9-30-09

So last night I was sitting in class with my right ankle resting on my left leg, so that my knee was in a 90 degree position. When I went to stand up I realized that my knee had fallen out of place (like it used to all of the time before my surgery(2nd)). I easily remedied this by standing up and just throwing it back in like I have grown accustomed to over my years of knee problems, but it hasnt stopped hurting so Im thinking this wasnt like my past occasions. There are two big problems with this, first of all being that my latest surgery that removed the tear in my miniscus was supposed to prevent this from ever happening (because its really bad for the knee as you might already be imagining). The second problem is that this is only supposed to happen, and if I am remembering correctly a telling symptom of having a tear in the miniscus. Fucking great news right!

I am hoping that the pain will subside in a few days or so, but Luke and I were planning (pretty much as close to a sure thing as plans can get) to hike to the Volcanoe observatory sight tommorow with the police offciers. This was going to be one of our last hurrahs here and I am really pissed that I might* not be able to do it. The pain isnt as severe today as it was yesterday, its more returned to icy hot in my joint feeling (minus the hot) , but now Im not so comfortable with that feeling as I think it might be the sign that something is seriously wrong. I can still walk though so that is a good sign. I also bought a gym membership today so that when the pain subsides I can continue trying to strengthen the muscles around my joint, the gym should also give me some welcome diversion from my usual sedentary life style down here.

There are a ton of tourists walking around down here today, so maybe the police were right about more people coming in the next two months. I mean they do live here right. This weekend there are bull fights here in town and the police insisted that I have to go (they dont kill the bulls here so it should be pretty fun). Luke also has his going away party here on Saturday so that will be a blast, I am trying to look on the brightside! Thanks for all of your advice and prayers. Pura Vida

9-28-09

This weekend ended up being pretty fun, I got to see atleast one of my teams win. GO Hawks! As for the rest of my teams, steelers, chelsea, it was a pretty disapointing weekend. On Saturday I was under the mistaken assumption that the Iowa game started at noon, so when I checked in the morning and found out it was on at 7 my time I had a whole empty day ahead of me. So Luke and I decided to check out the waterfall just outside of town. It cost about $15 total a person for us to get out to the waterfall and pay the admission fee, and after 417 steps down the side of a canyon we ended up at the most beautiful place I have seen since I have been here. Luke took some pictures with his digital camera so I should be able to upload some pictures soon. The waterfall is around 75 feet tall and the water is just an otherworldly blue, its colder then hell though, so we only spent a few minutes in the water and the rest of the time trying to avoid hypothermia.

Later on Saturday Luke and I were at his house to watch the Iowa Penn state game, and right around the middle of the second half his host dad invited us to go to a party with him and his friends. Well he needed us to drive him to where it was because he wasnt able to at that point, but thats a minor detail. So Luke and I got in the truck and headed over to the party. Jaime´s freind owns a farm and the party was being thrown because they killed a pig that day, or maybe they killed the pig for the party. Its a chicken and the egg paradox, but anyway when we got there everyone was pretty much tanked and standing around a big fire with a pot on it full of bubbling oil and pig parts.

The rest of the party goers wasted no time in getting Luke and I in the mood for incredibly hot fried pork by giving us liberal shots of casike (its a sugar cane alchohol, similar to rum but not aged). I wouldnt recommend it to anyone wanting to remember the rest of their night, but i guess the intense burning sensation in my stomach helped prepare me for the pork. After the necessary rounds of casike Luke and I were given a plate heaped with freshly fried pork (skin, fat, ribs, something that resembled a pork chop, leg bone) and we got to enjoy our pork while watching the rest of the Iowa football game. I will spare you the details about the rest of the night, but Luke and I ended up back in town safely.

On Sunday Luke, Fresnell, and I went to the river for awhile and jumped off the rocks again, and we even got some sunshine for a few minutes. Fresnell ended up getting a job at a resort about 45 minutes outside of Fortuna so I am pretty worried about what Ill be able to do/ who I will be able to hang out with after Luke leaves on monday. I am starting to feel really lonely here and he hasnt even left yet, I mean we dont hang out all the time, but hes the only person I can fully express my self with here, I dont have the requisite Spanish to really Talk to anyone else. The police say that the next two months are busy with American tourists though so maybe Ill just have to settle for temporary freinds from now on. I dont know at this point it seems like the next two months are going to be really long and lonely, but hopefully Im wrong about that, only time will tell. It seems like the years of my life have been consistently flying by faster and faster as I get older, but I guess it only takes being away from familiar faces and comfortable places to really make the days creep by.

Friday 25th

Today hasnt been the best, I have been suffering from a migraine, but I am feeling better now although I am suffering fom that weird hangover feeling you get after your head trys to explode. Tonight is the final exam for this weeks group of officers, it should be interesting to see how they do on it. They had us stop early last night with the review because they felt as if they were ready to take the test, so we will see. After showing the exam to them however they seemed a little apprenhesive, it is 6 pages long and they have really only had 4 weeks of material, as I said it should be interesting.

I didnt get to go the volcanoe the other night :(. I think within 2 hours of posting on here we had one of the biggest storms yet roll into the valley, so that made it impossible/ a really stupid idea to try and go. So maybe tommorow, or the next day, or the day after that, Im just going to have to play it by ear. After almost a week with no rain we have been getting alot in the past two days, so I am hoping that it lets up soon. I think Fresnell and I are going to attempt a hike of the volcanoe tommorow, weather permitting, so that should be a good opportunity to take pictures.

