Home away from home away from home

I can't say enough about tech week, even though I missed the meeting of the development association and the trip to the cataratas. The drive south was beautiful-- we were heading to the province of Puntarenas near San Vito to a town called Jabillos, where a current PCV has been for nearly one year. My host father was the president of the association and the PC vol's local counterpart (every volunteer has a local counterpart). He is 43 and his wife is 33. They have two daughters, who are 12 and 14, and one son who is 7. After two days with the Chacon Moras, I became their "oldest daughter." They had never had a volunteer stay with them and were so eager to spend time with me and introduce me to their extended family. I felt so comfortable in their house-- it was the first occasion I have had to put my feet up on the couch in front of the television! It was also nice to be removed from the chisme of Rio Conejo, so I took the opportunity to confide in my new tica mother about many things-- some PC, some personal.

Before I jump to the projects we did, I just want to make a few quick notes:
1) I will never forget riding in Don Carlos' (padre) truck (picture a cattle truck) with my new siblings in the back, the girls, posed unintentionally like models, looking like twins, one on each side of the back, legs outstretched, weight on their arms, their hair blowing in the wind. Meanwhile, the gringa was safe and sound inside with mom and dad.
2) Stepping in and out of a mosquito net makes me feel like a princess.
3) I saw my first arcoiris in Jabillos, after what I would call a perfect summer storm, but what was actually a winter storm-- the first of many. Ya begins the rainy season, by the way. (It's awesome, at least in Cartago-- we get 1/2 day of warm sunshine and then, at 1pm on the dot, when we are safe and sound in our classroom, we get a tormenta like no other. Thunder, lightning, power outages, MUD, SO FUERTE we laugh reading the lips of whoever has the mala suerte to be presenting at that time.)
4) After my five hour ride with the language facilitators to Jabillos and a long conversation with my new tico grandpa, I feel comfortable saying that my Spanish is improving. I have finally, after 10+ years of language instruction, figured out how, when, and why to use the Imperfect tense!
5) I milked my first cow... is the verb still "milked" if no milk came out?
6) I'm bringing back "pura vida" to the U.S.-- It is the perfect answer to "how are you" when you're riding in the back of Don Carlos' truck, subiendo and bajando montanas, watching the sky turn magical shades at dusk, welcoming the cool breeze after the day´s humidity.
7) "What a beautiful glass," I said to the wife of the man who operates and maintains the aqueduct that serves Jabillos and neighboring communities. "Take it and remember me," she said. I introduced myself, accepted the gift with a puzzled look, and walked out wondering what she would do when the sixth guest wanted a drink on Easter Sunday.

My English class consisted of seven Kindergarteners, two of whom preferred their game to mine, and spent the entire class in the other room playing with their cattle figurines. While I was disappointed that they were not interested in joining us to count fruit, sing, or play Bingo, I was touched that they continued to invite me to join them for the duration of the class. The valuable lesson learned here was that Kindergarteners need to be constantly stimulated and ought to have something in their hands at all times that they can be creative with. Another difficulty I faced was the lack of support from the Kindergarten teacher in the way of discipline. It was as if she was waiting for me to arrive so that she could take lunch...

My second project was a group project with the school on the environment. We began with a brainstorm on the environment, followed up with a discussion on definitions and causes of pollution, and finished with a walk around the plaza, either picking up trash or picking up items relating to the environment. The students then made some pretty impressive collages-- some more sucio than others.

The other group did a charla on nutrition for the women in the community and touched one everything from the food pyramid, to the nutrition facts, to exercise, to healthy cooking, to concerns such as high blood pressure and high cholestrol.

I was surprised and impressed to see such a strong showing at all of our reuniones-- the best of which was hands down our fiesta de despedida, which was organized by our host families and community members in the salon comunal. My night started with an intensive lesson on Cumbia from a 14 year old tico dance instructor. Other highlights included: DONUTS and a touching reflection on the week by both our host families and us. Tears preceded words of thanks and invitations to return to our beds any day, any time.

While I spent a mere four days with my family, I felt moved to give them a framed picture of our family before I left. My brother and sisters were clearly moved as well, as I returned to Rio Conejo with a pair of earrings Carol purchased in San Vito, a necklace Stephanie no longer wears, and a shot glass Diego must have given me from a personal collection.

