Officially a Volunteer

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Trip Start Jun 26, 2006 Previous
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  Naranjo, Costa Rica
Wednesday, September 20, 2006

I´m officially a volunteer now. It really doesn´t feel any diffrent. I sort of feel like I´m on another gira (field trip). We had swearing in at the ambassador´s house. House is an understatement. Mansion is a better description. (Yes, your tax dollars.) It is in Escazu, right outside of SJ. Escazu- Gringo-land. Land of rich foreigners. I was drooling out the window. There was a TGIF, Tony Roma´s, Curves, TCBY, and not to mention, McD´s and BK. (both of which are VERY common- in SJ centro, there is a McD every two blocks- I kid you not. It´s quite possibly more popular here...) btw- Wendy´s just opened in SJ centro. I´m happy about that. They have a 490 colones menu instead of a 99 cent menu.

General rule of thumb- it takes about three months to integrate into a community. I believe it. We were in training sites for three months, and when I left, I felt as if I was just getting to know people in the community

Botos Lagoon @ Poas

. So I at least know a bit of what to expect. Really, what integration means is taking lots of walks, drinking lots of cafecitos with people (coffee break), and talking to everyone you meet. Even if it´s just saying hello.

What I´ve been doing this week-

To start off, I forgot to mention that when I visited my site, there was a wedding and two birthdays. How wonderful it is to have large families. The night I arrived on my primary visit, I helped with floral arrangements, prep the food, and watched the groom serenade the bride.

About Tico wedding receptions- they do NOT eat the cake!! I mean, come on, the whole point of going to the reception is to partake in cake, but it´s not a Tico custom. So we get to the reception, and we are starving... Of course, we just happen to sit at the table furthest from the food... We eat lunch, we make small talk, we dance... The whole time, I´ve got my mind on one thing. CAKE! I´m waiting, patiently, might I add, if somewhat singlemindedly... and then we start to leave. I´ve got tears in my eyes... no cake... I asked about it later, and learned that the cake is ¨too expensive¨ to share with everyone and is only for family

Cast from July

. However, I was cheered up several days later when the bride´s mother came over bearing cake!! (Did I mention that Ticos are serious cake lovers? It borders on obession, right after their LOVE of ice cream. They call cake queque- pronounced k-k) How marvelous it is to be family...

So to add to the fun, when I arrived this week, it was a double bday for two cousins this week. And what a party it was!!! We arrived at 9:30 and did not leave until 5:30. What did we do, you ask? Well, help with last min preparations, watch an absurd and freakish clown perform the whole morning (I think it was just me, everyone else seemed to enjoy her, but I was a bit freaked out... Normally, I like clowns, but this one... Maybe the fact that I couldn´t understand her Spanish b/c she spoke in a falsetto...), sing happy bday, have lunch, break a piñata, partake in cafecito, have ice cream- well, it was really a sno-cone-milk thing that Ticos like... Wow, I was thoroughly stuffed. SO much food.

That was all day Sunday. So far, I´ve been to the elem sch every day. Two projects there- one with an English day in Oct, and another with a group of wmn who have an organic garden in the sch and want to expand. Right now, it´s in the experimental stages. Yesterday, I was in bed, sick. Climate change? I was sick for a wk and a half after coming back from the initial visit here. Or maybe it´s stress. Whatever it was, it was only a 24 hr bug. I´m still exploring the community.

One more party on Sunday... My 20th bday! We´re not having an all day affair, just a cafecito. I´m gingerly approaching the kitchen after the last episode. I´m making a jello-graham cracker dessert and maybe, orejas- thin sugar cookies that I could eat all day. Plus, host mom and I are making small cakes... I´m not really sure what they are, cupcakes, maybe? Horay for queque!

Ciao!

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Chocolate Orchids- they smell like Chocolate!!	Forest at Poas	House in Naranjo	Largest Cart in the world: Sarchi, Alajuela 1
Largest Cart in the world: Sarchi, Alajuela2	Me and Poas	Snake on farm in Acosta	Volcano Poas
Waterfall, last week of Sept.b	Waterfall, last week of Sept.c	Waterfall, last wk of Sept.a

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