Good-bye Chicas Poderosas. Hello Guias y Scouts.

I have completed my working with the girls club mainly because I want to make it MORE sustainable. The girls LOVE it so much, but without a dedicated Costa Rican who can commit time to them every week, it will not continue without a Peace Corps Volunteer.

So…instead I have dedicated my time to working with the closest Boy & Girl Scout Troop to our community! We are going to prepare leaders in our community to receive the Boy & Girl Scout Leadership training so that Costa Ricans can lead their own community kids & adolescents in a VERY sustainable Boys & Girls Club.

I won’t lie to you. I never did Girl Scouts and I always thought it was dorky. BUT, seeing it in Costa Rica, I love and admire it! It teaches the kids SO much responsibility, self-discipline, community service, and provides them with learning opportunities not otherwise available. They have a chance to work for rewards, learn team work and structure (every meeting has some of the same rituals), and they will also be lead by adults who can serve as role models.
So I have given up on my girls club of Chicas Poderosas to promote and encourage Boy & Girl Scouts of Caribe. If you have connections with Boy Scouts of Girl Scouts in the U.S. and have any suggestions or would like to support us any way…let me know!

English Class

I have a group of 20 students who have now completed 4 levels of English with me! When the complete this final level, they will receive a diploma from one of the top English Teaching Institutes in Costa Rica! They are capable of basic English and what I really wish is that I could bring them to the United States so they could really practice.

We started the course for 4 hours once a week, but have recently changed to about 2.5 hours twice a week which has helped considerably. I have no teaching background and learned so much from teaching them! I almost feel sorry for them because my teaching strategies have all been hit or miss. I’ve learned that they have to play lots of competitive games of they get bored. I’ve learned that I have to give them graded quizzes every class period so they will study each week. I’ve learned that they have to turn in the homework to be graded or they will NOT do it. I’ve learned that we have to dedicate one entire class to ONLY SPEAKING for them to really be able to practice well.

I have seen so much improvement in their reading, writing and speaking skills and I am super proud of them all. Here are some pictures of the class:

To Explain My Work

I finally thought about how I have done a really bad job about describing my work on my blog. I thought for a long while about why I did such a bad job of recording my work successes on my blog. Here’s what I came up with…

The process of having a project idea, project planning, finding resources and then completing the project (only to see that the work is REALLY just beginning), MIGHT be the MOST frustrating thing in the world. After thinking about and working on a project for so long: 1.The last thing I want to do is then WRITE about it and 2. It is so much a part of me that I forget it should be news to some people.

I want to take one minute to describe some of the steps to completing a Peace Corps Project. They sound simple enough, but to a type A, do it now, instant gratification North American, the experience can be trying.

Steps to Painting Recycling Bins:
1. Wait for 40 minutes on the bus into town.
2. Twenty minute bus ride to town.
3. Walk to first paint shop.
4. Wait in paint store a good 20 minutes to be helped.
5. Figure out appropriate paint for recycling bins.
6. Price paint.
7. Realize that the specific paint needed is ridiculously expensive.
8. Walk to second paint shop.
9. Wait in second paint store for a good 20 minutes to be helped.
10. Realize paint is just as expensive there.
11. Decide paint cannot be afforded and must be donated.
12. Wait for bus.
13. 20 minute bus ride home.
14. Write donation letter Spanish.
15. Have Spanish donation letter proof read (by native Spanish speaker).
16. Wait for bus.
17. Twenty minute bus ride to town.
18. Enter internet café.
19. Print letter.
20. Leave internet café.
21. Enter copy center.
22. Make copies.
23. Wait for bus.
24. Twenty minute bus ride home.
25. Hunt down President of the PTA to sign donation letter.
26. Spend time socializing with President of PTA before can ask for signature.
27. Receive signature.
28. Wait for bus.
29. Twenty minute bus ride to town.
30. Go to first paint store.
31. Wait an hour more or less to be attended by the person in charge of donations.
32. Explain project. Turn in letter. Told to come back in a week for the answer.
33. Go to second paint store.
34. Repeat steps 31 &32.
35. Wait a week.

You get the idea that it has taken me two weeks to do something that with the correct resources in the US could take three phone calls (or at least not so much bus riding). While the process in the US of pricing, donation letters and waiting on an answer might be the same, it would be significantly easier with a car, a telephone, a computer, a printer, and a copy machine...

Keep in mind also that this is one VERY small and comparably EASY step to the whole project that probably took three and half weeks to complete. And it held up all the other steps to the project.

