Post rapido

Heyo-
I, as always, am waiting for a bus, but am gonna try and write a quick post in the 15 minutes that I have. Actually, I am gonna make two short lists: one of things that I am loving about being here right now, and another of the things that I am not digging so much right this second. That way, more content, less time. Who needs sentences? (this coming from the girl who spent all of last year studying pronouns =))

Loving:
-My friends here
-The fact that we got a donation and maybe (fingers crossed) will be building a hydroponics greenhouse soon.
-The fact that Caty and Nancy are for sure coming down on December 26th to visit me! I am so excited! I have so many ideas for things for us to do!
-Walking in the mornings- the only time its not raining- gorgeous.
-The card game UNO, and dominoes.

Not loving so much:
-Rain all the time.
-Mudslides that trap us on the mountain
-How expensive it is to call home.
-How inefficient somethings can be.

Ok, times up, gotta run. I'll try and post more later this week. I am working at a Habitat bnefit concert on Saturday-Mal Pais- and will probably be able to parar at an Internet cafe.

Hugs!

Greetings from Panama

Hey y'all- This blog is coming at you straight from Panama City, Panama. When I decided to come to CR, they told me that I had a couple of options in th Visa department: I could go through the official channels and get a work visa and residence permit or I could just stay on a tourist visa, but I would have to leave the country every 90 days to keep it valid. So, here I am in Panama, spending 72 hours outside of the country in order to be legit for another 3 months.

The bus ride took 15 hours. I am traveling with the only other Habitat volunteer in CR, Dustin. We left San Jose at noon on Wednesday, and got to Panama City at 4 am. We hung around the bus station for a couple of hours, and then headed straight to the Miraflores Locks at the Panama Canal. When we got there, we were informed that it didn't open for another 2 hours... so we waited some more =) . Once we finally got in, it was pretty impressive- we saw a huge ship get pushed through the locks on its way to the Atlantic. There was also a museum anda video- it was one of the more touristy things I have done since I left the U.S. I liked it.

After the canal, Dustin and I embarked on a search for our hostel. We took a cab from the locks, and told the driver what hostel we were hoping to stay at. He dropped us off on a corner, and told us that it was right around the way. Well, we walked to where it should have been, and discovered that it had been torn down =( The same story applied to our second choice. That cab driver is a hobo. Finally, thanks to Dustin's navigational skills, we found the Voyager Backpacker's hostel- not exactly luxurious, but it has beds, and only costs $11 a night (including breakfast).

Panama is WAY hotter than Costa Rica (especially in comparison to Santa Rosa). Our hostel doesn't have AC, but at least it has fans. I am super reminded of a hostel that we stayed in in Rome- The Yellow. It was hot and a bit sketchy, but had character. The rest of today we spent eating lunch, gelato, and window shopping. Apparently, everything is waycheaper in Panama, so our host families gave us lists of things that they want us to bring back. I just woke up from a nice nap, took a shower, and feel way less sticky and hot now that its dark out. Dustin is downstairs using a payphone, and then I think we're gonna get dinner. So, that's Panama so far.

Emo Mikey

Last night, I went out to dinner and drinks with my cousin Brent who is here in CR. He is here opening up a site for Amazon.com. He was in the newspaper here like a month ago and I showed all my coworkers. I am really proud of him; he is super successful but still really young and fun. Since he is from the older generation of cousins and from Texas, we actually don't know eachother all that well. We didn't grow up together like the cousins that are my age or from AZ. I was telling him that he has the family image of being "the funny one". And, my family aren't liars-I had a good time hanging out with him. He also brought me a big bag of goodies like Goldfish crackers and Doritos and Reeses- I am super excited! We went to dinner at this restaurant in the mountains of Heredia. It was comida tipica, but pretty good. I honestly was just excited to be able to speak in English and make movie quotes and have someone know what I was talking about! After dinner we had to push our taxi up a little hill, and I totally ate it and fell. Embarrassing! Apparently the wine at dinner affected me more than I thought =) We also went to a bar in central Heredia, and talked about a lot of different stuff. It was nice to have a meaningful conversation- when it comes down to it I just can't have those kinds of talks in Spanish- I am not that good yet.

