snack at 2:30. Eating every 2 hours seems reasonable, right? All the food was delicious, and for Sunday lunch the whole family was there to celebrate Mother’s Day. It was really nice weekend, and I’m going to try to make it to visit them again soon. I’ll just make sure not to eat much before I go!
In closing, here’s one more picture of my friends Hannah and Julia walking across the Nicaraguan border on our trip in July. We had to get off the bus on the Costa Rican side and catch another on the Nicaraguan side, something I wouldn’t recommend unless you speak good Spanish or at least know how to say: “What am I paying for? Are you ripping my off because I’m a gringo?!”, with some attitude.8/05/2011
Just another Saturday...
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| Pozo Azul Waterfall in La Virgin de Sarapiqui |
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| My friends, and fellow volunteers, Rebecca (Left) and Sarah |
Also, some of my friends jump off the waterfall, but I'm not that brave. Yet. I tell myself I'm gonna do it before I leave...maybe I just need a pep talk from my dare-devil of a brother.
8/03/2011
What a Great Day!
Yesterday was just a great day all around. In terms of accomplishing "work" tasks, it was entirely a wash, but... that's not to say other good things didn't come of the day.
Yesterday was a holiday from school because it was the Day of the Virgin of Los Angeles, who is the patron virgin of Costa Rica. This day is not only a national holiday, but it's also the day that thousands of Costa Rican people participate in a pilgrimage. People walk from their towns all over the country to the cathedral in Cartago to visit the virgin. People started gearing up for the event last week, preparing packs and walking shoes and some setting out over a week in advance to arrive on Aug. 2 in Cartago. This year, I didn't participate in the pilgrimage, but I'm thinking about it for next year. It's a really interesting cultural tradition.
Instead of walking various days to visit a cathedral, I stayed home, slept in, baked cookies and found a new apartment. Yep, that's right, I'm moving! I've been talking about moving with my host mom, and we've both been talking to people to see what's available in town. Yesterday I looked at two places and one of them is gonna work out just perfect. It's a little one bedroom apartment, and there isn't much to it, but nonetheless, I'll have my own space. As much as I love my host family, they are wonderful, I'm excited to have a place of my own.
So that's the big news. Apart from that my trip to the grocery store yesterday was also great because I found out they now sell Pepperidge Farm cookies. Milanos... mmm. Great new item, even if I'm likely the only one who will buy them. I was also able to buy semi-sweet chocolate chips; a rarity around here, sometimes there are no chocolate chips at all. And finally, I found everything I needed to make homemade Girl Scout cookies. How is that not a great thing?
I found a recipe for homemade Tagalongs, which are the chocolate ones filled with peanut butter. I tried to explain to people here about the Girl Scouts and how we buy boxes and boxes of cookies, but I don't think they understood. They have Girl Scouts here, but they don't sell cookies. The cookies were pretty close to the original and they turned out delicious, if I do say so myself. The recipe for the cookies is in the recipes section of the blog if you want to give it a try.
Yesterday was a holiday from school because it was the Day of the Virgin of Los Angeles, who is the patron virgin of Costa Rica. This day is not only a national holiday, but it's also the day that thousands of Costa Rican people participate in a pilgrimage. People walk from their towns all over the country to the cathedral in Cartago to visit the virgin. People started gearing up for the event last week, preparing packs and walking shoes and some setting out over a week in advance to arrive on Aug. 2 in Cartago. This year, I didn't participate in the pilgrimage, but I'm thinking about it for next year. It's a really interesting cultural tradition.
Instead of walking various days to visit a cathedral, I stayed home, slept in, baked cookies and found a new apartment. Yep, that's right, I'm moving! I've been talking about moving with my host mom, and we've both been talking to people to see what's available in town. Yesterday I looked at two places and one of them is gonna work out just perfect. It's a little one bedroom apartment, and there isn't much to it, but nonetheless, I'll have my own space. As much as I love my host family, they are wonderful, I'm excited to have a place of my own.
So that's the big news. Apart from that my trip to the grocery store yesterday was also great because I found out they now sell Pepperidge Farm cookies. Milanos... mmm. Great new item, even if I'm likely the only one who will buy them. I was also able to buy semi-sweet chocolate chips; a rarity around here, sometimes there are no chocolate chips at all. And finally, I found everything I needed to make homemade Girl Scout cookies. How is that not a great thing?
I found a recipe for homemade Tagalongs, which are the chocolate ones filled with peanut butter. I tried to explain to people here about the Girl Scouts and how we buy boxes and boxes of cookies, but I don't think they understood. They have Girl Scouts here, but they don't sell cookies. The cookies were pretty close to the original and they turned out delicious, if I do say so myself. The recipe for the cookies is in the recipes section of the blog if you want to give it a try.
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