July 21st, 2010
Sunday was our last day off in Las Brisas, and Morgan, Dan, and I had planned on going to he plaza de futbol to play some frisbee with the rest of the group at eleven. I woke up around nine and Natalia came in my room asking to see my dictionary. They asked me if I wanted to go to the swimming pools or the zoo, and I said the zoo. So we drove a couple towns over and went to the zoo. See pictures. After the zoo we went to this river and had a picnic there. We had hamburger, potatoes, chips, rice, and beans.
When we got home it was round three, and I took a nap until around six cause I was so tired. The rest of the day was pretty chill.
Monday was our last day of work, and also the first day back at school for the kids since they had their two week break. They have a ton of recesses, so we had a lot of chances to chill with them. We still needed to move some dirt, and other people worked on the mural. At the ened of the school day we got the chance to tutor. Me, Ely, Sarah C., and Hannah went into a first grade classroom and went over some English phrases with them. We then played a round of duck duck goose, but then the bell rang signaling dismissal.
At seven we all met at the plaza de futbol for some disco [frisbee]. Caitlin and I did a workout. I did a pushup, half of another one, and then promptly did a face plant into the grass. We also played a game of soccer, but of course we were no good at it.
jeudi 1 décembre 2011
Limbo/Chief Dirty Donk
July 17th, 2010
I think I had more fun tonight than I did any other night. We worked from eight until two even though it's Saturday, so we could get more accomplished since we only have two working days left. I ended up shoveling dirt and cleaning up the school for when the kids come back on Monday. Oh, we also moved all of the blocks...for the third or fourth time.
As work was ending everybody was talking about going to Nora's because apparently that's what was decided as today's activity yesterday. I wasn't informed of this but I was like alright that's chill. So all eleven of us (Julia is sick and Sarah C. didn't want to come) piled into the back of the pickup. Five people got out at Michelle's house, while the rest of us headed to Nora's. We chilled for a little bit and the crew of five joined us, and we had a ton of food. There was tortillas with grilled chicken and beef, fruit loops, crackers, and marshmallows with sweetened condensed milk on them covered in coconut. I had like a bajillion of those.
We made friendship bracelets with the kit Nora gave her little sister Kimberly. Kim and her friend Yasmine made us all bracelets, and then Sarah McDonagh made us woven ones with colors of our choice. I was then questioned heavily on horseback riding, because Matt said it wasn't a sport so I had to argue. Then he wanted to know what a competition is like and a whole ton of other stuff, and yada yada yada.
After that we all went to the garage to dance, and a limbo competition was started. I didn't think I was going to be that good but I surprised myself. It was clear that the three best people were me, Dan, and Karchye. We took the little kids on our backs and went under the bar with them, which they absolutely loved. Kerry took Morgan on his back and started bucking around. You really had to be there but it was wicked funny.
After that was through we had a legit competition between the top three. Karchye was first, I came in second, and Dan came in third. We're all pretty beast at it. After Nora's house we all piled into Marc and Caitlin's car and they dropped us off at our houses. Dan and I went to Morgan's house and watched some family guy that Marc and Caitlin let us borrow.
After that we went home, and now the day is done. I've gained at least ten pounds from this trip. I was going to say something else, but now I forget. Oh well. Got em. Dan and I keep wearing our Special Olympic shirts on the same days. Today was one of those days, and Marc wore his bright green shirt today too, so we all matched. How cute.
Apparently it's been decided that I have the best last name out of the bunch. I said I don't really like it, that it's nothing special, but Marc said I sound like a badass GI Joe. So now all the guys call me Smallridge in this intense army tone. It's pretty sick.
A couple of days ago Marc fell face first into a trench that was only like a foot and a half wide while trying to dig out the dirt so they could pour cement into the column. I had to help him out, and then he said beanstalk had to get in there and finish scooping the dirt out. That's me. Kerry helped grab the bucket when it was full and dump it someplace else, so we go tot talk a lot during that. because the trench was so small and there was dirt on one side only, my boob ended up getting dirty. Just my boob. So Morgan came up with the nickname of Chief Brown Boob. Also, when I was climbing out of the trench my butt got dirty, so Kerry came up with Chief Dirty Donk. I still like GI Joe Smallridge the best.
