For anyone who has been sending me emails to the gmail address I apologize, I had to create that address in order to start this blog and have forgotten to check it until today. I will definitely keep checking it for now on. I have pretty much gotten into a routine here and things are settling down. We have Spanish class the first few days of the week and Thursday and/or Friday we all go into San Jose for a fun-filled day for technical, cross cultural and health training. Most of the time I am in bed by 9pm and usually wake up 6-7ish in the morning.
This Thursday was pretty interesting, all 54 of us were sent into San Jose to the main police/immigration office or whatever it was to get our fingerprints taken and all kinds of other stuff to allow us to stay in Costa Rica for an extended period of time. After that we divided up into small groups and walked/took busses all around the city with our language instructors to locate important places and places of interest. I’m glad we got to do that but I definitely need more practice before I’m comfortable getting around the city on my own. After walking around the city all day many of us went to a nice little restaurant/bar on the main street to relax and share experience. After that a few of us went to Wendy’s and then eventually found our bus home.
Friday we had training all day which included even more shots and a long lectures/ slide shows about Costa Rica geography, history, and politics. We then spend at least an hour and a half learning about all the diseases we can possibly get from mosquitoes including malaria, dengue, dengue fever, and papalomollo and what to do if we think we are infected. After that we got to talk to some current volunteers for a while about their living situations and how it is adjusting to their rural sites.
After that a bunch of us from RCD went to that same pizzeria on our way home from the city… the place has reggae theme and the music/atmosphere is very chill (Bob Marley, candles made out of old Jose Cuervo bottles, incense, couches etc.) and again we were the only ones there. It looks like that might become a Friday night tradition.
Pretty early on Saturday I went with Sarah and her host brother to some “music festival” in Tres Rios (about an hour and a half away buy bus). All I knew about it was that there was supposed to be a pretty popular band for England there and we were supposed to be back by 5-6ish. (I wanted to get back for the salsa dance class at 6 in our community center... I went last weekend and it was pretty fun). After an excruciatingly long bus ride (standing room only) we finally got dropped off in some pretty remote area way up in the mountains of Tres Rios. For 500 colones each (about $1…and well worth it!) we got a ride in the back of a pickup truck for a few kilometers up this steep dirt road. We got off at the end of a long line of people waiting to get into the venue (a cow pasture). It was definitely a different crowd of people then what I have seen here so far. Most people seemed to be Caribbean with long hair/dreadlocks, tattoos etc. and I definitely didn’t fit in. We eventually made our way in and got a seat in the grass (trying to avoid cow poop). I was surprised to see a really big stage, t-shirt vendors, food vendors, and the event was sponsored by Imperial so you know what that means… I really wonder why they picked such an obscure field in the mountains for a big concert but it turned out to be really cool. Everyone who sat around us was really friendly and we even met a few other Americans here on vacation so we got to talk to someone who we could understand for a little while. The music didn’t really get started until mid afternoon and I guess was supposed to go all through the night until noon the next day, and the main band (Steel Fuse) wasn’t going in stage until 1am. Since we are not allowed to stay out anywhere over night (and didn’t even want to) at about 8:30 Sarah and I walked down to the main road and eventually caught a cab back to our town (super expensive but there were now more busses).
Yesterday afternoon (after stopping some random 9 year old kid on his bike and making him draw me a map of our town for my Spanish homework) my host brother had a BBQ outside and his girlfriend and a bunch of their friends came over and hung out for a while. The other 3 girls from my town came over too and it was pretty fun. After all my brothers friends left for another party we went over to this others persons house I don’t know and played Uno for a while.
I guess next month there is going to be a really big concert here with Incubus, Smashing Pumpkins, Duran Duran and a bunch of other bands. I know my brother plans on going and a few other PCTs so if we are still able to buy tickets that would be awesome…I still have to ask around more and find out all the details. I know a Smashing Pumpkins concert isn’t really a Peace Corps things to do haha but I want to take advantage of the leisure time I have now b/c when I get to my site I know I will have very limited opportunities to do these kinds of things.
This week is Samana Santa (a holy week here) so there is no class/training Thursday-Sunday. The busses don’t run to our town during the holiday so most people just hang out at home and eat a lot of food and stuff. My sister said something about her and her boyfriend going somewhere for one of the days (he has a car) and I was welcome to come so I might do that…I’m not really sure where/when though. Well that’s pretty much it…right now I am sitting in a stuff internet café in Desamparados (a city in between my town and San Jose) and have to catch the bus back home pretty soon. If you took the time to read this whole thing then thank you…I know it was really long. I will try to update next time I get online.
