Family Vacation

Hello All,
I promised I'd share photos from our family vacation.  Aquí están:

Hannah came 4 days ahead of the others and we spent the time in Atenas, NW of San Jose, relaxing and going to yoga classes.

There was a beautiful Blue-Crowned Motmot near our cabin, that we got to behold 2 days in a row.

Hannah got to go on our famous hike to La Cruz.  Trying to use the timer on the camera and do handstands together was a bit tricky!

When Emilee, Noah and Allie arrived, we spent the night in San Marcos, and made our way to Playa Uvita, on the Pacific Coast, near Parque Marina Ballena.

We stayed in cabins at the Flutterby House and hiked to the waterfalls.

A favorite activity was time spent in the water; it was the perfect temperature, and some of us mastered boogie boarding!

Allie's favorite fruit became the Momones China; (like a koosh ball on the outside and a large grape on the inside).

We all tried to master the 'Dancer Pose'.

Some were better than others.

Allie put her artistic skills to work, while Noah perfected his favorite activity.

We played the "tourist" role and ziplined through the canopy near Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio.

And Noah and Allie played the "super tourist" role and also parasailed around Playa Manuel Antonio.

We spent as much time at the beach as possible.

And Francis was busy fending off giant dragons,

(or iguanas).

But we also enjoyed our walks through  the park.  Those  monkeys and sloths always brought smiles to our faces!

Hannah celebrated yet another vacation Birthday!

We soaked in as many hugs and as much family time as we could!

Until the next time...!!!

We enjoy hearing about your summer fun too!  Much love to you all!

The Climate is a changin'

     Many Costa Ricans are talking about how the weather is so different in the past several years.  This is supposed to be the "rainy season" also known as "winter".  We've had many days without rain, and as a result, guess what; we don't have water!  We're going on 8 days of water rationing.  We get water from 5 -10 am; so we're keeping bottles, pots and pans, pitchers and buckets full of water for all purposes.  Dinner dishes don't get washed until the next day, and toilets are flushed with buckets of water that we filled outside.  What we're hearing is that the aqueduct gets filled from underground springs, and they just haven't been filling up.  This doesn't sound hopeful for when the "dry" season approaches, but that's a long way off and probably in a few blogs from now I'll be talking about all the rain!  In the meantime, it's again a personal reminder of the value of water, our role in conserving it and always appreciating it!

On the last blog I talked about our hiking group and since then, we have had the opportunity to take hiking in Costa Rica to a new level.  It was more like a scene out of "Survivor" and reminded me of a certain adventure I took with a group while in Guatemala.  I should have been suspicious when 2 of the hikers showed up with ropes, but once we started going down the mountain, I realized how the
ropes would come in handy.

We walked down along a creekbed,  bouldering our way through waterfalls and mud (only in the reverse direction),  trying our hardest to stay dry.  So, in trying to keep to the rocks,  we found ourselves slipping a lot, though in the end, Francis ended up smack in the middle of the creek; good thing for quick dry shorts!  I mentioned to the guy who planned this hike, that the next time I would like to know more details about the hike, prior to going so I could make an informed decision about my choice or at least to know what I'm getting myself into.  He seemed surprised that I wouldn't actually choose to do this kind of hike if given the choice!  That's what I like about outdoor adventures you always learn something about yourself!

A week later, we showed our favorite hiking spot in San Marcos (Cerro de La Cruz) to Lauren and Ken, 2 new PC trainees who spent a few days with us.

     I also had the opportunity to do a lot of reflection when talking to them, sharing our ups and downs, the successes and challenges.  I find myself,  going round and round trying to figure out what is the best combination of where I think I'm making the most difference, while doing something I really feel passionate about.  The good thing is that we really do have choices here, and I need to keep reminding myself of that.  I've also decided that the Serenity Prayer makes for a good PC mantra. God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the Courage to change the things I can and the Wisdom to know the difference.

Our 10th grade Servicio Comunal finished their service project at the CEN, and here are some of the final results:  They plumbed the sink, they have lettuce growing in the raised garden beds they built, and this in one of the 2 murals they painted.
 

Eight of these same kids that we worked with in this project, formed an all girls "experimental band" and we got to see them perform the other day at the school, during the Festival of the Arts.  I have really gotten attached to this group of kids, and felt so proud watching them perform! 

