I Know Where I WILL BE living for the NEXT TWO YEARS!

Friday, August 24th was SITE ASSIGNMENT DAY! It was a weird day because all the volunteers were a WEIRD mixture of nervous and excited at the same time. The next two years of our LIVES were about to be determined…

As for me, I will be living in CARIBE DE CARIARI. Hahaha. I am sure your reaction is the same as mine was….”Great. What does that mean?” Hahahaha. OK so Caribe is located in the Caribbean side of the country and in the province called Limon. I am about one hour (by bus) from the Caribbean Sea and the tourist area of Tortuguero and only two hours (by bus) from the capital, San Jose.

About Caribe de Cariari: Located in the lowlands region (alt: 100 meters), it is very hot and humid. The rolling hills and wide open spaces make Caribe unique amongst all the other PC sites in terms of geography (copied that directly from my packet of info J). Most of the people work in banana and pineapple plantations. Caribe has a population of 2,000 and is about 2km west of the large commercial town of Cariari which has a population of 8,000-10,000.
-Basically, I get the best of both worlds because I live in a BEAUTIFUL area where I can know everyone (I mean honestly, I can totally know 2,000 people in 2 years!) and still be only a 10 minute bike ride from everything I might need.
-However, my favorite sentence of my packet of information says: “It is said that there is internet service in Cariari, but this is unconfirmed.” Hahahaha…

About my family in Caribe: I don’t know much and as is the case with a lot of volunteers…everything could change or be completely different when I arrive in Caribe – but for now, I know that I will live with a mom, grandparents, a 30 year old disabled nephew, and a 13 year old adopted brother. I also have a 24 year old niece who is a medical doctor and a 21 year old brother who works in tourism who apparently visit the house frequently. OK – so I am sure you will hear about how much I love them soon, and the description says: “This is a busy and active household that often has guests, and grown children returning from visits.” YAY!

About my house in Caribe: My FAVORITE part of the description of my new house goes as follows: “Though the backyard is much like a zoo, the animals do not seem to get into the house area.” YES!!! I’ve never had pets! “There are plenty of fruit trees in the backyard, and some nice places to sit in the shade.” And “just outside the PCV room is a small patio with a hammock and a quiet independent sitting area.” You should all probably start being jealous.

Other good news: Caribe is only 1.5 hours from where I currently live and my family and neighbors here have already started planning trips to visit me.

The only bad news: I am VERY far away from my other PCbffs. Jenna is about 5 hours south of San Jose – so say 8 hours to get to her…if all the traveling goes smoothly. And Glenn is basically in Nicaragua. And Jenna & I have a couple good friends in the other program and they live in such rural areas that there is ONLY one bus a DAY that goes their sites! So we’ve all started prepping ourselves for TRUE immersion.

Finally, on Thursday and Friday, we have a retreat to meet the Costa Ricans with whom we will be working for two years. Then on Saturday, I will leave to go alone to my new LIFE for four days!

Soccer Saturday

I told you there is a lot of soccer here...

So my brother Queso, was in a soccer tournament for his high school...and it is hard to explain how impressive that really is because Costa Rican schools are NOT big on organized competition. So basically high school kids in the area organized their own tournament, invited other schools and even organized their own trophy system... My brother´s high school did not even support him and his friends playing in the tournament, but they LOVE soccer - so they played anyways. AND THEY WERE THE CHAMPIONS! They won the whole tournament and it was really exciting! And he even let me come to the tournament game...and I was so proud. Just like a big sister! (The picture is of his team...and he is the one in the back with the curly hair...that knows how to smile!)

As soon as that championship ended, I met up with some other volunteers and we went to a professional soccer game! We saw the team called SAPRISSA played the team called HEREDIA. No one had any goals until their was 5 minutes left in the second half - and then OUR team - SAPRISSA scored TWO goals and it was awesome to watch the fans go WILD! (The picture shows me and my friends Jenna and Glenn infront of the field.)

I might be a sports fan now...

A Few Afterthoughts...

*thanks for the blog comments! i LOVE them.

*thanks for the mail! my pcbff & i definitly get the most mail - and just so you know...i save it and read it at home where i can REALLY enjoy it for days to come...

*i have a NEW way to communicate - i COPY all emails onto my USB and respond from my home and then at the internet cafe, i just COPY and PASTE! So I have a lot more time here and I feel like I get to better communicate with you guys!

Also to be emotional...

Things that are Hard:
1. I definitely do NOT get the recommended number of hugs to make a happy and healthy person. And those of you that know me…I’m a hugger. I’m definitely in HUG deprivation.
2. I feel guilty for not understanding people when they talk to me. I want to participate and they want me to participate, but sometimes it’s too much to explain everything to me and to try and figure everything out…
3. Everything is going to change in about a month. So just as we get settled we are going to have to pick up and change everything – it is hard to mentally prepare for another change just as we are settling into a routine here.

Things that are Wonderful:
1. Costa Ricans really do know the meaning of “chill.” There is always time to just sit together and enjoy life. I love just sitting. There is no pressure to be productive because there is no concept of “wasting time.”
2. Costa Ricans really do know the meaning of “generosity.” My family would give you the shirt off their backs if you asked for it. And when they offer you food – they really mean it. In the US, it is polite to turn down food when offered because we don’t want to put people out, HERE – NO! You say yes to the food. ALWAYS!
3. COFFEE. There is no shortage.

