After a much enjoyed break from the campo life of Costa Rica I was able to make it back to New York for some rest and relaxation. The transition from Costa Rica to New York was more intense then I thought it would be. Primarily because I havent seen alot of my family and friends for well over 9 months. But overall it was amazing to see everyone and as I am here now in Costa Rica, my time in New York served as a great refresher and as well gave me a new perspective between my life in New York and my life in Costa Rica.
Thanksgiving was a great time spent with my family. Of course we had all the mandatory foods and fixins on the table and it was really a special time to spend with my family. The next night was my five year High School Reunion which was definately a blast and as well served as a great opportunity to catch up with people I havent spoken to in a while and as well party with my good friends from back home.
Overall my experience in New York was positive. But it was definately very hard to say goodbye as I didnt spend as much time with certain people as I wanted to, and as well the feeling of comfort from my family and friends at home was very difficult to leave. I could easily see myself sliding back to my ¨normal¨ life as a member of US society, but then again I would be missing out on the amazing opportunity which I have here in Costa Rica. As well I feel connected to my site and the people which I am living with and helping here in Costa Rica and I could not let them down.
So far I have been back in Costa Rica for about 3 days and I am happy to have at least escaped the fierce cold of New York as I went on a 5 mile run in the blistering 90 degrees Fahrenheit mid day heat of Southern Costa Rica. My marathon training is working out well as of right now, but the heat will definately be a huge issue as the training progresses.
Things in my site are going well. I have continued my English Classes and am working to finish things up before I roll out to NY again to celebrate Christmas with my family.
Overall thinga are great and for all of you who I saw in New York over the break it was great to see you and I miss you all everyday.
Much love amd Tuanis,
Rudy
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Training is Fun
About a week ago I went with my friends Bill and Lindsay to go visit our training host families. As usual it was an amazing time. Very relaxing and quite a change from my regular site. I remember initially thinking that my living situation was rough but now whenever I go and visit my training host family in a way it seems like the Beverly Hills of San Jose. Overall it was a really great time.
The next day the three of us left on the bus to make it into San Jose in order to celebrate the birthday of a fellow Tico 16er. Ever since the rates at the usual hotel we stay at where jacked up we decided to try out a newer hotel. At this newer hotel we decided that we would need 2 2 bedroom suites with Balconies , Jet tubs, Bedais? ( the things next to the toilets to wash your rear ends), and King Size beds. It was definately a huge step up from the Hole in the all we normally stay at. As well the security guard named Elvis at our old hotel switched jobs and now works at our new favorite hotel, which is awesome. Elvis is the man. We went out that night and partied it up in some Italian restaurant and then of course brought back the party to the Suites and danced the night away.
The next day we needed to wake up early, like around 11 am, and get ready to board the buses for AVC. AVC stands for All Volunteer Conference. It is actually a mandatory event for all Peace Corps Costa Rica volunteers to go to. This year as in past years it was held at an Old Boyscott Camp high in the mountains of San Jose. It was soo high up in the mountais half the time it felt like we were in the clouds, as well it was extremely steep wherever we walked and freezing. Tico 16 of course grabbed the ¨Night Owl¨bunk as opposed to the ¨Early Bird¨Bunk, meaning at what times we would eventually go to sleep. Our room basically consisted of one GIGANTIC steel bunk bed with wrestling mats as the mattresses. Each bed or platform basically fit 12 people squished together. Overall the accomodations were meager along with the ICE cold showers but nonetheless some serious bonding went on at night. It is a good thing that TICO 16 were all Rural Community Development volunteers use the grundge and rough conditions.
Anyways at AVC there were alot of different¨Charlas¨or talks about potential projects and also meetings within the three different programs, RCD, CYF (Children Youth and Family), and CED ( Community Economic Development). As well there were alot of different entertainment things to such as play football in the mud, there was a talent show at the end of one of the nights (Which TICO 16 represented strong), and then another night we had a casino night with both Euchre and Poker. I ended up entering the Texas Holdem No Limit 24 person poker tournement and came out winning the WHOLE thing. I was the last man standing with 4,000 Brachs Pepperming Starbrite Candies as chips. It was a really fun event and I am definately glad that I came out on top. Normally I am not that good at poker but I have been honing my card skills at the casinos in San Jose every once in a while. Overall AVC was definately a really good time and I also had the opportunity to meet alot of new people in Peace Corps I have not met before.
After AVC about 1/2 of the volunteers who came to AVC decided to stay the night in San Jose. Which turned out to be a really fun time. We partied it up in the hotel then hit up the local duplex casino on the bottom floor Discoteque on the second floor joint and danced the night away. After waking up the next day I felt that I needed to get a haircut to trip my monstrous head of hair I had not cut for 9 months as well as beard I hadnt cut for 3 months. I went to the nearest haircut place and got be haircut done by this Colombian guy named Hubert. Good times all around.
Finally the next day I was able to trek back to my site in the Zona Sur of Costa Rica. Things in my site are going very well. I have begun my 2 adults classes on a twice a week 2 hours a day schedule. As well we have implimented the use of the new Centro Cultural Oxford Press books, which are very high quality and an overall very good English program in my classes. They are learning alot and seem to be having a great time. Teaching English is definately an amazing way to integrate into the community and as well a perfect opportunity to get to know people in my community on a more one on one basis. Overall there is nothing but success relating to my English classes.
I will be continuing work on my remaining interviews and as well hopefully finish up my Community Analysis Tool aka Report of my community by the end of December or January. As well the school year will be winding down in December so I am thinking up some ideas of what I can do with the children when they are out of school and have nothing to do.
At my house 2 near little calfs were born and as well one of my 5 dogs is very pregnant up to the point where she can barely walk. Last time she gave birth to 11 puppies. Ever since day one when I arrived my house as been under construction. So poco a poco things have been getting renovated which is great. We have new ceramic flooring as well they are currently installing windows. Right now my room does not have windows because the window guy comes to install the windows once every bloom moon. So I have been pleasantly startled with Chickens, Random Birds, and Stinging Insects randomly flying into my room as I read the newspaper on my bed. But overall it is going to be a good thing, because in the past the only window I had was boarded up by two wooden planks. The house which I live in now is definately one of the better quality houses in my site although I still need to venture to my latrine where last night there was a chicken sleeping in that startled the heck out of me.
Ever since I have arrived here in Costa Rica I have been meaning to start running again but never really had the motivation. So I decided to begin training for the Jungle Man Marathon on February 23, 2007 in Puerto Viejo. The marathon like all marathons will be 26.1 miles, where 2/3 will be running on the unforgiving beach and 1/3 literally in the Jungle all during the hottest time of the year. It will be an insane physicaly feet but I have dedicated myself to completing it and will definately give you the updates on my progress during training. Today I went on one of my first training runs and sweated up a storm in the 90 degree sun. It will be intense but hey Go Hard or Go Home as the say.
Other news I am extremely excited to head back the the US for a week for thanksgiving. I have my 5 year high school reunion to look forward to and as well spending time with family and friends I have not seen for over 9 months. It will definately be an amazing experience but mentally it will be hard in terms of culture shock to extract my self from the jungles of costa rica to the suburbs of New York. Things like driving a car, having a cell phone, eating whatever food you want whenever you want, flush toilets, and hot showers will be quite an experience.
Also I would like to personally thank The Gleason family for sending me such a wonderful care package to me here in the Zona Sur. It was piled high with American Candy and an amazing Dora the Exploradora educational game I know my Kindergarten class will LOVE. I really appreciate the effort.
I look forward to seeing everyone back home soon. Feel free to send me emails or packages whenever you want. I hope you enjoyed reading this novel of a blog entry.
Everything Irie.
Tuanis,
Rudy
The next day the three of us left on the bus to make it into San Jose in order to celebrate the birthday of a fellow Tico 16er. Ever since the rates at the usual hotel we stay at where jacked up we decided to try out a newer hotel. At this newer hotel we decided that we would need 2 2 bedroom suites with Balconies , Jet tubs, Bedais? ( the things next to the toilets to wash your rear ends), and King Size beds. It was definately a huge step up from the Hole in the all we normally stay at. As well the security guard named Elvis at our old hotel switched jobs and now works at our new favorite hotel, which is awesome. Elvis is the man. We went out that night and partied it up in some Italian restaurant and then of course brought back the party to the Suites and danced the night away.
The next day we needed to wake up early, like around 11 am, and get ready to board the buses for AVC. AVC stands for All Volunteer Conference. It is actually a mandatory event for all Peace Corps Costa Rica volunteers to go to. This year as in past years it was held at an Old Boyscott Camp high in the mountains of San Jose. It was soo high up in the mountais half the time it felt like we were in the clouds, as well it was extremely steep wherever we walked and freezing. Tico 16 of course grabbed the ¨Night Owl¨bunk as opposed to the ¨Early Bird¨Bunk, meaning at what times we would eventually go to sleep. Our room basically consisted of one GIGANTIC steel bunk bed with wrestling mats as the mattresses. Each bed or platform basically fit 12 people squished together. Overall the accomodations were meager along with the ICE cold showers but nonetheless some serious bonding went on at night. It is a good thing that TICO 16 were all Rural Community Development volunteers use the grundge and rough conditions.
Anyways at AVC there were alot of different¨Charlas¨or talks about potential projects and also meetings within the three different programs, RCD, CYF (Children Youth and Family), and CED ( Community Economic Development). As well there were alot of different entertainment things to such as play football in the mud, there was a talent show at the end of one of the nights (Which TICO 16 represented strong), and then another night we had a casino night with both Euchre and Poker. I ended up entering the Texas Holdem No Limit 24 person poker tournement and came out winning the WHOLE thing. I was the last man standing with 4,000 Brachs Pepperming Starbrite Candies as chips. It was a really fun event and I am definately glad that I came out on top. Normally I am not that good at poker but I have been honing my card skills at the casinos in San Jose every once in a while. Overall AVC was definately a really good time and I also had the opportunity to meet alot of new people in Peace Corps I have not met before.
After AVC about 1/2 of the volunteers who came to AVC decided to stay the night in San Jose. Which turned out to be a really fun time. We partied it up in the hotel then hit up the local duplex casino on the bottom floor Discoteque on the second floor joint and danced the night away. After waking up the next day I felt that I needed to get a haircut to trip my monstrous head of hair I had not cut for 9 months as well as beard I hadnt cut for 3 months. I went to the nearest haircut place and got be haircut done by this Colombian guy named Hubert. Good times all around.
Finally the next day I was able to trek back to my site in the Zona Sur of Costa Rica. Things in my site are going very well. I have begun my 2 adults classes on a twice a week 2 hours a day schedule. As well we have implimented the use of the new Centro Cultural Oxford Press books, which are very high quality and an overall very good English program in my classes. They are learning alot and seem to be having a great time. Teaching English is definately an amazing way to integrate into the community and as well a perfect opportunity to get to know people in my community on a more one on one basis. Overall there is nothing but success relating to my English classes.
I will be continuing work on my remaining interviews and as well hopefully finish up my Community Analysis Tool aka Report of my community by the end of December or January. As well the school year will be winding down in December so I am thinking up some ideas of what I can do with the children when they are out of school and have nothing to do.
At my house 2 near little calfs were born and as well one of my 5 dogs is very pregnant up to the point where she can barely walk. Last time she gave birth to 11 puppies. Ever since day one when I arrived my house as been under construction. So poco a poco things have been getting renovated which is great. We have new ceramic flooring as well they are currently installing windows. Right now my room does not have windows because the window guy comes to install the windows once every bloom moon. So I have been pleasantly startled with Chickens, Random Birds, and Stinging Insects randomly flying into my room as I read the newspaper on my bed. But overall it is going to be a good thing, because in the past the only window I had was boarded up by two wooden planks. The house which I live in now is definately one of the better quality houses in my site although I still need to venture to my latrine where last night there was a chicken sleeping in that startled the heck out of me.
Ever since I have arrived here in Costa Rica I have been meaning to start running again but never really had the motivation. So I decided to begin training for the Jungle Man Marathon on February 23, 2007 in Puerto Viejo. The marathon like all marathons will be 26.1 miles, where 2/3 will be running on the unforgiving beach and 1/3 literally in the Jungle all during the hottest time of the year. It will be an insane physicaly feet but I have dedicated myself to completing it and will definately give you the updates on my progress during training. Today I went on one of my first training runs and sweated up a storm in the 90 degree sun. It will be intense but hey Go Hard or Go Home as the say.
Other news I am extremely excited to head back the the US for a week for thanksgiving. I have my 5 year high school reunion to look forward to and as well spending time with family and friends I have not seen for over 9 months. It will definately be an amazing experience but mentally it will be hard in terms of culture shock to extract my self from the jungles of costa rica to the suburbs of New York. Things like driving a car, having a cell phone, eating whatever food you want whenever you want, flush toilets, and hot showers will be quite an experience.
Also I would like to personally thank The Gleason family for sending me such a wonderful care package to me here in the Zona Sur. It was piled high with American Candy and an amazing Dora the Exploradora educational game I know my Kindergarten class will LOVE. I really appreciate the effort.
I look forward to seeing everyone back home soon. Feel free to send me emails or packages whenever you want. I hope you enjoyed reading this novel of a blog entry.
Everything Irie.
Tuanis,
Rudy
Monday, October 29, 2007
The Dirty South Adventures
The Dirty South is the name us volunteers use to refer to the Southern part of Costa Rica. I dont really know why we use the name, but we definately get dirty down here. For example, yesterday I was recruited by two of my host sisters to get coconuts down from a palm tree near our house. Originally I thought that it wouldnt be too difficult of a task so I agreed to follow them to one of the palm trees near our house. They gave me this very long bamboo stick to poke the coconuts with. Keep in mind these coconuts are about 30 feet in the air, so this is a 30 foot bamboo stick I am carrying around, no wonder they recruited me, I couldnt see 10 year old picking this stick up. Anyways I tried wacking the coconuts a couple times with no success. All the while spiders, ants, and, palm bark are flying at my while I am hitting these coconuts, getting in my eyes and ants crawling all over me. I then proceed to break the bamboo stick. Disappointed my host sisters coax me to find another stick to get the coconuts from. I then go walking in the jungle and find this gigantic tree that fell down awhile ago. I decide that is is our only option so I carry these 30 foot beast of a tree to the coconut tree and with an unbelievable amount of strength, sweat, and ant bites I manage to get 6 coconuts down. This whole fiasco took about an hour but boy was it worth it. I had the girls chop open the coconuts for me with 2 foot machettes and we all enjoyed the sweet coconut milk aka pipa in spanish. As well as the coconut ¨meat¨ or whatever you might call it. Then as usual it started to rain and we had a huge water fight which was fun. Its crazy but my best friends here in my site are my 2 hosts sisters ages 9 and 11, and 2 host nieces ages 8 and 9. Me and these 4 girls play alot together and go on crazy adventures. We use to play alot of Jacks, but then those got lost no we throw the football around and play 500. To that outside eye it my seem weird that this 23 year old bearded man is playing childrens games with 4 girls under 12 but these are my best friends here and they are great.
After our water fight my host brother was in the Corral with a veterinarean of sorts seeing if any of our cows were pregnant. We have about 20 head of cattle and all of them were in the Corrall at one time. So you need to be careful that you dont get trampled or gored by a 700 lb cow or bull while walking around in there. I helped guide a couple of the cows into a holding area were the veterinarean (not really a vet, but someone who know something about pregnant cows) was waiting with a glove that went up to his shoulders. He then commenced by sticking his whole arm in the anus of the cow until he was shoulder deep into the cow, feeling around for a potential calf. Apparantely only one of our cows turned out to be pregnant. He found that out after going shoulder deep into 7 of our cows.
The above all happened yesterday. This goes to show that every day when I wake up here in Costa Rice, is a new day and a new adventure. The things that go on here I cant even forcast.
Anyways, my Dirty South VAC meeting turned out to be alright. We were again partying it up on the beach, as well as discussing relevant issue in terms of Peace Corps. Peace Corps is probably one of the only organizations I will work for that holds business meetings literally on the beach. It was great to meet the new Tico 17ers. They are a chill group of people who I am sure I will get to know alot better in the future. Right now the Southern VAC region has more volunteers than any other region in Costa Rica, so it is good to know that the South is rising. Aswell this is good considering that the Southern region of Costa Rica is also the poorest, so they are clearly recieving the most help in terms of Peace Corps assistance.