Furthermore while this step was long and just annoying, at least no one was FIGHTING against me in this step. In some of the other steps, the people of the same school do their best (unintentionally) to make the project more difficult. For example, in a school of 400 students there is ONE printer (bought and owned by the school), but only the director has access to it. With good reason he takes good care of the printer and not just anyone can use it; however, when I needed to print the 60 color labels for the recycling bins I had to wait until HE was available to oversee the printing. Could I have gone to an internet cafe? Yes, and I could have also paid $12 out of my own pocket for the printing! (That's like half my peace corps salary!) So instead, I was at the mercy and the schedule of the school director who (honestly) has more important and urgent things to do than oversee the printing of recycling lables.


I know its my job, but even the simplest parts of projects require a lot more waiting and time than I am use to. And finally, when the project is "complete," really, its just begun. The recycling center is built and had its grand opening! The school is using it and the community knows about it. However, the project is nowhere near being finished because now we have to teach the 5,000 inhabitants of this community how to use it! So begins PHASE 2: Education and Promotion of the Recycling Collection Center.

As soon as one step to the long process is completed, another step is revealed – usually bigger and more complicated than the previous step. For those reasons and more, I never write about my work, starting right now, I'm gonna give it a shot!

Lauren Quartz DiBianca

As I previously mentioned, my best friend came to Costa Rica in January! We had a great time traveling around and vacationing with my siblings, BUT even more exciting for me was the time she got to spend with me in my site! She had the opportunity to share in my “normal” life and experience a piece of Costa Rican sweetness.

My family LOVED Lauren and she loved them. And I obviously absolutely loved having Lauren see my site, meet my family and friends, and learn about all that I love so dearly!! Also, spending time with her here helped me see my site through the eyes of a North American again. Little pieces of life that Americans assume to be true about typical life sometimes just don´t fit here. It was almost scary how Costa Rican customs are so normal to me and American customs feel strange and out of place. I was thankful for a chance to compare Costa Rican typical with North American typical personified in me versus my best friend.

For example, Lauren always walked WAY too fast. Hahahaha. My brother and I took her to visit our friend Davis one day and as we were walking to his house, my brother and I felt like we were running. Finally, I asked “Why are we walking so fast?” Obviously Lauren responded, “This is how I always walk.” When I think back to when I first arrived in Costa Rica, I remember thinking “Why do these people always dawdle?” Americans walk with a purpose. We always have somewhere to be and something to do! Costa Ricans…..just walk. They enjoy the walk knowing that the destination will always be there, whether they arrive sooner or later. And if the destination is not there… well, that doesn´t really bother them either.

Also, Lauren was never hungry when we were hungry! Costa Ricans eat HUGE lunches and about two hours later drink coffee with a pastry. Like a solider Lauren ate the greasy, fatty, meaty foods and she even drank coffee with us two hours later! But I can just see her face now, when my whole family was like “Sorry, we have to leave the beach because our bodies are CRAVING coffee and we cannot live one minute longer without COFFEE!” And she was thinking “But we just ate the biggest lunch EVER!” Hahahahaha. I remember thinking the SAME thing, but now my body craves coffee too! Instinctively, I know when its coffee time. And trust me, you don’t want to deprive a Costa Rican (or Kim) of their coffee.

Finally, Lauren was far too responsible! She was always very interested in what we were going to do and when we were going to do it. Like a responsible person, Lauren mentally and unconsciously plans her time and her day. I know. I do it too. But I use to do it more. For this very reason, many Peace Corps Volunteers have a very hard adjustment. I can plan my day all I want to, but if the bus doesn´t come... I can say that I am going to research at the internet for an hour, print my work, and turn it in, but when the electricity goes out, the internet doesn´t work, the printer is out of ink, and the offices are close....What can you do? Costa Ricans have even less control over their lives than North Americans do. If all those things go wrong in the U.S. what do we do? WE FIX IT NOW. If all those things go wrong in Costa Rica, what can you do? Nothing. You can wait. Until the road gets fixed, the bridge gets rebuilt, the bus is repaired, the electricity comes back on, etc. How do Costa Ricans respond? They stay chill. They are not going to plan things because inevitably it will not work how they plan it, and the chiller they stay, the easier everything seems to fall into place.

It´s hard to explain Costa Rican culture in a blog. All I know is that in 21 months, I have mysteriously become a part of it.

Costa Rican Summer Vacation (plus one hot american tourists!)

So the typical time to travel in Costa Rica – summertime – is JANUARY. It seems so backwards to us, but my siblings were just itching to get to the beach! Unfortunately we are all WAY to poor to actually go to the beach…$20 for a hotel, $20 (or more) a day on food…NO WAY! So we went camping!

