They're coming to Miami the wknd I get back. We traded info so I may see mi familia nica in a few weeks =D
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Soy Nica ¿y que?
Tio took us to the market this morning to shop for souvenirs. Then we stopped to see some of Mo's family. I personally cherish family. I was glad to see her family reunite after such a long time. My camera died that night at Alfredo and Lucy's house. We took a pic together and off it went. Now I can honestly say, "Tengo familia nica!!!"
Managua, Masaya. MASAYA, MANAGUA!!!
The weekend in Managua was definitely an awesome one for me. After walking thru the pouring rain Mo and I caught a bus for a dollar to Managua to meet her family. We arrived and they formed a circle around Monique... kinda ignored me thinking I spoke no spanish. HA! if only they'd realized. I instantly clicked the her cousin's wife and daughter and they eagerly showed us around the city.
Tia Miriam's friend was a cab driver and he shuttled us from one historic site to another. There's such a rich history in Nicaragua and I learned it within 5hrs... apparently the current prez is not too popular among the people...
The Vieja Cathedral was ruined by an earthquake and sits in ruins. The clock permanently reads the moment the earthquake began. We went to the mall to exchange so cash and tried this refresco de cacao. DELISH!!! YUMM!!! Great stuff. To end the night we ate dinner at a local restaurant. QUE RRRRRICO! Carne, maduros y arroz con frijoles por supuesto.
El mundo es un pañuelo
Granada is absolutely beautiful. It was named after the Andalusian city of Granada and IMMEDIATELY reminded me of Spain. =) There were tons of restaurants and bars with tables set up in the street. It was a very chill atmosphere situated in one of the oldest established cities in the Americas. We stayed in Hospedaje Cocibolca for $20/night with AC. It was right at the end of the main street so we put up our stuff and walked around the city.
As we were walking around we met a group of girls who interning with Viva Nicaragua! We went to an outdoor cafe so that I could finally eat dinner. Two of the interns were from Michigan and it turned out the owner of the bar was also from Michigan and had been living out of the US for five years. He said that wasn't his plan at first but he felt, "If I have to struggle, I'd rather do it here than in America. It's just different."
He and his girlfriend bought the bar 6 months ago and still hadn't broke even, but he enjoyed what he was doing. This feeling of satisfaction is prevalent both here and in Costa Rica. It reminded me of the question Carla posed to our class. Even if they aren't wealthy by our standards they live their lives to the fullest...
We left the bar and went to Cafe Neut. A live band took the stage and there were PLENTY of dance partners vying for a dance ;-). I've never danced salsa, merengue, or bachata SO much in my life. It was great. =D Something outta Havana Nights. ha.
The next day we toured Granada. We saw the main sites in the city and then toured the isletas by boat. We passed the monkey island and a spider monkey decided to hop aboard! fun times. We decided to walk back to catch the bus and while we walked God decided to open up the heavens above us and shower the earth. We were drenched hasta la ropa interior. But it was worth every moment. VIVA NICARAGUA.
Safety Primero...
I've learned how to trust the feelings God gives me. I prayed and claimed that I would travel to Nicaragua and Panama while I was studying down here in Costa Rica. This weekend the first goal was accomplished. Mo and I traveled to Granada and Managua, Nicaragua. This is how it all worked out...
Mo's grandmother moved to the US before her youngest sister (Mo's great aunt) was born. None of Mo's family has been to Nicaragua since. Thursday before we met Morgan to go to Cultura Extrema we hit up Tica Bus, some other sketchy bus station, and TransNica. The first was filled, the second was closed, and the third wasn't sure if they would have room on their buses for us to return home Monday. (I have to meet my OTS group Monday evening) He told us to call Friday morning and he would call headquarters in Nicaragua. Ivannia, mi mama tica, called and reserved our seats Friday morning. We get to the station and the man says all the seats are filled and there's NO SPACE!!! =O We get in another line explaining that we had called ahead and reserved seats. The woman confirmed this and we were on our way... First Class ;-)
Once we got across the border four other dudes hopped onto our bus. Mo and I were in the last row by the bathroom and they stood beside us. They looked sospechosos from the jump off but as we watched Little Man in Spanish their laughs kinda eased my fears. Then they started asking where were going and talking amongst themselves about how we were traveling solas. Mo felt the need to tell the bus driver to call us a taxi and about shady dudes behind us... with her spanish, I doubt she conveyed all those ideas. lol. But she asked me to get out my knife. Do you know how many times I cut myself trying to master that thing within 10mins?! craziness.