Vilma had a new playground built at her school with a grant and the help of another PCV.  Francis and I helped her paint some of it during the July break.  

It turned out to be quite colorful and apparently "the boat" is the favorite of the young kids!

Since learning English is one of the Ministry of Education's goals, the schools all put on an English Festival every year in order to demonstrate skills and to challenge the kids (on a national level) through different activities like: Spelling Bees, Reader's Theater and Impromptu Speech.  Francis and I were judges again recently and had a lot of fun watching and listening to even the 1st graders try and say a few things about a topic that they learned about in school.   After looking at a picture they had 20 minutes to draw their own ideas (since they haven't learned how to read or write English yet) and then tell us what they knew about the subject, standing at a microphone, in front of an auditorium full of parents and classmates!   Their choices of topics were: family, greetings, weather or daily routines.  Many chose family and in 1 minute said (for ex.):  "Hi, my name is ___, I am 6 years old, I go to Manuel Blanco School.  My mother's name is ____, she likes to water the plants, baby brother likes to take a nap and grandmother likes to cook.  Thank you." (or something similar to that).  It was really cute.  A great start to their language learning!  The 6th graders impromptu speech of course was a lot more developed and the winner was able to talk about different illnesses and how to treat them, in 1 1/2 minutes.

Another activity at the schools this month included traditional dancing during the celebration of the Annexation of Guanacaste (the northwestern part of Costa Rica, which is home to many of the beautiful beaches of CR, in the Nicoya Peninsula).

  While the Festival of the Arts is one of the reasons that classes are cancelled, there are many other reasons as well, and for this I have most of my greatest frustrations.  Obviously it requires a great amount of understanding to live and work in another culture without placing judgements on everything you see happening around you.  I hope my understanding improves over time, because as Francis always says: "expectations are the foundation of the greatest disappointment".  In the meantime, I have to practice putting aside my values and judgements and work with the system as it is, as difficult as that is.(see Serenity Prayer above)  I have to admit, it's not one of my strong points.  So in this way, I need to 'choose my battles'.  

For this reason, it is very important for us to find ways to manage the stress (WHO doesn't need  to manage their stress)?  While the hiking serves that purpose well, so does working on mosaics.   These are some of my latest projects; they were BD presents for Vilma.

This is a plant stand made from a wire spool.

Vilma loves plants, so I covered this pot, which now holds a cactus, and made this butterfly, which can be hung or used as a coaster.

I'll close with these photos of a very cool art exhibit that was in San Jose a couple of weeks ago.  Know that you are in our hearts and on our minds often!  The next blog will be all about our time with the family:  they are coming next week!  

We Struck Gold

First of all: Happy 4th of July!!!

 It's always been one of my favorite holidays and I'm happy knowing how many of you are celebrating with your different traditions and festivities!  When I think of the 4th of July, I think of all the bicycle parades that we participated in during trips to the mountains when the kids were young,  the Linnell Brunches and of course the many different places where we parked ourselves to view the fireworks in City Park!  Que linda!  It's just another reminder of how lucky I feel to have been born in the US and to have all of the privileges that we have, as well as the many great people in our lives who we can proudly call family and friends.  Muchas gracias a todos!

Pictures taken

last week at the Diversity Parade in San Jose!  It was quite the festive event!

The title of the post: "We Struck Gold",  refers to our luck in finding a group of other hikers in the area who have invited us along on their regional hikes.  It's been absolutely marvelous to have found these Costa Ricans, through our friends Carmen and Diego.  They go to parts we would have never found nor heard about from our usual crowd, in addition to affording us a bigger challenge than our previous well known hike up to the cross.  Recently I learned another Costaricanismo: the use of the word "pesado" (heavy weight, tough, difficult, heavy duty), used in a variety of ways.  Below are pictures from our hike 2 wks. ago; as we looked down into the Los Santos region and neighboring communities.  It was quite the 'camino pesado'.

 We headed up this trail to go up and over the hill  in  back.     We also passed some of my favorite rainbow trees!

On our way up we could see the Pacific Ocean to the west.  

I had never seen blue mushrooms before!

I love these bromeliads that attach themselves to parts of many trees. 

From the top we had a great view of a nearby damn and many surrounding communities.

One side of the mountain might be green and jungly and the other, dry and brown.