My travels with Tamar turned out to be an amazing time. We hit up Montezuma for a while, which is in the southern part of the Nicoya Peninsula as well as San Jose. In San Jose we lived it up in the luxurious restaurant Hotel Restaurante Grano de Oro. If anyone is going to San Jose and wants amazing food this is the place to eat at. Right now she is on her way to Grenada, Nicaragua to commence with Spanish Classes and other crazy travels. You can check her blog out under my links. She will be doing great things for the people of Nicaragua.
Right now I am just continuing life at my site. Things are going well. The rain is slowing down slightly. Looks like we have one more month of rain then comes the dry season which will be HOTTTT. I will be coming back to New York in late December for 8 days. It would be crazy if I could go sledding in the frigid snow and then lay out on the scorching beaches of Costa Rica all in the same week.
My English Classes are going well. We are going to start up an official program soon run by Centro Cultural Costa Rica. It is a very good English program that will be very beneficial to my students. My interviews as well in my site are going well, I am just about finished with them and then need to continue work on my report about the community. Once completed depending on security concerns I may or may not be able to post it on my blog. We will see.
In regards to the US I am extremely excited to be returning for a week for thanksgiving as well as attending my 5 year High School Reunion. It is going to be a blast. When I talk to alot of other volunteers and tell them I am going to my high school reunion they cringe and say that they would never go to theirs. But for me I had a blast in High School and loved everyminute of it, and I am eager to see everyone very soon.
Anwyays thats is all for now. I hope things are going well for everyone. Muchas gracias to Mac Bowen for his letter I just recieved, I will be getting back to you shortly via snail mail and everyone else keep those correspondences coming. Aswell I want to send a special shout out to my boy Jon Gleason, without him I wouldnt know where I would be.
Thank you all for reading my blog and I hope to see you soon when I return to New York in November.
Tuanis. Rudy.
After our water fight my host brother was in the Corral with a veterinarean of sorts seeing if any of our cows were pregnant. We have about 20 head of cattle and all of them were in the Corrall at one time. So you need to be careful that you dont get trampled or gored by a 700 lb cow or bull while walking around in there. I helped guide a couple of the cows into a holding area were the veterinarean (not really a vet, but someone who know something about pregnant cows) was waiting with a glove that went up to his shoulders. He then commenced by sticking his whole arm in the anus of the cow until he was shoulder deep into the cow, feeling around for a potential calf. Apparantely only one of our cows turned out to be pregnant. He found that out after going shoulder deep into 7 of our cows.
The above all happened yesterday. This goes to show that every day when I wake up here in Costa Rice, is a new day and a new adventure. The things that go on here I cant even forcast.
Anyways, my Dirty South VAC meeting turned out to be alright. We were again partying it up on the beach, as well as discussing relevant issue in terms of Peace Corps. Peace Corps is probably one of the only organizations I will work for that holds business meetings literally on the beach. It was great to meet the new Tico 17ers. They are a chill group of people who I am sure I will get to know alot better in the future. Right now the Southern VAC region has more volunteers than any other region in Costa Rica, so it is good to know that the South is rising. Aswell this is good considering that the Southern region of Costa Rica is also the poorest, so they are clearly recieving the most help in terms of Peace Corps assistance.
My travels with Tamar turned out to be an amazing time. We hit up Montezuma for a while, which is in the southern part of the Nicoya Peninsula as well as San Jose. In San Jose we lived it up in the luxurious restaurant Hotel Restaurante Grano de Oro. If anyone is going to San Jose and wants amazing food this is the place to eat at. Right now she is on her way to Grenada, Nicaragua to commence with Spanish Classes and other crazy travels. You can check her blog out under my links. She will be doing great things for the people of Nicaragua.
Right now I am just continuing life at my site. Things are going well. The rain is slowing down slightly. Looks like we have one more month of rain then comes the dry season which will be HOTTTT. I will be coming back to New York in late December for 8 days. It would be crazy if I could go sledding in the frigid snow and then lay out on the scorching beaches of Costa Rica all in the same week.
My English Classes are going well. We are going to start up an official program soon run by Centro Cultural Costa Rica. It is a very good English program that will be very beneficial to my students. My interviews as well in my site are going well, I am just about finished with them and then need to continue work on my report about the community. Once completed depending on security concerns I may or may not be able to post it on my blog. We will see.
In regards to the US I am extremely excited to be returning for a week for thanksgiving as well as attending my 5 year High School Reunion. It is going to be a blast. When I talk to alot of other volunteers and tell them I am going to my high school reunion they cringe and say that they would never go to theirs. But for me I had a blast in High School and loved everyminute of it, and I am eager to see everyone very soon.
Anwyays thats is all for now. I hope things are going well for everyone. Muchas gracias to Mac Bowen for his letter I just recieved, I will be getting back to you shortly via snail mail and everyone else keep those correspondences coming. Aswell I want to send a special shout out to my boy Jon Gleason, without him I wouldnt know where I would be.
Thank you all for reading my blog and I hope to see you soon when I return to New York in November.
Tuanis. Rudy.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Living the Dream
Disclaimer: Graphic imagery ahead.
Life has continued on here in Costa Rica at a leisurely pace. As of right now it is the rainy season and it is basically raining all day everyday. I finally made it to the internet place after a 90 minute walk in the rain, completely soaked but at least I finally made it. Alot of things have been going on since I last posted so I will try and update you on everything I can remember.
A couple weeks ago everyone in my town was getting ready for the ¨Fiestas Patronales¨which is basically a 2 day party at my site in order to benefit the church. The church in my town was repainted and the party began 2 Saturdays ago with cooking of Tamales, which is a type of food made of corn meal, rica, pork and wrapped in banana leaves. They take a while to make so everyone was helping with the preparation of the tamales for the larger party the next day. There were raffles for various different items as well as as a lot of eating and drinking going on. The next day was the larger party were soccer teams from neighboring communities came to my town in order to participate in a 7 team soccer tournament, which my town ended up winning. As of right now my soccer skills aren´t up to par in comparison to the players in my town but I look forward to playing on the team in the future. Overall the fiestas were a great success and the church earned a decent amount of money.
One interesting experience before parties was the preparation of the pig which was to be killed in order to supply the meat for the fiestas. Typically for a big party or during christmas time families kill the pigs which they have been fattening for around a year in order to celebrate. This time around it was the pig that lived down the road at my host sisters house, time to be sacrificed. I was reading my book one day when a family friend of my host family came by in his car and asked me If I wanted to go see him kill the pig. As I had nothing else to do, and felt that this was an experience I must have I decided to go with him. We arrived at the house to a boiling vat of water and the sounds of the pigs screaming in the distance, I feel that one of them already knew their destiny. My host sisters husband, My host sister, my host brother, my host nephew 3 years old, and 2 family friends were there for the execution. Before hand everyone brought there own knives and compared which one would deal the final blow to the throat. We took a rope to the 4 foot by 4 foot area the pig had been living in for a year put a noose around the neck and walked it over to the corral. This 100 kilo pig almost trampled me as I was watching it exit the pen. One person lay some corn feed on the ground to distract the pig, then WHAM!!!!!!!! with the back side of a very large axe one of the men crushed the skull of the pig. This resulted in large screaming and disorientation of the pig where then another person swooped in and stabbed the pig in the throat resulting in a river of blood exiting the pigs body at the whole in the throat. Immediately the dogs of the house that were watching this started to lap up the blood exiting the pigs throat while one of the man continuously bashed the back end of an axe into the pigs skull fracturing the skul in several places. After 5 minutes the pig was then propped up on a table and doused with the boiling water to remove the hair. It was then decapitated and hung upside down to drain the blood. Then commenced the pealing of the skin for the chicharones, fried pig skin, and then the slow carving away of all the meat and the careful removal of the internal organs. If certain parts of the internal organs are pierced during the extraction it can ruin the meat, i.e. stomach acids or contents of the intestines.
Anyways what to make of this, why did I write about this in such detail ? For me this was a very interesting and eye opening experience. One might consider this disturbing, but in reality there is no ¨humane¨way to kill a pig. At first I thought it was gross, but it further solidified my feelings of living close to the land which I live on. In my house we eat many of the fruits and vegetables we grow i.e. plaintains and mangos. We eat the meat of the animals we tend to pigs, cows, and chickens. Seeing them carve away at the ribs of the pig made me truly see where my favorite meal of Barbecue Ribs actually comes from. And for the people that I live with to have the skills and will to raise and kill this pigs says alot. They dont just walk down the aisle and pick up freshly sliced pork chops resting on styrofoam trays wrapped in plastic, they see the life of the pig from birth to death and obtain the meat with their own hands.
After seeing this experience I did not expect to be eating pork for quite a while as you can imagine. But actually I ended up nibbling away at freshly boiled chicharones, pig skin, with fresh lemons and a cold imperial 3 hours after the fact the pig was living and breathing. Overall it was a great experience, that same night another neighbor came over who killed one of his cows and left the full rib cage of the cow he slaughtered on our kitchen table. A small child could have fit inside of the giant bloody ribcage that was left on our table. That morning I had no idea I was going to experience that. Just like everymorning I wake up here in Costa Rica it is a new adventure.
English Classes. So far I have had 4 English Classes for the adults. 2 classes each week 2 hours each. I am averaging around 35 people per class which is insane considering that I am using the same classroom where 25 small primary school students completely fill up the space. It is an awesome experience teaching people from ages 18 to 65 in my class. People all have various different skill levels but for the most part are all beginning learners. We have begun to learn basic introductions, alphabet, and numbers. I am looking to start up an official program with accompanying books and other materials in November. Right now I am making the class up by myself entirely, just like how I am with my kindergarten and primary school classes. Everyone seems to really be enjoying the classes, It is definately a handful with so many students, but I look forward to working more with all of them.
Interviews. I have continued along the with the interviews in my town and at this point I am approximately 85 percent complete with all of my interviews. It has been really eye opening to see everyone houses in my community and talk to them about the issues facing them. I will be using all of this information in the future for my report about the community.
This past weekend I went to San Jose to visit my traning host family as well to celebrate two volunteers birthdays, Bill and Julia. Visiting my training host family was alot of fun and very relaxing. It was awesome to meet up with them, It kind of felt like coming back home, but to my home in Costa Rica. They are all doing well and we caught up on what we all were doing and I explained to them the latest in my life. The next day I woke up to 10 women in the house painting pictures on canvases. Apparently for the past 3 months every friday my host mom and her friends get together and paint all afternoon and have a leisurely lunch together. It was fascinating to see, my friend Bill also came over to my family. It was not just the fact that they were painting which struck me. It was that that my host family had their whole family as well as extended family and friends at the beautiful mountain top house with 360 degree mountain views doing art together. It was a very tranquil afternoon with art, food, and fun. The guys were fixing the cars, while the women were painiting, while all the children playing on the deck. This is a regular weeky occurance. To me this solidifies the feeling of family, and importance of family within their lives. While others around the world are staring at the clock to hit 5 on a friday they are spending time together relaxing and enjoying life. Sure that they live a more basic life then many in the US. But what is really important to drive that new car back home to a house late friday night, or drive back home early in a less fancy car to spend time with family and friends. Clearly people have different economic situation and what not, but for me and being here in Costa Rica I have noticed the central importance of family here. I remember coming home in Middle School and Highschool and going to my friends houses immediately after school or participating in other activites away from home. Here people come home after school and play with their siblings and extended family down the road well past High school. Clearly it is a different look from the more individualistic way of life, which is predominantely lived in America.
Later that weekend I partied it up with all the members of my Tico group in San Jose. We had an awesome time from dancing in the clubs to heading over to the Regal Mall Escazu to watch movies and play Playstation 3 on the largest widescreen HDTV in the world. Crazyness.
Overall my time here in Costa Rica has been great and I look forward to more crazy advenures and experiences. Soon I will have another meeting with all the volunteers in the south at the beach and then my girlfriend Tamar is coming which I am highly anticipating.
Shout out to Russell P. and Jen S. for hooking it up big time with an amazing care package for me. I am extremely grateful to recieve anything from the US. Thanks for your generosity. For the rest of you out there I patiently await for your packages. If you send me something, I can arrange to send you a howler monkey or toucan or something, haha we´ll see.
Much love for all. Tuanis.
Rudy
Life has continued on here in Costa Rica at a leisurely pace. As of right now it is the rainy season and it is basically raining all day everyday. I finally made it to the internet place after a 90 minute walk in the rain, completely soaked but at least I finally made it. Alot of things have been going on since I last posted so I will try and update you on everything I can remember.
A couple weeks ago everyone in my town was getting ready for the ¨Fiestas Patronales¨which is basically a 2 day party at my site in order to benefit the church. The church in my town was repainted and the party began 2 Saturdays ago with cooking of Tamales, which is a type of food made of corn meal, rica, pork and wrapped in banana leaves. They take a while to make so everyone was helping with the preparation of the tamales for the larger party the next day. There were raffles for various different items as well as as a lot of eating and drinking going on. The next day was the larger party were soccer teams from neighboring communities came to my town in order to participate in a 7 team soccer tournament, which my town ended up winning. As of right now my soccer skills aren´t up to par in comparison to the players in my town but I look forward to playing on the team in the future. Overall the fiestas were a great success and the church earned a decent amount of money.
One interesting experience before parties was the preparation of the pig which was to be killed in order to supply the meat for the fiestas. Typically for a big party or during christmas time families kill the pigs which they have been fattening for around a year in order to celebrate. This time around it was the pig that lived down the road at my host sisters house, time to be sacrificed. I was reading my book one day when a family friend of my host family came by in his car and asked me If I wanted to go see him kill the pig. As I had nothing else to do, and felt that this was an experience I must have I decided to go with him. We arrived at the house to a boiling vat of water and the sounds of the pigs screaming in the distance, I feel that one of them already knew their destiny. My host sisters husband, My host sister, my host brother, my host nephew 3 years old, and 2 family friends were there for the execution. Before hand everyone brought there own knives and compared which one would deal the final blow to the throat. We took a rope to the 4 foot by 4 foot area the pig had been living in for a year put a noose around the neck and walked it over to the corral. This 100 kilo pig almost trampled me as I was watching it exit the pen. One person lay some corn feed on the ground to distract the pig, then WHAM!!!!!!!! with the back side of a very large axe one of the men crushed the skull of the pig. This resulted in large screaming and disorientation of the pig where then another person swooped in and stabbed the pig in the throat resulting in a river of blood exiting the pigs body at the whole in the throat. Immediately the dogs of the house that were watching this started to lap up the blood exiting the pigs throat while one of the man continuously bashed the back end of an axe into the pigs skull fracturing the skul in several places. After 5 minutes the pig was then propped up on a table and doused with the boiling water to remove the hair. It was then decapitated and hung upside down to drain the blood. Then commenced the pealing of the skin for the chicharones, fried pig skin, and then the slow carving away of all the meat and the careful removal of the internal organs. If certain parts of the internal organs are pierced during the extraction it can ruin the meat, i.e. stomach acids or contents of the intestines.
Anyways what to make of this, why did I write about this in such detail ? For me this was a very interesting and eye opening experience. One might consider this disturbing, but in reality there is no ¨humane¨way to kill a pig. At first I thought it was gross, but it further solidified my feelings of living close to the land which I live on. In my house we eat many of the fruits and vegetables we grow i.e. plaintains and mangos. We eat the meat of the animals we tend to pigs, cows, and chickens. Seeing them carve away at the ribs of the pig made me truly see where my favorite meal of Barbecue Ribs actually comes from. And for the people that I live with to have the skills and will to raise and kill this pigs says alot. They dont just walk down the aisle and pick up freshly sliced pork chops resting on styrofoam trays wrapped in plastic, they see the life of the pig from birth to death and obtain the meat with their own hands.
After seeing this experience I did not expect to be eating pork for quite a while as you can imagine. But actually I ended up nibbling away at freshly boiled chicharones, pig skin, with fresh lemons and a cold imperial 3 hours after the fact the pig was living and breathing. Overall it was a great experience, that same night another neighbor came over who killed one of his cows and left the full rib cage of the cow he slaughtered on our kitchen table. A small child could have fit inside of the giant bloody ribcage that was left on our table. That morning I had no idea I was going to experience that. Just like everymorning I wake up here in Costa Rica it is a new adventure.
