By the numbers.... and Greetings and Leave-takings

I thought it would be fun to add up some numbers of things I kept track of while in Costa Rica. 

 To start with,  I found out Francis and I each were one of 220,000 Peace Corps Volunteers to serve around the world since the inception of Peace Corps in 1961.  We each were one of 120 volunteers currently serving in Costa Rica and one of 16 volunteers of Tico 28, the YD (Youth Development volunteers, who swore in on October 2, 2014).  We were each one of 7 in the Los Santos region of Costa Rica and one of 4 who "gonged out" on September 14, 2016. (more about that later)

Pictures from our swearing in day October 2, 2014

Donny, Francis, Valeria, our Project Manager, Kirsten and me, on Gong Out Day, Sept. 14, 2016.

We rode the two and a half hour bus to and from San Jose 76 times for various Peace Corps office meetings, trainings and to meet friends to travel to other parts of the country.

We had 18 visitors from the United States, and hosted 22 boys from French Broad River Academy in Asheville, NC.

 We hiked El Cero de la Cruz (the Cross on the Hill) 11 times.

and climbed La Colina de la casa de Gaebler (the 800 meter hill to our house from the center of town), 667x. (approximademente)

We identified 54 different varieties of birds with the help of many friends, both amateur and expert.

The Resplendent Quetzal

We visited 25  different beaches in Costa Rica, and my favorite was Playa Uvita, (Francis loved Playa Tortuga the best). 

I used the books 501 Spanish Verbs  and the Spanish-English Dictionary at least 502 times.  They became the most used and cherished books of all times for me.


We picked 27 kilos of coffee over 2 picking seasons.

...and drank 22 different brands of coffee, trying to find the just right flavor!  In the end, one of my favorites and most available brands is called La Hermosa, grown in the Los Santos region of CR.

I wore out 2 pairs of shoes and wore a dress only 3x, during the 27 months.

We fed Yui (our friendly guard dog, pronounced "Jooey") 300+ apple cores and trained her to sit before she got fed.

Good dog!

 We judged 15 Spelling Bees at 10 different schools.

The school system in Costa Rica sponsors an English Festival every year from the institutional level  all the way through to the National level.  One of the competitions includes  a 1 minute "Impromptu Speech" on a number of different topics from which the students can choose to talk about.  One of the topics is called "Greetings and Leave-takings" used by native English speakers, which are the common ways to say "hello, how are you, good morning, good afternoon, nice to meet you, good bye, etc."  

   So,  I thought I would include some of the typical "leave-takings"; expressions or practices that we participated in or learned of during the time that we said our goodbyes.

  One class of 2nd graders that I taught mindfulness classes to, made me cards and lined up to give me a hug.  They competed for giving me the longest hug!

The kids are showing their painted rocks which I gave them on our last day when we talked about "gratitude."  The rock became our symbol of what we have to be grateful for. 

We had a goodbye  'cafecito' with Ligia and Hijidio  this day, a traditional afternoon coffee break with tortillas,  crackers, sweet bread or sometimes a whole meal.

Our Mentor Guias at the high school served a special treat on our last meeting day: it was fresh pineapple, watermelon, ice cream and jello! (of which I forgot to take a picture).

Our 2nd year, we trained 25 Mentors from the 10th grade class of Liceo de Tarrazú and had 59 Aprendices (Mentees) from the 7th grade.

On our last day at the high school, they had an Assembly for the Independence Day holiday, and surprised Francis and I by reading a story that one of the  teachers had written for us, thanking us for our service at the school.   It was beautiful and brought tears to my eyes as it was read in both English and Spanish.  It's too long to write here, but if you are interested in reading the story, let me know and I'll send it to you via email.

The Counselors at the high school, who were our Project Partners (though we barely saw during our 2nd year, gave us choreadors(traditional CR coffee makers stands)and t-shirts for going away gifts. Next, we had cafecito in the dining hall at the school!

Alexjandra is making coffee using a choreador, pouring the hot water through a filter into a pot.

We sadly said goodbye to our neighbors, the Zamora Obando Familia

 Judith, Gabriel, Debora, Lorena, Nazareth and Emanuel.

and the Umaña Familia, both with cafecito served.

Esmeralda, Lorena and Javier

And of course we said goodbye to Vilma and Monica. Vilma made our favorite CR dishes the last 2 nights we were there: for Francis it was black bean soup with hardboiled eggs and for me it was ground beef stuffed green peppers, both por supuesto (of course) served with rice!

Many times we heard Vilma say: Que Dios los acompañe, los protéje y los bendiga.  Los extraña mucho y los quieremos montones! That God accompanies you, protects you and blesses you.  We miss you and love you very much.

Monica and Vilma, our host family.