I think I had more fun tonight than I did any other night. We worked from eight until two even though it's Saturday, so we could get more accomplished since we only have two working days left. I ended up shoveling dirt and cleaning up the school for when the kids come back on Monday. Oh, we also moved all of the blocks...for the third or fourth time.
As work was ending everybody was talking about going to Nora's because apparently that's what was decided as today's activity yesterday. I wasn't informed of this but I was like alright that's chill. So all eleven of us (Julia is sick and Sarah C. didn't want to come) piled into the back of the pickup. Five people got out at Michelle's house, while the rest of us headed to Nora's. We chilled for a little bit and the crew of five joined us, and we had a ton of food. There was tortillas with grilled chicken and beef, fruit loops, crackers, and marshmallows with sweetened condensed milk on them covered in coconut. I had like a bajillion of those.
We made friendship bracelets with the kit Nora gave her little sister Kimberly. Kim and her friend Yasmine made us all bracelets, and then Sarah McDonagh made us woven ones with colors of our choice. I was then questioned heavily on horseback riding, because Matt said it wasn't a sport so I had to argue. Then he wanted to know what a competition is like and a whole ton of other stuff, and yada yada yada.
After that we all went to the garage to dance, and a limbo competition was started. I didn't think I was going to be that good but I surprised myself. It was clear that the three best people were me, Dan, and Karchye. We took the little kids on our backs and went under the bar with them, which they absolutely loved. Kerry took Morgan on his back and started bucking around. You really had to be there but it was wicked funny.
After that was through we had a legit competition between the top three. Karchye was first, I came in second, and Dan came in third. We're all pretty beast at it. After Nora's house we all piled into Marc and Caitlin's car and they dropped us off at our houses. Dan and I went to Morgan's house and watched some family guy that Marc and Caitlin let us borrow.
After that we went home, and now the day is done. I've gained at least ten pounds from this trip. I was going to say something else, but now I forget. Oh well. Got em. Dan and I keep wearing our Special Olympic shirts on the same days. Today was one of those days, and Marc wore his bright green shirt today too, so we all matched. How cute.
Apparently it's been decided that I have the best last name out of the bunch. I said I don't really like it, that it's nothing special, but Marc said I sound like a badass GI Joe. So now all the guys call me Smallridge in this intense army tone. It's pretty sick.
A couple of days ago Marc fell face first into a trench that was only like a foot and a half wide while trying to dig out the dirt so they could pour cement into the column. I had to help him out, and then he said beanstalk had to get in there and finish scooping the dirt out. That's me. Kerry helped grab the bucket when it was full and dump it someplace else, so we go tot talk a lot during that. because the trench was so small and there was dirt on one side only, my boob ended up getting dirty. Just my boob. So Morgan came up with the nickname of Chief Brown Boob. Also, when I was climbing out of the trench my butt got dirty, so Kerry came up with Chief Dirty Donk. I still like GI Joe Smallridge the best.
Rip off your sleeves and get jacked up cause it's Friday, bitches!
July 16th, 2010
We just had our last dinner as a group at the pizzeria, which is only a couple of houses down from my house. Two nights ago Caitlin and Marc had to go around to all of the houses and give host families money and make sure our living situations were up to par. Ely was the only one left after me, so she came in and my mom made tortillas with sour cream. She also made unfrosted cupcakes and coffee.
Rip off your sleeves and get jacked up cause it's Friday, bitches! -Marc.
Work is continuing like normal, with the ramp being made against the wall, the last bit of cement being made and poured, and the start of the mural being done. We decided to do important monuments around the world, and the mural is pretty beast. Last night, Kerry and Matt picked me up and we walked to Morgan's, but then we left and went to Hannah's where they were having a cake baking party. Chocolate.
We just had our last dinner as a group at the pizzeria, which is only a couple of houses down from my house. Two nights ago Caitlin and Marc had to go around to all of the houses and give host families money and make sure our living situations were up to par. Ely was the only one left after me, so she came in and my mom made tortillas with sour cream. She also made unfrosted cupcakes and coffee.
