So, with a moo-moo here and a ruff-ruff there, here a oink there cluck everywhere a neigh-neigh, my town puts Old McDonald’s farm to shame. I must point out however, that my community has about 2,000 people in it, and is in Costa Rica, so try not to imagine the Kent Family Farm in Kansas or anything. Our neighbors are visible, and I’m surrounded by tons of green plants. Most of them happen to be mango trees (as I live across the street from a mango farm), but they are still beautiful. The houses in our town are basically made of wood, cement, and a tin roof. The walls don’t reach the ceilings/roofs, so you can pretty much hear everything going on in every part of the house. Also, my site is unbelievably hot. You would think that taking refuge in the house would be a good idea, but you would be wrong. Because of the tin roofs and the lack of insulation, all the heat gets trapped in the house and it turns into a human oven. Luckily my house has a shaded porch, which has become my favorite place in my town so far. I basically sit in a rocking chair and stare out into the mango farm and contemplate life while trying to stay cool. Staying cool means that I sit in the shade and try not to move while my sweat evaporates off of my body. That’s about it. Also, drinking lots of water is key. Also, everyone takes two showers a day – yes, they are cold, but they are so delicious. The cold showers are the highlight of my days there. You know how in Lost, all the characters look sweaty and gross all of the time? I always thought that they did that to emphasize that they were in a tropic area and to make it look more dramatic. Well, that is exactly what people look like in a tropic area. It is hot and it is basically impossible to look your best when you are sweaty and gross.
My community is not the richest of places. Everyone works either in the farms or in tourism since I’m fairly close to the beach. Supposedly we’re about an hour away by bus. Anyway, there are a lot of social problems that PC wants me to work on in the community. This includes child abuse/corporal punishment, child exploitation, drug prevention, and sex ed. I can also work in recreational projects and self-esteem projects. The community only has two elementary schools, one of which only has one teacher to teach all the grades. The principle at the other elementary school is giving me an office so I can have space to work. If I did want to work in the high school, I would have to go into the bigger town because there isn’t a high school in my community.
The people of my community are super nice. Everyone seems really interested in me and the work that I am going to do there. They are also very confused as to why I would want to spend the next two years of my life there. It’s kind of interesting. I was kind of frustrated when I got into my community at first because I was sick and had lost my voice the day before. I spent the next 3 days without a voice trying to communicate who I am and what I am doing in their town. They also asked all these questions that I could only croak answers to. I felt like the Little Mermaid trying to charm people to take me into their world in 3 days without a voice. She had the advantage of friends helping her out, but I guess I had the advantage of not being totally mute. Basically, my fall back plan was to flash that Suba smile and look amiable. Oh also, I ate all the food that was offered to me. That was the winner. You know how they say that the way into a man’s heart is through his stomach? Well here in Costa Rica, the way into the people’s hearts is to eat all the food. They are fascinated with what I like to eat and that I think all of it is yummy. They are also think it’s strange that I don’t like raw tomatoes.
The family that I will be living with is really nice. There’s a mom and a 7-year-old son who live in my house. She is separated from her husband who lives with their other son. My new host-mom has two daughters, Adriana (22 years old) and Laura (20 years old). They both are married with children. Adriana currently lives next door and Laura is building a house on the other side. So, both my host-sisters will be living next door to me. I have a little host-abuela who is so cute. She looks and talks exactly like the grandma in Mulan. I just want to hug her every time I see her. Also, I have many host-aunts and host-cousins. I don’t know all of their names yet, but I really like everyone I’ve met so far. Hopefully that means that I will get along well in the community.
So, I have since returned to the land of San Jose and the drama continues as usual. The tensions in the house that I’m currently living have been pretty thick and more conflicts came up. However, we are finishing up training and time is going by quickly. I am about to swear-in on the 13th, which is a huge deal. It’s basically like graduation for us and we officially become real volunteers instead of just trainees. I think it’s ridiculous that we have to wait for swearing in before being considered trainees, but for some reason it does feel gratifying to know we made it. We’re really here. If anyone wants to watch it, it will be streamed live starting at 8 am Pacific, but I think they will have it up for a while if you can’t watch it live, however I’m not positive on that. Here's the link:
This weekend we will have a family party for all of our host families here. I’m sure I will write about it in the next blog. Hope all is well where you’re at! Pura vida!
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