My 6th Week!

Me with Claire's new puppy, thought you could use a picture of a cute dog :) How cute is she?! Her name is Lunita (little moon in Spanish)

 This is my great little town that I live in :)

Hello again! I hope everyone’s weeks were great…mine was nice and busy. It was our last week with our current Spanish teachers so my Spanish class of five made our teacher a couple cards (decked out with Spongebob…she is the biggest fan in the world, and no she is not 10. She is 25.). She loved the cards and was sad to go, but Monday we start another new adventure with a new teacher! I hear she gives a lot more homework…so I will be in my room even more…my host family already thinks that homework rules my life, which is probably true, PC is not shy about giving homework ;).

This week we had class on Saturday from 8-3 in San Jose, so that meant another 5:45 morning to get there in time! But it was actually very fun, I think I mentioned last week that we were going to have a project fair, so that is what was going on yesterday. I learned so much about volunteer’s projects and got to talk to a lot of cool people. It is amazing how much some volunteers have already done! From bio digesters to starting recycling centers to coaching businesses, the things we can do are endless! We also got to talk to the volunteers in small groups and ask them about their projects, their service, and anything else we were wondering. It was super helpful, because I can’t speak for everyone else, but I’m pretty sure we could ask questions all day…there are so many unknown things coming our way!

After the project fair, me and about 8 other people, RAN to a bus station across San Jose to buy our bus tickets for…wait for it…THE BEACH! We get to go this coming Saturday and I can’t wait! We are going to Playa Hermosa with 22 of us; it should be a great time. So we were running across San Jose during our hour lunch break and barely made it back in time by one…and we were really running. It was probably the hottest many of us have been here. I’m sure my face was just beat red for all of the committee fair. So that leads me to the next part of the day, the committee fair. This was where volunteers who are in certain committees just talked about what they do to see if we wanted to join anything. Some of the committees were the VAC Committee, the diversity committee, resource committee, eco committee, and many more. Me and some friends joined the resource committee…and I’m not sure all that it entails but it should be a good way to get to travel to San Jose every few months, meet new volunteers, and hang out at the Peace Corps office helping out. I am also interested in the VAC Committee (one person represents every region in Costa Rica, they are elected, and this committee plans lots of the fun events) and I also think the eco committee would be great. I have too much I want to do!

So after our long day, we went with a lot of current volunteers to a restaurant in San Jose and hung out for a while just talking more about their service and getting to know everyone. It was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to get to know more volunteers, they are all so impressive!

Today will be interesting; it is the birthday party of the nephew of my family here who turned 3 this past week. He is very cute, but I hear about 60 people got invited to our house, which is not exactly big enough for 60. I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun and craziness with a lot of little kids! However, the house smells amazing because of the food my host mom is making, so I am very excited for that (I will have to do my weekly food list after the party so I can add some new things on there from today!).

This coming week is a pretty normal one, with the exception of the beach on Saturday, so hopefully I’ll have some good stories for next week! I am sorry for those of you who want to Skype! With my slow Internet, it is hard to fit it in sometimes, since I have to go to San Isidro to Skype. Tyson, my mom, dad, and Dana have been very patient with taking my ‘word’ for being able to Skype…it doesn’t always work out like I’d hope and they are all very understanding, I’m so lucky J. I’m really hoping that after swearing in (in almost a month!!!!!!) that I will be able to buy better Internet (because I’ll be a resident of Costa Rica, with a id card and everything! J). Once again, I’m missing everyone from home all the time and I would love to hear how everything is going! I have been gone almost two months…how crazy is that?! I hope everyone’s weeks go great! Love you all!

Birthday Week

This last week was busy with projects, Spanish classes, continuous training that is probably going to be the end of me, and perhaps most exciting, my birthday! Not only was it my birthday but my friend Stephen has the same birthday and another friend’s birthday was the week before. I haven’t talked about my new friends yet, but they are awesome. Not only are they fun, but they are some of the most thoughtful people I have ever met. I am very lucky to be training with these people; they are also all very impressive; they have all done amazing things in regards to traveling, volunteering, work, and school. We represent almost half of the states in the US, from the east coast to the west, we have people from all areas.

