Bullet points...

Aug 14, 2010

for pics of Bribri: http://www.flickr.com/photos/47509639@N05/sets/72157624754765934/

Journal entry: I am grateful for life. I am here and alive and well. Not only do I have the gift of life, I am living a life full of love, of joy, of freedom, of abundance, of friendships, of very good health, of travel, of wisdom, of dreams, of good memories, of safety, of grace, of family, and of laughter. Thank you Universe. Thank you.

• I am back to my exercise routine in the mornings. Going to try to build muscle to make up for the weight I´m losing.
• Still tired of eating beans and rice.
• Interestingly enough, although I am absolutely surrounded by banana fields, it´s pretty challenging to buy bananas around here...
• August 15th is Mother´s Day in Costa Rica. I got a little something for all of the mamas that have helped me settle into Bribri.
• We didn´t have phone, cell phone, or internet access for a week due to the fire earlier this month in Limón at ICE. That meant no way to call 911 in case of an emergency and no way to use ATMs or buy things with credit cards.
• I am slowly but surely getting over my fear of spiders... I watched an entire episode about a guy that got bitten by a huge hairy spider. I was jumpy but I did it. AND, I continue to kill spiders in my room. Still working through my fear of the big, hairy ones...
• The water goes out A LOT in this town. A LOT. They say it is because too many people have moved into this area, but other people say it´s due to some kind of corruption with the municipalidad. Whoever is responsible, it´s annoying not having water. Those of you in the States, be grateful you just turn on the tap and hardly think about if there is enough or whether or not you can drink it.
• Unwanted visitors that have entered my room include but are not limited to: Spiders, huge june bugs, a variety of mosquitos, chickens, big toads, huge roaches, large beetles, a bat, bugs I cannot identify, kiddos from the neighborhood. There is also a family of big mice, maybe rats that live in the ceiling above me and make a lot of racket at night.
• I rode a horse last weekend at a friend´s ranch --- almost worth the thirty something chiggar bites I got all over my body because of it.
• I went camping last month at a beach called Manzanillo with my counterpart Miriam and her family (she has 9 siblings, tons of brother & sister in laws, and nephews & nieces). Tons o fun. I even slept in a tent!
• I have had a few “ready to pack my bag and go home” moments, but am determined to press on. I am SOOO looking forward to our In Service Training at the end of this month in which I will meet up with all my peers for a whole week in San Jose to catch up on how we´re all doing.
• Potential projects I forsee are building an activity or rec center for the youth in town, awareness of children´s rights for children, parents, and service providers, community service activities involving children and youth, a women´s group, Chicas poderosas or Voces valerosas, a soccer league (no I don´t play but I´ll support it), some kind of self run fitness or exercise group

A day in the life...

August 4, 2010

Quirky things I´m probably taking for granted that are in fact amusing... A day in the life of my Peace Corps days thus far:

Regular bike ride into to town... I see what looks like a freakin´coral snake in the middle of the road right in front of the local elementary school. I have just got to confirm, so I

U-turn and approach cautiously. As I am leaning over to look, a man on a bike drives by and says in Spanish, “Yep. That´s a coral snake, sweetie”. Yep, it sure is. It´s dead of course, but I still find this intriguing--- a coral snake! Those are poisonous and it was in the middle of the road I ride down everyday... in front of the school...

Next, I decide to stop by the super and grab a liquid yogurt. In walks 6 or 7 clearly American tourists so they could buy bottled water (which is funny because you can totally drink the water here). They were quite a spectacle with their water bottles, shorts with tall socks and hiking boots (everyone around here just wears sandals or flip flops. it´s hot), big toursity hats, and as usual, raggedy holy shirts and shorts. I am tickled because I now understand why Costa Ricans think Americans are dirty and don´t bathe. LOL. (I have had to explain to many a Costa Rican that we Americans do bathe daily even though some of us Americans opt for the... outdoorsy look. They are not convinced, however). I decide not to introduce myself to the foriegners because my sole purpose in Peace Corps right now is to integrate into the community and they would not help the cause, so I get on my bike and blend right in with the Costa Ricans. Keep it moving.

I roll my bike on to the PANI office so I can get some work done on my community assessment that´s due in 3 weeks to Peace Corps. There´s nowhere for me to work since a shipment of office furniture is taking up all the offices and the hall. So, I crash the social worker´s office to share some space with her. She doesn´t mind at all. I´m working on my laptop sharing Janet Jackson number one hits with her (goal 2 of Peace Corps) and she casually grabs a long knife to jimmy the lock to her own file cabinet! I love it. She grabs a paperclip and the knife and is going to work on that lock to break it open. I am cracking up and she looks at me like, “What? This is normal.” She does this on a daily basis because they never had a key to the file cabinet to begin with and this knife paperclip routine was the maintenance guy’s solution. And so it is.

Today I am unconnected to my cell phone, land line phones, and the internet. It hasn’t been working all day. I think to myself -- Not so bad for me. I can survive a day without it. But, as it turns out, everyone in at least the entire county of Talamanca and part of Limon has no cell phone signal, the land line phones are dead, and the internet is down! That is a LOT of people without access. The cause: a fire at ICE’s main network headquarters in Limon... ICE is Costa Rica’s electric company and is the only provider for electric, phone, cell phones, and internet in the country. And so, if there is an emergency, dios guarde (god forbid), the only communication is radio through the taxi drivers per the announcement on the news!!!!

And it’s only 1:45 in the afternoon. So I will jam on with the social worker to Janet Jackson.