One final lesson learned, as we gear up to find out our permanent sites in less than 48 hours, while I could give a preference for climate, work, location, and family, the only deal breaker for me would be an overwhelming feeling of isolation, which I sensed I might feel in Jabillos if I were there alone. The sites where we will be serving are already rural sites, with few more than 300 people, often no less than one hour from the nearest big town or small city. For this reason, I have asked to be placed in a site with a clear center. While Jabillos had a church, pulperia, and salon comunal within a stone's throw, they appeared to be no more connected than stops on a bus route. We had few interactions with community members in town because their houses are fairly spread out. To give you an idea, I am embaressed to say that I got lost one day going home for lunch, having taken the one road that did not lead to my house... I walked for at least twenty minutes in the sweltering heat with an empty water bottle and was struck by the realization that if I fainted from dehydration no one would even stumple upon me-- no one other than a vaca.

No, it wasn't swine flu

So tech week looked grim on Saturday, when I woke up in the middle of the night cursing the torta de atun that we had for dinner that we certainly to blame. When I woke up again to my alarm, I was violently sick to my stomach in a foreign country, in a foreign house, with a foreign mother. When you feel the way I felt, you don't want to have to worry about things like cultural sensitivity... and I didn't. I sat myself down on the bathroom floor to my mother's horror. There was no other option as far as I was concerned; although, she tried to bring in a bench from the kitchen. She also kept telling me she had pastillas for this and that. Luckily, fellow PCV and neighbor stopped her before she got me and told her PC did not allow us to take meds, but only agua de arroz, which is literally the water from cooked rice with cinnamon. When the PC prescribed meds over the phone, I was out for the afternoon. I woke up to the tico version of chicken broth, which has noodles and potatoes, carrots, and chayote. My family was really wonderful and my mother even cried with me! I must admit, though, while the TLC was above and beyond, and so necessary without family and friends, I snaped one time and told her to pelase stop worrying and that I had lived by myself for nearly six years. I could hear her all weekend talking to family and passers by saying "pobrecita, Katarin, she won't even eat a tortilla, which won't make her feel badly, not even an egg in her soup." The up side of going late to San Vito (I ended up carpooling with the language facilitarors on Monday), was I got in some good integration time with my host mother, which has been extremely limited. Anyway, she took me on a different route to her sister's and showed me all her family's coffee fields and how they had been divided up amongst their children. We also passed a beautiful ranch just in time to get a tour from the duenos. It is rented out for wedding parties, birthdays, etc., and it is walled off by palm trees. There is a beautiful pool with a fountain, where tilapia swim,
a treehouse-type area for dancing, and a doll house-like three floored log cabin that sleeps two couples and has a picturesque simple kitchen. This would certainly be a contender for luna de miel destinations if I were to fall in love in Costa Rica...

Creative Katica

I am weeks late in posting this, but I wanted to tell you about my second English class. After the first class, one of my family members expressed interest in learning how to order food in a restaurant. I planned the class around a game of Bingo, with detailed drawings in colored pencil of vegetables, meat, salad, drink, menu, bill, dessert, etc. Backing up, I planned an activity where we would take turns playing waiter and client by posing the question "Excuse me, what would you like..." and "I would like..." This was great practice, but I was most excited about Bingo, particularly after I decided that whoever got Bingo would have to say "Excuse me, I would like..." and name all of the items where they had markers as if they were ordering in a restaurant. While I only managed to get four of the five required people to come, and I failed to secure a committment from a PCV to observe my class, I thought it was extremely successful!

I have had such a blast here rediscovering my creative side, which has been masked by other interests or preoccupations since probably high school. I am now making birthday cards again, painting with water colors, making card games, and writing letters. I am dreaming up ideas fro my future classrooms, including shadowboxes, kaleidoscopes, mailboxes, world maps, masks, mobiles, collages, murals... I also had an idea today that involved a world map mural and a series of "Where in the world is Carmen Santiago", where we could take "trips" to different countries ever day or week and learn about key aspects of other cultures, packing suitcases for climate, cutting out pictures from magazines, and sending postcards. Where in the world is Kathryn Rouillard? Tune in next week!