We got off the bus in Granada (no taxi was there, go figure?!) But the guys went their own way... which makes me wonder how we as humans draw some conclusions. I know people say it's better to be safe than sorry, but was I misjudging someone's character and intentions because he seemed dangerous? So many people had warned us about safety in Nicaragua. In San Jose there are always stories of muggings especially of people who appear too touristy. Had I let the warnings justify my prejudice? Just wondering because I felt really bad about my assumptions.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Cultura Extrema
Dear Diary,
Today was a good day. lol! I've always wanted to write that. Today that line rings true. I went to Calle Blancos today. I've had many rewarding experiences in the last two weeks, but this one was joyously indescribable? Mo and I went to buy our tickets after school at TicaBus and they were sold out. We went to TransNica, the bus line Dorian recommended and they didn't have contact with Managua. It wouldn't have been wise to purchase salida tickets and not know if we'd make it back on Monday (I have to meet the OTS group Monday). So we went to McDonalds in the Centro to meet Morgan. I wanted to see what she did in her spare time with these "teams."
Calle Blancos is "one of the worse" barrios in CR. It was raining, the door was locked and three teens were already outside. We did the whole introduction with a kiss on each cheek. Morgan told me there was one cat named Meneo would'd be coming and if I could understand him (he speaks a lot of slang) then I'd mastered the Spanish language! Ha! Challenge much?! Meneo arrived with a box and introduced himself... indeed understanding him was quite a feat.
Finally some of the other volunteers arrived with the keys to open the center. The interior was not what I'd imagined. But God doesn't require anything elaborate or ornate to get his mission accomplished, just willing vessels. The center was basically an old car garage transformed into a youth center complete with a ping pong table, a 4 square grid on the cement, a foosball table, some old couches and chairs and plenty of eye-catching graffiti. One wall read "Jesus es gratis pero no barato" (Jesus is free but not cheap). Another asked "Que buscas?" (What are you looking for?). Another stated, "Reflejamos la luz de adentro hacia afuera" (We reflect the light from within, without). The kids started to fill the center. We blasted music and left the doors open to attract passersby.
If you've ever been in place anointed with the Spirit, you can relate to the peace and happiness I felt within the four walls of Cultura Extrema. There were eager youth wanting learn about Christ and young adults willing to share. When the program began four years ago, the church stopped allowing CE to use its facilities because they viewed the program as just that... extreme. The next three years the youth met in the youth minister's house but because of the way the Lord works, the group soon outgrew the house. Thanks to funding from several churches in the US the old garage was purchased and transformed. No one was shoving doctrine down these kids throats. There were no crucifixes or condemning messages decorating the wall... just warm hearts and open minds. My cheeks hurt from all the smiling I did that night. The younger girls loved my hair (that's been a trend this entire trip btw) and stayed with me most of the night. They loved my lipsyncing renditions of Chris Brown ballads. ha. I played 4 square for the first time in a LONG time and foosball for the first time... ever? Some of the guys breaked and you know I had to school 'em on some thangs ;-)
We ended up heading back home at 11pm. God is just too good.
~Isaiah 61:1
Who says we aren't happy?
Today I graduated from the Costa Rican Language Academy. I opted to bypass the graduation ceremony because Mo and I needed to work out the logistics of our excursion to Nicaragua. Carla said a lil speech in front of the class and presented me with my "diploma." Though I've completed my course of study according to CRLA's standards, I feel I still lack sufficient knowledge about life... about viewpoints... about the reality of others. Our discussion in the afternoon only gave me a taste of the "knowledge" I long to acquire.
