Life

At least once a week I tell myself I need to update my blog.  Everyday I come home tired and consider it, but it's usually my first time of the day to get online and need to check my e-mails, do some more work stuff and catch up on facebook.  This has been about 7 pm lately when I finally get online.  The upside to all of this is that I've been really busy. 

I'm going to try and be brief about everything in order to mention it all, and hopefully will get on more.  Today, I'm going to go to receive the recycling truck!  We've weighed most of what we have and so far and we have over 13,000 kilograms of reciclable materials.  That's more than one ton!  This is at least 700 kilograms that's not being taken to the county dump, and 600 kilograms that's not being burned according to the town's solid waste capabilities.  I could not be more stoked with the outcome at these two schools.   Plus, the one director I've had a chance to talk to about it says that she would love to continue the program next year even though the municipality will be sending trucks out.  This way the school will continue getting funds rather than the company that will be coming out.  Plus, they can continue to use it for their Bandera Azul programs and continue the environmental education aspect of it!  Woot!

I started a computer course in one town.  I've been pretty busy so wasn't planning on it until January but one friend heard that I have been trained to facilitate Intel courses and asked to organize it and that we start immediately.  So three times a week from 3-5 pm I facilitate this course.   Some women in the group had never even touched a computer before so it's really amazing how much they've learned, even the more advanced students.  And it looks like we'll be able to finish the 5 week course before I go home for the holidays which is great!

I have two high school groups that I'm working with.  They're both pretty small but I know that they've all gained a lot from them.  The first is an environmental group taking part in a Peace Corps program called Alianza Liderazgo del Ambiente.  There are several workshops involving different aspects of the environment such as water, earth, biodiversity, etc.  At the end the kids have to submit a multimedia project discussing the situation of the environment in their communities and make an action plan of what we can do to improve it. Then, we have the opportunity to take two students to the conference in Bahia Ballena to present the project with most expenses covered.  It's a really great program but I'm having trouble working with the end of the year school schedule. 

The second high school group is called Voces Valerosas.  This is an all girls group in which there are numerous workshops on topics ranging from female leadership, to economic justice and human rights.  It's another really great program thought up by Peace Corps volunteers in which the girls express themselves and the situations they find here in their communities through art.  They write poems or stories, do collages and draw pictures.  At the end we submit their pieces to the committee that chooses the pieces to include in the magazine of the pieces submitted from girls all over the countries in these same groups.  Then, we also have the opportunity to take two girls to the conference in San Jose where they can meet other PC volunteers and girls just like them.  I've learned so much from these girls.  Even if we don't finish out the workshops due to scheduling conflicts I'm so happy to see what they've learned, especially which girls decided to join the group. 

Lastly, I have my kids soccer group that meets on Saturday mornings and we train them.  Most of them are just starting out with it so they have a lot of room to improve to beat the other local teams but they've made a ton of progress and they really appreciate the weekly practices.  I had found a coach for them but he's a director at a school and has been really busy lately so I've been taking over.  But we try to make sure someone's there every weekend. 

There's more in my personal life to include but I'll leave it for another day.  I'll just leave you with this.  I have some great friends.  I'm living with my friend Marilu although she nor her daughters spend much time here.  They stay at Mari's mom's house because she's been a little sick and take care of the house for her.  So I'm basically living alone and really enjoying it.  And right when I've had too much time alone they show up and we hang out and play around which is perfect.  I'm still dancing almost once a week.  Family back home... get ready for a dance class.  I'm not kidding.  Mom, I'm offering up your house for a family dance class, haha.  I'll be home three weeks from tomorrow and am so excited to see all of you!!! 

Love yous. 

Jenny

P.S.  My camera died so I'm sorry for the lack of color in this post. 

Rio Celeste - September 2011

My friend Becca and I decided to go visit Anna in her site located right outside of the national park Rio Celeste.  It took me 12 hours of catching five different buses, and getting my wallet and cell phone stolen to get there.  But Becca graciously lent me money for the weekend and to get back home so I tried not to stress it because, well it happens.  I have learned my lesson to have as much confidence as I always do with the world.

We arrived in Anna's site at about 530 and met some of her students playing bingo with English vocabulary on her front porch.  It's such a cool site and made me remember the only problem with my house, I don't feel right inviting people over very much.  So I'm moving into a house on my own some time soon.  But am very sad to be leaving my host-mom Dona Odili, although I'll only be a ten minute walk away and have already been offered veggie burgers every time I come back to visit her which will probably be once a week if her delicious bean burgers are involved!  She has definitely learned the way to my heart, haha!

After her class left we worked on making dinner and drinks.  Anna's house is so PC plus some comfy couches!  So we sat around chatting for a few hours until bedtime.  As volunteers do, we naturally woke up between 530 and 6 and got ready for the park!  Anna's friend drove us up to the park and we started our gorgeous walk through the misty forest. While we climbed up the hills of this beautiful rain forested volcano it was perfectly warm out.  I so appreciate not feeling a chill to my bones when I can!  The trails have parts that are nearly paved with rocks with some shortcuts going straight uphill in muddy messes that one not very skilled in climbing muddy roads could slip back on, but we live here so we've learned the art of wobbly legs climbing up muddy hills.  I've only fallen once, haha! 