English Classes. So far I have had 4 English Classes for the adults. 2 classes each week 2 hours each. I am averaging around 35 people per class which is insane considering that I am using the same classroom where 25 small primary school students completely fill up the space. It is an awesome experience teaching people from ages 18 to 65 in my class. People all have various different skill levels but for the most part are all beginning learners. We have begun to learn basic introductions, alphabet, and numbers. I am looking to start up an official program with accompanying books and other materials in November. Right now I am making the class up by myself entirely, just like how I am with my kindergarten and primary school classes. Everyone seems to really be enjoying the classes, It is definately a handful with so many students, but I look forward to working more with all of them.
Interviews. I have continued along the with the interviews in my town and at this point I am approximately 85 percent complete with all of my interviews. It has been really eye opening to see everyone houses in my community and talk to them about the issues facing them. I will be using all of this information in the future for my report about the community.
This past weekend I went to San Jose to visit my traning host family as well to celebrate two volunteers birthdays, Bill and Julia. Visiting my training host family was alot of fun and very relaxing. It was awesome to meet up with them, It kind of felt like coming back home, but to my home in Costa Rica. They are all doing well and we caught up on what we all were doing and I explained to them the latest in my life. The next day I woke up to 10 women in the house painting pictures on canvases. Apparently for the past 3 months every friday my host mom and her friends get together and paint all afternoon and have a leisurely lunch together. It was fascinating to see, my friend Bill also came over to my family. It was not just the fact that they were painting which struck me. It was that that my host family had their whole family as well as extended family and friends at the beautiful mountain top house with 360 degree mountain views doing art together. It was a very tranquil afternoon with art, food, and fun. The guys were fixing the cars, while the women were painiting, while all the children playing on the deck. This is a regular weeky occurance. To me this solidifies the feeling of family, and importance of family within their lives. While others around the world are staring at the clock to hit 5 on a friday they are spending time together relaxing and enjoying life. Sure that they live a more basic life then many in the US. But what is really important to drive that new car back home to a house late friday night, or drive back home early in a less fancy car to spend time with family and friends. Clearly people have different economic situation and what not, but for me and being here in Costa Rica I have noticed the central importance of family here. I remember coming home in Middle School and Highschool and going to my friends houses immediately after school or participating in other activites away from home. Here people come home after school and play with their siblings and extended family down the road well past High school. Clearly it is a different look from the more individualistic way of life, which is predominantely lived in America.
Later that weekend I partied it up with all the members of my Tico group in San Jose. We had an awesome time from dancing in the clubs to heading over to the Regal Mall Escazu to watch movies and play Playstation 3 on the largest widescreen HDTV in the world. Crazyness.
Overall my time here in Costa Rica has been great and I look forward to more crazy advenures and experiences. Soon I will have another meeting with all the volunteers in the south at the beach and then my girlfriend Tamar is coming which I am highly anticipating.
Shout out to Russell P. and Jen S. for hooking it up big time with an amazing care package for me. I am extremely grateful to recieve anything from the US. Thanks for your generosity. For the rest of you out there I patiently await for your packages. If you send me something, I can arrange to send you a howler monkey or toucan or something, haha we´ll see.
Much love for all. Tuanis.
Rudy
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Living in Costa Rica = Amazing Times
So far soo good here in Costa Rica. My dad had the opportunity to visit early this month which was an absolute blast. We had the opportunity to do alot of different things together, while still having the ability to spend time at my site in the beautiful southern part of Costa Rica. It was really amazing to have someone from home, especially my dad, come visit me out here in the Jungle.
After my Dads visit I made my way over to San Jose for the bi annual VAC Dinner were we celebrated the new ¨Tico¨groups arrival and the oldest group departure. Tico 16 represented again strong, with everyone showing up to the event. As well we ran the party as evident of the after dinner ¨fiesta¨in my hotel room which had a large attendance to say the least. Then the next to a large amount of us went to the illustrious Terramall to watch movies. Andrew, Bill and I managed to watch the terrible movie entitled ¨Edison¨starring LL Cool J and Justin Timberlake. At least we were sitting in an air conditioned room with comfortable chairs, that is really all that matters.
Monday late afternoon I made it back to my site in one piece. I have continued working with the children in my town at the school regarding English classes. They are going well and I am incorporating more fun learning games into my curriculum which makes it fun for me and them. This Thursday I held a meeting at the town church regarding adult english classes. I had a very large attendance at the meeting of alittle over 35 people. I was very excited that people showed alot of enthusiasm regarding these future classes. I have now setup to new adult classes on tuesdays and wednesdays during the late afternoon and night. This coming week will be the first round of classes for the adults and I am eager to start working with them. The classes will serve as a great opportunity for learning within the community as well serve as a social opportunity for members of the community to get to know each other better.
This week I am looking to wrap up all my individuals interviews in my town . I have already written the first draft of my CAT (Community Analysis Tool) but in order for everything to be up to date and accurate I need to finish all my interviews. For the most part the interviews house to house have been a great experience. It is great to step foot into every house in my village and really talk face to face with the individuals about their happinesses, concerns, and lives overall.
I am looking to continue working with the newly formed committee de deportes (sports commitee) regarding fixing the soccer field and getting new uniforms for the sports teams. As well I look forward to my continued work with the development association regarding the water situation in my town.
Overall things are good in Costa Rica. Life is very good. I feel fully comfortable in my site and generally getting to and being anywhere in Costa Rica. I am excited to work with a couple new volunteers who have recently arrived in the southern part of Costa Rica, and as well continue work with my community members. What I love most about my life is the freedom which I have. The freedom to wake up everyday and say : Hey, What do I want to do today? I feel like never again in my life will I have the freedoms which I have now to simply do whatever I want, while still having the ultimate goal of helping people help themselves at the same time. Before coming here I told my self that this opportunity will allow me to do some soul searching and really discover what I want to do with my life. Well I have done a little bit of both, I still look forward to the future time I have here.
Anyways that is the latest from me. I look forward to seeing you all down here ASAP. Special thanks to Tamar and my family for sending me packages out here in the Jungle.
One Love. Respect.
After my Dads visit I made my way over to San Jose for the bi annual VAC Dinner were we celebrated the new ¨Tico¨groups arrival and the oldest group departure. Tico 16 represented again strong, with everyone showing up to the event. As well we ran the party as evident of the after dinner ¨fiesta¨in my hotel room which had a large attendance to say the least. Then the next to a large amount of us went to the illustrious Terramall to watch movies. Andrew, Bill and I managed to watch the terrible movie entitled ¨Edison¨starring LL Cool J and Justin Timberlake. At least we were sitting in an air conditioned room with comfortable chairs, that is really all that matters.
Monday late afternoon I made it back to my site in one piece. I have continued working with the children in my town at the school regarding English classes. They are going well and I am incorporating more fun learning games into my curriculum which makes it fun for me and them. This Thursday I held a meeting at the town church regarding adult english classes. I had a very large attendance at the meeting of alittle over 35 people. I was very excited that people showed alot of enthusiasm regarding these future classes. I have now setup to new adult classes on tuesdays and wednesdays during the late afternoon and night. This coming week will be the first round of classes for the adults and I am eager to start working with them. The classes will serve as a great opportunity for learning within the community as well serve as a social opportunity for members of the community to get to know each other better.
This week I am looking to wrap up all my individuals interviews in my town . I have already written the first draft of my CAT (Community Analysis Tool) but in order for everything to be up to date and accurate I need to finish all my interviews. For the most part the interviews house to house have been a great experience. It is great to step foot into every house in my village and really talk face to face with the individuals about their happinesses, concerns, and lives overall.
I am looking to continue working with the newly formed committee de deportes (sports commitee) regarding fixing the soccer field and getting new uniforms for the sports teams. As well I look forward to my continued work with the development association regarding the water situation in my town.
Overall things are good in Costa Rica. Life is very good. I feel fully comfortable in my site and generally getting to and being anywhere in Costa Rica. I am excited to work with a couple new volunteers who have recently arrived in the southern part of Costa Rica, and as well continue work with my community members. What I love most about my life is the freedom which I have. The freedom to wake up everyday and say : Hey, What do I want to do today? I feel like never again in my life will I have the freedoms which I have now to simply do whatever I want, while still having the ultimate goal of helping people help themselves at the same time. Before coming here I told my self that this opportunity will allow me to do some soul searching and really discover what I want to do with my life. Well I have done a little bit of both, I still look forward to the future time I have here.
Anyways that is the latest from me. I look forward to seeing you all down here ASAP. Special thanks to Tamar and my family for sending me packages out here in the Jungle.
One Love. Respect.
Friday, September 07, 2007
Life in My Site
So the adjustment from being over a week in the city, enjoying the luxurious of the modern world, took some time to adjust to once I got back to my site. But overall things are very good right now and I am back in the swing of the things, talking spanish and eating rice and beans.
Lately there have been alot of meetings going on in my site. The company ICE (Instituto Costaricense de Electricidad) has been holding alot of meetings regarding the Hydro electric power plant they are going to be building near my site. The meetings are relatively interesting, but they are helping the community in organizing themselves to solicite bigger projects for the town which is very helpful. At the last meeting we watched a 40 year old movie about some town that got completely relocated as a result of the building of the hydroeclectic dam. They wont be relocating the people at my site, but it was nonetheless interesting to watch the black and white movie.
One new cool thing is the rebirth of my towns Comite de Deportes. Everyone wants to start work on repairing our towns soccer field, which is right now just a piece of semi level land with alot of dirt and no grass. At our meeting last week we setup the 8 person comite, assigning the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, etc. Then a couple days later we had our first meeting and EVERYONE showed up. Many other volunteers complain that people don't show up to meetings but that really hasnt been a problem in my town. For the most part all the meeting I have been to have been well attended. People in my town really have a desire to better their community and selves. Right now we are looking into who owns the land the soccer field is on as well as coming up with organizations we can solicite many from. We also want to get some new uniforms for the soccer team. Overall, I am really proud of the formation of this new group and I look forward to working with them on future projects.
My English classes have been going very well lately. I have had to date over 20 english classes with my 1st through 6th grade class and around 17 english classes with my Kindergarten class. I am very proud of their willingness to learn as well as their skills in retaining the knowledge which I am teaching them. I remember I started to only learn spanish in 6th grade, right now I am teaching a foreign language to children from kindergarten to 6th grade. After my training in San Jose I learned some new games and skills to teach my classes. I have begun playing some classic games like "Papa Caliente (Hot Potato)", "Simon Dice (Simon Says)", and some other learning games. The children seem to be enjoying themselves as well as learning alot.
Yesterday I was attending a Junta de Educaccion/Patronato Escolar Meeting (sort of like PTA meetings) and we were talking about the donations we recieved to rebuild the kindergarten class, as well as construct a new general purpose class room. Right now we are in the planning phases of that and getting price quotes from different builders for the constructions. We also recieved a $1,000 USD donation to fix up our "cafeteria" aka room with a table and cooking supplies. Next Monday is "Dia de los Ninos" which is basically "Kids Day". They hadnt planned anything yet and realized that there was no money in the account to do anything. So my host mom said she would donate money for a cake, I matched her donation, and everyone in the room said they would also. It was interesting because before in the meeting we were thinking about fundraising ideas, and then 5 minutes later everyone in the room just flat out donated money. Then my host mom/counterpart went to collect food and money from the people in the town, that night she returned and said she recieved alot of money as well as donations from everyone she asked . Something I have always been proud of in my site is the sense of community which exhists in my site. It is a community of around 200 people but everyone knows everyone and everyone supports everyone. I know that if I walked down my street in my hometown of New York and said I was collecting money/food for a school party it would be a different story. A) People would think I was probably weird B) I wouldnt really know the person that lived 5 houses down from me and C) I bet maybe 1 in 3 would actually give me something.
What also really impresses me is the level of commitment everyone has in my town. People are commited to helping one another as well as their community as a whole. If someone doesnt have enough food, then we give them a live chicken to slaughter. If a neighbor down the road needs a ride we help them out with our car. As well the participation of the community members in meetings and comittees that help their community is amazing. People here seem to have a greater physical, mental, and emotional vested interest in improving their community as a whole than many communities I know of back in the US. Everyone plays a part in developing the community.
Anyways last night when I was teaching my 9 year old host sister to play chess, I was in the middle of my move when all of a sudden I heard my host mom screaming and running out of the house calling my other host brother. It took me a couple of seconds to complete my chess move until I decided to see what she was yelling about. I got up from my seat and went outside to see a HUGE ball of flames erupting from the side of my house. The plastic covering from our fuse box somehow caught on fire and was melting and dripping plastic fire as well as blasting sparks left and right. I immediately went to the sink and filled up a pot 3/4 filled with water and ran back to douse the ball of flames. The flames went out with that one bucket of water and the emergency subsided. For the rest of the night we didnt have electricity. Overall it was pretty wild, and our house could have easily burnt down if we werent there at that time. We just happened to be at the right place at the right time.
Anyways that is the latest here in Costa Rica. My dad is coming soon and I am very excited to see him after not seeing anyone from home for over 6 months.
Also I have changed my blog name from the exciting Rudolph Becker's Blog to the even more exciting: The Tuanis Times.
Adios Everyone. Respect and Tuanis.
Fotos for your pleasure :
Lately there have been alot of meetings going on in my site. The company ICE (Instituto Costaricense de Electricidad) has been holding alot of meetings regarding the Hydro electric power plant they are going to be building near my site. The meetings are relatively interesting, but they are helping the community in organizing themselves to solicite bigger projects for the town which is very helpful. At the last meeting we watched a 40 year old movie about some town that got completely relocated as a result of the building of the hydroeclectic dam. They wont be relocating the people at my site, but it was nonetheless interesting to watch the black and white movie.
One new cool thing is the rebirth of my towns Comite de Deportes. Everyone wants to start work on repairing our towns soccer field, which is right now just a piece of semi level land with alot of dirt and no grass. At our meeting last week we setup the 8 person comite, assigning the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, etc. Then a couple days later we had our first meeting and EVERYONE showed up. Many other volunteers complain that people don't show up to meetings but that really hasnt been a problem in my town. For the most part all the meeting I have been to have been well attended. People in my town really have a desire to better their community and selves. Right now we are looking into who owns the land the soccer field is on as well as coming up with organizations we can solicite many from. We also want to get some new uniforms for the soccer team. Overall, I am really proud of the formation of this new group and I look forward to working with them on future projects.
My English classes have been going very well lately. I have had to date over 20 english classes with my 1st through 6th grade class and around 17 english classes with my Kindergarten class. I am very proud of their willingness to learn as well as their skills in retaining the knowledge which I am teaching them. I remember I started to only learn spanish in 6th grade, right now I am teaching a foreign language to children from kindergarten to 6th grade. After my training in San Jose I learned some new games and skills to teach my classes. I have begun playing some classic games like "Papa Caliente (Hot Potato)", "Simon Dice (Simon Says)", and some other learning games. The children seem to be enjoying themselves as well as learning alot.
Yesterday I was attending a Junta de Educaccion/Patronato Escolar Meeting (sort of like PTA meetings) and we were talking about the donations we recieved to rebuild the kindergarten class, as well as construct a new general purpose class room. Right now we are in the planning phases of that and getting price quotes from different builders for the constructions. We also recieved a $1,000 USD donation to fix up our "cafeteria" aka room with a table and cooking supplies. Next Monday is "Dia de los Ninos" which is basically "Kids Day". They hadnt planned anything yet and realized that there was no money in the account to do anything. So my host mom said she would donate money for a cake, I matched her donation, and everyone in the room said they would also. It was interesting because before in the meeting we were thinking about fundraising ideas, and then 5 minutes later everyone in the room just flat out donated money. Then my host mom/counterpart went to collect food and money from the people in the town, that night she returned and said she recieved alot of money as well as donations from everyone she asked . Something I have always been proud of in my site is the sense of community which exhists in my site. It is a community of around 200 people but everyone knows everyone and everyone supports everyone. I know that if I walked down my street in my hometown of New York and said I was collecting money/food for a school party it would be a different story. A) People would think I was probably weird B) I wouldnt really know the person that lived 5 houses down from me and C) I bet maybe 1 in 3 would actually give me something.
