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.

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.

I Moved.

So, there has been a HUGE change in my life...I moved!

I might have forgotten to tell you, but I HAVE FRIENDS! YOU LAUGH, but it is hard to make friends in another country...it´s hard to have real conversations and its hard to have the same sense of humor 1. because you don´t know HOW to say it and 2. because they don´t think the same things are funny. Also, it is hard to have friends my own age here because I technically should be married with kids. You wouldn´t believe how many times I have heard "You don´t have kids? NOT EVEN ONE??"

So some of my friends happen to be siblings ages 24, 25, and 27. I´ll tell you about them:

Marielos: 40ish mother: owns and runs a grocery store

Christian: 24 year old brother: pastor

Gaudy: 25 year old sister: University Student - Social Work

Ivania: 27 year old: owns a beauty salon

Sharon: 4 years old: will enter pre-kindergarden in February!

Axel: 11 months old: body of a baby, face of man.

I spent a lot of time at their house, hanging out with other friends, helping out with projects, eating, watching television, drinking coffee...and so they invited me to move in with them. And I gladly accepted. I spent my first night their last night...and I am VERY HAPPY.

Costa Rican Camp Counselor, Say WHAT?!?

In Costa Rica, the schools are technically still on “vacation” until February 11, but…I have been so busy it has not felt much like vacation. I spent a week being a Costa Rican summer day camp counselor and it was exhausting. In the morning, we had ages 3-12 and I was assigned to help with ages 10-12. The most difficult part was that I was expected to take attendance! YOU TRY SPELLING THESE NAMES IN SPANISH! Yaxciry pronounced Jacksiree, Geisel pronounced Hasel, Xotshinl pronounced…I never figured that out I just called her Toti. (seriously, I did.) In the afternoon, I was a TEAM LEADER for 12-18 year olds and I might have been MORE than a little competitive. Unfortunately my team lost, but I hope I taught them how to be good leaders. I made them shake hands with the other team and say “Good game Good game” – in English. It was GREAT!

I actually think the day camp was one of the most beneficial things I have done since I have been in Costa Rica. When I came to Costa Rica, I had a lot of culturally UNITED STATES games, songs, dances, and ice breakers…but sometimes those techniques don’t work in Costa Rica. Sometimes you have to know how to play “ENSALADA DE FRUTAS” (Fruit Salad) to get the kids attention. Sometimes you just need a well known kids song to get the kids singing “Habia un sapo, sapo, sapo, Quien nadaba en el rio, rio, rio…” (There was a frog, frog, frog, who swam in the river, river, river…)

I also learned a lot about working with other Costa Ricans and the Costa Rican style of camp. It’s hard to explain, but the cultural differences in carrying out a project so similar to a day camp are IMMENSE! When and how things get done are different. The order of completing tasks is different as well…It’s hard to explain and I can’t currently think of a specific example. The only way I know to describe it is that Costa Ricans PRIORITIZE differently due to a different value system. (For example, they value relationships more than they value work and so in an office environment – FIRST we have a coffee, chit-chat, solidify the friendship, and then we have the business meeting.) In this sense, the tasks that WE might complete FIRST a Costa Rican might leave until second or third. I learned to much!

Finally, my Costa Rican camp counselor experience was INVALUABLE because I built new, stronger, and funnier relationships with the kids, the adolescents, other “counselors” my age!, and other adults and families in the community. It was a great week and I hope you enjoy the pictures of me DANCING and with my kids!

Christmas: I would say that Costa Rica is a lot less traditional than United States. My brother and sister received their gifts on the 22nd and when I insisted that they be wrapped and put under the tree – they just looked at me like I was crazy. However, it did feel like Christmas since all we did for three days straight was play with their new toys…we stayed up way to late and slept way to long in the morning…but it was a beautiful thing. Actual Christmas was celebrated by staying up until midnight, and at midnight everyone said “Merry Christmas” and kissed all the others. Then we set off fireworks and ate. And on Christmas morning, NO ONE IN THE WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD woke up until 11:00 because everyone had stayed up late the night before partying.

Gifts: I told you before how the church I attend is very involved with the community and serving them…well, the Pastor of the church worked really hard to find Christmas presents to donate to a nearby, VERY POOR, community. Then the church worked VERY HARD to provide a special Christmas party with games, candy, puppets, songs, food, and finally, ONE BEAUTIFUL Christmas present for each child. To me, it was wonderful in many ways:
1. The church wasn’t helping just people at their church. In fact, it benefited NO ONE at their church – it was a definite outreach and act of love. They raised money to provide a Christmas for people who have nothing. I have never seen 10 year old boys SO happy to receive a soccer ball.
2. There was also a second party, but this party was for a community of children who all have either physical or mental disabilities. Whoah…it was also a really special Christmas party. To see the faces of these kids receiving a new shirt, a remote control car, a Barbie…I was really honored to be a part of it.

New Years: I spent the day cleaning and resting, but around 6:00 I took a shower and got dressed up. My family had a little church service on the porch and then we ate refried beans and rice with hot dogs and potato chips. It might sound weird, but it was actually really good. Then we all stood around and talked for awhile. At 9:30, I went to another party with friends. We celebrated with their family by eating (again), watching the kids go CRAZY for a piñata, and setting off fireworks. Then there was no countdown, all the sudden someone said “Oh it’s here!” Hahahaha…so we all got up and said “Happy New Year” and kissed all the others. Then we had a little church service. Everyone said what they were thankful for from the year and had a little reflection for the coming year. Costa Rica is definitely a more religious country than the US – at midnight the radio stations played a song that was something a long the lines of “How Wonderful is God.” I attended two impromptu church services without even meaning too.

All in all, the holidays were much better that I anticipated, possibly because I had no expectations and I spent them both with people that I genuinely love.