As David Bowie sings, “Turn and face the strange, Ch-ch-ch-changes…” The past couple of weeks have been full of changes and strange happenings, so sit tight because there might be some good stuff in this story.
A couple of weeks ago, two days before I had to leave for San Jose for PDM (Project and Design Management Workshop) and IST (In-Service Training), the couple that is living in my house had their baby. They brought home their bundle of joy the day before I was set to leave and I have now have an understanding as to why new parents always look so tired and haggard. It’s not a myth that babies don’t sleep, except in the case of my nephew back home...like the rest of us Suba’s, he’s been a sleeper since birth. Anyway, that was not the case with this baby. I was so tired and delusional, that when I woke up the morning I had to leave, I thought, “Wow, that chicken sounds really weird. What’s wrong with it? And why does it seem so close? Is it outside my window?” Blink, blink. Think. “Wait! That’s not a chicken. That’s the baby!” My chain of thought then jumped, “Ok, somebody take care of that! Saying a quick, ‘shhhh’ is not helping.” Now, I’m not a parent and thus no expert, but I’m 99.99% certain that when you have a newborn fussing, shushing it does nothing.
I got ready, and made sure everything was packed since it was decided that I would move my stuff that day so that when I got back from IST, Peace Corps would just have to check my new house and I would be set to move. The fact that the shower broke that morning only confirmed my convictions that I had to get out of there. I went to school and waited for my counterpart as he was going to help me speak to my host-mom and move my stuff before we set off for San Jose. I was also bringing him to participate in the PDM. Anyway, so we went to my house and realized that my host-mom had already left at like 4 am. Well, thanks a lot lady. No “Good night,” no “See you later,” or even “have a good trip.” I can only come to the conclusion that it doesn’t really matter to her what I do or where I am. Anyway, it was decided that I would move after training since it would be rude to just move without informing her.
Anyway, we went on our way, and PDM was awesome. It was actually really awesome. Not only was it fun to see my friends, but it was cool to work with our counterparts also. All of a sudden all of our training doesn’t seem so abstract anymore. Also, it was really interesting to see what all my peers have been up to and what their plans are for their communities. It made me super excited to start projects with the school and I’m thinking that Don Carlos, my counterpart, was getting excited also. He’s always been supportive of my ideas, but working together to go through the steps and process of carrying out a project is so helpful. My first project is going to be a Chic@s Poderos@s. That’s basically a 10-week workshop on a gender-focused group to work on self-esteem and positive attitudes, something that the kids here definitely need.
On the last day of the PDM, Don Carlos didn’t show up to the session. Being the paranoid person I am, I automatically dreaded the possibility that something had happened to him in his room. So, a few of the Peace Corps staff started to look for him. My boss finally got a hold of him and found out that someone had broken into his house and attacked his dogs. The good news is that after a trip to the vet, the dogs are OK, but it was definitely a scare. Other than that, PDM went super well. After being assured that everything was OK with Don Carlos, I was able to continue enjoying my time there.
To top things off, we were staying at a really nice hotel. It was really nice to live the cushy-life for a bit. It was exactly the break I was looking forward to for the past month or so. Life was good. The beds were incredibly comfy. There were hot showers with great water pressure. Rooms came with a flat screen TV. The gym! Oh man, I know it’s been a while since I’ve seen a gym, but really…a few of us just stood outside of it gawking and the machines. It’s quite the shock after being away from such technology for so long. What’s more of a shock is looking at your reflection in the mirror after months of not really seeing yourself. It’s not pretty. It’s quite scary actually. I have realized that when I’m at site, I’m walking around looking like a hot sweaty mess all the time. What a revelation. Anyway, we took advantage of all the resources available while we were in the city. I’m pretty sure that I gained back some of the weight I lost at site. It was a time to work hard during the day and play hard at night (or if you’re me, just relax and enjoy the company of friends).
All of a sudden, things took a change when the IST part of our training started. I’m pretty sure it not only surprised the PCV’s but also our Peace Corps staff. Let’s just say that there were a lot of WTF moments. I’m not sure what exactly set it off, but the tone of our group got pretty grim quickly. I think it started off with a few shared stories of rough times and just snowballed from there. One of our peers was especially having a tough time and it definitely set a ripple through our little group. It not only affected me because I was concerned for him and his well-being, but I know it made me check myself and where I stand in my service. I’m sure the others did as well. Our group cohesion was also brought into question. There is still debate as to whether that problem exists or not and whether it was relevant to our personal experiences. Anyway, our project team addressed the situation and gave us the time and space to talk about our expectations and how to improve our situations. Like mother wolves they shook us by the scruff a bit and reminded us that there’s a reason we’re here and that we shouldn’t so quickly go running with the negative events that have happened. The truth is that if any one of us keeps riding that train, he or she will lose the motivation to stay here and our already tiny group will dwindle further. Considering that we swore in with 14 and are now down to 11, it would be tough to lose anyone else. I suppose it’s a good thing that I am “blindly optimistic,” as my friend Maitreya describes me. I never really thought of myself as optimistic, in fact it’s kind of scary that people believe that I’m the optimistic one in the group. I would rather say that through all the chaos and mess that we call life, I’m just crazy hopeful. Either way, I’ll take it as a compliment. It can only work for me. I also believe that deep down the rest of us are silly people also living on the upside. I mean if I were the only optimistic person, nobody else would be here. I know we can bitch with the best of them, but we’re still here and moving forward, so we must be doing something right.
Anyway, the last day of IST I was not feeling so well. I went through the day feeling nauseous and light-headed. By that night, my joints were aching and I had a fever. My roommates, Emily and Claire decided that we should call the medical officers and go to the hospital. Turns out that was a bright idea. Claire took me to the hospital where they were surprisingly quick at getting to me. So I left her in the waiting room while I went into the triage room, they discovered that my heart was beating a bit fast and I expressed my concern about dengue since I seem to be the food of choice of all the insects in Costa Rica, but most especially the mosquitoes. There was also a bit of an outbreak in my region. Don’t worry; after the doctor checked me out, he said that it was a bacterial infection. I was then brought into the back where they had me lay on a bed. That was when one of the nurses brought out a cart. At this point I expected that they were going to draw blood for tests. I have to say, I can take shots like a champ, but something about sticking a foreign object into veins and blood makes me queasy. So, I look over to see what the nurse is doing and to my horror, he’s holding an IV needle. Oh man, that was some scary stuff. I actually broke out in a sweat. While I waited for whatever it was they were giving me, I updated my friends back at the hotel. They then rushed over with a bunch of stuff. While I couldn’t eat any of the goodies they picked up, I definitely appreciated the effort. It was really comforting to see my friends come out to support me. Although, I must say now having been the visitor and the patient, I would much rather be the visitor. Not only are you sick when you’re the one having visitors, but it’s also really disconcerting to see the worry on everyone else’s faces. It’s touching and at the same time completely freaky. After a couple of liters of whatever solution it was, they pulled out the IV (it hurts a lot more coming out than going in, thank you Claire for the heads up) and I was sent home.
The original plan was for me to go home the next day with one of my bosses, but because I was sick, I was ordered to stay in San Jose another day. That ended up being OK as there were a few others who had to stay in town for medical reasons as well. Here began the great hotel/hostel tour of San Jose. I managed to get another med day off and used some of my nights out to stay out of site for a few more days. From here, a bunch of us infirmed hopped around San Jose trying to find the most comfortable place for the best price. It was exhausting yet interesting. I now know which places I would never want to go back to and those that are nice but I probably will not use again unless Peace Corps foots the bill. While moving around was kind of a pain, it was nice to decompress among friends and do absolutely nothing. A few of us did go see Captain America which was a much better than the last movie I saw here in Costa Rica. I must say that I miss going to the movies. I truly am an escapist. It was also fun getting to spend some time with the RCD kids, since there hasn’t been much RCD/CYF inter-group hangouts.
After bumming around San Jose and refusing to return to site unless I could move houses straight away, the time finally came when I had to go back. That was definitely an interesting experience that I never want to repeat again. “They say that breaking up is hard to do…” and it’s true! Yeah I know, it’s just a host-family who I wasn’t super stoked on in the first place, but when you reject the crazy, they react, well…kind of crazy. So I was told to call my host-mom before I left the Peace Corps office with one of my bosses so that she would know when we would be getting into site. Naturally, after she assured me that she would be there, I assumed that when we got to the house she would be there. Well, we got there and she was not. So, we waited a bit and then decided to check my new house to save time. That went well. My boss really liked the family and thought it was a good fit. We went back to my house and my host-mom was still not there. So we waited for as long as we could before my boss had to leave. She did help me move some of my stuff first, though. So after she left, I went to the school to talk to one of the teachers about moving the rest of my stuff. She agreed and when we got to the house, my host-mom was there and we tried to explain why I had to leave. Let’s just say the reaction was bad. She refused to address me and didn’t believe that Peace Corps was behind me. She went into hiding as I took out the rest of my things from my room. I had to hunt her down to say thanks and tell her I was going. Her reply was a snooty, “Fine, I’m calling your boss.” I left the keys and went. Good riddance. I then e-mailed my boss to give her fair warning about voice mail that was waiting for her and explain the situation. As expected, she supported me and didn’t think it was a problem.
That situation does make me think that there should be some kind of training on how to break up with people with whom you would like to end relations. It sounds silly, but it can be tricky in another culture and language. Add the fact that most people want to get rid of their families or counterparts, it can be an extremely sticky situation. It produces lots of anxiety! I know many of us are experiencing this anxiety in some form or another. There really should be some kind of session on it.