The Pilgrimage

Costa Rica is a Catholic country and in the tradition of Catholicism, the country has many days to celebrate Catholic Saints. I am not EXACTLY sure of all the details, but every year there is a HUGE pilgrimage to a beautiful Catholic Church in Cartago. The point is that people from ALL over Costa Rica WALK to the church. So being adventurous Peace Corps Volunteers…clearly we wanted to participate in the pilgrimage! About 15 PCVs met up in a central location and we walked 12 miles over the course of 5.5 hours to Cartago – along with the rest of Costa Rica!
The only thing to compare the CROWDS of people to is Franklin Street in Chapel Hill on HALLOWEEN! The streets were claustrophobically packed with people for 12 miles (not just between McAllisters and Spankys!).

So you’re probably thinking – “Kim, what the heck did you do for 12 miles?”
1. The two different PC programs intermingled and caught up.
2. The SONG game – where one person sings a line and the next person has to come up with a song that has one of the words from the previous song.
3. The Would you rather? Game – example: Would you rather eat ONLY apples for the rest of your life or ONLY bananas? (although that was a tame example, clearly)
4. We ate – fruit, ice cream, sandwhiches, fried bananas, chilly willies…
5. I had a deep intellectual conversation about racism in the US.
6. I heard a few LIFE stories.
7. I reminisced with Ryan about when we were NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.

And then we were there! It went really QUICKLY, and as we got closer there was lots of entertainment! We arrived at the church around 11:30 just enough time to get a small dinner and sit down and watch about 30 minutes of fireworks and listen to the Hallelujah Chorus and Ave Maria!

Then a few of us actually entered the church and it was beautiful! It was an amazing experience! The pictures above are the BEFORE and AFTER pictures of our trip…we were still VERY HAPPY and going strong 12 miles later. (The pictures above are the BEFORE and AFTER pictures!)

FUN DAYS

LAUREN CAME! For those of you who do NOT know, Lauren is my best friend of my life and she worked in Nicaragua for six weeks doing amazing work with farmers, BUT she has another friend in Costa Rica Peace Corps as well...so she came to Costa Rica to visit! She got to come and meet my family and we made chocolate chip cookies! My closest friend here and I are working to PERFECT the recipe as the Costa Rican ingredients are a TAD different, but it was still a wonderful piece of home to have Lauren here and to make cookies! I miss her already! :(

Playa Hermosa! My bff here and I took our first OUT OF SITE night. (Out of site time is basically mental health nights that we are allowed because technically we are not allowed to leave our sites, even on the week-ends!) My friends boyfriend came to visit and he basically treated us like princesses and paid for TWO days of sleeping in hammocks and watching surfers. I might have forgotten I was in the Peace Corps...and I might have gotten a small tan. Sounds amazing and it was, but please do NOT think this is REAL Peace Corps life! :)

Volcan Poas

My family took me to see this Volcano! Clearly, the pictures do NOT do it justice. I mean...I just looked at hole into the earth with smoke coming out! How cool is that!

Things to note: very touristy. My family laughed a lot because EVERYONE was speaking Enlgish! And also - it was expensive. Ok, not expensive in US $, but on a Peace Corps salaray EXPENSIVE. They charge one TOURIST as mush as it costs SIX Costa Ricans to enter the park! Soon I will have a Costa Rican Registration card though so I will be able to visit places as someone who lives here.

Also - when Lauren came, her friend taught us how to say 'My paycheck is in colones, not in dollars.' in Spanish so that we can say it when everyone thinks we're tourists and tries to overcharge us. I tried to tell one man I was not a tourist and he definitly did NOT believe me!

A Little Overview of Life Here

Thus far my blogs have been about GRAND Peace Corps events, but this one is a little bit about the daily life here.

With Peace Corps training it seems that every other week is a HARD week. During these weeks, we are lucky to have time to use the internet or do do personal things like talk on the phone or just hang out. During these busy weeks, the Peace Corps has LONG days of technical training where all 35 of us conveine in a NOISY room to learn about non-formal education, health issues, history and culture of Costa Rica and other realted things. Now...this may sound fun, but EIGHT hours of school is hard to endure after the luxury of a University Education. (and I mean that in all the different ways it may be taken...) These days are EXHAUSTING not only because we sit in class all day, but we also travel to and from the training site during peak travel hours crammed, standing with our backpacks on a bus (we know each other very intimately now) and as of yet...we haven't quite perfected the art of hanging on. It's quite an experience!

On our slower weeks, we have a lot of Spanish classes in our communities. These days are shorter... from 8 - 2:30 with a break for lunch, but are also exhausting because constantly thinking in a different language is difficult. And its also difficult to hear ourselves speak bad spanish...and to hear each other speak bad spanish. Also, once class ends, we have other "projects" to complete. This week we have to observe a classroom and interview a teacher as well as plan 5 projects to conduct within our community! It may sound easy, but I have to plan 5 classes to teach, IN SPANISH, and convince people to come and "learn" from me.

However, there are always exciting things happening as well. For instance, on Monday, I made pizza (with the DiBianca homemade pizza dough recipe!) for my family and they LOVED it! And tomorrow mybestLauren is coming to visit me and I will get to play with her and her bff Katie Finn on Friday! PLUS on Monday we have a holiday so some of us are going to the beach for Sunday and Monday! And Thursday, we have another HOLIDAY!

It's hard to describe life here becasue it is always changing and at the exact same moments that it is exciting, thrilling, adventurous, busy, and fun, it is also hard, boring, exhausting, lonely, and frustrating. Right now though, I can't wait for more! I want to know more, I want to do more, I want to speak better, and I want to be more immersed in the culture! The best is yet to come!

Thanks for the letters, the e-mails and the encouragement! Everything you guys send to me and tell me makes me laugh and my family here LOVES hearing about all of you guys!