Thoughts on 2009

This was a really really really hard year for me and I know for many of you. Every single thing that could change in my life has, which is both really good and really hard. I think we sometimes we need change and difficult situations to push us toward what we can be. With out change/adversity it's really hard to challenge oneself and to grow as a person. Basically, when life kicks you while your down, it's usually for your own good in the end. This year, I was kicked multiple times while I was down, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I have lot's of hope for this coming year. It will be a full year dedicated to the Peace Corps and La Palma. I have a lot of hope that some of my projects will work out. God has me there for a reason and I hope that in this next year I'm able to realize that reason. Life is good. I love, love, love the United State! I'm sad to have to leave in just 2 short weeks, but I'm happy that I had the opportunity to visit. It's been a real treat to have a cell phone, internet, my car, a 'real' bed, hot showers, the mountains and my family and some friends. I'm seriously blessed and I hope that all of you out there can see the blessings in your life. God is good all the time.

Thrift stores, Target and r-ball

Colorado is so great. Today I went to Target and was able to find a bunch of really cool things. I can't believe how easy it is to find stuff here. I then went to my local rec center and played r-ball (aka - racquetball) with my best good friend Mandy. After some serious games of the r-ball Mandy and I went to a thrift store and let me tell you, I was amazed. It's just so easy to have anything here. Lamps with lamp shades are so cheap. I saw a really nice looking couch for $25, that's crazy! I'm blown away by how much we as Americans have and can get a hold of. It just blows me away. At least I know when I get back from CR I'll be able to find a lot of nice stuff for really cheap. Yes, I'm talking thrift store shopping. Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Home for the Holidays

I arrived in Colorado on the 22nd at about noon and I was so excited. A few days earlier I had spoken with my best good friend Mandy and she had told me that she was going to go skiing the day I was getting in and might not be able to make it to dinner that night. I was pretty bummed, but I was just hoping that she would be able to stop by when she was done skiing. As I exited the international passenger area I was looking around for my mom and got quite the surprise when I saw Mandy standing next to my mom. My brain was like- does not compute, does not compute. I couldn't believe it. I said "but you were going skiing" and Mandy said, oh that was just to throw you off. What an awesome surprise!! As we drove home we headed to Jim's Burger Haven for some good old fashioned American food and then we had a spaghetti dinner with my whole family and Mandy where I got to meet my brand new baby nephew. He's just a little button and about 3 weeks old. I spent probably 3 hours yesterday just holding him and plan to get some serious baby action with both nephews every day for the next 3 weeks. I'm sooooooo happy to be home. I feel like I haven't really slept for 9 months. I'm just so happy to have my family with me. I love them so much, this time so far has been totally perfect. It's going to be really hard to leave them, but I'm not going to think about that for now. God bless you all and please, show your family how much you love them. Happy holidays!

Random stuff

On December 3rd my new nephew James was born. This little guy came a week late and had to be forced out of the womb. James is 9 pounds 5 ounces and a little chunk. I can't wait to meet him in person in just 2 and a half more weeks and I'll be home in Colorado.

In La Palma we are moving out of the rainy season "winter" and into the dry season. It's so hot, you have no idea. Yesterday I worked out and was literally wringing my cloths out, literally. I'm talking it's hot. 2 showers a day, you sweat all day long kind of hot. I don't know how people can live like this. I make it because I know I'm leaving in a year and a half, but forever? I think it would kill me.

Last night I watched the movie P.S. I Love You and I think that's the most I've ever cried at a movie. I cried throughout the entire movie. Super sad, but good. So if you want to cry a lot, check it out.

That's all for now, not much going on since things kind of shut down in December.

Thanksgiving in Costa Rica

Many people have asked me how I spent my Thanksgiving in Costa Rica, so here it is. The Peace Corps was nice enough to ask the US Embassy if they had any families willing to host volunteers for the holiday. There were quite a few families willing to host and I was able to celebrate with my fellow volunteer and friend Becca and 3 families (2 from the Embassy). We stayed with an Embassy employee named Julie, her husband Mauricio and their 4 year old Claudia and 6 month old Lucia. Their home is beautiful and they made us feel right at home from the start. For the actual holiday another Embassy employee and his family came over for dinner along with another American family. The food was beyond good, we ate the traditional Thanksgiving dinner and everyone shared what they were thankful for that year. It was a really nice time. One of the things I'm thankful for this year (among many) is the generosity I've encountered since I've arrived in Costa Rica. I have never had more people offer their homes, food, exercise equipment, rides, etc. to me in all of my life. There is such an attitude of look, I have this, you can have some too (or more often than not, I really want to share this with you, please let me). It's been a really important lesson for me. I hope that is something I will take away with me when I go. I hope to write further on the subject as it is so important to me. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Here is a list of what I'm thankful for:

Generosity, so many people have given me so much in this past year.
Shingles, I know that sounds weird, but I am thankful for it. God has taught me so much about him, about me, about life through shingles so I wouldn't change that.
God, for not allowing me to go blind.
Clinica Biblica, for helping me when I needed it most.
My family, for keeping me sane when I was losing it and for being my greatest support.
My friends, for getting me through.
Jesus, for making the ultimate sacrifice for me.

A Cause for some Laughter

Before I begin my funny story I need to breakdown my current funny/laughter situation and my past funny/laughter situation. In the past (pre-Peace Corps) I laughed all the time, I mean all of the time. Especially when I'm with Mandy, Jess and my Montana crew. It was probably really annoying, when Mandy and I are together we can seriously laugh all day, there are a minimum of 3 laughing attacks per day. It was a lot of fun. Also, in Avon, my friends and I laughed all the time. We joked around and we did funny things. It was a lot of fun. Okay, so that was my past funny/laughter situation. Currently, I maybe laugh once a day. Jokes are so culturally based and based of on history and a million things, so I don't get the Tico humor. I try, and sometimes I can pick up on most of it, but usually since it's Spanish I'm still super literal. I'll ask what they meant and that just makes them laugh harder, and then they explain it to me and I usually say “oh”. Trust me, it just doesn't work. To remedy the situation I have 3 seasons of Arrested Development a super funny series and I make sure to watch at least one show per night so I can laugh. Okay, so here's the funny...
Today I was looking at some magazines on a shelf in the corridor that leads to my room. The shelves are really high, and go probably 6 inches over my head. So, I'm sorting through old News Weeks and Cosmos from 2002-2004 and contemplating reading them when out of the corner of my eye I see something move on the self over my head. Just as this happens my friend Carla was walking past me in the hallway. The thing I saw move was a giant green iguana and it scared the crap out of me. I screamed, scaring the poor lizard and causing it to jump, consequently, Carla just happened to be right in the path of the lizard and it almost lands on her, causing her to scream. The iguana hits the ground and takes off at a sprint for the garden and Carla and I were left just cracking up. It was really fun. That's the hardest I've laughed in a really long time. While I'm such a fan of flying iguanas, I do love a good laugh.

Back in La Palma. Again.