So, now I’m settling into my new home. It consists of two parents and two daughters. It’s so different already. They are not only so mellow and peaceful, but they talk to me and want me to feel part of the family. They definitely have a humble lifestyle and don’t have much, but they are so nice that it’s easy to get past the lack of creature comforts. Also, the house is way better than my last one. The government has a program where they sometimes build poorer people houses. They were lucky enough to be one of those families. Don’t start to think I’m living it up though. My bed is basically a 2-inch foam cushion on ply board, but I don’t mind. I feel like I’ll be gaining a lot more than losing with this change. I guess the next step is to get to work and start projects. Let’s see how that goes.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Vote 4 Pedro
Why, hello again. The last couple of days have been pretty interesting and I thought that I should write about them before I go off for training in a few days. Wouldn’t want to leave out the details.
On Thursday, I went with a few of the teachers from the school to the larger town, Orotina, to support a few of our students whose projects were accepted into the science fair. Remember a while back I talked about that little girl who did a project about the environment and how we are destroying it? Remember how I called her Miley? Well, she and her partner made it to the fair and it turns out her name isn’t Miley. It sounds like it though. I looked at her station and realized her name is Maylin. Oops, my bad. Anyway, I couldn’t help but be excited for her and her partner, Nathalie, because they worked really hard on the project and truly believed in it. Another girl from the school was invited to the science fair on her project about growing lettuce. She’s a pretty smart kid in general so I wasn’t surprised that her project made it there. It’s actually kind of inspiring to see these kid’s passion and accomplishing things. It gives me hope for the execution of my future projects.
It was cool to see how a science fair is executed here. It turns out that they aren’t much different from how it works in the States. Basically a bunch of schools bring a few students with the best projects to showcase in the county science fair. Judges come around and the kids try to impress them with their knowledge and their projects. Every project had it’s own station set up and people walked around to see what these kids have been working on. It reminded me a lot of my grade school days. People had the three-part posters and everyone rocked the scientific method. I’ve mentioned in previous blogs how the education system here is tough, but I must give these kids credit. There were some really cool projects. There was a station on the uses of bamboo, a station on burns on skin, a station where the kids converted solar energy into air-conditioning, a station where the kids made paper by recycling paper. It was really impressive. Unfortunately none of our kids went home with a trophy, but they seemed stoked about their participant’s medals.
Oh, I must mention that when the fair started, like all official gatherings I’ve been to, it started with the national flag being carried in, the national anthem and then a prayer. Sometimes at these events, they will have some form of entertainment in the beginning or the middle of proceedings. Like past performances I’ve witnessed, I found the one performed at the science fair to be quite hilarious. I feel a little bad about wanting to laugh at kids putting themselves out there and performing in front of others because I know that can be really tough and also performance is an expression of self and should be taken seriously. Not to mention that the two kids performing were students from the other school in my town so I extra support them and their ambitions. That said I have to ask, have you ever watched Napoleon Dynamite? If you answered yes, remember that scene with the happy hands club where they do that little performance to Bette Midler’s “Like a Rose.” If you answered no, then go to youtube and look up “Napoleon Dynamite Happy Hands Scene,” or better yet, go and watch the movie. Now back to my story. Well, lets just say that the kids’ performance was very similar to that with the hand and arm movements. They even performed to what I can only call, the Latino answer to “Like a Rose.” Ok, so that alone makes me very giggly, but now imagine those two kids dressed in black with face paint that turns them into mimes. Also add to that, the very serious/sad expression on their faces as they perform. In a nutshell, I basically watched the Latino version of the Happy Hands scene in Napoleon Dynamite with the added layer of unhappy mimes. I cannot lie. Not only was my face twitching as I tried to control myself, but my entire body was shaking throughout the performance. I mean, when they went out there with the face paint and the clothes I thought, Jabbawockeez and instead I got Napoleon. Who wouldn’t want to laugh?
On Thursday, I went with a few of the teachers from the school to the larger town, Orotina, to support a few of our students whose projects were accepted into the science fair. Remember a while back I talked about that little girl who did a project about the environment and how we are destroying it? Remember how I called her Miley? Well, she and her partner made it to the fair and it turns out her name isn’t Miley. It sounds like it though. I looked at her station and realized her name is Maylin. Oops, my bad. Anyway, I couldn’t help but be excited for her and her partner, Nathalie, because they worked really hard on the project and truly believed in it. Another girl from the school was invited to the science fair on her project about growing lettuce. She’s a pretty smart kid in general so I wasn’t surprised that her project made it there. It’s actually kind of inspiring to see these kid’s passion and accomplishing things. It gives me hope for the execution of my future projects.
It was cool to see how a science fair is executed here. It turns out that they aren’t much different from how it works in the States. Basically a bunch of schools bring a few students with the best projects to showcase in the county science fair. Judges come around and the kids try to impress them with their knowledge and their projects. Every project had it’s own station set up and people walked around to see what these kids have been working on. It reminded me a lot of my grade school days. People had the three-part posters and everyone rocked the scientific method. I’ve mentioned in previous blogs how the education system here is tough, but I must give these kids credit. There were some really cool projects. There was a station on the uses of bamboo, a station on burns on skin, a station where the kids converted solar energy into air-conditioning, a station where the kids made paper by recycling paper. It was really impressive. Unfortunately none of our kids went home with a trophy, but they seemed stoked about their participant’s medals.
Oh, I must mention that when the fair started, like all official gatherings I’ve been to, it started with the national flag being carried in, the national anthem and then a prayer. Sometimes at these events, they will have some form of entertainment in the beginning or the middle of proceedings. Like past performances I’ve witnessed, I found the one performed at the science fair to be quite hilarious. I feel a little bad about wanting to laugh at kids putting themselves out there and performing in front of others because I know that can be really tough and also performance is an expression of self and should be taken seriously. Not to mention that the two kids performing were students from the other school in my town so I extra support them and their ambitions. That said I have to ask, have you ever watched Napoleon Dynamite? If you answered yes, remember that scene with the happy hands club where they do that little performance to Bette Midler’s “Like a Rose.” If you answered no, then go to youtube and look up “Napoleon Dynamite Happy Hands Scene,” or better yet, go and watch the movie. Now back to my story. Well, lets just say that the kids’ performance was very similar to that with the hand and arm movements. They even performed to what I can only call, the Latino answer to “Like a Rose.” Ok, so that alone makes me very giggly, but now imagine those two kids dressed in black with face paint that turns them into mimes. Also add to that, the very serious/sad expression on their faces as they perform. In a nutshell, I basically watched the Latino version of the Happy Hands scene in Napoleon Dynamite with the added layer of unhappy mimes. I cannot lie. Not only was my face twitching as I tried to control myself, but my entire body was shaking throughout the performance. I mean, when they went out there with the face paint and the clothes I thought, Jabbawockeez and instead I got Napoleon. Who wouldn’t want to laugh?
The mime dancers.
Maylin and Nathalie waiting with their project at the science fair.
Now that my diagnostic is technically done, I haven’t had much to do. Yet, I still go to the school to kill time, study some Spanish and hang out with the teachers and students. Yesterday, I went to the school expecting to bum around, which pretty much took up my entire morning, but in the afternoon, Rodrigo, one of the teachers asked me if I wanted to help him and a few students plant lettuce in the school’s makeshift greenhouse. Of course I jump at the opportunity to do something productive, let alone fun and amazing. The lettuce that they grow ends up being used in the kitchen to make lunch. Of course, Pamela, the kid who did her science project on planting lettuce was there teaching me the basics of how to plant lettuce heads. It became quite the experience. First, I learned that the little baby heads of lettuce cost like 20 colones. If you consider every dollar equals 500 colones, that would mean that you would get 25 heads of lettuce for a buck. We ended up planting about 120 heads of lettuce.
While we were in the middle of our little lettuce project, it suddenly started to pour rain. This is very common. Especially when the temperature in the morning is extremely hot. Now, science says that when hot air suddenly meets cold air, it produces electricity. Science isn’t wrong. Soon after the rain started, the lightning followed. Normally, I like when the lightning comes. I even like the thunder that comes with it. I find it violently beautiful. However, this lighting storm was different as I could tell that it was really close to where we were. At first I wasn’t too worried, but it was coming on strong and the thunder was really loud. It was obvious that it was coming our way fast. After hearing a story about a friend’s friend who was killed by lightning recently, and the fact that Rodrigo looked freaked out, I got extremely nervous. I finished planting the last few lettuce heads and ran to the “teacher’s lounge” which is basically an overhang outside the cafeteria. The kids soon followed and after Rodrigo checked that all the heads were properly placed, he ran too.
Soaked, Rodrigo and I sat in the teacher’s lounge for a bit talking about the lightning when he decided that we should move. I was more than glad to move considering the teacher’s lounge is pretty exposed and the lighting was close enough that when it would strike we would half crouch into the fetal position. Going into the corridor where the classrooms were was a much better plan. At that point, a few of the classes were done for the day, but obviously nobody was going home. So we all just stood together and waited. Then Erlin, the English teacher said, “I don’t understand this. This never-” and this is where I thought she would say, “happens here.” Instead she finished with a, “-happens before September. This is crazy.” Oh. I guess I need to get used to finding shelter because September is just around the corner. When the lightning started to die down, she offered to drive me home. The first/second grade teacher was also getting a ride. As we waited, I found a dry spot to wait in because I’m fairly certain that if lightning struck the metal roofs which are held by metal poles, which were sitting in a stream of water, if you happen to be standing in that water, you would be toast. I tried explaining this concept but the teacher kept insisting we wait in that little stream of water, as it was closer to where the car was coming around. Fearing my safety, I actually decided to not move until the car pulled around and I could jump in safely. Obviously, as I live to tell the tale I made it home safe. However, I have a whole new depth of respect for the elements. When you can feel the thunder vibrating through your body, it gets pretty scary. No wonder everyone here is scared of lightning. It’s scary!