He kept joking with me that I should "sell out" and go into business or something, so that way I can have money to help people the way I want. We actually talked a lot about my future, and it got me thinking. Most days, I am content to not know right now what I am going to do with my life. I have changed a lot from a year ago when I was applying to graduate schools and thought that I had it all figured out. When I came here I told myself that I was going to stay open to all different types of opportunities, and not be closed minded. Brent made a good point- I only know the things that I have encountered- but there are definitely a ton of things out there that I haven't even heard of that I could love to do, and would be really good at. About a month and a half ago I made a list of some of some possible life scenarios that I would like to be in-in like twenty years. Then, I made another list of what steps I need to be taking to make those scenarios possible. I don't know. I still don't have it all figured out, and I need to stop thinking that I do. Sometimes I think that I get so caught up in thinking that I know everything, I end up acting ignorant and ridiculous. Like with politics- I have been espousing my views on Barack Obama and singing his praises, but when it comes down to it, I really don't know that much about him. I am probably not making any sense. Just thinking out loud.

I am actually feeling pretty down today. I have been on the verge of tears all morning, and I am not exactly sure why. I kind of felt this way after Matt and Stephanie left from their visit down here, too. It's almost like I can ignore the things that I miss about home until I hang out with someone that reminds me. Now I just feel really homesick and alone. Then I feel worse, because I know that in the States I would have Caty or Britney or Erica to go to, and they would cheer me up, but here I don't have anyone like that. I am missing my girlfriends, and going out to eat with them, and just simple everyday stuff that we did.

I need to stop writing. I am turning into that EMO girl that writes about her feelings in her blog. Next thing you know I will be posting poems with really deep meanings and getting tattoos of broken hearts and crying roses =). Actually, getting this crap out has made me feel a little bit better (thank you Pennebaker). Don't worry, I am sure that EMO MIKEY won't be here that long, and PEPPY OPTIMISTIC MIKEY will be back for the next blog entry.

Solo quiere basilar

It seems like this week I had quite a few moments where I thought: I need to put this in my blog. Some were funny, some serious. So, here you are:

One of Marta's grown daughters, Leonore, invited me to the rezo (prayer and Rosary) that they hold annually to remember her husband's death. I accepted, even though I was pretty nervous about going to a recitation of the Rosary when I do not in fact know how to say the Rosary, especially in Spanish. I can stumble through it in English (we Presbyterians know the "Our father", and I can pick up on the rest by the second recitation) but I am absolutely hopeless when it comes to Catholic ceremonies in Spanish. As I may have already noted in an early blog- I demonstrated this incompetence when asked to say grace at dinner at Don Abdon's house. I said the classic: thanks for the food, for each other, watch over and guide us- pretty proficiently. But then everyone looked at me awkwardly, and someone else mercifully led them through the Lord's prayer without me. I didn't know that was part of grace here. Similarly, I went to mass once and was pretty lost. In any case, I went to the Rezo, assured by Marta that no one was going to be offended that if I didn't recite along with them. Leo's oldest son Pablo is a priest, and he was officiating. It was actually a really awesome experience. The whole family got together, prayed, and then had a cafecito. I admire that they still take the time to remember their deceased husband/father/uncle/son in a formal way, even though he died thirteen years ago. Marta was pretty curious how we mourn someone in the United States. She says that mourning is a big deal here, with 9 days straight right after the death, and then a big ceremoney one year later, and then continued prayer sessions every year thereafter. I explained to her that, while traditions vary by family and religion, I have not experienced grief as as such a formal and extended process. We have a funeral, and we pray there, but after that there is not usually any official celebration. If there is a continued remembrance, it is usually initiated by the family, and usually doesn't keep happening for thirteen years. Of course, every family is different: in my three years volunteering as a grief support group facilitator in Tucson, I was invited to a couple of death-anniversary remembrance ceremonies. Also, my sister and I, and sometimes our friends, try to go to the site where my mom died from time to time and maintain the cross that her friends put there. I do appreciate the respect that Leonore's family has for the memory of their dad; and it wasn't sad. They prayed, and then they drank coffee. It was simple, yet I am sure that their dad would be glad to be remembered in such a way.