I would like to be able to say that after my week in SJ/Acosta I was ready to get to back in the swing of things in La Palma. Well, I'm back, but for some reason it's always difficult to come back. I think I miss being around people and when I'm in La Palma for a long time I forget that I miss it, but when I leave and am surrounded by friends it makes the feeling of being alone all the stronger. Anyway, I'm working on it.
We had our first Guias y Scouts meeting last Thursday and things went great. Now we are forming la junta or the board of directors and then we will begin the process of training the adults. I'm trying to do a good job of making sure everyone knows that we are running a marathon, not a sprint, so the process needs to be slow and steady so we can build a strong foundation. I'm excited to see where this goes. This program has the potential to really benefit the community. Regarding other project ideas... Well, the computers are on hold at least until February. I'm waiting to see if the internet really does make it here in December like we have been told. If that's the case, I'd like to encourage an entrepreneur to open an internet cafe, it's really the most sustainable form. When a community hads donated computers they are hard to maintain because there is no way to charge for the use, therefore you cannot pay someone to be there and keep the center open. You can see the problem. English classes are still going, I'm going to continue on with just one in the coming year. I think it will be better to teach one class well, rather than two classes mas o menos (more or less). Asi es (that's how it is). I'm heading to San Jose on Wednesday (or Acosta more exactly) and then to Escazu, then San Jose for the weekend. I'm going to spend Thanksgiving with an embassy family and Becca my Peace Corps friend and then I'm going to hang out with Mellany a former roommate from my first season at Beaver Creek.

Back in Acosta for a couple of days

I'm back in Acosta for a couple of days and it feels so good. I missed my host family here so much. It's strange that I only lived with them for a month and a half and yet my bond with them is so strong. My host mom has saved me twice now. The first time she saved me was from a really bad living situation with another host family, things just didn't work out and I was soooo stressed out living with them. When I moved in with her it was like I could breathe for the first time since arriving in Costa Rica. The second time was after my little shingles out break and my time in the hospital. I was so weak after 6 days of IV antibiotics and antivirals. The treatment killed the staph infection and prevented the virus from making me blind, but it also seriously damaged the rest of my body. I was so weak and tired and sick and my host mom took care of me for a week or so until I felt strong enough to go back to La Palma. So, needless to say, I really love my host mom and family in Acosta. I have missed the mountains and the cooler weather, it's so nice to be back.

VAC Meeting 2009

These past few days I had the pleasure of attending my very first all volunteer conference. This is a time when all of the volunteers from Tico 18 and Tico 19 (my group) get to hang out, get to know each other, share ideas and struggles and just have fun. I really need times like these to get out of La Palma and have friends to talk to. November is going to fly by. I'll be staying in SJ area for a few more days, I get back to La Palma and have my Guias y Scouts meeting right when I get back, then it's 2 weeks and then I head back to SJ for Thanksgiving. I can't believe how fast time is flying by!

English Classes

Perhaps there was a time in my life when I entertained the idea of being a teacher. I thought it would be fun and maybe when one has the proper training, it is. However, I don't have the proper training and I think I just may be the worst English teacher ever. I have no idea what I'm doing. Imagine if someone gave you two training sessions to be an accountant and then told you to go and do it, probably you wouldn't be very good at it. People go to school to get a degree in accounting, go figure, people also go to school for 4 years to learn how to be a teacher. I'm a horrible teacher, I almost feel sorry for my students, at least it's free for them. Oh well, maybe by the time I leave I won't will have learned how to be only a sort of bad teacher, rather than a super bad one.
In other more cheery news, I'm looking forward to a Peace Corps get together when all of the volunteers in Costa Rica are going to go camping together and spend 4 days re-grouping. I'm pretty excited about it. After training I'm going to go to Acosta to visit my host family and the host families of my compañeros of Acosta. I really loved my host family and I think it will be a great time to reconnect with them and have a little break from La Palma.

Funny thing happened to me the other day...

Okay, here is a really funny story. As you consider what I'm about to write, also, please consider that this type of thing happens to me all the time. And so I begin...
On Thursday I went walking at 6:00am with my ladies (these are some friends and my host mom and we go for an hour walk on Tuesdays and Thursdays). So, we are walking and one of the ladies asks me “Laura, are you going to run in the race? I bet you're going to win”. I respond, “oh, wow, that's today? I don't know, maybe, I haven't eaten or drank anything today, so I don't think so. Also, I haven't been running in weeks, but I guess I'll see if there's time for me to eat and maybe”. Okay, so we walk on and I find out that the race starts at 8:00am and it's only 7:00am so there is time. So I go to this race, where there are including me 8 participants. There were 2 woman and 6 men. I'm thinking, okay, I'll run, why not. So we begin the race and me and the other lady start to run together, I was pretty happy with it, we ran the whole race together. So, towards the end of the race the last Kilometer I'm thinking, well, in the past usually I take off and bust it out in the end for the win, but, I don't think that would be really cool to do since I know that lady that I'm running with really well and we've been together the whole time and I think it would be really cool for us to finish together. So I think this whole thing out for the last lap of the race and I finally decide, I'm not going to sprint the finish, I'm going to be cool and finish with my friend (I really did debate about this for like 3 min in my head, I'm super competitive, but that's not always good). Okay, so when we are about 75 feet from the finish line, I'm thinking oh, how great, we made it and just as I'm about to say something to my friend, she takes off at a full sprint. Typical. At first I started to run after her, but then I thought, “no vale la pena” or, it's not worth it and I just let her go. Wow, is all I could think. Typical, enough said.

I'm just going to go ahead and say it, I hate rice!

Okay, I do, I hate rice. I don't care what the rest of the world says, I've never really liked rice. Ever since I was little I've only liked rice one way with milk, butter, sugar and cinnamon. That's a tasty breakfast all warm and delicious. So, back to my hate for rice, here in Costa Rica it just so happens that rice is eaten as the main part of every meal. I'm not exaggerating. It's seriously the base of every meal and sometimes it makes me really angry. I'm laughing as I write this because the irony of it all is just too much. Okay, when I eat at places like Chipolet or Moes Southwest where they have awesome burritos; when I placed my order I always said “no rice please”. So that you know, I didn't eat it before I came here, I don't like sushi and I almost never go out for Chinese food, why, because I hate rice. Now that you all know that, recently in one of my English classes we were learning “I'm going” so learning the simple future tense. One of the activities was that we were going on a picnic and then we would go around the class and say “I'm going to bring ...”. So I started and then had my class go. Maurice says “I'm going to bring rice and beans”. I just looked at him and said “I'm sorry, you can't come to my picnic” (joking of course). Then we got into a conversation about the rice and beans and I asked them “do you guys seriously like rice and beans, I mean really like, you're serious”? They all said that they did, they like it, they really like it. Unbelievable. I'm shocked, I just can't imagine a day when I'm going to say, wow, get me some rice and beans. I don't mind the beans by the way. I am sick of only ever eating one type, I would love to switch it up a little, not just white rice with black beans. What's wrong with red beans? And, if we're eating pasta, why not skip the rice? Or, when we're eating potatoes, why not pass on the rice? I know I'd be okay with it.

Just Some Random Stuff

I don't have a whole lot to update on. My English classes have another test this week, with one class finishing the book. Instead of starting the next book just to take a massive break in December and January, we're going to have conversation classes and do little work shop type things (this will be easier and more fun for me, I hope). Guias y Scouts is coming along nicely, I'm hoping to have the adults in place and ready to go by December and then find the niños sometime in February. That's a pretty ambitious time line, so I'm not too worried if it takes a little longer...
I'm planning on getting a dog soon, probably in January. I think it will be really nice to have a little friend to hangout with and keep me company. Other than that, I'm still reading a lot. I'm currently reading Jane Eyre, a classic which is really good so far. After this I think I'm going to finish up my No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books which will be really sad. Not much else to report for now. The rain has picked up a little in the past couple of weeks which is a big relief and a nice break from the heat.
Weigh lifting with my friend Elena is going really well, she loves to work out as much as I do and we help to push each other so that has been a really pleasant surprise.

Here are some strange things that have happened or that I do...

First, I used to hate the show Xena Warrior Princess. It was on when I was in high school and I thought it was super lame. I don't think it's on anymore, but they are showing it here in Costa Rica, dubbed in Spanish. Now, one of my favorite things to do is watch Xena with my adult host brother every morning. We sit down and watch it and if I miss something or can't figure something out he explains the show to me. Today I asked him, what are the little gremlin looking monsters all about and he said “who knows what those strange little monsters are supposed to be”. I don't know why, but I thought it was really funny. Anyway, I love the show now and when I get back to the states (permanently) I'm going to be Xena for Halloween, she's awesome.