What also really impresses me is the level of commitment everyone has in my town. People are commited to helping one another as well as their community as a whole. If someone doesnt have enough food, then we give them a live chicken to slaughter. If a neighbor down the road needs a ride we help them out with our car. As well the participation of the community members in meetings and comittees that help their community is amazing. People here seem to have a greater physical, mental, and emotional vested interest in improving their community as a whole than many communities I know of back in the US. Everyone plays a part in developing the community.
Anyways last night when I was teaching my 9 year old host sister to play chess, I was in the middle of my move when all of a sudden I heard my host mom screaming and running out of the house calling my other host brother. It took me a couple of seconds to complete my chess move until I decided to see what she was yelling about. I got up from my seat and went outside to see a HUGE ball of flames erupting from the side of my house. The plastic covering from our fuse box somehow caught on fire and was melting and dripping plastic fire as well as blasting sparks left and right. I immediately went to the sink and filled up a pot 3/4 filled with water and ran back to douse the ball of flames. The flames went out with that one bucket of water and the emergency subsided. For the rest of the night we didnt have electricity. Overall it was pretty wild, and our house could have easily burnt down if we werent there at that time. We just happened to be at the right place at the right time.
Anyways that is the latest here in Costa Rica. My dad is coming soon and I am very excited to see him after not seeing anyone from home for over 6 months.
Also I have changed my blog name from the exciting Rudolph Becker's Blog to the even more exciting: The Tuanis Times.
Adios Everyone. Respect and Tuanis.
Fotos for your pleasure :
Bre and I posing with fish we caught with out bare hands.
Me flying in Montezuma.
More Flying.
Group shot in Montezuma.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Montezuma and In Service Training
The past couple weeks have been pretty crazy with a lot of different things going on. Things at my site have overall been going well, but for the past 10 days I have been around and about throughout Costa Rica doing a variety of different things away from my site.
This month I decided to go on a trip with 8 other volunteers to the beautiful beach area of Montezuma. It is located in the lower part of the Nicoya Peninsula. It is very hard to get to and require various different transportation steps to finally arrive. But the trip was well worth it.
We arrived late in the afternoon the first day, but that did not stop us from going to the beach. The beach was absolutely beautiful. Quintessential beach with long views along the coast lines, lined with palm trees. The waves were really strong that afternoon and we all played in the waves trying not to get completely pummeled by the waves. That night we went out to dinner at this beach side restaurant and feasted on steaks, pasta, and seafood. Then we took the party back to the hotel which was located literally on the beach. Overall it was an amazing first day.
The next day we hit the beach early and setup shop down the shoreline and took in some sun. My friend Andrew and I went on a 3 hour long hike up the coastline to progressively more and more secluded beaches. We also climbed up this river and found a small 10 foot waterfall which we hung out at for awhile. That night we went back to the same restaurant this we liked it so much. Then of course brought the party back to the hotel room, and then went to the club to go and dance the night away. Writing this entry reminds me of the ridiculous life I live.
The next day we woke up early and chartered this small private boat to take us to Isla Tortuga, a small island off the coast of the Nicoya Peninsula. My friend Andrew organized the boat, the 8 of us left on the boat for the 45 minute trek up the coast to reach the small island. We spent 4 hours on the deserted beach and just took in all that the island had to offer. Lots of sun, fun, and great swimming. On the way back we stopped at this snorkeling spot, which was pretty cool. Later 25 minutes into the boat ride back we noticed large spurts of water splashing in the ocean in the distance. The spurts of water were whales snorting through their blow holes. We ended up getting extremely close to the 2 massive whales which to me seemed to be humpback whales. It was insane to be so close to such gigantic creatures, especially being in such a small boat. It was an awesome experience, and our boat driver said we were very lucky to see them so close, closer then he had ever seen them before. We then came back late afternoon and went out to dinner to another restaurant by a river feeding the ocean.
The next day we woke up and hiked an hour to some insane water falls. They were really cool to see and a great place to just go an hang out at. At the second waterfall higher up, which required a climb there was a rope swing and a few other spaces where you could jump into pools of water. We spent hours just hanging out by the falls. It was an awesome time.
Later that day we took the last bus out of Montezuma to head to San Jose to begin In Service Training. In Service Training occurs after the first 3 months of service. It was held at a really nice hotel. It was great to have hot water, good food, and not be surrounded by farm animals.
For the next 5 days we took classes in learning how to teach English better, cultural classes, technical classes, safety and security classes, and medical information sessions. Overall it was very informative, but very intense as all Peace Corps training events are. There is always a lot of information to cram into a small amount of time. Right now I am writing this blog from the hotels fast wireless internet connections which is awesome.
During the past couple days I have had the opportunity to compare and contrast stories and experiences among the other volunteers in my group. It was really a treat to spend so much time with the other volunteers as well as receive valuable training. It has given me the opportunity to really think about my experience here.
At this point in time I am very happy with everything going on and my life here. I am thankful for the freedoms I have, as well as the responsibilities of living and working for and in a rural Costa Rican community. I feel I have the capacity to really complete some great projects in my time and hopefully leave the town with more resources and skills for further development. Everyday I look forward to the next days adventure and learning experience. The Peace Corps has truly to this date been an amazing experience with many ups and downs but overall at the end of the day I can still say Tuanis.
This month I decided to go on a trip with 8 other volunteers to the beautiful beach area of Montezuma. It is located in the lower part of the Nicoya Peninsula. It is very hard to get to and require various different transportation steps to finally arrive. But the trip was well worth it.
We arrived late in the afternoon the first day, but that did not stop us from going to the beach. The beach was absolutely beautiful. Quintessential beach with long views along the coast lines, lined with palm trees. The waves were really strong that afternoon and we all played in the waves trying not to get completely pummeled by the waves. That night we went out to dinner at this beach side restaurant and feasted on steaks, pasta, and seafood. Then we took the party back to the hotel which was located literally on the beach. Overall it was an amazing first day.
The next day we hit the beach early and setup shop down the shoreline and took in some sun. My friend Andrew and I went on a 3 hour long hike up the coastline to progressively more and more secluded beaches. We also climbed up this river and found a small 10 foot waterfall which we hung out at for awhile. That night we went back to the same restaurant this we liked it so much. Then of course brought the party back to the hotel room, and then went to the club to go and dance the night away. Writing this entry reminds me of the ridiculous life I live.
The next day we woke up early and chartered this small private boat to take us to Isla Tortuga, a small island off the coast of the Nicoya Peninsula. My friend Andrew organized the boat, the 8 of us left on the boat for the 45 minute trek up the coast to reach the small island. We spent 4 hours on the deserted beach and just took in all that the island had to offer. Lots of sun, fun, and great swimming. On the way back we stopped at this snorkeling spot, which was pretty cool. Later 25 minutes into the boat ride back we noticed large spurts of water splashing in the ocean in the distance. The spurts of water were whales snorting through their blow holes. We ended up getting extremely close to the 2 massive whales which to me seemed to be humpback whales. It was insane to be so close to such gigantic creatures, especially being in such a small boat. It was an awesome experience, and our boat driver said we were very lucky to see them so close, closer then he had ever seen them before. We then came back late afternoon and went out to dinner to another restaurant by a river feeding the ocean.
The next day we woke up and hiked an hour to some insane water falls. They were really cool to see and a great place to just go an hang out at. At the second waterfall higher up, which required a climb there was a rope swing and a few other spaces where you could jump into pools of water. We spent hours just hanging out by the falls. It was an awesome time.
Later that day we took the last bus out of Montezuma to head to San Jose to begin In Service Training. In Service Training occurs after the first 3 months of service. It was held at a really nice hotel. It was great to have hot water, good food, and not be surrounded by farm animals.
For the next 5 days we took classes in learning how to teach English better, cultural classes, technical classes, safety and security classes, and medical information sessions. Overall it was very informative, but very intense as all Peace Corps training events are. There is always a lot of information to cram into a small amount of time. Right now I am writing this blog from the hotels fast wireless internet connections which is awesome.
During the past couple days I have had the opportunity to compare and contrast stories and experiences among the other volunteers in my group. It was really a treat to spend so much time with the other volunteers as well as receive valuable training. It has given me the opportunity to really think about my experience here.
At this point in time I am very happy with everything going on and my life here. I am thankful for the freedoms I have, as well as the responsibilities of living and working for and in a rural Costa Rican community. I feel I have the capacity to really complete some great projects in my time and hopefully leave the town with more resources and skills for further development. Everyday I look forward to the next days adventure and learning experience. The Peace Corps has truly to this date been an amazing experience with many ups and downs but overall at the end of the day I can still say Tuanis.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
August is for Bicycles
Greetings everyone. Just thought I would toss in a quick blog. Nothing too wild has been going on in my site. I have been continuing with english classes at the school. Right now in the Kindergarten class we just finished up the letters L for Lion and M for Monkey. Pretty exciting classes. As well in my 1st through 6th class we are reviewing classroom objects, and of course we are playing alot of Bingo which is always awesome, fun, and takes up alot of time.
I have been ramping up seriously my interviewing efforts this week. I managed to bag 15 interviews this week, which has been great. Excellent opportunity to speak to everyone one on one about this issue of the community. I have learned alot from them and look forward to implementing their recomendations. Recurring themes have been issues with Water, fixing the soccer field, Adult English Classes, Computer classes, Sources of Work, and Buses to and from my site to the city have been popular. The conditions of the houses which I have been to as expected have ranged from Cement floors with Cement walls, aka good quality house, to corrugated steel as walls and dirt floors, aka not so good quality. I have slowly come to learn that the house that I am currently living in right now is by far one of the best in my site. Although I didnt originally think that once I arrived. Everyone has a latrine aka hole they use to go to the bathroom as well to my suprise alot of people rely on rain water as their main source of water. Anyways I have been learning alot about my community through these interviews.
Today my director for my program in Peace Corps came. She arrived with a bicycle ! Which is awesome, and will hopefully cut my rigorous commute time to walk to school from 10 minutes to 3 minutes. But more importantly I can get out of my site probablty alot faster than the normal hour it takes to walk. But I am excited about the bike so it should be good.
Lately it has been raining like crazy here from basically from 4pm to 7 pm it downpours. With the days going by it is only getting stronger. Although it is very hot in the mid morning to afternoon which is alright.
Next week I will be going to the beach which will be fun and then I will attend In Service Training in San Jose for a week which should be a blast, hanging out with more volunteers.
Anyways that is all for now. I hope everyone is doing great.
Respect,
Rudy
P.S. I added a link so that you can page me on my pager. You can just send me a message to say hi, but I cannot respond back.
P.P.S. Keep the letters coming !
I have been ramping up seriously my interviewing efforts this week. I managed to bag 15 interviews this week, which has been great. Excellent opportunity to speak to everyone one on one about this issue of the community. I have learned alot from them and look forward to implementing their recomendations. Recurring themes have been issues with Water, fixing the soccer field, Adult English Classes, Computer classes, Sources of Work, and Buses to and from my site to the city have been popular. The conditions of the houses which I have been to as expected have ranged from Cement floors with Cement walls, aka good quality house, to corrugated steel as walls and dirt floors, aka not so good quality. I have slowly come to learn that the house that I am currently living in right now is by far one of the best in my site. Although I didnt originally think that once I arrived. Everyone has a latrine aka hole they use to go to the bathroom as well to my suprise alot of people rely on rain water as their main source of water. Anyways I have been learning alot about my community through these interviews.
Today my director for my program in Peace Corps came. She arrived with a bicycle ! Which is awesome, and will hopefully cut my rigorous commute time to walk to school from 10 minutes to 3 minutes. But more importantly I can get out of my site probablty alot faster than the normal hour it takes to walk. But I am excited about the bike so it should be good.
Lately it has been raining like crazy here from basically from 4pm to 7 pm it downpours. With the days going by it is only getting stronger. Although it is very hot in the mid morning to afternoon which is alright.
Next week I will be going to the beach which will be fun and then I will attend In Service Training in San Jose for a week which should be a blast, hanging out with more volunteers.
Anyways that is all for now. I hope everyone is doing great.
Respect,
Rudy
P.S. I added a link so that you can page me on my pager. You can just send me a message to say hi, but I cannot respond back.
P.P.S. Keep the letters coming !
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Liberia, San Isidro, and the Sun
Right now I am back at my usual internet cafe on top of the Supermarket surfing the net and hanging out with my friend Bill who came last night along with my other friend Andrew, both volunteers, to check out my site and experience my world one night in the campo. We had a great time just chilling out and enjoying the scenery, watching the chickens, eating pork, talking in english, and eating starbursts. Pretty much an ideal night. It was great to have them check out where I live. The night before that we went to the large ¨city¨of San Isidro for a night to celebrate Dia de Los Angeles. We ended up staying at a nice hotel with airconditioning and also to our suprise the hotel had an awesome pool which we enjoyed in the afternoon in the pouring rain. We later went out to a great dinner then hit the discotecque, where Bill sang a great Karaoke rendition of the ever popular song ¨Eres Tu¨. Overall it was a wild time and the four of us (Me, Bill, Andrew, and Alicia) were able to let loose a little and enjoy ourselves.
The weekend before this San Isidro trip I made my way up to the city of Liberia, with two other volunteers in my group. We ended up meeting up with several other volunteers from Peace Corps once we arrived in Liberia. Liberia is in guanacaste, and guanacaste is unbelievably hot. The Sun was pounding down on my all weekend, I managed to get a deep tan just by walking the streets. The fiestas were for the annexation of the part of Costa Rica called Guanacaste. Overall one of the largest parties of the year in Costa Rica. There were tons of food vendors, people selling everything from jewelry to livestock, several raised dance hall structures sponsored by the beer companies of imperial and pilsen, as well as different amusement rides. On Sunday there was a concert by the ¨Cumbia Kings¨. They are supposedly some famous group from Mexico. I was less than impressed by the music but nonetheless it was fun to party on the large lawn in front of the stage. I ended up staying with 10 other volunteers in a house rented out to us by another volunteers host sister. Overall you can imagine how crazy it got with 10 volunteers in a house, relaxing, party, and enjoying themselves after being isolated in their sites for a certain amount of time. The fiestas were awesome overall, and I also had the opportunity to meet new volunteers which was great.
Right now it is back to the campo life. Continue on with my Community Analysis and my town interviews. As well with my English classes. I have Inservice Training (IST) coming up so that should be cool to see everyone from my Tico 16 group as well come back to my site with some fresh new ideas for my site as well as additional training and knowledge to carry out bigger and better projects.
Lately I have been seeing alot of volunteers so It has been great to socialize with all of them. More and more I am getting use to my life as a volunteer living in a rural community. As the time passes things which at first were difficult, like using a latrine and being constantly covered and dirt, were difficult. But now I am getting use to it and comfronting new challenges everyday. Being a Peace Corps volunteer is a wild wild life. But I am glad to have made the decision to commit myself to the time I have here. I have been able to do a lot of self reflection on my life and the future decisions I want to make. Getting away from the hustle and bustle of the ¨9-5 work schedule¨ I have been able to construct my own schedule and do things when and where I want to do them. This is a very unique experience and I am definately relishing every moment.
Anyways I hope all is well with everyone. I miss you all and I look forward to hearing from you.
2uanis.
The weekend before this San Isidro trip I made my way up to the city of Liberia, with two other volunteers in my group. We ended up meeting up with several other volunteers from Peace Corps once we arrived in Liberia. Liberia is in guanacaste, and guanacaste is unbelievably hot. The Sun was pounding down on my all weekend, I managed to get a deep tan just by walking the streets. The fiestas were for the annexation of the part of Costa Rica called Guanacaste. Overall one of the largest parties of the year in Costa Rica. There were tons of food vendors, people selling everything from jewelry to livestock, several raised dance hall structures sponsored by the beer companies of imperial and pilsen, as well as different amusement rides. On Sunday there was a concert by the ¨Cumbia Kings¨. They are supposedly some famous group from Mexico. I was less than impressed by the music but nonetheless it was fun to party on the large lawn in front of the stage. I ended up staying with 10 other volunteers in a house rented out to us by another volunteers host sister. Overall you can imagine how crazy it got with 10 volunteers in a house, relaxing, party, and enjoying themselves after being isolated in their sites for a certain amount of time. The fiestas were awesome overall, and I also had the opportunity to meet new volunteers which was great.