Tonight Luke and I are going to the jazz concert, so that should be a fun time, and it looks as though there is giong to be a play of some sort in the park this evening (or someone is moving into the veranda, and turning it into a living room, (Im going with play)). Tommorow there is a group from Mexico playing at the disco in town so I think we are going to check that out too. Luke decided to just leave when he was originally schedualed to so he takes off in a little over a week. That coupled with the fact that we have no prep work to do for class next week means that we are going to try and fit in alot of tourist stuff next week, So hopefully I will have some more fun adventures to write about soon. Staring at this screen hasnt particularly helped with the migraine side effects so I am going to call it a day. Love you all (glad youre feeling better Hannah). Pura Vida

9-23-09

The last few days have been pretty uneventful, I think the biggest thing going on in my life is wating for a Jimmy Carter documentary to come on HBO tommorow night. Luke and I got the test banged out and have been doing review of all of the information over the past two days and will continue to review until the test on Friday. It has been a little challenging trying to get all of the information in (two months of material is quite a bit), but i mean its only been challenging in comparison to the other obstacles in my day (watch CSI or Two and a half men, CNN or ESPN soccer that i watched last night etc.).

I have been doing some research about what Andy and I can do when he comes to visit, I cant say its been too exciting though. The majority of the websites say that La Fortuna (where I live) is the place to be and the center of things to do. I guess thats a fair asessment, if you are here to visit, but from an insiders perspective its a sleepy little town with one big attraction, the volcanoe. The other place thats high on the list of places to see in CR is Caño Negro which I saw this weekend, and again wasnt totally impressed with, I was more excited by the pineapple farms, but the fish is really good i guess. But, I am trying to convince myself that the Costa Rica I am living in and experiencing is differant from what a tourist would do and see. I am pumped about going to the cloud forest, and it sounds like the carribean coast would be a welcome culinary vacation from the unseasoned rice and beans im accustomed to here. I was disapointed to learn that the majority of beaches are unswimmable because of the massive rip currents here, and that Costa Ricas coastline is more of a playground for surfers, but then again that could be a chance to try something new. Most of the websites Ive run across recommend moving around and only spendinga day or two in one place, which I think should be a good plan of attack, because two days seems like plenty of time to exhaust the tourist opportunities here in Fortuna.

I think I will finally get a chance to see the volcanoe at night this evening, Luke and I have been waiting for a clear night for the last week to go and see it, and if the weather holds up for a few more hours we should get our wish. I think we are also going to see a jazz group here on friday, there is a flyer outside the internet cafe that promises the first chance to see live music since ive been here, besides victors party. So that should be fun. I hope everyone is feeling well (stay away from hannah and her swine fluness (i love you)) and have good weeks. Pura Vida

Los Chiles

So yesterday ended up being quite a bit more eventful then I had planned. As soon as I posted my blog update Luke came into the computer cafe and told me that we were invited to Victors birthday party, one of the police officers who works in La Fortuna but lives in Los Chiles. We either had the option of leavinge immediatly and traveling for 3 or 4 hours on the bus, or renting a car and getting there in around an hours time. We went with the car, which I think I will be doing from now on instead of taking the bus. It cost us around $50 for 24 hrs with the car, plus it allowed us the freedom to go where we wanted, when we wanted.

We sat down before we left and wrote the final exam for lukes time here, which only took about 2 hours. Then we hit the road up to Los Chiles. Los Chiles is the last town in Costa Rica before the border with Nicaragua, atleast in this part of the country, we ended up taking a short boat ride into Nicaragua while we were there because the town is only around 5 km from the border. Fresnel (I had him spell it for me, before ive spelled it Fresno) Luke and I hit the road around 4:30 and the ride was uneventful until the sun went down. The roads here are used heavily by all kinds of traffic, horses, people walking, people on bikes, tractors, buses, cars, semis, you name it ive seen someone driving it down the road (mopeds, motorcycles, four wheelers, riding lawn mowers). So when the sun goes down the road becomes a dark obstacle course of fast moving cars, not moving cars (people just park half way off the road so that they can keep traction and not need to get pulled out of the mud), pedestrians, animals (from cows to dogs), oh and all of the bridges are only wide enough for one car at a time. There are also no lights on the side of the road and the road is so curvy that people dont bother turning off their brights when they pass eachother, so ontop of being a 75 mph obstacle course you get temporarily blinded every minute or so. We were shitting our pants to say the least, but Luke had it the worst as he had elected to drive. Needless to say we were ready for some beer when we got to Los Chiles.

When we pulled up to Victors house there was quite a party going on, we werent sure we were at the right house at first because all Victor said for directions was ¨when you get to Los Chiles turn left, then go for awhile and turn right, its the house with the balloons¨(vague even by Tico standards). It turned out we found the right house with balloons and were soon treated to lots of great food and some much needed beer. After about an hour of sitting and talking a bunch of people in costumes showed up (I guess Victors younger realitives (around 20 of them) decided to have a costume contest on top of the party) , followed closely by a band of three trumpets, some drums and two cymbal players. The band got set up and we proceeded to shut down the street and turn it into a massive dance party. ok thats not exactly true, the costume people started the dancing part, but as the only gringos at the party Luke and I were quickly swept up and forced to embarass ourselves in front of Victors extended family. Luke has some suspect pictures of me dancing and participating in a limbo contest, but I think I can get him to keep those out of the public eye and my camera was strangely absent during the dancing portion of the festivities.

The party carried on well into the night and sometime in the morning hours Victor set us up with some matresses in his house. I forgot to mention that Los Chiles is hotter then hell, its in the middle of a giant plain that runs between northern Costa Rica and Southern Nicaragua. The dirt around Los Chiles is a really dark red color and it is where all of the Pineapples in Costa Rica are grown, did you know pineapples grow like lettuce? in the ground one at time, I always thought they grew on trees, anyway. Los Chiles is an inferno, and as an agricultural center its extremely humid, oh and it is also a swamp in the places that havent been cleared for pineapple farming. I think it was more humid there then anywhere ive been in my life, did I mention its hot too? Sleeping wasnt easy, so when morning rolled around Fresnel and I were ready to hit the road, but before we could Victor took us down to the Rio Frio.

