Out With the Old, In With the New

I am free!! I left the crazy lady behind and now live in peace. Don’t you think a Peace Corps Volunteer should live in peace? Living with a very difficult person hopefully has taught me a lot about myself and interacting with others that I will later be able to reflect upon. However, at this moment, all it has taught me is that for my own tranquility in life I cannot live with any more Costa Rican woman. Many female volunteers have issues with living with the Costa Rican women, not just me. Often times the daughters get jealous of their mothers relationship with the volunteer. Other women treat the volunteers like their child. Babying them and not allowing freedom. For me, I just lived with a crazy lady. I know I know, that doesn’t describe anything. But, at this point I do not need to speak negatively of her anymore. She is a good person at heart but I am still very happy to be out of there. So, now that I have moved out here are photos of what I left behind and photos of what I now have.

Also, my parents just came for a visit and laughed when they entered Dominical. Apparently, I am not describing life here very well so I will attempt my best to be literary and describe life here a little better. However, at this moment I am too lazy to try.

The Old

The New

Money

I have just written my very first money proposals. In fact, I have just written three, two of which were in Spanish and were way tough. I was working with people who only have elementary school education and with my Spanish it was definitely difficult and an interesting experience.

Before I reflect I just want you to know that one of the proposals relies on donations from people in the US. I was hoping anyone reading this could ask their community relations department or have a small fundraiser. Now I know times are tough financially in the world so I am not expecting a lot. 5 bucks would be a great help. Also, I was hoping you could tell all your friends and family that may have businesses or something.

The project only needs about $2,000 more. We are building a water tank to help with the water shortages in the town during the summer months. The total cost is about $7,000 but some material is being donated and the town’s men will be doing all the construction.

TO DONATE: Check out the proposal at www.peacecorps.gov. Click the Donate Now section then search for projects under Costa Rica or my name and follow the instructions.


Thanks very much! Let me know if you have any questions.

Food, Friends and Flavor

Wow! I just had my first female friend visit me and what a different experience food wise it was. She brought pretzels, American chocolate, and we ate or cooked American food. I actually went a few days without Costa Rican food and was much happier. Now that I am back with my host mom I have realized that is not Costa Rican food that makes me miss what my taste buds are used too. It is the fact that some Costa Ricans just don’t spice, or know what flavor is. To test my theory I ate my host mom’s food, another older Costa Rican woman’s food then went to my friends “soda” which is a small restaurant. The food at the soda is amazing. The owner, my very good friend, sautés onions and peppers and other herbs to get flavor for the simplest of dishes. It is the same simple Costa Rican meal but in a class of its own. So as I woke up today, back in my host mothers house , and went to the kitchen, I was sad. There was no cereal and milk like I had with my friend, no flavor filled dishes, and no excitement. As I ate cold rice with luke warm beans and a tomato at 8am I thought of how nice it will be when I can add some flavor back into my life and be in control of my own diet. Now I don’t want to sound ungrateful. The older lady fed me for free for three days and the soda owner often refuses to let me pay. Then, when I insist she charges me too little. This culture is amazingly welcoming and friendly. Also, when it comes to food, the women are worse than Italians, Jews and Greeks combined. It doesn’t matter if you just ate, you are getting fed. Also, “only a little” is a foreign concept to them.

Dancing (or lack there of).

For those who know me know I LOVE to dance. And yes, I busted out the shopping cart and lawn mower, but only for a moment.

Dancing in Costa Rica is a very different experience. I should say, going to a dance, because not many people actually dance.

They stand outside the club area on the street just watching. Than, when there is a promotion and you can enter cheaper for two minutes maybe a few will enter. However, that doesn’t mean they will actually dance. They will stand there, the entire night, and maybe sway a little, maybe. Where is the Latin lover dancing I have always heard about? I think I need to go to Cuba for that. Also, if they do dance a little they than stop to take pictures when the barley dressed woman start dancing on stage. You would think they haven’t seen a sexy woman before, but that’s not true. They can see them on the news, in the newspapers, or in public when a woman is breast feeding.

Now you may think the music is bad and that’s why no one is dancing. I do get annoyed with the VJ’s. They just talk and talk and talk killing the beat of the song. Also, they are saying the same exact thing over and over. A name of a local soccer team, who has to work on Sunday, where are the single ladies… This does kill the vibe, and the lack of music with a good beat is sometimes frustrating, but still. If there’s music you can do the sprinkler.

You might also be thinking they may be waiting for typical music, Salsa, Merenge, Cumbia. Some are. I will give you that. DJ’s, knowing some Costa Ricans prefer the actual technical dancing, play a good mix. Yet the younger generation urban males do not know the old school dances. What a shame. When you can find a partner who can dance, it’s fabulous. If you know the basics your in.

So, Valentines night. I couldn’t make up my mind to pay the ten dollar cover charge to stand around. I was going back and forth with my decision driving my volunteer friend and new Costa Rican friend crazy. Ten bucks is huge on Peace Corps budget and I really wanted to actually dance. Than I finally decided, so what? Money is only money and it is meant to be spent. Also, who cares if no one else is dancing? They’re on the dance floor and there are sexy woman to watch on stage. That way, I can dance without everyone staring at the random gringa in the middle of the dance floor alone.

The moral of the story is I had a great time. My feet now hurt, I was able to dance, and next time I will not let money or the lack of a dancing culture stop me.

Now I don’t want to say all dance clubs and parties are like this. In my experience, in general, this is how a night at a club will go.

A Typical Day

- Walking on the highway I am blown a kiss, by a five year old. They start
young here.

- A random Costa Rican starts speaking English to me. He tells me I should get
married and make tortillas.

- A 17year old girl in her pajamas who has never been to high school stops to
tell me why she missed class last night. Within 1 minute I got to hear 3
different excuses. They don’t understand its okay, I’m not upset. It’s
their loss.

- I plan a movie night at the school to raise money to paint the school fence.

- I got to a meeting at 3 which I arranged to offer funds to the woman’s group
and no one is there. They forgot to tell me they canceled it.

- I than go hang out with an American and feed bananas to horses.

- Go to English class at 6pm. Whoops, forgot to bring a carrot as a snack.

- 7pm. Electricity goes out and my students leave.

- 7:08. I reach the top of the hill and the electricity is back on.

- Walking home on the highway the electricity goes out again and the moon is
so bright I don’t need my flashlight.

- I see a dead snack. Its yellow and green

- 8pm. Eat some rice and beans!

- Finish The Memory Keepers Daughter.