Second, here is something that happened just the other day. My host family and I were hanging out on the front porch where we spend most of our time and I saw a little black thing about the size of a lime in the curtain. I thought it was a giant spider and it kind of freaked me out. I asked them what it was and they said something, but I didn't know the word. I asked if they were just going to leave it there and my host dad says “no” and walks over to it and picks it out of the curtain. I see that it's a little bat. I've always really liked bats for some reason and I'm thinking oh, how cool, maybe he's going to throw it into the air and the little thing can fly away. Wrong. My host dad grabs it by the wing and slams it onto the ground. I was soooooo sad. I didn't kill the poor thing the first time so he did it 3 times and then chucked it across the street. I was crushed. That was a sad moment, but stuff like that happens a lot.

Third, I've found a place to lift weight and use an elliptical machine to avoid the sun. It's awesome and I love it. My new friend is great and we have a really nice time lifting. There is just one minor problem. You can't imagine how much I sweat in that little house with no A/C and it's super humid here. It's a total problem. I bring a towel with me, but by the end of the session all of my cloths are soaked, and I mean soaked. The towel is soaked and my shoes are soaked. I don't think there is anyway to stop it. I'm a sweater and put a sweater indoors in a humid climate on a hot day (everyday) and you're going to have a problem. It's okay though, I'll take it over weak arms.

Guias y Scouts

Since I arrieved in La Palma and heard about the boy/girl scout troup in Jimenez, I've sort of casually thought of starting a troup in La Palma. It's called Guias y Scouts and it's based off the USA version, but it's obviously adapted to the Costa Rican culture and the boys and girls are in separate troups but they all meet together, have the same uniform and it's the same program that they follow. So, this past weekend I went with the Jimenez troup to Cartagena and we hiked in the Corovado national park and stayed at a really cool eco lodge called La Leona. There is a ton that I can write about each of these things, but I don't have a ton of time so I'll stick to Guias y Scouts and fill you in on the park and the lodge later. You can not imagine how seriously they take their troups and how well they do it. In CR there is a real lack of things for people to do. There is a lot of TV watching, but it's not like in the States where you can just join a club or play on one of 100 teams. There is just nothing to do, so Guias y Scouts provides a really healthy activity for the kids where they can learn a ton of life skills and feel really proud to be a part of something. It's really beautiful. I watched as the troup leaders would blow their whistles and the kids would run from where ever they were to fall in formation and shout out their troup call. It was so cool. I did girl scouts when I was a kid, but I don't think I took it very seriously and I don't recall their being any troup calls or whistles. The program is great and I'm going to do everything I possibly can to make it happen in La Palma. The kids will love it and I think it could really help keep them safe and teach them how to have fun in a really health and way.

I'm still working on the computer problem in La Palma, This is going to take a while... Otherwise, I'm doing really well, time is flying by and as I get to know more people in the community and make friends and have more projects, I'm feeling a lot happier here. I think I may have made it through the hardest part (hopefully).

***Okay, as I read over some of my blog entries and e-mails, I'm noticing that my English no is very good (that was a joke). But, really, if you read this and think, wow, that was really bad sentence construction, just know that pretty much all day everyday is in Spanish and it makes it hard to switch over to English with out any bumps. It's kind of funny actually, I catch myself making some of the same mistakes that my English students make.***

Soccer

This past weekend I found a women's soccer team to play on and ended up playing in a mini tournament Saturday and Sunday. It was probably the most fun and the most normal I've felt since I arrived some 7 months ago. I loved it so much. The ladies were so excited to have me on the team and after the first game were asking me how long I could play with them for and when I told them that we had a good year and a half together they were thrilled. I was great. I've found a team who work really hard and put forth a really good effort. The level of play isn't super high, but it's high enough to be fun. I think soccer is going to make time pass a lot quicker without huge weekend gaps to try and fill up with, oh, nothing to do...
Last week I was in Jimenez and was able to hang out with the volunteer there and that was really nice. I'm hoping to hangout with her today for a bit and also some on the weekend, It's good to have a friend and someone to talk to.
Life here is pretty up and down. Days go by where I like it and I'm excited to be here and then a day like yesterday will hit and it's all I can do to try and make the time pass. I'm not really sure what it is that make some days harder than others, but I'm sure once I'm a little busier it won't be so up and down all the time.
God is good.

Books

Something I do a lot of is read, so I thought I'd talk a little about some of the books I've been reading. First, I love love love The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I'm eight books into the series and I am so in love with the characters. Since I lack friends and in general, deep human interaction, the characters of this series have become a real comfort to me. I try not to read the books one after the other and instead try and wait until I “need” them. It's sad, I know, but it's true. So anyway, check them out, Mma Ramotswe is a great source of wisdom and has a great outlook on life.
Right now I'm on book two of the Twilight series, New Moon and of course it's great. I must admit sometimes I'm a little frustrated will Belle the protagonist and her “poor me, I'm so clumsy and plain” attitude, but once I got past that, I fell in love with the book. I try not to read too much, but certain days (the last week) it's hard not to.
I also just finished the Glass Castle, I'm going to say it's good, but not great. It's one of those really sad life memoirs, which are good, but it seems like I've read a lot of those.
I totally recommend the book the Tale of the Town of Widows. This book was great, though there was a brief period (maybe 30 pages toward the end) when the author kind of lost me by being just a little too obvious with the symbolism. I mean come on, don't hit me over the head with it. But, it was really just a short bit and then he got back on track, it was a unique and good book.
That's what I've read the past 2 weeks or so. Books are kind of becoming my friends, since I'm kind of lacking in that department. Making friends here, I'm not so sure is going to happen for me, but I'm coming to accept that or at least hope that someone is on their way here, it could happen. Other than that I've been watching the series Arrested Development and Bones on my computer at night and that has been a lot of fun. A friend gave me the 2 series when I was in training a few weeks ago and it has been a really nice addition.

A new friend?

I'm back in La Palma and feeling re-charged. Never under estimate the power of some good food, good friends and some cool weather. I'm excited to get going on some things in La Palma. I met the elementary school english teacher yesterday and we are going to start working together. She seems really nice and I think I may have a friend on the horizon! We'll see. We planed to get together and on Friday and talked about me visiting her classes a couple of times per week to help out and give the kids some experience hearing a native speaker. Other than that, I'm just sweating a lot, but I'm happy to be hear.

I did book my flight home for Christmas and it made me sooooo happy. I'll be flying home on the 22nd and sticking around for 3 full weeks. It will come sooner than I can imagine.

YAY FRIENDS!

IST (in service training) ended up great. It was so nice to see all of my fellow Tico 19ers (that's the name of volunteer group). Everyone had great stories and so much had happened to each of us, 3 months on our own in el campo (the country) and a lot of crazy things went down.

Since we weren't ready to go back to our sites and say goodbye to our last chance at friendship, 3 other volunteers and myself took off for Uvita for the weekend. There was a whale festival going on and I must say, the town of Uvita did a great job. There were half price whale watching tour, exhibits, photo displays and lots of people selling lots of souvenirs.

On Saturday we left our hotel in San Jose at 4:30am. It was a struggle and I hate waking up early, but the whales were calling to me so I made it happen. Some 6 hours later we arrived in Uvita. It's actually very similar climate and vegetation wise to La Palma only there are waves to play in. After dropping our things at the hotel we headed to the beach to meet some new friends. We were so lucky to be able to go out in the afternoon at 3:30 because our trip included seeing lots of humpback whales multiple times and a beautiful sun set. There was a mom and a baby whale that were hanging out near us and we got to see the two of them various times. It was so beautiful! Here are some pics of our new friends as well as Uvita and my friends.