Rip off your sleeves and get jacked up cause it's Friday, bitches! -Marc.
Work is continuing like normal, with the ramp being made against the wall, the last bit of cement being made and poured, and the start of the mural being done. We decided to do important monuments around the world, and the mural is pretty beast. Last night, Kerry and Matt picked me up and we walked to Morgan's, but then we left and went to Hannah's where they were having a cake baking party. Chocolate.
Shoes/Work Day
July 13th, 2010
If you are not wearing shoes, you must be cold. I have gotten yelled at numerous time sby numerous people for not wearing shoes around the house because I didn't want to track dirt in, so I took them off, and mi madre insisted that I keep them on. So I got dirt all over the house, but apparently they like cleaning up after you here. I don't think they understand that for Americans it is more comfortable for us to go barefoot instead of keeping on our stupid shoes.
Anyway, today we got back to work. Monica and a couple of her friends came and helped us out around nine. The first part we had to do was move the rest of the huge pile of cinder blocks down to where the wall was. People kept stopping and I got pissed, so I used that anger to carry more blocks. Karchye told me I was a beast. One dude came up to us in a pick up truck and asked us if we wanted to load the blocks in his care and move them from there. We accepted, and got an hours worth of work doen in fifteen minutes, which was extremely helpful.
After that, we had to start digging the dirt back next to the wall so it wouldn't wobble and would stay in place. Michelle and I worked as a team, and it was a lot of fun, for lack of a better adjective. After lunch the rain stopped our work, so we played mafia.
If you are not wearing shoes, you must be cold. I have gotten yelled at numerous time sby numerous people for not wearing shoes around the house because I didn't want to track dirt in, so I took them off, and mi madre insisted that I keep them on. So I got dirt all over the house, but apparently they like cleaning up after you here. I don't think they understand that for Americans it is more comfortable for us to go barefoot instead of keeping on our stupid shoes.
Anyway, today we got back to work. Monica and a couple of her friends came and helped us out around nine. The first part we had to do was move the rest of the huge pile of cinder blocks down to where the wall was. People kept stopping and I got pissed, so I used that anger to carry more blocks. Karchye told me I was a beast. One dude came up to us in a pick up truck and asked us if we wanted to load the blocks in his care and move them from there. We accepted, and got an hours worth of work doen in fifteen minutes, which was extremely helpful.
After that, we had to start digging the dirt back next to the wall so it wouldn't wobble and would stay in place. Michelle and I worked as a team, and it was a lot of fun, for lack of a better adjective. After lunch the rain stopped our work, so we played mafia.
Costa Rican Clubbing/Volcano Hot Springs
July 12th, 2010
We got a cement mixer! The back of the school is all cleaned up and the cement mixer is really nice because it speeds up the process by quadruple fold. Tomorrow I think we start laying blocks and outlining the mural.
We were able to take Saturday completely off which was really nice since we've been working our butts off the past week. It gave us time to spend with our families and get to know them better. I woke up around nine thirty, and explaining the Smallridge Sleeping Genes wasn't exactly easy to do in Spanish. I just realized I left one of my water bottles at the hotel. Shiz. Oh well. Shiz! Anyway. The family had some friends over and me, Natalia, and Tatiana headed over to Zarcero to check out the park.
It was a park right in the middle of the city and it had a church surrounded by tons of shrubs that were cut into shapes and animals like dinosaurs and giraffes. I got a coffee flavored ice cream and almost died. When we got back we chilled with the family friends some more and Natalia painted my nails. I was bored so I put some designs on them in white. Everybody thought it was kind of weird because apparently they don't do that here.
All week they've been asking me if I like to dance and if I like to salsa. I said I like to dance and told them about the salsa class we took in San Jose. They asked me if I wanted to go dancing Saturday night. I said I'd love to, especially after hearing stories about Julia and Morgan going dancing with their sisters. Olga called up Caitlin and asked if I could go, and she said yes. We headed into Zarcero and picked up my cousin and her boyfriend then proceeded to go to a bar for dinner. We had chicken with mashed potatoes and tortilla chips and coke. After we left there around ten we drove to the mall. We met two of Monica and Natalia's friends there and apparently they said the dancing there was bad, so we left. We then kept stopping at places that looked like dance places, but none of them were very busy.