In other news, my sister sent me a couple episodes of Grey’s Anatomy since I haven’t seen any since I left. I have learned a couple of things. Watching Grey’s Anatomy can sometimes feel very sad and traumatic. Sometimes it’s the storylines and sometimes it’s the images, but it always feels too familiar and it can make me cry. Also, watching these things and crying it out can be very cathartic which makes me feel better. So, since I was feeling down all last week due my dad’s birthday and such, I watched Grey’s, felt traumatized by the images, cried, embraced the pain, re-watched those two episodes I have access to, cried some more and now I’m starting to feel better. All I have to do now is go to IST, meet up with my friends and I’m back to normal.
Next time on my blog...probably stuff about the debaucheries that will happen during training. Tune in!
While we were in the middle of our little lettuce project, it suddenly started to pour rain. This is very common. Especially when the temperature in the morning is extremely hot. Now, science says that when hot air suddenly meets cold air, it produces electricity. Science isn’t wrong. Soon after the rain started, the lightning followed. Normally, I like when the lightning comes. I even like the thunder that comes with it. I find it violently beautiful. However, this lighting storm was different as I could tell that it was really close to where we were. At first I wasn’t too worried, but it was coming on strong and the thunder was really loud. It was obvious that it was coming our way fast. After hearing a story about a friend’s friend who was killed by lightning recently, and the fact that Rodrigo looked freaked out, I got extremely nervous. I finished planting the last few lettuce heads and ran to the “teacher’s lounge” which is basically an overhang outside the cafeteria. The kids soon followed and after Rodrigo checked that all the heads were properly placed, he ran too.
Soaked, Rodrigo and I sat in the teacher’s lounge for a bit talking about the lightning when he decided that we should move. I was more than glad to move considering the teacher’s lounge is pretty exposed and the lighting was close enough that when it would strike we would half crouch into the fetal position. Going into the corridor where the classrooms were was a much better plan. At that point, a few of the classes were done for the day, but obviously nobody was going home. So we all just stood together and waited. Then Erlin, the English teacher said, “I don’t understand this. This never-” and this is where I thought she would say, “happens here.” Instead she finished with a, “-happens before September. This is crazy.” Oh. I guess I need to get used to finding shelter because September is just around the corner. When the lightning started to die down, she offered to drive me home. The first/second grade teacher was also getting a ride. As we waited, I found a dry spot to wait in because I’m fairly certain that if lightning struck the metal roofs which are held by metal poles, which were sitting in a stream of water, if you happen to be standing in that water, you would be toast. I tried explaining this concept but the teacher kept insisting we wait in that little stream of water, as it was closer to where the car was coming around. Fearing my safety, I actually decided to not move until the car pulled around and I could jump in safely. Obviously, as I live to tell the tale I made it home safe. However, I have a whole new depth of respect for the elements. When you can feel the thunder vibrating through your body, it gets pretty scary. No wonder everyone here is scared of lightning. It’s scary!
In other news, my sister sent me a couple episodes of Grey’s Anatomy since I haven’t seen any since I left. I have learned a couple of things. Watching Grey’s Anatomy can sometimes feel very sad and traumatic. Sometimes it’s the storylines and sometimes it’s the images, but it always feels too familiar and it can make me cry. Also, watching these things and crying it out can be very cathartic which makes me feel better. So, since I was feeling down all last week due my dad’s birthday and such, I watched Grey’s, felt traumatized by the images, cried, embraced the pain, re-watched those two episodes I have access to, cried some more and now I’m starting to feel better. All I have to do now is go to IST, meet up with my friends and I’m back to normal.
Next time on my blog...probably stuff about the debaucheries that will happen during training. Tune in!
Pamela and I getting the lettuce ready to be planted.
Me taking out the lettuce from the little planter container.
Rodrigo putting holes into the dirt for the lettuce heads and one of the students getting ready to water the soil.
One of the kids washing his hands with the water pouring off the plastic covering of the greenhouse.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Enter Sandman
Hello. It’s been a while since my last blog. Honestly, I just haven’t had that much time to sit down and write because next week, I’m going to San Jose for 9 days of In-Service Training, which is really exciting, however that also means that the diagnostic I’ve been working on for the past 3 months is due. The good news is that today I just finished my draft of it. Now it’s up to my Tico friends to read all 40 glorious pages with their Spanish-speaking eyes and figure out where I went wrong and fix it. Hahaha. Anyway, a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks besides the stress and massive effort to finish this crazy research paper, and I say “research paper” because that’s exactly what my diagnostic felt like.
So last week my boss, Carolina, came for a run of the mill site visit. It was super awesome getting to see her and show her my town. It was pretty cool hearing other people tell her what I’ve been up to and she said that she was pleasantly surprised at my level of integration. So I consider that a small victory. Along with my counterpart, Don Carlos, we decided that it was time to make some big changes. I won’t get into it here right now as the blog is pretty public and if some people found out what’s going on before the appropriate time, it could make life a whole lot more complicated and uncomfortable.
Ok, remember how a few weeks ago I reported how one of my bandannas mysteriously disappeared into nothing? Well, lets just say that a pair of my boxers has also gone missing. Where to? Apparently nobody knows. All I know is that it went into the laundry never to return again. Since I can’t do anything about the situation now, besides be bitter and suspicious, I am now keeping a listed inventory of everything that goes into the laundry and everything that comes back. I’m not sure how this will help in the instance that something else goes “missing,” but at least I will be able to keep track of my stuff better. Is this crazy and paranoid? Maybe so. I am now embracing my paranoia because sometimes there’s reason to be paranoid.
Speaking of paranoia, an incident happened last week that I’m now kind of kicking myself for being such a sucker. Basically, I’m pretty sure I was conned out of 2,000 colones. Which, if you bring some perspective into the picture, it’s only worth 4 dollars, so it’s not such a great loss, but I’m sticking to my guns and saying it is the principle of the matter. So, I was walking home after a super long day at the school and had a lot on my mind to say the least, and all I wanted to do was get to my room where I could be alone and relax. On my way there, I ran into a host-aunt. She started to make some small talk and I was on auto-pilot just nodding and small talking back. Then all of a sudden she’s starting to talk about milk and the store and I definitely was not following what she was saying. Then I had her tell me exactly what she was trying to say and she said that she needed money to buy her grandson milk. At that point, I just wanted to be rid of her and said “All right, will 1,000 be good?” and she says, “No, that’s not enough. I need 2,000.” She told me she’d get me back the money during the weekend at my host-brother’s birthday party. So I give her the 2,000 and went home. As soon as I walked away I knew that I had just been conned. I was fairly certain milk does not cost 2,000 colones. I got home, put my stuff in my room and saw my host-mom in the kitchen. At that moment I decided that I needed to get out of the house or risk going ape-shit. So, I went to Manuela’s, one of our school cooks, house to relax a bit. While I was there, I decided to ask how much milk cost. I was informed that a small bag of milk (yes they come in bags here) only costs about 500 and a box costs around 1,000. So, my suspicions were right, I was conned. I really should have known better. Firstly, I knew milk doesn’t cost that much. Secondly, she passed by my house, her other sister’s house and was going to pass her mother’s house on the way home, so if she really needed milk or money she could’ve asked one of them. Oh man, lesson learned.
So after that, Luca, the Italian exchange student living with Manuela, asked me to go on a walk with him and some friends. I jumped the opportunity to hang out with people and be out of my house. It wasn’t very exciting, but I did meet some kids who go to the high school in Orotina. It was cool because I don’t really get to meet many teenagers since the high school is in Orotina and it’s tough just meeting teens on the streets. They were really cool and were super interested in my projects. So, I’m taking that as a sign that the youth will be willing to participate in my future projects.
Earlier that day, I was at the school and was invited to participate in a faculty meeting about educational quality. It was actually really insightful. Firstly, it’s really amazing to see how much these teachers care about their students and how frustrating it can be to work with not so many resources. People in the States can complain all they want, but we really don’t have it that bad. The kids here don’t even get textbooks. To get information, they basically just copy information from the chalkboard. This takes up class time from their already limited day (they only go to school half the day). Also, many parents don’t really care about the quality of education so they don’t encourage or motivate their kids to do homework. Naturally, this results in kids not doing any and thus not really learning much. However, it is uplifting to see that the teachers are making an effort, and they want to improve the quality of education. The kids deserve it.
So over the weekend, my host-family threw a big party on Sunday for my host-brother. He’s the one that lives with his dad. It was originally supposed to be on Saturday, but they changed it to Sunday because my host-mom had to work. Um, thanks for telling me ahead of time, lady. So I had to sit through another weird an uneventful party on the porch. This time, I socialized with some of my host-mom’s friend’s sons because they seemed as uninterested an bored as I was. Also, my host-mom’s boyfriend literally ran over Stevie, our blind dog. Luckily none of the tires got him, so he made it out alive. It was actually quite horrifying. There was Stevie just sleeping on a pile of gravel when this crazy guy comes full-speed, not looking and tries to park on him.
After people went home, I went into my room to work on my diagnostic when a few hours later, like the previous party we hosted, people came with speakers and all sorts of electronics and karaoke began. It was like a whole new party. It probably was. I think that they were celebrating my host-mom’s boyfriend’s birthday. Or perhaps mother’s day as well as it was the next day. All I know, is that I stayed in my room and tried to block out the noise with earphones and my own music and worked all night. Seriously, if you’re going to have a party, maybe you should let people who live in your house know about it. I’m fairly certain, “We’re having a party at lunch for Luis for his birthday,” does not translate into an all night karaoke festival hours after the original party died. Again, thanks for the heads up lady. I don’t have my own plans or anything. Oh, I feel that this is a good time to mention that I never got that 2,000 colones back.