Right now it is back to the campo life. Continue on with my Community Analysis and my town interviews. As well with my English classes. I have Inservice Training (IST) coming up so that should be cool to see everyone from my Tico 16 group as well come back to my site with some fresh new ideas for my site as well as additional training and knowledge to carry out bigger and better projects.
Lately I have been seeing alot of volunteers so It has been great to socialize with all of them. More and more I am getting use to my life as a volunteer living in a rural community. As the time passes things which at first were difficult, like using a latrine and being constantly covered and dirt, were difficult. But now I am getting use to it and comfronting new challenges everyday. Being a Peace Corps volunteer is a wild wild life. But I am glad to have made the decision to commit myself to the time I have here. I have been able to do a lot of self reflection on my life and the future decisions I want to make. Getting away from the hustle and bustle of the ¨9-5 work schedule¨ I have been able to construct my own schedule and do things when and where I want to do them. This is a very unique experience and I am definately relishing every moment.
Anyways I hope all is well with everyone. I miss you all and I look forward to hearing from you.
2uanis.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Rain, Classes, and Chickens with their Heads Cut Off
Life in Costa Rica, is pretty good these days. Taking things day by day while trying to keep myself busy and not completely boring myself out of my mind. I have been reading alot, Im reading the book Atlas Shrugged right now, and watching alot of movies on my External Hard drive, while at the same time doing lots of ¨Rural Community Development¨.
The Rain has been getting pretty fierce around here. It seems that everyday there is more and more rain and it is getting stronger and stronger. Everyday that passes gets deeper and deeper into the rainy season. My house is under severe construction right now so when it rains really hard it tends to rain inside the house as well since our rough isnt exactly ¨waterproof¨. But the constructions on my host families house is coming along really well, slowly but surely.
My classes are continuing as usual. The Kindergarden class is doing well. We are still covering the basics of ¨Hello, My name is Rosaura¨and classic phrases like ¨I like dogs¨and ¨I have 6 sisters and 3 brothers¨. But they are doing well, this past week we worked on the letters I and J. I for Ice Cream and J for Jeans. While they are coloring the pictures I spice it up a little and play some music on my ipod. I entertain them with classic tunes from Jimmy Hendrix, The Beatles, Bob Marley, and Pink Floyd to the greats like James Brown and Aretha Franklin. The kids enjoy the music as well as the coloring.
In my other class which consists of grades 1-6 I have been teaching them objects in the classroom, animals, and more advanced phrases. Like ¨I want 6 Giraffes¨ and ¨I don´t like Hot Chocolate¨. The class hit is when we play Bingo. Bingo is the answer to everything. They really enjoy it, it takes up a lot of classtime, and it is truly a learning experience. I havent experimented much with music with this class yet but their time will come.
Alot of the time after classes I hitch a ride with the Kindergarten teacher to the center of Buenos Aires so I dont have to walk 90 minutes to get there. One day when I was waiting for her to finish up I heard a mother in a nearby house tell her child to get the chicken. So a comical and lengthy chase pursued with the 10 year old boy racing around to catch the chicken. I thought nothing of it. Then 5 minutes later I saw a large group of children and I heard a squaking sound. The boy tied up the chickens legs with rope, tied it to a small tree and let the bird dangle from the tree. He then reached for his 2.5 foot machete, held the head of the bird, and slashed down on the chickens neck. The head went flying in one direction while the winds were flapping around for another 10 seconds after the beheading. I saw all of this from a distance of 25 feet. At first I was extremely shocked by the act which the 10 year old boy did but in reality that is just what happens to millions of chickens a day and nobody thinks twice about it. Maybe not the beheading but the murder part. Then I went to the back of the house and saw as they poured boiling water over the body and defeathered the chicken entirely. At the end it looks just like a normal chicken one would by at the supermarket. After that experience I told myself I would hold back from eating chicken for a while. For lunch today I had a chicken sandwhich.
At my site they have been also fixing up the roads which is great. Initially we had pretty poor and rocky roads but since the electrical company of Costa Rica is building a hydroelectric damn near my site they need better roads to move their big equipment around. So it is great that they are working on that.
As well the status of the water in my town is coming along slowly. Everyone in my site uses wells for their drinking water. Through my interviews people have said that water is the most important thing to them. I am working to get an aquaduct of potable water setup in my site. In some of my interviews people are drinking water out of streams. As well various health problems have arisen due to the fact that there is not clean water to drink. It is insane to think that in this day and age that it is not a human right to have access to clean and safe drinking water. Water is neccessary for life. Plain and simple and if Water is difficult to get and not safe to drink that makes life a whole lot more difficult. The situation at my site isnt neccesarily dire, like in some parts of the world that have severe droughts and terrible terrible water to drink, but nonetheless it is a situation that is important to everyone in my town.
Anyways that is all for now. I am hoping to meet up with some of my volunteer friends soon in early August and then toward the end of August I have In Service Training which last for a week in San Jose. That should be fun, and since it is held in a hotel you know what that means. Toilets, Comfortable beds, and Clean Hot Water ! YAYYY! Haha you gotta love the campo life.
Anyways that is all for now. I want to personally thank Ross Seiden for sending me three packs of Sour Starbursts, I am forever endebted to him. For the rest of you I can´t wait to recieve your letters and packages. Also if you dont want to send me a letter email me you address and I will send you one. We all know I have alot of time to burn down here. Haha.
I love you all. Tuanis. (Which is a more informal greeting then the very formal Pura Vida! Haha)
Rudy
Me and the Kindergarten kids chillin by the well at the school.
Porquito y yo.
The Rain has been getting pretty fierce around here. It seems that everyday there is more and more rain and it is getting stronger and stronger. Everyday that passes gets deeper and deeper into the rainy season. My house is under severe construction right now so when it rains really hard it tends to rain inside the house as well since our rough isnt exactly ¨waterproof¨. But the constructions on my host families house is coming along really well, slowly but surely.
My classes are continuing as usual. The Kindergarden class is doing well. We are still covering the basics of ¨Hello, My name is Rosaura¨and classic phrases like ¨I like dogs¨and ¨I have 6 sisters and 3 brothers¨. But they are doing well, this past week we worked on the letters I and J. I for Ice Cream and J for Jeans. While they are coloring the pictures I spice it up a little and play some music on my ipod. I entertain them with classic tunes from Jimmy Hendrix, The Beatles, Bob Marley, and Pink Floyd to the greats like James Brown and Aretha Franklin. The kids enjoy the music as well as the coloring.
In my other class which consists of grades 1-6 I have been teaching them objects in the classroom, animals, and more advanced phrases. Like ¨I want 6 Giraffes¨ and ¨I don´t like Hot Chocolate¨. The class hit is when we play Bingo. Bingo is the answer to everything. They really enjoy it, it takes up a lot of classtime, and it is truly a learning experience. I havent experimented much with music with this class yet but their time will come.
Alot of the time after classes I hitch a ride with the Kindergarten teacher to the center of Buenos Aires so I dont have to walk 90 minutes to get there. One day when I was waiting for her to finish up I heard a mother in a nearby house tell her child to get the chicken. So a comical and lengthy chase pursued with the 10 year old boy racing around to catch the chicken. I thought nothing of it. Then 5 minutes later I saw a large group of children and I heard a squaking sound. The boy tied up the chickens legs with rope, tied it to a small tree and let the bird dangle from the tree. He then reached for his 2.5 foot machete, held the head of the bird, and slashed down on the chickens neck. The head went flying in one direction while the winds were flapping around for another 10 seconds after the beheading. I saw all of this from a distance of 25 feet. At first I was extremely shocked by the act which the 10 year old boy did but in reality that is just what happens to millions of chickens a day and nobody thinks twice about it. Maybe not the beheading but the murder part. Then I went to the back of the house and saw as they poured boiling water over the body and defeathered the chicken entirely. At the end it looks just like a normal chicken one would by at the supermarket. After that experience I told myself I would hold back from eating chicken for a while. For lunch today I had a chicken sandwhich.
At my site they have been also fixing up the roads which is great. Initially we had pretty poor and rocky roads but since the electrical company of Costa Rica is building a hydroelectric damn near my site they need better roads to move their big equipment around. So it is great that they are working on that.
As well the status of the water in my town is coming along slowly. Everyone in my site uses wells for their drinking water. Through my interviews people have said that water is the most important thing to them. I am working to get an aquaduct of potable water setup in my site. In some of my interviews people are drinking water out of streams. As well various health problems have arisen due to the fact that there is not clean water to drink. It is insane to think that in this day and age that it is not a human right to have access to clean and safe drinking water. Water is neccessary for life. Plain and simple and if Water is difficult to get and not safe to drink that makes life a whole lot more difficult. The situation at my site isnt neccesarily dire, like in some parts of the world that have severe droughts and terrible terrible water to drink, but nonetheless it is a situation that is important to everyone in my town.
Anyways that is all for now. I am hoping to meet up with some of my volunteer friends soon in early August and then toward the end of August I have In Service Training which last for a week in San Jose. That should be fun, and since it is held in a hotel you know what that means. Toilets, Comfortable beds, and Clean Hot Water ! YAYYY! Haha you gotta love the campo life.
Anyways that is all for now. I want to personally thank Ross Seiden for sending me three packs of Sour Starbursts, I am forever endebted to him. For the rest of you I can´t wait to recieve your letters and packages. Also if you dont want to send me a letter email me you address and I will send you one. We all know I have alot of time to burn down here. Haha.
I love you all. Tuanis. (Which is a more informal greeting then the very formal Pura Vida! Haha)
Rudy
Me and the Kindergarten kids chillin by the well at the school.
Porquito y yo.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Campo Life in Costa Rica
Hey all. Glad to be back online and in the real world after a full week of campo life. This past week wasn´t too good for me as I was sick the whole time. I had a terrible cough and sneeze, accompanied with a fever, cold shakes, night sweats, and a never ending headache. Getting sick in the campo is like getting sick in real life, except in the campo you don´t have access to all the homely comforts one is use to when back at home in the US, like proper medicine, proper food, and peace and quiete. But anyways I survived and I am doing a lot better now.
School is back in session. The kids in my town had a 2 week break for mid year vacations. This week I am going to continue my work in the schools. I look forward to getting back into the schedule of teaching English classes as it gives me something to do. Apparentley the kids in the kindergarten class have been asking for me, and I look forward to teaching them new things and new words like : Giraffe and Hat.
Life at home has been relatively normal except for my sickness. We recently got this new little pig at my house. It runs all over the place, like in the living room, through the kitchen, and generally all over the
house constantly looking for food scraps. It looks exactly like the little pig named Babe, in the movie Babe. I have nicknamed him ¨porquito¨. He is really cute, but I know we are going to kill him one day and eat him. It´s a pretty sad story.
Talking about killing animals.. I saw the movie Fast Food Nation the other day off of my external Hard Drive which my brother Lucas loaded with movies and TV shows. It is an excellent movie and I encourage everyone to go out and rent it or buy it. It talks about the meat packing industry as well as the fast food industry. It is awesome, I would give it 4.6 stars out of 5 stars.
Life here in Costa Rica is very much like riding on an emotional rollercoaster. Some days I am feeling great and other days not so much. Like when I was sick this past week I wasn´t doing so well, and sometimes I get really lonely and bored and get depressed. But than other days I wake up and just look around and realize that I am being payed to live in Beautiful Costa Rica, while living in a small rural community helping people, and learning Spanish, with basically zero stress in my life. Everything is Irie, like they would say in Jamaica. But I am glad to say I am definately happy more so than I am sad. If it wasnt the case then I wouldnt be here.
Anwyays that is all for now. I hope everyone is doing well back at home. I checked my mailbox today and I saw nothing, so I will just assume that all those letters are in transit coming to me. Haha.
Tuanis !
Rudy
School is back in session. The kids in my town had a 2 week break for mid year vacations. This week I am going to continue my work in the schools. I look forward to getting back into the schedule of teaching English classes as it gives me something to do. Apparentley the kids in the kindergarten class have been asking for me, and I look forward to teaching them new things and new words like : Giraffe and Hat.
Life at home has been relatively normal except for my sickness. We recently got this new little pig at my house. It runs all over the place, like in the living room, through the kitchen, and generally all over the
house constantly looking for food scraps. It looks exactly like the little pig named Babe, in the movie Babe. I have nicknamed him ¨porquito¨. He is really cute, but I know we are going to kill him one day and eat him. It´s a pretty sad story.
Talking about killing animals.. I saw the movie Fast Food Nation the other day off of my external Hard Drive which my brother Lucas loaded with movies and TV shows. It is an excellent movie and I encourage everyone to go out and rent it or buy it. It talks about the meat packing industry as well as the fast food industry. It is awesome, I would give it 4.6 stars out of 5 stars.
Life here in Costa Rica is very much like riding on an emotional rollercoaster. Some days I am feeling great and other days not so much. Like when I was sick this past week I wasn´t doing so well, and sometimes I get really lonely and bored and get depressed. But than other days I wake up and just look around and realize that I am being payed to live in Beautiful Costa Rica, while living in a small rural community helping people, and learning Spanish, with basically zero stress in my life. Everything is Irie, like they would say in Jamaica. But I am glad to say I am definately happy more so than I am sad. If it wasnt the case then I wouldnt be here.
Anwyays that is all for now. I hope everyone is doing well back at home. I checked my mailbox today and I saw nothing, so I will just assume that all those letters are in transit coming to me. Haha.
Tuanis !
Rudy
Monday, July 09, 2007
Fourth of July
This past fourth of July, I spent with 6 other volunteers in PuertoViejo de Talamanca on the Carribean cost of Costa Rica. Overall it was a really fun and great to get to the beach and relax. It took approximately 10 hours to get there but it was definately worth it. The vacation was filled with good food, good music, and great times on the beach. We stayed at a hotel 100 meters from the beach. Bill and I shared a room with Full sized bunkbeds which were awesome and really comfortable. The town of Puerto Viejo is a cool hip town with a strong Afro Carribean feel to it. It is kind of like the ¨Jamaica¨ of Costa Rica in a way. We went to alot of different restaurants including one with a live calypso band. As well we went out at night to a couple of clubs and broke it down on the dance floor. Overall it was a great time.
Right now I am back at my site, just living life. It is still the Mid-year 2 week break for the school right now so I still have one more week free before I start up my English classes again. My interviews in the community are coming along slowly but surely. I am definately more and more becoming comfortable in my site. Nothing too crazy to report regarding my site, just the usual million animals all over the place and the constant feeling of living in a jungle.
Thats pretty much it for now. If you ever feel bored write me an email or send me a letter. I have plenty of time on my hands here in rural Costa Rica.
Keep it real. Tuanis.
Rudy
Right now I am back at my site, just living life. It is still the Mid-year 2 week break for the school right now so I still have one more week free before I start up my English classes again. My interviews in the community are coming along slowly but surely. I am definately more and more becoming comfortable in my site. Nothing too crazy to report regarding my site, just the usual million animals all over the place and the constant feeling of living in a jungle.
Thats pretty much it for now. If you ever feel bored write me an email or send me a letter. I have plenty of time on my hands here in rural Costa Rica.
Keep it real. Tuanis.
Rudy
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Chilling in my Pueblo, Meetings, Dead Goat, Beach
Greetings all. Rudy Becker here reporting the latest from Costa Rica. This week I spent most of my time hanging out in my town. I taught 4 more English classes this week, which turned out to be pretty succesfull. In my older group class we played Bingo. Turned out to be a fun game but definately took way longer than I expected it to take, in terms of making the bingo board and teaching them all the words and how to play. The kindergarten class continued along with their work. I have been teaching them the ABCs and they have aswell been working on their ABC book´s. This week we did the letters E for Egg and F for Fish. Pretty exciting overall.
This week was filled with meetings. I began this week with my house to house interviews. One thing I really like about my community is the fact that it really is a community. Very few places in the world can a neighbor (me) from 5 houses down the road come over to another person house (any member of my community) unannounced and just chat about your communities goals and neccesities. I have been learning alot
more about the community as a result of these interviews and as well I am making more one on one personal connections with members of my community.