We finally pull up to one over an hour away from Las Brisas and decide to go in here. We walk in and I"m expecting this mellow salsa place. It's not. This is a full blown frickin night club There's a bar on one end, dancers on the other, and no room to move. It was so sick cause you don't get to do that in the states when you're my age. Well, you can't exactly do that in Costa Rica when you're sixteen either. The bouncer asked if I was with my sisters. When they said yes, the bouncer said I couldn't go in because I wasn't eighteen. My sisters explained I was from the USA, and there the drinking age is 16, so it was okay for me to go in! THE BOUNCER LET ME IN.
We start to chill there and dance and such, when I have to do a double take because I could have sworn I saw someone I knew from school. It obviously wasn't. But it was a guy who looked very similar, just like 2819472910 times cuter. He looks up, we make eye contact, and he does the guy nod thing. He's across the room and in his group so whatever, I turn my back and keep dancing About an hour later I notice he's moved to the group next to us, which was kind of funny. He eventually moved into our group, and was asking Monica about me. We ended up dancing and it was a ton of fun, bu then it got to be around 2am so we had to leave. He tried to convince Monica to let me stay but then she explained I had to be up at six the next morning. Anyway it was a fun time, and I definitely want to go back.
I got home at three and got about three and a half hours of sleep, and then we left for La Fortuna. We arrive at our hotel and it is wicked hot outside. It's nice and cool in Las Brisas because we're in the mountains, but this was a different situation entirely. We get in our room, turn the AC on, and are given four hours to do nothing. We had a peeling party because otherwise I would have had to wear clothes in the hot springs, which would not have been very fun. I really need more songs on my iPod. During the peeling party Joprah gave relationship advice, which was really helpful for all of us.
At five we left for the hot springs, which were absolutely amazing. There were different temperatures of the pools, and there were like twenty pools or something. They were all naturally heated by the volcano we were at. We also had dinner there, and it was a buffet. Ranch potatoes? Hell. Yes. We ended up splitting into groups at the springs. My group was me, Michelle, Hannah, Dan, and Ely, which was really nice because we're fairly quiet and all really chill.
We went on the water slides there too. There were three different ones, and Dan was the guinea pig for al lof them. The first was extremely violent. It jostled you around and you ended up banging your head on the slide. It was covered so you couldn't see and at one point you weren't even touching the slide because the drop was so steep. It also made you go really fast so it didn't seem like it was supposed to be over when it was, so I ended up getting a ton of water up my nose when it threw me into the pool. The second slide was pathetic. You stopped at several different points, and had to push yourself along to keep going. At the end you weren't dumped into the pool but had to scooch yourself out on your own. The third one was really short and open, and was a level down from the other two. At the end it had a huge drop.
After the slides the five of us found a good spring and just stayed there until ten, which is when we had to leave. We gott back to the hotel and I crashed.
We were able to sleep in until around eight this morning. We had breakfast in town, but it was more like a snack. I had scrambled eggs and two pieces of toast. We then went to the waterfall of La Fortuna. It was cool, but not nearly as awesome as Nyaca. You couldn't really swim, and there was no promised rope swing. That's when we found out the rop swing was somewhere else, and so we spent a couple of hours there. See pictures.
We then went back to the restaurant and I had a giant burger with fries. Then we went across the street and got ice cream. Food baby anyone? When we got back to Las Brisas I went over Morgan's house with Dan and we played wii.
We got a cement mixer! The back of the school is all cleaned up and the cement mixer is really nice because it speeds up the process by quadruple fold. Tomorrow I think we start laying blocks and outlining the mural.
We were able to take Saturday completely off which was really nice since we've been working our butts off the past week. It gave us time to spend with our families and get to know them better. I woke up around nine thirty, and explaining the Smallridge Sleeping Genes wasn't exactly easy to do in Spanish. I just realized I left one of my water bottles at the hotel. Shiz. Oh well. Shiz! Anyway. The family had some friends over and me, Natalia, and Tatiana headed over to Zarcero to check out the park.
