Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays....

Then came November… November was the month of birthday parties. I think that everyone I love in Costa Rica had a birthday in the month of November:

Gaudy (my sister and closest friend) – October 30
Derlis (my cousin and close friend) — October 30
Kim (me) -- November 1
Sharon (my niece) -- November 4
Ivannia (friend) -- November 5
Cristian (my brother) -- November 10
Davis (my first friend and basically part of the family) – November 10
Loreina (friend) -- November 15

Please read about all of the following birthday parties:

MY JOINT BIRTHDAY PARTY!
SO, we began the festivities with a three way joint birthday party for my sister Gaudy, my cousin Derlis and me!

When: On November 1st, we invited all of our family and all of our friends to have a huge party.

Where: My cousin cleaned out his “rancho” – it was basically just a shelter in his backyard – and we made benches and hung Christmas lights and balloons and set up tables and chairs and…..

Food: Grandma made Chicken Rice – because it is the cheapest food you can make for a large group of people and therefore the STAPLE of every birthday party. Derlis’ mom made Picadillo de Papaya – there is no name to describe it, but you chop up papaya and other vegetables and then mix them all together with ground beef and then eat it on tortillas. I made the BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE with CARAMEL ICING ever! We also had fruit salad, ice cream, jello, chips, salad, marshmellows, coca-cola…basically a TON of food.

Games: Our amazing friend Davis lead PARTY games, because here the people LOVE party games. It’s a great way to get the people to interact. Whereas in the United States, we’re more free for all, let the people mingle….here the people just kind of SIT. Probably because we all live so close and see each other every day, mingling isn’t really necessary….so Davis planned a whole evening of ice breakers that really got the party people laughing, playing and interacting. It seriously made the night to fun!

We really didn’t want the night to end, BUT because we did invite the whole family, the parents and grandparents were ready to go early so……we obviously had to end the party with a PIŇATA!!!!

Our oldest sister made us a homemade piñata which said “Friens.” (without the "d") And you know how in the US all the adults are too mature to dive on the ground to try to steal candy? Well in Costa Rica, NOT THE CASE. As soon as that piñata splits open, people of all ages dive to the ground. Babies Beware! It was hilarious and the BEST way to start my 25th year of life!

I also need to give a HUGE shout-out to my amazing friends and parents who remembered my birthday SO MUCH in advance that I had packages to open that included new clothes, silver earrings for my silver birthday, perfume, make-up, country cd’s, dvd’s, homemade decorations, and so much more….

Oh! And to Virginia who remembered to not only send a birthday gift for me, but for all of my family and friends who had birthdays in the same period…she even remembered to send stickers (pegatinas) for my niece!

Sharon’s Birthday
Just a few days later….my niece turned 5! It was a princess/Barbie birthday party to remember! I was in charge of the cakes, so PLEASE take note of how AMAZING they are! Obviously, there was Grandma’s Chicken Rice amongst other goodies, pin the nose on the man, and a Piñata! She was a pretty pretty princess and I think she was pretty amazingly happy after her birthday party!

Davis, Cristian, Ivannia and Loreina
We also had a joint birthday party for Davis, Cristian, Ivannia and Loreina at one of our normal reunions. Obviously, I yet again made the birthday cake and we had a great time!

Later, we had another birthday party for Cristian because he is the pastor of the church…so there was a huge party at the house and his grandfather came and brought a whole band with him. Yet again, there was a lot of really good food and party games.

About one week later, we had the last and final of birthday parties to celebrate Loreina. At this party, we were all looking pretty good in party hats.

And all the birthday parties finished JUST IN TIME…..for Christmas!!!!!!!

Laura and All Volunteer Conference

In October, I am sure many more things happened, but the most interesting for me is that I made a new Peace Corps friend. Peace Corps Bolivia got officially evacuated in September and asked that other Peace Corps countries make room for some of the experienced volunteers to finish out their service. In Costa Rica, we got three volunteers. One couple who now live a little closer to me than most other volunteers….and Laura! She has an interesting story and interesting connection to Costa Rica and now she will be a Peace Corps Volunteer here until October 2009. She is an honorary member of our Peace Corps group.