My second big meeting was a meeting on monday with the development association of my town. We are right now working on getting an aquaduct system set up
in my town as of right now everyone is drinking and using water out of their personal wells on their property. With an aquaduct system in place we would pretty much get relatively unlimited access to potable (clean, filtered,free of bacteria) water whenever we wanted. As well we are working to setup a new bank account for a development association to recieve money
from the governemnt for future projects.
My third big meeting was at the school. News around town is that we recieved money to build another kindergarten classroom as well as another classroom for the school. It was only a priliminary meeting but with my spanish skills I believe that is what was fully discussed in the school. I look forward to collaborating with members of my community
in working to get these buildings built for the benefit of not only the students in the school but of the community. Hopefully with these new class rooms I can hold my english classes in them as well in the future potentially setup a mini computer lab of sorts to teach computation classes which has been requested around my town.
My fourth big meeting, not really a meeting but, on Thursday I went to the church with my family. On the last thursday of every month a pastor comes to our church to have services. I was curious
as to how the services where so I went to the church. It was an overall really great experience. I cant really pinpoint exactly what I liked most about it, but I just felt really touched about the whole experience. The pastor was interesting and it just seemed that everyone was really at peace being in the church. The church was extremely primitive, no music only singing, had holes in the cieling, ragged benches, and several smashed windows. But nonetheless everyone was happy and
everyone was able to channel themselves and appreciate God or whoever they were personally praying to. It just made me reinforce the fact that you dont´t really need alot to be happy in this life. As long as you have your family by your side, as well as good friends, and a positive appreciative attitude you can really live life to the fullest.
Yesterday I was hanging out in my house and my host sisters boyfriend asked me If I wanted to go for a walk. I was like sure why not. He said to wear pants and boots. We ended up initially walking along this trail in the property of my host mom. We walked past the cows and all of the land which my host brother cleared with his giant machete. My host brother literally cut the grass and bushes of probably 4 acres of land with one single machete in the span of an afternoon. He is a machine. Yesterday he said he killed 2 6 foot snakes while cutting the grass. Crazy. Anyways we started walking down deeper into the hillside and started to head literally into the jungle. He whipped out his machete and we were walking through the jungle with him clear cutting a path for us with his machete. We were scaling walls, sliding down mudslides, climbing 75 degee angle waterfalls it was nuts. Then we got to the river and walked down the river for like 2 kms. On the way back we walked in a different direction along the river and I smelled something fowl. It was the decomposing carcass of a goat which was probably there for over a month. It was disgusting you could see the whole bone structure as well as some rubbery pieces of skin trailing from the bones. It was crazy. So basically as we were walking back upstream the water we were wading in was at some point streaming past this decomposing carcass. Reminder : Never drink the water in a river, you NEVER know what is upstream. haha. I didnt drink it though although I think earlier my host sisters boyfriend did, but I think he refused to admit it. haha anyways that was just a crazy little midday adventure I had.
Right now I am in my usual internet spot above the supermarket in my nearest big town. It is raining and there is a festival of sorts in the town with rides and vendors all over the place. I will probably meet my family in the center square soon.
Regarding the future I am going to be spending the fourth of july on the beach for 4 days on the Caribbean coast. It should be a blast and I am really excited to spend a prolonged amount of time on the beach. It is gonna be wild. Ill be sure to snap some pics and let you know how it turns out.
Hope everyone else is well. My tickets are booked for November 19th to the 26th to come home for a week for Thanksgiving. Hopefully I can see many of you all then.
Much love,
Rudy
This week was filled with meetings. I began this week with my house to house interviews. One thing I really like about my community is the fact that it really is a community. Very few places in the world can a neighbor (me) from 5 houses down the road come over to another person house (any member of my community) unannounced and just chat about your communities goals and neccesities. I have been learning alot
more about the community as a result of these interviews and as well I am making more one on one personal connections with members of my community.
My second big meeting was a meeting on monday with the development association of my town. We are right now working on getting an aquaduct system set up
in my town as of right now everyone is drinking and using water out of their personal wells on their property. With an aquaduct system in place we would pretty much get relatively unlimited access to potable (clean, filtered,free of bacteria) water whenever we wanted. As well we are working to setup a new bank account for a development association to recieve money
from the governemnt for future projects.
My third big meeting was at the school. News around town is that we recieved money to build another kindergarten classroom as well as another classroom for the school. It was only a priliminary meeting but with my spanish skills I believe that is what was fully discussed in the school. I look forward to collaborating with members of my community
in working to get these buildings built for the benefit of not only the students in the school but of the community. Hopefully with these new class rooms I can hold my english classes in them as well in the future potentially setup a mini computer lab of sorts to teach computation classes which has been requested around my town.
My fourth big meeting, not really a meeting but, on Thursday I went to the church with my family. On the last thursday of every month a pastor comes to our church to have services. I was curious
as to how the services where so I went to the church. It was an overall really great experience. I cant really pinpoint exactly what I liked most about it, but I just felt really touched about the whole experience. The pastor was interesting and it just seemed that everyone was really at peace being in the church. The church was extremely primitive, no music only singing, had holes in the cieling, ragged benches, and several smashed windows. But nonetheless everyone was happy and
everyone was able to channel themselves and appreciate God or whoever they were personally praying to. It just made me reinforce the fact that you dont´t really need alot to be happy in this life. As long as you have your family by your side, as well as good friends, and a positive appreciative attitude you can really live life to the fullest.
Yesterday I was hanging out in my house and my host sisters boyfriend asked me If I wanted to go for a walk. I was like sure why not. He said to wear pants and boots. We ended up initially walking along this trail in the property of my host mom. We walked past the cows and all of the land which my host brother cleared with his giant machete. My host brother literally cut the grass and bushes of probably 4 acres of land with one single machete in the span of an afternoon. He is a machine. Yesterday he said he killed 2 6 foot snakes while cutting the grass. Crazy. Anyways we started walking down deeper into the hillside and started to head literally into the jungle. He whipped out his machete and we were walking through the jungle with him clear cutting a path for us with his machete. We were scaling walls, sliding down mudslides, climbing 75 degee angle waterfalls it was nuts. Then we got to the river and walked down the river for like 2 kms. On the way back we walked in a different direction along the river and I smelled something fowl. It was the decomposing carcass of a goat which was probably there for over a month. It was disgusting you could see the whole bone structure as well as some rubbery pieces of skin trailing from the bones. It was crazy. So basically as we were walking back upstream the water we were wading in was at some point streaming past this decomposing carcass. Reminder : Never drink the water in a river, you NEVER know what is upstream. haha. I didnt drink it though although I think earlier my host sisters boyfriend did, but I think he refused to admit it. haha anyways that was just a crazy little midday adventure I had.
Right now I am in my usual internet spot above the supermarket in my nearest big town. It is raining and there is a festival of sorts in the town with rides and vendors all over the place. I will probably meet my family in the center square soon.
Regarding the future I am going to be spending the fourth of july on the beach for 4 days on the Caribbean coast. It should be a blast and I am really excited to spend a prolonged amount of time on the beach. It is gonna be wild. Ill be sure to snap some pics and let you know how it turns out.
Hope everyone else is well. My tickets are booked for November 19th to the 26th to come home for a week for Thanksgiving. Hopefully I can see many of you all then.
Much love,
Rudy
Monday, June 25, 2007
Campo 4 Life
Back for another installment of my blog eh? Life is so far so good down here in Costa Rica. Just living it up here in the Campo with my 20 cows, 30 chickens, 5 dogs, 1000 species of insects, 1 Turkey, 1,235 Cockroaches, and 4 horses. As I am settling in more and more, and getting into somewhat of a schedule my days are becoming more and more similar. It seems like a long time for the actual day to pass but the weeks are flying off the calendar.
This past week I continued my English classes at the school. The Kindergartners are learning alot and everytime I come into the school they immediately great me by ¨Rodolfo¨. I go by ¨Rodolfo¨in my town. As well my class with the 1st through 6th graders is going very well at a suprisingly fast pace. They are very eager to learn and are getting use to my weekly classes . I have recently learned how to add photos to my blog so here is a pic of me and the kindergarten class .
This past weekend I went to San Jose with my Tico 16 group. It was a pretty wild time we ended up staying in a new hostel and then hit the city for dinner at a restaurant and then dancing at a discotec. It was great to see some of my friend who I hadnt seen for a month. We are now in the midst of planning another trip over the 4th of July weekend, probably at the beach.
Since nothing really to crazy had happened in the past couple weeks I will try and enlighten you with some pictures of my life here in Costa Rica.
My Crib
Me doing Poi at night
Me on the beach in Dominical
Me and some of the kids I live with.
Me and Bill classing it up after Swearing in.
Cake in the face on my Birthday.
Tico 16
This past week I continued my English classes at the school. The Kindergartners are learning alot and everytime I come into the school they immediately great me by ¨Rodolfo¨. I go by ¨Rodolfo¨in my town. As well my class with the 1st through 6th graders is going very well at a suprisingly fast pace. They are very eager to learn and are getting use to my weekly classes . I have recently learned how to add photos to my blog so here is a pic of me and the kindergarten class .
This past weekend I went to San Jose with my Tico 16 group. It was a pretty wild time we ended up staying in a new hostel and then hit the city for dinner at a restaurant and then dancing at a discotec. It was great to see some of my friend who I hadnt seen for a month. We are now in the midst of planning another trip over the 4th of July weekend, probably at the beach.
Since nothing really to crazy had happened in the past couple weeks I will try and enlighten you with some pictures of my life here in Costa Rica.
My Crib
Me doing Poi at night
Me on the beach in Dominical
Me and some of the kids I live with.
Me and Bill classing it up after Swearing in.
Cake in the face on my Birthday.
Tico 16Well that is pretty much it for pictures. If you have any special requests like me with a snake around my neck or me sipping a pina colada in a hot tub overlooking the ocean. I can probably accomodate your requests. Thats all for now.
Pura Vida,
Rudy
Pura Vida,
Rudy
Monday, June 18, 2007
Beach, Beer, and Books
Life in Costa Rica lately has been pretty great. I am more and more slowly getting adjusted to my life here in my site. Slowly building some routines and definately taking in all the amazing weather. Right now we are in the rainy season here, but for a majority of the day usually in the morning and early afternoon it is bright and really sunny. I have gotten the routine down pretty well of waking up having breakfast and sitting on my hammock every morning and getting a good hour or 2 of reading in, under the bright Costa Rican sun.
Although it hasnt all been rest and relaxation, I have continued my English classes in the local school these past weeks. I have recently started class with the Kindergarten class of 9 students. They are really young, and cannot read or write as expected but are loving the classes and embracing my efforts to teach them new words and songs. I am teaching them new words half the time and then the other half we are focusing on learning a new letter each session and coloring a sheet of paper with the letter, a picture of an example of on object starting with the letter, and the word spelled out (i.e C, picture of cat, CAT). Anwyays after they are done with the whole alphabet I am going to make a book with them with all the pictures they drew. Nice little project to start off. My first through sixth grade class is doing well and they are overcoming the initial nervousness of having a new teacher, and all are participating more and very excited to learn. When I get home I hear my host sisters speaking the new words we learned in english class, so it looks like it is sticking. But overall a great experience that I am having in the community.
Books. I am definately reading alot now. I finished Shantaram a while ago which I strongly recommend and has become my favorite book. Read 2 more books and now I am on Michael Crichton´s Lost World. It is interesting because it references alot of places in Costa Rica and it talks about dinosaurs. I think my next book will be Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. So yeah I have been clocking some good time in my hammock getting things done.
My Community Analysis Tool aka The ¨CAT¨ has been working out well. Like I said before I had that large community meeting in my time which brought out alot of information about the community and potential projects they would like to start work on. As well I have begun the individual one on one interviews with members of the community. I will ramp up this effort more beginning this week which should bring some great new information to me, and also allow me to get to know more people in the community in a more personal setting.
This past weekend we had our regional VAC meeting (aka the student council of Peace Corps Costa Rica) where we got together and spoke about issues relating to our job as well as issues in the field. This meeting was conveniently located on a beautiful beach 3.5 hours away from my site in the small pueblo of Dominical. I had a great time and met up with four other fellow Tico 16ers. It was awesome we swam in the water, ate great food, drank some Imperial, and partied it up in this Disco nearby till 2 in the morning. Absolute insanity. Being in the campo for extended periods of time you tend to build up this pent up energy to party and just hangout with other English speakers. I dont know about everyone but that is just me. Overall amazing time at the beach.
This coming week I will continue work as usual at my site. This Friday I am meeting up with some other Tico 16ers in San Jose, which should be a blast. I recently opened up a mailbox in a city close to me here is the address :
Rudolph Becker
Apartado Postal 61-8100
Buenos Aires, Zona Sur
Costa Rica
PLEASE send me something anything if you can. I have recieved some packages already from some people and I am extremely grateful. Being down here alone and isolated from my family, friends,and US products is difficult and any message or packages from the states or abroad would be awesome. Haha anyways that is my little and last plea for people to send me stuff.
Anyways that is the news from here. I would love to hear more from all of you in the States and abroad and thanks already for all the support I have recieved. I hope life is treating everyone well. Pura Vida.
Rudy
Although it hasnt all been rest and relaxation, I have continued my English classes in the local school these past weeks. I have recently started class with the Kindergarten class of 9 students. They are really young, and cannot read or write as expected but are loving the classes and embracing my efforts to teach them new words and songs. I am teaching them new words half the time and then the other half we are focusing on learning a new letter each session and coloring a sheet of paper with the letter, a picture of an example of on object starting with the letter, and the word spelled out (i.e C, picture of cat, CAT). Anwyays after they are done with the whole alphabet I am going to make a book with them with all the pictures they drew. Nice little project to start off. My first through sixth grade class is doing well and they are overcoming the initial nervousness of having a new teacher, and all are participating more and very excited to learn. When I get home I hear my host sisters speaking the new words we learned in english class, so it looks like it is sticking. But overall a great experience that I am having in the community.
Books. I am definately reading alot now. I finished Shantaram a while ago which I strongly recommend and has become my favorite book. Read 2 more books and now I am on Michael Crichton´s Lost World. It is interesting because it references alot of places in Costa Rica and it talks about dinosaurs. I think my next book will be Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. So yeah I have been clocking some good time in my hammock getting things done.
My Community Analysis Tool aka The ¨CAT¨ has been working out well. Like I said before I had that large community meeting in my time which brought out alot of information about the community and potential projects they would like to start work on. As well I have begun the individual one on one interviews with members of the community. I will ramp up this effort more beginning this week which should bring some great new information to me, and also allow me to get to know more people in the community in a more personal setting.
This past weekend we had our regional VAC meeting (aka the student council of Peace Corps Costa Rica) where we got together and spoke about issues relating to our job as well as issues in the field. This meeting was conveniently located on a beautiful beach 3.5 hours away from my site in the small pueblo of Dominical. I had a great time and met up with four other fellow Tico 16ers. It was awesome we swam in the water, ate great food, drank some Imperial, and partied it up in this Disco nearby till 2 in the morning. Absolute insanity. Being in the campo for extended periods of time you tend to build up this pent up energy to party and just hangout with other English speakers. I dont know about everyone but that is just me. Overall amazing time at the beach.
This coming week I will continue work as usual at my site. This Friday I am meeting up with some other Tico 16ers in San Jose, which should be a blast. I recently opened up a mailbox in a city close to me here is the address :
Rudolph Becker
Apartado Postal 61-8100
Buenos Aires, Zona Sur
Costa Rica
PLEASE send me something anything if you can. I have recieved some packages already from some people and I am extremely grateful. Being down here alone and isolated from my family, friends,and US products is difficult and any message or packages from the states or abroad would be awesome. Haha anyways that is my little and last plea for people to send me stuff.
Anyways that is the news from here. I would love to hear more from all of you in the States and abroad and thanks already for all the support I have recieved. I hope life is treating everyone well. Pura Vida.