It was a park right in the middle of the city and it had a church surrounded by tons of shrubs that were cut into shapes and animals like dinosaurs and giraffes. I got a coffee flavored ice cream and almost died. When we got back we chilled with the family friends some more and Natalia painted my nails. I was bored so I put some designs on them in white. Everybody thought it was kind of weird because apparently they don't do that here.
All week they've been asking me if I like to dance and if I like to salsa. I said I like to dance and told them about the salsa class we took in San Jose. They asked me if I wanted to go dancing Saturday night. I said I'd love to, especially after hearing stories about Julia and Morgan going dancing with their sisters. Olga called up Caitlin and asked if I could go, and she said yes. We headed into Zarcero and picked up my cousin and her boyfriend then proceeded to go to a bar for dinner. We had chicken with mashed potatoes and tortilla chips and coke. After we left there around ten we drove to the mall. We met two of Monica and Natalia's friends there and apparently they said the dancing there was bad, so we left. We then kept stopping at places that looked like dance places, but none of them were very busy.
We finally pull up to one over an hour away from Las Brisas and decide to go in here. We walk in and I"m expecting this mellow salsa place. It's not. This is a full blown frickin night club There's a bar on one end, dancers on the other, and no room to move. It was so sick cause you don't get to do that in the states when you're my age. Well, you can't exactly do that in Costa Rica when you're sixteen either. The bouncer asked if I was with my sisters. When they said yes, the bouncer said I couldn't go in because I wasn't eighteen. My sisters explained I was from the USA, and there the drinking age is 16, so it was okay for me to go in! THE BOUNCER LET ME IN.
We start to chill there and dance and such, when I have to do a double take because I could have sworn I saw someone I knew from school. It obviously wasn't. But it was a guy who looked very similar, just like 2819472910 times cuter. He looks up, we make eye contact, and he does the guy nod thing. He's across the room and in his group so whatever, I turn my back and keep dancing About an hour later I notice he's moved to the group next to us, which was kind of funny. He eventually moved into our group, and was asking Monica about me. We ended up dancing and it was a ton of fun, bu then it got to be around 2am so we had to leave. He tried to convince Monica to let me stay but then she explained I had to be up at six the next morning. Anyway it was a fun time, and I definitely want to go back.
I got home at three and got about three and a half hours of sleep, and then we left for La Fortuna. We arrive at our hotel and it is wicked hot outside. It's nice and cool in Las Brisas because we're in the mountains, but this was a different situation entirely. We get in our room, turn the AC on, and are given four hours to do nothing. We had a peeling party because otherwise I would have had to wear clothes in the hot springs, which would not have been very fun. I really need more songs on my iPod. During the peeling party Joprah gave relationship advice, which was really helpful for all of us.
At five we left for the hot springs, which were absolutely amazing. There were different temperatures of the pools, and there were like twenty pools or something. They were all naturally heated by the volcano we were at. We also had dinner there, and it was a buffet. Ranch potatoes? Hell. Yes. We ended up splitting into groups at the springs. My group was me, Michelle, Hannah, Dan, and Ely, which was really nice because we're fairly quiet and all really chill.
We went on the water slides there too. There were three different ones, and Dan was the guinea pig for al lof them. The first was extremely violent. It jostled you around and you ended up banging your head on the slide. It was covered so you couldn't see and at one point you weren't even touching the slide because the drop was so steep. It also made you go really fast so it didn't seem like it was supposed to be over when it was, so I ended up getting a ton of water up my nose when it threw me into the pool. The second slide was pathetic. You stopped at several different points, and had to push yourself along to keep going. At the end you weren't dumped into the pool but had to scooch yourself out on your own. The third one was really short and open, and was a level down from the other two. At the end it had a huge drop.
After the slides the five of us found a good spring and just stayed there until ten, which is when we had to leave. We gott back to the hotel and I crashed.
