Welcome to Hell.

Welcome to Hell.  We had our interviews with our project managers last week and more or less this is what we were told about our future sites.   How do you feel about hot and cold weather?  Well, I don’t really like hot weather.  Okay, well that’s bad news because all the sites are Hot and buggy and humid so, we don’t really have a lot of room to accommodate preferences…   Okay, I respond, well sure, I guess I can do hot… Well Tina, you seem strong like maybe you could walk a long ways?  Umm sure I guess I can walk some distance…  Basically the picture that was painted was that I am going to live in a hot, insect infested hell through which I get to walk far and often.  Que Suerte…  The good news is that my mama Tica has been regularly campaigning on my behalf with regard to my DEET allergy.  Apparently she has just been beside herself about the amount of bug bites I have received.  On Thursday the Medical Officers gave me a sack full of bug crap, DEET free repellent, Claritin, Calamine Lotion and some cream that apparently can burn my skin off and cause blindness if I use it too frequently, noted… and I’ll probably be putting that in the bottom of my med kit.

Flash forward to my volunteer visit where I visited the “best site in Peace Corps.”  I have to admit it was pretty incredible.  Nick lives on a Cafetal that produces organic coffee.  There are horses, cows, pigs, oxen, and a really adorable puppy.  I will be posting pictures when I get the chance.  On Friday I toured the farm, a real privilege because there are guided tours through the farm for tourists visiting Monte Verde.   The farm features an old fashioned (Oxen powered) sugar press, all the necessities for producing coffee, a machine to de-shell it, a greenhouse to dry it, a sorter, a roaster and a grinder.  The shells of the coffee are saved to make fertilizer and a lot of the machinery, in addition to the stove in the house, are powered by methane gas produced in a biodigestor.  (Dad, you seriously need to quite paying for propane and make a biodigestor.  Don’t worry; I’ll help you when I get back.)  Let’s just say I was really impressed.  The animals and I got on quite well if I do say so myself, and the horse and I even shared a snotty kiss.  The view from the coffee fields was incredible, it’s a site located in the middle of former rain forest.  There is a tremendous valley and a river and views of Monte Verde on of Costa Rica’s largest nature preserves.    Unfortunately I did not see any monkeys but I did hear the village dogs bark every night at the local puma.  Saturday morning I made sugar.  Rather, I watched while other people made sugar and tried the sugar during every step of the process.  I was told on multiple occasions that sugar made in this way is natural and therefor healthy; additionally it does not cause diabetes.  I will have to check the facts on that. Saturday night I went to Monte Verde the town, and was blown away at how different were these worlds.  Nick’s site is 10 km or so away from Monte Verde and his town is very typical of rural Costa Rica, Monte Verde could very easily be any town in the US.  Every store/hotel and restaurant had free wifi (with prices to match the privilege.)  The Americans were out in full force and I couldn’t help but feel as if I were back in the States.  Weird.

One problem I have begun to run into here is that I stick out.  I have never felt so different, so out of place in my life.  The host families of the other volunteers talk about me, people turn and stare when I walk down the street, It’s almost like being a celebrity.  I have been told on multiple occasions that I am the epitomy of a Costa Rican beauty.  My blonde hair and blue eyes are the most desired physical traits of many people here and I am the only volunteer to arrive with white blonde hair and blue eyes.  Having grown up in a world where my brothers made up funny rhymes about their fat ugly sister, where I was never the “pretty” girl and where I generally spent a lot of my life feeling awkward and never quite up to par, it is strange to be seen in this way.  In fact, I can count on one hand the number of people who have told me that I am beautiful before arriving to Costa Rica.  In country I have lost track.  Last week we went to the town fiestas (they are much smaller than anticipated because the correct permits were not obtained from the municipality.)  At the fiestas there was a demonstration of traditional dance (sort of, I can’t really explain is any other way.) On occasion they were pulling people from the crowd and as soon as I saw that this was happening I moved myself to the back, surely I would be disguised in the back of the crowd?  How wrong was I?  The dance leader made eye contact with me and as I started to turn away to safety, the crowd parted and he grabbed me forcing me to dance in front of the whole town.  I want my brown hair back.   