Rudy
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Pizza Hut, Community Meeting and Campo Life
Right now I am reporting from the Peace Corps Office in San Jose. I am currently in the capital to get some things checked out medically with me. I am fine, just getting some routine checks done. It is nice to escape a little bit from my site and enjoy the luxuries of a mattress, hot shower, and flush toilet. Today I went to Pizza Hut for lunch. Here in Costa Rica, Pizza Hut is considered the place to go for a businessman and busineswoman to conduct casual meetings over lunch. Everyone is dressed in business casual clothes, its quite different from the fast food/family atmosphere pizza hut has in the states. As I was eating my personal pan pizza, I saw this women constructing her salad at the salad bar. This salad was a piece of art. She had potato salad and hard boiled eggs acting as retaining walls for her plate and piled her salad 6 inches high onto this miniscule plate. In Costa Rica you get to only go to the salad bar once and you have to fully take advantage of that one trip. Anyways it was a nice lunch and good to have a familiar taste after two weeks in the "campo".
This past Friday I held a community meeting in my community where about 30 people attended. I facilitated a discussion as well as an activity based on learning about different aspects of the community and its needs. Overall I feel the meeting was a success and I learned alot about the community. This past Monday, there was another meeting for the community held in the school lunch room regarding the prospective building of an aquaduct in my community. One of the top concerns of the people in my community is the secure and constant line of fresh potable water to their houses. As of right now people retrieve the water from wells or get their tanks filled up every once in a while which is a difficult and costly process. An aquaduct project is a large one, which would take alot of time but definately would improve the quality of life for everyone in the community.
Everything else in my community is working out well. My family is great, the 5 dogs, 25 chickens, 5 roosters, 5 pigs, 25 cattle, 4 horses, and 1 turkey are doing great as well. There is alot of construction going on at my house as they are expanding the number of rooms. I will also be getting a new room which should be nice. On my way to the school one day to talk to the teachers, I was walking in the middle of the road and looked down and saw a 6 foot long snake. As I was close to my house I told my host brother of the huge snake in the middle of the road. He told everyone else in the house and everyone came running, including one guy working on the house with a huge 2 foot long machete and sprinted to the snake and immediately executed it with one strong swift blow to the head seperating the snakes head from the body. Campo life something new everyday.
Anyways that is all for now. I hope everyone is doing well.
Peace out.
Rudy
This past Friday I held a community meeting in my community where about 30 people attended. I facilitated a discussion as well as an activity based on learning about different aspects of the community and its needs. Overall I feel the meeting was a success and I learned alot about the community. This past Monday, there was another meeting for the community held in the school lunch room regarding the prospective building of an aquaduct in my community. One of the top concerns of the people in my community is the secure and constant line of fresh potable water to their houses. As of right now people retrieve the water from wells or get their tanks filled up every once in a while which is a difficult and costly process. An aquaduct project is a large one, which would take alot of time but definately would improve the quality of life for everyone in the community.
Everything else in my community is working out well. My family is great, the 5 dogs, 25 chickens, 5 roosters, 5 pigs, 25 cattle, 4 horses, and 1 turkey are doing great as well. There is alot of construction going on at my house as they are expanding the number of rooms. I will also be getting a new room which should be nice. On my way to the school one day to talk to the teachers, I was walking in the middle of the road and looked down and saw a 6 foot long snake. As I was close to my house I told my host brother of the huge snake in the middle of the road. He told everyone else in the house and everyone came running, including one guy working on the house with a huge 2 foot long machete and sprinted to the snake and immediately executed it with one strong swift blow to the head seperating the snakes head from the body. Campo life something new everyday.
Anyways that is all for now. I hope everyone is doing well.
Peace out.
Rudy
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Getting Settled
So far I have been in my site for almost 2 weeks right now, and things have been going well for the most part. I have been settling into my room, organizing my clothes, reading alot, reading some more, eating rice and beans, using the latrine, and then read for a little bit more.
New developments this week include the beginning of my english classes at the primary school. This week I taught english from 9-10 AM on Tuesday and Wedsnesday. I will continue this schedule for who knows how long, maybe two years if time allows. Since there is only one classroom with grades 1-5 in it I am teaching them all at once. It is slightly difficult to plan for a class with such varying grade levels but it really is the only way to get it down. The students are very responsive and are learning things relatively quickly. This week we went over introductions, greetings, basic questions, and salutations. Some students are willing to participate more than others but that is just natural. They seem to be enjoying the class, and when I come home I hear my host sisters speaking the new phrases I taught them in class earlier that day. So it seems like it is is sticking. Also next week I begin to teach english to the Kindergarten class of 9 students. This will be interesting to teach 9 4-5 years olds a brand new language, but I am up for the challenge. Recently I have been getting rides into the nearby town with the Kindergarten teacher who ends at 11, so I dont have to do the 90 minute walk to town. I asked her what the school needs improved the most and one of many things she said is a new classroom for the kindergarten because they recently and in the past have had problems with poisonous snakes, scorpions, and huge spiders making homes in the classroom. Hopefully I will be able to help them with this problem.
This Friday I have arranged for another community meeeting in my town. With this meeting I would like to make it a little more interactive and find more about the town, existing commitees, problems, areas of growth, and wishes for the community. Then next week I will start my door to door interviews with members of the community to see what kind of projects they want to start working on. I feel that very soon I will also need to begin an english class for the adults, because that is something as well I have heard from community members which they strongly want.
I look forward to mid June where I will be able to see some other volunteers at the beach for our VAC meeting. VAC is sort of like Peace Corps student council where we get together and talk about issues relating to our job and such. It should be a fun time and then a week later I will be meeting up with my Tico group, Tico 16 to most likely party it up in San Jose.
Overall things have been going well here. The loneliness is still an issue here as well as the boredom, but as projects start picking up it should fill up my time better.
I miss everyone so much and I think about you all (my friends and family) all the time.
Much love and respect,
Rudy
New developments this week include the beginning of my english classes at the primary school. This week I taught english from 9-10 AM on Tuesday and Wedsnesday. I will continue this schedule for who knows how long, maybe two years if time allows. Since there is only one classroom with grades 1-5 in it I am teaching them all at once. It is slightly difficult to plan for a class with such varying grade levels but it really is the only way to get it down. The students are very responsive and are learning things relatively quickly. This week we went over introductions, greetings, basic questions, and salutations. Some students are willing to participate more than others but that is just natural. They seem to be enjoying the class, and when I come home I hear my host sisters speaking the new phrases I taught them in class earlier that day. So it seems like it is is sticking. Also next week I begin to teach english to the Kindergarten class of 9 students. This will be interesting to teach 9 4-5 years olds a brand new language, but I am up for the challenge. Recently I have been getting rides into the nearby town with the Kindergarten teacher who ends at 11, so I dont have to do the 90 minute walk to town. I asked her what the school needs improved the most and one of many things she said is a new classroom for the kindergarten because they recently and in the past have had problems with poisonous snakes, scorpions, and huge spiders making homes in the classroom. Hopefully I will be able to help them with this problem.
This Friday I have arranged for another community meeeting in my town. With this meeting I would like to make it a little more interactive and find more about the town, existing commitees, problems, areas of growth, and wishes for the community. Then next week I will start my door to door interviews with members of the community to see what kind of projects they want to start working on. I feel that very soon I will also need to begin an english class for the adults, because that is something as well I have heard from community members which they strongly want.
I look forward to mid June where I will be able to see some other volunteers at the beach for our VAC meeting. VAC is sort of like Peace Corps student council where we get together and talk about issues relating to our job and such. It should be a fun time and then a week later I will be meeting up with my Tico group, Tico 16 to most likely party it up in San Jose.
Overall things have been going well here. The loneliness is still an issue here as well as the boredom, but as projects start picking up it should fill up my time better.
I miss everyone so much and I think about you all (my friends and family) all the time.
Much love and respect,
Rudy
Thursday, May 24, 2007
First Couple Days In Site
Last Friday night as a blast with all of Tico 16. After the swearing in ceremony we wento our usual hotel in San Jose, to relax and get ready for the night ahead. Bill and I got a room togther on the third floor which actually turned out not to be the best idea since it was so close to the street, but it didnt really matter to much. Anwyays that night we went out in the San Pedro area to this really good Italian Restaurant called Il Pomodoro. I got an amazing dish of Fettucine Carbonara and split a pizza with a couple people. Bill and I took the classy road and split a bottle of Chilean White Wine. I know what you might be thinking, hey I thought Rudy was in the Peace Corps, eating rice and beans all day in the middle of nowhere, but hey when I get the chance to live it up I do. Anyways after dinner and a coiple rounds of drinks we obviously brought the party back to the hotel and lived it up there till late at night. Overall great times with everyone, it was an excellent night to celebrate all of our beginning the next 2 years.
The next morning Bill and I took the 1:00 bus to our sites from San Jose. We were lucky in taking the 1:00 bus as other people had much earlier buses to catch. It was an uneventful 5 hour ride to my bus stop in the South but when I made it there my host brother picked me up in his 1970 Toyota Landcruiser and drove me to the house. As of right now the house is under major constructions, although when it will be finished it will actually be really nice. As of right now there are 11 people living in 3 room in the house. One of the rooms is for me, alone.
The first couple days I have been using just go get myself settled in my room. Wash the walls, clean the floor, put up the mosquito net, install an electrical outlet and light in my room, organize my clothes. I havent really been changing the world yet.
Yesterday I went to this meeting for all the parents at the town school (1 classroom for 40 students) and I introduced myself again to all the parents that attended. During the meeting they discusses the possibillity of me teaching english classes once or twice a week at the school and I willing and excitingly excepted the offer. I just need to do some research as the best way to begin these classes for young children who have never had any formal english education whatsoever. As well some of the adults asked me as well to begin some classes for them as well, which I definately want to do.
I have not given any english classes yet, except for the one during training which was for us to get a taste of what it is like, but all of the other volunteers from prior years say that it is one of the best ways to integrate into the community. I feel that I will get to meet alot of people through these classes and as well gain respect in the community to work on other projects with them. In my meeting with Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica, he expressed great interest in our teaching english and felt it to be one of the most important things we can do for the people of Costa Rica.
After I returned from the meeting I walked back in the rain with a couple of my host brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews (when I am in my town we are always in a large group, because i live with such a big family) and arrived to my house and entered my room to find this huge brand new beautiful faux-oak dresser that fits all of my clothes and other random things perfectly. It was a great suprise and a beautiful gesture as this piece of furniture is ,by far in my opinion, the most beautiful and most expensive piece of furniture in the whole house. I was really touched and really grateful for it. Now my room is organized really well and I feel more settled in.
Today I woke up at around 10 oclock, ate breakfast and then setoff on a 90 minute hike in the rain to get to my nearest town and use the internet. I ended up using the internet for 3 hours an was able to speak to all of my friends (Shoutouts to : Tamar, Jon, Russ, Dave, and Cownie) through Gmail chat.
Anwyays life here in Costa Rica is good for the most part. Just tackling things one day at a time. I hope things are great back at home and abroad. My brother just left to Germany 3 days ago, he should be having a rediculous time there. My adventures still continue here.
Pura Vida,
Rudy
The next morning Bill and I took the 1:00 bus to our sites from San Jose. We were lucky in taking the 1:00 bus as other people had much earlier buses to catch. It was an uneventful 5 hour ride to my bus stop in the South but when I made it there my host brother picked me up in his 1970 Toyota Landcruiser and drove me to the house. As of right now the house is under major constructions, although when it will be finished it will actually be really nice. As of right now there are 11 people living in 3 room in the house. One of the rooms is for me, alone.
The first couple days I have been using just go get myself settled in my room. Wash the walls, clean the floor, put up the mosquito net, install an electrical outlet and light in my room, organize my clothes. I havent really been changing the world yet.
Yesterday I went to this meeting for all the parents at the town school (1 classroom for 40 students) and I introduced myself again to all the parents that attended. During the meeting they discusses the possibillity of me teaching english classes once or twice a week at the school and I willing and excitingly excepted the offer. I just need to do some research as the best way to begin these classes for young children who have never had any formal english education whatsoever. As well some of the adults asked me as well to begin some classes for them as well, which I definately want to do.
I have not given any english classes yet, except for the one during training which was for us to get a taste of what it is like, but all of the other volunteers from prior years say that it is one of the best ways to integrate into the community. I feel that I will get to meet alot of people through these classes and as well gain respect in the community to work on other projects with them. In my meeting with Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica, he expressed great interest in our teaching english and felt it to be one of the most important things we can do for the people of Costa Rica.
After I returned from the meeting I walked back in the rain with a couple of my host brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews (when I am in my town we are always in a large group, because i live with such a big family) and arrived to my house and entered my room to find this huge brand new beautiful faux-oak dresser that fits all of my clothes and other random things perfectly. It was a great suprise and a beautiful gesture as this piece of furniture is ,by far in my opinion, the most beautiful and most expensive piece of furniture in the whole house. I was really touched and really grateful for it. Now my room is organized really well and I feel more settled in.
Today I woke up at around 10 oclock, ate breakfast and then setoff on a 90 minute hike in the rain to get to my nearest town and use the internet. I ended up using the internet for 3 hours an was able to speak to all of my friends (Shoutouts to : Tamar, Jon, Russ, Dave, and Cownie) through Gmail chat.
Anwyays life here in Costa Rica is good for the most part. Just tackling things one day at a time. I hope things are great back at home and abroad. My brother just left to Germany 3 days ago, he should be having a rediculous time there. My adventures still continue here.
Pura Vida,
Rudy
Friday, May 18, 2007
The Beginning
The past 11 days or so after my initial site visit have been very hectic and very busy in preparation for what just happened today, swearing in. This morning all of us went to the Embassador of the United States to Costa Rica´s house in the more luxurious part of San Jose. After passing tight security we entered his huge mansion, with pool, tennis courts, and amazing art work all throughout the house. During the ceremony there were speeches from Our Peace Corps Country Director, Peace Corps Training Director, PC Rural Community Development Director, Director of DINADECO (Costa Rican National Development Agency), and our very own Marcela of Tico 16 who gave a great speech in behalf of all of us. After the ceremony the embassador each presented us certificates showing completion of training. As of right now I am offically a Peace Corps Volunteer ! For the past three months everyone has been calling us trainees, but now I am a PCV !!! It was overall a really nice ceremony and several news stations and radio stations came to interview us and report on our swearing in. So if you are in Costa Rica tune into Noticias Repretel and you should be able to see us.
This past Wednesday we had are meeting with Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica. We all met up with him in the afternoon and he invited us to he equivalent of the US Oval office of Costa Rica with a huge U shaped table and all of these leather seats surrounding the table. It was a very professional meeting and we had the opportunity to ask questions at the end. I asked him : What are you most proud of about Costa Rica? and What do you like to do in your freetime? Regarding his pride to Costa Rica he said he was very proud of the people and the sustained peace Costa Rica has had throughout the past years. Also in terms of his freetime he likes to listen to music and read poetry. (*Unofficial Quotes) Overall it was a very good meeting and this was the first time he has ever met with Peace Corps volunteers so I felt especially priveleged.
Back at home in my training community, I have been wrapping things up and saying goodbye to everyone. My host dad has gone to New Jersey to visit a relative he hasnt seen in a long time. The past couple days we have been able to squeeze in some ¨Scrabble¨ nights as well as a couple trips to the local bar. The past couple days have been really fun as these are the last days we will be together as a group for a long time, since we are all leaving to our sites tommorow.
The whole training experience has been quite a wild ride. Most of the days are filled with training activities and spanish classes with little time for rest. But those days and times we do get off we definately have a great time together and live it up to the fullest. I have learned more in the past three months then I probably have had in my entire life. In terms of spanish, Peace Corps, and Costa Rican culture. I definately have become fully immersed into Costa Rica and it has become almost normal to me just living here in Costa Rica hanging out. Alot of the time when I am partying with my friends on the beach or just walking down the street with gorgeous mountains in the background I say: ¨Hey, we are in Costa Rica ! How crazy is that ?¨ Its a pretty wild adventure that as of right now seems like it is ending, as a result of the end of training, but in reality the next two years is going to be a wild wild adventure. I am grateful for all the friends I have made and I feel bad having to leave them, but I am glad that I feel this way as opposed to not, because I have an excellent support network of friends here in country to help me get through the next two years. I am confident in my ability to succesfully complete my experience here, but it certainly will not be easy. I have a community waiting for me that I am very excited to help, and hopefully will be willing to work with me to complete their goals.
