First Day of School and Everyday Life

This is a picture of my neice on the first day of school. And then a picture of my neice and her my mom (my sister) in front of the school symbol. So I thought I didn´t really agree with the idea of uniforms, but look how cute my little niece is in her uniform!

Also, the school gave me an OFFICE! I will take pictures of it and put them up once I get it decorated! For now, I just cleaned and organized it and I use it to store my many many files, papers, project descriptions and plans! This week I have gotten a lot done at my office and I really LOVE having an office. Did I mention that I have an office?

OK...and the next picture is included because we have Grey´s Anatomy watching parties on Tuesday nights and it has become an important part of my life. So this is me, our neighbor Davis, and my sister Gaudy on the couch. In front of us is the TV, and two each side of the couch is another big chair...one with my brother Cristian (thats how his name is spelled) and the other with my cousin Derlis. My older sister and mom usually join us as well. I will include more pictures of my house later....

Also, I made the famous DiBianca Sand Tarts for Valentines Day and even made the icing red. All of my family is OBSESSED with the cookies. I think I am going to have to start doubling the recipe. The cookies disappear!

One more piece of exciting news...the one year old is going to take to take his first step ANY DAY NOW...and it is really exciting to live with a baby!

The Meeting

Successful. The Development Association and I had a COMMUNITY MEETING on Saturday – and it was AMAZING! It might have been one of my prouder moments. It felt like when I finally finished my Honors Thesis and my friends and family came to support my presentation…

The Association Development and I have been working hard to create projects for the community, but for any of the projects to be successful, the community has to support the projects! So we had to have an informational meeting. Unfortuneatly, the custom in Costa Rica is to NOT attend Community Meetings (and I mean…I am one of those in the United States who would be reluctant to attend a community meeting…so I understand). However, I went around and invited people that I knew to be community leaders and I also made a BIG SIGN to hang in the main grocery store!

We had a turnout of 50 community members (including my brother, my sister, and my mother who came to support me!). Then including myself, the two other speakers, and the Association Members we had a good 60 people at the meeting. And for 30 minutes, I spoke in front of them all in SPANISH! I was nervous when I started, but after about 5 minutes, I calmed down, stopped sweating (which is a miracle here) and spoke normally.

First, I gave an overview of who I am, why I am here (not to teach English or give psychological advice), and what is the Peace Corps (I brought Peace Corps brochures and when I asked them to SHARE the brochures, I accidently told them to BEHAVE. It was pretty funny.)Then I informed them of the current projects: Girls Club, World Map Mural, Library, Families in Action, Art, Pen Pals, School Scholarships, among others.

Then we talked about the community projects in which they have to help out like FREE COMMUNITY INTERNET, Community Sports Program, Adult English, and a Committee to protect and serve the kids of our community. There was a lot of interest in everything and a lot of questions were asked…and I am super excited to keep working on everything.

There is one problem though…because I work with and for so many different organizations and without set office hours (much of my work includes running errands, making phone calls, finding people to give money or donations, typing up letters or plans on the computer, cutting up crafts for the Girls Club, etc.), many people thing I do not work! My sister sent me a text message to remind me that I should be working. And I said “Excuse me? As opposed to the past two months when I’ve been doing….nothing?” She said “Yes you’ve been on vacation for two months.” I then calmly informed her that my WHOLE LIFE IS WORK simply because I have to do everything in Spanish! Ha! She laughed at me.