So, Costa Rican Mother’s Day was the next day and unfortunately, it also happened to be my dad’s birthday. Bam! Double whammy! That was a bit miserable. For one thing, I really didn’t want to celebrate mother’s day, and for another I was naturally feeling down about everything. It was just a perfect storm of misery. On the bright side, I did get to skype with my family that afternoon while they got together to celebrate. It was good to not feel completely isolated from them. However, before our little skype date started, everyone in my house decided to go to bed before 7:30. Yes, that’s right. They went to bed before 7:30pm. So, normally when they go to bed early, I try to be respectful and stay quiet. However on this day, I figured that they had found a time that was just too absurd and that it didn’t matter to me on that day so I decided to stick it to the man, give them the bird and swear under my breath as I signed on to my skype account. It was glorious. It was so worth it just to talk to my family.
Yesterday, I was still feeling a bit of the blues when I found out that Coy and Melissa (a married couple) have quit Peace Corps and are going home this weekend. What a blow! Our group is dwindling! No, the reality is that they had finished a full tour of Peace Corps in Belize when they decided to go another two years here. They said that they lost their spark. It’s understandable. 4 years is intense. Not to mention that Melissa had previously done Peace Corps in Africa also. It’s still a sad loss to our little group. Coy was Mr. Sensible and was generally very calming for us and Melissa would just tell it as it is. They were kind of like our “parents” helping us get through training and managing the quirky things that come along with Peace Corps. So, to see them go is very sad. Also, the fact that they are leaving this weekend and we won’t have a chance to see them is sad. Que lastima that IST (In-Service Training) is so close, but not all of us will be there.
Well, that is all for now. Hopefully next time I’ll have better things to report.
So last week my boss, Carolina, came for a run of the mill site visit. It was super awesome getting to see her and show her my town. It was pretty cool hearing other people tell her what I’ve been up to and she said that she was pleasantly surprised at my level of integration. So I consider that a small victory. Along with my counterpart, Don Carlos, we decided that it was time to make some big changes. I won’t get into it here right now as the blog is pretty public and if some people found out what’s going on before the appropriate time, it could make life a whole lot more complicated and uncomfortable.
Ok, remember how a few weeks ago I reported how one of my bandannas mysteriously disappeared into nothing? Well, lets just say that a pair of my boxers has also gone missing. Where to? Apparently nobody knows. All I know is that it went into the laundry never to return again. Since I can’t do anything about the situation now, besides be bitter and suspicious, I am now keeping a listed inventory of everything that goes into the laundry and everything that comes back. I’m not sure how this will help in the instance that something else goes “missing,” but at least I will be able to keep track of my stuff better. Is this crazy and paranoid? Maybe so. I am now embracing my paranoia because sometimes there’s reason to be paranoid.
Speaking of paranoia, an incident happened last week that I’m now kind of kicking myself for being such a sucker. Basically, I’m pretty sure I was conned out of 2,000 colones. Which, if you bring some perspective into the picture, it’s only worth 4 dollars, so it’s not such a great loss, but I’m sticking to my guns and saying it is the principle of the matter. So, I was walking home after a super long day at the school and had a lot on my mind to say the least, and all I wanted to do was get to my room where I could be alone and relax. On my way there, I ran into a host-aunt. She started to make some small talk and I was on auto-pilot just nodding and small talking back. Then all of a sudden she’s starting to talk about milk and the store and I definitely was not following what she was saying. Then I had her tell me exactly what she was trying to say and she said that she needed money to buy her grandson milk. At that point, I just wanted to be rid of her and said “All right, will 1,000 be good?” and she says, “No, that’s not enough. I need 2,000.” She told me she’d get me back the money during the weekend at my host-brother’s birthday party. So I give her the 2,000 and went home. As soon as I walked away I knew that I had just been conned. I was fairly certain milk does not cost 2,000 colones. I got home, put my stuff in my room and saw my host-mom in the kitchen. At that moment I decided that I needed to get out of the house or risk going ape-shit. So, I went to Manuela’s, one of our school cooks, house to relax a bit. While I was there, I decided to ask how much milk cost. I was informed that a small bag of milk (yes they come in bags here) only costs about 500 and a box costs around 1,000. So, my suspicions were right, I was conned. I really should have known better. Firstly, I knew milk doesn’t cost that much. Secondly, she passed by my house, her other sister’s house and was going to pass her mother’s house on the way home, so if she really needed milk or money she could’ve asked one of them. Oh man, lesson learned.
So after that, Luca, the Italian exchange student living with Manuela, asked me to go on a walk with him and some friends. I jumped the opportunity to hang out with people and be out of my house. It wasn’t very exciting, but I did meet some kids who go to the high school in Orotina. It was cool because I don’t really get to meet many teenagers since the high school is in Orotina and it’s tough just meeting teens on the streets. They were really cool and were super interested in my projects. So, I’m taking that as a sign that the youth will be willing to participate in my future projects.
Earlier that day, I was at the school and was invited to participate in a faculty meeting about educational quality. It was actually really insightful. Firstly, it’s really amazing to see how much these teachers care about their students and how frustrating it can be to work with not so many resources. People in the States can complain all they want, but we really don’t have it that bad. The kids here don’t even get textbooks. To get information, they basically just copy information from the chalkboard. This takes up class time from their already limited day (they only go to school half the day). Also, many parents don’t really care about the quality of education so they don’t encourage or motivate their kids to do homework. Naturally, this results in kids not doing any and thus not really learning much. However, it is uplifting to see that the teachers are making an effort, and they want to improve the quality of education. The kids deserve it.
So over the weekend, my host-family threw a big party on Sunday for my host-brother. He’s the one that lives with his dad. It was originally supposed to be on Saturday, but they changed it to Sunday because my host-mom had to work. Um, thanks for telling me ahead of time, lady. So I had to sit through another weird an uneventful party on the porch. This time, I socialized with some of my host-mom’s friend’s sons because they seemed as uninterested an bored as I was. Also, my host-mom’s boyfriend literally ran over Stevie, our blind dog. Luckily none of the tires got him, so he made it out alive. It was actually quite horrifying. There was Stevie just sleeping on a pile of gravel when this crazy guy comes full-speed, not looking and tries to park on him.
After people went home, I went into my room to work on my diagnostic when a few hours later, like the previous party we hosted, people came with speakers and all sorts of electronics and karaoke began. It was like a whole new party. It probably was. I think that they were celebrating my host-mom’s boyfriend’s birthday. Or perhaps mother’s day as well as it was the next day. All I know, is that I stayed in my room and tried to block out the noise with earphones and my own music and worked all night. Seriously, if you’re going to have a party, maybe you should let people who live in your house know about it. I’m fairly certain, “We’re having a party at lunch for Luis for his birthday,” does not translate into an all night karaoke festival hours after the original party died. Again, thanks for the heads up lady. I don’t have my own plans or anything. Oh, I feel that this is a good time to mention that I never got that 2,000 colones back.
So, Costa Rican Mother’s Day was the next day and unfortunately, it also happened to be my dad’s birthday. Bam! Double whammy! That was a bit miserable. For one thing, I really didn’t want to celebrate mother’s day, and for another I was naturally feeling down about everything. It was just a perfect storm of misery. On the bright side, I did get to skype with my family that afternoon while they got together to celebrate. It was good to not feel completely isolated from them. However, before our little skype date started, everyone in my house decided to go to bed before 7:30. Yes, that’s right. They went to bed before 7:30pm. So, normally when they go to bed early, I try to be respectful and stay quiet. However on this day, I figured that they had found a time that was just too absurd and that it didn’t matter to me on that day so I decided to stick it to the man, give them the bird and swear under my breath as I signed on to my skype account. It was glorious. It was so worth it just to talk to my family.
Yesterday, I was still feeling a bit of the blues when I found out that Coy and Melissa (a married couple) have quit Peace Corps and are going home this weekend. What a blow! Our group is dwindling! No, the reality is that they had finished a full tour of Peace Corps in Belize when they decided to go another two years here. They said that they lost their spark. It’s understandable. 4 years is intense. Not to mention that Melissa had previously done Peace Corps in Africa also. It’s still a sad loss to our little group. Coy was Mr. Sensible and was generally very calming for us and Melissa would just tell it as it is. They were kind of like our “parents” helping us get through training and managing the quirky things that come along with Peace Corps. So, to see them go is very sad. Also, the fact that they are leaving this weekend and we won’t have a chance to see them is sad. Que lastima that IST (In-Service Training) is so close, but not all of us will be there.
Well, that is all for now. Hopefully next time I’ll have better things to report.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Living and Learning
I have a feeling that today’s blog will be more contemplative than usual. For one thing, I haven’t really done anything that interesting lately. In fact, the past week has just been more of the same, so I have nothing much to report. Secondly, hm…what was that second point? I guess that it wasn’t that important.
The past couple days, I realized that I’ve felt a bit dazed and confused. It’s kind of like I’m at the point where things annoy me and I shrug and move on. Then something exciting happens and I enjoy the moment, but then the glow quickly fades and I return to a state of neutrality. It’s kind of disconcerting.
I think that it may be a result of continually being challenged all day, everyday. For a while, things would really amp me up, either positively or negatively, but now I roll with what comes my way and wait to see what will happen next. Maybe it’s because I feel like something is always lurking just around the corner. Maybe I’m integrating. Maybe it’s my mellow nature coming out. I’m not sure.
I think partly it’s because I’ve been trying to understand why things happen the way they do and figure out why life here is the way it is. I know it is different from life at home. Is it worse? I don’t know. I came out here with an open mind feeling prepared for all the possibilities of the unknown. Then a few crazy things happened that rattled my cage and frustration set in and my open mind became a bit narrower. Perhaps life felt more secure if I maintained the belief that my perception on life was absolute and anything outside of it was ridiculous. If I could just put up with nonsense for a bit, I will eventually return home where things make sense. As I’ve cooled off, that doesn’t really sit well with me. That’s contradicts the nature of why I’m here.
