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.