This Thursday was pretty interesting, all 54 of us were sent into San Jose to the main police/immigration office or whatever it was to get our fingerprints taken and all kinds of other stuff to allow us to stay in Costa Rica for an extended period of time. After that we divided up into small groups and walked/took busses all around the city with our language instructors to locate important places and places of interest. I’m glad we got to do that but I definitely need more practice before I’m comfortable getting around the city on my own. After walking around the city all day many of us went to a nice little restaurant/bar on the main street to relax and share experience. After that a few of us went to Wendy’s and then eventually found our bus home.
Friday we had training all day which included even more shots and a long lectures/ slide shows about Costa Rica geography, history, and politics. We then spend at least an hour and a half learning about all the diseases we can possibly get from mosquitoes including malaria, dengue, dengue fever, and papalomollo and what to do if we think we are infected. After that we got to talk to some current volunteers for a while about their living situations and how it is adjusting to their rural sites.
After that a bunch of us from RCD went to that same pizzeria on our way home from the city… the place has reggae theme and the music/atmosphere is very chill (Bob Marley, candles made out of old Jose Cuervo bottles, incense, couches etc.) and again we were the only ones there. It looks like that might become a Friday night tradition.
Pretty early on Saturday I went with Sarah and her host brother to some “music festival” in Tres Rios (about an hour and a half away buy bus). All I knew about it was that there was supposed to be a pretty popular band for England there and we were supposed to be back by 5-6ish. (I wanted to get back for the salsa dance class at 6 in our community center... I went last weekend and it was pretty fun). After an excruciatingly long bus ride (standing room only) we finally got dropped off in some pretty remote area way up in the mountains of Tres Rios. For 500 colones each (about $1…and well worth it!) we got a ride in the back of a pickup truck for a few kilometers up this steep dirt road. We got off at the end of a long line of people waiting to get into the venue (a cow pasture). It was definitely a different crowd of people then what I have seen here so far. Most people seemed to be Caribbean with long hair/dreadlocks, tattoos etc. and I definitely didn’t fit in. We eventually made our way in and got a seat in the grass (trying to avoid cow poop). I was surprised to see a really big stage, t-shirt vendors, food vendors, and the event was sponsored by Imperial so you know what that means… I really wonder why they picked such an obscure field in the mountains for a big concert but it turned out to be really cool. Everyone who sat around us was really friendly and we even met a few other Americans here on vacation so we got to talk to someone who we could understand for a little while. The music didn’t really get started until mid afternoon and I guess was supposed to go all through the night until noon the next day, and the main band (Steel Fuse) wasn’t going in stage until 1am. Since we are not allowed to stay out anywhere over night (and didn’t even want to) at about 8:30 Sarah and I walked down to the main road and eventually caught a cab back to our town (super expensive but there were now more busses).
Yesterday afternoon (after stopping some random 9 year old kid on his bike and making him draw me a map of our town for my Spanish homework) my host brother had a BBQ outside and his girlfriend and a bunch of their friends came over and hung out for a while. The other 3 girls from my town came over too and it was pretty fun. After all my brothers friends left for another party we went over to this others persons house I don’t know and played Uno for a while.
I guess next month there is going to be a really big concert here with Incubus, Smashing Pumpkins, Duran Duran and a bunch of other bands. I know my brother plans on going and a few other PCTs so if we are still able to buy tickets that would be awesome…I still have to ask around more and find out all the details. I know a Smashing Pumpkins concert isn’t really a Peace Corps things to do haha but I want to take advantage of the leisure time I have now b/c when I get to my site I know I will have very limited opportunities to do these kinds of things.
This week is Samana Santa (a holy week here) so there is no class/training Thursday-Sunday. The busses don’t run to our town during the holiday so most people just hang out at home and eat a lot of food and stuff. My sister said something about her and her boyfriend going somewhere for one of the days (he has a car) and I was welcome to come so I might do that…I’m not really sure where/when though. Well that’s pretty much it…right now I am sitting in a stuff internet café in Desamparados (a city in between my town and San Jose) and have to catch the bus back home pretty soon. If you took the time to read this whole thing then thank you…I know it was really long. I will try to update next time I get online.
4 comments:
Hi Kido, Great update.... keep them coming! We are peeking in daily... Be safe.. Mom xox :)
Heath, what does Mondoloco mean?
Sounds cool tho
Hey man sounds fun im glad you are doing well.. Ive been trying to learn spanish too, to be more like you !Mi' panalones es azul en encorpo! peace bud miss you up here!
hey dar da boomhower, you sound pretty busy man. its pretty cool to hear all the things your doing over there in Guam and all. i have spring break next week, im thinking about catching a bus ride over and hangin out for a bit....anyway have fun and waiting for a phone call...
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