After two weeks at Centeno Guell, I have a much better grasp on what I will be doing this year. This week I visited most of the classes in the “Deficientes Visuales” (Visual Deficienciespartment. Every day I fell in love with the new students I met; their ranges of abilities and capacities is incredible, and each age group has a unique charm. Since I want to establish a more permanent relationship with students instead of floating around all the time,I have decided to work with the two oldest classes. I’m not quite sure if or how I’ll be splitting my time between the two rooms or if I’ll just be assigned to one, but I am content with the decision to work with the older students. (It will certainly be a change from chasing around my 6-year-olds from last year!) Plus, the teachers and aides in these rooms are wonderful, and I look forward to getting to know them better.

On Tuesday, all the students and staff at Centeno participated in a march for peace to celebrate International Day of Peace. We marched from the school to La Plaza de las Palomas, the central plaza in Guadalupe. It was the same march we did for Independence day, but a much simpler - and less stressful - affair.  Everyone wore white and adorable butterfly bracelets. All the students carried signs that said “Quiero paz en...” (I want peace in...”)  Some of the deseos for peace included peace at home, in my school, in my family, at the boarders, in my country, etc. Also, each class created a sign with a quote about peace that they left in the park. The march was led by the drum line, which consists of - get this! - all Deaf students! How cool is that? They’re great, too, especially considering they’re probably all about middle-school aged.

Outside of work, I’ve had a lot of free time on my hands. Since my department is dismissed at 1pm or earlier every day, I’m usually home before 2. Don’t get me wrong - a little bit of alone time in the house is nice. But having 3-4 hours to myself before my roommates get home makes a girl go a little crazy! Luckily, next week I will hopefully begin staying at school later in another department. (Fingers crossed!)  In this spare time, I’ve been able to chat with friends, read, and do the Jillian Michael’s workout DVD we found in the house. I’ll be so shredded when I get home you won’t even recognize me! ...On second thought, I’m pretty sure I said something similar at the beginning of JVC about using the gym, so don’t hold me to it ;)

Just for fun... Culture tips of the week: 

- To be on the safe side in CR, operate with a BYO TP mindset. That is, bring your own toilet paper! It’s not always easily found in the most obvious places (i.e. bathrooms) so it’s wise to travel with a bit in your purse.

- Don’t feed the ants. We have these little teeny tiny ants that appear out of nowhere in our house if even the remotest drop of food (especially sugary food) is left out. We’ve discovered safe storage places and practices, but these little guys flock like crazy! I guess when no windows or doors in the house have screens we can’t be all that surprised.

More of these to come, I’m sure! Thanks for following along. Also, a quick shoutout to the Foran Family...it was great to Skype with you all on Saturday night! Happy Anniversary Gramma and Hubba! Your marriage has been a wonderful example and has led to a beautiful family that I am beyond blessed to be part of :)

Maneul Antonio

On Friday, the wonderful Yamy invited the 5 of us to accompany her and her family on a trip to a National Park on the Pacific Coast, called Manuel Antonio. All we knew was that she was going with her brothers and sisters, the bus would arrive at 10am to pick us up, meals were provided, and we’d be back Sunday night. We were told to pack a towel and that we’d see monkeys. Curious and up for an adventure, we agreed to go. You can’t really say no to that, can you?!

So, the private bus arrived Saturday morning a bit later than we anticipated (I think we got our wires crossed...instead of being the first ones picked up we were the last). When we boarded, we were greeted by Yamy’s family...about 35 people! Her mom, brothers/sisters, son, grandkids, nieces/nephews, their kids...the whole gang! Turns out the trip was more than just a spontaneous visit to the beach. They were celebrating Tio Luis’ 50th birthday. On the trip down, we stopped a few times for various reasons - lunch, ceviche, snacks, to pick up more people, etc. The whole trip down took a few hours, and we got to travel on the “new” highway. This carretera was built about 4 years ago and has made travel within the country much easier, so they say, so everyone was really excited we had a chance to see it.