We read an article dealing with development in Latin American countries, specifically Costa Rica. Halfway thru the reading Carla stopped and asked us why Costa Rica was considered a third world country. She asked whether different equated to lesser. "Even though we may not have as much, we are happy. Why should financial status be valued more than spiritual and emotional well-being?" We were all silent for a few minutes. I drifted back to a conversation in Samara...
While we were walking to the beach one night, Monique and I were brainstorming about our future non-profit organization which would provide educational and vocational classes, sponsor drug and alcohol prevention programs and create numerous jobs on the beach. Another student who was walking with us laughed and made this snide remark, "If you give them good jobs, who's gonna clean our toilets and pick our fields?"
I shared this anecdote with the class. How important are socioeconomic levels? Are these levels really necessary for a productive society? Do we need a lower class to work and a higher class to "rule" and act as motivation for the 'lower' class?
Thursday, July 17, 2008
La Segunda Semana
My mother has always told me that learning styles are important. This week I realized that there are several aspects that must be present in order for me to fully enjoy and engage in a class:
- Structured lesson plan
- Clear and concise explanation
- Real world application
- Practice of the newly acquired knowledge
In addition to hardcore grammar, Carla teaches us things we would never learn in a traditional Spanish class and "Tiquismos" (phrases/words commonly used by Ticos). Like in the morning you can ask Como amanecio? Which basically asks how did you sleep and how was your morning all in one. We learned how to say "I did #2" in ways ranging from most crude to most formal and how to express your relationship with a significant other. ha! Stuff I can actually use. (btw I can't wait til I can teach Cherry all this stuff)
In the afternoons we do activities that reinforce the lessons. For instance, to practice subjunctive we each but two items in a bucket. In order to retrieve our belongings we had to fulfill a request from each person in our class. "Quiero que preguntes a la recepcionista por un tampax." "Ordeno que cantes "La cucaracha" en voz alta mientras estes de pie en el poyo." Good times... just let me say that.
My classmates this week are much more interactive and we are evenly matched linguistically. Morgan goes to UI but is a die-hard TARHEEL fan plus she works with a local youth group. Caterine goes to U. Michigan, Jens in my class again and we have a girl from Austria named Claudia. Our discussions are classic. ha! Oh, and Carla served on some of the reservations I'll be visiting through the Peace Corps. She's teaching me some common words for the Bribri. I'm going to miss this class... can't believe I only have one more day here at CRLA. =(
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
at midnight... it's on
I learned how to surf today!!! Paco was right, it's totally addictive. I wanted a bigger wave every time even though I never stood up on the board for more than 5 seconds. ha. The key is to fix your eyes on the shore for stability.... def didn't get to that level.
Mo, Joy and I went to a beautiful house in Carrillo to chill before we went to the beach. A friend of a friend was house sitting. There were machetes on EVERY level of the house to kill unwanted intruders, like snakes for example. It was beautiful, the view was great and I met some awesome people.
We danced until 3AM then went to say goodbye to Lenning. He wrote me three poems. He's never gone to school so most of the words were spelled phonetically. But they are beautiful nonetheless. I took a shower and watched the sunrise. Then I took an hour nap before heading catching the bus to head back home to San Jose. Spontaneous trips are the best!!!
Life on the beach... is different
Beach Life: that's what Monique and I have been discussing these last couple of days.
Yesterday I learned that Friday nights are used by the locals to recuperate from Thursdays festivities and rest up for Saturdays extravaganzas. We went to Las Olas to dance again and it was barren, with the exception of Juatu, Jose, and locals with nothing better to do. The dance floor was empty. Recalling the events of the previous night, Juatu simply told me, "I want to see you move" (apparently I dance like "una negra real") I laughed and told him I wanted to see his life. With the help of Jose and Alejandro, Juatu painted a powerful picture of life on in Samara, where drugs and alcohol are just as much of a staple as rice and beans:
- Jose is 18. He moved from San Jose to get a job as a janitor and make money. He lives on his own with a couple friends and smokes nightly.
- Juatu was introduced to me as an "island thug." Apparently along with his 4 brothers he runs the beach?
- Alejandro moved from Colombia to sell handmade crafts. He is permanently scarred from elbow to belly button because he stepped on land mine. He uses his profts to pay his rent and buy materials, then he sends the rest to his parents back home.