The right half of this wall is what we started working on with the Guias and Scouts and the group of 8th grade boys from Asheville in May, 2016.

Neighbors and friends, Guias and Scouts, all worked on the wall.  A local artist painted the sliding windows and doors to continue the theme of the mural.

The end of a long day of mural work!

The finished wall,  Sept. 12, 2016.

We worked on the mosaic and celebrated our time in San Marcos with the friends we made during our service.

The Scout leader presented us with a troop bandana and knot and made us honorary members of the Guias y Scouts!

On my last day of working on the wall with Carmen (orange shirt) there was a futbol (soccer) tournament starting. The first team dedicated their game to me and I was asked to kick the ball onto the field (below).

By the way, El Equipo Amigos won the game, 6-1!

 I set out on The Peace Corps Adventure, with 3 goals in mind: to have an adventure, to do volunteer service and to improve my Spanish.  Thank you, Peace Corps for this opportunity to meet my goals and much much more.  As I said at our Gong Out speech, on Sept. 14, 2016; it took me about 2 years to figure out that the mission of Peace Corps, is not to change the system (like the Ministry of Education, which I wanted to tackle), but to make friends, begin to understand the culture (I realized this takes much more than 2 years also) and do a little good along the way.  We worked very hard at all of those goals and I leave satisfied and grateful, full of stories and hopes to return someday.  For now, I am happy to turn my attention to being home and spending time with family and friends.  

Your Peace Corps service ends in Costa Rica with the Ceremonial Gong Out.  This includes saying a few words and then hitting the gong, with the PC staff looking on.

And so, I end this blog as we end this adventure, with the country slogan.  Until we meet 

again Costa Rica: 

 

Pura Vida: Bueno, con gusto// con salud//bien or muybien//De acuerdo, conforme, satisfecho//Expresión, usada como saludo y despedida (¿Todo bien?, Si!, pura vida!/ Hasta luego, pura vida!)
Literally, pure life, fine, cool, very well or everything is OK.  It is used as a greeting, farewell, to express satisfaction or wellness.  (Is everything OK?  Yes, Pura Vida!/  Goodbye, Pura Vida!)

FAQ's

This blog is an attempt to answer some of the questions asked of us from both Costa Ricans and stateside family and friends.   In case you've been thinking to ask the same thing, read on...

But first:
     We got a little taste of life after PC last week, as we went to Ft.Collins for a quick visit to see good friends, Joachim and Ellen Viens, due to Joachim's illness. We were blessed to spend some time with Joachim before he died and are so grateful to have been allowed that leave on such short notice. What a gift Joachim was to us and all who knew him and especially to our Small (Spiritual) Group which he and Ellen were part of for over 30 years.

This blog is dedicated to Joachim, friend and mentor for over 30 years.

¿How is Francis doing?

F: I'm feeling great.  Ready to get back to work and finish up here.  I need to finish writing up the Friendship Circles and School Mentors Training manuals and working on the Diversity Committee. 

C: (I'll add a few more details); the PC doctors in DC confirmed the diagnosis of Polymyalgia Rheumatica, as well as the steroid treatment that he was put on by the CR doc.  All other tests they did trying to find some reason for his weight loss, were negative.  Results:  Weight loss is probably due to being very healthy: lots of walking and a diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables; maybe a little stress too :)>      Francis has had enough tests to last a lifetime!

Francis with Tayna, our new PC mentee from Tico 32, who visited last month.  Here, she's teaching Francis a few dance steps during a recent community music festival, something I haven't been able to do in 40 years! If PC has taught us anything in the last 2 years, it's that it's never too late to learn!

Typical questions asked by Ticos:

¿What are you doing here?  Teaching English, right?
C: Wrong.  ....  We're with the PC (explanation of PC).  We work with the youth in the community, teaching life skills, ie. how to work together, solve conflicts, problem solve, make good decisions. 

¿You teach in English, right?
 We teach in Spanish, and at this point,  we can actually understand most of what the kids say to us!

We do judge English Festivals, though, including Spelling Bees

¿You are a "pensioner" right?  (Almost all Ticos who are retired, are collecting a pension, so they expect we are living off of a pension too!)

 No, we are not collecting a pension.  We are living off of a small stipend provided by the US Government for our work as PC Volunteers.  (FYI: it covers, housing, food, local transportation by bus, which by the way, Embassy employees are forbidden to use, because it's "not safe".  Additionally, we get a $25/month vacation bonus. Francis and I have been able to support ourselves on our monthly stipend and some months, save for trips we've taken around CR!)

¿How do your kids feel about what you are doing?
 They see us as adventurers and have been very supportive!  We have been so fortunate that our kids are in a good place in their lives, with lots of good friends and family and are strong supporters of each other as well!

