First Month

One Month. It has been one month since I first arrived in Costa Rica. The time has definitely gone by pretty slowly but things are beginning to pick up now, as I am getting more used to my surroundings. In the past month I have been continuously spending my time mainly in the mountainous regions near San Jose, living in my training community. I continue to attend my daily language classes and Peace Corps training sessions. The pace is intense, as in always having activities and meetings to attend, but I am having a lot of fun. Sometimes I get caught up in my meetings and classes that I actually forget that I am in Costa Rica. My typical day really isn’t that bad, it is actually rather enjoyable. I wake up at 8 eat breakfast, walk up a gigantic hill to get to class, attend Spanish class ( which is incredibly fun thanks to Bill, Lindsay, and Andrew), go home for lunch or eat lunch at a friends house, return back to afternoon Spanish sessions or go to the local High School for additional peace corps sessions, play soccer after class, chill with other volunteers, go home for dinner, watch a movie, go to sleep, and do it all over again the next day. All of this while in the beautiful mountainous surroundings of Costa Rica where the only things I need to worry about are eating food, completing small fun assignments, and wondering where I am going to go drink my next Imperial. So far my first month has been awesome.

Last week, I attended the usual Friday routine of Happy Hour after classes with a couple volunteers and then I went home to immediately leave to another party. It turns out there was a 20th Birthday party for my host sisters friend and my host sister and brother were going. The party was up in the mountains were they have specific cabins for people to go an party at. So we leave the house at 7 pm in our 1980 Red Toyota Land Cruiser and picked up several people along the way, including my other volunteer friend Jon (who went to the University of Vermont). Jon and I usually party a lot together because our host siblings are good friends. Anyways we pick him up and several other people and progressively more and more people are following us by motorcycle. So we finally get to the cabin with us in the lead car and basically 10 motorcycles behind us with 2 people each on one. The main mode of transportation out here is definitely motorcycles, which is terrifying because 1) the roads are very rocky, 2) there are thousands of blind curves, and 3) the roads are very narrow with steep cliffs to the side since we live in the mountains. Anyways we get to cabin and immediately everyone starts drinking and blasting the reggaeton. Later in the night, Jon and I decide to introduce the popular drinking method of “Shotgunning” (which involves drinking a can of beer through a whole on the bottom of the can). Everyone was amazed at our “party trick”, and immediately after words all the guys at the party wanted to learn how, and to make a long story short for about an hour after words people where “Shotgunning” beers left and right. Overall it was a really fun time and everyone had a good time. The cabin where the party was at was pretty cool, it had a nice garage type area were we could all drink and dance. It was a little windy and cold but it didn’t damper the fun.

Then the next night there was a dance at the local bar, which was amazingly fun as well. Almost all of the volunteers met up before hand and hung out with some Imperial and Bacardi refreshments and then moved on to tear up the dance floor at the local bar which transformed into a dance hall. The music was loud and of various different genres, as well they had a pretty impressive light setup and fog machine (which when on full blast, made you feel like you were in a “white out” and prohibited you from seeing pretty much anyone around you). Overall it was a really fun time and peoples true dancing skills were broken out that night once again. Tico 16 (Our Peace Corps Costa Rica group) definitely knows how to have a good time.

This past Monday we completed a “Shadowing” exercise which consisted of me working with another volunteers host mother and learning about her daily routines and life. I has a really good time working with “Vilma” and learning about her life. She definitely works very hard and keeps a clean house. She also likes to get her hands dirty in the field and helps pick coffee during the coffee season. Our main activity consisted of baking pan casado and empanadas (filled with some sort of melon/honey conglomerate). Overall they both turned out really well and I had a great time getting to know her.

This coming weekend is going to be a lot of fun. On Saturday we have our first “Out of Site” night where we can “legally” leave our training communities for one night. After the first month of training we are allowed only one “Out of Site” night, but when we are a sworn in volunteer , we are allowed 3 per month. Anyways all of the Volunteers in my group will be going to the “ Bi annual VAC dinner” which is when all of the Peace Corps volunteers from all of Costa Rica meet up in San Jose to eat dinner and party. We have heard from other volunteers that it is always a fun time and I am pretty excited to spend a night in San Jose with everyone else in the group.
Anyways that is my life right now. I am sorry that these emails are so long but it is hard for me to update more often since I live 25 minutes away from a 28.8 kbps internet connection which sometimes works and costs an exorbitant 600 colones per hour (little more than 1 USD) normally it is 300 colones an hour. As well I am sorry for not checking emails and sending emails as often. If you want my phone number to talk more I would love to give it out. You can also send me a letter/postcard or package filled with goods to :

Rudolph Becker
Cuerpo De Paz
Sabana Norte, del Banco Interfin
200 mts. Al oeste y 100 mts. Al sur.
Casa esquinera, diagonal a la residencia del Embajador de Espana,
Frente al Parque Peru.
San Jose, Costa Rica

The address is in “direction” format. That is just the way how it is here. If you write down all of that information in the address box of whatever you are sending me it will definitely get to me. Also send things via regular mail, as Fed Ex and UPS packages are difficult to receive here. I know that most people really wont send me anything but even a postcard or short letter would be awesome, as it is really great to hear from all of you back home.

Thank you very much for reading my blog and I will try and update more often when I get the chance. Adios y Pura Vida.