I am also really struggling with my purpose here.  What am I doing in Costa Rica?  What I have seen so far is that many of these people do not seem to need help at all.  I feel like all of this is a massive publicity stunt put on by the US government.  There are parts of the country that seem to really need help but it seems like Peace Corps is not going to send us there because it is “too dangerous.”  I’m not really sure what that means, too dangerous.  Peace Corps sends volunteers to countries all over the world where the sites are far more dangerous than any site could be here.  (While I was typing this, a cat jumped on my roof and ran across it and scared the shit out of me.  It sounded like we were being bombed.)   I guess I’ll see what my site is like, but so far the information leads me to the conclusion that I am not here to help anybody except the US government (that’s nice seeing as how the government won’t even help me get my phone cancelled.) 

Finally, When I was in Monte Verde I encountered some illegal immigrants.  When we think of illegal immigrants we certainly have a perception that comes along with this word.  These illegal immigrants were American’s living and working illegally in Costa Rica.  Just some food for thought.

Get Real!

I figured out how to get hot water in my shower.  Yes, this is a major victory in my life.  It happened by accident.  We have an electric shower head that is supposed to heat the water that comes through the faucet; it’s really an ingenious invention to conserve electricity.  I had assumed that our shower head was not functional because up until yesterday I was incapable of making it heat the water to a degree that made a difference.  I had gotten advice from other trainees, “turn your water on just a trickle,” or “switch it from hot to cold to warm back to hot then turn on the water.”  Believe me, I tried everything and then yesterday morning I was in the process of my morning hot water experiments when I slipped.  I reached out to steady myself and turned the faucet from a stream to a trickle and for the first time felt warm water, Huzzah!  I switched the shower head from warm to cold to hot and the shower head clicked, sparked and then began to make the sweet, sweet sound of whirring electricity.  Hot water trickled out of my shower, boiling, lava hot water.  Granted, you can only turn the water pressure up to just higher than a trickle, but at last I am capable of standing completely under the hot running water.  I have been showering in a gymnastic form washing my body part by part and bending over backwards to wash my hair.  Que Milagro!  Every time you get in your boiling hot water please think of those of us who are not so lucky.  Consider that every day you turn on the faucet it’s little short of a miracle that there is on demand hot water.

Internet is still a little more difficult.  We have made a deal with the principle of the elementary school in town that we can use the internet at the school after six o’clock, but there was no finalization of plans, like how do we get into the school after six, and is there wifi or do we need to use the school computers, do they have a log in, are there rules for using the internet?  So this situation is still in development, but there is now hope… at least for training.  Also, every Thursday we go to our partner organization PANI (something about help for children…) and PANI has wifi that we are allowed to use, but in limited quantities.  We have a 30 minute break in the morning, an hour for lunch, and then 15 minutes in the afternoon.  I have further learned that once I get to my site internet is going to become far scarcer.  Before 2007 volunteers pretty much didn’t have internet in rural areas and needed to travel to big cities to obtain it but in 2007 there was an initiative of the Costa Rican government to give every Costa Rican access.  As a result, the Government gave away computers and initial networks to any town that asked for it.  But the government did not provide for maintenance, electricity or the continued use of the internet and as a result many of these internet cafes in rural areas that opened in 2007 and 2008 were closing by 2009 and 2010.  The internet café in my town was open three weeks before we arrived but had to close down because it could no longer afford to operate.  With the passage of CAFTA earlier this year, non-citizens of Costa Rica were able to obtain cell phones for the first time and at this time, many of the volunteers in country were able to purchase their own internet via their phones (this was very cheap, like six dollars a month cheap).  Alas, on March 7^th the cell phone company (there is still only one) decided that there was too much demand on the network due to data usage and as a result limited data to Costa Rican residents.  Goodbye internet.  It is possible that there will be foreign investment in cell phone infrastructure and that this will change during my service, but for now, I am incapable of purchasing internet for myself.  But my Mama Tica seems to think that I need only to travel to a tourist area on occasion to receive internet.  However, this internet situation has certainly opened my eyes to the first issues that affect Costa Rica.

CAFTA is certainly a subject that needs careful consideration before beginning a conversation.  I do not feel that my language abilities are strong enough to approach this with tact and so for the most part I try not to engage people on this subject.  On the one hand I think many people are hopeful that the high import taxes imposed on things like electronics are finally going to disappear and they will have more access to technology, but on the other hand I think Costa Ricans are afraid of what this means for their ability to compete in agricultural markets. 