You are going to stay here, right? (in CR)
 No, we have family and friends we want to return to, as well as a house in Colorado.

That answer is usually followed by:

But you are coming back, right?
Yes, of course! (I don't know when, but don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Actually, I'm going to keep working with the Rotary Club, encouraging partnerships with the Give A Book Program and funding for the Jumpstart English Camps taught by PCVs.  If it works out, I might help bring a group who wants to do service work here and coordinate with PC!)

I can pass on most insects, but this little guy really caught my eye!

Typical questions asked by American Friends & Family:

Are you coming back to the US?
Por supuesto!  Of course!

When?
  Our service will end on September 14 and we will be leaving for the states on the 15th.  We will be spending these next 6 weeks here wrapping up our programs and saying "Hasta luego". (They don't like to say goodbye, so 'see you later' will have to do!)

What was it like?  (Peace Corps)
    If you ask that question, your answer will depend on how much time we have to talk.  If you expect a one line answer, you will get this:

C: Peace Corps is like...the first day on a new job--for an entire year.

F: Peace Corps is like...going on a blind date, not knowing what to expect.

If you have 30 seconds, you'll get the elevator answer: 

C: It was a mixture of challenges, growth(dendrite growth from language learning; I recommend it for all seniors!, as well as a whole new skill set for doing youth development work!), learning to be patient and tolerant,  to live within another culture and learning to expect surprises on a daily basis.  

Mangrove Crabs; they were everywhere in the Refugio Curu on the Nicoya Peninsula. 

F: It was wonderful, frustrating, with many unexpected things, new adventures, linguistically challenging and a great learning experience.

We spent a lot of time waiting for buses.

If you want more details than that, I'll refer you to: campgaebler3.blogspot.com



What are you going to do when you get back?   Note:  All "plans" are subject to change.

Immediate plans: Upon leaving Costa Rica, we'll fly into Atlanta and make our way around to see Hannah, Emilee and Noah, visiting friends and family along the way, as we return to Ft. Collins!

Some of the Gaebler Family in Ft. Collins

C: Besides wanting to make myself available to friends and family in need, I'm looking forward to hiking, biking and fixing up our yard and house.  Other ideas: Rotary Club idea as above; continue to teach Mindfulness wherever the opportunity arises; continue studying Spanish and pursuing further studies in Restorative Justice/Practices, a field I have become interested in through trainings and opportunities I've had here in CR and in the past.

F: I'm not going to make any major decisions about my future in the first 3 months.  Ideas I have: take the Naturalist Training for the City's Parks and Open Spaces, meeting with folks in order to continue practicing my Spanish language skills and working on my house and gardens.

I hope Francis can make our roses at home look like these from our neighborhood here.

What kind of cultural traditions do you plan to carry on?
C: Simplicity in all things.  Hopefully a little bit of the slower paced life has rubbed off and making more things out of recycled materials.

This is a traditional BD dinner that Vilma made for Francis;
 what else but lentils and rice, with a picadillo (small chopped
vegetables) and ensalada.

F: Eating tamales at Christmas, singing Feliz Cumpleaños for birthdays in Spanish.

I love this outfit made for this week's Festival of the Arts
celebrated in all of the schools.  It is made out of recycled paper!

What experiences were unexpectedly wonderful?

Finding cool tide pools like this along the beach were wonderfully unexpected!

C: To have met a group of people who like to hike and take us with them to parts around Los Santos that no tour would ever go.
To have met a group of women who invited me into their small group and taught me the wonderful art of making mosaics  with ceramic tiles.
To have a host family amazingly tranquila and helpful in every way, who invited us into their lives and taught us so much about everything Costa Rican.

F: To have fresh, clean water and cool air and abundant fresh fruits and vegetables.  To have a great host family, to live in the mountains and be able to take long hikes on trails infrequently used.  To have great friendships with Costa Rican youth.

Francis is in his glory when with a group of kids!  They were making a "nudo humano" (human knot).

What will you miss the most?  
C: Mostly, the family and friends we made and being able to chat in Spanish.  Next, the availability of so much diversity of fresh fruits and vegetables,  the year round green with flowers blooming everywhere and playing in the ocean. Every picture you see in this post is an example of what we'll miss the most.

F: Living with Vilma and Monica, living a simple life with few possessions and walking everywhere. Abundant fruits and vegetables and the 12 months of summer with cool nights and warm days. 

Tomatoes with cucumbers and fresh hearts of palm with beets; prepared by Diego.

We'll miss meals with Carmen and Diego and friends.

If you could rate your PC experience on a scale of 1-10, how would you rate it?
That is an impossible question; how about we break it down?

OK, what were some 10's?

C: Making friends: both the Ticos from the PC office, in our community and the wonderful Tico 28ers, who were such a big part of our ongoing journey and support.  I'm so happy we will get to follow them along their new journey back in the states.

