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.
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.
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