For our birthdays, our friends decided to throw us a joint surprise birthday party, and it was amazing. They somehow kept it a secret, at least from me, and surprised us with almost our whole group being there, great food, homemade cake (thanks to Haley and Eric), and music. It was a very fun time and after the party we went to a local dance for the 106^th anniversary of San Isidro (a training community we’re in). As I mentioned in the last post, we do try our very best to dance like Ticos, some succeed and some (me) don’t. However, I have to say, I think I am improving a little bit, maybe it’s just in my head and I’m just getting more confident, either way works for me. The dance was very fun and the night went by very quickly, I have to admit, it was a great Costa Rican birthday and I am very lucky to have such great friends. I did miss being home on the lake though, and my dad and Dana rubbed it in a little when they called from the middle of Gull Lake, but I’m glad they got to enjoy it for me. As jealous as I was, I’m glad it was nice out so they could have fun, summer in Brainerd really is great. Tyson also rubbed in his July 7^th breakfast he WOULD have made for me (juevos rancheros) if I were home, but instead I got a picture, and it looked amazing, it was torture. Tyson, you’re going to have a lot of cooking to make up for when I visit/when I come home ;).

This next week is our 6^th week here! I cannot believe it has already been that long; the time has flown by so far. In just 6 more weeks I will be traveling to my future home for the next two years. We find out our future sites on August 3, so I am getting very excited for that! This week isn’t too exciting; we have A LOT of projects due on Tuesday so it will be nice to get those out of the way. Saturday we have a project fair, where current volunteers come to San Jose and show off what they are doing to give us ideas of what we might want to do in our communities. I am excited to see all of the different projects, because even though my project is CED, I will be able to do secondary projects not related to business. Some secondary projects that CED volunteers do are teaching English classes, starting a Tilapia pond for local families, starting yoga/Pilates/workout classes for the community, having a women’s group, starting soccer teams, and much more. The possibilities really are endless and I am so excited to see what kinds of projects I will have. If anyone has a good idea, I’m open to hear them, I want to do as much as possible! I am also very excited to show those of you who are going to be visiting me, what I am doing. Be prepared to work with me at least a day or two J.

Well, I think that’s all for now, I will of course add some new foods I’m loving at the end because that is, of course, the most important part. I miss you all! Remember, I’m open to calls and visits at any time J (okay, maybe no visits yeeettt).

-       Tres Leches Cake

-       Lentil Soup my host mom makes

-       Horneadas con Dulce de Leche (okay…anything with dulce de leche really)

-       Vegetables (I am really…really savoring when I get a good veggie, since we do not have many here. Don’t take that easily accessible healthy goodness for granted!)

Oh! Also, my host sister is a great boost to my drawing confidence that probably shouldn’t be encouraged. I’m not sure if you know, but I am not very artistic, and Angelica and I were drawing today and she said I am a great artist. I drew a very nice car driving on a road in the mountains, with a house in front and two stick people standing by a rabbit looking dog. I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I have to say that was at least as good of work as a 5^th grader ;). She needs to not compliment my drawing skills, because the world can only take so many of my stick people.

Love you all!

Me and some of my friends who came to the surprise party :)

Finally my first post! It has been a crazy first month with bad Internet, too much homework, and too much good new food to eat with new friends! Food does seem to be the center of the culture in Costa Rica and Ticos (Costa Ricans) are not afraid of their carbs. Most of you probably know that I love food, so I have been trying anything and everything here, don’t doubt that there will be a list of great foods at the end of this post. As much as I love my carbs, a plate full of white rice and spaghetti is pushing it just a little. This is the norm in my house here, but I have learned that in fact I do not have to eat the pound of each they give me, it is acceptable to say I am full, thankfully. However, between all of that, there are some amazing things I have had here and I am no stranger to all of the empanadas available, that’s for sure. I would also like to add that while writing this, I am eating my favorite ice cream of all time, it’s called Trits and is heaven. It is a sugar cookie/graham cracker type cookie on the bottom with soft ice cream and a little fudge in the middle with another cookie on top…please just try to tell me that doesn’t sound like complete happiness.

