Lots and lots to Celebrate

The past couple of weeks have been incredibly crazy. Not only have I been transitioning to my new host-family, but the country has also been busy with celebrations for the past couple weeks. Last week was Día del Niño, which I think should be celebrated in the States. It’s basically like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, but Kid’s Day. This week we were busy with el Torche, Faroles and of course, 15 de Setiembre, which is their Independence.

Like I was saying, besides adjusting to my new house, things at the school were kind of crazy. Everybody was busy getting ready for some kind of celebration. It was complete chaos. People were stressed out making decorations, training kids how to march in formation, or trying to figure out who was going to run the torch. I was busy minding my own business, aka spacing out, when all of a sudden a bunch of teachers grabbed me and asked for my help. Of course I want to help, I’ve got nothing else to do. I don’t have any projects running. Why not? They drag me to one of the classrooms and I realize that they want me to dance. OK, let’s clarify things. They didn’t want me to just dance for their own entertainment; they wanted me to participate in a dance with them in a performance for Día del Niño. So, if you know me at all…dancing is kind of horrific. I’m kind of bad at it. Thus, the prospect of having to dance in front of an audience, sober, is slightly terrifying. Then I think, “Well, I’m gonna be asking these kids to put themselves out there and challenge themselves with some of my projects. I need to step it up too.” I learn the moves, which actually were fairly simple and agreed to attend the last minute practice the next morning.

So the next day, I went to the school dressed in a plaid button-up and jeans as everyone working at the school was told to dress up like cowboys. I was ready to practice the dance and perform in front of the kids. However, Rodrigo was taking over for Don Carlos, the principal, for the week while he went off to Peru. Oh yeah, our principal decided to take off during the craziest week of the year. Anyway,Rodrigo needed my help using the computer and figuring out how to get into Don Carlos’ e-mail and such. Well,this caused me to miss the dance practice, which led to me not being able to participate in the performance. Oh, bummer. That probably ended up being for the best as I decided to bust out my SLR camera and take photos throughout the day. I’m much better at that than dancing.

Día del Niño was a lot of fun. There were no official classes and the day consisted of performances and eating. Not only did the teachers do a dance, but also almost every class had some kind of performance. The kids were also allowed a free-dress day and kids who dressed in costumes were entered into a raffle. After the performances,the kids went to the classroom where the cooks catered lunch and later everyone got ice cream cones. Yum. Since the school is divided into an AM class and a PM class, we basically did the whole show in the morning and repeated it in the afternoon.

Some of the kids dressed in costume.

3rd Graders doing a performance.

One of the students during a Michael Jackson dance contest.

The teachers doing their dance.

Monday rolled around and I decided to collaborate with Erlin, the English teacher, and launch an English music project. It basically consists of popular songs in English that we listen to during English class and translate into Spanish. The goal is to get kids to learn English in a medium they enjoy, while also exploring positive messages. I figure it’s an easy project for starters and I don’t have to work too hard in finding a counterpart or a space to work in. Small steps. So, I started out with Katy Perry’s “Firework,” because I’ve heard it on the radio here and thought it would be good to start off with something familiar. The kids seemed to like it and were really trying hard to translate they lyrics themselves. I would say that it was a good experience all around. They were learning English, I was learning Spanish, and Erlin was picking up some new English phrases. Win, win, win. Couldn’t ask for better.

Later that day, Erlin invited me to stay the night at her house to visit and hang out with her family. It was definitely an interesting experience. Living in my town, I can sometimes forget that not all of Costa Rica is like this. It was a bit surprising to stay at someone’s home where there’s a master bedroom, each kid gets his own room, and they even had an office. It felt familiar and comfortable. Sometimes it blows m ymind when I suddenly remember, “Oh yeah, I used to live like this.” It’s so different from what I now experience every day. On the one hand, it made me happy to see that not everyone in Costa Rica lives in poverty. On the other hand, it makes me sad that so many do.

That night, I went to a Tae Kwon Do class with her family and was pleasantly surprised that I could keep up with everyone. I was kind of nervous that after being sick and not working out for the last few weeks that I would be out of shape,but it turned out that I had no issues with the cardio part of the class. Once we got to the part with the kicking, spinning and turning, I got confused. It was still fun, but it quickly became clear that I have two left feet. It wasn’t horrible,but it did resemble the montage in Karate Kid where Ralph Macchio sucks and is trying super hard. However, I never got to the part where I become awesome and kick ass. Either way, it was still super fun. I would totally keep doing it if the class wasn’t an hour away from where I live. Sigh. I guess I’ll just keep running in the field. Maybe I’ll start my own exercise class here. We’ll see.

On Wednesday, the school’s official Independence Day celebrations began. The country has a tradition in which students from all the schools and high schools are chosen to carry the torch. It’s very similar to the Olympics’ torch run. A team of students visit a school, where they wait for the light to pass to their torch and run to their own school where another team of students wait to light their own torch. It’s actually really cool to watch. It’s kind of intense for the kids who have to run longer distances. In our school, teams of eleven kids from the 6th grades were chosen to run the torch. Somehow after Día del Niño, the school named me the official photographer. This meant that I was lucky enough to do a ride along and watch the process.