We stopped to admire the wonders of the park.  The trees so tall with vines hanging that seemed right out of Avatar and the floating islands.  As we walked along the trails we ate what look like Avatar fruit even.  There were crazy flowers that I couldn't have imagined. At lunchtime we spotted a gerbil that came out to say hi a couple times and scuttle back into the brush.  After climbing up a very steep hill we found a turtle that I admire entirely for it's amazing skill of climbing this same hill we had just struggled our way up.  It was also very far from the water.  On our way out Anna and I stepped right over a light green 6 foot long, but very thin snake.  Becca however did see it and we got delayed a few minutes until it stopped hissing at us and went on its way before she would pass the spot on the trail where we found it.

We spent about six hours in the park.  We walked up to this gorgeous waterfall where the water is light blue and swam.  I LOVE swimming every chance I get.  I swam at the high powered waterfall for a little while never getting very close because of the strong current.  I sometimes really wish I had places I could swim near me but then remember that usually requires a place that is much hotter than where I live so I accept just swimming once every couple months.  We hiked up to the "tenidores.'  This is where the river with normal clear water has volcanic chemicals flowing out turning the river light blue.  It really is a cool site.

We then spent two hours in the hot springs, taking the occasional dip into the colder parts of the river.  We joked with all of the other visitors taking quick dips in that it's the only hot water we get, although it's not really as much of a joke as reality for us.  We rubbed rocks together and gave our selves mud masks leaving our skin super soft.  When we finally decided to leave I felt just as if I had left a spa.  But of course the feeling faded after about ten minutes of hiking back to town. But it was a leisurely walk through a gorgeous forest and one can never complain about such things.

 When we finally stepped out from under the park's thick canopy it was mid-afternoon with the sun glaring and slightly cloudy. It took us an extra hour to get back to Anna's site with the most amazing views of the volcanos and mountains around us.  All of the hills covered with forested areas, fruit farms or ranches.  Honestly, this most incredible day of hiking and rivers, another yummy dinner and chatting with friends til we knocked out made up for long ten hour trip home the next morning.  A day in that park made my month and can't wait to find others just like it in this paradise of a country I get to work in.

First Box of Books!

About an hour after getting off the phone with Allegra she called me back to say that she had received a package of books that she had packed for herself months before back home.  She explained that they were books she had gotten from a friend's garage sale and wasn't sure how much use I would be able to find them.  I quickly contacted several people who enter San Jose regularly to see if they could stop by the Peace Corps office in the coming days to pick up this package for me.  I recently became friends with a motorcycle messenger that lives near me and he did me the amazing favor of bringing the books straight to my door only a couple days after I got the phone call!

Saturday morning was like my first Christmas morning of the year.  I sat there pealing off the price stickers and glancing through the books.  It turned out to be a small enough box that I could have brought back with me no problem but saved me a trip.  I separated them into age range and decided which I would give to each school.  I was literally glowing all day that my initial push for books came through SO QUICKLY!  The school that I'm teaching at by myself til the teacher comes back from maternity leave has gotten a chance to watch English learning videos on my iPad and seemed to enjoy story-time with these books just as much!  One of my personal favorites being Eric Carle's From Head to Toe because the photos are great and it's a fun way to practice body parts while teaching "I can do it!"  I've found so many older students who don't know what the word "can" means.  I'm teaching it to the young-ins from the start.  That and FUN! 

I've spoken to Dad about progress on a large scale book drive and am just so excited. The kids really enjoy reading with me and I'm so in love with the book I'm reading now that it pushes me more to make reading fun here.  Oh man, just had an idea although it might cost me a pretty penny.  READ posters!!!  Off to finish my book on this gorgeous day that I don't have classes on since my teacher has yet another workshop.  Oowee, READ POSTERS!  I'm so excited!

Recycling Project - Pushing Along

All four of the schools I've chosen to start working with on recycling have started receiving recyclables.  I was taking a tour of the University of Costa Rica when I got a phone call from a student asking me about some details of the program.  I was confused at first and learned that the final school had started receiving without even letting me know.  I literally jumped up and down in the middle of the campus because they had taken the initiative without me.  I mean I had already done workshops with all of their students and some community members but it's still so impressive!  

Yesterday I attended a personnel meeting the school had.  The director had invited me to, well I wasn't quite sure but went anyways.  I thought I would have about ten minutes and it turned into over an hour of talking about recycling with the teachers.  We discussed all of the ins and outs of the program and we learned more about the county working on starting a recycling program.  Everyone asked me questions and the one who has recycled for a couple years added some amazing insight on building a recycling culture here.  It was inspiring.  

Then, Don Victor brought in a box full of tetrabrik milk cartons all clean and flattened.  He was concerned that community members weren't bringing the materials in the same manner and showed us one mom's handy work with this beautiful box.  It was hilarious as all of the teachers and I marveled at the 60+ milk cartons that fit into this tiny box.  Next, he showed me the recycling they have already received and we decided I would head back on Friday to work with the sixth graders on organizing it all.  This is one way to get the word out to the community to bring stuff in already flattened.  Two teachers offered to work with me so that we can figure out the quirks of the organizing process.  