On the boat looking at some whales, Mick looking intense.

Becca and I

more from training

Training is going really well. I have a ton of new ideas for my site, most of them center around computers. In my town there is currently only dial-up internet (which is pretty much the same as not having internet) and only one computer available for the people to use. This means that if people really want or need to use the internet they need to travel to Jimenez the closest town with internet which is about an hour away. So, they have to pay for the bus ride to Jimenez and then pay in Jimenez to use the internet in an internet cafe, but, because my area has a ton of tourists, using the internet here cost more than double per hour than using the internet in San Jose. It's not cool. So picture you're a high school student who has an assignment that needs to be typed and then printed out. You have to pay round trip bus fare, then you have to pay for the time spent on the internet, then you have to pay for the print outs, in the end it's a lot of money and it's not like in the states where high school kids can have jobs. So, you see the problem. The high school of my town already has plans to bring computers which is great, but it's still 2k from La Palma center and it would just be for the high school kids. I want to work with the elementary school to get them a computer lab and also with the towns development association to try and have a free computer lab for the community (these are very common in CR and there is a program in place, all you need is a building and then the CR government will provide the computers and support). I'm really excited about the possibilities that the technology will bring to La Palma. If people can learn to use computers and the internet they will have education, information and all kinds of possibilities at their finger tips.

I'm totally going to beat the ants

Hello!!!
In the ant war, I think I've won! There are still a few running around but their forces have been knocked back a lot and I think if I keep up the attack eventually they will give up.
In other really happy news, I'm at IST (in service training)! This is the training once you've been 3 months in site and it's a really great time to see friends and re-charge a bit. I have missed having friends so much. Never under estimate how nice it is to be able to just chat or play with people who you understand and who understand you. It's great and I'm really happy to be here. Also, the food is great. We get to stay at a place in the mountains that is beautiful and has cold nights. I miss cold nights! I have definitely felt a lot of homesickness and this is a little rest from that.
More than just playing and joking around together, IST is a good time for us to have some training with fresh eyes. Our training before was great, but did not have a lot of context. We had no idea where we were going, who we would be working with or what programs would be needed. Now we know and it's nice to see how I can directly use the training in my site. More to come on that.

You may have noticed that I don't have pictures anymore. My camera has walked away from me so probably until Christmas I will have to rely on my friends here for pics, so hopefully soon!

Laura 1 – Ants 1

I tried the boric Acid (I had written carbonic acid, but it's boric) and the ants ate it right up. I mixed the boric acid powder with sugar and the ants were all over it, hopefully now they will all die, otherwise I just gave them some desert. In other bug updates, when I first arrived here the mosquitos, zancudos and pretty much everything else were driving me crazy, I was always covered in bites and itching all the time. I'm not sure what happened, maybe it's because of the food I've been eating, but the bugs are leaving me alone now. It's crazy, it's like they had their fill. I'm really happy about this, I thought I was going to go crazy with so much itching.

As far as projects go, the emu project is coming to a close, the business plan is pretty much done and now it's time for the guy to decide if he wants to do it or not. I'm still working with the vivero but I think we are some months away from any sort of progress in the marketing field. My two english classes will have their first test with me on Tuesday so hopefully they do well. I spoke with someone yesterday about getting some ladies together for and exercise group, hopefully we can get that going when I get back from training which is the first week of September.

I can't believe that it's already in service training time. I've been in Costa Rica for 3 months and now my site for 3 months. This has been a weird 6 months.

Ants 1 - Laura 0

The ants took one look at my poison on the wall and walked around it. They walked up to it, smelled it and thought, wow, better walk around that and did. Not cool, I'm going to try my dad's suggestion of carbonic acid mixed with peanut butter or honey. I'll keep you updated.

I'm currently up in Escazu with some of my Peace Corps friends and it has been great. We rented a house (and it's a really really nice house) and have been cooking American food and watching tv in English and having wifi! I love it. I've missed my friends and I think to maintain sanity we are going to need to do throughout our time in CR.

English classes are going in one case really well and in the other it's improving. I'm starting to really enjoy the classes, which is good.

Soccer is going great. The girls are really fun and seem to really appreciate having a female coach. I've been working with them on really basic skills and some really really basic drills. It's been really fun and I'm really happy to be there.

The Emu project has been going great. We have made some progress with the business plan and through this project I have met a lot of new people and seen some new areas on the peninsula.

Life is good, my health has improved 100% since the start of August, I can't tell you how good it feels to feel normal again. 2 months of sickness are enough for me. Hopefully I've satisfied my quota for my Peace Corps service.

The War has begun

That's right, I'm at war. I'm so over the ants that love to live in my room. When I first arrived in CR I would look at the little streams of little ants running all over the wall and think, oh, how cute. When they pass another ant they always stop and greet each other, it's kind of cool. I thought that until I moved into my current room and the little jerks are EVERYWHERE! I hate them. Okay, so I could handle them on all of my things, then they crossed the line and have moved into my bed. It's not enough that my bed has termites, the little jerk ants have to crawl on it too and bite me! So, it's war. I won't stop until I have killed them all (at least the ones in my room). I'll keep you updated on the killing spree. So far I have knocked them back, but they are still going, I'm going to look for better poison in San Jose this weekend.

God is pretty awesome!

Things in La Plama are really picking up. In the past 2 weeks God has really been to blessing me and helping me out of my funk. I think I wrote about a guy that stopped by the house who wanted some help with writing a business plan for and emu farm. Well, last weekend I went to his farm for lunch and to see the emus and his farm and it is beautiful! But, as it turns out the guy and his family just love the Lord and we ended up talking about how great God is for the entire day, we hardly had 20 min to talk about the business plan and I was there for probably 6 hours. It was such a blessing for me, I've just been so sick for so long that I was really feeling discouraged and beginning to think that it was going to be a really long 2 years, but since that time things have really turned around for me. We all prayed together that day and since then, great things have been happening and I have been meeting really great people who love God! God is good, even when we have to go through really hard times, God is good!

Here are my current projects:

Tue/Thur nights I have 2 English classes
Mon/Wed/Fri nights I'm helping out with the high school girls soccer team
I'm still working with the vivero ladies, though we need to come up with a better schedule for working together
The emu farm business plan
The micro finance group
*and possibly I might start working with another guy on some Christian tourism projects. I'm excited to explore the possibilities of this. The idea would be that people could come down as a church group or group of friends, hike the park, explore the south a bit and have a speaker, do some work to help out the local churches, etc. Let's see where it goes.

Life is good!
Laura

You don't want to play a game? Well, you have to.

My English classes have officially begun. Last night I had 2 full classes, one a beginner and one a beginner intermediate. Both classes were full and we had a lot of fun. I decided that everyone in the class needed to have an English name so I gave out English names and had my students stand up and introduce themselves to the class with their new name. I thought it was pretty fun, most of the students did too, but I could tell that this whole interactive learning thing was pretty new for a lot of them. In Costa Rica the school system is largely based on students copying stuff in their notebooks. They come into class and are told to copy something from the board into their notebook, that is how it's done, at every age in every subject. Just copy. This is not how I choose to teach because I don't think it works and it's really boring to me and learning should be fun. Anyway, so some of the students are adjusting to the games that we play in class. It's kind of funny, at first their like, we have to play a game (all whinny about it) and then once we start playing they are laughing and really having a good time. I guess we will see how it goes. I expect that some students will not make it to the end of the course, but that's very typical.