A funny side note is that anytime I see anyone when I am walking down the street we say goodbye as we pass.  (Adios).  What a strange thing this is for me!  In Peru I was taught that Adios is a long term goodbye to be used when you won’t see someone for a while or you don’t know when is the next time you will see them and Chao is a goodbye for all occasions.  Here Adios is more like, “Later!”  Of course it’s still acceptable to pass bye with “Buenas!” but the most certain way to seem like one of the locals is to greet with Adios…  If we are walking down the street and don’t greet someone that is family (nearly everyone is somehow family) you can bet that my mama Tica is going to hear about it by the afternoon, especially on my street.   I don’t think I will ever be able to pass for a Tica.  While there are blondes here, blonde is a relative term that does not tend to encompass my white hair.  Additionally, I am not sure I can ditch the convenience of a backpack in order to appear more Tica.

The good news is that I can feel my language skills progressing. When I arrived I tested at Intermediate low (some of us still consider this test to be faulty) and our Spanish teacher told us yesterday that we are conversing at Intermediate Mid (Woot! Good to swear in!).  I had a long conversation Monday night with my family about the situation in Japan which progressed to a conversation about energy and electricity generation in general and then a wider conversation about the environment.   Just talking with my family I am beginning to get the feeling that those who live in the central valley (San Jose and surrounding area) have more modern views than those who live in the country.  My neighbors that never leave their homes are a good example.  Consider your own life, how many of your neighbors do you know?  Do you wave to them when you drive by?  Do you stop to say hello? Probably not.  Neighbor relationships in the USA have changed tremendously in the last 20 years and I think that change is beginning to occur here as well.  In my small town we say goodbye to everyone that we see on the street. But in San Jose I tried a similar approach and received only strange looks in return.   The fact that I have two neighbors that no one on my street seems to know or talk to is indicative of a wider trend as far as I am concerned. 

While rice and beans were fun for two weeks, the third week is begging for a little variety in my diet.  Once we had soup because my family was suffering from La gripe.  Another time we had pasta with mushrooms, and that was pretty delicious.  I also put chilies in everything and I think my family is impressed with my ability to eat spicy foods.  Obviously they’ve never been to Peru, or Sierra Leone, both places where I was regarded as a spicy food baby.  I’m interested to see how cooking changes once I get out of the central valley.  I’m sure I’ll get that chance next week when I travel to visit a volunteer at her site (how exciting!)

I think everyone will be pleased to know that we have now been in country for three weeks (mas o menos) and I have not yet been ill.  I did, however; discover an allergy to DEET, get eaten alive by mosquitos and get stung by a flying ant that lives in a giant hive above the door of another trainees house (apparently when a giant hive of flying ants decides to make their home above your front door that is a sign of good luck for everyone in your house.  What an interesting way to look at things.)  There are two RCD trainees that are currently racing to a MEDEVAC and I am not among them, Zing!  One of them is experiencing some intense asthma as a result of the altitude and the other was running one morning when she had a misstep.  A few days later she was feeling numbness in one of her legs and then noticed she had drop foot.  I told her she probably has MS but the PCMO’s (that’s Peace Corps Medical Officers for those of you non savvy readers) gave her steroids in the hope that it would go away.  Rather than go away it got worse and they steroids made her so dizzy she had to leave class early (Don’t worry, she has permission to stop taking them.)  The hospital that I will inevitably get to see up close and personally, is swank-i-fied.  We went on a city tour on Wednesday and the hospital was really impressive.  Also the health care must be good because coffee was three dollars.

At any rate, welcome to my life.  I’m still struggling with the idea that this is my permanent situation.  It’s difficult for me to imagine what my life is going to be like for the next two years here, but I think our upcoming PCV visit is going to be helpful in cementing my expectations

It's Like This...

It’s like this… I find myself saying this phrase more and more since I have arrived in Costa Rica.  I have been translating everything that I say into my Spanish, and when I am explaining something, I tend to start with,  Esta como asi…

               

It’s like this; I am addicted to the internet.  I have not had access since I left the retreat center on Saturday the 5^th of March.  Every day, I spend a large part of my time thinking about how I am going to get access to the internet, or when will be the next time I can realistically expect to have the internet.  I have dreams at night, that it’s no big deal that I don’t have the internet because in the morning I can just go to Starbucks, where there is free internet.  This is not the case.  There is not a Starbucks here, and if there was I am pretty sure that it would not have free internet, because in Costa Rica there is no such thing as free internet.  Further complicating the problem is that two of my neighbors have Wi-Fi, and both of them are password protected networks.  All I want is to find out what these passwords are and if I ever saw the people that lived in this houses, I would for sure ask them to supply me with the password, but it seems that they are never home, or when they are home they immediately lock their gates and enter the house without talking to any of their neighbors.  Let me just tell you, that this is strange behavior for Costa Rica.  Everyone on my street seems to know the business of everyone else, so I am not quite sure how the two houses bordering me have escaped this happening. 