We were able to sleep in until around eight this morning. We had breakfast in town, but it was more like a snack. I had scrambled eggs and two pieces of toast. We then went to the waterfall of La Fortuna. It was cool, but not nearly as awesome as Nyaca. You couldn't really swim, and there was no promised rope swing. That's when we found out the rop swing was somewhere else, and so we spent a couple of hours there. See pictures.
We then went back to the restaurant and I had a giant burger with fries. Then we went across the street and got ice cream. Food baby anyone? When we got back to Las Brisas I went over Morgan's house with Dan and we played wii.
Alka Seltzer/Ely's Birthday/Boyfriends
July 7th, 2010
Oh hey there I'm sick again :) I woke up and pulled an oh oh! Type thing like mom did after her concert. So after that I went back to bed, slept through my alarm, and was woken up by mi madre [mom] knocking on my door. I can barely get out of bed, I feel nauseous, and I'm wicked congested. She says "estas bien?" And I'm like "blehhhhhh." I sound like crap too. She runs to the kitchen to make me some tea and then made like a bajillion phone calls before I had to leave. She kept trying to convince me not to go to work at the school but I was like no I really need to. Then she told em I was going to be really late and I wouldn't ge there with all the other kids. I was confused but I went along with it.
At the supermarket you usually take a left to go to the school but she took a right and stopped at this house. She told me to get out so I did. I get to the house and these three ladies greet me. They tell me to sit on the couch so I do, and one of them who I later find out is a teacher at the school with Olga tells me to roll up my sleeves. She brings out some lotion and begins massaging my arms. When she gets to my elbow she just presses on the pressure point there and I almost burst into tears because it hurts so bad. Olga goes to the store while she is doing this to get me some food because I didn't have breakfast.
She comes back with some alka seltzer which I have to chug right there. It's not very tasty. We then leave and Olga takes me to the school where it's a pretty chill day just twisting rebar and weeding some more.
At the coffee break I still felt pretty crappy but ate some of the bread. I also figured out the apple juice mi madre got me was apple yogurt milk and was not very tasty. I didn't eat much for lunch but did have some rice and tortilla chips.
Today is Ely's fifteenth birthday and we had a party for her at six. I went to Sarah's at four and then walked with Sarah and Karchye to Dan's house where we got ready and checked email and such. Marc played music for more than an hour which was pretty sweet.
I didn't really explain how I got sick but I'm figuring it was from walking home yesterday. It started raining right after I decided to help finish digging the trench for the wall. The foreman told us we should probably stop, but Marc was like no they can do it. I was in a tank top and shorts and luckily we were only digging in the rain for about a half hour before it was time to quit for the day. I still had to walk a mile or more home though and I didn't have my raincoat with me. I walked home by mysel fin the pouring rain. At one point I just started sobbing. But I knew the faster I got home the sooner I could take a nice hot shower and a siesta [nap]. I knock on the door. Natalia answered with a smile but once she looked at me her jaw just dropped. They took me in and immediately asked if I wanted to take a shower. I said yes and proceeded to take a twenty minute shower.
At seven we went to the gym and played volleyball. Afterwards I met Dan's mom and Nora's mom. Nora was explaining that I don't speak much Spanish. The moms then stated that if I really wanted to learn I'd just have to get a Costa Rican boyfriend ;).
Oh hey there I'm sick again :) I woke up and pulled an oh oh! Type thing like mom did after her concert. So after that I went back to bed, slept through my alarm, and was woken up by mi madre [mom] knocking on my door. I can barely get out of bed, I feel nauseous, and I'm wicked congested. She says "estas bien?" And I'm like "blehhhhhh." I sound like crap too. She runs to the kitchen to make me some tea and then made like a bajillion phone calls before I had to leave. She kept trying to convince me not to go to work at the school but I was like no I really need to. Then she told em I was going to be really late and I wouldn't ge there with all the other kids. I was confused but I went along with it.
