Written Thanksgiving Day, posted November 30th...
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!
Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S. Here in Costa Rica, it is a regular day. So, last night I pulled out my blank thank you cards and got to writing. I wrote a pile of thank you notes to people in my community that have helped me out and that I am thankful for. They may not have known what Thanksgiving was, but they will today. This is my own way to celebrate.
I am grateful to have all of your love and support. I am grateful for serving in the Peace Corps, in Costa freakin Rica!!! Tomorrow, 17 of us volunteers will be going to Jaco (a beach town) to relax a few days and attempt to make Thanksgiving dinner.
Highlights:
- I am busy doing projects!!!! I started a group with about 18 teens. The idea is they become leaders in the community. They are learning about how to tackle issues such as HIV AIDS, sexuality, environment, team building, drugs, recreation, and fundraising. I am excited every time the kiddos show up! They keep showing up!!! We are doing our first event as the group Esperanza (Esperanza means hope, the name they came up with) on December 1st to observe International AIDS Day. We are working on hosting a youth camp early next year here in Talamanca... stay tuned.
- I will be teaching English in the elementary school for a few weeks beginning next week.
- My girls group, Voces Valerosas, is going well. They love to meet and are also part of the Esperanza group.
- Just started a few workshops on the environment. I am learning a lot myself about the environment. It’s such and important issue. Sad to see how conserving beautiful Costa Rica is not part of Costa Rican culture. There is a lot of work being done with organizations to bring awareness and make changes.
- I have discovered you can pop pork rinds just like you pop popcorn in the microwave. This is an interesting and tasty invention. It comes in a bag just like microwave popcorn and comes in regular or BBQ flavor.
- Last weekend at an event for children the police put on, I watched an old lady dive in for some candy when the piñata busted. On her way to the dive, she first pushed her grandson in the chaos, then pushed a little boy over so she could get first dibs on the candy. This lady also cut in the KIDS line with her grandson to get an ice cream cone. LOL!!!! Someone had to tell her, “Ma’am, this event is for children. You cannot stand in line for an ice cream cone”.
- I miss my camera dearly. There are so many things I want to take pictures of!
- Can you believe I have been in country for almost 9 months!!!?!?!?!