Other than that I'm just hanging out. I'm currently 5 books into the #1 Ladies Detective Agency books. They are awesome, I really enjoy reading them and would recommend them to any of you. I'm working on getting some more pics of La Palma to post, hopefully I'll have that ready for next week.

La Sabana

Today I went to a park in San Jose called la Sabana. It was filled with everything I love. There were people everywhere running, biking, roller skating, playing soccer, walking and picnicking. It was beautiful. There must have been 20 soccer games both formal and informal. There was a free outdoor aerobics class that must have had 50+ people participating. It was so awesome. This park is full of giant trees and even has a little pond. I loved it. It really made me miss the Colorado and Washington park.

Just call me Laura the Train Wreck Trinkle, or Train Wreck for short.

To begin, things in La Palma are going great. I have english classes, I am working with my ladies in the vivero and I have a new project with a guy and an emu farm, yes, emu. I'm really excited to see what comes from the emu project, it has a lot of potential and could really help the peninsula.
On to my train wreck that is called my health; my body has decided that it hates the tropics and will no longer be healthy. On the bright side, during my trips to San Jose I get to eat what I want (this never includes rice or beans) and I have US TV and hot showers and cooler weather, what more could you want? My health may not be so good, but I have hope that it will get there, I've got 1 year and 10 months to get healthy and strong again. I should be getting better soon! Hopefully. Otherwise, I'll know and have had pretty much everything possible.

Okay here is a brief description of my Peace Corps life so far.

I wake up anywhere from 6:30 to 8:00, I prefer 8:00. Usually my host family is doing something outside of my window and there is a rooster always crowing. I usually lay in bed for a while hoping that it's going to rain a lot today because that means I'm a little more justified for not doing anything. I can't do XY or Z, it's raining too much. Okay, so then I get up and get dressed in my "house shorts" which are my soccer shorts and I go and have my breakfast. Guess what it is? Do you give up? It's Gallo Pinto, or rice and beans. But, I actually kind of like the Gallo Pinto and I usually have a fried egg that I get to make so it's cool. So I eat my breakfast and drink my coffee and chat with my host family and usually chat with my host mom and my firend Carla while we watch "Buen Dia" the Tico version of good morning America. I don't really get this program, they have all of these how too's and cooking guides and decorate your home clips. I wonder if I'm living in the same country that they are. They talk about expensive vacations and hiring personal decorators for your home. I have yet to meet a Tico that could/would do any of this. It's just so US and not Tico, yet, it's really the only channel that people get so they watch it.

After all of that I move out to the front porch and rock in either the hammock or a rocking chair and read for a couple of hours. On certain days I go and visit the ladies in the vivero or I do laundry. Lots of people stop by the house and pretty much every day I have this conversation atleast once:

Person: Hola
Me: Hola
Person directed to someone in my host family: Who is this, where is she from?
Me: Hi, my name is Laura, I'm from Colorado, the US.
Person to my host family: The US, how long is she here for?
Me: I'm here for 2 years.
Person: Do you dance?
Me: (This question for some reason happens no matter who I meet and for some reason it really pisses me off) (In my mind I think, why do you care, out loud I say:) yes, I dance.
Person directed to my host family: Oh, how great she said she dances.

At this point with the dancing question if it's a male I say no and then they repeat "no, you don't dance, well, we can go out and sing and play music then" I then respond with "No, I don't dance, sing or play any musical instruments". I don't always say that, but it has happened. I've learned the hard way that with men here if you try and be nice and say things like "Oh, maybe someday" then they start to stop by and act creepy. Now I just think it's better to say no right from the start.

Okay, so my day is a lot of reading and now I've decided to start drawing which has been a fun way to pass the time. I usually head to the store at some point, talk to some people around town, go on a run to the beach each day and hang out there for a while, then I watch my soap opera which is super bad, but it helps me learn Spanish and it gives me something to do at 5:30. For lunch I have rice and beans and something fried, for dinner I have rice and beans and something fried. Pretty much I each rice and black beans everyday. I can take it for breakfast, but sometimes I go on strike for lunch or dinner and eat ceral or yogurt or both.

I expect things will pick up as I get to know more people. Right now due the the swine flu all classes and indoor meetings have been canceled in CR so once that stops I will resume with classes. Okay, I hope you all enjoyed a little glimps into the day of Laura.

Getting going in La Palma

I've been in La Palma for about a month now and things are going well. I've made some friends and have even started a project and taught an English class. All and all not bad. Normally in the Peace Corps the first 3 months of service are really slow. There is not a lot of activity and for the most part you are just getting to know the community, making friends and seeing where there may be some need. My community is a little different since I'm taking over for another volunteer and we have some overlap which has made my entry a lot easier. La Palma has seen 5 volunteers so far and I'm number 6 so you say Cuerpo de Paz and everyone knows right away what you're talking about. This is both a positive and negative thing. I'm happy to be here and the people are very welcoming, however, the town has learned well over the years all that the Peace Corps has taught and they really seem to be doing really well. I'm sure I'll find my way.
I wanted to talk about a project I'm starting with some ladies who own/operate a vivero (nursery). About a year ago these ladies received a grant from the municipality of La Palma to reforest a section of the rain forest near La Palma. With this money the women were able to reforest the section of rain forest and also start the vivero. At this point they have a large number of trees, but not really any marketing or sales going on. I was thinking that we could start selling trees to people outside of Costa Rica and then the women would go and plant the trees in a section of rain forest that needs to be reforested. Each person who bought a tree could indicate which type they would like to buy and would be sent a picture of their tree being planted and then as time passes sent pictures of progress made in the reforested section. The women are committed to helping the rain forest and I know there would be plenty of people who would also like to help to actually reforested the rain forest. We are just in the starting stages of the project and trough this I will be able to teach the women how to use e-mail, word, excel, accounting and hopefully some English. I'm pretty excited to see how it all goes. It at least is a start.

Tomorrow I'm heading back to my site

Tomorrow I'll be heading back to my site and I could not be happier about it. I have learned a lot in the past 2 weeks, here are some of the things I have learned:

1. Never ever ever take for granted you health. Thank God for it every day that you have it, because it can go away and when it does life gets a whole lot more difficult.
2. TV from the US is so great, it may sound sad, but it was a huge comfort, and I loved having it. I think it might be the best in the world, just a thought.
3. wifi is the greatest invention ever. I was able to talk to my family and friends for free, all thanks to wifi and the skype. What a life saver that was.
4. It's okay to cry and cry a lot, but eventually you need to find a way to laugh.
5. Your family is more important than you could ever imagine.
6. Sometimes you just need to be happy that you have an eye and not worry too much that it does not open as much as the other one does yet.
7. Sometimes life throws things at us that forces us to do something that you would never do otherwise. In my case, it's taking medicine, I never used to take it and hated the idea of it, I had to get over that and take my medicine.
8. It's okay to just let people take care of you.
9. I have a wonderful family in Acosta.
10. Never ever judge someone unless you have walked in their shoes (I learned that before, but this reinforced it).
11. Sometimes you just can't explain why something happened, just accept it and learn as much as you can from it.

Okay, that is some of what I've learned. I'm sure I'll think of some more stuff as time goes by. I'm excited to start my service and to get back into shape. I'm excited to see what other obstacles my Peace Corps experience will throw my way!

I'm getting there

For the past 5 days I've been staying with my host family in Acosta regaining some strength and doing a basic re-group. I was originally staying in a hotel in San Jose, but this was just not a good idea. I was having some side effects from the pain medication and realized that I was not going to really get better in a hotel. My host mom is Acosta is soooo great, she has been such a blessing and has taken awesome care of me. She cooks everything from scratch and she cooks over a wood burning stove, I never thought I would like rice and beans, but I love her rice and beans. There is something to be said for taking your time and really cooking your food, it just tastes better.

