"The Injury"

“Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not 
something you do in your spare time.” ― Marian Wright Edelman

My friend and fellow volunteer shared this quote with us and I really liked it and believe it so I thought I'd share :)

The title of the post is a very funny episode of the office which kind of reminds me of the stupid stuff I do to get hurt.

Due to a recent injury to both of my hands, this post may be a little shorter. Some of you know already, but for those who do not, I am clumsy. I don't mean I bump into things and trip once in a while, I mean I outright fall, a lot, along with the tripping and bumping. So, on my run Monday I ran the vuelta in my town, about 4 miles, at mile two I was walking down a hill, figuring running down it wouldn't be my safest bet, and as a truck was driving by I fell, not hard, just enough to be completely on the ground for them to see, laugh, and wave...which I reciprocated. I thought to myself, okay Alexa, that was a warning...be careful! I was careful, I got to the soccer field and was just about to stop running when whishhhhh, I fall. I fall hard. Of course I'm not thinking of the "best falling practices" everybody tells you about, so I stick both of my hands straight out to catch me while they slam into the dirt, rock filled road, along with my knees and stomach (thankfully not my face). First thing I did? Look around to make sure nobody saw, the construction workers on the salon apparently had the day off so I was in the clear. The next thing on my mind was, dang, I can't finish my workout and now I have to walk home, hands bloody, knees sore, and hope I don't see too many people. The only person I saw was a sweet woman who didn't laugh and only said "aww pobrecita" when I didn't say anything, held up my hands, and walked away to get to washing. I thought I was tough until I got home and started telling my oldest host sister what happened and I just burst into tears and laughter at the same time. Why? I'm not sure, I think I was still shocked but knew that it was funny because, well, I fell. So after she played doctor and bandaged me all up, I went on with my day, took a nap for a couple hours (along with my host sisters and mom in the living room...I got hurt! I thought I deserved it), and after washed the cuts with this alcohol scrub that said it was for wounds....only later (and after the burning pain) did I talk to Tyson and was told I only had to use soap, great. My thumb is still pretty swollen/immobile, but that should go away within a couple days. That was my great adventure of the week! Kind of a typical day for me, but with greater consequences this time.

Thanksgiving is coming up! I cannot wait because me and a few other volunteers are going back to Uvita to celebrate, I will miss home a lot of course, but come on...I'll be at the beach, I can't complain. We are going to have a potluck, eat it all, swim, talk, do whatever, and most of all, relax. I will be sure to get some pictures of the delicious food :)

Also, since December is almost here, and that means Tamale season is coming up in my town! I hear it is just a full month of eating, fiestas, and family time, I'm really excited to see how Christmas is in Costa Rica, just livin Pura Vida.

I hope everyone is doing well! Love you and miss you all every day :) I will post a picture of my right hand below...so if you do not want to see...exit the window now :)

How crazy is it that I'm in the Peace Corps?...it has been on my mind for so many years now that sometimes it almost doesn't  feel real and I have to stop and think about what I'm doing. I am so grateful for everything that has come my way, I remember when I found out last October that I wasn't going to be going anywhere and the emotions that came with it. Then I remember when Peace Corps called me in January and told me I was going to be invited to serve somewhere in Latin America...I was in shock. I had not heard anything from Peace Corps since October, had a new job, and all of a sudden had this thrown my way. However much of a shock it was, I am very glad and forever grateful for being invited to serve in such a beautiful country, with such beautiful people and amazing volunteers. 

A lot of people thought I was crazy for joining Peace Corps and would always ask me why I would want to do this. Why would you want to volunteer for two years and not make any money? Won't it be hard being away from home for so long? The answer to these questions always came really easy to me because yes, sometimes I can be crazy, but volunteering has always been really important to me and making money hasn't and of course I miss my family every day. But these answers seem so simple to me, and I imagine to the other volunteers, but seem so foreign to others. So if some of you are still wondering why I chose to do what I am doing, this is why.

