Hola todas personas de los Estados Unidios! Me desculpa para no escrito en mi blog aún! Hello family and friends in the United States, I apologize for not writing on my blog sooner, but my schedule has been very busy and the internet connection has been sparse. “Pelo de Gato” in Spanish literally means “hair of cat” which is slang in Costa Rica for sprinkling rain. I thought that was interesting. There are many slang words in CR, but I digress…. Here is a brief synopsis of my trip thus far:
Last Tuesday, the whole Peace Corps group (we call ourselves Tico 21, tico is slang in Spanish for a Costa Rican person) arrived in the beautiful, very green country of Costa Rica. Altogether there are 45 volunteers in Tico 21, 17 are doing my project (community economic development) and the rest (28) are doing the TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) project. The group is a very diverse, well-educated and culturally-smart people. The majority of the group has studied abroad and has been all over the world. Some people were even born in different countries. One guy in my project was born in the Dominican Republic and lived five years in the DR because his father country director in the DR for the Peace Corps. His dad was also the country director in Peru. His name is Maurice. The language proficiency in our group are across the board. There are some native Spanish speakers that are completely fluent and there are some who only know “hola” and “adios,” in other words, they are low-novice speakers. Brad, a 52 year-old man who recently retired from his job as an executive at sun microsystems, knows very little Spanish. He is a great guy though, and will learn with time. I tested at an intermediate low level. I was happy, I thought I would be novice high. Intermediate-low level means I am able to handle successfully a limited number of uncomplicated communicative tasks by creating the language in straightforward social situations. The hometowns are spread throughout all of the United States with the highest concentration on the coast. There are many people from California on the west coast and Connecticut, New York and Mass on the east coast. I am the only Minnesotan (and proud of it! When I introduced myself, I said “my name is Elliot and I am from Minesoooooooota.” The group found that funny!). There are a few people from Iowa and one person from Wisconsin, which seriously bothers me (jk they are good people). Actually, all the people I have met in Tico 21 are seriously genuine, hard-working people, and I am lucky and blessed to be a part of such a benevolent group.
We arrived at Juan Santamaría international airport, our country director was waiting for us outside the walkway to get off the plane. His name is Steve Dorsey. Steve is the man! And in case you are reading this Steve, I actually mean that! Steve took all 45 of us to a large bus and we loaded all of our luggage into a luggage truck (there was a lot of luggage, I probably could have packed a bit lighter but many others packed more than me!). We drove about 45 minutes through San Jose (the capital) to our retreat area in the mountains above San Jose. It was a beautiful place overlooking the city. Surprisingly, it was very cold in the mountains, similar the fall weather right now in Minnesota. The retreat was 4 days long. It was designed so that Tico 21ers could meet each other and the PC staff in Costa Rica; learn the basic objectives of PC Costa Rica; take diagnostic Spanish tests so the PC staff could decide our language proficiency (our training site/city was determined by our language level); finally, go over basic medical and safety issues. The retreat was very well-organized and the staff did a great job teaching us much information in a short period of time. The majority of the staff are ticos or ticas that are fluent in English. Many staff members have studied in the United States. Our training director, María who one of the best teachers I have known, went to college at Ohio University (she always said Go Bobcats!). Another interesting tidbit is one of my fellow tico 21ers (Dorian) just graduated from Gonzaga University in Spokane. He is also a basketball fan and remembers when we played them a few years ago. He is a really cool dude. There are others but for the sake of brevity, I will save them for a later date. I really enjoyed the time at the retreat, I met many great people that will continue to be my friends for years to come.
The last day of our retreat (Friday), our PC staff told us where we will be training and living for the next 10 weeks. They grouped the Tico 21ers by the language proficiency. I am with other intermediates. It included a picture and name of my host family. My family is “La familia de Otrego Hidalgo” from the town of San Gabriel. I moved in with them on Saturday and will be living here the next ten weeks. The father is named Mario and the mother is named Rosita. They have five children: the oldest is Eduardo (male) he is 31 years old, he works for scotiabank in San Jose (I think he is a loan officer, I don’t know for sure though); the second oldest is Jose (I think he is 30), he works for Clorax in San Jose (His shirt when he came home said “product supply” as his job title); the third oldest is Yensi (female), she is 28 years old and works for the only doctor in town (I am not exactly sure what she does, she might just assist him in the clinic. She works a lot, even on weekends. I asked her about their healthcare system, and the doctors are paid a salary by the government. I think it is free to everyone, I couldn’t understand what she was saying too well.); the fourth oldest is María, she is 27 years old. I am not exactly sure what she does but she works a lot too; the youngest or what I call him “el bebe” is Alan, he is 21 years old and is still in school. Eduardo is the only one who speaks English and it is very limited. I probably know more Spanish right now than he knows English which is not too much. I am happy that I am forced to use Spanish to talk to them. I have no trouble saying what I want to say or asking questions to my host family but it is hard for me to understand them because they talk soooo fast! All the children still live in the house besides the second oldest who lives right next door with his wife and son. It surprised me but apparently it is not uncommon for children to live with their parents through their thirties in Costa Rica (get ready Dad and Mom!!!!). None are married besides Jose. Alan has a girlfriend named Rosita. Oh yeah, Mario, el padre, owns a pulpería (which is similar to a Wal-Mart but on a much, much smaller scale) and also they have some land which they grow coffee (we are very close to harvest season for coffee, I was told just a couple more weeks. The flower needs to become bright red then it is ready!), bananas, jocota (which is like a little mango), limes and other fruits which I cannot recall their names. One is similar to a squash. It is not much land, I think a couple acres.