Maybe you remember my last Costa Rican camping trip, but Costa Ricans camp in style. We are talking mattresses and stoves here. Yes, we slept in tents, but each tent also had mattresses inside…no sleeping on the cold hard ground here. And as for food – we COOKED every meal on our very own gas stove which we took with us!

We had a great time! First we swung by the airport to pick up this hot american tourist named Lauren DiBianca! From there, we headed northwest to Playa Hermosa in Guanacaste – which was way too crowded.

So we packed up and went to Playa Juanquinikil which just happened to be a biological reserve. There were no buildings in sight, but there were tons of animals, white sand beaches, and starry nights!

From there, we headed Volcán Miravalles where we saw the bubbling mud lagoons – which we then proceeded to bathe in! Oh yeh, and after that we took advantage of the natural hot springs to wash off which also included a WATER SLIDE!

It was definitly a vacation to remember!

Happy New Years 2009!

A quick description of my new years. It all began a few days before December 31st, when all the women started buying new clothes, dying their hair, and searching for the PERFECT pair of high heels. While I usually do not succumb to such girly materialism... my sisters CONVINCED me to

get blonde highlights! (I had never used more than SUN-IN!) I was scandalized by the "stripes" in my hair, but my sisters said it looked great and everyone else in town....NEVER EVEN NOTICED! hahahahaha.....

When the big night rolled around, we put on our tighest jeans, cutest blouses, and tallest high heels (except me, I´m too tall for high heels in Costa Rica). We straighted our hair and put on extra make-up. (Please note blue eye shadow. Art work of my oldest sister.)

And we WALKED about half a kilometer to our Grandma´s house! We entered into the calf barn (still housing one calf) which had been converted into the PARTY SALON with huge palm leaves and red flowers and christmas lights! We ate grilled pig (which had obviously been killed that same day) and Chicken Rice. We played silly party games until mid-night when we set off homemade fireworks! Then the whole family stood in a cirlce and talked about what they were thankful for - then we prayed as one whole family.

And obviously, to end the night, we drank COFFEE and ate HOMEMADE bread at 1 AM.

Happy New Years 2009!

Gringo Christmas

Well, I think the United States is special in its Christmas traditions….and other countries have take bits and pieces of the Christmas glamour, but….at least in Costa Rica, never really got the whole Christmas thing.

I had people telling me that Christmas was December 24th (WHAT!) and being confused about the whole when to give presents thing. In Costa Rica, it is a law that all employees must receive an EXTRA paycheck in December. Therefore, the grand majority of Costa Ricans have A LOT of extra cash in December! They obviously spend in buying clothes, shoes, and Christmas presents, but they didn’t do a very good job of then HIDING all those presents, wrapping them, and putting them under the tree -- which is clearly the ONLY right thing to do with ANY presents bought after November 25th, right?

Anyways, I was determined to have a REAL Christmas this year. Luckily, my oldest sister really gets in the spirit and we decorated the whole house with lights and and trees and all sorts of Christmas things on November 15th! Hahahaha. Then I asked my mom to send Christmas stockings, which I faithfully painted with glitter glue the names of my family (and Derlis and Davis, because they practically live in our house anyways) and we hung them on the main wall. We then exchanged names for big gifts (with a price limit of $12) and decided to fill the stockings with little, inexpensive gifts. We ALL obviously purchased gifts for the kids…

We even made a Christmas chain so that Sharon (niece) could count down the days until Santa Clause. She loved it and everyday woke up asking to tear off a day of the chain...

We had a huge Christmas dinner with the whole church on Christmas Eve

and then we had a pajama party beside the tree to wait for Santa Clause.

It was so fun putting all the gifts under the tree and filling up the stockings.

I’ve never been up that late to watch the tree be filled with gifts.

And at 6:00 on the dot the kids woke up and came running to see all the presents! We let them open everything…..there were Barbie’s, Barbie dream castles, Princess dress-up kits, Barbie make-up, stickers, coloring books, clothes, cars, trains, drums, trumpets….seriously, it was so happy. The kids just didn’t know what to do with themselves!

Then we, the adults, exchanged gifts and opened our stockings…and we ate coffee cake….and played with the kids….and then we wanted to go back to sleep……but basically we just a calm day watching movies and hanging out. It really was a Merry Christmas!
Even though, I had to insist many times that gifts had to be wrapped, had to be under the tree, and that we HAD to wait until Christmas morning…..I think everyone really enjoyed gringo Christmas!

I hope you all really enjoyed your gringo Christmases as well and Happy New Year!!

P.S. Costa Ricans do have one Christmas tradition that I love! They love to have fireworks during Christmas...and we might be talking homemade fireworks.