We ended up renting a boat and going on a wildlife viewing excursion, there is such much life in and around that river it was amazing. Among the various birds we saw were also spider monkeys, iguanas, howler monkeys, caimans, and this little (well like 2 feet long, but a hell of a lot smaller than a wild iguana) green lizard that runs so fast that it can walk on water, which we saw demonstrated more then once. We spent about an hour on the river and it was amazing, I didnt bring my camera though which is really disapointing, but I think Luke has pictures of most of the animals we saw. After the river trip we got in the car and headed over to Caño Negro, which is a wild life preserve in the middle of a swamp. There wasnt too much to see and since we had already done the boat tour thing we just stopped and had lunch. The food was great, we tried a local fish that is only found in Caño Negro, and is famous for tasting like chicken, which it actually does, not a hint of fishiness, and a strange meat like texture. After we had lunch Fresnel took the wheel and we drove the scenic route back to La Fortuna, with Fresnel giving us the play by play on what each community is known for or just showing us cool stuff along the way (we stopped at this place called the iguana tree, which is more then one tree but the whole area is covered in iguanas, huge iguanas, like 30 per tree, and there is also a friendly monkey there too).

To sum it all up this weekend has been some of the most fun Ive had since being here, and driving around with Fresnel really opened my Costa Rica up beyond the little world of La Fortuna that ive known thus far. Hopefully we will be taking some more roadtrips while im down here, I hope your weekends were equally wonderful. Pura Vida

Saturday 9-19-09

So I am fully recovered from my sickness, thanks for all of your well wishing, or however the hell you say that. Nothing really happens on Saturdays, we dont usually hold class because only a few officers show up, and theyre not really in any mood to sit through three hours of class as it is the end of their week. So today Luke and I are going to sit down and make up the test that will cover all of the material he has taught since being down here. Every two months the police officers get a certificate for participating in an ESL program through an outside program, which I dont think makes much sense because were not teaching them any kind of pre apporved curiculum, but whatever. So this test allows us to gauge how much they have learned, which again doesnt really matter to anyone but us and the police officers (who i dont think particularly care how they fair on the test), but teaching is all about how well students do on their exams right?

So after we get the test written today we will basically be locked into our curriculum for the next two weeks. We plan on just doing review activities of everything that will be on the test, because like most students the officers learn what they need to for the week, apply the knowledge, and then forget it the next week when we move on to something new. So it will not be a walk in the park to just go over the old stuff, but it should be interesting for me to see what all he taught them with Kirstin before I got down here. This week in class we tried some new activities that I am planning on using from now on specifically dictation and presentations. So in the first we read sentences to the officers and they have to write what they hear, because we are teaching them so that they can interact with people in english we thought it was important for them to start trying to decipher what people are saying. Its pretty entertaining to see what they think we are saying. The other activity is that we assign them a task like: make a cup of coffee, and they then have to write a set of instructions for how to do their task and then read those instructions to the class. They HATE both of these things, but who really ever liked foreign langauge in school?

After seeing how they interacted with our two new activities luke and I decided that when I start the next two month section I am going to focus on improving their ability to communicate. I mean thats the main reason we are here, were not trying to get them to the space to read shakespeare or watch harry potter in english (although both of those would be great results) our job is to give them the skills to interact with and respond to tourists. SO I think I will be introducing a one on one speaking portion with me everyweek, because they are great at memorizing the words and what they mean, but they always have trouble pronouncing them and interpreting what Luke and I are saying, which I think are two of the biggest things that they need to know.

Next week Luke and I are planning on going to a river about 2 hours from here with some of the officers. They told us that the water is this amazing color becuase of the location of the river, I guess it is a place where a sulfur river from the to of a volcanoe meets a regualr one and when the two mix it is beautiful. But with the way 75% of plans here go Im not betting on actually getting out there next week. Well I am done for today, I think I will wander around some tourist shops and pretend like I might buy something. Hope your having a good weekend!

9-16-09

So I have been sick for the past few days, at first I thought it was just a cold related to when I went to the river, but now I think I may have gotten it from Luke. We seem to be a day apart in the progression of our symptoms, so hopefully tommorow I will be on my way out of the woods if that hypothesis is correct. Its not too serious, I just feel like I have the flu (but not as bad as earlier this year, although short of loosing a limb I dont know what could be worse) any way I am taking medicine and I should be starting to feel better any day now. I must say it is pretty misable being sick in a tropical climate, there is no relief when your fever is breaking and you would already be sweating bullets anyway because of the temperature and humidity, but i will survive. I know as long as I know how to love I know ill be alive...

So I had the medicine for two days now, but I was finally able to go to a pharmacy today, yesterday was Latin American Independence day (from the Spanish) so most everything was closed. I went down and watched the parade for awhile, but it wasnt the ussualy 1 and half hour affair it is in the United States. This was slow, I mean S L O W, it probably took every group of people about 10 minutes to get past the intersection I was standing at. The parade consisted of school children of all ages playing drums and xylophones (all doing renditions of the same songs) and a few floats covered in local plants and fruits. It was super hot yesterday as well, it was the first time that the sun actually felt warm compared to the shade since I have been down here, I think I might have even got a little sunburn! Because its winter down here usually the sun has little affect on the overall temperature, yet alone being strong enough to change the pigment of ones skin. So I watched the parade for about two hours and after discerning that there was not much variation and knowing that the parade lasted for another 3 hours I decided to go back and suffer in the heat of my oven with a convieniently placed bed. Kirstin and Fresno stopped by and invited me to go with them to the river, but at that point I was still under the assumption that it was the cause of my illness so I declined.