This fairly serious family event on Saturday contrasted completely with lunch on Sunday. I thought I was going to go insane! There were probably 15 people in the kitchen; Patri was cleaning out and defrosting the refrigerator, and so there was water and food everywhere. Marta was cooking and serving soup, Gaudi and Sharon were yelling to each other across the house, while Macho was jumping up and down and screaming, but apparently for no specific reason. Leo, Rosita, and I were trying to find room on the cluttered table for the soup bowls we were being handed, while also locating spoons, and quieting Macho, and arranging chairs. It was, to say the least, chaotic. I finished my lunch in half the time that it took everyone else, mostly because I couldn't follow the 5 different conversations closely enough to contribute. So, I ate quickly and in silence, and then hastily gave up my seat to someone else who needed it. I had to go lay down afterwards, because I was a little bit stressed out. After more than two months here, I am pretty confident in my Spanish skills, but this was defiinitely a scenario where they failed me. My Spanish also proves pretty weak when I go out dancing with Dixie and Nelson; loud music isn't conducive to serious conversation in any language, but it's even harder for me when it isn't my first language.

Speaking of dancing, I went to Los Pinares (the only bar in Santa Rosa) with most of my friends here to watch the Costa Rica-Surinam fútbol match on Satruday. I even dressed in Red and Blue (national colors). We destroyed Surinam, 7-0. It was fun. Afterward, we stayed and danced a bit. I was wearing my crocs (not exactly high class attire) but didn't really worry about it (I stand out no matter what I wear here). I got more awkward when Rene asked me to dance Merengue with him- I am not so good at Merengue yet. And then, to make matters worse, the DJ (who lives in a Habitat house) decides to give me a shout out over the loudspeaker and comment on my dancing skills. I was bastante embarrassed! But wait, there's more: Cuti (the DJ) then proceeded to play a Phil Collins song and dedicate it to me. Everyone sat down and stopped dancing, and I was left to regret ever having mentioned to Cuti my dorky obsession with old Phil Collins music. I survived the verguenza (embarrassment) however, and ended up havind a pretty fun night. For some reason, my friends decided that I needed a theme song. They narrowed it down to 2 options. The first one's lyrics go: "ella no tiene novio, solo quiere basilar" (She doesn't have a boyfriend, she just wants to joke around). The other option goes: "¿Tan bonita para que? Si no tiene alma, ¿Tan bonita para que? Si no tiene corazon" (which means, So pretty for what? if she doesn't have a soul, so pretty for what? if she doesn't have a heart?" I had to assure them that I do indeed have a soul. But, since I have shown no interest in finding a romance in Santa Rosa, they insist I must be heartless. In any case, it was funny, and they were all singing, and the bartender had to come ask them to be quiet.

The Child Care Center committee is making me happy: they are taking more initiative to plan things, and are not relying on me to do all of the work, as much. This is a necessary step, especially since the Child Care Center is a really long term project, and there is no way that we are going to be able to get it up and runnign while I am here. It's just not possible. So, I was ecstatic when Doña Rosario approached me and said that she want to organize a karaoke night to benefit the Centro Infantil. We are planning to hold the event in October, with food and prizes and music. We even had a meeting and divided up planning responsibilites. I hope that it all turns out well. Today I worked on writing a grant for the Child Care Center (first in English, now I am translating). It's boring. But hopefully it gets us some plata (money). Sometimes I worry that I am doing all of this work, and it won't amount to anything. But that's only on days when I am being negative. Usually I am pretty optimistic. Today, I am somewhere in between.

