Hola, querida gente! (Hello, dear people!)

First things first: I’m feeling a lot better! Muchas gracias to everyone who has been sending me emails and chats and love and thoughts. The meds seem to be doing their job and bit by bit I’ve had more energy and voice. I can’t wait to be able to sing normally again!

I’ve been in Costa Rica for almost two weeks now. It’s amazing how quickly a new day-to-day schedule becomes a routine—it’s normal for me now to wake up before 5, to eat beans and rice for breakfast and lunch and dinner, to walk to school on an unpaved road lined with palm trees, to look up and see towering mountains covered with coffee plants, to speak in Spanish to my family, and to have no cell phone and only have internet for an hour or so a day. My skin is darker, my brain is fuller (hi Matt :) ), my spirit feels free—it’s easier somehow to focus on the day-to-day when you are plunged into a world so intensely different and at the core similar to the one you’re familiar with.

My brain can’t help but automatically compare and contrast this experience with my times in Germany and Austria. Costa Rica really reminds me of Austria, actually, with all the mountains and greenery. It’s just that where Austria had evergreens, snow, and large, multi-family houses, Costa Rica has palms, sunshine, and tin-roofed single-family homes. The air has a similar clean taste to it, the clouds roll in over the hills, and the people go to market each day just like in Austria. There are a lot of parallels that I can see, and I draw comfort from them.

That said, I’m also reveling in how incredibly different Costa Rica is from anywhere else I have ever been in my life. I feel like I’ve jumped into a page from The Jungle Book sometimes when I see the orange and cassis trees full of fresh fruit and the palms with their leaves bigger than my body, when I turn the corner to find animals running around the roads and hear tropical birds singing in the trees, and when I see the Turrialba volcano spewing ash on the horizon:



This is a developing country, which means that by any standard I am rich, not just in money and technology but also in resources, connections, education, and potential for upward economic mobility. The average annual income of a person in Costa Rica is around $6,000. The diet consists mainly of starches, and it’s a struggle to get all the nutrients I need. The houses are small (tiny by DC standards) and often in disrepair (my 9’x7’ bedroom, with its fantastic mauve-colored walls, has holes in the ceiling and a door that won’t shut properly). Every house has a metal gate and fences wrapped around it to thwart the abundance of crimes of opportunity that exist in this country. Dishes are hand-washed, laundry is hung outside to dry, and many homes do not have hot water—mine does, but only in a small heater attached to the shower head that turns the shower-water from cold to lukewarm if you learn how to use it right (which I am still in the process of doing.) My host father does not know how to read, and my host mother spends her days cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, and watching TV.

I can’t imagine what it is like for my host family to have me come in from the outside, a 24-year-old gringa, multilingual and university educated and with my own computer and camera and Kindle… but it’s fun and important that I try to put myself in their shoes and understand what their world is like. We have innate, human similarities that make living together a pleasure, and at the same time we also come from such distinct cultural backgrounds that sometimes we just sit together in the kitchen and laugh. They laugh at me because I like to be barefoot in the house. They laugh at me because I like raw vegetables so much. They laugh at me because I eat so much, and because I go running. (Why in the world would you get up early, put on shoes, and go running—just running—all over town? Americans are crazy!) … but I think my favorite moments so far in Costa Rica have been those where I am just sitting in this tiny house with Ligia, Mila, Walter, Yesalyn, Yesi, Brittany, Antony, and Jose, talking in Spanish about life and our days, playing with baby Lara, listening to music, and eating together.

...like this:

:) :) :)

It’s also been incredible to bond with the other volunteers form Worldteach and to attend our charlas (seminars on teaching) every day. I feel more and more excited about why we are all here, more and more committed to the program and teaching, and also a tad more nervous because with each passing day as the start of the school year draws nearer. … this has already been an adventure and will only continue in that way, and I feel blessed and thankful to have this opportunity not just to experience but also to give back.