The last two days here have been pretty uneventful, there was a parade the night before Independence Day as well so we havent had classes for the last two days. Today luke and I got together and figured out what we can teach for the next three days, while also coming up with plenty of things that we couldnt (conjunctions) possibly teach in three days, so I have some good ideas about what direction I want to take the class when he leaves. This will essentially be his last week of teaching new material here, as we are reviewing and taking the final in both sections for the remainder of the month. He has decided not to stay down here for another month, so it looks like I will be completing my stay here in solitude, maybe ill make some new friends, its either that orcomplete my quest to watch the life work of Collin Firth on tnt romance channel (I think I may be getting pretty close to that lofty goal).

I had a little scare with the University of Iowa earlier this week concerning my ability to just pick back up with classes when I return, but after talking to someone outside the completely useless advising department my fears have been put to rest. They still havent told me who I can talk to about figuring out how to graduate in the next two semesters but Ill pry it out of them yet. I would really like to stay down here and travel after my stint of teaching is done in December, but it doesnt look like Ill be able to swing that financially at this point. I have already spent as much money as I budgeted for a month in the two weeks I have been here, and I dont have to pay for food, a place to stay, internet, laundry service. Lets just say my goal of travelling is looking pretty unrealistic at this point. Although its looking like I might be taking a loan out anyway when I get back to finance a car to get to and from my job, but I dont think they give out student loans for travel expenses. Anyway thats enough about my worries of returning to the great institution of higher learning in a few months, im going to keep pretending that its not an emminant threat to my current happiness. Even pretend ignorance can be bliss, right? Pura Vida

Sunday

So today we finally made it down to the river. It was absolutely amazing and tons of fun. It hasnt rained here all day which is really strange, but it also provided us with the perfect oportunity to explore the river and jump off of waterfalls, and all kinds of fun stuff. Around 1 Luke and Fresno stopped by and said that they had been trying to get ahold of me, but again I was locked out of the house and couldnt answer the phone, I could just hear it ringing. Anyway, we walked down to the park (which is also the city center, and the taxi hub), met up with Kirstin and we jumped in a cab and rode down to the river. The ride took less then 2 minutes in a taxi and cost 600 colones, which is roughly a dollar. The part of the river that we went to is really popular with the local people as it is the only free spot deep enough to jump into and swim around in in the vacinity. There is a huge waterfall about 5 kilometers up river that also has a pool deep enough to swim in, but admission costs ten dollars, which is a fee no Tico in their right mind would pay.

The spot that we ended up at was pretty crowded when we showed up, but you could find enough room to do whatever you wanted. The view was absolutely amazing, like something you would see in a guide book, or horror movie about tourists being in Centarl America or something. The river is clear along the shallow part which runs under the road and then it turns into a light green as it passes over the falls before turning into a deep opaque blue as it enters the pool below (the kind of color rich people go to saint barts to see water be). The pool is probably 20 feet deep, about 100 feet in diameter, and ringed by rocks perfect for jumping off of (most about 12 feet above the water). At the highest point along the edge of the pool is a rope swing that lets you get about 20 feet above the water if you really go for it.

When we first got there Kirstin and I decided that we had to go off the swing, well she decided and then made me go first. I was a little trepidatious at first, but when youre options are, let go of the rope and fall into the water, or swing back and smack into a bunch of rocks its pretty easy to let go. So after the first time I was addicted and continued to dive/swing/jump into the pool for the next 2 hours or so with Luke and Kirstin doing the same. Fresno didnt go in, but he was watching our stuff, so Im thinking if he would have swam we wouldnt have had clothes when we decided to leave. After we had our fill of jumping we lounged around on the rocks above the pool and just watched the river disapear around a bend into the rain forest. I cant tell you how beautiful it is there, and I will definitely be taking lots of pictures there, Ill take any excuse I can to go back. I guess its rare to be able to be there for an extended period of time though like we were today becuase when it rains the rocks become extremely dangerous to walk around on, which is not a theory im too keen on testing.

After awhile we decided to leave, but couldnt get a taxi to stop for us so we walked the whole way back which only took about 15 minutes, but my knee seems to think I ran a marathon or something. But thats a small price to pay for how amazing today turned out. Pura Vida

9-11-09

So kareoke was an experience, I did end up singing one song, but most of the time we just sat and talked, it was really good for my Spanish, because I sat and talked with Fresno for awhile (or maybe it was the cervezas, i dont know). None of the police officers ended up going, but two of the OIJ (like the FBI) officers came and one of them alicia ended up singing quite a bit. She is an amazing kareokeist, and we are all going agian tonight to support her in a contest where first prize gets 200 dollars (which is a ton of money).

I got Andys package today! but dont start sending alot of them its super expensive for me to pick them up. I ended up paying 17,000 colones today to get the one from Andy (around $35), but the UPS guy said that I was lucky and most of the time it costs upwards of $200 to clear customs. I guess there is also a chance that sometimes I wont have to pay anything, they said customs for packages is the same as for people in an airport, where you either get the green light (no search, no taxes) or you get the red one, which I guess my package got becuase it was all opened up, even the plastic the cameras were in, but it wasnt too big of a hasstle over all. I didnt have to take a 10 hour round trip to San Jose, so it could have been much worse.

I got the most amazing picture of the Volcanoe today, before it got really freaking cold and rainy. It was the first time I could see the top and you could see this big pillar of steam coming out of the top, like from a powerplant, it was awesome. The knee brace is also working really well, I modified it quite a bit, but now it does the same thing that my old one did and My knee has been rejoicing since I put it on. I think I will put it to the test tommorow and try and hike to the volcanoe, You cant get clear to the top, but you can get close enough to see the lava, which will be super cool (you can insert a pun of your choosing here). If its not raining like today, I think we are planning on going to the river as well, so I should have a pretty eventful weekend lying ahead of me.