It’s like this, we eat rice and beans.  Every day, for every meal we eat rice and beans.  Lucky for me, I happen to really like the rice and beans here, and the beans are not always the same kind of beans.  The protein that we eat with it also changes on occasion, sometimes being fish, usually avocado, and in the morning’s eggs.  We also tend to cut these types of foods with snacks of fruit and bread.  But you definitely can predict with certainty what is going to be for dinner, lunch and breakfast. 

It’s like this; I literally live on a mountain.  I realize that I am famous for my tendency to exaggerate, but this is not an exaggeration.  I really live on a mountain.  I walk down into a valley and then back up the mountain every day when I go to school.  Every day I find a new part of my body that hurts and then I try to compensate for this pain by walking in a different way, creating more soreness the next day.  Today, I walked to a nearby community and I almost passed out from the effort, it was way down in the valley and then we explored the whole town, which consists of about 5 buildings, but all the houses of the other volunteers are spread out all over this mountain so we climbed up and down for several hours and then walked all the way back up to the top of the mountain where I live.  I am tired all the time.  I go to sleep around nine every night and then I am up by 5:30 or 6:30 in the morning.  My family wakes up very early because there is one bathroom and pretty much everyone needs to leave the house by 7:00

It’s like this; I take a cold shower every morning because there is no such thing as hot water in our house unless you boil it in a pot for cafecito.  My options in the morning are cold, or freezing cold.  I tend to choose cold because it’s a little less of a shock to get out of my warm bed get naked in the cold air and then jump into a cold shower.  But you can imagine how disheartening it can be to realize that getting up means shaking with cold for the first hour you are awake.  The best part of waking up…

It’s like this, my family Tica is amazing.  I have three sisters (13, 14, and 15) and my mama and papa Tica.  They could not be more loving with each other.  Let me just say that I have never seen three teenage girls who are so respectful of their parents and still obviously love them.  The family is very physically affectionate which is something I am not used to, but they also show affection by making fun of each other.  They are constantly joking and laughing with one another and teasing is a big part of their family dynamic, lucky for me, I am an expert when it comes to teasing.  My mama Tica is pretty hilarious, she sews for a living and has a workshop in the house so people are always stopping by to drop things off or pick things up from her.  They also tend to call the house to tell her that they are coming by or need something done etc.  She always answers saying to me, ah the cost of fame! Then she answers the phone saying, Hallo, It is I.  I think this is a pretty awesome way to answer the phone.   

               

It’s like this; I cannot speak Spanish.  I am pathetic.  I understand about 80 percent of what is said to me, but I can barely say anything in response.  I know I seem like a total idiot, I mean, I speak like a baby, no, more like someone who had a stroke.  For example, yesterday I was trying to tell my family about the time I backpacked through the Grand Canyon.  First problem, I don’t know how to say Backpack as a verb, so I said… I think 4 years ago I walked with a very big backpack through the Grand... Canyon? That’s the right word right? There were stairs? And we walked the stairs.  That was one day.  My whole body hurt from walking.  Then I am pretty proud of myself for getting all that information out but then the questions start… Who did you go backpacking with, did you go down into the canyon and walk through it or did you walk around it?  Did you cross the canyon?   Once the questions start that’s when things get really bad, because I don’t know how to answer the questions.  So  the responses you go something like this, oh well, you know that thing where you do this… I don’t know… How do you say this…. You know where you do that thing? (Action).  Then my family laughs at me.  Yes family, I am incapable of forming sentences.  At least I am not a beginner…  Yesterday we met with the group to watch a movie and just get some good old buddy time in, and one of the beginners was trying to describe (in English) a person from another group that something couldn’t remember and so she says, Asian, One Bag (The person in question happens to be of Asian descent and was the only person to check only one bag..  She has been speaking in single words since she arrived with her host family a week ago.  Hungry.  Bathroom? The other day she came back late from class and all she could manage by way of explanation was, Juice, Beer, Friends, Sorry.  I think this person was able to say all that needed to be said about how we are all feeling right now.  In English the only way she could think to describe someone was with three words, Asian, One Bag.    We are currently at that stage where everything must be translated before we can say it and our minds are constantly working to decipher what is being said while trying to formulate a response at the same time.   Many of us have been complaining of headaches, and I think its probably because our brains are on overdrive. 