The clouds were rolling in as we descended here.  You can see that the Costa Ricans build their trails like the Nepalis; straight up!  Boy did I have sore muscles for a few days after this hike! (another camino pesado)!

Another reason why I feel like we really struck gold, besides spending time with great people and seeing new parts of Costa Rica, is because of getting great exercise while being out in nature, which alone is a magnificent destresser, as all of you outdoor enthusiasts know! 

During Pre-Service Training, our PC training team talked a lot about the ups and downs of PCV life during service.  I'm not quite sure why it creates such a cyclical pattern, but they demonstrated to us how the period of time between 12-16 months in country, is typically a 'down' cycle for PCVs.  After what feels like a long day at the escuela or liceo, even though it's only a few hours, we come home, only to continue working on plans until night(sounds like the life of a teacher, right?).  In any case, the "out of community" mini-trips and the hikes we take are very much appreciated to refuel the tank!

I also keep reminding myself that counting my blessings (another words, focusing on the positive) is another way out of the slump and a refueler as well.  Just the other day after finding out that a class that we had spent hours planning for, was cancelled, we walked down the street and a woman stopped us out of the blue to say 'thank you'  because her child loves being part of our class!  What a nice spirit lifter!

  

Days are always full of surprises (or a "mystery trip" as Diane Ackerman, author of One Hundred Names for Love, calls it),  and if I've been challenged by nothing else (like the language hasn't been challenging enough!),  learning to be flexible has GOT to be at least the 2nd if not greater challenge!    Aren't we ALL  challenged with different lessons in life?  Maybe it just takes some of us longer to learn them than others! 

Here is a group of 6th graders participating in the 'Alligator Walk', a problem solving and teamwork activity that the kids just love!  This is the part of the job that is very rewarding too: the smiles on the kids faces when we walk into the classrooms and seeing the lightbulbs go off when they figure something out!  

Many kids in the highschool here have this really bad habit of coming to class about 10 minutes late, as well as talking with their friends throughout class, which I find very annoying and distracting.  I've talked to a couple of Tico teachers about this, who both gave me the same advice: "No hay que gastar polvora en zopilotes" (Don't waste your gunpowder on the vultures) and "Más vale pájaro en mano que cientos volando" (A bird in hand is worth more than 100 flying birds); (sounds familiar of course!)  Good advice I think, but then after pondering it,  I realized that my dilemna is the cognitive dissonance I have with it, because Peace Corps wants us to work with the Vultures and the 100 Flying Birds!  

Better to spend my time talking about mosaics and food, si?

My mosaic group: Carmen, Lela and Lily.

 I also learn new Costa Rican recipes when I'm at mosaic group, because we always spend time having "cafecito"; afternoon coffee and snacks. 

I'm eating Bizcocho de Costa Rica,  a gently grilled maize and cheese tortilla. 

  Ticos take their meal time very seriously.  It's sacrilegious to think of doing anything besides eating and socializing during mealtime(don't even think about scheduling a meeting over lunch or cafecito). I've been to many a meeting where we've spent as much time eating and socializing as we have actually meeting (though that's not to say much gets accomplished at a meeting anyway).  

Like I've said before, I look at most meetings, gatherings or classes as a language lesson, if nothing else, so there's always a take way even if I'm not feeling too productive.   I think there's an intention to get things done in meetings here, as well as teaching kids in the classrooms.  But lately I've been trying to come to terms with the way the educational system here works.  Another teacher told me she gets frustrated too when classes are cancelled and when she doesn't know in advance when things like that are going to happen.  But, she says, it's the culture here and she's used to it.  That 'Pura Vida' attitude is learned  from a young age and while I'm trying to adapt to it, I think it's going to take longer than 2 years to master!  I think Ticos have a great deal more flexibility than us North Americans as a result!

One of my recent mosaic pieces.

Learning to use recyclable materials for function or artwork, is another Costa Rican tradition that is taught early on in the schools.  There's a national program called Bandera Azul (blue flag), that encourages institutions like government agencies and schools to participate, where they earn points for all different types of energy saving activities that they participate in.  The number of stars on their Bandera Azul that they fly in front of their building, displays their ranking in the program.  The school where Vilma teaches, flies a 5 Star flag, which is the highest ranking.  Not only do they recycle at her school, but they get points for teachers who walk or ride the bus to work.

