New Volunteer, dancing, and lots and lots and lots of rain.

This will be a comprehensive update. Some interesting things have happened, some less interesting things have happened. I will try and keep my stories as much from the first category as possible.

First things first: I have my camera back! Like 4 months after I broke my supposedly waterproof camera by taking it in the ocean, I got a new one. I would like to thank all of the people who made the waranteeing of my camera possible: Matt and Stephanie (for taking it to the states), Nancy and Caty (for dealing with Costco) and the warantee and mailing it to Brent, and Brent and Shanda (for carrying it the last leg of the journey back to C.R.). Thus, blogs from now on should be pretty picture heavy.



It literally hasn't stopped raining for 9 days straight in Santa Rosa. Ok, that's not true, there was about an hour on Saturday when it wasn't raining, just cloudy. In a town with few to no clothes dryers, this is rough. But hopefully the weather will get better soon. If not, I might go into a depression.


There is another American volunteer in Santa Rosa right now, so I am getting my English-language fix. His name is Nick (see picture), and he is 18 and from Massachusetts. He is taking a year off between high school and college, and decided to come volunteer for two months with Habitat. He is living in Abdon and Ligia's house, so I obviously see him a lot. He is going to be helping me with my projects (including what is left of the school semester for English classes) plus doing a few side projects. We are looking at teaching some workshops on random stuff in the high school, as well as doing some much needed building repair there at the colegio. Also, it looks like he is going to come with my on my next out of the country trip. yeah! We were going to go to Nicaragua, but there are Sandinistas rioting in Managua, so that is not looking like such an atractive option. Then, we were going to go to Bocas del Toro in Panama, but there has been some crazy flooding this week. I guess we'll just wait and see.


I went out dancing in Cartago on Saturday, and it was probably one of the funnest nights that I have had yet. Dixie, Nelson, Carita, myself, and a new friend who I hadn't met previously (who they call Tractor, but is actually named Melvin. I know, weird name) went to las Gemelas and Sunset. I got to practice my dancing abilities, and just have a good time. We got back at like 2 am. I took pictures, but they somehow got erased during the transfer to Nelson's computer process- I guess that's what happens when I haven't used a camera for 4 months, and try to download pictures without reading the instructions.

Milestone: I passed the halfway mark of my trip last week. It's all downhill from here. I have like 4.5 months left. It's honestly been going super fast, and I already know that the rest is going to fly by. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, but I don't think that I am really going to celebrate. Maybe Nick and I will eat a can of green beans or something =)


This picture is of my 5th graders playing a board game about vehicles that I made. It went really well... so I took a picture.

Beach beach beach

So, this week I am staying at Playa Tamarindo with my cousin Brent, his wife- Shanda, and their two cute-as-pie-daughters- Ansley and Riley. It's really gorgeous here! The water is warm, the condo is beautiful, and its great to be hanging out with the fam. Here are some pictures.This is definitely a break from my usual Costa Rica experience, and I am gonna live it up =)

We have had a fun week- swimming, going to the beach, going to the pool, laying out, eating... all of the things that you usually do on a gorgeous tropical beach. I have totally fallen in love with Ansley and Riley, and am really appreciating the chance to get to know Shanda and Brent even better. We went to playa Avellana today, and i loved it! It was beautiful, and super pura vida. We ate a restaurant named Lola's, which is named after the pet pig that the owners keep as a pig (see picture). I would definitely go back, and never leave.

We are heading back to San Jose tomorrow. No bus for me! We are going in the rental car. I suppose I will have to go back to work =( but am super greatful for this nice break.

Obamanos!

Obamanos!

I am super psyched about the election. While I wasn't able to follow the progress throughout the day, Costa Rican TV is still quite interested in the U.S. election results, and I got the important news: Obama won! I am sitting here reading the transcript of President Obama's victory speech, and I am really impressed. I don't want to sound cheesy, but today I am really proud to be an American. People here are asking me if I voted, and if I think that Obama will make a good President, and I can orgullosamente say that yes, I did vote (provided the ballot reached its destination. We can only hope), and I think that Barack Obama will be the President that changes America for the better. ¡Si se puede!