As soon as I am able to borrow the internet of one of my fellow trainees, I will post this blog, until then…

Thank God I'm here for two years!

After throwing large piles of crap in 4 bags weighing a little over 80 pounds, I slept for about an hour Sunday night and then began the trip to Costa Rica.  My parents dropped me off at the airport at 5 am on Monday morning and I slept for a good portion of the car ride.  I awoke at the airport seriously disoriented and it wasn't until my dad was hugging me goodbye that I realized this was GOODBYE, for two years goodbye.  So after an hour or so of sleep, I went through security fighting back tears and losing the battle.  I flew to Chicago and upon landing we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes... yay.... By the time we got off the plane I was 15 minutes past my boarding time only to realize that I was on the other side of the airport from my gate, so with my bags flying behind me, I ran to my gate thinking I was barely going to make my flight.  No worries, when I got there we didn't even have a plane.  Unfortunately there was no food around me, a real bummer considering I hadn't eaten breakfast, oh well, I could eat in DC right?  Wrong.  I landed in DC at 12:30, the time I was supposed to be registering as a Peace Corps Trainee (PCT).  By the time I got my bags and a taxi and arrived at the hotel it was 1:15... No lunch, no breakfast... but I had a tootsie roll and some water, so that was very positive.  We began staging which was really just sevenish hours of reviewing expectations for Peace Corps.  It was nice to see that everyone in my training class had basically the same worries and hopes for service.  But by seven PM I was ready for some dinner!  On the advice of a DC resident we walked 13 or so blocks (in the rain) to get some Chinese food and the restaurant was closed... We settled for an Asian fusion restaurant that was pretty expensive, but heck, Peace Corps gave us tons of Money for dinner and we were out to spend it.  Unfortunately my order consisted of 5 scallops which I gobbled up in 10 seconds flat, then I waited around till almost 9 until everyone else finished.  I went to sleep around 11 and slept fitfully knowing that in only 2 hours it would be time to wake up again!  27 volunteers and all their luggage checked out of the hotel at 2 am and boarded a bus to National airport.

Let me just say that sleep deprivation does some very strange things to a person.  All of Monday I alternated between a giddy silliness and being an over-emotional wreck.  The check in process at National was the strangest airport experience of my life.  27 adults in professional dress with hundreds of pounds of luggage having slept little to none the previous night...need I say more?  I had my first real meal in a couple days after getting through security and my mood instantly improved.

I don't normally sleep on planes but as soon as I sat down I passed out.  I woke up 40 minutes later, but those 40 minutes were key in getting through the rest of the day.    We arrived in Miami and I think everyone realized that this was our last hour in the US for the next 27 months.  Everyone was calling home and saying goodbyes and things got fairly intense there for a while.  Upon arrival in Costa Rica everyone was in good spirits, and then we remembered about customs...  My customs officer thought he was pretty funny telling me I couldn't come in the country and I would have to go back home.  He said it in Spanish so I am sure that this would have been a very funny private joke had I not realized what he was saying.  Unfortunately, I did understand but could not think of the words to explain myself.  When I started to cry he obviously felt bad and told me please not to cry and let me through.

The Peace Corps staff picked us up at the airport and we got on yet another bus to travel to Escuela Juan XXIII a retreat center north east of San Jose.  Upon arrival we immediately headed to a classroom to get oriented with the PC Costa Rica staff.  By 7 pm when we were released everyone was pretty much exhausted and went straight to sleep.

After 8 hours of sleep and a hot shower, I was ready to greet the day with a positive attitude and I actually had an amazing day.  We had our language placement interview today and though I was really nervous about it, I did better than I expected.  But my grammar was atrocious and there were so many words I couldn't remember. Quite allright, at least I could understand and sort of carry on a conversation.  We also got medical kits today which was really exciting!  I love getting medications, something about knowing that I can take care of my health just makes me feel good.  Today we also separated into groups and learned more about our specific assignments.  Apparently the Rural Community Development project is in transition so the goals of the program are changing.  We are now focusing on community organizing, and environmental education.  Definitely my favorite part of the day was our diversity exercise.  Everyone in our program was instructed to prepare a 7 minute presentation to help explain ourselves to the rest of the group.  Everyone got really into these presentations and it was fun to learn so much about our fellow volunteers.

All in all I am getting really excited to meet my host family and move to my training site!  I can hardly wait to get started.