We arrived to our destination, a small hotel in Quepos, the town just outside the national park. On this map, San Jose is right below the red balloon. Quepos is the blue balloon to the south, and Manuel Antonio is on the coast just below it.  So, when we arrived, we hit the pool for a few hours before dinner. All the kids and uncles were playing, and we joined them and got to know some of the family. Around 8, we sat down for the big birthday dinner and then enjoyed cake, karaoke, and dancing late into the night. Like last weekend, I think we gringas provided a bit of unexpected entertainment (for the family and for us!). Molly was a karaoke champ and the rest of us were the last ones on the makeshift dance floor.

crazy palm tree!

storm clouds rolling in

i've been playing with the settings on my new camera a lot!

On Sunday morning, we were up and off to the park early. We tried to mix in with the Ticos as we passed through the park entrance, but the gatekeepers identified us as foreigners in a hot second, so we paid full tourist price to enter. They were confused as to why we, a group of young women who looked like students, were with a family of ‘nationals’ but could pick us out of the crowd right away. (Goal for the year is to be mistaken as Tica. There are quite a few with light hair and eyes! My height might give me away, but it’s probably the clothes. Oh, and the Spanish! I’ll have to work on my slang...)

After short walk, er, hike to the beach (during which we saw a monkey swinging lazily from a tree in the canopy), we settled on the sand under the shade of some enormous trees. 

hike to the beach

la playa!

The water in the Pacific was crystal clear. I could see my toes when I was standing up to my neck! And there were no waves, so it was perfect for floating.  (And don’t worry mom, I didn’t get sunburned!)  

After a few hours on the beach, we boarded the bus back to the hotel for lunch, some more pool time, and then left for San Jose around 4. We didn’t make quite as many stops on the way home, so we were at back home for our bedtime...which seems to get earlier and earlier every day. When the sun (and birds) rise at 5:20am, it’s a lot harder to sleep in!

¡Feliz día de la independencia!

Celebration at St. Francis College

Parade!

Today, along with most of Central America, Costa Rica celebrates its Independence Day.  Since we arrived, everything has been decked out in red, white, and blue to celebrate “la mes de la patria” - that is, the MONTH of the homeland!  All the celebrations made this a particularly chaotic week to start working. My placement for this year is at Centeno Guell, a public school for students with special needs. I will be working in the Departamento Deficientes Visuales (Visual Deficiencies). This department serves students who are blind as well as students with multiple disabilities (physical, mental, visual, aural, verbal etc).  There are two other departments: one for Deaf students and another for students with Mental/Developmental disabilities.  

[Sidebar: I struggle with the appropriate language to use to describe the departments at the school. The language surrounding Special Education is so delicate in the US and I’m still trying to navigate the technical terms in Spanish.]

On Monday and Tuesday, I had a chance to spend time in two different classrooms within the Baja Vision department. I will continue to see the rest of the classes next week (I suppose).  On Wednesday, there were no classes so I joined the teachers of the older students to watch the littler ones march in a parade throughout Guadalupe.  It was adorable, and kind of like a warm up for today. Today I marched right along with the teachers and students in an enormous parade throughout Guadalupe. I was dressed up in traditional Tico garb (with a floppy hat, bandana, and all) holding balloons and walking alongside the wheelchairs.  It was hectic but the kids got a lot of cheers from the hundreds of spectators.

On Tuesday, Fray Jorge came over for dinner to see how we were doing after two days of work. He is simply wonderful. He put us all at ease, told some great stories, and was very encouraging. He also got to meet the Syracuse group via skype! He told us he thought it was serendipitous that FrancisCorps had an all female house in the same year the Poor Clare sisters (the Franciscan nuns) celebrated their 800th anniversary...not sure what to make of that one :)

More soon! Sending love to the States!

Getting Ubicated

Just wanted to share a quick update about this week before I start work tomorrow! Jordan and Friar Rick were with us all week and took us to our worksites and to explore Moravia and San Jose. We got to know the bus system, saw where each of us is going to work, and went out for some wonderful meals. I’m so grateful to both of them for being so attentive and helpful to us as we got oriented (or as they might say, ubicated*) this week.

*Ubicated is a made-up word in English based on the verb 'ubicar' in Spanish (to locate, find, get situated). There is a running debate on the validity of it in English among the friars...

The highlight of the week was our trip to a Tex-Mex restaurant called Lonestar. We went with Yammi, the Assistant Director of St. Francis College and our own personal “superwoman” for this year and Marta, the the Physical Education teacher at SFC. Yammi and Marta know the owner of Lonestar well, and he gave us a brief history/poli sci lesson on Costa Rica before offering us mimosas on the house. 