The Last of Tico 28 to end our service.

F: Our host family, the deep, close relationships with Tico 28 colleagues, having the opportunity to learn Spanish, living a simple life.

 Laura, the Training Manager and Valeria, our Youth Development Program Manager, whom we worked very closely with.

The entire PC staff participated in part of our Close of Service conference.  

We led them in a Zumba class to start the day and to demonstrate activities that some PCVs lead in their communities.

What were some of the 1's or 2's?
C: Totally feeling uncomfortable in my own skin for the better part of 9 months.  Being immersed in another culture with the goal of just learning another language is one thing, but with the goal of doing a community assessment, trying to understand their needs, identify what's going on around you in the schools (Where is everybody going?  Why is everyone leaving?  What's happening right now?  These were common questions).  And needing to make suggestions for programs that might help?  None of it felt comfortable to me.

F: There were none. (Francis has long term memory loss). 



Is it what you expected?
C:This is the million dollar question!
      While I tried not to have expectations, because you know that gets you in trouble every time, I'm certain I "expected" to work in a smaller community with a much greater poverty level.  This is probably the source of my biggest disappointment.  I felt like we were just whitewashing the problem of what the kids needed in the schools through what we were doing.  I felt like a greater impact could be made by working with the levels higher up in the system (of education).  But what I learned is: that is not the job of Peace Corps.  That is not what we've been asked to do, and PC is supposed to work within the given system/culture,  at the local level, helping to develop programs that the community or school agrees to participate in, on the problems that they have identified as needing improvement.  
Having said that; our frustrations were still expressed to our PC administration (Tico 28 was a very vocal group).  And, we found, that there were some positive outcomes to this expression.  In fact, as I described in the Jan. 2016 blog, Francis and I, along with another PCV from Tico 28, were invited to speak at a conference of the Ministry of Education Program Writers, to talk about the programs we were implementing in our respective schools.  Other advances are being made to try and get more participation and accountability with our local Project Partners, through partnering with administrators at the Regional level of MEP, besides the local level.  We are happy about those potential changes.
Besides that, it has taken me 2 years to actually get a handle on what the mission of Peace Corps is. Therefore my expectations have changed over time.

A lookout point on our way up to La Cruz, one of our favorite hikes.
 There wasn't much of a view that day!

Hiking down from the cross.

F: No, I expected to live in a much poorer town and in greater need of help than I found here.  I expected poorer sanitation conditions.

This beautiful orchid of Vilma's is growing right outside our door.

Did you find that being an "older PCV" gave you any special treatment?  or How was it being the Senior Volunteers of your group?
*Besides being asked if our fellow PCVs were our kids?

C: I found out from others in our Tico 28 group that they appreciated having someone ask the questions they were afraid to ask.  (I was one of the more vocal ones at all of our trainings; and rarely missed the chance to express my feelings about something).

I felt like one of the gang all of the time. We all supported each other.
(Francis was in DC when we took this picture).

F: I had advantages such as being given seats on the bus and going first in line at the Immigration Office and being served dinner at the table for Monica's graduation vs. having to stand in line. Seniors are treated with much respect here.


Do you see the impact you made?  

A Mentor Guia Group (10th with 7th graders); they are doing an activity to get to know eachother better: throwing around a ball of string while answering a question.

C: When I see how the 7th grade students interact with the 10th graders who are their mentors, I see the impact of the Mentor Guia program.  When the teachers tell me they use the Mindfulness activities I've been teaching in the 2nd grade classes, I see the impact.  When the 6th grade teacher sees the students fighting and tells them: "Remember what Francis and  Christine taught you?", I see the impact. (no, they haven't stopped fighting, but they might solve the conflict differently at times!).

F:  In the big picture, I see little impact. However, I do see little things that have happened that may make a difference, like the English teacher who is using some of the fun activities from Jumpstart Camp in her classroom and seeing a 7th grader using Mediation as a way of solving a conflict in the high school; something he learned as a 6th grader the year before in our classes. One impact that I know of for sure is that Vilma and Monica really like my mashed potatoes and lasagna!

Was it a worthwhile, satisfying endeavor?

C:Por supuesto.  It was an opportunity that I am so grateful(to the people of the US) to have been chosen to be part of. I went in with the goals of wanting to do volunteer work and learn Spanish.  I worked harder during those 2 years than I ever imagined and had an awful lot of fun along the way.  My Spanish is not where I had hoped it would be, but it's better than it was.  I'm ready to retire now!

F: My time as a PCV was very satisfying and enriching for me, even without knowing how I really impacted my students or counterparts over the longterm.  I am very grateful for this life changing experience.

Last beach I went to in July; Santa Teresa on the Nicoya Peninsula.