We invited someone from the nearby university who is part of the Bandera Azul program, to give a talk to our class who's working at the CEN, since they were making toys out of recycled materials.  He gave them all kinds of good ideas as well as the opportunity to be creative. 

This plastic bottle garden hangs on the side of one of the classrooms at the high school.  Outside of this class is a giant compost pit for the days' food garbage as well.  They use the composted material to grow plants in the nursery at the school.

The schools are all on a 2 week vacation, which started on the 4th, so we have a break from work and plan to get some "out of community'" time at the beach.  We're going to scope out places to take the Gaebler kids and Allie when they come in August.  We'll also take this time to do some new program planning and rebalancing and we'll be off and running with our Mentor Guia program when classes resume on July 20th.  Until then, keep yourselves balanced and tell us how your summer's going.  As always, we love hearing from you!

  

Adelante y Hacia Arriba (Onward and Upward)

     In May, Francis and I attended a welcoming event for the newest group of PCVs who just found out where they will be placed during their term of service.  It was for Tico Group 29.  That event, marked a big milestone for our group, Tico 28.  Now, we're not the "newbies" anymore and have taken a step forward into the spaces of the "experienced" PCVs in Costa Rica. It's a wonderful feeling and it seems like a good time for reflection and a good topic for a blog!

     I sure am glad not to be in the shoes of Tico 29 now.  Yes, it was exciting when we found out where we were going to live and work for 2 years, but to have to go back to that time when we first arrived in San Marcos on October 2, 2014 would not be something I would want to repeat.  It's something you kind of want to forget about, just how plain uncomfortable it was during that first 4 months or so at site,  until now, when you can reflect and see how far you've come.

       The difficulty begins when you step foot out of the house, you don't know a soul and you have to start communicating in Spanish.  You don't have your fellow PCVs, training staff or Spanish teacher around anymore; just your Dictionary, Google Translate and a smile on your face for good measure!      
      In an interview of what it's like being in the Peace Corps, another PCV in her 2nd year recently reported: "the first year, is like being in the dark, feeling around for clues and the next year with the lights on, surrounded by friends, but listening to a countdown over a loudspeaker".  Well, I'm not quite into my 2nd year yet,  but I do feel like the lights came on and I have a few friends.  And that has certainly been another really important milestone for me, to have met people I can now call "friend" and to share time with them by myself, out of the house, knowing how to get there and to be able to communicate with them is absolutely marvelous!  Carmen speaks some English (we help eachother out w/ language learning), but neither Lela nor Lily speak any English, so like most encounters, time with them is also a lesson in Spanish.

Me with "friend" Carmen.

I get together with a group of women almost every week to make mosaic projects(from ceramic tiles) and have enjoyed it immensely.  It's an art form I've been wanting to learn, and these women have a lot of experience with lots of different kinds of projects, from table tops to pots and vases.

This butterfly was my first project!

 It has afforded me the opportunity to make new friends while learning more about the CR culture at the same time.  But since every social interaction involves Costa Ricans wanting to know about life in the states as well, I'm also working towards Peace Corps Goal #2: by helping to promote a better understanding of Americans.  It's kind of like how I feel about almost everything I do as being a Spanish lesson; well it's the same thing with PC goals.  Almost everything we do is working toward one of the 3 PC goals, the first being to help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
     Peace Corps Goal #3 is similar to #2: to help promote a better understanding of Costa Ricans to Americans.  Basically, by taking time to get to know people, by making friends here, we are fulfilling goals 2 & 3.
     These 2 goals were facilitated in a big way by Francis and I this past month, when we planned activities and individual homestays for a group of 10 boys from a school in Asheville, NC, who stayed in San Marcos for 6 days in May.  This group of boys came from the French Broad River Academy (FBRA) that has been connecting with PC for several years now in order to help develop a world view for the boys by exposing them to a new culture, as well as facilitate their Spanish language skills.  Included in their school's mission is a strong service learning component, so they felt it was a good fit to come visit us and help with our 10th grade service project.

Helping in the English class.