This school doesn't have recycling bins yet and we're figuring out how to work around that.  I got to thinking yesterday.  It would be so much easier if I just had a ton of funds easily at my disposal and a car that I could buy and pick up these bins for each of the schools.  But realized yesterday that the director delegating a job to one of the teachers to stay in contact with the person donating them and working with him to get them to the school gives this teacher ownership of the program.  The same for the teachers working with me this Friday.  Some even had great ideas for making props with the students for Independence Day out of recyclable materials!  We worked together for about 90 minutes on how to get word out to the community that recycling is here and how best to do it.  Just like the playground in my town that's never used.  If you don't actively involve the town in a program it won't succeed.  But of course I've had to have a ton of patience for word to get around about this program!  But it is, and I couldn't be happier.

Not only was it beautiful out, and I've had a great few weeks but I just left so inspired by all of the progress they had made on their own and was so thankful for the chance to finally brainstorm with the teachers.  I headed into Acosta to run some errands, sat in the park arranging some stuff for other projects and life and caught the bus to the school I work at on Tuesdays.  I got a chance to work with the afternoon students which is rare and we had an amazing time reading Dr. Seuss.  It feels like fall here and I couldn't feel giddier.

Books!

So I’ve mentioned reading Dr. Seuss to our students lately and it’s going great.  We haven’t exactly installed it as a weekly thing but it’s a process of course.  I love to see the cool third graders not want to join the circle and then get absorbed by the cool pictures and reading out loud the minute they do.  It got me to remember how great story-time is.  Plus, scanning for pages with vocabulary we’re showing for the first time in a Dr. Seuss book is incredibly easy.  And since the stories are so scattered there’s no need for sequence and we can just pick and choose applicable pages.  

Talking to Jess yesterday we marveled at how awesome the world of Dr. Seuss is and I realized that sending books overseas is way too expensive to ask of my friends in family so I’ve been waiting patiently for someone to come and visit me and just bring a suitcase worth of books.  But today I figured I’d start in country.  So in between classes I e-mailed my boss for advice on organizations in country he might know of that donates books.   Then, I got a call and text from the Peace Corps Regional TEFL Advisor for Latin America and the Pacific Islands who gave me tons of great advice.

Allegra explained that USPS has an international M-Bag that ships media mail for relatively inexpensive overseas.  Finding that this program was actually continued after it had been discontinued for several years I am now super pumped to bring books to my schools!  I’m hoping that Dad will run the book drive for me.  Basically, we’re looking for English learning books.  Kids’ books are great, and easy and young-teenage novels as well.  And Spanish books are welcomed too!  Preferably lightly used and not out-dated.  We’re not looking for outdated computer manuals or anything.  

I’m so excited and have literally just been planning this for about two hours so it’s in the very beginning steps but I’m hoping all of you help out!  

Going for a walk now in the rain because if not I’ll never exercise!  Three days now of cold rain in the afternoon – Rainy season in Costa Rica Woot!

Hydroponics Course

Some women in my community had expressed concern in starting a hydroponics garden a few months ago so I started to research the process online.  I had mostly found information on large scale farming and growing with the plants floating in water.   It seemed a very complicated process.  However, about a month ago I heard that the 70 person town next to me was going to have a three day course.

So this week I went to teach in the morning and left at 11 to catch the bus to my town and walk a km to this course.  The first two days were theory which I had already read a lot about.  The main difference is a huge one though.  The class was taught by an engineer from the Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganaderia (MAG), which is the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock. Hydroponics is the growing of plants outside of soil.  He focused more on growing plants in solid substratum rather than water.  The best part about taking this course was learning how to make it happen here in rural Costa Rica and on a budget.  So the idea is that we build our containers out of stuff we have such as wood.

The most expensive materials will turn out to be the black plastic which protects the vegetables from bacteria and other growths.  Then ,we can use river rocks/sand, coconut fiber, or rice/coffee shells, most of which are inexpensive and can be used for several years.  It turns out the nutrient concentrates that we add to the water does not cost that much.

I'm in the beginning stages of how this class can benefit me.  I'm going to start growing a few things on my own here at home.  I haven't decided to just do one pot or to go all out and make one out of bamboo.  I've found a decent place to put it where it can get a lot of sun but I'm worried about the rains now in the rainy season.  Otherwise, I'm hoping to start a community garden but what looks more likely is a school garden that the school can use for its own veggies.  Plus it's a great tool to use for charlas on eating healthy, growing organically, and growing hydroponic vegetables that I'm hoping to do with the students at my elementary school.

I really enjoyed meeting new people from this town.  It was an interesting dynamic having half farmers and half house-wives there.  We even built our own container yesterday and learned how to  make the mixture to use as the solid substratum.  We have another charla scheduled to learn how to make plant extracts to use to naturally fight bacterias and other pests.  And we're going to take a tour to several different farms already growing hydroponic vegetables from small to big.  I'm excited to work with these farmers and learn from them.  They make up a large majority of my neighbors so it's really great to be able to relate to them more.  I'm excited to start growing tomatoes and peppers!  Mmm... I think it's lunch time!

Story-Time

When I came back from my visit to the states, at the very last minute I found space for three Dr. Seuss books I have.  I haven't gotten my hands on any fun and easy books in country so I knew these would be perfect. 
I got the elementary teacher I work with to let me try story-time with the students this Tuesday.  I had mentioned it to him before and actually written the title of the first book we would read the week before when we were learning how to describe animals, and the order of adjectives and nouns.  So One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish seemed an obvious choice. 

