“I wish I had a gun”

HAHA… I’ll get to the title of the blog later, I promise!

Sorry its been over a week… I was in the groove last week of work, going to the gym, and spending time with Fabsie (my latin novio). It is easy to loose track of time here.

So I left off with my vacation to the beach. Let me just say Puerto Viejo is AMAZING! It was literally the most perfect weekend ever! We arrived late Friday night and Liz, Beth and I went directly to our hostel for the night to crash. I loved our Hostel! It was just off the main strip of down town; a little place call Jacaranda. I felt like for $12 a night we had it made with a privet room and bathroom, hot water (a rarity for most hostels), clean towels daily, and bug nets (which were definitely needed). Saturday morning we were up early for breakfast at this cute local place called “Bread & Chocolate”. They had amazing food, it reminded me a little of mustards ☺ The place was so good we went back the next morning too (Corinn and Lindsay, you guys would both LOVE)! After breakfast we walked about 20 minutes to the beach and enjoyed about 5 hours in the sand and water.

That night was sort of a less than perfect experience trying to figure out where to go for dinner. Two of the other girls who came on the trip stayed in hammocks at a different hostel to cut back on costs. The groups were somewhat segregated for the weekend, but I enjoyed my weekend so really that’s all that I cared about. Saturday night was low key, so we could get up early and do the beach all over again. After another 5 hour day at the beach my back was a little crispy. Although you would not believe how many times I applied SPF 100 (well maybe 45, but still!) I wasn’t like some of the other girls though, thank goodness! I had a pretty rocken’ tan after the weekend. Liz who comes from Mexican dissent absolutely fried her back…. I told her that even though she is brown she is not immune to the sun. She learned her lesson. That was only her second sunburn in her life, and she will never forget to use SPF again!

That day on the beach we met some people learning to surf. Both guys were from the states, one there vacationing for a week and the other lives there with his girlfriend running a small hotel just down the road. They asked if we wanted to meet up with them later, and of course we were totally in (and it had nothing to do with the fact that they were both totally gorgeous). Dinner on Sunday night was excellent, and after we met up with the guys. It was pretty awesome to hear about the experiences of the one guy who owns the hotel. He has lived in Puerto Viejo for two years, truly living up to the Costa Rican expression “Pura Vida”. I can’t imagine living in paradise… I wouldn’t get anything done!! Monday we made our way back to San Jose, hot, tired, and sun kissed- Mission Accomplished ☺

It feels like it always takes two days to get back into the groove of things after being away for the weekend… that consists of catching up on sleep, laundry, and rehydrating. The rest of last week seemed to just FLY by… It seems like time is just moving faster and faster each day. I’m feeling more and more comfortable with my surroundings here, my Spanish is getting progressively better, and I’m feeling pretty competent about my work here. I am also feeling extra blessed to have first hand insight to some of the local culture for people my age. I have been able to go with Fabian and his friends to watch him play soccer a few times a week. San Jose seems to be pretty progressive as far as changing traditions, but still there are many differences culturally. It’s interesting to hear about the family life here, work and the difficulties of finding a job, especially a job that pays a decent salary. It’s great to see the way Fabian interacts with his friends, and to pick up on some of the mannerisms. The culture here is VERY affectionate. I am not used to that at all. Not only in the kissing hello and good bye, but guy friends are affectionate with each other. When I am out and about it is such the norm to see couples walking together holding hands, engaging in a loving embrace, and even sucking face…. Sometimes it’s a little more than I need to see. The other afternoon I was working in the café near the hotel my professor is staying at and watched a couple in the 40’s have lunch together. All I can say is I hope I have that when I’m married… They sat close to each other, her legs crossed towards him, they spoke quietly to each other through out the meal. They were both very attentive in the conversation, and he often put is hand on her back as they spoke, when she got up to use the restroom she stood behind him and leaned in for one last embrace and kiss on the cheek before walking out. I promise I wasn’t gaping at them, I did get work done, but I was just making a respectful observance of the very romantic culture here.