That's all I have for now.

Bar fight

So, the past two weeks were the annual town-wide fiestas (think a combination of tiny county fair and rodeo days). They kicked the weekend off with a Tope- which is like a parade, except there are only horses. A bunch of horses. We basically ate and danced all day. I can now do something that resembles an ugly form of Cumbia. Thus, keeping with the festivities, I went to my first baile in the village, at the only bar there is in town: Los Pinares. It was fun, crowded, and everyone in the community was there-the prinicipal of my elementary school, some of my fifth graders (apparently they don't ask for ID at the door). Dixie (my best village friend) was having some boyfriend drama because her novio said he was going to come, then called and said he was sick, then showed up like 30 minutes later dancing with another girl and not even acknowledging Dixie. In my book, that is enough to be pissed off about, but she seemed to be taking it pretty well. As the end of the night came around, we were all dancing to some salsa, and Dixie was dancing with her brother, Rene. Rene proceeded to punch Damian (Dixie's now EX-boyfriend) in the face, and Dixie was quite caught up in the middle of it. Usually, when a fight at a concert or a bar breaks out, I would try and get as far away as possible. However, I don't have a ton of friends in Santa Rosa yet, and I didn't exactly feel like watching Dixie get the crap beat out of her. Thus, I proceeded to jump in too =) The boy I was dancing with was spending his time trying to pull me out, as I was simultaneously trying to extracate Dixie. With the help of the bouncer, the situation was diffused: Dixie was crying and had a broken high heel, Dixie an Rene's mom (who was watching all of this ensue) was outside yelling at Damian in Spanish (I didn't quite catch all of it, but it wasn't good), and I gathered up all of our stuff from the table we were sitting at and that everyone else had left in the drama. So, there we were, outside in the cold, regrouping to head home. Suddenly, Rene runs right past me and jumps on Damian (I am not quite sure why he would come back). I turn, wielding 2 huge umbrellas that I had just collected from the table, and start yelling in Spanglish about how Rene is to stop right this instant and come home with us! Looking back now, it was hilarious. At the time, a little disconcerting. In any case, the night ended up fine, and now I have a single girlfriend to hang out with, instead of one that was always busy with her lame boyfriend!

While bar fights are fun and all, I have been doing other stuff. Last week I went with a group of like 30 people from Habitat International on a tour of a housing community in Northern Costa Rica, as well as some sight seeing. Basically, I was invited along because 1- I speak Enlgish, 2- I can tell the international people about what we are doing in Costa Rica, and 3- I can be charming and try and get them excited to send funds to our projects =) It turns out that the group was made up of the people who work for Habitat in the States doing fundraising and finances. This was a really awesome group of people to spend my day with! I don't think that I have posted it here yet, but lately I have been thinking about changing my life plan (I'm still mulling it over though, nothing definite). I may want to go into non-profit management when I get back, specifically into resource development (read: fundraising). Thus, it was a lucky break that I found myself on a bus with 30 people who are doing exactly what I would like to be doing in the near future. I got some really good advice on how to go about enacting this new, different life plan, and made some really good contacts. So, we'll see. Also, it was nice to eat at nice restaurants and see touristy stuff like volcanoes for a day (especially since Habitat was footing the bill).

Let's see, what else have I been up to? Dustin, who is the only other U.S. volunteer in the country, came and saw my community this weekend. He came up to S.R. on Saturday, hung out, met my friends, saw the houses, etc. We went to a party at Dixie and Rene's house, and somehow Dustin ended up getting people to do the limbo. It was fun, though not nearly as dramatic as the previous weekend with all the dancing and fighting; I hope that he wasn't disappointed.

I am sure that I am forgetting a ton of stuff, but oh well. Thanks for all the emails I have been getting! I love hearing from y'all!