We first tried it with the second graders which are usually the roudiest. We left ten minutes at the end of class. We sat them in two rows. The ones on the ends tended to get a little distracted because they couldnt see as well but we made sure to ask them questions and they would come back to us. They would repeat each line and in the voices I had made so they really enjoyed themselves. Just before the bell rang we repeated the three pages and they remembered each of the new words they had learned.  

Our little angel first graders surprisingly didnt understand as much as the second graders. They speak a lot more than the second graders so that came as a surprise to me. But we definitely laid a good foundation for future story times.

With the third graders it was time for the teacher to do it on his own and the kids loved it.  He did a great job, but I think he needs to work on his voices, haha.  It might help if he had had a chance to read the book before that day.  

On Wednesday the students had exams.  While the teacher is outside administering the verbal exam to each student individually I stay inside and study with them.  We tried story time again but this time for a much longer time period.  They LOVE looking at the pictures.  I had forgotten how crazy the world of Seuss can get.  It was an amazing opportunity to see them get creative.  Trying to explain what a Gox is however can get complicated. 

Working with this teacher is amazing.  He is always open to my ideas and hands the class right over when I want to do an activity with the students.  We have to work a little on how he runs those same activities though.  But I am so excited to have Story-Time once or twice a week with the kids.  I'll let you all know what book we make our way up to later in the school year.

I had no idea how much I had missed Story-Time in my life!

Winter Break Soccer Tournament - Primary Students

To start with, Costa Rica is in the northern hemisphere and it is technically summer here now.  But to go with cultural norms I will refer to the two week break from classes we just had here as winter break.  The days seem shorter now, and it's cold after it rains to the point that I often cannot feel my fingers at night if I am not under the covers or exercising.

So just after I got back from my trip to the states I ingeniously planned a soccer tournament to start on July 4th without realizing it would restrict me from celebrating with any other gringos.  The first week of the two week break was for elementary students and the second for high school students.  We met from 8:30-11 am from Monday through Thursday of each week.  We trained and practiced from Monday-Wednesday and had our finishing game Thursday.



The elementary group was composed of about 22 elementary aged students with a few high school students who came to help and lead by example which was a huge help.  I had had kids sign up on a list beforehand and called most of their parents to explain to them what it was to entail exactly.  One of the neighboring town's school didn't get the list back to me so I didn't get anyone from there which was sad for me because I work with those students but I got a chance to meet a ton of new kids from other towns.

I had planned on having our local ex-professional soccer player and the high school students train but somehow I recalled a bunch of the drills we had done in soccer practice the one year I played in high school and it turned out amazingly!  It took some effort to expose the kids to an actual practice feel, getting them to jog a lap, stretch together and then do soccer drills.  The experience levels varied a ton but everyone was light hearted and ready to learn.  At the end of the practices we would have "mejengas" or informal games and put to work all that they learned.  It was funny trying to keep them from bunching up so much but they had fun.

Finally, on the Thursday of the elementary school students' games they had already been put into their groups and wore their blue or white shirt.  The teams that I had created turned out to be a little unfair and we added one of the high school boys watching to one of the teams creating the rule that none of the high school kids could score a goal, so they served mostly to get the ball out of the masses formed of little boys and girls and move it up the field.  They wound up being a gigantic help that way.

After they all bought snacks at the pulperia and we headed to the school to watch Cars 2 together and give them more of a camp feel.  For my first camp that I put together on my own and organized before I went on vacation got back and had three days to tie up all loose ends it turned out really well.  All of the kids really had fun and had something positive to do.  I made sure to teach them some basic health stuff such as stretching properly and not laying down after jogging and I know that that stuff will have the largest impact on them that lasts.  I look forward to arranging more of the kind in the future.

Recycling Project - The Start

I had two weeks between my trip to Nicaragua and home to work on my recycling project full steam.  I had nearly every weekday booked with workshops for students, faculty or community.  My goal is to have a workshop with all of the students and, then the community in each of the four towns we're working with.  The motivation of each school board I've worked with has varied and their persistence thereafter as well.  After numerous cancellations and reschedules I have finally finished the workshops in three towns.  However, I find much need to continue holding them in different forms to increase knowledge and continue motivating more people.

I heard from someone that one of the towns was starting a program and they had no idea I was involved with it which is exciting for me because it means people are talking about it.  One of the environmental groups I've spoken with told me that if this project doesn't work this generation will be disappointed to the point to not try it again so I really need to make it work.

Working with the students was exhausting, working from 7 am- 4:30 with them.  By the end I had recycling coming out of my ears.  It's incredible that they knew so little about recycling and now I value Miami-Dade County Public Schools even more, at least for the education I received.  Some classes were more enthusiastic than others.  Those I've worked with got a little out of hand at times since they can finally speak the language we were working with.  But in the end, they've been the gateway to getting the word throughout the communities.  Yesterday, I heard a little girl who only a few weeks ago was throwing trash in the streets say, "Mommy, that's plastic don't throw it away."  It reminded me of how everything we volunteers do does have an affect although at times it really seems to be a slow one.