One amenity I’ve taken advantage of while being in Costa Rica is the cheap cost of classes at the gym. I’ve usually been doing 2 classes a week that cost $2-3 dollar each. I wanted something to supplement my runs in the morning, and this was the perfect way to do it. I’ve done a few Pilates classes, Baile classes, Total fitness cardio, and Total fitness abs… its fun because most of the girls go together…. So now for the story about the title…

One night, Liz and I were walking back to our house after 2 classes at the gym. We were both pumped and full of adrenaline after getting our butt kicked by this tiny total fitness instructor. I can’t remember if I’ve talked about how openly verbal men are when they see woman out and about, but yeah, pretty much any time I walk out of my house, I can usually expect to get anywhere from 10-20 honks, whistles, comments, etc.. I don’t ever let it bother me though; I’m starting not to notice because I don’t respond to it… I just figure there isn’t really anything I can do about it, and as long as no one touches me, I’m fine. Anyways, so we are walking, and I’m in mid sentence, and someone honks. And Liz shouts, “UGH! I WISH I HAD A GUN!!” I couldn’t help but just start laughing! Now, Liz is totally anti war, all for peaceful conflict resolution, totally politically correct, very sweet social worker…. She pauses and then responds, “Well, I wouldn’t use it. I just want to scare some of these men… Tell them not to mess with me!” Aww, just another Lizism…. Those seem to happen quite often, and I truly enjoy her as my roommate in Costa Rica!! Never a dull moment with her, sometimes you never know what will come out of her mouth.

Alright sorry for the novel, I still have plenty more to say, but I’m not sure you all want the details, and I should actually get some work done today… From what I’ve heard and read it sounds like everyone is enjoying their summers! I love and Miss you all!!!

Pura Vida- A

Just to note-
I know some of you are worried as you read about the time I’m spending with my Fabian, and I promise you have nothing to worry about. He has spent a lot of time with my friends and I, my professor has met him, my house mom has met him, and I have met some of his family. I’m pretty good at reading people, and although I feel completely safe, I’m still very aware of my surrounds. I promise I’m being safe!!!

Feeling Frustrated...

So, I mentioned my friend that I met last week, and how he only speaks spanish.... Well after spending some time with him and practicing my spanish more and more, I'm just feeling really overwhelmed with the language. I don't feel like I'm getting any better, and I wish, I wish, I wish, that I could communicate more effectively in Spanish. I never realized how disabled I would feel to not be able to speak the language. I never realized how much I crave dialogue as a form of intimacy until now. Not that I want to be so involved in this boys life forever, I just like to know where people come from and what makes them who they are. I love the process of learning who someone is by hearing their stories about their parents, siblings, friends, co-workers, and teachers... I am especially curious about learning about this boys life because of the cultural difference. I'm fascinated and intrigued by his behavior and mannerisms compared to that of the men I have met/dated in the states.

Alas, the girls have all reassured me that my spanish has gotten, but I am by no means approaching fluency. Reading and writing Spanish are getting easier... but I feel very nervous about speaking. I know I'm going to make mistakes, but I second guess myself too much. Hopefully, somewhere I can muster up the confidence to drastically improve my skills.

On an up note though, today I presented the first draft of my workshop manuel to my professor and supervisor. It went REALLY well!! I'm super excited about. Monica (my supervisor) expressed a lot of appreciation for the work I was putting to creating this workshop. Right now I have the manuel broken up into 4 main groups- Decision Making, Self Esteem, Diversity, and Sexual Health. Under each area I have created and adapted key points to touch on, discussion questions, and activities. Like I mentioned before, I'm really enjoying this part of Social Work, and wouldn't mind implementing this into my future career.

For this weekend, we are packing up and heading out to the beach again!!! I'm sooooooooo (x a million) excited. It has been so rainy and chilly here this past week, it's been kind of depressing. We are going to Puerto Viejo, leaving San Jose at 4 pm Friday. We wont get to the beach till late, but we aren't coming back until monday, so we will have all of saturday and sunday!! Puerto Viejo is on the Caribbean side of the country, so I'll let you know what I think of it. I've heard that the Caribbean side is nicer so I'm definitely feeling that.

Hope all is well on the home front!! I love and miss you all!!!

-A

Embracing the experience

Another week has come and gone. I can't even believe how fast time is going! I'm a little bit sad about that. I feel like I still have so much to experience that I can't possibly fit everything in to the time I have remaining.

Things at my internship are going very well. I'm still working on creating the manuel for the sexual health workshop. I went over everything that I have so far with my supervisor and everything looks great so far. Now I just have to do some translating so that there is a copy of the manuel in spanish and english. Google translate has helped with that, but it doesn't do everything correctly so, I have to have the girls help me with that portion of the project. I have really enjoyed this aspect of social work, it's totally different than anything I have done before. I think that program development will have to be something I look into when I start looking for jobs this fall.... and come December, hopefully I will be able to find ANY job related to social work!!!

Everything in the home stay is perfect. I feel so fortunate to have Marcela as my host mom. She has just been so helpful with my Spanish. I appreciate her being so patient with me. The food in the house is still delicious as always. I haven't learned to make anything yet because they usually prepare the food during the day while I'm out... but at some point before I leave I will learn a few things, I promise!