I didn’t come here just to get through and survive. There are many reasons why I came, but I truly did want to find a deeper understanding of the world and of life in general. The truth is that I came out here with ideas about how things are supposed to be. I didn’t realize that I had such stubborn ideas until I merrily crashed into the different and had some very strong reactions. Those ideas are being challenged. While at first, while being metaphorically pushed around, I instinctively want to push back; I realize that I’m going nowhere. I take a step back and realize, well, people have been making it work in a different way for a long time, maybe there’s something to the madness?
So now I don’t know what to believe. Portia de Rossi wrote in her autobiography, “‘Neither here nor there’ was an expression my grandmother would use to describe confusion and displacement, and it is a disturbing place to be.” I know that all of my previous perceptions cannot all be correct, but I also know that not everything about the way of life here is exactly perfect or “right” either. So where do the differences converge to create a more whole picture of what “things should be like?” Again, I’m not sure. I suppose I will have to wait, learn more, and figure it out as I go along. If I’ve suddenly made you feel like you want to now go and listen to Alannis Morissette’s “You Learn,” you’re not alone.
The one thing that I currently understand is that I don’t understand anything. I’ve always known that life isn’t black and white. Life is too complicated for that. I’ve come to learn that it isn’t gray either. In fact, it is a whole myriad of colors. It’s not a two dimensional scale. It exists in three dimensions. I feel like I’m on journey collecting more colors to add to my life’s palette.
On the bright side, work is coming along. My diagnostic now feels more like a massive college research paper, and I feel after years of writing papers, I can definitely tackle that. Everyone at the school is awesome. I love working with them – and not only the kids, but the teachers too. So to quote Mary Shelly, “Yet, do not suppose, because I complain a little or because I can conceive a consolation for my toils which I may never know, that I am wavering in my resolutions.” I definitely feel like I have work to do in this little town and I’m pretty excited about it.
Onwards and upwards! Stick with me folks, I feel like a very interesting story is beginning to unravel.
The past couple days, I realized that I’ve felt a bit dazed and confused. It’s kind of like I’m at the point where things annoy me and I shrug and move on. Then something exciting happens and I enjoy the moment, but then the glow quickly fades and I return to a state of neutrality. It’s kind of disconcerting.
I think that it may be a result of continually being challenged all day, everyday. For a while, things would really amp me up, either positively or negatively, but now I roll with what comes my way and wait to see what will happen next. Maybe it’s because I feel like something is always lurking just around the corner. Maybe I’m integrating. Maybe it’s my mellow nature coming out. I’m not sure.
I think partly it’s because I’ve been trying to understand why things happen the way they do and figure out why life here is the way it is. I know it is different from life at home. Is it worse? I don’t know. I came out here with an open mind feeling prepared for all the possibilities of the unknown. Then a few crazy things happened that rattled my cage and frustration set in and my open mind became a bit narrower. Perhaps life felt more secure if I maintained the belief that my perception on life was absolute and anything outside of it was ridiculous. If I could just put up with nonsense for a bit, I will eventually return home where things make sense. As I’ve cooled off, that doesn’t really sit well with me. That’s contradicts the nature of why I’m here.
I didn’t come here just to get through and survive. There are many reasons why I came, but I truly did want to find a deeper understanding of the world and of life in general. The truth is that I came out here with ideas about how things are supposed to be. I didn’t realize that I had such stubborn ideas until I merrily crashed into the different and had some very strong reactions. Those ideas are being challenged. While at first, while being metaphorically pushed around, I instinctively want to push back; I realize that I’m going nowhere. I take a step back and realize, well, people have been making it work in a different way for a long time, maybe there’s something to the madness?
So now I don’t know what to believe. Portia de Rossi wrote in her autobiography, “‘Neither here nor there’ was an expression my grandmother would use to describe confusion and displacement, and it is a disturbing place to be.” I know that all of my previous perceptions cannot all be correct, but I also know that not everything about the way of life here is exactly perfect or “right” either. So where do the differences converge to create a more whole picture of what “things should be like?” Again, I’m not sure. I suppose I will have to wait, learn more, and figure it out as I go along. If I’ve suddenly made you feel like you want to now go and listen to Alannis Morissette’s “You Learn,” you’re not alone.
The one thing that I currently understand is that I don’t understand anything. I’ve always known that life isn’t black and white. Life is too complicated for that. I’ve come to learn that it isn’t gray either. In fact, it is a whole myriad of colors. It’s not a two dimensional scale. It exists in three dimensions. I feel like I’m on journey collecting more colors to add to my life’s palette.
On the bright side, work is coming along. My diagnostic now feels more like a massive college research paper, and I feel after years of writing papers, I can definitely tackle that. Everyone at the school is awesome. I love working with them – and not only the kids, but the teachers too. So to quote Mary Shelly, “Yet, do not suppose, because I complain a little or because I can conceive a consolation for my toils which I may never know, that I am wavering in my resolutions.” I definitely feel like I have work to do in this little town and I’m pretty excited about it.
Onwards and upwards! Stick with me folks, I feel like a very interesting story is beginning to unravel.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Oh and the Crazy Continues
So, I as I have just loaded my last blog post, I figure it would be a good time to go to bed. I go to the bathroom and reach for the light. Hm, where is the switch. Seriously, I can’t be that dumb. Then I look. Oh. The light switch is no longer there. Nope, not that it’s not working. It literally is no longer there. It has fallen into our wall. WHAT THE…..???????!!!!!! I have no light! I now am living in a glorified shed without a bathroom sink and now no bathroom light?
Am I being punk’d? If so, now’s a good time for a reveal, before I go completely insane. Seriously, where the hell am I living?
Tune in next time to see if I have survived and/or am completely Looney Tunes.
Am I being punk’d? If so, now’s a good time for a reveal, before I go completely insane. Seriously, where the hell am I living?
Tune in next time to see if I have survived and/or am completely Looney Tunes.
Crazy Times
Hey there loyal readers! This week has been quite interesting to say the least. Definitely experienced some of those Peace Corps highs and lows that they talk so much about. Seriously, it kind of makes you feel like an unstable crazy person. Well, I guess sometimes when you deal with crazy situations, the most natural feeling would be to feel a little bit crazy I suppose. I normally write about my experiences in chronological order, but I figure today I will write with however flows best. Sorry if it seems a bit jumpy!
So last week I mentioned how there was a school shooting at the high school. I later learned that in the town of San Ramon on the same day, a bunch of high school students also died. However, while the shooting in my town was an act of violence, this was an act of complete stupidity or insanity. Possibly both. So, these kids decided to lay in the middle of the street side-by-side and were soon after run over. Yep, that’s about it. They decided to lay out in the middle of the street. Knowing how Costa Ricans drive, I consider that stupid, insane, and suicidal. Seriously, I get nervous crossing the street. I’ve almost lost my toes many times, and my life too often to count. Drivers here are CRAZY. Maybe there was a suicide pact…I guess we will never know.
Going back to the subject of the school shooting, the fallout has been pretty intense and slightly fascinating. The funeral took place three days after the shooting and I heard that so many people went that not only did they overflow the church, but the entire street and the park across the way. I wouldn’t know because I was in an all-day meeting/workshop, which I will get back to later. For the entire week, this event had seemed to be all that the community could focus on. I can’t blame them. It was quite shocking and it happened within the community. It was all people could talk about. It freaked out everyone.
The weird thing is that all of a sudden, people have stopped talking about it and life has gone back to normal. If it is mentioned in passing, it is brushed off like it happened years ago as opposed to a week ago. People have moved on. It’s quite astounding really. My host-brother Luis, who lives with his dad, was visiting over the weekend and we got to talking about the shooting. I had forgotten that he also goes to that school. I guess he was a friend of the victim. I didn’t really know what to say because there really isn’t anything one can say that would feel right in that situation. I’ve been to my fair share of funerals lately and know that one of the only things worse than feeling miserable is having someone trying to say something nice and making you feel more miserable. Sometimes saying nothing is best for all parties.
Anyway, so he started talking about the parents and seemed pretty upset about it. I think that he felt that the situation was preventable, and in retrospect it seems that it probably was. There were the classic signs that the shooter was troubled. His room was like a shrine to death and the things that he posted on his facebook page were indicators of his intentions. However, nobody did anything. I can see where surviving friends would be upset about this. I would want to know why nobody did anything either. All of a sudden, my host-mom starts scolding him about how a parent should love their kid no matter what. While true, I’m thinking this was probably not the best time to talk about that and the tone was probably not a great way to handle a grieving kid who is seeking to understand what happened in the midst of tragedy.
So, the high school is currently having therapists lead workshops and talks about what happened and are trying to support the students. However, there isn’t really hasn’t been an opportunity for the school kids to express their feelings about what happened and discuss warning signs and what to do if they come across red flags in the future. So, I decided that I would go class-to-class, and with the help of their English teacher, lead discussions about what happened.
These discussions went really well and I’m super happy about how the kids responded to the topic, but at the same time it was also slightly depressing. Every time I entered a classroom and explained why I was there and gave them space to express their feelings, the students didn’t know what to do with the open floor. I think that the loose nature of the discussion and the fact that it was focused on them and how they were feeling was so foreign that they didn’t know how to react. However, after asking a few questions and making sure they understood that the classroom was safe space for them, they really opened up. They wanted to share their thoughts and opinions to adults who were willing to listen. Sometimes the topic would turn to violence in general and some of the stories they had were just heartbreaking. It’s really hard to know what to tell a kid who deals with abuse at home or who has siblings with violent friends or boyfriends. It is also very obvious that they don’t trust adults. I can’t blame them. Adults don’t take most of them seriously. It was nice to see them expressing themselves and being completely respectful of each other’s ideas and feelings. I do hope that they got something out of the discussions because I know I sure did.