At the supermarket you usually take a left to go to the school but she took a right and stopped at this house. She told me to get out so I did. I get to the house and these three ladies greet me. They tell me to sit on the couch so I do, and one of them who I later find out is a teacher at the school with Olga tells me to roll up my sleeves. She brings out some lotion and begins massaging my arms. When she gets to my elbow she just presses on the pressure point there and I almost burst into tears because it hurts so bad. Olga goes to the store while she is doing this to get me some food because I didn't have breakfast.
She comes back with some alka seltzer which I have to chug right there. It's not very tasty. We then leave and Olga takes me to the school where it's a pretty chill day just twisting rebar and weeding some more.
At the coffee break I still felt pretty crappy but ate some of the bread. I also figured out the apple juice mi madre got me was apple yogurt milk and was not very tasty. I didn't eat much for lunch but did have some rice and tortilla chips.
Today is Ely's fifteenth birthday and we had a party for her at six. I went to Sarah's at four and then walked with Sarah and Karchye to Dan's house where we got ready and checked email and such. Marc played music for more than an hour which was pretty sweet.
I didn't really explain how I got sick but I'm figuring it was from walking home yesterday. It started raining right after I decided to help finish digging the trench for the wall. The foreman told us we should probably stop, but Marc was like no they can do it. I was in a tank top and shorts and luckily we were only digging in the rain for about a half hour before it was time to quit for the day. I still had to walk a mile or more home though and I didn't have my raincoat with me. I walked home by mysel fin the pouring rain. At one point I just started sobbing. But I knew the faster I got home the sooner I could take a nice hot shower and a siesta [nap]. I knock on the door. Natalia answered with a smile but once she looked at me her jaw just dropped. They took me in and immediately asked if I wanted to take a shower. I said yes and proceeded to take a twenty minute shower.
At seven we went to the gym and played volleyball. Afterwards I met Dan's mom and Nora's mom. Nora was explaining that I don't speak much Spanish. The moms then stated that if I really wanted to learn I'd just have to get a Costa Rican boyfriend ;).
Service Project Day 1/Ultimate Frisbee
July 5th, 2010
Wow. I just got back from the first day of the service project, and it was pretty intense. WE had to move hundreds of cinder blocks down to near where the retaining wall is going to be, and cinder blocks rubbing against your body doesn't really flow with having a wicked bad sun burn... I mostly stacked blocks onto the new pile, and then took blocks off of the old pile and helped people load them up.
My sun burn has started blistering, which officially makes it a second degree burn. Marc also said I have sun poisoning, but we're not going to be telling anybody that. After lunch I was sent to the back portion of the school, which is unfinished, and we had to rake all of the brush out and separate metal, wood, trash, and brush into separate piles. The would-be classrooms are filled with earwigs and spiders...Not so much fun.
For breakfast I had cereal with strawberry yogurt serving as the milk, which was actually a lot better than I assumed it was going to be. I freaking love mis hermanas [my sisters]. They made me a plate of french fries for dinner! I have to say they were better than Five Guys, and I didn't even have them with salt!
At seven I went to the plaza de futbol [soccer field] to play some ultimate frisbee with the rest of the group. There were some families there, but Hanna's brother Jason is definitely the best. Hannah is teaching him some English, and he is helping me with my Spanish. For a twelve-year-old he's got a lot of spunk, but he's hilarious. On the way back home he was trying to figure out who I liked since we live near each other and it's a walk from the center of town. He said Kerry. I said no. He said no. Then he said Mateo. I said no. He said yes. So apparently I like Mateo. But right as he got to his house he said I liked Dan. I was like no, we go to school together, so no. But now he's convinced I like Dan. Whatevs. He's twelve, what's he gonna do about it?
This is definitely the latest I have stayed up since I've gotten here. So it's time for me to go to bed. Buenas noches!
Wow. I just got back from the first day of the service project, and it was pretty intense. WE had to move hundreds of cinder blocks down to near where the retaining wall is going to be, and cinder blocks rubbing against your body doesn't really flow with having a wicked bad sun burn... I mostly stacked blocks onto the new pile, and then took blocks off of the old pile and helped people load them up.