Last night we had a huge blackout, the whole town lost power during the middle of our class, and when there are no lights for 20 miles around it is really freaking dark, but luckily everyone had a cell phone (thank you 21st century) and we finished up what we were working on. So tonight we have to cram alot in, which will be interesting. pura vida

9-10-09

No bar last night, Im starting to learn that plans in Costa Rica are much closer to suggestions, and there was a terrible accident in town yesterday (a little boy, around 4 years old ran from his parents in the park and got hit by a bus) so that was a hard experience for everyone, and a lot of work for the officers. I ended up watching the game with my host family, which was good except CR played poorly again and lost in the absolute last minute of the game. So they are pretty much done for this world cup, I mean its still possible for them to qualify, but it will be alot more difficult then beating El Salvador should have been.

Luke and I didnt end up making it to the river today, its about a 2 mile walk and the way my knee has been feeling lately that is the last thing on my mind. We tried to get Fresno (luke´s host brother) to drive and come with us, but his dad got a big furniture order in this week and he had to work. Oh well I have a while to get out there anyway. Today was absolutely beautiful, for about 2 hours you could see clear to the top of the volcanoe except for a little ring or clouds right around the top and behind that was absolutely clear blue sky. It was one of the most beautiful things Ive ever seen, I almost bought a camera just to get a picture of it, but im sure there will be more magnificent days here in the months ahead.

I think tonight we are going to the bar to sing kareoke (I dont think thats how you spell it), but im not planning on it this time around. The police always talk about going to sing though, so if we end up going it should be really fun to see them outside of their work and classes. Well its off to dinner and class and maybe singing old sinatra songs, if Im lucky.

9-9-9

SO today has been another good one so far, I woke up and had chocolate cereal again and fresh mango juice. It has been a pretty uneventful day, lots of tv and praying for rain. Its always the hottest here between 9 and 2, so that means lots of US open tennis (atleast for right now, im hoping I can find something else to keep me occupied once that is over). Last nights lesson went well, we had the officers read stories about crimes that we foud online, and that was probably the most tedious part, constantly correcting their pronunciation and trying to get them to understand it. But overall it was another good day at work. Oh last night I had chicherones for dinner, which are deep fried pork skin, sort of like pork rinds except everything is fair game (tails, ears, noses, hairy bits (i got a few of those)) so I dont think I will be partatking in those from now on as they were like eating stones and also hurt my stomach quite a bit with all of the grease. They are a really popular food down here, so Im hoping I dont have to eat them as to not show disrespect, but Im thinking that might end up being the case at least once or twice a week.

I think Lulu is trying to get me a Costa rican girlfriend because she always has girls at the house when I get home and we sit and talk with them for a while, and she invaribly asks me if the girl present is up to my standards and if I think she is pretty, prettier then the last one etc. Last nights was a winner (23 year old, dentist, fluent in english) It was nice to have someone to talk to and translate a little between me and the family. Lulu is quite hilarious and told me a story about a sausage that she carved to look like male genitalia one time that I dont think I can fully repeat here without putting a explicit content warning on my blog. So ill leave that to your imaginations...

Tonight we are only having class for an hour because Costa Rica is playing El Salvador in a world cup qaulifier at 7 my time, so we talked them into having class from 5-6 (instead of the not at all that they wanted). I think we are all going to a local bar to watch it, which will be fun, the police are pretty crazy according to luke so I better watch out. Well my time at the internet cafe is up. Pura Vida

Nueva Vida dia 2nd

So today has been another good day with the host family, ezcept daniel made me watch Thriller all the way through today, which was torturous (the whole hour and a half long movie, not just the music video). I really didnt want to watch it, but I lack the langauage skills to politely decline the request of a 9 year old without hurting his feelings, so I sat there and soaked up the 80´s goodness. It was another hot morning here, but it has started to cloud up and the temperature is dropping off, so im thinking there will be more police terrifying thunderstorms tonight. Last night was my first real night teaching with Luke, and it really opened my eyes to how enjoyable (and realitively easy) it will be to carry out my duties here. We teach the same thing for two weeks in a row, becuase there are two differant groups of officers. Every week they change places and the people who were stationed in La Fortuna get to go home for a week, so by the second week we really know what works and what exercises are helpful to them. Now that I have been to atleast one real class with Luke his teaching style is starting to make more sense to me. We both agree that for this to be an effective program in the long run there should be some kind of larger curriculum that we stick to, but the problem is that OTEC doesnt want to pay for one. So were doing the best with what we have, which is the rusty grammar knowledge of two 20 something Americans. Heres a little test for you, what is the difference between the past tense and the past participle? yeah Luke and I have no idea, so that is my wikipedia quest for the day, and then once we get the difference figured out we have to come up with a way to effectively communicate it.So the job has its challenges, but it was such a thrill seeing the police putting there new vocab words into use last night and actually Getting the material.

Ive decided that Paragraphs might be helpful in making this thing a little easier to read, instead of the huge block of continuous text. My host mom cooks such delicous food, it was the usual gallo pinto for breakfast today, I dont know what happened to the Chocolate cereal, but I wasnt going to turn down a hot meal. and let me say that gallo pinto is not bad at all, when it is properly seasoned its quite enjoyable. LulU and I had a good moment of connection over it too ( I said su gallo pintp es mas mejor que el gallo pinto la policia cocinan, trying to say that hers is better then the polices (which is improper Spanish i should have said (su comida es mejor (no mas)) when she corrected me though i told her that the police food is so bad that mas mejor has to be correct, which she thought was absolutely hilarious). I dont know if that translates well on a blog but whatever, it was the highlight of my day so far.

