Like a good Zippilli girl, my contribution to our Thanksgiving celebrations this year were the pumpkin products! I made the pies that we took to Marta's house and a couple loaves of bread to share at school. They were a HUGE hit. Molly and I had to go to the fancy supermarket that has all sorts of imported goods to find Libby's Pumpkin. We couldn't find ground nutmeg, so we ground our own which made the house smell delicious! Our Thanksgiving dinner turned out to be wonderful. It was quite an international crowd. Marta, who is from Guatemala, and her gringo husband Paul hosted their Tica and Ex-pat friends for a dinner that was prepared by their Nicaraguan cook. The spread was exactly what you'd find at home...and so yummy! In addition to this smattering of cultures, there was also a lovely lady, Sofie, in attendance; she was born in Indonesia, studied in China, and now lives in Costa Rica. The Chop Suey she made for the dinner was delicious too!   

On Saturday, the five of us went to Volcan Poas, one of Costa Rica's many famous volcanoes. John, pictures to the left, works at St. Francis with Nicole and organizes this trip for the FC volunteers every year. He even wrote a letter to the national park and was able to get us a special discount; instead of being charged like a typical foreigner ($10 entrance fee) we only had to pay what the 'nacionales' (Costa Ricans) pay...about $2!  Unfortuantely, even though it was a beautiful morning in Moravia, the volcano was very very cloudy. It was so cloudy, in fact, that we couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of us. Since we didn't get to actually see much of the great views promised, we'll have to go back again in the summer when the clouds and fog clear.

there's a volcano somewhere behind that cloud...

Margie, Marta, Me, & John

 On Saturday night, we decorated the Christmas tree that Nicole picked up from St. Francis. One of the teachers had it in her classroom and was about to throw it out. Thanks to some quick thinking and some help from the guard, Nicole ran it across the street to put up in our house! Even though we've been celebrating Christmas at school since Halloween, we waited to crank the Christmas tunes at home until this weekend. Now that advent has begun we can get in the spirit.

On Sunday, we hit the stadium again for a big semi-final soccer game. Unfortunately 'our' team, Saprissa, lost to their arch-rival, Liga and are now done for the season. We went with Josue and Jose, who have been two of our best tico guides. It was Josue's first time in the stadium, so we got to show him the ropes.

Margie, Me, Molly, & Josue

"somos morados!"

Cultural Observation: Why no Starbucks?
Everything else from the States seems to have made its way to Costa Rica: fast food, clothes, music, movies, restaurant chains,even words and catchphrases that we use are incorporated into tico Spanish.  So, why not Starbucks? For a while I wondered this; Starbucks and places like it are soooo popular at home, and everyone has their cup o' joe in hand on the way to work in the morning. But here, coffee and coffee breaks are practically sacred. As one co-worker put it, everyone here is a cafetera  (coffee lover). Everyone at school takes a coffee break around mid-morning, and interrupting it is practically sacreligious. A couple of us have noticed that no one will get up from their coffee and pancito (bread) until they're done and ready to get back to work, no matter how much work is lingering. For this reason, coffee on the go a la Starbucks would never survive here! Interesante, no?

This week at Centeno, the Christmas preparations continued in full force. We attended yet another Christmas tree decorating ceremony/party on Tuesday. For this celebration, the local comedy group La Media Docena performed for about an hour for all the students, staff and parents. They were absolutely hilarious! Half the reason I enjoyed the show so much was probably because I was proud I could understand all the jokes; there were a lot of local references and imitations of accents from all over Latin America, and I got it all! I probably couldn't repeat most of their jokes, but hey...I'm not very good at delivering jokes in English :) The one that I did remember is wicked corny...the two Ticos I told it to gave me that "are you kidding me?" face while I laughed my butt off. It doesn't translate at all, but if you speak Spanish, take a peek. Then go ahead and roll your eyes :)
P: ¿Cómo son parecidos los chanchos y los gemelos?
R: Por ser dos. (cerdos!) jajaja    

