New Site
Trip Start
Jun 26, 2006
1
22
50
Trip End
Aug 14, 2008
San Jose,
Costa Rica
Sunday, August 20, 2006
We went to a country club place to get our site assignments. There were several pools and a jacuzzi, along with various sport fields. I spent the day in the pool/jacuzzi. Oh how I miss lap pools... I got an hour of lap swims in.
What I know about my site from the info in my folder-
1. There used to be a volunteer at my site. She left about a month ago to go to grad school. She was in a different program- Children youth and family. The people really love her, and there´s a plaque in her honor at the school (!). Thoughts- Good and bad. Good that people are used to having a volunteer and working with a vol. Bad in that people might compare to her and have preset expectations.
2. New family- mom and dad, two adult children, one in town and the other in another city. My room has a separate entrace so, according to my folder, it´s "like a small apartment". I´m expected to clean and cook for myself. Thoughts- Good: Independance Bad: I find that I enjoy family life and having kids around helps with integration. And cooking skills... well... I´ll see if I can at least work out dinner with rent. I´d like to continue eating Tico food. Otherwise, it´ll be a lot of cereal, sandwiches, pasta and fresh fruit/veggies.
3. My counterpart organization (the initial group I´ll be working with, although by no means the only group) is a women´s sewing co-op.
4. Naranjo has a rec center with pools and exercise equip. Yay. But in Tico standards that could mean anything. Plus, Naranjo has at least one internet cafe.
I go to visit my site next week on Saturday through Thursday. I´ll keep you posted!
Comments
Indepence
Independence-What a bittersweet word. Ah, now you know what it's like to be an adult finally or not. I guess if you do negotiate dinner, you would only be responsible for breakfast and lunch and still keep your figure by training in the rec. center at Naranjo?
Maybe you can learn to sew a thing or two as well.
Good luck on your assignment! Hope it works out for you.
Love.
exciting
It sounds exciting. Independence is definitely a tricky thing to deal with. It's why I'm torn between feeling excited about going back to Rice and wishing summer didn't go by so fast. Good luck with everything!
~Jen