…. Yeah, moral of the story, I’m a really, really lucky girl. And a big part of that has been the support of everyone who is reading this—you are with me! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for supporting me.

ANYway… it’s time for me to go to Spanish class, now.

Adios! Hasta la proxima! Besos y abrazos,
Raquel

What I've Learned So Far In Costa Rica!

Alright, folks, I love making lists, so here's one of the random stuff I've learned so far from my aventura in Costa Rica! First things first, though: There are NEW PHOTOS at the facebook album! So go check them out.

Now, without further ado: THINGS I HAVE LEARNED IN TICO LAND!

1) It is painfully obvious that I am a gringa, and there is nothing I can do about it.
2) Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way in Costa Rica. If you want to cross the street, look right, then left, then right, then left, then RUN.
3) It’s not always clear where the street ends and the sidewalk begins, but what IS clear is that there will be a 1.5-foot-deep gutter (literally) in front of all houses and shops, and if you don’t watch where you are going, you run the risk of seriously hurting yourself.
4) Toilet paper doesn’t get thrown into the toilets here. Instead, it goes into the trash can beside the toilet. Takes a while to get used to.
5) The best colors for houses, bathrooms, and clothing are: fuschia, turquoise, bright peach-pink, red, yellow, and anything else you might find in a box of Runts.
6) Almost any question or statement in CR can be responded to with the most ubiquitous word: “tranquila!” Tranquila describes the Costa Rican way of life to a T (har har.) Everything (Except crossing the street) is tranquila, tranquila, tranquila. That’s probably why Costa Ricans are famous for arriving to everything 15 minutes late (we call it Tico Time!) … the other phrase that’s used most is “pura vida” (pure life). You can even use it to respond to the question “como esta?” (How are you?)
7) In Costa Rica, the word ‘tu’ is rarely used (that’s the normal form of “you” for most Spanish-speaking countries.) Instead, Ticos use “Usted” (which in other countries is normally reserved for formal interactions.) Gotta say, it’s hilarious to hear babies and pets being referred to as “Usted” 
8) Costa Rica has poisonous snakes, caterpillars, frogs and scorpions! Yay. Part of our training, in fact, is to teach us to look in our shoes before putting them on and in our sheets before climbing in to bed, to not touch colorful insects, and how to slow the spread of venom through a limb. Whee. At least the pumas have generally moved away from inhabited areas…….. or so they tell us.
9) Breakfast is gallo pinto and eggs. Lunch is gallo pinto, potatoes and chicken. Dinner is gallo pinto, noodles and beef. No other food groups exist, and your argument is invalid. …no, seriously, Ticos eat an abundance of starches and very little else: their diet consists mainly of rice, beans, and sweet things. That said…
10) Tico women are curvy and they OWN it. When I say “curvy”, I mean “many are quite obese”, and when I say “OWN it” I mean “wear brightly colored Spandex without shame.” It’s actually kinda awesome, though. Again, part of our training is teaching us how to respond when our host mothers attempt to fatten us up because we Americans are too delgada (skinny.)
11) Ticos are open, friendly, and brutally honest—but would rather make up completely false directions than admit that they have no idea how to get where you need to go. (I’ve experienced this already—and again, part of our training is to teach us to ask for directions from several people before following any of them.)
12) The Machismo culture is alive and well in Costa Rica, though it hasn’t been that bad so far for me. Some cat calls, some cars slowing own, the guy at the hospital insistently trying to get me to give him my number, and the words coming out of my host father’s mouth: “women don’t know anything about that.” (I’d like to note, though, that I really like my host father… it’s not that he’s mean or anything, I think it’s just a product of the culture? I dunno. He makes me laugh, and he and I had a fun evening together talking about politics and such when the rest of the family was out.)
13) Costa Rica is SO LOUD. There are roosters crowing ALL THE TIME, dogs barking, cars driving by, people yelling ‘Upe!’… truly, for such a tranquila place, it’s quite loud. I’m glad I brought my earplugs so that I can get some sleep!

