Escaped torros, and new families

My first week in living at my new site went surprisingly well.  I’ve been really lucky with host families, and I think because this new family is just as welcoming as the last it’s made the transition smoother.  They’ve really welcomed me as part of the family, “otra hija” otra vez.

                My community is a rural farming community. Most people either work in the fields or in tourism, as we live literally 10 minutes from one of only 2 international airports in the country. However, this region has some of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.  I’ve already seen that reflected in my town. My host family is very kind and they seem like the type who likes to help people out and almost every day their neighbor who is out of work comes over for dinner.

                A lot the houses in the community are “casas de bono” or government housing.  The house where I live was paid for by the government.  They’re pretty basic houses with tin roofs so they’re basically like little toaster ovens during the day.  Because of that I spend most of my time outside with my host family.  That seems like the theme of life here, during the middle of the day, if you can swing it, you just want to sit in a hammock, sweat, and make as few movements as possible.

                This weekend is “las fiestas de Guardia”, in English terms it’s pretty much the rodeo. There’s a lot of bull riding, but it’s not like the US where spectators sit on bleachers to watch. Rather you sit on top of the fence enclosure where the bull is and when the bull comes around people kick the bull. I can’t help feeling sorry for the bull, but then I remind myself that what the Spaniards do is much worse. Really the main ones who are going to get hurt here are the people, the bull is mostly just scared shitless.

                The other crazy part is basically anyone who wants to can enter the rink.  Technically minors and drunks aren’t allowed but I saw plenty of my high school students and people toting beers in the rink.  Also a man with a mild mental disability was in the rink and he got his leg gored and had to be taken to the hospital. 

                Basically bull riding is some of the most exciting stuff that happens here, and I get it.  One of the bulls escaped from the rink yesterday, and pandemonium broke out. People were screaming and running around.  My host sister grabbed the 4 month old and hauled him up the fence.  All the while my 84 year old great grandmother was sitting, seemingly oblivious to everything, but I think she’s really just a tough old broad.  There’s actually a picture of her riding a bull in her house, gotta love her.

                My first week at the high school went well.  Here high school goes from 7^th to 11^th grade, and I’m going to be working with all levels. For a high school of almost 400 students there are a lot of English Teachers, 5 total. So I will be working with a different teacher each day. I still have to meet one of them, but all the others seem receptive to having me in their classrooms.  Two of them are really confident speaking with me in English. The other two are hesitant to speak in English but hopefully this will change with time.  Besides working in the high school, I will be teaching community English classes, hopefully I will start an art class in the elementary school, and try to figure out other projects such as library or learning centers the community might be interested in working on. It will be interesting to see how everything plays out.  

Site Placement!

A lot has happened since my last post. We had holy week, where there are many religious processions and yummy food, and a couple of my friends from back home got to visit my site. Then after that I got to visit another volunteer who lives in the beautiful mountains of costa rica and got a lot of practice in the classroom.  Then 2 weekends ago I went with a bunch of the other volunteers to the beautiful beaches of Manuel Antonio.

                                                    Manuel Antonio

 My three months of training have zipped by and next week I will swear in as a volunteer and move to my site. I will be living in a small town of 1500 people (exactly the size I wanted) near Liberia, Guanacaste. Guanacaste is in the north of the country, and the climate is super dry and hot hot hot… I love the site the only draw back is the heat, but hopefully my body will adapt.  Also their winter is starting now so hopefully I can slowly ease my way into the heat.  We live about half an hour from the beach which will be a good way to escape the heat, also there is a river a couple minutes from my house. 

                                             Playa Iguanita, my host families favorite beach near our house

                                              the river            

My town for the most part is just one street that’s divided in half by the highway.  It’s pretty funny, the half of town I live in pretty much everyone is related to my host family. My host mom has 12 siblings which explains a lot…  I’m really excited for small town life, I love walking down the street and saying hi to everyone you see. Such a weird and awesome concept after living in big cities, where strangers tend to avoid eye contact and then go their separate ways.

                                                            calep

My new family is really wonderful and I already feel so welcomed.  It’s been amazing to find such friendly people everywhere I’ve traveled in the country, it’s made adjusting to my new home so much easier.  The friendships you develop really seem like the most important part of service.  My host dad works for the state planning highways.  His name is Carlos and he is a great grandfather and it’s cute to watch him playin’ with the kids. My host mom Selena is a sweetheart and is really funny and an excellent cook.  I live next to my host parents in my host sister Yessenia’s house.  She has two kids, Calep the happiest and cutest 4 month old, and Jalene my sweet 11 year old host neice.  My host grandma is wonderful.  She’s 84 and is so loving and full of life. Last night we sat on her porch and she told me all the folklore of the town.  She says that in their town, more so back in the days, women would become angry with their lovers and turn into monkeys and then haunt their ex-lovers houses.  Also in the night you could hear ox-carts pass without oxen.  

                                                                     my host parents' house

Everyone I’ve met in my town has been really excited about my arrival. We live next to one of the only international airports so a lot of people work in tourism. Because of this there is a huge interest in my town to learn English, which is perfect as I’m here to teaching English. It’s great to know that if anything I will have more students than I can handle, but I will do my best to run as many community classes as possible. I’m excited for all the possibilities in my new site.