I rode with Rodrigo to a nearby school a few kilometers away and met up with the team and their teacher, Gabby. When we got there, I realized that we had to wait for their students to arrive with their torch before we could run with ours. It felt like half the day consisted of waiting. It was hot and there weren’t many places to sit, but it was a cool opportunity to get to know some of the kids a little bit better. I couldn’t have been stuck with a better bunch of kids. Finally, their team arrived and we did a lighting ceremony and we were off! Gabby decided to go on foot and I jumped in the car with Rodrigo where along with paramedics and police escorts, we tailed the team. We lost Gabby really quick as she was walking and the team was running,but we continued on our way following the students. It was one of the most fun things to do. Some of the kids that were lagging had to jump in the car to hitch a ride for part of the way because they wouldn’t have made it to the end. Besides that, a few falls, and the torch going out a few times, it went pretty smoothly. Half of the team ran the whole way. I have to say, I’m especially proud of Julie, the one girl who made the whole way. What a bad ass. Not to take away anything from the guys either. It was a tough run. It was hot and in the middle of the day. A few of the guys had to hitch rides part of the way also. So we finally made it back, passed on the flame, and had an acto civico. After that, I went home to rest before having to return that evening for the faroles. I could have stayed at the school and helped decorate the school with the teachers, but I was beat and needed a break.

The team, fueling up before the run.

The kids and Gabby waiting at the other school.

The team running on the freeway.

The team during the last stretch of road to the school.

Some of the team resting after their run.

Later that day, I went back to the school with both my host-sisters for the faroles. Faroles are basically lanterns. Another tradition Costa Rica has is that students make faroles and everyone lights them walks through the streets at night. I guess it’s their version of lighting up the night for Independence Day. We have fireworks. They have faroles. It’s actually a really cool site to see people walking together with all these lanterns lighting the way. Oh, so finally Gabby turned up. I was getting worried about her. I would recommend that she ride in the car next time

My host-sisters, Beatrice and Anita, and Anita's friend.

The following day was September 15, the day of independence. I went to the school early to take some pictures of everyone getting ready for the acto civico. I’m glad I went early because the parents were starting to gather around the fence and that always makes me nervous. There is just something very scary about a crowd of over-excited parents. It seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

So the ceremony started and it turns out that all the practice that the kids had been doing for weeks paid off. It was super cool. Of course, it started with the flag being carried in and the national anthem, a prayer and a speech from Don Carlos, who had come back the night before. Actually the speech from Don Carlos, while a good speech, lost me a few times. Don Carlos is a man who likes to talk. His speech reminded me of those long-winded often times off-topic speeches my dad used to make. To quote my dad, “A good speech is like a dress. It should be long enough to cover everything, but short enough to keep people’s interest.” Let’s just say that Don Carlos’ speech would be compared to a ball gown as opposed to cocktail attire.

Anyway, the good stuff started and it was really impressive. The younger kids did traditional dances in traditional garb, a few kids did some bombas, traditionally from the Guanacaste province, and the selected “best” did a march with the flags. The ceremony ended with a traditional dance with kids dressed up in masks taking people from the audience to come out and dance with them. Again, being the “official” school photographer, I took many photos and got to be up close and personal. At one point, I almost got run over by a kid dressed as a bull during one of the dances. I did get a good photo though. Through all the stress and hard work, it ended up being quite fun and successful.

My day didn’t end there, however. I then went with Manuela, our school cook, to Orotina to catch the festivities there. There was a huge parade consisting of people from various schools and high school marching down the street. My host-sister, Beatrice, was in the parade and my host-mom wanted me to get photos of her. Also, Manuela’s son, Luis was also in the parade. It was crowded! It was hard to get a good spot, but I managed to get a few shots. After that, I quickly lost interest. I was hot and tired and the parade was just sooo long. There were some cool things like cheerleaders doing stunts and such, but otherwise it was more of the same. Lots of marching, lots of dancing. My host-dad found me and asked me to take some pictures of him and Beatrice after it was over. I then lost him. It was so crowded that I never found him. Manuela then took me out to lunch and as we were eating it started to pour. Well, we had to go through it to make it to our bus, but unfortunately her daughter, Kendi and a friend were also with us and they didn’t have umbrellas. So we had to put to people under each umbrella and run for it. I took Kendi under mine. Being the good person that I am, I let her have most of the umbrella and I got soaked. That didn’t matter. All I cared about was that my bag that had my camera and other electronics stayed dry. Mission accomplished. I didn’t end up ever finding my host-family, and I figured that they went home. I got there and they still hadn’t made it home. They decided to wait out the rain before taking a bus home. Well, we didn’t get to take the pictures, but we all agreed that it was a good day. Exhausting, but good day.

Don Carlos during his speech. At this point he's talking about the trees, I think.

The kids doing a traditional dance.

The kids during the march.

The kids in masks coming towards the audience.

One of the kids in masks asking for someone in the audience, Manuela, to join in the dance.

Speaking of my host-family, I know people must be wondering how my new situation is going. I must say that it is pretty amazing. They are the family that I have been waiting for since training. Everyone is so sweet and not over-bearing about it. The house is comfy and doesn’t overheat. I didn’t realize it before, but now that I have them again, I have really missed doorknobs! It’s so crazy how simple things can make me so happy. Also, I really like my host-sisters. They’re super cute and really mellow. They are easy to hang out with. I’m kind of hoping that as we get to know each other better, it continues to go swimmingly. We seem to share a mutual respect of each other so I think that we won’t run into any major problems. Plus, I’ve seen what dysfunctional host families look like, I have a deep appreciation for the good ones. So, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ve finally found my Tico family. Ironic really…my town was expecting a blond-haired blue-eyed American and got a Filipino-American where I was expecting to get a typical Tico family and got a Nicaraguan-Costa Rican family. Already we are breaking stereotypes. Cross-culture win!