Waterfalls everywhere!!!

Waterfalls everywhere!!!

Making empanadas with a women's group

Making empanadas with a women's group


Training community

Training community

My Puppies!

My Puppies!

My Training Community

My Training Community

Monday, March 10, 2008

Dos Semanas in Costa Rica

I have had an amazing time so far in Costa Rica. I will start from the beginning….
I arrived in Washington D.C. on Monday February 25 for two days of orientation before coming here to Costa Rica. Those two days were filled with meeting new friends (there are 54 of us in training together) and learning the many rules of Peace Corps as well as learning how to adapt into the Costa Rican culture. On February 27 we had to leave the hotel at 3:30 am to catch our flight to Costa Rica (and I am not a morning person)! When we arrived in Costa Rica we went straight to a retreat in the mountains outside of San Jose. It was absolutely beautiful!!! We spent four days getting to know each other and were introduced to the Peace Corps Costa Rican staff and the country director. We learned about our programs in greater detail and met a few other PC volunteers serving here in Costa Rica. We took a Spanish competency test to determine were we would be living for the next three months of training. I scored beginner mid, and I have to be intermediate mid to be able to swear in. So that means I have a lot of studying to do in these next 11 weeks. After the retreat, we all went to our training communities. I live in the most beautiful little mountain town. We have a church, soccer field, school, two small stores, a sketchy bar and a community center. My host family is absolutely wonderful. My host mother, Doris, is a homemaker, my host sisters are Maria Jose and Maria Fernando they are 14 year old twins and go to high school in the town next to ours because we do not have a high school here and my host brothers are Lucas 27 and Andres 18. Andres works in San Jose and Lucas works on the coffee plantation that we live on. Today, Lucas took me on a tour of the coffee fields, in addition coffee there is sugar cane, beans, lemon trees, banana trees and lots and lots of blackberries. My host family has 3 dogs and two one month old puppies – they are sooooo cute!! I spend most of my days in Spanish class and the other days in San Jose for technical, cross cultural and safety training. This first week at my home stay has been exhausting. Last night after training we went to a pizza/reggae place near our town with an incredible view of San Jose. We have decided to make it a Friday night ritual.
As far as food goes…. for breakfast I have gallo pinto (rice and beans) or scrambled eggs with either hotdogs or ham, for lunch I have usually have rice and potatoes or some sort of pasta dish and a salad, when I have to take my lunch with me my host mom makes me sandwiches that consist of ham, butter, mayonnaise, cheese, tomatoes and pickles (words can’t describe how I feel about these sandwiches) and for dinner I usually have spaghetti, or some sort of torillia filled with sausage, lettuce and tomato and of course it is served with rice.
So, all is well with me except that I miss everybody so much. I am keeping very busy with trying to learn Spanish and spending as much time with my host family as possible.

I really want to post some pictures but I cannot find my USB cord anywhere.