Phone call

I just got a phone call from my dad. It was the first time that he has called me- usually I call them. Caty was down at the house in Benson, and they were having dinner. They called to tell me that my cousin Andrew passed away today. That was rough. I am actually sitting in my house, not really wanting to go to sleep, but not knowing what to do either, so I am going to write a blog. Pennebaker says that even writing about upsetting feelings in a diary is enough to help you deal, so I figure my blog should suffice (there’s a random bit of psychology knowledge for ya). Like I told Caty, I am crying, but not bawling. It is more that kind of crying that you could hold in if you had to, but it feels a little better just to let it out and let yourself grieve for a bit. I don’t even know what to say- he was in his 20s. They don’t know what happened. I am definitely praying for Bill, Beth, Melody, and Shannon right now.

Halloween Party!

As those of you the United Status are well aware, today, October 31, is Halloween. In Costa Rica, however, they don’t really celebrate the holiday. There are scattered people that I have met who refer to it as noche de las brujas (night of witches) but there is not nationalized celebration. And they definitely don’t trick or treat. So, I decided that, since I am and English teacher, and October is National Culture Month, I would share our Halloween customs with my 5th and 6th grade students.

We actually had a week of Halloween. We spent all of our class periods this week learning Halloween-related words, and playing games. There are now 40 students in Santa Rosa who know words like “Haunted House”, “Jack-o-Lantern”, and “Mummy”. I made BINGO cards with pictures for all of the words, and we played that to practice. I also made a Halloween word search for the kids to do, and we had a coloring contest. Then, today, as an incentive for their good behavior the past couple of weeks, we had a party, complete with balloons and prizes and everything! There were prizes for the winners of the coloring contest, and I brought candy eyeballs and Halloween lollipops, and a ton of candy. I would only give it to them, however, if they said “Trick-or-Treat” first. We also played the Mummy wrap game! (Thank you Barrera family). For those of you who may be reading this who did not grow up going to Emily and Katie Barrera’s Birthday parties, I’ll explain. The concept is fairly straightforward: in pairs, you take a roll of toilet paper and make your partner into a mummy. I had prizes for the most impressively constructed mummies. The kids went nuts with the toilet paper, but I didn’t even mind; we had a great time. The 5th graders dressed up, but the 6th graders thought that they were too cool for disfraces.

I also brought lollipops to my high school and adult classes, although we didn’t devote a whole class period to Halloween vocab or anything. They threatened to come to my house and ask for candies, and I informed them that I would have some ready. No one came, but I had some candy sitting by just in case. In the nighttime, we had a little fiesta at my house. Dixie, Veros, Nelson, Carita, and I had a Halloween pijamada (slumber party). It was very 3rd grade (with ghost stories) but there was also beer (which there wasn’t usually in the 3rd grade). I have found out (on this and other occasions) that all ticos (Costa Ricans) have a ton of ghost stories, and they always swear that they’re true. So, we sat around in my living room, and shared scary stories. I only have 1 ghost story, but it is probably the best story that I tell. Actually, I pride myself on the fact that I can relate it pretty accurately, and still retain the scariness, in Spanish. Granted, its better in English, but I’ll take what I can get. So, I told the story about how my “friends” (you know who you are) played a trick on me in high school, taking me out into the desert and scaring the life out of me. I always tell the story as it happened to me… meaning that you don’t find out it’s a joke until the end. And, in the retelling-as in real life- its f-ing terrifying. In the middle of my story Marta was outside of the house throwing something in the trashcan, and her white hair in the moonlight totally freaked Carita out; it was classic.

Between my classroom parties and my friends coming over, I managed not to miss Halloween too much, though I would be lying if I wasn’t a little bit homesick.