Like I mentioned previously, last week I went to an all day workshop with a bunch of people from the various social institutions. It was a day dedicated to children’s rights and the various ways that those rights are being violated in the country. I listened to presentations about violence, sexual exploitation, and child labor. It was incredibly enlightening. It is incredible how many people still believe in and use corporal punishment. The reasons children fall into child prostitution is incredibly sad on their own, then you add the things that happen to them while they are prostitutes. It’s awful. The amount of kids who are forced to leave school and work is astounding, and I can only feel for the kids who have to go to school and then work on their free time. It’s just so sad that people take advantage of kids in so many different ways. The only thing about this workshop that I didn’t like was that it didn’t really propose any solutions to these many problems. Sure it’s good to know that these things exist, but I’d also like to know how people are battling them, or at least that they have a plan to fight them. I don’t know. I do know that the meeting left me slightly depressed.
On a lighter note, this Friday there was an acto civico at the school which is basically their version of a school rally, but is normally focused on some kind of governmental holiday. I’ve seen a few before and thought them a good break from the normal school day, but this one was pretty cool. They were celebrating the annexation of Guanacaste into Costa Rica. All I know about the annexation is that there is a lot of debate as to whether Costa Rica stole Guanacaste from Nicaragua or if Guanacaste decided to leave Nicaragua and be part of Costa Rica. Really, the answer depends on if you ask a Nicaraguan or a Costa Rican. Either way, it is celebrated here. I’m glad because Guanacaste really is a fun region of the country and has some cultural things that are interesting. So, for the acto civico, the kids came to school wearing traditional outfits from the Guanacaste region, danced a bit, and created their own bombas. What’s a bomba? Well, it’s basically this thing that they do in Guanacaste where they shout and then say a really clever rhyme really quickly and then shout some more. It’s actually kind of fun at first, but then gets kind of annoying after a bit. Anyway, it was just a fun day in general. I got absolutely no work done, but I did eat a lot of traditional food. So that goes down as a good day in my book.
This is my counterpart, Don Carlos, aka: the principal of the school. He's watching the acto civico and looking very serious. He's normally smiling and joking around.
A bunch of the kids getting ready for the acto civico in their costumes. The kid in the middle with the hat is my host-brother, Dennis.
So, I know you’re all dying to know how my housing situation is after reading about my rat situation. Well, I must say that I think our rodent problem isn’t quite so problematic. I haven’t seen one in days, but I have heard that others have seen one a couple of times. Either way, it’s not quite the problem it was a couple of weeks ago. WIN!
However, the other night while everyone was sleeping, at around one in the morning, the whole house was awakened to a loud crash. Because my host-family can keep strange hours, I just figured it was my host-mom in the kitchen. Why did I think that she would be doing stuff in the kitchen at one in the morning? I don’t know. It’s probably because I’ve woken up at odd hours to people getting up and getting ready for work. I was also probably too tired to do the math and realize that 1 am is much too early for anyone to be getting ready for work. Well, in the morning I quickly discovered the cause of the startling noise. As I open the door to the bathroom I see that the bathroom sink is in pieces all over the floor. Yes, that’s right, our bathroom sink tore itself off the wall and it’s piping and committed suicide in the middle of the night. This happened mid-week last week. Guess what? We still haven’t replaced it. It doesn’t seem like people have much motivation to replace it anytime soon. I mean the sink was lying on the floor for days before anyone decided to do anything about it. So, I now have to wash my hands and brush my teeth either in the kitchen or outside. Annoying, yes. Surprising, no. At this point, I feel like nothing can surprise me. FAIL! 20 points rewarded to my mom’s theory about the shed.
Another interesting thing that happened last week was that I put my laundry out to be washed one morning as requested by the lady who is helping out around our house (I’m still confused about that situation) and when I got my laundry back, I was missing my navy blue bandanna. So, I decided to ask her if she’s seen it and she replied that she had not. I asked my host-mom who sometimes still folds my clothes, and she also denied seeing it. Well, I’m positive that it was in the laundry because I have become a crazy anal person about the comings and goings of my clothing since the now infamous bra-incident. Yes, it is famous. I have met a few volunteers along the way and been greeted with the, “Oh I heard about you!” Haha. Peace Corps gossip spreads quite fast in these parts. Anyway, knowing that I put it with the laundry and that it never came back really pushed my buttons. I mean it really pissed me off. (Sorry Megan, you have a half hulked-out letter coming your way) Firstly, I’m pissed that something of mine has gone missing. Whether it was stolen or lost, neither really looks that good. If it was stolen, it just means that I can’t trust people with stuff ever! If it was lost, then I still can’t trust people to take care of my stuff. Also, it was a gift from my sister that my aunt brought with her when she came to visit. Being a sentimentalist, I now cling onto gifts from home. To lose a token of someone’s love, is just not acceptable. I am aware that I sound like an OCD lunatic and that it is a bandanna and not something more important like a toe or an arm, but I must remind you of my opening paragraph. Sometimes I just turn into a crazy person. Plus, I think the other problems concerning my living situation added to the aggravation and I really just lost it. Well, I lost it to myself anyway. I still have enough sense to not go bonkers on people here even if it is in English. So, I locked myself away in my room and stewed about it all night. There was a lot of muttering and cursing to myself. Then I calmed down and started to feel depressed about being such a crazy person. The battle for sanity continues.
The weirdest part about the whole bandanna situation was that all of a sudden my host-mom was giving me the cold shoulder after I asked about having seen my bandanna. This was super confusing. I was frozen out for days. I started questioning whether asking about it was offensive, but I’ve decided that it cannot be offensive to ask if someone has seen something. That’s just part of interacting with people. So, then yesterday she went to town with her boyfriend and son and when they came back, the son gave me a new bandanna. After that, all was normal. Um, nice gesture I guess, but it doesn’t really fix my feelings or my paranoia does it? Gotta move on, just gotta move on. At least that’s what I tell myself.
And to leave off with the best part of my week, on Sunday I went to Playa Herradura to meet up with my Tico 22 friends, Tom and Melissa J. It was AWESOME. They called me up on Saturday wanting to know if I wanted to go to the beach, but they wanted to find a new beach. So, I asked my good Tica friend Rocío if she knew of any, and she suggested Herradura. Great suggestion! It was really nice. The water was mellow, it wasn’t rocky and there were palm trees and other tropical plants providing shade and awesome scenery. Not only was it amazing to be on the beach and swimming in the ocean, but it was sooooo good to be with friends. We compared stories and laughed at each other’s problems. We laughed not because we’re mean people, but because our problems are exactly the same. For the most part anyway. Nobody else’s high school had a shooting the past week. It felt so good to talk about frustrations with people who know exactly what you’re talking about without the slightest chance of offending anyone. It was also fun and cathartic to talk about where our heads are at in terms of our service. We’ve all decided that at the rate we’re going, we will have come into Peace Corps as bleeding heart liberals and leaving it cold-hearted Republicans (sorry Nicole, and I don’t actually believe all republicans are cold-hearted). Hahaha. To be honest, sometimes our frustrations have led us to view the world with a more conservative lens. I’m not sure if this is a normal part of the journey, but I’m hoping it just a phase. Maybe we still haven’t reached a level of understanding with the culture and the struggles of the people. We have only been at site for 2 and a half months. Maybe we’re viewing the world too simply and haven’t taken in the complexities of the culture. Maybe this is still just culture shock. I hope so. Either way, it was still an amazing day and the break from life that we all needed.
Until next time!
This is Playa Herradura. It was nice and mellow and the perfect place to go if your a PCV looking to regain some sanity with a few friends.
This would be Melissa making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Oh yeah, peanut butter is a rare treat for us. It's expensive here. I hadn't had a PB&J since the States. It was so amazing I had 2.
So last week I mentioned how there was a school shooting at the high school. I later learned that in the town of San Ramon on the same day, a bunch of high school students also died. However, while the shooting in my town was an act of violence, this was an act of complete stupidity or insanity. Possibly both. So, these kids decided to lay in the middle of the street side-by-side and were soon after run over. Yep, that’s about it. They decided to lay out in the middle of the street. Knowing how Costa Ricans drive, I consider that stupid, insane, and suicidal. Seriously, I get nervous crossing the street. I’ve almost lost my toes many times, and my life too often to count. Drivers here are CRAZY. Maybe there was a suicide pact…I guess we will never know.
Going back to the subject of the school shooting, the fallout has been pretty intense and slightly fascinating. The funeral took place three days after the shooting and I heard that so many people went that not only did they overflow the church, but the entire street and the park across the way. I wouldn’t know because I was in an all-day meeting/workshop, which I will get back to later. For the entire week, this event had seemed to be all that the community could focus on. I can’t blame them. It was quite shocking and it happened within the community. It was all people could talk about. It freaked out everyone.
The weird thing is that all of a sudden, people have stopped talking about it and life has gone back to normal. If it is mentioned in passing, it is brushed off like it happened years ago as opposed to a week ago. People have moved on. It’s quite astounding really. My host-brother Luis, who lives with his dad, was visiting over the weekend and we got to talking about the shooting. I had forgotten that he also goes to that school. I guess he was a friend of the victim. I didn’t really know what to say because there really isn’t anything one can say that would feel right in that situation. I’ve been to my fair share of funerals lately and know that one of the only things worse than feeling miserable is having someone trying to say something nice and making you feel more miserable. Sometimes saying nothing is best for all parties.
Anyway, so he started talking about the parents and seemed pretty upset about it. I think that he felt that the situation was preventable, and in retrospect it seems that it probably was. There were the classic signs that the shooter was troubled. His room was like a shrine to death and the things that he posted on his facebook page were indicators of his intentions. However, nobody did anything. I can see where surviving friends would be upset about this. I would want to know why nobody did anything either. All of a sudden, my host-mom starts scolding him about how a parent should love their kid no matter what. While true, I’m thinking this was probably not the best time to talk about that and the tone was probably not a great way to handle a grieving kid who is seeking to understand what happened in the midst of tragedy.