Yesterday I went back to the eye doctor, I had felt for the past 3 days that there was something in my left eye (the problem eye) and was convinced that there was something wrong with it. After looking at my eye and doing a through examine the eye doctor told me that he did not think that I had anything in my eye, but that he thought I should go and talk to the neurologist and that I was experiencing Postherpetic Neuralgia. Basically shingle effects the nerve where it surfaces, in my case the nerve on the left side of my face. If the nerve is like a whole banana, after shingles it's like the banana has been peeled and is sending all kinds of messages to the brain, so even thought the shingle are gone you still feel pain and can feel it for a long time depending on how damaged the nerve is and how quickly it heals. So, when I went to the neurologist I told him that I had started to take my pain medication once a day at night instead of twice and day, this was my problem. Apparently, I need to take it twice a day and I need to take it twice a day for a really long time. I wanted so badly for this to be over and to just be better, but that's not how it works. Potentially this could last anywhere from a few weeks to 9 months, it all depends on many factors. Now that I know, I will be taking my medication as prescribed, opps.

For those of you who pray, I would really appreciate a lot of prayer for healing. I really don't want to have to take this medication for the next 3 months and sooooo believe in the healing power of God, so please pray with me for healing!!!!!

I'll be heading back to La Palma on Thursday, I'm excited to get back and find my normal, I hadn't been there long enough to have a normal, but I hope to get one soon! The past 2 weeks have been difficult, but there have been a lot of good things that have come from it, for example, I've been able to talk daily or twice daily with my parents. I've been able to talk to my brother and sister in law a bunch and see my little nephew via skype and hear him say his new words and jump and play. I've been able to talk a ton with John. I've been able to watch some american tv (it's awesome!) and I've been able to spend time in Acosta, I love Acosta.

A quick update on Laura...

Last night I left the hospital around 9pm and headed to my hotel. It was nice to have the IVs out of my arms, but extremely overwhelming to try and keep track of all the medicines and times and eye drops and gels and washes, etc. At least I'm done with one of the medications tomorrow. I have some follow ups with the doctors on Thursday and Friday and then I'm going to try and figure out something else to do, the hotel thing is not the best solution for me at this point. Today I was able to see a fellow Tico 19er Leah and she arrived at the perfect time. It was so great to spend a couple of hours with a friend and to feel somewhat normal for a while. Tomorrow I will meet up with a former roommate from my Beaver Creek days and spend some time with her, that should be exciting. All in all, I'm just trying to get a grasp on what just happened and how I feel about it, I'm definitely missing my family and friends in Colorado a ton and am going to need some serious time to feel normal again. I think this is the longest period of time that I've been sick and it's definitely my first time in a hospital as anything other than a visitor. I think I like the visitor role better. Ok, well, more updates to come, I hope that come Saturday I am no longer in the hotel, where I will be I'm not sure, but I think somewhere other than the hotel would be best.

Update on the Laura

Okay, well, I wanted my next blog entry to be all about the awesome time I had with John last week. It was awesome, we went to the USA vs. CR game and it was great, we drove to La Palma and stopped along the way at the beaches along the Domincal highway. We were all over the Osa Peninsula and I think we both feel like we really know the peninsula, though of course there is always more to know. We spent a ton of time at the beach and a lot of time with my host family. They loved John and he was able to help my host mom with some adjustments that were a great relief for her after she had a little accident that left her with a really sore neck. It was great to watch her and how much she loved him, when she served him gallo pinto she would ask me "has he ever eaten this before? Does he like it?" It was so much fun to translate and also to watch as John learned new words and increased his ability to communicate as he already knew a little bit of Spanish. I think somehow people who speak less Spanish are able to endear themselves faster to a family because everyone fells such a sense of care for that person. You really are dependent on people when you don't speak the language and they know it and it's a beautiful exchange. So John left me on Monday morning really early. I was really sad to say goodbye and you can't imagine how much I miss him.

Okay, so now the update...

On Saturday night I think around 5 or 6 I was feeling pretty tired and decided that I needed to go and lay down for a while. As I was laying in my bed I felt what I thought was a spider bite on my left eyebrow. It really hurt and I slapped at my eyebrow to kill the bug and drug it toward my hair line near my temple. The bite was really bothering me so I decided to just get up and go and hang out with the family and John, though the bite was seriously annoying me.

The next day I woke up and my left eye was a little swollen, but not too bad, I just thought I was having an allergic reaction to said bite so I took a benadrly and called it good.

On Monday after saying goodbye to John I noticed that my eye was more swollen so I decided to call the Peace Corps medical office to see what they thought I should do. They thought what I thought, that it was an allergic reaction to the bite and that I should step up my benadryl intake (I had only taken one on Sunday). So I did. That night the eye had gotten worse and before bed I called the PC doctor to see if it was okay for me to go to the doctor the next day. She said that would be just fine and we decided that rather than traveling 8 hours to San Jose, it would be better to travel 1 hour to Jimenez (the nearest bigger town).

On Tuesday, I went to Jimenez and my confidence was not super inspired by the clinic. In fact, as I was standing in one of the lines I just couldn't keep the tears from falling from eyes. I was moved from line to line, eventually I got to see the doctor and he said that it was an allergic reaction to the bite and that it was infected so he prescribed me some antibiotics and some anti-allergy and some pain stuff and some other stuff... Anyway, I was happy to have some stuff to take, but on the other hand something was telling me that I was not having an allergic reaction, if I were the benedryl would have at least helped a little.

On Wednesday, I woke up and now the swelling was under my eye and to my nose and my eye was swollen shut. No bueno. I called the Peace Corps doctor and she gave me the go ahead to take the bus to San Jose. I had to take the 10:00 since there are only 2 busses and that's the last one. So I packed some dirty cloths (after my week with John everything was dirty) thinking I would be staying in a hotel and could go to a laundry mat or something and thank God I packed up my laptop and jumped on the bus. I was not a fun ride. I think the bus ride is the first time that I felt as bad as I looked (pics to come eventually, but probably not until I look normal). I arrived in San Jose around 6:30pm and went to the emergency room. The bus driver was super nice and stopped the bus early to let me off right in front of the hospital and wished me luck with my eye.

Once I was checked in and saw the doctor she looked right at me and said (all of this is in Spanish by the way) you have herpes zoster. I was like, no no no, not herpes, a bug bit me and she was like no way, this is herpes zoster, have you ever had the chicken pox and I said yes and she said, you have herpes zoster. After taking some samples of the sores and taking some blood it was official, I have shingles aka herpes zoster. The doctor said that she wanted admit me and I said okay and I've been in the hospital for the past few days and will be here for the next few.

Wow, who knew. The doctors and myself are quite perplexed as to how this happened. It's very rare in somebody my age and it's very rare in somebody who is healthy. This is my first hospital stay and I've got to say, I love this hospital. It is super nice, I have american TV which has been a real comfort, I have been able to watch all of my favorite shows and I have wifi and a warm shower, this place is great! I love Clinica Biblica!!!!

So, that's the update. I've still got a long way to go, but I'm making good progress, the swelling has gone down a lot and I'm starting to be able to open my eye without a lot of effort. I need to keep checking in with the eye doctor to make sure my vision is okay, but so far it looks good. Who know, shingles! Of all things. Well, I guess if you're going to have to go to the hospital, it may as well be a hospital in Costa Rica and you may as well do the whole thing is Spanish, it would be way to easy in english...

It's official, I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer

Yay, today was the big day and I'm officially sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. They had us raise our right had and pledge to defend the constitution and all that good stuff. It's a pretty big day, we all went to the house of the US ambassador's house and there was a formal ceremony and everything, My host Mom got to go with me and it was a great time to prepare to move on, again.