Tuanis, mäe
Since my arrival I've realized that life in Costa Rica is COMPLETELY chill. There's no rush to do anything or go anywhere unless you're in a vehicle between the hours of 8:30-9:30AM or 5-7PM. Ticos live by the motto "Pura Vida" which literally means "Pure Life."
The title for this blog reflects PURA VIDA to the extreme. Beach life here in Samara is something I've never observed before. "Tuanis" simply means cool and "mae" means dude. To ask how someone is doing (especially on the beach) may elicit the response, "pura vida," "tuanis," "solo bueno," or "purosdieses." The last two mean "it's all good" or "pure tens." Or you can skip ALL of that, dap up the person you're greeting and say "Tuanis!"
Today we found an older French couple renting out two rooms in their beach house. When we walked thru the backyard we were on the beach... three seconds tops. We each paid $10/night. Martina made us CREPES when we first moved in. We filled them with caramel, chocolate syrup and powdered sugar. Pretty sweet, eh? (the deal and the crepes, ha!)
After we moved in we chilled a lot and scored some cheap surf lessons for tomorrow by talking to Paco, one of the instructors. I ate the BEST fried chicken of my life at a little Cevicheria on the main road. Ceviche is a typical dish consisting of raw fish "cooked" with citrus juices. In Costa Rica the fish is usually tilapia and is marinated in lime juices, cilantro, onions and pepper. Raw fish doesn't sound too tempting to me... I've never even tasted sushi. If I get a burst of boldness, I'll let you know ;-)
Monday, July 14, 2008
VAMOS A SAMARA!!!
On Wednesday night, Monique and I decided we'd go to Samara for the weekend. We packed all our stuff and bought bus tickets on Thursday for 6PM. Joy decided she wanted to go to and together we headed to Samara. Using our handy dandy lonely planet guide we decided to hit up Cabinas Arenas for $14/night. Upon arriving at 11:45PM in Samara we went to CA where the owner led us to a room with one queen bed and one twin bed, a single revolving fan, and lighting reminiscent of SAW I, II and III. He turned on the light in the bathroom and the fan. The fan catalyzed the permeation of the smell of urine already wafting from our "private bathroom." Joy suddenly screamed at the sight of an enormous cockroach scuttling across the curtain. The owner laughed, grabbed the insect, and walked out the door. We decided we could hack it. Then another cockroach scurried from under the bed to another part of the room. We took the key and lefted it on the step of the owner's door. DEUCES!!!
We walked around until we found Lenning...the 19 year old Nicaraguan night security guard for Casa del Mar. We each put in $30 for a room with three beds, AC and a sparkling clean bathroom on the beach. Then we explored the beach. At Las Olas we ran into some twins from Connecticut who loved to drink ridiculous amounts of liquor. I peaced out and made my way to the dance floor. In my pants and "once on this island" cast shirt I flowed with the music. It was amazing. I met a cat named Jovani from the Keys. He also had a fluid style of dance. We infused African, Salsa, Merengue, Hip Hop and everything else we could into our dances.
Mo, Joy and I made our way back to the hotel at 3am. We stayed up taking to Lenning for an hour and I stayed up with him until 5am talking about his life in Costa Rica and the stigma that exists towards Nicas in Costa Rica. From my understanding the Ticos regard Nicas much like some Americans view Mexicans.
El orfanato
Today was the last day to the first week of classes and I will give Jaqui her props for our afternoon activity. We watched a spanish suspense movie called the Orphanage. Here's the plot, it's twisted, but I loved it:
- There was a girl named Laura who lived at an orphanage with five other children. As an adult she adopts a child with AIDS. Along with her husband, Laura buys the orphanage and uses it as a home for kids with special needs.
- The son starts playing with imaginary friends. The "imaginary friends" are actually the ghosts of the children who lived in the orphanage with Laura. It turns out after she was adopted the kids had played a trick on the son of one of the orphan caretakers. His face was deformed and his mother made him wear a bag over his head. The kids led him to a cave and took off the bag to see if he would come out and show his face. He did not and when the tide came in, he drowned. The caretaker then poisoned the kids for killing her son, however since Laura was adopted and so she was not killed.