....I know that there will be more. This list will be updated!

In other news, I ended up having to bus in to San Jose by myself to go to the doctor and get antibiotics for my throat/lung microplasm infection that I had this week. THAT was quite an adventure-- especially given that almost everyone I talked to only spoke Spanish! I've now learned words like 'formulario' and 'receta' (receipt/prescription) and 'bajarme' (get off a bus) and 'parada' (bus stop) and 'mocos' (mucus!)... you know, the important things ;). But, yeah, I am PROUD of myself for doing that, because it was scary and I was quite sick. I had a bit of a breakdown in the bathroom at the hospital because it was overwhelming and I was sick and alone in the middle of Central America... but I think that's all part of this experience, you know? And not only did I survive, I learned and grew and am slowly beginning to feel better :)

Then today, we went for a hike up to the top of one of the mountains here in Orosi. We were literally hiking through the jungle, and there are pictures in the facebook album-- so check them out!

Lastly, as always, THANK YOU EVERYONE for your support and emails!

Besos,
Raquel

Orosi: Volcanos, painted roosters, and allergies: OH MY

Dear readers!

This entry marks my third full day in the beautiful sueño hecho realidad (dream made reality) that is Costa Rica.

We left San Jose on Monday and drove past beautiful vistas such as these:

to get to Orosi, where I will be for the rest of January.

Orosi is a beautiful, mountain-and-volcano surrounded town of ~12,000 people. One of the views out of the hostel where we have our seminars and Spanish classes looks like this:

My days are full of 3-hour Spanish classes, seminars about teaching and culture, and family bonding with my host family.

My host mother, Ligia, is short, shy, and sweet, with ever-smiling eyes and tiny hands and feet. My strongest mental image of her so far is of her sitting in her rocking chair on the patio with one granddaughter on one side (Brittany, 5) and another on the other (Yesalyn, 10?), smiling as they brush and put cream in her hair (there was no shampoo in the house-- the girls put oil and cream in Ligia's hair.) The children are affectionate and open, and I've been bonding with them over headbands, photos, computer games, and painting our nails. Living with kids is a fantastic way to improve my Spanish, and it's been getting better every day.

I really feel like I lucked out with my host family!

Every day I eat rice and beans (gallo pinto-- "painted rooster") three times a day. It's generally accompanied with plantains, some kind of protein (eggs in the morning, chicken or fish at restaurants), and another kind of starch (bread, noodles, potatoes... or all of the above.) It's going to be a challenge to have a balanced diet here, but luckily, I love gallo pinto!

I'm in the second-highest level Spanish class, and it's basically up to me whether I want to switch to the highest (I'm between levels.) I might switch part-way through, but I really like the group of people in my class (Sara, Meggie, and Drew) and don't want to leave them :)... Sara has been the person from the group that I've felt most drawn to so far, which is AWESOME because not only is she open and friendly-- she's at one of the closest sites to mine!

The biggest downside of being here so far is that I seem to be allergic to Costa Rica :(. My sinuses and throat are rebelling in a very annoying, phlegmy way :(. However, the upside of that is that I've already successfully navigated my way through one Farmacia visit en español.

ANYWAY, going to leave y'all with one last picture: when I woke up this morning to go for a run, I turned left and saw this:

...the Turrialba volcano, a-steaming away!

Anyway, more later, amigos.

BESOS Y ABRAZOS de Orosi!
Raquel

ps: I think that I just got my first Costa Rican bug bite while writing this blog post. Thanks, folks ;)
pps: I will be uploading photos from my aventura to This Facebook Page!

Entrada primera de Costa Rica!

Querida gente! Mujeres y caballeros! Amigos, ranas* y cinturones de seguridad*!

*some of the new words I learned yesterday (rana = frog; cinturon de seguridad = seatbelt)

I have safely arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica after 18 hours, 3 flights (including a stop in El Salvador), adventures in immigration/customs, and a supremely rickety bus ride.