I had the GREAT pleasure of hosting her and “teaching” her all about how to be a volunteer in Costa Rica and mainly it was just really fun having another American here to see my life and laugh at the ridiculousness of life, and to be SUPER hot & sweaty, and see why I love my Costa Rican family SO MUCH!

Also, about one week later, we went to the All Volunteer Conference which, for me, was SIGNIFICANTLY better than last year. It was in the mountains and beautiful. The camp grounds had wireless internet and a computer lab, as well as nice places to eat, hang out, and most importantly sleep. J So here are two pictures of me and Laura at All Volunteer Conference, Peace Corps Costa Rica 2008.

September 15th

The truth is that although I haven’t written on my blog for quite a while now, I have really wanted to….and I have been saving pictures to put on this blog – SO we will now backtrack to September 15th.

September 15th is Costa Rica’s Independence Day. On the night before September 15th, everyone in the town makes their own homemade sort of “lamp on a stick.” I am sure it has an official name, but the really creative people use cardboard boxes which they transform into the shapes of cars, Barbies, flags, dragons, or whatever their heart desires. They obviously cut off the TOP of the box and with hot glue stick a candle in the middle of the box. On the other side, they connect a broom stick….and there you have it….Lamp on a stick. Then the whole town meets at the school, lights the candles and they march around the neighborhood with their lamps. It’s pretty hilarious. I had a great time.

Then the next morning, the whole country has mini-PARADES! Everywhere that there is a SCHOOL, the school kids create a band of ONLY percussion instruments. I would say every kid who has ever been in any sort of band in Costa Rica learn the same three songs. Then they add in some baton twirlers and Latin dancers, a little bit of traditional dress and traditional dancing AND POOF! the VERY SAME parade in every single neighborhood that has a school. It’s pretty amazing how they do the EXACT same parade all over the country! And the kids and the neighborhoods LOVE it.

Happy Costa Rican Independence Day! (a little late)

Happy Birthday Virginia!

I told you that Virginia really made an impression when she came to visit.

When it rains...it POURS.

So one day I was ironing and all of the sudden, it felt likeI was in a shower. Apparently one of the gutters overflowed....and all I can say is thank goodness we do not live in the US. All we had to do was sweep the water out of the house. No harm. No foul.

Cost Rican Camp

So my Costa Rican friends LOVE camp. They took me on a week-end retreat and it was a great experience. It was cool to meet Costa Ricans from all different parts of Costa Rica and have them be really welcoming and encouraging. From the moment we arrived (late, typical tico style), I was split up from my friends, and welcomed into the GREEN TEAM...where we immediately had to make up a cheer, a team name and a team flag. Everyone assured me that they spoke english incase I didn't understand spanish...and one guy even got confused when I spoke Spanish and he said to me "You speak Spanish! But you look media-gringa (half-american)." We all just busted out laughing. Give me another year and I'll look fully Costa Rican!

It was fun getting to be a kid and play lots of games and jump around and be silly. I felt stupid playing soccer, but they totally thought I was a basketball rockstar (if they only knew how i sat the bench in 8th grade!). One of my main goals was to beat the blue team...mainly because my brother, Cristian, was the bluye team captain and apparently he has this luck that his team ALWAYS wins. I was so determined to beat him. And I'll have you know that my team only lost by 100 points to his team and thats ONLY because we lost 200 points because some chick was flirting with boys when we were suppose to be in a meeting (and it wasn't me, yo). Anyways, I still hold that I beat him by 100 points because I was NOT the one talking. I even asked infront of the whole camp if I could still be the winner.....they laughed at the media-gringa.

I Brought Duct Tape To Costa Rica.

And check out all the amazing uses we have found for it..... :)