The community workshops have been awkward... I don't want to treat the adults like children but in most cases they only have a 6th grade education which in most cases included 3-4 hours school days.  Although, the more educated attendees seem very bored at the beginning they've come out very motivated once they got a chance to really take over conversation.

The basics of the project are as follows: a recycling center in Aserri agreed to send a truck to pick up our recyclable materials once we have 1,000 kilograms worth.  Mind you that is one TON of plastic, aluminum, white paper, colored paper, newspaper, carton, glass bottles, and tetrabrik (a common milk/juice carton material here in Costa Rica that is extremely harmful if buried or burned). So I decided to work with the only institutions strong enough in my neighboring towns that could really reach out to entire communities.  The schools.  I went to all of the school board meetings and they agreed to be their town's recycling center.  The part that I hope really makes this a sustainable project is that once we can call the truck to pick up the materials, they will buy the materials from the schools providing them with a small extra income.

The idea is that the community members can drop off their materials twice a week at the schools and the sixth graders will organize them Fridays to go into storage.  One school started collecting a couple days before I went home.  We collected a good bit from just fifteen or so families.  And although I hadn't thought of it, the school's director had invited me to help them on that day.  The women dropping stuff off and staying to help organize had so many questions that I hadn't considered to adress.  It was a great learning process for all of us.

 
The schools have had "winter" vacation these first two weeks of July.  We have a lot of work to do to really get this project off the ground once classes start again and I'll be sure to update more once we do. But I'll leave you with our main recycling reminder, "limpio, aplastado, y separado!" For the gringos that's, "clean, compact, and separated!"

Nicaragua Trip!

It turns out that I planned two trips in the month of June trying to work with everyone's schedule.  The first of which was to Nicaragua!  Man was it HOT.  A volunteer friend Audrey and I went together.  It was a nine hour commute to Managua the capital by bus.  Managua was very impressive.  Although everyone says capitals usually aren't, especially since they tend to be dirty but this one wasn't.  What made it uneventful was that it's not a pedestrian town.  Everywhere we went we only saw four lane roads.  So we walked around the national museum, legislative building and the original national cathedral.  The cathedral was the best part.  It's been closed after earthquake damages.  I asked the men working if we could look around and they let us!  It really is a cool church with AMAZING views of Managua and the lake.  It made the rest of our awkward morning in eerie Managua worth it, we were the ONLY tourists around. 

Next, we headed to Granada which is such a great city.  It's a colonial city dating back 1524 and has some amazing buildings built all throughout its history.  We checked out the open market, had mojitos overlooking its central park and four cheese pasta for dinner on its famous Calle Calzada. I find the name of this street hilarious.  This street is know for it's touristy restaurants and such, I can just imagine they started calling it that because that's where the people with shoes would go at night.  In the morning we had an amazing international breakfast - I had french toast!  Then we checked out San Francisco's convent and went up a bell tower for the best view of Granada and the lake.  

Headed to Isla Ometepe to take the ferry across.  Now Managua and Granada were hot, but on the island we were MELTING!  Our hostel turned out to be on a part of the island that had no wind.  We were the only two guests and it was a ten minute walk to the thirty person town.  We both decided we weren't up for being in a place more rural than our sites, skipped over hiking to up the volcanoes and left in the morning to the beach.

Our first day in San Juan del Sur was sweltering but then was raining the next two days.  We stayed at this incredible hostel that was a mansion in the hills that had a shuttle down to the adorable town with old and new mixed in.  Although it's a touristy place it wasn't overbearing, probably because this is no where near peak-season for Nicaragua.  We had some good meals right on the water and it made me miss my favorite meals back home!

Our first full day we hung out in the pool until the waves got better. The hostel has a truck that takes people out surfing everyday which we can rent boards from.  So we took advantage.  Playa Remanso is a protected bay and such a gorgeous place to be.  My first day surfing went ok, I'm really good at catching waves on my belly!  The board was a little too small for me to get up on.  Took a nap on the beach after being out there for a couple hours, and I realized just how much I need the beach in my life.  The next day we took a break and hung out in town and watched a movie at the hostel.  I love hostels with an awesome couch set up. I really miss comfy family rooms, weird I know, haha.

My last day in San Juan we hung out at the hostel til the afternoon when the surf would be better.  There were only three of us that were heading out that day with Marcus.  He invited us to his friends place up on the hill overlooking Playa Madera (which is where they filmed Survivor Nicaragua).  We were hanging out with some of the people there when another person staying there started introduced himself to all of us - Penn Badgley.  I really should have invited him to sit with us but he went downstairs and layed on a hammock.  But a little later I went and sat to chat with his friends, one of which I realized was Shawn Pyfrom.  Mind you, we're about a thirty minute drive from town, at least twenty minutes of which are dirt roads.  We're in at an extremely rural beach and meet two American actors, it's such a small world.  

So we took to the waves which were INTENSE!  I took out a bigger board which turned out to be a small boat and getting it out was the largest battle.  Several times I just threw myself on to catch a wave and stop having to suffer anymore.  I didn't get up to much because of that.  But it was still so much fun and exhausting.  I even have a huge bruise to show for it after banging into some rocks.  It's funny that I was kind of dreading how exhausting it would be to get there and backpack around but it turned out to be relaxing and exactly what I needed.  Since the rainy season has started I've had trouble getting rid of the chill and melting in Nicaragua did just that.  Next up, home in 12 days! 