I have had a passion for volunteering since I went on my first mission trip in 9th grade. I went on one every year in high school and were some of the best times I had. However, the moment that I think really decided these two years of my life happened when I was volunteering in Argentina in 2009 with some friends and I met a little girl named Flor, my Pacific Challenge friends can attest that I was in love, and she changed my whole view on life. I wrote my Peace Corps essay about this very little 5 year old girl and I have her to thank for putting everything into perspective and helping me know what I am meant to do...for two years at least. There are many reasons she influenced me so much but I won't go into them all now, I'll just say to never underestimate what you can learn from somebody, no matter how small they are.

This is Flor! :)

So, maybe that gives you a little insight of my decision to join the Peace Corps, maybe not, either way, I am very lucky to be where I am right now. Even though I am always missing my family and friends, I really feel like this is what I am meant to be doing right now, I also think I will get pretty quick at reading and learn a few new hobbies, so that's a plus too :)

I really just want others to understand why at least one Peace Corps volunteer decided to do this. I truly believe we all have a lot we can learn from everyone we meet, I try to keep an open mind and take advantage of meeting new people anytime I can, and I try to share my experiences with others. Sharing is caring right? ;) ...That was cheesy. I hope everyone has a great night!

Hobbies

I've learned that in the Peace Corps, you need something to keep you sane, something that you are in control over, and something you enjoy. So! I have decided on a few hobbies and thought I'd share so I'll actually carry them out for the next two years (and more!)

1. Drawing- There is so much beautiful nature here, I think it'd be really cool to learn how to draw it. Even if it turns out horrible, I don't actually have to show anyone.

2. Reading more- Which I have already started doing, I am on my 6th book in two months!

3. Playing guitar- I just think it would be really relaxing once I learn a few songs...first thing first...I should buy a guitar.

4. Writing- I journal some, but I am starting to write more and more, these too may very well never be shared...but it's relaxing.

5. Yoga- Maybe I'll start with Youtube videos to learn? Or maybe another volunteer can help me out, I just know it has helped a lot of volunteers relax and stay in control of their feelings blah blah blah, but I do want to give it a try.

That's what I am going to start with! I know it's a lot but I thought posting hem on here will hold me more accountable to actually sticking to these things. I'll let you know how it works out! :) Love you all!

Busy busy busy

Good Morning everyone! You wouldn't believe how many times I've logged on in the past month, started to write a post, then decided it was just too much work. But now, with candy corn at my side and Mumford and Sons playing in the background, I feel thoroughly motivated to write this post.

The past month has been nothing short of crazy with a trip to the beach with a few friends, continuing my English classes, taking AND managing to get a 91% in a rural tourism class (taught in Spanish, thank you very much), two nocturnal tours near my town, hiking through the international park by my house, traveling to San Jose for the week, and more...but I'll stick with the most exciting things. Oh! I will not forget my new food list at the bottom, which has also been a failed attempt to keep track of, there are just too many!

About a month ago, my beautiful white Mac (RIP), died. It was a devastating loss, but gave me an excuse to visit two friends in a nearby site and make an impromptu trip to the beach. My friends are living in a town close to the border of Panama, so I managed to at least not spend double in Costa Rica and got a better deal on a PC...I won't comment on my feelings about this computer, I am still Mac bias and this computer still needs to win my love. The most important thing I bought though, was TWO boxes of cereal for a total of $4...so cheap and made the next couple weeks great for breakfast. Anyways, after getting that, we ran to the bus and caught it at the last minute to go to Uvita, a beach about 3 1/2 hours from their site. It was beautiful and I'll definitely be going back more than a few times.

The rural tourism class was also a big time taker in the last month. It was every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday for 5 hours a class, we learned a lot, played some games, had a test, and learned about tourism. Pretty self explanatory, but I am now a proud holder of a certificate from the national university for completing el curso Turismo Rural Comunitario, if anybody wants to send me graduation presents, feel free.

So skipping right on ahead to this last week, I have been in San Jose since Sunday for an All Volunteer Conference (AVC). Technically the conference didn't start until Tuesday, but when it takes you 12 hours to get to where you're going and you have a meeting Monday at 4, going pretty early is necessary (not that I'm complaining about seeing friends for an extra day). AVC was really cool, I got to meet all of the Peace Corps Costa Rica volunteers and, like always, I was really impressed. Every volunteer is completely different but I am amazed by how great each one is. There was a talent show, different training sessions (on interesting subjects), an artisan market where we could buy hand made things from the different sites, a bake sale, and "speed dating" to get to know the Peace Corps staff better. It was a quick conference, but really great. Then Wednesday night was Halloween and, not to brag, but I think Peace Corps Volunteers are pretty creative and had some fun costumes. Thursday I got my OFFICIAL Costa Rican residency card, where we had to take a picture and I may have had some smurfette blue still stuck to my face, it did not want to come off. That night we got to stay in a really nice hotel in San Jose, Austen cooked a delicious dinner for us, and we relaxed and watched TV...in English, it was a great night.