The TV has been treating me well too, almost all of the US open is on down here, and when its not the only other sport is soccer, so I got to watch some world cup qualifiers today too. The next time its really hot Luke, Fresno, and I are going to go to the river, which Luke says is a ton of fun. He said there are rope swings and cliffs to jump off of and that the sewer doesnt connect to La Fortuna´s river so that its clean as well. Sorry i missed your chat box mom I was writing this :(, Im sure we will connect sometime soon. Well I am off to my room to watch more tennis and pray for some rain. Pura Vida

Day 1

So my new host family is AMAZING! Im so happy that they found me a new place to live where the people are all nice and welcoming. My new family consists of LulU the mom (i dont know the dads name, he works at the vet though), Daniel (he is 9 yrs old and doesnt stop talking, but is really patient with me, and is eager to learn english), and Calvin (the older son who is a private pilot in San Jose, he speaks a little english and I talked with him on the phone yesterday for awhile). There is also another border who lives with the family named Heidi, she is from a town a few miles from here and was a singer and painter, but now she has to work in a hotel here in La Fortuna. Everyone is very welcoming and talks slowly to me and doesnt give up when I dont understand things (like my old mom did) and LulU is happy to correct me when my spanish is ¨que terrible¨. I think I will start teaching Daniel and Heidi some english when I get a chance, they both have told me that they want to learn, so that will be a good way to get to know them better. My room... is great, its like a little apartment on the back of the house with its own entrance and bathroom. I even have my own TV and a FAN! which is probably the best thing thats happened to me since Ive been in La Fortuna. The TV gets ESPN, CNN, AnadE, Fox, and CNBC in english so I can watch lots of good tv (even DOG the bounty hunter!). There is a computer at the house too, which I am using right now, it is in Heidis room, so I feel kind of guilty using it as much as I did the ones at the station, but I still have to go eat dinner at the station so I will probably just go over there early and use it then. LulU (im spelling it that way because thats how you pronounce it (she made funof me for talking like a gringo when i pronounced it LUlu)) runs her own lunch service from the house, so I dont have to eat that gallo pinto stuff three times a day. I even had chocolate corn flakes for breakfast! with orange juice. She is very nice and like I said makes sure I understand what she is trying to say before moving on, she is correcting my spanish too, which will be great in helping me to improve. Before now I would try to speak with the police officers, but they wouldnt correct me, if I got the idea across they would just respond, which didnt help me to know if what I was saying made any sense. My cough is getting better and a new batch of Police officers arrives today so I wont be forced to go to the doctor, unless Nuria tells the Jeffe or something. The new house isnt much closer to the station, but it is right off of the downtown area, so I can walk to the store quite easily and look through the tourist shops and keep myself entertained. I cant tell you how much happier I was last night to come back to a warm welcoming house. Im excited to be here now, no more apprehension. I watched alot of tennis yesterday on my new tv and there were some great games. I dont know if any of you watched but the murray dent match was really entertaining. Oh and I get HBO in english too and I got to watch Hot Fuzz last night (youre right Claire that movie is Hilarious). I think just being in a wlecoming place is making my spanish better, if not my ability, my willingness to say something stupid and know that it will be corrected and understood. I think I am going to head over to the station around 2 today and try to meet some of the new officers before class, and hopefully get on gmail chat around 3 my time, so that im not sitting in Heidis room all day. My knee was hurting when I woke up this morning, but it got cold last night(maybe 70) and so that might be it, im back on the advil train though, and as long as I dont go back to my 1500 mg a day habit I should be fine. I hope this eases some of the concerns about how my time down here will be. I think it will be great. Eat a bratwurst for me

