First Day of School – 2/10/11

I woke up pretty excited for classes to start.  It goes without saying my entire house was up absurdly early because my host-nephew Pablo had his first day of Kindergarten and now one in a km radius was left without knowing.  But today his chant was “Voy para el Kinder hoy!”  His mom was exhausted because as the town seamstress she has had to make/fix hundreds of uniforms in the last few weeks but her eyes still gleamed with excitement for him.  We walked up to the school along with several other families with every excited for the school year to start.

I felt awkward when I got there.  I am not an actual teacher but more of an assistant.  Plus I didn’t know what the acto civico was.  So I went to visit my friend the cafeteria lady Marylu to ask her was to do.  The acto civico turned out to be the singing of the national anthem, prayer, introduction of the teachers/staff and announcement period with all of the students and staff.  It was basically a ten minute assembly with all of us crowded and standing in one of the large classrooms. 

After each teacher took their group I was again confused as to what to do.  They asked me to take attendance and tell the students about myself and what I’m doing here, so I did.  Then, after taking the initiative and chatting with the students in English for a while I peeked into another classroom who was having the students copy down their schedules which they hadn’t given me.  So I found the least organized form of having them copy it down and we were finally switched around and got the oldest group and chatted with them in English for a while then turned it into a Spanish convo because they were not mentally prepared to actually think on the first day. 

When the students left early I was again lost.  They waited until all the students finished lunch and left to eat so I took advantage of the wireless and called some of my family and friends back home who I hadn’t spoken to in weeks.  Having lunch with them was very refreshing.  But today there are no English teachers so I’m kind of confused what to do.  I guess I’m just going to walk up in a little and see if they need help although I’m going to maintain Friday as my day off and work in the schools Monday through Thursday.  Friday will be my day to work on other projects.  I’m excited to have a more normal schedule. 

I went on a walk just after school yesterday to the alto.  I took only Bash and my umbrella because it was going to pour.  When we got to the area with no houses I let her loose and she went crazy. She was sprinting forward and then back to me constantly keeping just ahead of me.  She was soaked but had a smile the entire 90 minutes we were walking.  We got up to the top of the hill and the rain slowed.  I could see each way with the neblina (clouds) rolling in.  Every time I turned in a different direction I had my breath taken away and blew a kiss at the world, I basically mad out with it on this regular walk of mine.  It was just so refreshing going for a walk in the rain constantly slipping through the mud and it was still warm outside.  It’s on these walks that I remember one reason why I’m in Costa Rica doing what I’m doing.  Because I get to go walking everyday and see sights that millions of people travel to see every year in my own back yard. 

Stoked,

Jenny

Rafting el Rio Pacuare and Super Bowl Weekend – 2/7/11

We met in San Jose at 6 AM and rode to Turrialba in our own buseta.  By 10 AM we had all changed, picked up a few of our friends whose sites are in the area and we were sparsely dressed under the cold cloudy sky on the Pacuare River.  Our raft was absolutely the best.  Mo, Jonas, O, John Foss, Audrey and I.  The views of the valley were breathtaking same as the freezing water that splashed us as we descended on the rapids.  The toucans and flowers we saw provided the only colors around us other than the gray sky and dense green forest. 

Our guide Chalo had Audrey and I ride the bow down some rapids which was hilarious and thrilling.   He kept us entertained between every big rapid which is a favor I’m sure we returned.  We were paddling standing up for a while.  We started jumping only to have all of us fall laughing hysterically.  We butted heads as we crashed into boulders or threw ourselves into the raft crashing down the falls.  We climbed up to a gorgeous waterfall and got a chance to jump in the pool and splash around for a while.  We swam in a long section that the water had obviously carved through the mountain with the trees hanging over us that was awesome.  All in all, rafting the Pacuare – the #5 rafting river in the world was one of the best days of my life. 

I’ve had a lot of those lately but I guess living in Costa Rica lives up to the hype for me.  We went out to a delicious tapas place for dinner and I finally had non-greasy food with mushrooms and was in HEAVEN!  Afterward we went dancing for a little.  Sunday we woke up early to go to La Sabanas the big park in San Jose where PC volunteers were having a flag football tournament and sat in the shade on the prettiest days I’ve had in the capital cheering on the teams drinking coconut milk from pipas and eating ice cream. 

Went back to the hostel and sat out on the park bench chatting with some World Teach volunteers one of which is actually in Audrey’s site and then went to watch the Super Bowl at hilariously enough Hooters which turned out was a ten minute walk from there.  I have missed bar b-q so much that I actually ate chicken wings that night.  I’ve eaten chicken three times now since I’ve been here.  The first two times being arroz con pollo when that was the only food around to eat and trying not to bother my generous hosts.  But the wings were amazing.  Nicole came home with me Monday so she could see my site and because we had a meeting in San Ignacio Tuesday morning.  It was really nice to share my experiences with someone who could see it.  I can’t wait for more people to come visit. 

Gleeful,

Jenny

San Luis – 1/25/11

The Festival de San Luis was certainly interesting.  It’s fifteen days long.  I went Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday.  The fair has a few stands selling food, a couple selling fair-like items and even a few rides.  Otherwise it’s mainly composed of la corrida.  La corrida changes every day.  Most days its basically a man comes in riding a bull that’s been poked, prodded and electrocuted.  Then, once he falls/jumps off a random group of tontos decide to jump in with the bull and run around with him.  Taunting him, even jumping on him at one point.  

I think it goes without saying that I don’t exactly appreciate this event.  Even after the poor bull is annoyed for twenty minutes at a time the guys that go in there get really beat up for fun.  I’m sorry but I do not appreciate seeing a man lying unconscious on the ground with half of his face hidden by blood.   Vivid, I know… I was there. 

But why on earth was vegetarian Jenny there – to experience what so many Ticos absolutely adore and look forward to all year long.  You all know me, I’ll basically do anything just to say I have.  I love experiencing life.  But I can say with certainty I will not be entering another corrida again just for the experience.  I’ll be just fine going to one of the bars that decks themselves out and dance with my like-minded friends and walk around running into people I know catching up.  That’s probably been the best part of all the festivals I’ve been to – running into a bunch of people even if I haven’t lived in that town.  It just goes to show how small town it is out here and I absolutely love it.  Although the saying pueblo chiquito, infierno grande holds true, I still really enjoy it.