Heading back to Fila Tigre on Friday was, as always, nothing too different, the creepy old men sitting with me at lunch, then staring at me on the bus, you know, the normal occurrence. So after the 7 hours driving, I got to San Vito, where my amazing host family came to pick me up, we did some shopping, I got some mail (thanks mom and dad!), and we left just to have the car break down five minutes out of town. So after waiting two hours in the dark, we finally got a ride and made it home by 7:30, making it an 12 1/2 hour total trip for me, but totally worth it.

The past two months have flown by, and the next few are going to be just as crazy and filled up. We are hopefully making a trip back to Uvita for Thanksgiving, which I can't wait for, and we have our in service training the first week in December. Just for formality, I will say that I will try to update this more, which I do try, it just never works the way I plan. So there you go! I'll update on my life again later, I miss and love everyone tons!

Below you will find....the food list! I know it's what you all wait for the whole month...you don't have to remind me of that...

My Food Obsession Continued...

- Prestinos

- Arepas

- Homemade Tamales

- The Subway cookies when I get to go to San Jose with foodie friends

- Leche Agria (pretty much sour milk but with sugar...weird deliciousness)

- Broccoli and cauliflower, I loved it before, but now have a huge appreciation for it when I get it.

- Have I mentioned the Tilapia?

- Bread with Lizano black bean spread and cream cheese (Haley and Kyle will defend me on this one)

- Chicharrones (no matter how bad they are for you...I don't care, I will not stop)

I think that's it for now!!

Making Tamales

At the tourism fair...if you want authentic, beautiful, handmade wood furniture, I know the place!

Me and my host parents with our tourism certificates

Ice cream in san jose :) yum

happy halloween!

On a night tour...yes i am that giant in the middle

On our hike/horse ride

In La Parque Internacional La Amistad by my house :)

So I got inspired after my post today to go out on my run but take my camera so I could show pictures of how lucky I am every day on my run :)

The little chicks we're going to eat in a couple months

Fishing for our lunch in our backyard :)

Celebrating Independence Day :)

Picking Mamones with my sister

Milking another one :)

The start to my everyday run

Just one of the beautiful views I see every day running

A type of flower I like at my house :)

First Month at Site

So much for updating my blog often...turns out I'm not a very good blogger! I will try to give an overview on my past month without rambling on for too long, it's been pretty crazy!

Swearing in was on August 24 at the US Ambassador's house in San Jose, it was broadcasted live from the US Embassy's website so anyone watching could see us being sworn in and we all got to give a shout out and say something to the camera to our families watching at home. This is very neat, in theory, but not so neat when you are one of the three people who get completely cut out so the families at home miss what you say. Yes, that was me. Fortunately my dressed up self made it on camera until the Ambassador handed me my certificate but my shout out got cut out...sad news. However, I was told the camera man like me so I was shown a lot throughout the ceremony, better than nothing right?! Anyways, if you are at all curious what a Peace Corps swearing in ceremony is like, it is forever in the archives of the Costa Rican/US Embassy website. Following swearing in, most of us went to a hostel in San Jose to celebrate with many other Costa Rica volunteers, it was a fun night!