 The boys spent a day at the Liceo de Tarrazú, helping with 2 English classes and participating in other intercultural activities including futbol and ultimate frisbee.  They spent all day Saturday with a group of 10th grade students putting a big dent in their project to spiffy up the local CENCINAI building and yard (the center for nutrition that serves lunch to young children and provides educational classes for children and parents. ) This is an organization that Francis and I identified early on as needing support to get their educational program off the ground, but in addition we found the physical plant needs to be something the high school kids could help with, since all 10th graders are required to serve 30 hours of service work.  On that one day, the 26 teens painted 2 murals, built 2 raised garden beds, cleaned and leveled the back yard and made a bunch of toys from recycled materials.  They made friends too and that was probably the best part for them! (Stay tuned in future blogs for seeing more of their progress and hearing more about our project!)

The grounds and garden beds crew.

The host families with whom the boys stayed, took good care of them.  They greeted them with the traditional 'cheek kiss' (you just touch cheeks and kiss the air), which they weren't quite prepared for and when it was time to say goodbye, the boys got big hugs along with the 'cheek kiss'.  A bond was formed there as well.  We had activities planned for 5 days and they kept us on our toes, with only a little bit of downtime!  It was a lot of fun and forced us to meet many new people and make lots of other connections along the way.  Since the boys' school brought some financial aid for the CENCINAI project, it was also a good incentive for the 10th grade class to be ready for their work date!  It was a Win-Win all the way around! 

The recycled materials/toy crew.

The mural crew. 

How we all felt at the end of the day!

Another big project that we've had going on since March, was our Friendship Circles group in La Escuela.  We finished up our classes on conflict resolution and teamwork with the 4th and 5th graders and now have to prepare a session with the parents and teachers.

 In gratitude, one class of 5th graders sang us a wonderful song about feelings (called Las Emociones), which was very appropriate given that the students had to learn how to state how they were feeling about their problems, when trying to use negotiation or mediation to solve them.  It feels great to actually see the completion of a project, because other things we've been working on are taking a lot longer to come to fruition than I thought they would.  But that's the part of being a PCV that we've come to terms with and at the same time continues to be one of the biggest challenges.  We have to learn to work within the system and culture here and go with the flow.  I always feel this sense of urgency about starting projects and moving forward and that my eyes are bigger than my stomach when it comes to wanting to take on more.  We have so many ideas for projects and have so much fun meeting and working with new people, that it's tempting to take on too much.  BUT, there just isn't enough time to do them all and Francis is always trying to bring me back to earth on how much time it actually takes to plan (and interpret) and carry out these project ideas.  I'm the IDEA person and he's the DETAIL guy.  (I think my compañeros de trabajo from UCH will agree with this)!

Mangoes, ready to be picked!

      Part of my reflection on how it feels to be a PCV to date, is related to how I feel about being integrated into the community. Our PC trainers couldn't emphasize that enough during Pre-Service Training, but you really don't get the gist until you get plopped into a new community where you don't know a soul and also don't speak the language.  I don't know if I'll ever get to the point where I feel like language isn't a barrier, but it's just not the same when you can't really say what's on your mind or in your heart and remains a frustration of mine.  During those first 4 months here in San Marcos, I felt as if everyone was staring at me (which they were, because most European descent N.Americans stick out like a sore thumb) and this makes you just feel isolated and different.  Then gradually, (we've been in San Marcos for 8 months now) poco a poco, I find myself saying hi ("adios" is usually the greeting) to everyone I pass on the street, not caring anymore if I stand out because now I feel like I belong and am no longer a "visitor".  And eventually, when a group from the States comes to visit and you are shocked by all the blonde hair and blue eyes that you see, then you realize just how much you've gotten used to seeing and being around people with brown hair and brown eyes and realize how others perceive you! (Well, we don't have blonde hair or blue eyes, but I'm sure there are numerous other 'give aways' about our non-Latino descent)!

Our friend, Diego, with Francis.

 For me, arriving in San Marcos last October, at the start of our 2 years of service, was like landing on a deserted island with a blindfold on. (The first 3 months of training don't count, because it's all performed in English and you have a big support system in the training team).  But once they cut the strings and send you off is when the isolation begins.  Making yourself get out on the streets to talk to people and gather the information you need in order to plan your projects is part of the game plan for integration.  It certainly has helped having Francis here too, being a couple on the deserted island gives you a big advantage.  The loneliness factor wasn't really present and I have had someone to commiserate with from the get go.  But while initially I felt like I had a blindfold on, now I feel like not only can I see, but I'm clearing my own path, I have friends and people I can turn to for help when I need it.  It's a much better place to be in now and only seems to be getting better! 

Onward and upward!