Here are a few pics.

Here is a link to some more photos. I will try and get caught up... http://www.flickr.com/photos/36935590@N03/

Here are some photos and people from my pre service training. Tomorrow we will be sworn in as official volunteers and we are all very happy! Here are a few memories of Acosta and PST.

Sunset in Acosta and above is Karina our Spanish teacher, we love her and she is a ton of fun!!!! I will miss having her to hang out with during the week, come to think of it, I will miss all of my fellow PCVs.

This is my Acosta host mom Marta. I moved in with her and her family a month and a half into training and I love her soooo much. I will be so sad to say good bye to her

Today was a no good very bad day.

Okay, we all have them, not everyday can be a good one and today has been a bad one. Here's what happened... I have an international phone card that I have been using to call the US and it has been working really well, or so I thought. I have been using this phone card and it has been charging me twice. First it charges the house where I make the call from for and international call at international rates and then it charges me the minuets that I had on the phone call. Not a good deal. I'm probably going to need to pay around $80-$100+ to the owners of the homes where I made my phone calls. This sucks. In addition to this, now I don't have a way to call home. Okay, so I received this news this morning. Then one of my fellow trainees rescued a puppy and the puppy was sick this afternoon. I was carrying the puppy to the vet when I noticed something weird. The puppy had diarrhea on my shirt. It was totally nasty. After this my classmates/teacher were nice enough to buy me an ice cream for my prize. Also, today I realized that I failed to call my brother and sister in law for their birthdays. I missed it, and by a lot. I'm so not a fan of today. I still don't know how the phone card situation will work out or how much it will cost me in the end. At least I was able to clean the poop off of my shirt.

Training is coming to an end

We are getting down to the end of training and we are all burned out. I am ready to go to my site and relax and take a moment to breathe. I'm excited to get to know my community, move into my room and make it feel like a home. The first few weeks are going to be spent settling in and learning more about the town (possibly the first few months). I'm excited to see what I can do and what the town wants since that is the key, finding where the towns needs/wants meet my abilities and interests. It's an exciting time, but also a time for me to recharge my batteries since training has left me pretty drained.

In other news... Last night two of my friends found a little puppy in the gutter and adopted him. His name will be pulga, which means flea in Spanish. Super cute and I'm typing with him on my lap right now.

La Palma

On Friday I arrived at my new home for a get to know you type of visit. I will be living with a family in a "cabina" format, but it`s pretty much like I live in the house, once I get to my computer I`ll be able to explain a little bit better, but it`s cool because I have my own entrance and bathroom that makes me feel a little more independent. I really like the family and I will also be living with another volunteer for the first 2 months of my service. I`m taking over the site from a guy named Mateo so he will be my little brother for the first 2 months. It`s kind of cool that he is there for the start of my service since that will help me to get to know the community and help me get started a little quicker with my work in the community. Osa is beautiful, you can`t imagine a place more beautiful. The other morning I ran to the gulf and it was the perfect distance. The golf is so blue and is surrounded by lush green (pics to come). It is a bit hot, but I`ll have the impending rainy season to help me stay cool. In really great news, John is coming on June 3rd to visit. We will be heading to the CR vs. USA world cup qualifier, I`m really excited as you can imagine and he will get to know La Palma and my family down here and La Palma. I can`t wait. I`ll have more to write once I get back to Acosta and have a chance to take in all that has been happening...

In Trinkle news, my brother and his wife are going to have another baby due at the end of November, I can`t wait!!!! I`m already planning a trip home for a few weeks around Christmas.

Site Assignment Day

Hello Everyone and I have some really really awesome news for you. Friday was our site assignment day, the day when we find out where we will be for the next two years. This is a huge day for a Peace Corps Trainee, for the past 2+ Months we have been training and training for this and at this point it's so close we can taste it! Well, let me give you a little background on the site selection process. Our bosses go around the country and talk to different communities that have requested a Peace Corps Volunteer, they work with the community to see what their needs are, if the community is safe for the volunteer, etc. Well, they work on site development for a really long time and then we arrive and they begin to train us and get to know us and ask us what we would like to do and what we are looking for in a community, they then try to match us up with a community. This could be pretty tricky as you can imagine. I mean, here you have 50 different people all with a different idea of what they want and they try their best to make happen for everyone.
So, my site is La Palma on the Oso Peninsula!!!! I could not be happier. I'm located a 15 min walk from the beach and I will be living in my own cabina with my own bathroom. I could not be happier, this is perfect. YAY!!!!!! I am so happy about my placement and the projects that I'll be working on. I'll be replacing a current volunteer named Matt who will be in site with me for the first 3 months. Okay, this is all I have time for, but I'm going to visit my site for a week this Thursday and will post lots of pics of my future home! Yay, this is so perfect.

This is my Acosta training group, we are all going to opposite sides of CR. We are all really happy with where we are going, but sad to be so far apart.

GRRRRR

Okay, it seems the link to my pics was not that great, so here we go agian. There should be pics from the Volcano, Boruca and my first days in Acosta. More to come...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36935590@N03/

So, this week I am doing a week of technical training and let´s just say I`m putting up with it, but I´m not really that fond of it. Imagine that you go to a random town, live with a family that you don´t know for a week, you don´t have half of you things because it took you 8 hours to get there and you wanted to pack light. Then, you have a ton of projects to do that you´re not really all that into. I mean, right now, I´m preparing to give a talk to elementary school kids on pollution and I´m so not into it... Okay, that´s my mini vent for the day. Lot´s of really cool things have happened in this week too, I´ll make sure to write about that too. Right now, I´m just really not feeling the pollution talk in Spanish.

English Class

For the last 2 weeks on Tuesday I have been giving english classes and for the most part they are going well. For the first english class I had the students (I think there were six) choose a song and we listened to it and translated it and talked about what the song meant. Much to my dismay they were in love with the Katy Perry song Hot and Cold. This song is horrible, or maybe not horrible, but at least it`s way over played and when I was leaving the states I was not sad to leave that song behind. But anyway, we listened to the song about 10 times and we all learned a lot. I hope. It´s good practice since they will be able to learn all of the words and will be able to recognize them when they hear them. In Costa Rica there is a pretty big problem with the students being able to read and write english, but not able to understand or speak it at all. I plan to focus on these two aspects in my classes in the future. For my second class I had my student learn a section of a Friends episode. He had a lot of fun.

Okay, I have some news, I have a new host family and I´m really enjoying my new family. I really really love my new host mom and feel really good about my new family.

More news: For the next week I´ll be in Guanacaste doing technical training. I´ll try and blog throughout the week, I´ve already got some really funny stories, but I´ll share them later....

Okay apparently I need to clarify my comment about the toilet paper. I have toilet paper, gracias a Dios, but I'm not allowed to throw the toilet paper that I use into the toilet, you throw it in a trashcan in the bathroom. The only thing allowed in the toilet is, well, lets say 100% organic... Hope that clears things up a little, my bad!

Things this week are going great. My month crisis has passed and I'm finding my flow. I found an awesome gym and have going as often as is possible. It is a great way for me to feel a little bit of normal in my life and you all know how much I love to hang out at the gym.

Tonight I'm teaching an English class and tomorrow I'm working with a group to help them with their organization. This is a practice run for the business advising that we will be doing during our service. My Acosta group (aka. Team America, I'll write more on this later) will be doing a swot analysis for the group that will hopefully help them to reorganize a little. Thank you MSU-Billings for making me write a hundred swot analysis throughout my years there!

Check out some pics. More to come soon

http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=sets

These are my pics from my trip to Boruca. Hope you enjoy them!