Saturday was a busy day of packing and me trying to fight off my two week long sickness. This didn't work well, I left early Sunday morning (about 5 am from my house) and started my 10 hour long trip to my site. The altitude was a horror for me because it turns out I had a very bad sinus infection and had a killing headache/toothache/earache/cough/couldn't taste until Tuesday when I finally went to the doctor in San Vito and got loaded up with medicine. Fun way to start out my service! ;)

Since then, I've been busy, not busy, stressed out, happy, sad, bored, excited...pretty much every emotion you could think of. Since arriving, I have seen 2 poisonous snake (don't worry...my host dad didn't hesitate killing them with his machete), milked FOUR cows, eaten fresh honey/raw sugar cane/cow heart/freshly made cheese/endless rice and beans/arroz con leche/miel de ayote (look it up)/freshly killed chicken/tilapia from my family's pond/and much more, all of which were delicious. I'm very lucky to have a host mom who is also an amazing cook. I have been to a bee farm, picked mamones (a delicious fruit), celebrated Costa Rica's independence day, been tormented by ants, and started english classes. I'm sure I'm forgetting some things too. It has been a crazy and great month and I am nervous/very excited to see all that is coming up.

Talking about ants, they are going to be what drives me insane. They love to show up in my computer, bed, desk, food, floor, walls...EVERYWHERE. They are so small but somehow one of the most obnoxious things I have ever had to deal with. I guess that's what I'll have to deal with living in a tropical country!

Between all of the craziness, I have been able to relax and even get back into working out. Even though I am high up in the mountains, I found a road to the next town over that is somewhat flat, so I run there almost every day, definitely a great stress reliever.

I started english classes this week, I am teaching them to the whole elementary school (about 87 students), Kindergarten through 6th grade, every monday three classes a day and Wednesday I have my kindergarten class. It is crazy and I'm not so sure about this teaching thing, but the kids are great and so excited to learn english, which all helps out a lot! My counterpart and I are also in the process of finding out ways to find funding to concrete the roads here. Hopefully that will work out soon! Everything is a lot of work but I'm eager to help out with it all and hopefully have success.

I feel like my community has accepted me pretty fast for being a gringa, I get many hugs and kisses (on the cheek) every Sunday at church and when I see community members on my walks around town. Everyone here is great, including my host family, who works so hard to make sure I feel like I'm at home.

I have gotten very lucky and even though I miss everyone from home so so much, I think I have the next best thing with my community. It is still as beautiful as ever and I can't wait to start having family and of course a certain boy come to visit. My community is excited as well :)

I will do my best to keep up with my posts, I hope everything at home is great!!!! Love you all!

 Right outside the school

 This is only about 1/4 of the road from my house to the school...

My first cow milking experience :)

La playa, tech week, and site assignment!

Hola! I have really been slacking on my post writing, sorry about that! It is mostly because we have been very busy the past couple of weeks, going to the beach (rough life huh?!), visiting a volunteer, and preparing ourselves for finding out our sites this coming Friday.

Our exciting past couple of weeks started out at the beach on a Saturday with 20 of us. Our bus left San Jose bright and early at 7am (which meant we had to leave our houses around 5 am) to go to Playa Hermosa where stayed at a great hostel called Brisa del Mar. The hostel is run by two guys and one girl from North Carolina, they are just as cool as you would expect US surfers hiding out in Costa Rica for three years, very cool. It is a surfing beach so we got to watch endless surfing, which was amazing! The waves were huge and the beach was black sand (on the Pacific side). We had beautiful weather so I was very glad we got there around 11 am to hang out at the beach all day, swim, go out to eat for dinner, and visit a local bar. We were all pretty exhausted the next day, but that didn’t stop us from getting up early and going to the beach until we had to leave to catch our bus at noon! We got back to our houses, packed for the coming week, went to bed, and caught the bus on Monday morning in San Jose at 7 am once again to start tech week.

For tech week, we were split up into four groups, with each group of 10 visiting a different volunteer in Guanacaste (the HOTTEST part we could go to). The volunteer I visited lives in a small town about 5 ½ hours from San Jose right in the mountains. Her town has 350 people and we all stayed in 10 different houses with a host family, we are really learning how to be as adaptable as possible with different families! The volunteer scheduled the entire week for us so we did not have a dull moment. A common saying here is “si Dios quiere”, which translated means “if God wants”. They use this here for everything, for example…”are you going to my English class tomorrow” and they say “si Dios quiere”. So our volunteer was constantly calling people we had meetings with to make sure “God still wanted them to go”, it is a very good thing to know for my future site! So…the week actually happened as she planned! We taught English class (speaking only in English to students who know only the basics…very hard), made jewelry with the local women’s group, taught a computer class about PowerPoint, went on a 6 hour hike, interviewed micro-entrepreneurs, chatted with the local Empresa de Credito (they give small loans to the stakeholders in the community), and celebrated the week because it was the anniversary of the annexation of Guanacaste. Anyways, that week was fun and got us very excited to find out our sites!

