Day of the Woman, March 8, 2008

Anyone who knows me really well would tell you that I am definitely on the conservative side in my thoughts of the roles of men and women; which is pretty funny considering that in my current location, I am an extreme feminist.

Call me crazy, but I definitely object to making a man (be it your husband, uncle or brother) a separate meal because he does not like the FULL meal you made for the rest of the family. Call me crazy, but I totally hate it when we are all sitting down eating lunch and a man enters the room and demands (or even politely suggests) that either my mom or sister get up to serve his plate as if he did not have hands. I’m all for serving people, but geez…

Point being, I gladly used the Day of the Woman to encourage my girls’ club (Chicas Poderosas) to pursue their dreams. During our regular Wednesday night meeting, we brainstormed different professions and talked about what we want to accomplish in the next ten years. I assured them it was ok to change their minds, (They’re in 4th-6th grades.) but we talked about how it was important to know what we do and not want. For example, some girls want to go be professionals which means they will have to go to University, which means they will have to pass high school and find a way to get money for attending the University. We talked about obstacles that might stop us from reaching these dreams including: 1. our personal choices (using drugs, being lazy, and bring promiscuous) and, 2: Things beyond our control (unsupportive parents). That day the girls created a picture of themselves in THAT moment and then themselves in TEN YEARS.

On Saturday, March 8th, we used watercolors and created portraits of ourselves in ten years and then displayed them in the school for all the children, teachers, and parents to see. I considered it a wonderful success.

I really do love these girls and it would hurt me a lot to see them surrender their lives for less than they are worth. I really do NOT want to make men seem like monsters, but from my research for the Community Analysis Tool that all Costa Rica Peace Corps Volunteers are required to write (in Spanish, I might add), the majority of families here are single parent moms. And the top three reasons for this include: the husbands moved to the United States to make money, the husbands left their original family for a younger woman (and by younger woman, we’re talking 40-60 yr old men starting NEW families with 15 yr old girls), or the women kicked the husband out because of his frequent drunkenness. I would hate to see these beautiful, intelligent girls grow-up to be treated like trash. For this I gladly celebrated the Day of the Woman, and for this, I guess I’ll be a feminist as well.

“Investing in the education of young girls is considered by many international economists to be the single best investement a developing country can make to improve its social well-being and its economic prospects.” State of the Worlds Mothers, Save the Children. (2005) pg. 14

“Many studies have shown that a mother’s level of education is the best indicator of education for the next generation (even more so than socio-economic status of the family)."

“Societies that have a preference for not investing in girls can pay a price for it in terms of clower growth and reduced income.” D. and R. Gatti. Gender Inequality, Income and Growth: Are good times good for women? World Bank Policy Research Paper Series number 1 (1999)

The Beach: Punta Uva

You all know I love the beach and I would live there if I could. But I hadn’t been to the beach in over SEVEN months. So finally, we went camping at the beach. I don’t really have that much to report except that we brought tents and mattresses (yes, I said mattresses) and literally slept ON THE BEACH with a view of the water. My sister and I faced our tent toward the sunrise so we could see the beautiful sunrise without actually having to wake up. Every 20 minutes or so I would wake up and think “That is so beautiful.” and then I would close my eyes again.

Also, when Costa Ricans camp…they camp right. I suggested we bring sliced bread and peanut butter. We were only going for ONE NIGHT. BUT NO! The first day for lunch we had chicken and rice with potato chips. Then around 3:30, we had coffee and bread with cream cheese in the middle. For dinner we had marinated beef cooked over a fire, salad, and potatoes. For breakfast, we had omelets, tortillas, and bread with butter and jelly. For lunch we had spaghetti and salad. Of course we have coffee and bread AGAIN, and then finally for our last dinner we had sausage and eggs, tortillas, rice and potato chips. We also had watermelon, chocolates, and roasted marshmallows (although, they still think I am crazy when I try to describe s’mores). But other than the s’mores thing, they seriously do camping right. Please enjoy the pictures!

Phone Numbers

For those WONDERFUL friends and family who call me...starting Thursday, March 20 you have to dial an "8" before my cell phone number. Everything is the same...you dial the 011, then the country code 506, then 8, then my cell phone number.

Fun Fun Fun...till Uncle Cristian takes the rolling chair away.

Before Grey’s Anatomy, my house was full of people…and we were NOT bored. I am not sure how it all happened, but when the rugrats (Sharon, 4 yr old niece and Axel, 1 yr old nephew) were playing with the rolling chair, all the aunts and uncles and cousins decided we wanted to play as well. Please enjoy the results of our fun above.

The Monster Under The Bed

You think crabs live at the beach. But sometimes crabs live in my house! One Sunday night, the whole family was just sitting around watching television. My eldest sister went to get ready for bed and came RUNNING and SCREAMING out of her room about “A MONSTER UNDER HER BED.”

Clearly, we all just laughed like, “Yeh right. A Monster under your bed.” But somehow she convinced us all to come back to her room….and she was right about there being something BIG that moved under her bed! So what did we do? We got a MOP and then we all got on top of the bed.

The monster ran all around the room….until finally, we could see that the monster was actually a CRAB! My fearless siblings used the mop to lure the crab out of the room, into the hall and outside to the street. I INSISTED that we cook it and make crap dip, but no one else liked the idea.

My Room

If you continue down the hall in picture 4 (of the blog below), and open the second door on the right, you will look into my room.

1. My room. Behind that curtain really is a window to the back patio. You might notice that might room is a tad bit smaller now, but I can assure you it is FULL, overflowing with LOVE.

2. Side Wall – I have since lost that nalgene bottle.

3. The pictures are covering the back of my door…you can’t really tell that it’s the door, but it is.

4. Other Side Wall.

Welcome to my house and room! Let me know when you’re coming to visit in person. They are ready to meet you all!

My New House

Mainly my mom has been asking to see pictures, so for those interested, we are about to go on a tour of my new house:

1. The front of the house. Actually this is the side of the house because the “front of the house” is the Family Store, but this is the main door that one would use to directly enter my house. When you enter this front door on a Tuesday night, you will find my brother, two sisters, a cousin, neighborhood friends AND KIM watching Grey’s Anatomy (Season 2) dubbed in Spanish. In the left of picture is the garage and to the right is the family store. The family store faces the main road in Caribe. I like that I live connected to a store…it makes grocery shopping quick, easy, and cheap! They even bought me diet coke!

2. When you enter the front door and look to the right, you look into the Family Store. You can see that it is connected to the house, but enough a part to not feel like everyone in the store is actually in the house. If you walk into the Family Store and turn left, there is my oldest sister's beauty salon. If you keep going straight, you walk out onto the main road in my town.

3. If you walk out of the Family Store, back into the house, this is what you see. On the other side of that couch is the family room (where we watch tv..Grey´s Anatomy, Lost, Ungly Betty...) We spend lots of time together as a family there just hanging out...I love it. The Family Room gets changed around a lot. They clean A LOT in Costa Rica and so about every two weeks, they rearrange all the furniture just to get EVERYTHING completely clean. It´s actually a very good habbit to have where all the houses are SO open!

(My oldest sister asked if we clean as much in the US, and I said NO WAY! I leave for school in the morning and they are cleaning the floor...and when I get back from school at lunch time, they are still cleaning the floor. First they sweep, then they mop, then they use shiny stuff, then they use good smelling stuff, then they dry it....)

4. And to the left of the family room is the kitchen table, but we always just sit at the breakfast bar that separates this part of the room from the kitchen.