Chayotes

At home in our community, we were lucky enough to have visits from two of our co-ministers this week. On Thursday, Juan Gabriel joined us for dinner; on Friday, Katherine came over to give us a cooking lesson! She taught us to make two local favorites: Chancletas and Arroz con Leche. Chancletas (which actually means sandals) is stuffed chayote. Chayotes are local veggies that loos like big pears from the outside but are more like zucchini on the inside. They're pretty watery and don't have much flavor, but the sauce we used to stuff them was delicious! Arroz con leche is rice pudding, but a bit different than we eat at home. Here's a pretty standard recipe, though not exactly the one we followed. We made a gigantic pot, so we'll be eating it for days...yum!

Yesterday, Molly, Margie and I planted ourselves in front of the TV to watch the Holy War; that is BC vs. Notre Dame! Since we (strangely) get NBC in our house, and all of Notre Dame's games are on NBC (really?) we got to watch! It was a lot of fun, even though it turned out to be a bit of a boring game. Even though the Eagles lost, it was fun to see them play on TV. I also fondly remembered some of the more epic moments of BC vs. Notre Dame from when I was at BC, like when Emily snuck into Alumni Stadium without a ticket for the game, and when I road tripped to South Bend with my roommates only to breakdown in Cleveland.

One last picture...Jordan took this back in September when we went to the Día del niño celebration at Centeno. This is David, one of Jordan's favorite students from last year. He is about 15 years old, and I get to work with him once in a while when we do multi-level activities. He's a sweetheart!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

I am so grateful to all of you who read along, and to all the people who have supported my years of service in so many ways. I am very blessed and privileged to be here. Although we won't be celebrating Thanksgiving traditionally this year since it's not a holiday in Costa Rica, we may be eating Turkey Day dinner Marta and her gringo husband Paul. I hope you have a great holiday and enjoy times with loved ones :)

 Last Wednesday, to continue the celebration of Special Education Week, we all dressed up at vaqueros. There was a great celebration with a dance performance by some students in my department, a line dancing competition for the Deaf department, and a horse that came to give rides to the kids.

 With Alexandra and Susan!

 On Wednesday evening, a few of the girls and I went to a neaby stadium to watch the the biggest national soccer rivalry...La Liga vs. Saprissa. We dressed in purple to support Saprissa, San Jose's team!

On Friday during the day, I participated in a team building day with members of another department. We went to a little meeting space about an hour away and did all sorts of team building games...charades, races, tree climbing, etc. It was a lot of fun, and a great chance to meet new people who I see every day but don't interact with.

 On Friday night, we danced in the weekend at home :)

 

Saturday:

 On Saturday, Margie and Molly gave a tour of our freezer, where the number of bananas is rapidly declining (which means we've made LOTS of banana pancakes...yum!) You'll also find tastycakes (thanks, Cara!!), coffee, and chicken in there.

On Sunday, Amanda and I joined our co-minister Katherine at a 'theater in the streets' performance in San Jose. It was SO cool. A group of young women performed a pretty abstract but beautiful piece of art that involved moving in and out of streets, plazas, and intersections in San Jose. We followed along by running after the people holding flags to indicate where the actors went. It was so neat, and according to Katherine, something really unusual and untraditonal for Costa Rica.

Sunday:

Today, we oficially rang in Christmas at school with (the first) Christmas tree decorating ceremony. We sang traditional local Christmas carols and the kids put their homemade decorations on the tree. It looks great, even though it still feels early to be singing Feliz Navidad! The celebrations continue for the next 3 weeks!

Last weekend, Oct 28-30, Friar Rick came down to Costa Rica for our fall retreat. We traveled with him to the nearby city Alejuela, where we stayed at the Franciscan Monastery there. The property they have is gorgeous - there are two retreat centers, fruit trees, a greenhouse, and the convent. We shared all our meals with the dozen or so friars and postulates (guys who are living there to see if they want to be friars). At first the dynamic between 5 twenty-something girls and a dozen men of various ages was a bit unusual, but once we got comfortable talking with them, we had a lot of fun together. It was nice to share about our experience here so far and to learn about the formation process of a friar.