On Friday evening the entire FrancisCorps Costa Rica community gathered in our home for a house blessing. In attendance were the friars, Yammi, a former FC volunteer, and two secular Franciscans, Friar Rick, and Jordan. We got to know some new friends who will be part of our greater support network while here in Moravia.

On Saturday, Friar Rick and Jordan were gone not 4 hours when we had our first almost-disaster. For a brief moment (read: a few hours) we thought my key had broken in the padlock on our front gate. Not one of us could get our keys to open it! So, we marched down the high school hoping to find the friars. Instead, we found our new hero, JoseMaría, one of the guards. With his help we got in touch with the right people who eventually solved our problem with a little bit of WD-40. Disaster averted!

Today, we took off on foot for Heredia, a town north of Moravia where Nicole studied abroad. We walked to Moravia’s neighboring town, Tibas, where in true tico style we found our way to the right bus stop by asking 4-5 people we found along the way. See, in Costa Rica, the concept of street addresses is a bit foreign. So instead of saying, “Oh! That stop is on the corner of Street X and Avenue Y,” a Tico is likely to say, “Well, go down here about 300 meters til you see a park, then go down that street til you see the mural on the wall and then it will be right there.” Sometimes, it feels like we literally live ‘where the streets have no names.’  In fact, if I ever need to tell someone how to get to my house, I’d say “I live in the yellow house with the green gate behind St. Francis College.” (To answer your question, I think most mail goes to a post office. Ours goes to SFC.)

Gringas providing entertainment for the birthday party!

So once we got to Heredia, we had the chance to meet two of Nicole’s tico friends, José and Josue. Josue took us to a birthday part for his friend’s aunt up on a dairy farm in the mountains. Talk about a random sequence of events! Here we are, four gringas walking into this house expecting lunch with only a small bag of cookies as a peace offering. Luckily, like all the Ticos we met so far, the family was more than generous and welcoming. In every place we visited this week, the people offering to be of service in any way they could and were genuinely happy to have us there. Today was no different. After serving us lunch (even though everyone else had eaten hours before!) we were invited to dance and walk around the farm and chat with Josue’s friends and the family. 

First day of work tomorrow...please keep us all in your prayers as we get to know our new coworkers, students, clients, and commutes!

Casa Tour!

As promised! Here are links to the tour of our casa, led by Molly and Amanda. 

Costa Rica Casa Tour (part 1)

and

Costa Rica Casa Tour (part 2)

Enjoy!! 

(Let me know if it doesn't work...)

Bienvenidos a Costa Riva!

On Sunday afternoon, I arrived here in San Jose, Costa Rica with my new community and the FrancicCorps directors, Friar Rick and Jordan. Our travel day was smooth and we were greeted very warmly by two friars, Jorge and Tono, and Yammi, who we've been told will be our "superwoman" this year. They took us to our new house which they had made sure was clean, stocked with staples for breakfast and lunch, and filled with gorgeous fresh flowers.  After lunch at the friary at St. Francis College (which is right across the street), we had time to unpack and get settled in our beautiful new home. Coming soon is the a little video tour of the casa that Molly, Amanda, and I put together to show the Syracuse FrancisCorps volunteers our new digs! Fair warning: it's more than a little shaky so I hope you don't get too motion sick! Also, it's in two parts.

Our first night in our new home!

Before we left Syracuse, we spent Friday visiting the volunteers work sites. It was really neat to see where they will all be working for the year. Rebecca, Kaitlyn, and Cari work with after-school programs in different neighborhoods, Luke (the solo FrancisCorps man!) is at a food pantry, Gina works at a L'Arche community, and Julianne works in Refugee Resttlement through Catholic Chartities.  They were all adjusting to their new jobs really well and gave great tours.

That evening, we surprised them with dessert in the spirit of St. Francis, thanks to Nicole's patience and creative cake decorating:

From left: Molly, Amanda, Nicole, Me, and Margie

After dinner, we went to the NY State Fair! I had heard a lot about this extravaganza and was sure to check out some of the staples like Dinosaur BBQ and wine slushies! We had a great time walking around to all the different exhibits (like butter and cheese sculptures, all kinds of farm animals, and endless rides and games) and of course, some stellar people-watching. 

9/11 Memorial Sand Sculpture...incredible