Cabalgata in my Town

I showed up to the cabalgata in my town just as it's starting to help with whatever I can and considering riding if the rumors are true that some people brings horses to rent out the same day.  Ernesto and I were unsuccessful in finding horses to rent prior to the event.  So I arrive, mention to a few people that I wanted to ride but couldn't find a horse and am waiting for the people running the event to give me a job.  I sit with one older lady who has a bunch of cool daughters and granddaughters around her and order lunch.  About fifteen minutes before the people are going to head out on their horses a friend of mine Pedro from the next town over comes up to me to ask if I still wanted to ride.  I hesitate because it's pretty expensive and is a short ride.  I have the opportunity to ride trail about ten times as long in a few weeks so I really couldn't decide.

Finally, I realize I don't feel like helping serve food and horse back riding would be so much more fun and my old host-dad explained that riding would be better because I'm basically giving them a lot of money.  In U.S. standards it's not that much but out here it's pretty substantial.  So I change into my boots (yup I knew the universe would work out for me), and go to find my horse.  Pedro said it was super "manso" or tame and I find that it is for the most part but really like to run.  So I take a few turns around the soccer field and we all head out right as the heavens let out a few drops. We got through the town a bit and head up the road that's "pura montana" the old road that's surrounded by farms. 

As soon as we start this trail it starts to pour.  I've had issues with my eyes not liking my contact lenses anymore so I'm wearing my glasses and can no longer see.  Maybe I should invest in a sombrero for the next one, or a horse as my host-dad has joked.  Anyways, some guys stop under a shady area and block up the trail, I try to get through because at this point we are completely drenched.  Finally, a man comes up and gets them to move, commenting on how even a woman wants to continue.  Avoiding the machismo I just add, "I'm no ordinary woman."

And my horse is off trotting the whole way there.  I tried to stay with a few friends of mine but I got tired of trying to hold it back.  A tipsy guy from the next town over takes interest in me and keeps me company since he knows horses better and can keep up.  It turns out he's Ernesto's cousin, as is most of the region, and he finally backs off a little.  When we get to the rest stop I find one dry spot on the back of my leg and make my way to get a drink to warm up a little.  Of course, only meat snack but the owner of the house invites me to something warm.  One of my students that has a crush on me finds me and tells me he dropped his sombrero and by the time he retrieved it I was way ahead of him. 

We got back to the main road and the rain has finally stopped.  At least now I can see the beautiful, fog covered, crazy green mountains around me.  The coming of rainy season has made me comment on how green everything is at least three times a day for the last few weeks.  But now I'm on a horse and soaked and it's been so much fun.  I ride back into my town and am so excited for the next one.  There's mud everywhere.  I end up riding the horse home and was going to shower and head back up to the parties but it got too cold and Ernesto and I decided to stay in and watch movies.  I wound up getting a cold but that's become pretty common for me.  They blend into the usual nasal allergies I haven't been able to part with.

For the next week everyone I saw commented on how they saw me riding.  They all commented on how well I ride.  It's funny because I know I don't ride well, but I guess I didn't have my eyes bursting wide either.  It impressed them which I can appreciate because if anyone sees me walking downhill in these mountains probably sees me as a two year-old.  But the best part is that my town got a chance to see that I'm not just an English teacher and have a life outside of the school.  Although the event is for a fundraiser for a family that has had very hard times recently, they've brought my community to have two large events in the last few months and I hope that it empowers them to stay united and work together to improve the town as a whole.  Riding through the rain never felt so good. 

Trip to a Trapiche

 The day after my Honey Experience I got invited to walk down to a "trapiche" or a sugar cane processing place.  Being Cuban-American, I'm kind of sad I've never experienced this before.  I remember my Dad bringing sugar cane to my grandparent's house one weekend and me chewing on that and thinking it was gross but never really drank too much cane juice afterward.  But being as how it was one of the most widespread grown crops in Cuba for some time I find it closely linked to my heritage.  Especially since Allan spent most of career working to efficiently process it, and my hearing about it regularly from Dad.

I had intended to find out with the trapiches are run around here and go to one so when my host-sister-in-law invited me I jumped right on board.  I walked down with them and managed to slip and cut my hand up a little on the walk down.  Once we arrived Eric had already run all of the cane through a machine that squeezes all of the juices out.  The juices trickle down through a pipe to this gigantic vat which sits over a wood burning oven.  It's pretty intense.  He had been boiling it for a couple hours when we got there so we didn't have to wait long. We got to shelling peanuts to put in some of the candies we were going to make.

We heard some people on the next farm over and went to visit and check out their trapiche run by "bueyes" or oxen.  Some of my neighbors and students were there having a little party as their dads, uncles and sons worked processing the sugar.  They offered me a wok full of cane "miel" or honey.  It's the juice after a certain point of boiling, or what they scrape off the top of the boiling cane juice.  I had a few spoonfuls and had to beg they make me not eat it all because it was just too much sugar!