Cooking, coffee, dancing; in that order

Hey all-

I feel like August hasn't been all that eventful; not much to report. I have been integrating into Santa Rosa pretty effectively, even making friends. I walked with a bunch of my host cousins and some friends from Santa Rosa to Cartago (about 2.5 hours, but all down hill) on a Catholic pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Los Angeles. The Virgin of Los Angeles is the patron of Costa Rica, easily equatable to the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico. People walk from as far as Nicaragua (some on their knees) to come to Cartago and see a tiny little statue that, legend has it, was discovered like 300 years ago, someone tried to take home, but kept miraculously reapperaring in the same spot. Plus, she has healing properties. When we got there there were, literally, like a million people, so needless to say we didn't see "la negrita" (it's a statue made of black rock) or even make it inside the church. Still, it was really impressive. It felt like a rock concert (and there was music) but instead of drugs and beer there was praying and people on their knees.

The day after our long walk (not gonna lie- I was pretty sore) I went dancing with my friend Nelson from S.R. It was so fun! Straight out of Dirty Dancing Havana Nights (ok, that was a lame reference. I am just kidding. But it was fun). I am still ignorant of Merengue and Cumbia, but am getting a hang of salsa, and Reggaetón doesn't change from Mexico to here. Plus, I am digging the Brazilean dance stuff a lot. When I got home it was the madrugada (new word=really late night) and I was exhausted. I have also started doing yoga again daily, so if I get fat, don't blame me. Or maybe, do blame me. I drink a ridiculous amount of coffee each day, and with that ususally comes a ton of bread.

I am finally getting used to the food, or rather, my family is getting used to the way I eat. They just don't do vegetables here. I gave up waiting for my fridge to come (it has disappeared into the pits of Cartago delivery men) and just asked Marta if I can keep stuff in her's. I went grocery shopping on Saturday at Hipermas, which is pretty much a Tico Walmart. It was like heaven! I realize that I am probably going to hell for equating Walmart to heaven, but it was really awesome to be able to buy everything you need in one place, without having to beware of pick pockets (a danger in the Cartago food mercado). However, I will keep going to the mercado for some veggies, because I seem to have made a friend. One of the vendors hooks me up everytime; last week I bought 5 tomatoes, 4 bananas, a star fruit, and a cucumber for US $1. Anyway, I cooked Mexican food for my host family (tacos, nothing fancy), but they actually liked it. I think I am going to introduce them to enchiladas next. You would be surprised at how much they don't like spicy food here, though. They say I have strong taste buds, which we all know is very much not the case. Also on the food note, I can now make torillas, from scratch. I am pretty proud. Plus, they are actually pretty good- round, fairly thin. I'll have a tortilla exhibition when I get back.


After about a zillion failed meeting attempts, I finally got together with the director of the colegio (high school), and arranged to start teach English classes to the ninth graders. Santa Rosa's colegio is actually a "telesecundaria", which only goes up to the ninth grade. There are 3 teachers, and what they don't know thye have videos for. The person who is currently teaching English to all 60ish students is a Chemistry and Science professor. He is really nice, but admits that his English abilities, while pretty good, don't necessarily make him qualified to teach it, expecially conversationally. It would be like me trying to teach Spanish in the States. I could do it, but it would be ugly. Anyway, I started last Friday, and it went pretty well. They are all really quiet, and I have to convince them to participate. Pretty much the exact opposite of the problem I have with the 5th graders. Speaking of 5th graders, I showed up to school on Monday, and my classroom was FULL of construction materials (for the roof they are putting over the patio). Doña Emily, the directora, told me she was sorry, and that I would have to figure out something to do. She didn't actually seem that sorry, but there was nothing I could do. I canceled class on Mon. and we had class outside on Tuesday (it wasn't that bad). I didn't mind having an extra day off from the kids.

Pretty much, things are good. Sometimes I wish that the projects could move a little faster, but that's just the way it is. Miss y'all

5th grade diablos

Remind me not to teach 5th grade when I come back to the U.S., ok?