- During the opening of the special needs home, Laura's son wants her to come to his friends house, but she says angrily says no, telling the son he needs to stop playing with imaginary friends. The son disappears.
- In the end, she had accidently killed her son because she locked him in the basement, which was where the deformed child was hidden during his lifetime. She then commits suicide and keeps watch over the ghosts of the orphaned children.
This is how we do it: learning all over the world
This is my PSA to America: We need to step up our language skills. I've meet several students from Austria, Germany and Switzerland and they each speak at least 3 languages. I personally think that is awesome. I remember saying I wanted to major in languages: what happened to that I'm not sure. Please believe I'll keep my Mandarin and Italian cds in heavy rotation from here on out. I do, however, have two pet peeves: The "German-Spanish" accent and the "Gringo-Spanish" accent. You wanna know how those sound? I'll happily imitate them for you upon my return to the states. In any case, they make me cringe.
Today we discussed stereotypes. The girls from Germany were quick to dispel the stereotype that Europeans don't believe in bathing. Apparently, this can only be said of the French. They also added that the French don't use deodorant. The girls explained they housed a French exchange student for a month and the girl neither showered nor applied deodorant. The purpose of this discussion was to evaluate the stereotypes generated about Latin American cultures. Overall we agreed that stereotypes are detrimental because we generalize the actions/attitudes of some to all.
La Primera Semana
My teacher this week is Jacquiline. There are three girls from Germany, one student from FSU working towards her master in theatre and myself. I'm not to keen on Jacqui's teaching style, although she is quite nice. Her morning lessons revolve around reading and discussing lecturas, which are basically articles from our book. She corrects our grammar as we go along, which I find helpful yet annoying. She uses the ENTIRE afternoon period (1-3PM)to play a game. So far I've played INTELECT, which is Spanish Scrabble, and TABU... taboo in spanish.
On a higher note, I learned how to sing some serenatas en mi clase de canciones and I learned how to make empanadas en mi clase de cocina. WOOT! WOOT!
¿Qué haces chica?
Mi Horario (My Schedule)
7:30AM- Me levanto y me ducho ( I wake up and shower)
8:00AM- Desayuno ( I eat breakfast)
8:15AM- Cojo el bus de Granadilla o Santa Marta. El bus de Snta. Marta cuesta 165 colones mientras el otro vale 190. (I take the Granadilla or Santa Marta bus. One costs 165 colones the other 190) Which one do you think I prefer to take? 35 cents is big money, honey.
9:00AM- Mis clases empiezan (Classes begin)
10:30-10:45AM- Pausa
10:45AM-12PM- Clases
12-1Pm- Almuerzo ( I eat lunch)
1-3PM- Clases
3-4PM- Una clase privada con Dorian
4-5PM- Una clase de baile, de cocina o de canciones ( A dance, cooking or music class)
This will be my schedule from June 30- July 10, 2008 =D I've chosen a Monday- Thursday course so I can travel during the weekends.
You have how many people in your house?!
"Somos doce." There are twelve people living in my Casa Tica. In case you're wondering, tico(a) refers to a person from Costa Rica. Diego, Ivannia, Fiorela (9) and Marcos (15) (the family), 3 teachers from Pennsylvania (3?), a Hondureño med student (2?), a Univ. of Pittsburgh student (19), a Harvard Junior (19), a senior from Cali (24) and Myself (20, for now ;-)). Monique and I are roomies for the first 2wks. 2 of the teachers have their own cabin in the backyard and there are 7 rooms within our 2 story home. Today when I arrived we danced salsa for an hour straight... I knew this house would be perfect! ha.
"There's something about this trip, Kennetra..." -G.A.S
To list all of the individuals who helped me along my journey to Costa Rica would take an entire blog in itself so I'll simply give all thanks for my GLORIOUS HEAVENLY FATHER for placing each person in my path to help me along the way. I'm constantly amazed by the way God orders my steps. He truly knows exactly where I need to be and when and He's proven that to me continuously.
-Psalm 37:23
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