The five of us also appreciated time to be away from work and away from our house to relax, reflect, and spend some quality time together and with Rick.

Chilln' with Francis and the wolf 

We're not nuns, I swear.

Friar Rick loves us. 

On Sunday, we returned to Moravia for a dinner out on the town (in the words of Bro J and Friar Rick, "Thank you, benefactors!"). On Monday, Friar Rick cooked yet another gourmet meal for us. Since Halloween isn't nearly as big of a deal here as at home, he brought us some lights and decorations to make our house feel festive.   I did see some little kids dressed up on Monday (and Tuesday, oddly), but Costa Rica is already preparing for Christmas. I kid you not - for the last week and a half at school, we have been starting Christmas craft projects, talking about Christmas songs, putting up Christmas trees and lights, and planning end-of-the-year Christmas events. To me, this is unthinkable...Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving (not to mention the start of Advent!) are just disrespectful to my very favorite holiday!  But alas, Thanksgiving doesn't happen here either; so, Christmas it is!  Also, Christmas is very much associated with the end of the school year. The kids' last day is November 25th, so we're already wrapping up the year!

4 of the 6 students in my class! 

While making all these fun Christmas crafts, I've had the chance to bond a lot with the students in my class. I have funny stories almost every night at dinner about the things the kids do or say in class. I considered it a huge success last week when one of our students, Andrea, kept reaching out to hug me - time and time again for about 15 minutes. Typically, Andrea is easily bothered and pinches or grabs people who come near her. But, when I was little my mom taught me how a gentle backrub can soothe anyone, so I usually start my interaction with Andrea by placing my palm on her back. If she doesn't wince, I'm in! The same goes for Joselyn. She has a reputation in the department for being a bit scary, and can be aggressive towards students and teachers alike. However, I have been working with her a lot and am very comfortable with her, which I think is a sign that she's comfortable with me too!

Today, I participated in my fourth - yes, fourth - parade at school since my arrival. This week we begin "Semana de los derechos de las personas con discapacidad" (A mouthful that basically means a week to celebrate the rights of people with disabilities. Formerly known as special education week, but since that title must now be taboo, it has been renamed. But I digress...). So, since communication isn't one of Cenento's strong points, we didn't know this event was taking place since it was coordinated by another department. But, we went with the flow! However, we missed the memo that the kids and teachers were supposed to dress up in costumes...  We marched to the plaza in the center of Guadalupe, per usual, and returned for a dance party with a band and clowns. There was also a presentation by a group of girls who participate in Rhythmic Gymnastics in the Special Olympics. They were fantastic!  

Clowns and band that joined our parade. Recognize the guy in the yellow?

Let's backtrack a bit to the weekend, shall we? On Saturday, I went with Amanda and Molly to do the week's produce shopping at the market, and then to neighboring town Tibas to go shoe shopping. Between the rain and the long walk to work and the mold (yes, mold) in my closet, I was in need of some decent shoes for work. Success, and for cheap! Later in the evening, we went to mass and dinner and then set out on foot to visit a neighborhood bar with our friend Josue. It was nice to get out and enjoy the beautiful evening. For the first time, we could see the stars at night because it wasn't raining or cloudy. I'm SO excited that 'summer' is beginning here...that less rain! Woo!


On Sunday, we found our way to el Mall San Pedro, a giant indoor mall in a nearby neighborhood with a movie theater. For just about $3 we were able to see a film called El Regreso, which is all about a Tico who has lived in NY for 9 years and his return to his Motherland. I think we all identified with his impression of Costa Rica after being away for so long. It was really a phenomenal film, and I was excited to recognize much of the scenery, colloquialisms, and culture.