Some highlights of my Aventuras so far include:
-sitting next to a spanish speaking couple and their 2yo daughter Isabella on my first flight. she and I practiced our colors together en espanol :)
-the german-speaking woman sitting behind me on the second flight, who was from Bielefeld (right near where I did my study abroad in Germany!)... she and I talked a bunch in German and Spanish as well
-helping my new friend AnneMarie through customs in San Jose. She's a beginning spanish learner and her customs guy didn't speak English and had a strong accent, so I got the honor of explaining to him (in spanish that came out a lot better than I expected it to) that we were volunteer teachers entering as tourists and that we would apply for a visa within the alloted 90 day period.)
-so many palm trees! so much barbed wire!
-being woken up by interesting sounding birds this morning
-creepy steam coming from the ceiling of the shakey airplane at takeoff (the group bonded over our terror)
-moment when i realized that 'adios' means 'to god' ...


...........aaaaaaaand much much more. There's a girl here (Graceann) who is my height, has a similar body, similar features, similar hair, similar style, lots of tattoos.... and a site very near mine. We're debating pretending to be sisters. Boruca is apparently a fantastic, awesome, laid-back place where tattoos are no problem, the people are friendly and very dark-skinned, and the children are ridiculously cute (according to the people who picked us up and had been there.) Sara, Drew, and I all live relatively near each other and brought our guitars, so I have a feeling that jam sessions will occur at some point.

ANYway. it's 6:13, aka time to pack my stuff together and grab breakfast before my first full day in America Central.

BESOS!

SITE PLACEMENT finally here!

Dear readers:

I JUST GOT MY SITE PLACEMENT for my upcoming year volunteering in Costa Rica! This is Super Exciting news.

I will be living in the 2,000-person town of Boruca, Costa Rica, home to the indigenous Boruca tribe. Here is a video with images from the region:



Boruca is located in the Talamanca mountains in the southwestern Puntarenas province of Costa Rica.

Some more things I just learned about my site:
-My soon-to-be host family includes a father, Oscar, who teaches the Borucan (Brunka) language; a mother, Yaneth; a 15-year-old named Isha; a 7-year-old named Nashaly; a weiner dog named Rosie; and a stray cat named Bigotes (Beards.)
-There are fresh coconut, mango, palm, cacao and lemon trees all around (to name a few!)
-I will be teaching every grade level and will have more than 100 students
-School days start at 7(!!) AM and last til after 3 (albeit with a 2-hour lunch break.) Meaning: I will be working my BUTT off.
-there are 3 waterfalls located a short walk from Boruca (not to mention a variety of rivers, cliffs, hills, mountains, and fantastic types of foliage.)

...ANYway, it's time for me to sleep. I just wanted to share my update with y'all. 'Cause in a few short weeks, my home will look like this:

(Boruca image courtesy Travelpod.)

:D!

Besos,
Rachel

Plane Ticket: Purchased!!

It's official: I just booked my flight from DC to Miami for January 8, 2012!! From there I will meet up with other Worldteach volunteers and fly to Costa Rica.

That means: 58 days til I leave for Costa Rica!!!!

The countdown begins.

(As always, THANK YOU for visiting this blog! If you are willing and able to make a contribution in support of my time volunteering in Costa Rica with Worldteach, please see my donation page.)

WOOOOHOOO!!

Dear Costa Rachel Readers,

I have excellent news: As of last Friday, Nov. 11, I have raised $4,474 towards my goal of $7,000 by the end of December 2011. This is incredible and would not have been possible without you!

This means that:
$7,000
-$4,474
---------
$2,526 left to raise!

If you or anyone you know might be interested in helping me meet my fundraising goal, please contact me at rachel.a.simmons@gmail.com and see my donation page for instructions. THANK YOU!!)

As many of you know, I love to play guitar... And sometime in mid or late Deceber, I am planning to host a concert for all those who contributed to my efforts. :) It will be wonderful to see everyone and thank you all in person!