So it turns out, there is more than food to talk about in this post. We started out our Peace Corps adventure in Washington DC for our staging event where we all had a great last meal, visited the white house, and got about 1 ½ hours of sleep before we had to leave the hotel at 2:30 am to take off for the airport. The flight went well and before we knew it, we were in Tres Rios, Costa Rica for orientation week. We were at an old monastery, which was actually very beautiful. We were eased in to Costa Rica by sharing rooms, having semi-warm showers, and great meals. The week was busy and fun, they really did cram in all of the training they could in regards to safety, security, Spanish testing, and much much more. The week went by quickly and before we knew it was Friday and we were saying goodbye (until Monday) to our new friends to meet and start living with our host families.

My host family in Santa Cecelia is very young, my host mom Guinnina is only 30, her husband Edward is 31 and they have a 9-year-old daughter name Angelica. It was very overwhelming being thrown into this brand new environment, and still is, but I like to think I’m improving with my Spanish being here because my host family speaks…fast, to say the least. So the training was started…the next few weeks were full of Spanish classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Community Economic Development (CED) training Tuesdays in San Isidro, and Tech training in San Jose on Thursdays. This is our regular schedule, which is exhausting, but it’s nice to be able to see friends everyday and start learning about things we could be doing for the next two years! One of those things is working with Junior Achievement teaching a 5^th grade class with one other girl. We have 6 classes with them teaching about the organization of businesses, marketing, advertising, and more. It is fun, but definitely challenging to get 5^th graders interested.

Side note…I did get a cell phone, so if anyone would like my number, just ask! (Or else ask any of my family members).

Another other fun thing we did was going to a town baile (town dance…in Costa Rica…where they start dancing when they are babies), it was very fun and we are very American, but we try to dance like them as much as we can! Today we are all just getting back from visiting a volunteer at their site, I got to visit my Peace Corps mentor in Pacayitas, it is about a three hour bus ride from San Jose, in the middle of nowhere in the mountains, and absolutely beautiful. The only way there is on a dirt road winding its way through the mountains until you reach this little town. There is not much there, a couple Quesaras (where they make cheese), two small supermarkets, and some Fincas (farms), but it was a lot of fun. Friday night Audrey (my mentor) took me to a party/bbq at her neighbors where a world teach volunteer lives and we hung out with a couple peace corps volunteers and some locals while we ate fresh Chicharrones. They had just killed the pig, so they were about as fresh as ever! The next day we went to the pool, which overlooked all of the mountains and was beautiful, and we rode horses through the mountains. Sunday, we rode with Audrey’s host dad, brother, and friends, to a river where we swam and relaxed and later hiked up a different river to a waterfall. That night we had fresh Tilapia and too many good desserts that the host mom made us.

It has been quite an adventure already! I am exhausted all of the time and always have endless homework and things I want to do, but it is all worth it. It’s hard to believe I’m actually living in Costa Rica; I am very lucky! I miss my family, friends, and of course Tyson a ton, but I can’t wait for the visits to start! I would like to throw in that two of my best friends also got engaged this last week…so congrats to Nicole and Vinnie!!! I will try to update this more so the next one doesn’t take up your whole week. I hope everyone is doing great and I hope to talk soon! J

Alexa’s favorite Costa Rican foods so far:

-       Fried plantains

-       Endless avocado

-       Empanadas

-       Picadillo de platano

-       Avena (look it up…so good!)

-       Fresh Tilapia

-       Trits (of course)

-       Homemade tortillas
-       All of the crazy different kinds of fruit

My favorite ice cream :) Takes too long to upload photos so I thought I'd add the most important ;) i'll add more later!