Washed Away

Thank you all for your concern, but I really should be fine. I know it is a scary that I got my things stolen, but I guess if I told you it happens al the time that wouldnt be very reassuring either... I will be fine, unless I die of my cough. I have had a cough since I got down here and today all of the police officers keep telling me that I will die in the next week if I dont get to a doctor, I keep telling them that it doesnt seem that bad, and that I dont have insurance so I cant go to the doctor, but they are very persistant. I think that the police have special sway here because Andres is going to take me somewhere where the doctor will give me medicine for free. I dont really think it is as bad as they do though, it just seems like a nasal thing that has migrated into my lungs, I havent had a runny nose for two days now and my mucus is clear, but I still have a cough that is very deep, but nothing comes up when I cough (those are my symptoms if you want to venture a prognosis). It has been raining really hard lately, we had a crazy storm last night where you could see lighting strikes all around and the thunder was so loud that it shook the building. It was funny when it happened because I was at the police station eating dinner with Andres and Nuria (shes like my adopted police mom), and when we started seeing the lightning they unplugged everything (stove, refrigerator, tv, computers, (from the wall and and the power strip) as well as disconecting all of the wires from the back of the computer to the printer and speakers) so getting it up and running was a little bit of a chore this morning. Andres also took all of the radios and phones (cell or otherwise) and put them in a closet, because according to him they atract the lightning and we could all die if we are near them in a storm. For how much it storms here I thought they would be a little more used to the lightning and thunder, but they jumped everytime a big thunder clap went off. After the storm passed, (well not really it just stopped raining as hard), we set up the tv outside so we could all watch the soccer game with mexico. It didnt go very well. I think i learned a few new spanish cursewords, and one of the police Mauricio was absolutely balistic about how bad the Costa Rican team played (and i have to agree their defense was absolutely terrible), this was the game that they needed to win to advance to the world cup and now it looks as though they need to beat Argentina to get in, which I dont think they believe they can do. A little bit earlier in the day Andres told me that my host family was `going on a trip`and so I would be moving to a new house today, which is absolutely fine by me, I think the bed I was sleeping on usually belongs to the dog (it had quite a special odour). So this morning I packed all of my things and my host mom was actually nice to me and talked with me for awhile, but I think it was mostly because I was leaving. So when I got picked up this morning Carlos (one of the police officers, who always drives the car) was all about telling me how much better my new family will be and how he doesnt like the people I was living with before. In his words my old host mom is mean and is always frowning and my new mom is very nice and always smiling, so that could be good, unless shes on a prozac drip or something. Andres also told me that she has experience with Americans and that I wont have to eat breakfast at the station anymore, which will be nice. The breakfast is always gallo pinto (rice, beans, and onions) and coffee, but andres says my new mom will have American things like doughnuts and cereal. I will also have my own room with a tv `so you can sit around and watch tv all day, instead of being at the station` according to Andres. I think im headed over there when I get this posted, except for all of my things are in the car, which they are using to patrol right now so I dont know what I will do when I get there, but I guess there is always TV. I guess Sundays are pretty calm here, not many tourists, no class to teach for Luke and I. It has been raining Really hard here for about two hours and I asked Andres if it ever floods but he said that only happens in the south, I dont know what can happen with all of this water but I guess there is good drainage around here or something. Andres said that if it is not raining tonight he will take Luke and I to go night swimming in Lake Arenal, which I guess is illegal except for if you work for the tourist police, he also told me that he can get me into pretty much any tourist excursion free, so I think Luke and I are going rafting in a few weeks time. Yesterday afternoon I went over and met lukes host family, I so wish I could be living with them as well. The dad is a furniture maker, and his furniture is absolutely amazing, lots of layered woods and hand turned legs on chairs and tables and things. They also have a huge house with two tvs, internet, and guitars (which I played with Lukes host dad for a while, afterwards he told me I can stop by anytime, so now I have 3 places I can head to). Lukes host brother, Fresno is also very nice and eager to talk so I will have someone to hang around with when Luke leaves. If it ever stops raining he said Luke and I can go with him to look at the volcanoe, I guess if you go during the night you can watch the lava flowing, which sounds amazing/slightly terrifying. Im really starting to like it here, life is much slower, and Im hoping that when I get settled in with my new family it will get even better. My bag getting stolen isnt really on my mind, and as much as i wish i had my knee brace the things i had in my bag would have allowed me to isolate myself with the same old books and music, so im taking it all in stride. I will probably write another post this afternoon and let you know how my new family is, oh and 430 central time is a good time to chat with me on gmail if you have that capability.

La Fortuna day1

So last night I had to get off of the computer rather quickly and was not able to share my wonderful adventure of getting to La Fortuna, so here it goes. So I met a few people at the hostel who were also going to La Fortuna and we all decided to take the same bus. Buying tickets wasn´t a problem and we all checked our luggage and got on the bus. The bus originated from the station that we got on at so there were plenty of empty seats and room for us to stretch out in, so we all got our own row and got ready for the 3.5 hr bus ride (it turned out to be around 5.5). So we drove for about 30 minutes and then the bus stopped and a ton of people started to get on, which was something that none of us had planned for because we bought the ¨direct¨ticket to La Fortuna. We thought that ¨direct¨meant no stopping, hence the 3.5 hr travel time, but we were wrong as the Bus to La Fortuna also serves as public transport between towns along the route. So after the first stop, one of the people that I met at the hostel and I were the only people with empty seats next to us, and on my empty seat was my backpack. At the next stop a few people got off, but more got on, and a girl came up and asked to sit in the seat where my bag was, so being a stupid American I said ¨sure¨. I guess at this point I need to set the scene a little more, the bus was about the size of a greyhound but there were probably 5-6 more rows that had been squeezed in so that my knees were firmly in my chest even when the seat next to me wasn´t occupied (oh, and it rained all day, meaning closed windows(there´s no airconditioning on these busses(it was around 95 degrees in the damn thing))). So when she asked to sit where my backpack was I picked up my bag, moved to the aisle, and contemplating whether or not to hold my bag in the super hot, crowded bus or place it above my head I chose to put it in the space above me. REALLY FUCKING STUPID right? So within about 15 minutes she said she had to sit in the aisle seat because she was getting off at the next stop, again as a stupid (polite) American I traded seats with her and was essentially out of the line of sight from my bag. So she got off as promised and a new guy sat down next to me, about ten minutes later I was hungry so I asked him to step into the aisle so I could get my bag. I stood up, looked in the overhead compartment, and voila no bag... This all transpired within the first hour of being on the bus so that left me with the next 4 hours to panic/think of where my bag could be (did the bus driver move it? maybe someone needed the space and it was now under the bus) but sadly my bag was gone. I guess I got lucky compared with the other people who got robbed yesterday. Oh I forgot to mention that I was 1 of 4 to get robbed on the bus. Two of the other people lost their credit cards (they´re fucked) and passports (they´re Really fucked). I on the other hand only lost all of the gifts for the host family, both of my ipods, my new phone (sorry mom),my camera(sorry again mom I guess i wont have pictures), and most importantly my knee brace. So it could have been worse. So then I arrived in La Fortuna and met with the police, who were very helpful in getting me to my new house and helping me fill out a police report, which I filled out in english and then they gave it to me so I think that was more a cathartic exercise then actually useful in recovering my bag. FYI there is 0.0000000 percent chance im getting anything back. Then I met Luke the other volunteer, he has been here for a month and has been teaching them crime terms like arson and burglary. He can´t speak Spanish very well either so we´re quite a pair, but it is nice to have someone to talk to. After class, I met Kirstin who was a volunteer here with Luke for the first month he was here and we talked about how GeoVisions is basically a scam (good call Rachel). We each paid around $1300 and the police don´t get anything (they actually PAY OTEC (the incountry coordinaters)) and the host families recieve $100 per month for putting us up. She then told me that there isn´t an actual process for finding the families, when she got here the original family didn´t want to host her so the OTEC guy walked her across the street and asked the family if she could stay there. She said the same thing happened with my family and now I live about 15 minutes from the station where as Luke lives right next door. I can´t live with Luke because OTEC doesn´t want to pay the family more money, but I asked them if I can move after he leaves. I guess we will see what happens. BUT the police officers are very nice and eager to learn, Luke is nice and is happy to have someone to do ¨tourist¨ things with, so I guess it could be worse. Sorry Andy I don´t know if I want to stay in Costa Rica after the program ends, although I know it is early to make that call. Today I plan on exploring La Fortuna, and trying to buy some of the things I lost/need for teaching. Oh and I lost my rainjacket and it hasn´t stopped raining since I got here. Im staying positive though, so don´t freak out too much (mom, aunt margie) It will be ok. hasta luego