We got back to what used to be my host-dad's trapiche and is now his son's and he was starting the first candies.  He was taking some of the cane and putting it into what looks like a large wooden canoe.  Most of his wooden tools are over a hundred years old he explained to me.  The canoe thing was carved straight out of a tree to make sure it could deal with the boiling cane juice.  He mixed up the juice until it started to cool and solidify a little and we added some peanuts.  Then, they placed this mixture onto a palm leaf to make some candies.

Lastly, he pours all of the cane juice into the wooden canoe and then started picking up smaller amounts and pouring it into long blocks of "tapas" molds.  He fills each one up and lets them cool.  While they do Cinthya and Mauricio walk me down the "quebrada" to show me the water Eric was using to clean all of machinery and tools.  We sit along the rocks as Mauricio points out all of the cows he's named and splashes us as he throws rocks.  It was a beautiful break from a very hot morning around a use boiling vat.  When we get back to the trapiche Eric and Macha are flipping over the molds and we hear the popping sounds as they fall to the table.

It's a Semana Santa custom that people usually go down to a trapiche on the first Saturday of Semana Santa and use the dulce made to make cookies and all sorts of deserts throughout the week.  People give their visitors entire tapas or bags of the coconut/dulce cookies they make called "cajetas de coco."  These are by far my favorite part of the Semana Santa traditions.  The fish soup, sardines and excessive consumption of fish is a little much for me.  Then, there's "picadillo de aracache" which is like most other picadillos but based off a different vegetable that was interesting.  I did enjoy trying everyone's arroz con leche or cajetas de coco though. I finally got a chance to make some the following weekend.  Carving the coconut out and then shredding it was tough work.  All in all, I still don't like sugar cane dulce very much, but mixed in with coconut, I can definitely learn to be Cuban.

My honey experience!

Friday before Semana Santa I got to experience how a local farmer takes out honey from hives.  It might not sound cool, but I'm still so excited I got the chance to.  The farmer's name is Carlos Luis, probably the nicest man I've ever met and he's kept bees for over 30 years.  And at the time, it was especially unheard of around here but it's provided quite a bit for his family.  His youngest son Luis Andres was in my community high school course for the four months it was held and always a pleasure to be around.  So getting a peak into how he's spent a lot of his time was really nice.  For him, going up to the bee hive outside his house is like kayaking in Florida for me... common.

So I was still recuperating from a bacteria in my stomach when Carlos Luis calls Ernesto's house to invite me over.  Ernesto and his Mom frantically start cleaning the boots he's going to lend me... he takes the pressure washer to them.  Ticos are serious about their shoes being clean, and if you know me at all... I don't care.  So I walked all of the four blocks over to their house and they set me up in their nice suit.  Thankfully, this hive that they have right next to their house they only go to just before sunset to make sure the bees don't attack their chickens, or worse their turkeys.  Carmen (Carlos Luis' wife) has "chompipes" (turkeys) and chickens behind the house.  One of the chickens has been killed by bees, but if one of her precious turkeys were killed it would be really bad.

So we made our way up the "path" that they go up every two weeks so it's not really a good path but I made it in my clown boots and all.  They smoke the crates as they open them and all throughout to calm the bees so that they don't get upset.  Apparently the cells in the middle are usually used to harvest the babies and towards the outside the honey.  The top boxes in the stacks are also more likely to have honey and the lower ones babies.  So they go through each box verifying each cell and placing the ones with honey in another box they take to the house. So we did that until sunset, well actually they did.  Luis Andres spraying them with smoke from a little puffer that they put little bits of wood in and light on fire.  Carlos Luis checking each cell and switching them to the other box.

When we got back to the house we cut up some of the panels into blocks that they give as gift to people who chew on the wax to get all of the honey out.  It's honestly too sweet for me to eat such big chunks of.  Then we scrape of the outer layers of wax to then put the panels in this spinning contraption with four panels in each and spin it to get the honey out.  Then, they let all of the honey settle and drain it through a fine cloth.  They bottle the honey in gallons or about 21 oz bottles and sell that smaller bottle for $6 each.  It's pretty expensive actually, well comparatively.  So for those 2-3 hours of work they make a good bit.  But they're still one of the humblest families I know.  They're comfortable enough to send their oldest son to college and hopefully Luis Andres is on his way there too.

 Pancakes sweetened with honey, AND honey on top!

I might be excited since I just got the coolest package from Jessy, but still, the time I spent with them was so great.  He just knew so much about every aspect of his job and it still excites him.  He's also a coffee/banana/basically anything farmer.  I guess most farmers around here are always excited to tell me about their jobs.  That's the beauty about living a life you love.  Having a huge grin ear to ear talking about your job even after working it for over forty years.  I hope I can find that...

Good night loves!

My Costa Rican Birthday

To celebrate my birthday I bought myself a ticket to the Shakira concert which was one of the inaugural events for the National Stadium recently donated by the Chinese government.  The Friday before the concert, as I was baking cookies with my host-cousins, I got bit by this tiny bug and my forearm swelled up to an uncomfortable size.  The following day I decided to take benadryl since the swelling wouldn't subside.  That night I went to a bingo at one of the schools I work with and spent the night at a friend's house in that town.  It was really nice participating in that town's activities since I'm usually just there under ten hours a week working in the schools.  The little kids and moms love seeing me out of school and those that had heard of me finally meeting me.