Tomorrow I head off to the ¨Zona Sur¨5 hours away from San Jose to begin my two year adventure. As I will be in an extremely remote location it may take more time to update my blog but be patient and hopefully I will have some fun stories to tell as well as stories of success´ in my site.
Thank you all who have sent me letters, I am extremely grateful and it brings a HUGE smile to my face to actually recieve a handwritten letter from someone. Those who have written to me should expect something in the mail soon.
Anyways that is all for now and if anyone has any questions or comments please feel free to email me and I would love to respond. As this blog is a public forum I can necessarily express 100% of my concerns, feelings, and actions but would love to talk more in the privacy of email or letters.
I am excited for the future. I am excited to party tonight with Tico 16. And I am excited for the future of my community.
Much love everyone,
Rudy
Respect.
This past Wednesday we had are meeting with Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica. We all met up with him in the afternoon and he invited us to he equivalent of the US Oval office of Costa Rica with a huge U shaped table and all of these leather seats surrounding the table. It was a very professional meeting and we had the opportunity to ask questions at the end. I asked him : What are you most proud of about Costa Rica? and What do you like to do in your freetime? Regarding his pride to Costa Rica he said he was very proud of the people and the sustained peace Costa Rica has had throughout the past years. Also in terms of his freetime he likes to listen to music and read poetry. (*Unofficial Quotes) Overall it was a very good meeting and this was the first time he has ever met with Peace Corps volunteers so I felt especially priveleged.
Back at home in my training community, I have been wrapping things up and saying goodbye to everyone. My host dad has gone to New Jersey to visit a relative he hasnt seen in a long time. The past couple days we have been able to squeeze in some ¨Scrabble¨ nights as well as a couple trips to the local bar. The past couple days have been really fun as these are the last days we will be together as a group for a long time, since we are all leaving to our sites tommorow.
The whole training experience has been quite a wild ride. Most of the days are filled with training activities and spanish classes with little time for rest. But those days and times we do get off we definately have a great time together and live it up to the fullest. I have learned more in the past three months then I probably have had in my entire life. In terms of spanish, Peace Corps, and Costa Rican culture. I definately have become fully immersed into Costa Rica and it has become almost normal to me just living here in Costa Rica hanging out. Alot of the time when I am partying with my friends on the beach or just walking down the street with gorgeous mountains in the background I say: ¨Hey, we are in Costa Rica ! How crazy is that ?¨ Its a pretty wild adventure that as of right now seems like it is ending, as a result of the end of training, but in reality the next two years is going to be a wild wild adventure. I am grateful for all the friends I have made and I feel bad having to leave them, but I am glad that I feel this way as opposed to not, because I have an excellent support network of friends here in country to help me get through the next two years. I am confident in my ability to succesfully complete my experience here, but it certainly will not be easy. I have a community waiting for me that I am very excited to help, and hopefully will be willing to work with me to complete their goals.
Tomorrow I head off to the ¨Zona Sur¨5 hours away from San Jose to begin my two year adventure. As I will be in an extremely remote location it may take more time to update my blog but be patient and hopefully I will have some fun stories to tell as well as stories of success´ in my site.
Thank you all who have sent me letters, I am extremely grateful and it brings a HUGE smile to my face to actually recieve a handwritten letter from someone. Those who have written to me should expect something in the mail soon.
Anyways that is all for now and if anyone has any questions or comments please feel free to email me and I would love to respond. As this blog is a public forum I can necessarily express 100% of my concerns, feelings, and actions but would love to talk more in the privacy of email or letters.
I am excited for the future. I am excited to party tonight with Tico 16. And I am excited for the future of my community.
Much love everyone,
Rudy
Respect.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
My Site
Last Thursday I headed back the mountain retreat location, where I first went after I got off the plane when I arrived in Costa Rica, for Counterpart Day. Counterapart Day is when we get the opportunity to meet our community counterparts for the first time. In this case it was the first time I got to meet someone from my community which was great. My counterpart is a middle aged woman with 9 children. She is the president of the development association at my site, and as well is the president of several different commitees in my site. She is a very kind and caring woman and seemed to be excited to meet for the first time. With my level of spanish I was generally able to understand and replying back to her regarding everything she was saying. During Counterpart Day we participated in several ice breakers and get to know each other activities. That night there was barbecue in the garden area and Byron and Jordan played and sing on the guitar as well as Bill for a couple of songs. Then we moved the excitement over to the game room where their were foosball tables, ping pong tables, and my ipod and bill´s ipod with his speakers playing music. That night I ended up staying awake till 2 am talking to a couple other volunteers.
The next morning I went with my counterpart to our bus station in San Jose and began the 5 hour bus ride to the south where my site is located. After a pretty uneventful bus ride we made it to our stop in the pouring rain. At the stop I was greeted by my host mother´s son ( my host mom is actually is also my counterpart) in his light blue 1970 toyota landcruiser which is actually a very popular car here in costa rica. We then rode to my site passing huge field of pineapples along a very rocky road. Most of the people in my area are employed by PINEDECO which is a pineapple company, which also goes by the brand name Del Monte. So chances are if you buy a Del Monte pineapple from costa rica it was probably grown within several square miles of my site. Anyways, when I entered my site that night it was very dark and I couldnt see much. There was a fork in the road leading to the church, soccer field, small store, and school and then the other road leading to my house. I arrived in the house to find my large host family awaiting my arrival. There are 3 young girls, 1 young boy, 1 teenage girl, 2 teenage boys, another older daughter, her ¨boyfriend¨and my host mom all living in an extremely small house which is undergoing massive renovations. In the future I will put up pictures but because of the internet connection it is hard to load them all up. Anyways I was immediately served dinner and then after watching some ¨La Escrava Isaura¨, extremely popular soap opera in costa rica, went to sleep.
The next morning I slept extremely late till 8 AM. Read for 3 hours ( Im reading ¨Shantaram¨ right now it is awesome) then walked over to the school and waited for the teachers to dismiss the students, so that I could introduce myself to them. The school consists of one class room and one lunch room. There are 2 teachers for 40 children all in one room, for grade 1 to 5. They just recently built a small hut for the kindergarten which use to be run out of a small cafeteria storage room. Both of the teachers were extremely kind, and are both very intelligent and capable teachers. Before hand I looked at one of my host sisters math books and the work they are doing there is very impressive. Anyways it was great to meet the two teachers and they are excited to work with me, just as I am excited to start work with them. After meeting with the teachers I returned back to my house with the entourage of children who live at my house who just got finished with school. At 4 oclock that afternoon my counterpart/host mom/president of the association told me that there was going to be a community meeting for me to speak to the association members. I walked with my counterpart and 2 daughters ,one who had another son , to the church were the meeting was held. I was expecting to see maybe 5 to 6 people at the meeting of the association but low and behold I walked into the church and 40 community members were waiting to meet me. It was slightly overwelming but extremely flattering and comforting that people are first of all interested in meeting me, and seemingly willing to work together with me on projects and goals for their community. My counterpart did a small introduction which then segwayed me unexpectantly talking for 30 minutes entirely in spanish, about myself, peace corps, what i am doing here, my background, my favorite food, my favorite sport, everything. Overall it was a very succesfull meeting and it gave me an excellent opportunity to meet alot of community members all at once. One teenager went up to me and asked me when we can start english classes, then four to five other people chimed in in agreement. As well I recieved several invites for cafecito in the future. The community members where all extremely interested in me and I look forward to working with them to better their already beautiful community.
The next day I went with my host sisters ¨boyfriend¨, i say ¨boyfriend¨because i dont really know their relation and i believe they have had two children together but when i asked him he said they just ¨live together¨, out to my local city and as well to a private farm. Where I may or may not have seen roosters engaging in combat for 5 hours. After a few imperials and possibly witnesssing the death of a couple roosters we left to head back to my site. At my house I played hide and seek and cops and robbers with the young kids in the house. Then attempted to teach (4) six to eight year old children how to play chess in spanish. Which didnt turn out succesfull. That night I went to sleep with the sound of rain against the roof and the feeling of 100 tiny little ants biting my legs for 3 hours.
The next morning I slept late until 7:30. I say I slept late because at 5:30 everyday everyone in my house wakes up and blasts the radio and as well the sun light and heat is beating through my windowless window with wooden shutter at around 6:00. Anyways I commenced and read for 2 hours then went on this insanely long hike all around my site for 5 hours with my host mom and her daughter. We walked for what seemed like 7 miles up and down mountains and rocky roads, stopping to see the view and meeting random people of the town. I ate 4 mangos and drank water at 3 different houses. Most of the housed in my town are very seperated and it took 45 minutes to reach the farthest house out from my house. We also walked all the way to the river near my site where the electric company of costa rica, ICE, is thinking about buiilding a hydro electric dam. During our walk back it started downpouring, which was very much welcomed after walking in much of the mid day heat. When we got back to the house I had lunch and then later that night attempted to teach the kids to play chess again. Which again proved to be unsuccesfull, although one of them is catching on. The hardes piece to explain was the ¨Knight¨ which makes an ¨L¨shaped maneuver on the board. Haha. Anways.
The next morning, or today I woke up and caught the 9:30 bus to San Jose and made it in just about 5 hours which is great. Right now I am in an Internet Cafe typing this blog and will soon go to another restaurant with some other volunteers to exchange stories about our site visits.
Overall I am very satisfied with my site visit. My hose family and the whole community was very excited to have me and I look forward to doing work with them. Being at my site heightened the reality that I will be living there for 2 years in conditions very different from my prior life in New York. Being away from friends, family, and all the other important relationships I have in my life is hard. I realize I am going to be living with a very large family and technically won´t be alone, but in terms of having another person to speak English to and someone who can relate to me will be impossible to find. Several volunteers are near me as well as a couple of good friends of mine are in the Zona Sur so it shouldnt be too bad. The loneliness factor was really the only thing which was difficult to deal with during that 5 day trip but I know things will get better.
I have 11 more days here in the San Jose are before I move back to my site officially for the 2 years. Within these 11 days we will have a party for our host families here in our training communities, have more spanish and peace corps class, and also we will be meeting the President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias. I am really looking forward to that meeting. We are going to his house which should be crazyyyy.
Anwyays that is all for now. I am excited to be back in San Jose with all the other volunteers and aswell my host family in my training community.
Thank you all for reading my blog. I love and miss you all.
Respect.
The next morning I went with my counterpart to our bus station in San Jose and began the 5 hour bus ride to the south where my site is located. After a pretty uneventful bus ride we made it to our stop in the pouring rain. At the stop I was greeted by my host mother´s son ( my host mom is actually is also my counterpart) in his light blue 1970 toyota landcruiser which is actually a very popular car here in costa rica. We then rode to my site passing huge field of pineapples along a very rocky road. Most of the people in my area are employed by PINEDECO which is a pineapple company, which also goes by the brand name Del Monte. So chances are if you buy a Del Monte pineapple from costa rica it was probably grown within several square miles of my site. Anyways, when I entered my site that night it was very dark and I couldnt see much. There was a fork in the road leading to the church, soccer field, small store, and school and then the other road leading to my house. I arrived in the house to find my large host family awaiting my arrival. There are 3 young girls, 1 young boy, 1 teenage girl, 2 teenage boys, another older daughter, her ¨boyfriend¨and my host mom all living in an extremely small house which is undergoing massive renovations. In the future I will put up pictures but because of the internet connection it is hard to load them all up. Anyways I was immediately served dinner and then after watching some ¨La Escrava Isaura¨, extremely popular soap opera in costa rica, went to sleep.
The next morning I slept extremely late till 8 AM. Read for 3 hours ( Im reading ¨Shantaram¨ right now it is awesome) then walked over to the school and waited for the teachers to dismiss the students, so that I could introduce myself to them. The school consists of one class room and one lunch room. There are 2 teachers for 40 children all in one room, for grade 1 to 5. They just recently built a small hut for the kindergarten which use to be run out of a small cafeteria storage room. Both of the teachers were extremely kind, and are both very intelligent and capable teachers. Before hand I looked at one of my host sisters math books and the work they are doing there is very impressive. Anyways it was great to meet the two teachers and they are excited to work with me, just as I am excited to start work with them. After meeting with the teachers I returned back to my house with the entourage of children who live at my house who just got finished with school. At 4 oclock that afternoon my counterpart/host mom/president of the association told me that there was going to be a community meeting for me to speak to the association members. I walked with my counterpart and 2 daughters ,one who had another son , to the church were the meeting was held. I was expecting to see maybe 5 to 6 people at the meeting of the association but low and behold I walked into the church and 40 community members were waiting to meet me. It was slightly overwelming but extremely flattering and comforting that people are first of all interested in meeting me, and seemingly willing to work together with me on projects and goals for their community. My counterpart did a small introduction which then segwayed me unexpectantly talking for 30 minutes entirely in spanish, about myself, peace corps, what i am doing here, my background, my favorite food, my favorite sport, everything. Overall it was a very succesfull meeting and it gave me an excellent opportunity to meet alot of community members all at once. One teenager went up to me and asked me when we can start english classes, then four to five other people chimed in in agreement. As well I recieved several invites for cafecito in the future. The community members where all extremely interested in me and I look forward to working with them to better their already beautiful community.
The next day I went with my host sisters ¨boyfriend¨, i say ¨boyfriend¨because i dont really know their relation and i believe they have had two children together but when i asked him he said they just ¨live together¨, out to my local city and as well to a private farm. Where I may or may not have seen roosters engaging in combat for 5 hours. After a few imperials and possibly witnesssing the death of a couple roosters we left to head back to my site. At my house I played hide and seek and cops and robbers with the young kids in the house. Then attempted to teach (4) six to eight year old children how to play chess in spanish. Which didnt turn out succesfull. That night I went to sleep with the sound of rain against the roof and the feeling of 100 tiny little ants biting my legs for 3 hours.
The next morning I slept late until 7:30. I say I slept late because at 5:30 everyday everyone in my house wakes up and blasts the radio and as well the sun light and heat is beating through my windowless window with wooden shutter at around 6:00. Anyways I commenced and read for 2 hours then went on this insanely long hike all around my site for 5 hours with my host mom and her daughter. We walked for what seemed like 7 miles up and down mountains and rocky roads, stopping to see the view and meeting random people of the town. I ate 4 mangos and drank water at 3 different houses. Most of the housed in my town are very seperated and it took 45 minutes to reach the farthest house out from my house. We also walked all the way to the river near my site where the electric company of costa rica, ICE, is thinking about buiilding a hydro electric dam. During our walk back it started downpouring, which was very much welcomed after walking in much of the mid day heat. When we got back to the house I had lunch and then later that night attempted to teach the kids to play chess again. Which again proved to be unsuccesfull, although one of them is catching on. The hardes piece to explain was the ¨Knight¨ which makes an ¨L¨shaped maneuver on the board. Haha. Anways.
The next morning, or today I woke up and caught the 9:30 bus to San Jose and made it in just about 5 hours which is great. Right now I am in an Internet Cafe typing this blog and will soon go to another restaurant with some other volunteers to exchange stories about our site visits.
Overall I am very satisfied with my site visit. My hose family and the whole community was very excited to have me and I look forward to doing work with them. Being at my site heightened the reality that I will be living there for 2 years in conditions very different from my prior life in New York. Being away from friends, family, and all the other important relationships I have in my life is hard. I realize I am going to be living with a very large family and technically won´t be alone, but in terms of having another person to speak English to and someone who can relate to me will be impossible to find. Several volunteers are near me as well as a couple of good friends of mine are in the Zona Sur so it shouldnt be too bad. The loneliness factor was really the only thing which was difficult to deal with during that 5 day trip but I know things will get better.
I have 11 more days here in the San Jose are before I move back to my site officially for the 2 years. Within these 11 days we will have a party for our host families here in our training communities, have more spanish and peace corps class, and also we will be meeting the President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias. I am really looking forward to that meeting. We are going to his house which should be crazyyyy.
Anwyays that is all for now. I am excited to be back in San Jose with all the other volunteers and aswell my host family in my training community.
Thank you all for reading my blog. I love and miss you all.
Respect.
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