So, the high school is currently having therapists lead workshops and talks about what happened and are trying to support the students. However, there isn’t really hasn’t been an opportunity for the school kids to express their feelings about what happened and discuss warning signs and what to do if they come across red flags in the future. So, I decided that I would go class-to-class, and with the help of their English teacher, lead discussions about what happened.
These discussions went really well and I’m super happy about how the kids responded to the topic, but at the same time it was also slightly depressing. Every time I entered a classroom and explained why I was there and gave them space to express their feelings, the students didn’t know what to do with the open floor. I think that the loose nature of the discussion and the fact that it was focused on them and how they were feeling was so foreign that they didn’t know how to react. However, after asking a few questions and making sure they understood that the classroom was safe space for them, they really opened up. They wanted to share their thoughts and opinions to adults who were willing to listen. Sometimes the topic would turn to violence in general and some of the stories they had were just heartbreaking. It’s really hard to know what to tell a kid who deals with abuse at home or who has siblings with violent friends or boyfriends. It is also very obvious that they don’t trust adults. I can’t blame them. Adults don’t take most of them seriously. It was nice to see them expressing themselves and being completely respectful of each other’s ideas and feelings. I do hope that they got something out of the discussions because I know I sure did.
Like I mentioned previously, last week I went to an all day workshop with a bunch of people from the various social institutions. It was a day dedicated to children’s rights and the various ways that those rights are being violated in the country. I listened to presentations about violence, sexual exploitation, and child labor. It was incredibly enlightening. It is incredible how many people still believe in and use corporal punishment. The reasons children fall into child prostitution is incredibly sad on their own, then you add the things that happen to them while they are prostitutes. It’s awful. The amount of kids who are forced to leave school and work is astounding, and I can only feel for the kids who have to go to school and then work on their free time. It’s just so sad that people take advantage of kids in so many different ways. The only thing about this workshop that I didn’t like was that it didn’t really propose any solutions to these many problems. Sure it’s good to know that these things exist, but I’d also like to know how people are battling them, or at least that they have a plan to fight them. I don’t know. I do know that the meeting left me slightly depressed.
On a lighter note, this Friday there was an acto civico at the school which is basically their version of a school rally, but is normally focused on some kind of governmental holiday. I’ve seen a few before and thought them a good break from the normal school day, but this one was pretty cool. They were celebrating the annexation of Guanacaste into Costa Rica. All I know about the annexation is that there is a lot of debate as to whether Costa Rica stole Guanacaste from Nicaragua or if Guanacaste decided to leave Nicaragua and be part of Costa Rica. Really, the answer depends on if you ask a Nicaraguan or a Costa Rican. Either way, it is celebrated here. I’m glad because Guanacaste really is a fun region of the country and has some cultural things that are interesting. So, for the acto civico, the kids came to school wearing traditional outfits from the Guanacaste region, danced a bit, and created their own bombas. What’s a bomba? Well, it’s basically this thing that they do in Guanacaste where they shout and then say a really clever rhyme really quickly and then shout some more. It’s actually kind of fun at first, but then gets kind of annoying after a bit. Anyway, it was just a fun day in general. I got absolutely no work done, but I did eat a lot of traditional food. So that goes down as a good day in my book.
This is my counterpart, Don Carlos, aka: the principal of the school. He's watching the acto civico and looking very serious. He's normally smiling and joking around.
A bunch of the kids getting ready for the acto civico in their costumes. The kid in the middle with the hat is my host-brother, Dennis.So, I know you’re all dying to know how my housing situation is after reading about my rat situation. Well, I must say that I think our rodent problem isn’t quite so problematic. I haven’t seen one in days, but I have heard that others have seen one a couple of times. Either way, it’s not quite the problem it was a couple of weeks ago. WIN!
However, the other night while everyone was sleeping, at around one in the morning, the whole house was awakened to a loud crash. Because my host-family can keep strange hours, I just figured it was my host-mom in the kitchen. Why did I think that she would be doing stuff in the kitchen at one in the morning? I don’t know. It’s probably because I’ve woken up at odd hours to people getting up and getting ready for work. I was also probably too tired to do the math and realize that 1 am is much too early for anyone to be getting ready for work. Well, in the morning I quickly discovered the cause of the startling noise. As I open the door to the bathroom I see that the bathroom sink is in pieces all over the floor. Yes, that’s right, our bathroom sink tore itself off the wall and it’s piping and committed suicide in the middle of the night. This happened mid-week last week. Guess what? We still haven’t replaced it. It doesn’t seem like people have much motivation to replace it anytime soon. I mean the sink was lying on the floor for days before anyone decided to do anything about it. So, I now have to wash my hands and brush my teeth either in the kitchen or outside. Annoying, yes. Surprising, no. At this point, I feel like nothing can surprise me. FAIL! 20 points rewarded to my mom’s theory about the shed.
Another interesting thing that happened last week was that I put my laundry out to be washed one morning as requested by the lady who is helping out around our house (I’m still confused about that situation) and when I got my laundry back, I was missing my navy blue bandanna. So, I decided to ask her if she’s seen it and she replied that she had not. I asked my host-mom who sometimes still folds my clothes, and she also denied seeing it. Well, I’m positive that it was in the laundry because I have become a crazy anal person about the comings and goings of my clothing since the now infamous bra-incident. Yes, it is famous. I have met a few volunteers along the way and been greeted with the, “Oh I heard about you!” Haha. Peace Corps gossip spreads quite fast in these parts. Anyway, knowing that I put it with the laundry and that it never came back really pushed my buttons. I mean it really pissed me off. (Sorry Megan, you have a half hulked-out letter coming your way) Firstly, I’m pissed that something of mine has gone missing. Whether it was stolen or lost, neither really looks that good. If it was stolen, it just means that I can’t trust people with stuff ever! If it was lost, then I still can’t trust people to take care of my stuff. Also, it was a gift from my sister that my aunt brought with her when she came to visit. Being a sentimentalist, I now cling onto gifts from home. To lose a token of someone’s love, is just not acceptable. I am aware that I sound like an OCD lunatic and that it is a bandanna and not something more important like a toe or an arm, but I must remind you of my opening paragraph. Sometimes I just turn into a crazy person. Plus, I think the other problems concerning my living situation added to the aggravation and I really just lost it. Well, I lost it to myself anyway. I still have enough sense to not go bonkers on people here even if it is in English. So, I locked myself away in my room and stewed about it all night. There was a lot of muttering and cursing to myself. Then I calmed down and started to feel depressed about being such a crazy person. The battle for sanity continues.
The weirdest part about the whole bandanna situation was that all of a sudden my host-mom was giving me the cold shoulder after I asked about having seen my bandanna. This was super confusing. I was frozen out for days. I started questioning whether asking about it was offensive, but I’ve decided that it cannot be offensive to ask if someone has seen something. That’s just part of interacting with people. So, then yesterday she went to town with her boyfriend and son and when they came back, the son gave me a new bandanna. After that, all was normal. Um, nice gesture I guess, but it doesn’t really fix my feelings or my paranoia does it? Gotta move on, just gotta move on. At least that’s what I tell myself.
And to leave off with the best part of my week, on Sunday I went to Playa Herradura to meet up with my Tico 22 friends, Tom and Melissa J. It was AWESOME. They called me up on Saturday wanting to know if I wanted to go to the beach, but they wanted to find a new beach. So, I asked my good Tica friend Rocío if she knew of any, and she suggested Herradura. Great suggestion! It was really nice. The water was mellow, it wasn’t rocky and there were palm trees and other tropical plants providing shade and awesome scenery. Not only was it amazing to be on the beach and swimming in the ocean, but it was sooooo good to be with friends. We compared stories and laughed at each other’s problems. We laughed not because we’re mean people, but because our problems are exactly the same. For the most part anyway. Nobody else’s high school had a shooting the past week. It felt so good to talk about frustrations with people who know exactly what you’re talking about without the slightest chance of offending anyone. It was also fun and cathartic to talk about where our heads are at in terms of our service. We’ve all decided that at the rate we’re going, we will have come into Peace Corps as bleeding heart liberals and leaving it cold-hearted Republicans (sorry Nicole, and I don’t actually believe all republicans are cold-hearted). Hahaha. To be honest, sometimes our frustrations have led us to view the world with a more conservative lens. I’m not sure if this is a normal part of the journey, but I’m hoping it just a phase. Maybe we still haven’t reached a level of understanding with the culture and the struggles of the people. We have only been at site for 2 and a half months. Maybe we’re viewing the world too simply and haven’t taken in the complexities of the culture. Maybe this is still just culture shock. I hope so. Either way, it was still an amazing day and the break from life that we all needed.
Until next time!
This is Playa Herradura. It was nice and mellow and the perfect place to go if your a PCV looking to regain some sanity with a few friends.
This would be Melissa making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Oh yeah, peanut butter is a rare treat for us. It's expensive here. I hadn't had a PB&J since the States. It was so amazing I had 2.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Soccer and Rats and Shootings, Oh My!
Why, hello again! So, last week I had a lot to talk about because I was off doing so many fun and exciting things. For this week’s blog, I think that it might be a light entry because I really haven’t been doing much of anything.
Since the schools had been on vacation, I decided to also take a break from work. To be honest, it is almost impossible to concentrate at the house anyway when all the kids are home screaming, the TV is blaring. So, why not take a break? I’ve got a whole 2 years to work anyway. Oh, because I have a diagnostic of my community due in a month. Well, that’s what this week is for.
Then what have I been doing? I’ve been reading books like crazy. Nothing new, but in 2 weeks I’ve devoured 3 books. It doesn’t sound like much, but when you consider Great Expectations was on that list, I think that it was a pretty hefty amount of pages turned. Also, I’ve been writing a bunch of letters. Sadly, I’ve been receiving not so many letters back. Sad face. You know who you are!! I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about a handwritten letter that makes my day. It’s like the handwriting reflects the writer’s personality and the time taken to think about me and write it all down. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely grateful to have Internet too. I think I would be in a much worse position if I couldn’t be in regular contact with everyone back home.