But for some reason I was super tired the whole day and night, and not in my normal chipper mood.  Sunday morning I headed into San Jose from my friend's house and some of my PC volunteer friends and I went to Pizza Hut for lunch and relaxed at the hostel before going to dinner.  I still couldn't figure out why I was so tired.  I just wanted to chill out on the hammock, I couldn't believe I was being such a lazy bum for my own birthday celebration! Finally, a friend mentioned the fact that benadryl makes people groggy.  I've never had to take it before so I hadn't even considered it!  So I stopped taking it and felt much better for the concert.

Annisse took this while she and Jennine sang to me

Before the concert, we went out for my birthday dinner.  SUSHI!  Some of us overachievers decided to buy an 8 person boat for only 6 of us.  It was SOOO good.  Then we headed to the concert to wait in a ridiculously long line - apparently the Ticos haven't figured out organizing the 30,000 people that will be heading in somewhat regularly.  So some entrances were empty while others had lines half a km long.  But we made it in and the concert started two hours late.  Shakira was great!  I totally want to be her!  But for real... I want to dance like her!  Too bad the sound wasn't very loud even though we were on the floor and there were very few of us dancing to to it.

Got home Monday - national holiday so I didn't have to teach.  Tuesday went to school for my usual half day and started to feel a little funny.  The bus ride home was especially fun sitting in a row that's window didn't open.  Basically, all of us that ate sushi that day got really sick.  One friend was hospitalized for 24 hours because she couldn't keep any liquids down.  Most of us were basically bed ridden for 3-4 days.  At least by day two I was eating bread and crackers.  But it took my body a good bit to adjust back to normality.  Wednesday I spoke to a bunch of family and some friends on skype and was feeling much better!  But then this thing called heartburn started kicking in.

Ernesto took me to town to have dinner because I didn't want some bacteria to conquer my birthday.  I didn't exactly hold onto my food but I'm still glad I went.  I was sad to cancel my community classes for the week but it was definitely necessary.  That Saturday I finally made my birthday cake.  No one in country sang to me, because I didn't really plan anything with anyone.  But I lit a candle and blew it out for a picture with Ernesto and his mom.  All in all, a memorable birthday.  Still waiting for some packages to finally arrive.  Mail always accepted! 

Miss you all!

Jenny

IST and Cinthya's Quinces

Tico 21 TEFL Team after completing IST and a quick dip

In service training was 10 days spent in San Jose with all of my Tico 21 friends in a four star hotel relaxing, going to the gym and in training from 8 am-5 with only Sunday off.  It made me actually work through all of the issues I have had in my site and come up with resolutions.  We had tons of training on how to best work with our counterpart teachers and what best ways to start projects.  It was so nice to be with my friends again and have a warm shower!

Thursday we checked out at the very last minute and made our way to the nearest beach - Jaco.  We hadn't made reservations anywhere so we bummed someone's Lonely Planet and wound up just following a local tourist catcher to an inexpensive hostel.  We went straight to the closest fish tacos place.  It was like Chipotle, but better.  They had so many options of different kinds of fish, tacos, burritos, sauces, grilled or fried, oh wait... and an incredible salad bar for you to create your own taco/burrito/salad or whatever you bought.  Needless to say we ate here for dinner Thursday and lunch Friday.  Incredible food for a semi-decent price on a PC budget and we got to sit on swings.  I was in heaven.

It was night as we finally made our way to the beach.  Three of the ten of us stayed in the water for over an hour body-surfing in the crazy waves.  The water was so strong.  The undercurrent wiping us off our feet and the waves appearing in the dark at the last second pounding us.  Several times I dove under waves I got thrown about.  The sand was all around to the point that my eyes were so agitated my contacts fell out.  We sat on the beach taking in the site of the hanging cliffs on either side enjoying the salty air.

Cinthya the Quincenera and her parents

We went to the calm pool at the hostel and played around like kids in the pool, so much fun.  We did holding your breath distance races, hold your ankles race, hand stands competitions, and who can make the best wig.  The we proceeded to celebrate our own Tico 21 Spring Break 2011 by having a college party and drinking excessively. I was lame and went to bed super early, but the main thing I went to the beach for was to swim and I was pooped.

Friday we had pb&j/banana and coffee for breakfast and hit the beach again.  Mojito for mid-morning cool off and back into the water before I had to head to shower and catch my bus.  Ernesto picked me up from San Ignacio and we had dinner. 

Mariano and I

The next morning all of his cousins came into town for my host-cousins quinces.  There were people from all over the country. It's kind of sad that this party is the biggest event in my town for these several months, and the bingo a bit back was such a fluke.  I helped serve food and danced with everyone.  I also made it my personal duty to take pictures of everyone there so please excuse the pictures of a bunch of people you won't recognize on facebook. We went out to a bar with some of the cousins afterward and got home pretty late for small town life.  Sunday all of the out of towners made their rounds at all the families' houses and I finally got to really relax for the first time in weeks in my town.

I'm really happy to be back.  My report was stressing me out a lot right during the time I moved into a new home.  I'm working to get a recycling project going, environmental education programs and youth community service projects going in the next few months.  I met with the School Board (five of my neighbors) on Tuesday and they were really supportive, so I'm off to do that.  Hope you're all well!