First week down...
Trip Start
Jun 26, 2006
1
18
50
Trip End
Aug 14, 2008
Acosta,
Costa Rica
Monday, July 10, 2006
First week reflections-
-My family is nice- The mother feeds me a lot. But I´m slowly trying to convey to her that I don´t always need three plates of food. I think she thinks I´m anorexic or something because she´s always asking me if I´m sure I´ve had enough and pointing out that my plate has hardly any food. But it´s relative- if everyone else has three plates and I only have one, then it seems like I´m not eating much... I like the variety. We don´t have rice and beans as much as other families and I told the mother I like pasta, so we´ve had that a lot.
-The 16yr old sister is great. I really enjoy her company because she always talks to me about current events and Costa Rican life. It´s a wonderful vocab building exercise.
-I´ve been browsing around shops here and a box of Kellogs is about one day´s allowance. Good thing our families provide food... I also saw oreos, but they are about the same price... Since we are Trainees right now, we don´t make as much as volunteers, who don´t even make that much more. But I wonder how much Ticos make in one day. Ticos are very forward here, but I haven´t yet had the guts to ask someone. I´ll prob ask my host sister. I´m trying to comprehend how someone can live on so little. But people get by here. The really wonderful thing is that people are conservative in their daily lives- for example, they reuse stuff like wrappers and ziplocks. Their houses are just the right size. Not too much space, like extra, empty rooms and such. It´s the perfect amount of living space.
-What was I thinking when I thought I´d pack a month´s worth of clothes!! That was way too much. What I have is perfect. I´d even go so far as to say it´s too much. But that´s only because my host mom does the laundry three times a week. My next host family might not do laundry so often... I´m glad I took out all that junk, because We recieved so many training manuals that many trainees don´t really have the space to cart the extra books around! I´ve brought the right amount of stuff for life as a trainee. We´ll see how I feel as a volunteer, when I´m out in the middle of nowhere...
New habits I´ve picked up-
-brush and floss after every meal because of the large amount of sugar in the Tico diet.
-apply sunscreen at least once a day if not twice.
-spray down with bug spray twice in the evenings, but even that doesn´t seem to be enough, since I still get bitten in the evenings... There´s not as many bloodthirsty bugs in the daytime. It´s kind of worrying because of the malaria and dengue here...
The family has a young friend (21yrs old) that is, right now, en route to Chicago to study for 6 months. My host sis planned a serenade for her. So last night, we snuck up to her door and serenaded her. It was a lot of fun. We had a small party afterwards. It was funny being on the other side. 6 months doesn´t seem that long to me, since I´ll be here for 2 years... But I really hope she loves America. I seem to have become greatly attached to anything and everything genuinely American. I think it´s a coping method.
Next week, we have our first field visit. We go in groups to visit current volunteers. I´m excited to see what life as a volunteer is like.
I miss home, and I absolutely love hearing about anything from home!! Please keep sending messages and emails. It is such a wonderful blessing!
Comments
Don't buy yet...
Better to wait and find where the locals go for bargins.
Their housing and such is lower as well as local items. Buying American items there is like buying Gucci here.
See if you can find local items that you can substitute for what you would normally get here. eg instead of Corn flakes use hot cereals like oats or corn meal porrige...
ps you do look Anorexic.
Please tell your host mom thank you for fatting you up.
Build some muscle
Use the extra calories to build some muscle.
You probably don't have any weights, but since you're so small you probably don't need much. Just remember to be progressive--each workout do more reps, more sets, or heavier weights. Try using those bags of luggage.
An hour of walking--or anything else--will burn 500 calories. Building muscle will need more calories beyond that--500 per day over a week for one pound of muscle.
Do you have a TV or computer to sit in front of for hours? If not, good!
All your running around--without a car--burns calories that you don't have stored up.
Hey Kira
Writing to say Hi. I like reading your blogs. Your host family seems really nice. Do you have a cell phone? I wanted to bring my cell phone when I go, is that allowed?
I hope you have a great rest of the day
Claudia
Keep those skeeters away!
Not much is going on in my neck of the woods although I just moved out of my dorm and the trip to Japan is this Wednesday. :D
It sounds like you're adjusting to the lifestyle really well. I oscillate btwn being wasteful and absurdly conservative. For example, after I took most of my dorm stuff home, I realized that I have a lot of stuff that I don't use. I'm hesitant to throw them out though. The absurd part comes when I hang onto things like gold wrappers from candy boxes b/c I think they're pretty (I did wind up using some for making a Snitch though). We were so wasteful in lab too, but that's b/c we can't afford to get things contaminated.
Maybe I should consider sending something else besides Japanese candy if you're getting more than enough sugar. ^_~ We'll see.
moola$$
dear PCVgirl:
It's A.K. (from your past, Miami, if that helps). Well, I wanted to send you some moola. Would that be allowed? Please let me know asap and where to send it. Email me. I check it everday.
love
a.k.