After tech week we were all exhausted and had a nice relaxing Sunday before starting classes again on Monday. We had a normal week until Thursday; we got it off for one of Costa Rica’s most important holiday. It is the day they celebrate the Virgin Mary, it is celebrated all over the country but it is amazing because the big festival and mass is in Cartago, the old capital of the country. People walk from all over Costa Rica to Cartago to celebrate this holiday, some walking for a month or more! A couple people in my group walked 35 miles to get there, and they said it was just torture, but a good experience. I, on the other hand, decided to not walk and hung out with some friends grilling out and watching the Olympics all day (my host family didn’t walk so I figure it gave me the right to skip out), also, I can’t go out of our communities without a host family member, so its okay ;). Even though I didn’t walk 35 miles, it was a long day and we had to get up bright and early on Friday to…find out our future sites!!!

We met Peace Corps at 7:30 in San Isidro and they had two busses to take us all to this very nice country club that had tennis courts, pools, a hot tub, soccer field, basketball courts, and probably more. Peace Corps likes to keep us hanging, so when we got there they had a map of Costa Rica and had us all stand in a big circle, we played a game where you were given an animal and you had to close your eyes, make the animal noise, and find the other people who were the same animal as you. I was a monkey, so after some searching I found three other friends who were monkeys too! It turns out, these were the volunteers we are going to be in the same area as! I was very happy because my best friend here and I are very close to each other J also, we are by three other great volunteers from our group. However, the game wasn’t over after this. We had to send up one person from each group and they blindfolded each individually and put their site on the map with a post it sticker and we had to yell and help them point to their site, then they could look. It was very nerve racking but in the end was very fun! I am going to be in Fila Tigre, Puntarenas, Costa Rica. It is in the super south zone, very very close to Panama. My town only has about 400 people, but I hear it is very beautiful! I could write a lot more about what I learned but I think I will just have to write more later when I actually go!

After all of the excitement we got to swim, eat from an awesome fruit bar, and later have a great lunch, there was chicken, steak, sausage, fried plantains, black beans, salad, potatoes, and iced tea, it was perfect. We were then taken to a hostel in San Jose where a ton of Peace Corps Costa Rica volunteers were for the night. We all hung out, got to know each other, danced, and had a great time. I also got to meet three volunteers who are very close to us in the “super sur” (super south).

As you can see, it has been a VERY exhausting few weeks, so much excitement, nervousness, and being very busy can really take a toll on you! Which is showing now because I am lacking a voice. I think it was worth the sacrifice ;) I am hoping to update this more like before so I can tell better stories! I forget things quick when there are other things constantly happening J. OH! And I of course have new food to post!! I will try to post again soon, next Thursday we are going back to the place we had orientation week to meet the person from our sites who requested to have a volunteer and then Saturday they are taking us to see our future sites and meet everyone in the town, we will all be at our sites for a week. Okay, I need to stop typing and actually post this J I hope everyone is still doing great! Like always, if you have any questions or just want to chat, let me know!

FOOD!

-       Arroz con leche (milk with rice…very good dessert)

-       Pizza bread (I know we probably have this but it is especially good here)

-       Fried yucca

-       I HAVE THE RECIPE FOR AVENA! (The drink with oatmeal I talked about in one of my posts…here it is!

o   Boiled water, powder milk to taste (more powder will make it creamier), dulce liquido de tapa (I think kind of like sugar water but sweeter, use as much as you want for how sweet you want it), and of course, oatmeal.

-       Tamal duro (like a tamale, it is a special kind from Guanacaste that is harder than regular tamales and has black bean spread and hard boiled egg inside…it is very good).

-       Corn pancake kind of thing from Guanacaste

-       I will try to write these down throughout the next week so I can remember everything…I’m pretty sure I’m missing some!

Wow I wrote a lot…sorry for any typos, I didn’t really proof read this one! J The pics above are at Playa Hermosa, a long hike we went on, and me and my friend pointing to our sites on the Costa Rica map :) Hope to talk to you all soon!