La Fortuna

So, I am officially in La fortuna. I had many adventures getting here (not all of them good) i went to class tonight and met some of the other volunteers. I guess I have to leave now or else walk home to the place ive been to once. so im going and will post a full update tommorow morning.

San Jose Day 2

So i had my orientation today, which was somewhat helpful. I met with Ernesto who is the in-country coordinater for OTEC the company that GeoVisoins uses for finding host families and organizing volunteer positions. It was basically an overview of what I should expect from my host family and for my bus travels tommorow. It was orginally schedualed for 10:30 but being in Costa Rica, I only had to wait for 45 min. He gave me some useful information about packages (don´t send them, they rarely if ever actually arrive in Costa Rica/where they are supposed to go). He also told me that I shouldn´t get a cell phone, but instead I should buy an international calling card and use phones either at the police station or at my host family´s house. So phone contact will be one way, but you can still talk to me over the internet so Im not too concerned about staying in touch. Ernesto was supposed to bring me money that we payed to GeoVisions for my bus ticket tommorow, but his boss who writes the checks was in a meeting and he seemed pretty scared to interupt her. So the plan was for me to find his office later and pick the money up there. So around 2:30 I set off on my grand exploration of San Jose in search of Ernesto and his office. The streets here aren´t too confusing, but they are all one way so 2nd st. (the main road) for example goes on direction when you first come to it and then the opposite direction on the next block, meaning that for each line on the map there are actually two differant roads. This coupled with the fact that there are no street names beside on the map made finding the office a little confusing, plus the guy at the Hostel desk told me ¨when you see lots of pigeons in a square go right, and its just up the street¨, so I did just that and ended up in a big park with lots of homeless people. I turned around and decided that maybe I needed to find the 2nd place with lots of pigeons and then turn right, which ended up being correct. Eventually I fround Ernesto and got the money for my bus ticket. The weather here is extremely mild temperature wise, but it is so humid that if you get up from a chair you start sweating, so after my walk I was thouroughly drenched in sweat, but I think im going to have to get used to that feeling. So when I got back to the hostel I decided to go for a swim to cool off, not realizing I was sweating because of the humidity, not the temperature, long story short now im wearing a sweatshirt hoping that typing will stave off hypothermia. I am waiting for an email from Ernesto with my travel details for tommorow, but I should leave San Jose around 11:30 and take the 3.5 hr bus trip up to La Fortuna. Ciudad Quesada, or San Carlos is actually the name of the larger area I´ll be staying in and La Fortuna is the name of the town/neighborhood? I think. Well now its time to heat my arroz con pollo I bought at the am/pm and see what movie is playing tonight. Last night was a jeane claude van damme movie so im hoping tonights will be just as terrible. Hasta luego.

Arrival

I am in San Jose! The flights turned out to be uneventful, and short, it only took 3.5 hrs from Atlanta to San Jose. I am pretty sure that the time zone down here is still central so that will make the sleeping transition easy atleast. The city is really busy and the traffic was terrible, I am hoping that the air will be alot better where i am going. If it isn´t its probably a really good thing I got three inhalers because it is smoggy in San Jose. The taxi drivers did try to get me to go with them, but once I told them no, and that I was waiting for a Company they were extremely helpful in getting me in contact with the driver. I only had to wait outside the airport for an hour (which im thinking isn´t too bad by Costa Rican standards). The hotel is nice, swimming pool, restuarant, my own bed. There don´t seem to be too many people styaing here, i have only seen about five so far and they all are speaking german to each other (I might have to dust off that high school knowledge, if its still in my head somewhere). I guess the big thing here is the Mexico/Costa Rica world cup qualifier that is being played in San Jose this Saturday, there are vendors everywhere selling flags and jerseys. There was even a van that kept driving around the airport while I was waiting that, from what I was gather was saying nasty things about mexico and their soccer team(to great applause and laughter from the taxi drivers). I am having trouble getting Colones from the ATM´s even though I called Wells Fargo and told them that I would be down here. They did provide me with an in-country hotline number, but i cant dial it fom a pay phone(the only kind in the hotel) and now I only have 5 dollars left. Im hoping that will get me thorugh to tommorow when I have my orientation, when I can hopefully get some help with accessing my bank account. Now its time to lounge by the pool and try not to think about how I have no money and am starving, at least the weathers nice...

Ready to go

I'm all packed up and ready to fly down to Costa Rica. I leave at 5:45 am wednesday the 2nd and I should arrive in San Jose the same day. If not i'll be in the Atlanta airport, but with the 24 hrs of airport living I got earlier this summer I think I'll manage to survive. I don't know if I will manage to update this when I am in San Jose or not but I will be sure to as soon as I can.