The house is small yet quaint. My room is about 12X7 feet. Surprisingly, the bed fits me. I was worried because the bed at the retreat was way too small and I to curl-up in a ball every night. It is something small, but I am VERY thankful to have a bed that fits my lanky body. They have some amenities an American house contains; refrigerator, electric stove and oven, microwave, television, and sound system. The shower, surprisingly, has tepid water (at the retreat the showers were ICE cold and were told most houses only have cold water). There is not internet at the house and it is about a twenty minute walk to the closest internet café. It definitely does not have all the amenities that an American house contains, but the family is very, very close and love each other very much and that is something more material items cannot buy. They call me “su hermano nuevo” or “their new brother (or sibling).” They are all very nice people and think of me as one of them (or that is what I think). They are fascinated by my height because most ticos are really short. They think it is funny that I have to duck when I walk under door frames. I say “alto no es todo” which means “tall is not all” and tell them that is a quote from grandma. Thanks grandma J! I am blessed to be with such a nice family.
Speaking of being blessed, I decided to go to church with them today. The majority of the people in Costa Rica are Catholic. In the town of San Gabriel, most of the people are Catholic. However, my host family is “christiano” or “Christian.” They do not have a specific name for their denomination but it focuses more on “la palabra de Dios,” the word of God rather than saints or the Virgin Mary. The closest denomination I can compare it to is Southern Baptist. Everyone is singing, putting their hands in the air, closing their eyes, yelling random words during the ENTIRE service (“por a dios” was popular), crying, etc. The pastor pretty much screams the whole sermon. The pastor spoke very, very, very fast. I only caught a few words, it was hard for me to understand. During the service, I was mentioned several times being the only “gringo” or American in the Church. There were probably 30 to 40 people crammed into this small church. The pastor asked me to come to the front of the church. He placed his hand on me and then proceeded pray for me. I think for my safety in the upcoming weeks, but it was very fiery. I felt compelled to do something when he was praying so I raised my hands as high as I could over my head and closed my eyes. I probably looked like a fool, but I didn’t know what else to do. I think that gained the affection of the crowd because after the service everyone wanted to talk including the pastor. The pastor was a nice man and spoke broken English. He told me he had lived in the United States for 6 months, in Savannah, Georgia. He went for a pastor conference. I think the conference was to learn the art of proselytizing, I am not sure though. He invited me to his house for coffee sometime and I might have to accept his offer.
The rest of Sunday, Eduardo showed me around San Gabriel. The community is small probably about 1,000 to 1,500 people, I am not sure. It is about 24 KM from San Jose. The rest of the CED volunteer are spread throughout four communities, all the communities are close to one another. Tomorrow (Monday) I will start Spanish classes in San Gabriel (there are 4 other PCVs in San Gabriel and the Spanish class will be here). Spanish classes will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The rest of the CED volunteers will have Spanish classes in their communities (Tarbaca, Acosta, Vuelta de Jorca). On Tuesday and Thursday, the whole group will rendezvous in Tarbaca (which is closest city to San Jose probably 18 km away). These classes will be on topics relevant to the whole group (technical training, safety and security, and health). It will be nice to see everyone on those days.
Well, it is getting late and I must go to bed soon. I miss you all very much and think about you often. Thank you to all my family and friends who wrote such wonderful and beautiful words in the memory book. I am so lucky to have my family and friends. And a BIG THANKS to Maisie for putting the book together, it took her many hours. I couldn’t be more blessed! Even though I am 2000 miles away, I will never forget my roots and where I came from. I called upon my peers to do the same in a group reflection: we are off on a new, exciting journey in a new land with genuine people that is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us, but never forget your roots that made you into the person you are today!
Photos to come! I hope all is well with everyone. PURA VIDA!
Elliot