The past week, I was following the Women’s World Cup. I’ve been a fan of the women’s national team for a while now, but it’s been quite a while since the team was this exciting. Seriously, I had been missing the days of Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy and the rest of the gang. They were so fun to watch and look up to. There weren’t that many women superstars, so it was nice to be exposed to females in a world of athletics dominated by men. After they retired, the team just wasn’t as dynamic. I mean, they still had Abby Wambach kicking ass, but it just didn’t have that same spark. All of a sudden, this year the team is on fire again! It’s been so fun watching them play hard and kick butt…except when they are not, like in the final, but I’ll return to that in a second. I contemplated getting a Carli Lloyd jersey, hopefully the reason is obvious, but their jerseys really suck this year. Really, who designed those hideous uniforms? They should be fired. Anyway, it was fun rooting them on with the rest of the country, even though I’m far away. I gotta say though, being the only American for miles who cares about the outcome of a soccer game is very strange and not quite as fun. Watching them lose in the final was really sad. I really almost wanted to cry. They could’ve won, there were so many chances, but they just couldn’t execute. It was a close game though, and it was really fun to watch. Also, if we had to lose to any country, Japan needs those uplifting moments more than any of us. So, while incredibly disappointing, it is kind of cool to think about the fairy tale ending for the Japanese team. They were such underdogs, yet they went for it and made out with gold.
Besides reading and watching some soccer, a lot of focus was put on the rodent problem in the house. I mean, it was a really big problem. They were everywhere and I could not sleep well knowing that they come out at night and roam around in my room. So, my host-family tried everything. They bought rat poison and that worked. The rodents ate it up. Yet, more came. They decided to put a mousetrap under my bed. Well, it killed one. I guess that’s something. Finally, they decided to get a cat…yet when the cat came, all the kids decided to chase it and it ran away scared. I seriously thought that the cat was gone forever. I mean, why would it come back? It’s not like it considers that place home. It was severely traumatized by the crazy kids. To be fair, half of the time I feel severely traumatized by those crazy kids. I think that it was even more traumatized by being brought to the house in a black plastic bag. Oh yes, that’s right. One of my host sister decided to bring it over in a plastic bag. She came over and says, “We got you a cat.” I say, “Where?” She points at the bag. I think, “Um, is it alive?” Somehow it survived. Yet despite all those things, a few days later it came back. Well, I’m not sure how many mice and rats it will be chasing since my host-mom prefers that it stay outside. OK… So, now we don’t have hoards of rodents coming out after the sun sets, but I’m fairly certain we still have one or two roaming around. I know this because I’ve seen them. However, since the trap failed to catch another rodent the other night, my host-mom considers the problem controlled and I think is halting further efforts. Like many things, I’m not sure how I feel about that.
So yesterday, at the local high school, there was a school shooting. There are many versions of what happened and why, but nothing is certain and the police are currently investigating what happened. From what I’ve gathered, a boy who doesn’t attend the school went there and shot another boy. He then shot himself. There is a lot of speculation as to why he did this. I’ve heard that drugs were involved. I’ve heard that it was about a girl. The most recent story is that they were formerly boyfriends and the victim broke up with the shooter to be with a girl and the shooter obviously had bad feelings over it. I’m not sure what to believe, but I do know that it is HUGE news. I didn’t realize, but it’s news all over the country. When it first happened, I obviously heard about it fairly quickly because I was in the middle of interviews and kids from the high school were calling their families to let them know what happened. Because our town doesn’t have a high school, the kids have to go the bigger town to that high school. I didn’t realize at the time that it was a national event. It makes sense though. School shootings are not common in Costa Rica. I keep hearing, “This is the kind of thing that happens in America.” Well, angry teenagers aren’t exclusive to America.
Anyway, I know this will probably freak people out back home, but let me assure you that all is well here. I am safe and the town is safe. In relation to where the school is, I’m about a 15-20 minute bus ride away. Also, as of yet, I haven’t stepped foot in the high school since it technically isn’t part of my assignment and I hear is a pain to get to, but in the future it is likely that I’ll work with high school students, but in my town doing workshops and other projects in our local salon comunal. Again, I just want to assure friends and family that I am safe and there is no need to worry. It could’ve happened anywhere. (Why take the chance?! Nothing to lose! Hahaha. Inside joke.)
Well, that’s all for now. Does anyone else feel like I’m living in a TV show? Seriously, I feel like my life is extremely abnormal. OK, gotta get to work so that I have more to write about later. !Hasta luego!
Since the schools had been on vacation, I decided to also take a break from work. To be honest, it is almost impossible to concentrate at the house anyway when all the kids are home screaming, the TV is blaring. So, why not take a break? I’ve got a whole 2 years to work anyway. Oh, because I have a diagnostic of my community due in a month. Well, that’s what this week is for.
Then what have I been doing? I’ve been reading books like crazy. Nothing new, but in 2 weeks I’ve devoured 3 books. It doesn’t sound like much, but when you consider Great Expectations was on that list, I think that it was a pretty hefty amount of pages turned. Also, I’ve been writing a bunch of letters. Sadly, I’ve been receiving not so many letters back. Sad face. You know who you are!! I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about a handwritten letter that makes my day. It’s like the handwriting reflects the writer’s personality and the time taken to think about me and write it all down. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely grateful to have Internet too. I think I would be in a much worse position if I couldn’t be in regular contact with everyone back home.
The past week, I was following the Women’s World Cup. I’ve been a fan of the women’s national team for a while now, but it’s been quite a while since the team was this exciting. Seriously, I had been missing the days of Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy and the rest of the gang. They were so fun to watch and look up to. There weren’t that many women superstars, so it was nice to be exposed to females in a world of athletics dominated by men. After they retired, the team just wasn’t as dynamic. I mean, they still had Abby Wambach kicking ass, but it just didn’t have that same spark. All of a sudden, this year the team is on fire again! It’s been so fun watching them play hard and kick butt…except when they are not, like in the final, but I’ll return to that in a second. I contemplated getting a Carli Lloyd jersey, hopefully the reason is obvious, but their jerseys really suck this year. Really, who designed those hideous uniforms? They should be fired. Anyway, it was fun rooting them on with the rest of the country, even though I’m far away. I gotta say though, being the only American for miles who cares about the outcome of a soccer game is very strange and not quite as fun. Watching them lose in the final was really sad. I really almost wanted to cry. They could’ve won, there were so many chances, but they just couldn’t execute. It was a close game though, and it was really fun to watch. Also, if we had to lose to any country, Japan needs those uplifting moments more than any of us. So, while incredibly disappointing, it is kind of cool to think about the fairy tale ending for the Japanese team. They were such underdogs, yet they went for it and made out with gold.
Besides reading and watching some soccer, a lot of focus was put on the rodent problem in the house. I mean, it was a really big problem. They were everywhere and I could not sleep well knowing that they come out at night and roam around in my room. So, my host-family tried everything. They bought rat poison and that worked. The rodents ate it up. Yet, more came. They decided to put a mousetrap under my bed. Well, it killed one. I guess that’s something. Finally, they decided to get a cat…yet when the cat came, all the kids decided to chase it and it ran away scared. I seriously thought that the cat was gone forever. I mean, why would it come back? It’s not like it considers that place home. It was severely traumatized by the crazy kids. To be fair, half of the time I feel severely traumatized by those crazy kids. I think that it was even more traumatized by being brought to the house in a black plastic bag. Oh yes, that’s right. One of my host sister decided to bring it over in a plastic bag. She came over and says, “We got you a cat.” I say, “Where?” She points at the bag. I think, “Um, is it alive?” Somehow it survived. Yet despite all those things, a few days later it came back. Well, I’m not sure how many mice and rats it will be chasing since my host-mom prefers that it stay outside. OK… So, now we don’t have hoards of rodents coming out after the sun sets, but I’m fairly certain we still have one or two roaming around. I know this because I’ve seen them. However, since the trap failed to catch another rodent the other night, my host-mom considers the problem controlled and I think is halting further efforts. Like many things, I’m not sure how I feel about that.
So yesterday, at the local high school, there was a school shooting. There are many versions of what happened and why, but nothing is certain and the police are currently investigating what happened. From what I’ve gathered, a boy who doesn’t attend the school went there and shot another boy. He then shot himself. There is a lot of speculation as to why he did this. I’ve heard that drugs were involved. I’ve heard that it was about a girl. The most recent story is that they were formerly boyfriends and the victim broke up with the shooter to be with a girl and the shooter obviously had bad feelings over it. I’m not sure what to believe, but I do know that it is HUGE news. I didn’t realize, but it’s news all over the country. When it first happened, I obviously heard about it fairly quickly because I was in the middle of interviews and kids from the high school were calling their families to let them know what happened. Because our town doesn’t have a high school, the kids have to go the bigger town to that high school. I didn’t realize at the time that it was a national event. It makes sense though. School shootings are not common in Costa Rica. I keep hearing, “This is the kind of thing that happens in America.” Well, angry teenagers aren’t exclusive to America.
Anyway, I know this will probably freak people out back home, but let me assure you that all is well here. I am safe and the town is safe. In relation to where the school is, I’m about a 15-20 minute bus ride away. Also, as of yet, I haven’t stepped foot in the high school since it technically isn’t part of my assignment and I hear is a pain to get to, but in the future it is likely that I’ll work with high school students, but in my town doing workshops and other projects in our local salon comunal. Again, I just want to assure friends and family that I am safe and there is no need to worry. It could’ve happened anywhere. (Why take the chance?! Nothing to lose! Hahaha. Inside joke.)
Well, that’s all for now. Does anyone else feel like I’m living in a TV show? Seriously, I feel like my life is extremely abnormal. OK, gotta get to work so that I have more to write about later. !Hasta luego!
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