My sun burn has started blistering, which officially makes it a second degree burn. Marc also said I have sun poisoning, but we're not going to be telling anybody that. After lunch I was sent to the back portion of the school, which is unfinished, and we had to rake all of the brush out and separate metal, wood, trash, and brush into separate piles. The would-be classrooms are filled with earwigs and spiders...Not so much fun.
For breakfast I had cereal with strawberry yogurt serving as the milk, which was actually a lot better than I assumed it was going to be. I freaking love mis hermanas [my sisters]. They made me a plate of french fries for dinner! I have to say they were better than Five Guys, and I didn't even have them with salt!
At seven I went to the plaza de futbol [soccer field] to play some ultimate frisbee with the rest of the group. There were some families there, but Hanna's brother Jason is definitely the best. Hannah is teaching him some English, and he is helping me with my Spanish. For a twelve-year-old he's got a lot of spunk, but he's hilarious. On the way back home he was trying to figure out who I liked since we live near each other and it's a walk from the center of town. He said Kerry. I said no. He said no. Then he said Mateo. I said no. He said yes. So apparently I like Mateo. But right as he got to his house he said I liked Dan. I was like no, we go to school together, so no. But now he's convinced I like Dan. Whatevs. He's twelve, what's he gonna do about it?
This is definitely the latest I have stayed up since I've gotten here. So it's time for me to go to bed. Buenas noches!
Homestay/La Legua/Manuel Antonio/Nyaca
July 4th, 2010
I haven't been journaling as much as I should be, which really saddens me. But by the time I get home every night I'm usually exhausted and can't get the will to write anything. So I've decided that I'm going to journal on this [my iPod touch] because I can type much faster than I can write.
Last night I got to meet with my family, and on the bus waiting to get to the village was completely nerve racking. Since I don't know much Spanish I knew it was going to be challenging, but it's going a lot better than I ever expected it to.
When I met my family they were very enthusiastic, and started speaking rapid fire Spanish at me. That's when I informed them that I study French and not Spanish, and that I came here to learn Spanish. My mom's name is Olga, and she is a teacher at the school we are working on. My dad's name is Alvaro, and he does leche [dairy farmer]. I have three sisters. Natalia is eighteen, Monica is sixteen, and Tatiana is eleven.
The house is absolutely beautiful, with four bedrooms plus a ton of other rooms. They have a dog named Lucy, a bird named Coolio [I later found out his name was Cuyo, the Spanish name for the type of bird he was], and a bunch of fish that don't have names.
After breakfast Natalia, Monica, and I went to the supermarket to pick up some food for the next week. They asked me if I liked papaya and I said I didn't know. They thought I meant I didn't understand them, so I tried explaining that I had never had it before, so I didn't know whether or not I liked it. They didn't understand that, so they got the papaya anyway. I have yet to try it.
We went to la escuela [school] to meet our foreman and see the projects we were going to be working on, but he wasn't there. We made the best of it and played some futbol [soccer], talked about our host families, and chilled with our new brothers and sisters.
We had a fiesta at two for the fourth of July, and the main focus was the football game. The fifteen of us pretty much got our asses whooped by ten eight-year-olds. This one kid, Esteban, was nasty at football. We're all convinced he's going to be in the world cup someday. I stopped counting after los chicos [the kids] scored twelve goals, but I did manage to score one goal. Take that family who thinks I'm not athletic!
At five we went to the town next door to meet up with the discovery group that just arrived yesterday. We tried to blend with them but every attempt pretty much failed, and it seemed like they didn't like us very much. We think it's because we all have very strong personalities and different senses of humor than most others, but whatever.
Yesterday was absolutely awful. On Friday we went to Manuel Antonio, but my sunscreen must be expired. It didn't matter how many times we reapplied, Morgan and I both got burnt wicked bad. I ended up skipping the trip to the national park yesterday morning because I was sick, but most everybody said they wished they had stayed with me because all they saw was a monkey, and the sweat and heat and pain wasn't really worth it. Next time I will have to check the expiration on my sunscreen. I'm still in major pain, and I don't even want to think of what the peeling is going to be like. Looking on the bright side, the burn makes my eyes look wicked blue, and it's going to turn into a totally awesome tan. If it doesn't I'll most likely cry.
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