The month crisis

When I studied abroad in Spain they had what they called the month crisis. After just about a month of being away from home, but still staring a year or so in the face, students would have a mini meltdown. For some it was more dramatic than it was for others. I think I was just a little grumpy and tried to call home and write a lot. That being said, I've now been in CR for a full month and I think I've hit yet another month crisis. Nothing big or unexpected, I think mostly it's getting adjusted and realizing that I have only been here for a month, but at times it feels like a century. Our days are so packed and we have so much to take care of that it really feels like we live two days each day. But, I know that really long journeys get easier as you go. When you're getting ready to walk 1,000 miles, it must seem like you haven't even made a dent in the journey for the first 100. Anyway, that's a little insight into my current world, next week could be the best one yet. I'm really just trying to keep it all in perspective.

So, a little tid bit about Costa Rica. As and American, I have adapted easily to the no toilet paper in the toilet, to the cold shower, to the constant rice and beans, but one thing that is really hard for me is the adapting to the walking pace of the Tico. You have never seen anything like it in your life and it's a sure fire way to drive a gringa crazy. Ticos don't really walk, they kind on randomly meander. A walk that I could do in 15 min will take a minimum of 30. We have to stroll and stop to rest a lot and then we have to stop to talk and then we have to stop to just stop. Oh man. It is so hard for me to deal with, you have no idea! Today I was walking with these 4 girls and it almost killed me. I have to laugh about it though, what a great lesson in patience. They just are not in a hurry and they really don't like to exercise. That's it, it's just a different way of doing things. On Saturday we are heading to a volcano for a day trip... Pics to come.

Laura

A weekend in Boruca...

This past weekend I went to visit a current volunteer in a small indigenous village called Boruca. This is one of the few indigenous villages that remain in Costa Rica. I had such a great time there, you can't imagine how different life in Boruca is not just from the states, but from where I am in Acosta. The majority of the population still cooks over fire (even if they have a stove, they say it's just how they would rather do it). I was lucky enough to stay will a lovely band of women that some how reminded me of the women in the book/movie The Secret Life of Bees. The family consists of the mother, her daughter who lives a stones throw away, her two daughters, the woman who helps them with their store but also lives most of the time with them in their house, her daughter and then the PC volunteer Mariana. They were so much fun to watch and hangout with. I was immediately welcomed and felt like a part of the family. I loved watching how much they cared for each other and how powerful each one was in her own way.

I met so many great people in the span of 3 days. One man named Noel was nice enough to invite Mariana (they are friends) and myself to his farm so that he could show us his fruit trees and we could eat fruit off the tree. It was incredible. I ate coco seeds, coconuts from the tree and a fruit called granadilla and I think a water apple, not sure what it was, but it was good! I saw so much, it's hard for me to give a good break down of my time there. Just know that I wish I could go back and have that be my site, the whole town was so incredible!

That's all I have for now, I have a lot more stories to share, but I'll have to save that for another time!

Miss you all,
Laura


Check out some photos at this link. Let me know if it doesn't work.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36935590@N03/show/

Usted tiene telefono?

Two things:

1. I hate barking dogs. Why do people just let dogs bark, it's annoying.

2. I hate not having a phone. I think I'm going through cell phone withdrawal issues at the moment. I have tried for the past 4 days to call and talk to John without success. You maybe thinking, what's the big deal, just call back. It's not so easy. I can't just pick up my phone and call because, lets think, I don't have one and neither does my house. To talk on the phone I have to grab my computer, walk for like 5 min up a hill; ask my friend/fellow volunteer Mick to open the door for me; sit and chat with his host family for 30 min. then get in the room; hookup my computer, start it and hope that the internet is working. This is a process people! I'm talking a process. The days of just deciding to make a call are gone. I only have 2,000 colones per day to spend and when a phone card is 500, that's a lot of my pay! Anyway, I really have no cause for complaint since I'm on of the few who have such easy access to internet and for free, we're the only town.

I found an women's soccer team to play on and play with them for the first time on Thursday night. They call it fut 5, which is similar to indoor. It was awesome, I had so much fun everyone there was so nice to me and they have invited me onto the team. I'm so happy I found them! I was in San Jose today for classes and will be back tomorrow.

Have fun!

PST

We have left our compound and have headed to our homes for the next 3 months. I´m living with a roommate named Gabriela and her daughter Ada. You may notice that I`m writing in very simple sentences and that`s because the Spanish has begun full on and now and to match my Spanish language level it seems my English abilities are also on their way down. I´m excited to not be able to write or speak either language well. My Spanish is coming back to me quickly, but I still have a long way to go.

My town is a beautiful pueblo in the mountains called Acosta and I really like it. All of the people have been soooo welcoming and my host sister has really made me feel right at home. So far we are just learning and getting settled in. I have 3 other volunteers with me in the town and I don´t doubt that by the end of our time we will be great friends.

I made it!!!

I wanted to post a quick update. I made it! After a really really really long day that began last night at 1:30am east coast time and did not end until around 1:00pm mountain time I am at a retreat with 52 other volunteers. We are training for the next few days and the schedule is pretty packed. Here is the summary:

Day 1 -

First earth quake or "tremor" not sure of the difference, but I know the room shook. (This is my first ever and it was weird)

The people are great, everyone is really nice and I'm excited to get to know them.

I miss John a lot.

Getting closer...

Today I received an e-mail from the Peace Corps giving me all of my travel details. On March 10th I'll arrive in Washington DC and go to registration at 1:30pm where we will fill out paperwork and sign in. Then we have a class from 3:00pm to 7:00pm. Next they have a buss pick us up at 2:00am to take us to the airport where we will fly to Florida and then onto Costa Rica.
I have been feeling so great and so calm and assured with the Peace Corps, today I felt a major spike in nerves. This does not mean that I'm doubting my decision, I just realize how much I have to do and just how hard it is going to be to take that first step. From experience I can tell you that the hardest part of starting any big adventure is just getting there. You have to say all of your goodbyes and let go of everything. When you're away, you just have to have faith that everything will work out and will be taken care of. I'm really lucky to have a lot of really great people to support me. That's the update for now. I'm about to call the PC travel company and book my flight.

Oh, there you are.

Hello there. I have been doing a really poor job of updating my blog, but for what I consider a good reason. My life is kind of in limbo. I can’t really buy anything, because I’ll just have to get rid of it in 2 months. I can’t really plan any big trips because I’m trying to focus on spending lots of quality time with family and friends. I’m just kind of hanging out. I snowboard or ski a lot and on the weekends usually somehow end up in Denver. I’m done with work on the 30th and then it will be time to start packing everything up, the thought of this is both stressful and relieving. We all have them, the shirt, shoes, pants, coat, etc, that we never wear, haven’t worn in over a year and yet somehow this article(s) make their way with us through life. Now is my time to get rid of everything, only keep what I know for a fact I wear or will wear again. I’ll hang on to all my snow gear, but really, I don’t think I need all 5 pairs of old running shoes that I keep around for… the memories? Maybe I’m a pack rat when it comes to old running shoes, but dang, my collection is out of control. Also, I seem to have an affinity towards shirts that don’t fit right. I have a long torso and often I buy a shirt wear it and wash it and then it becomes a belly shirt, which I’m not so into. I must have 10 of these shirts that just don’t fit right anymore, now why are they in my closet? Anyway, all of that must have been terribly uninteresting, I’m kind of bored just thinking about it. Sorry if you read it. I promise to have funny stories when I make it Costa Rica, I’m sure I will make all sorts of fun mistakes with both language and culture. Then we can all have a good laugh. I’ll keep my eye out until then for some funny stories to share and I promise to never ever tell you about my old running shoes again!