I feel very fortunate to have such wonderful support while on this trip. I have bonded so well with the girls here. I can't imagine trying to adjust without having such a tight knit group of girls. Every girl brings a different dynamic to the group that I absolutely love! I admire the skills and strength that each girl possesses, they are teaching me a lot about myself, and the world in general. It can be intimidating to spend time with such strong women who have many characteristics I would like to develop, but I am definitely working on my confidence, personally and professionally. My professor, Bob Miller, has also been another wonderful support. Every week each girl meets with him individually to talk about the adjustments, and how everything is going for us. Its kind of like a little mini therapy session :) I can tell that he is very concerned about making sure each girl is getting the support and experience they need while on the trip. Speaking professional, he is a good contact to have because he knows a lot of people and is very connected to the social work field. He is very intuitive to all of our needs, and picks up on how we are all adjusting to the culture and our experience.

This weekend, we all stayed in San Jose to spend some time with Bob and a few of his friends. Friday night, last minute, the girls decided to go out and see what the San Jose night life was like. We mad our way down to a few places that are close to the University of Costa Rica. There are a lot of schools here in Costa Rica, so there are a lot of young people here. It was a lot of fun!! The places we went to seemed to be mostly locals, so it was nice to be out of the tourist area. Then, Saturday night we made our way out with Bob, and a few of his friends, to a strip of clubs, and we just danced till 4 am!! It was soooo much fun (Lara and Corinn- you guys would have loved it)!!! We all want to go out and do it again soon!!!

So even after being out till 4 am, I was still able to make it to church on sunday for sacrament. I can tell that my spanish is getting better, because I could understand a lot more!!! Not everything by any means, but enough to get the idea of what is being talked about. Its pretty exciting!! The language is still a struggle, and I'm trying really hard not to rely on the other girls. But I met some Tico friends to hang out with and one of them only speaks spanish so I'm thinking that spending time with him will help me increase my ability even more!!!

Three weeks down and six more to go!!!! Believe it or not, I do miss home. I don't like feeling like I'm missing out on everyone else's life. Please email me and tell me what you're all up to!! Thanks, for all the comments on the blog, and prayers. I love you all!!

I'll post pics soon.... for those of you friends with me on facebook, you have an early sneak peak :)

-A

Birthday Surprise!

Sorry, I forgot to talk about this when it happened, but I wanted you all to know how well I'm being taken care of here. The weekend of my birthday we went to Manuel Antonio but the monday after we got back my house Mom baked a cake and had everyone over for a surprise. It was soooo sweet.

We ate dinner like normal, and then Marcela told Liz and I that she "forgot" to make dessert tonight- which is not true, she never forgets, we have dessert every night!! But she said that in 45 minutes she had to talk to us. After dinner, Liz and I were just in our room working on some stuff, and then she called us out into the living room... and everyone from our group was there waiting. They all sang Happy Birthday to me and we ate cake! It was soooo wonderful! She is such a sweet lady!!

MMM MMM MMM... I ate two pieces, in honor of my birthday!!

It was SO delicious and made from scratch!

Pictures of La Fortuna!!

Here are the pictures of my Fourth of July weekend, as promised. My camera died so some of the pictures were captured thanks to the other girls. There are just a few of my favorites!

-A

I fit right in :)

beth, kirby, and i

bob and i... and a dinosaur (i told you i visited jurassic park!!)

A creature from outer space, i think.

Cute little fountain at the shrubbery garden.

This is the hike on our way to repelling

Our hotel from Saturday night-

and the down comforter I wanted to take.

The jacuzzi tub could have easily fit 4 of us girls in it

This is the lake we kayaked on

The active volcano- Arenal!!

The group on our bridge walk. The funny looking guy behind me

is the guide that held me under the water fall...

Just walking in the rainforest!

Me about to cross one of the suspended bridges-

SCARRRY!!!!

Happy Fourth!!

Hi everyone!! So I hope that the holiday over the weekend treated everyone well!! This weekend our group went to La Fortuna for some outdoor adventures. La Fortuna is the home of the active volcano Arenal.

All six of us plus Bob set out at 6:30 am Saturday morning. We took a tour bus to a small town an hour west of San Jose to go rappelling (yup, over the side of a small cliff, down a water fall), and have lunch before we made our way to La Fortuna, another 3 hours west. I was pretty nervous about this activity, but I didn’t want to miss out on the action. Surprising, my first trip down the waterfall was pretty awesome. I felt pretty secure with the two guides at the top of the waterfall, and then another spotter at the bottom. These guys get paid to keep people safe on various adventure activities in Costa Rica, so I was trusting them completely. After the first time down, the adrenaline was pumping so I decided to try it again… the second time was not as smooth as the first… Half way down the waterfall the guide at the bottom stopped my rope from lowering anymore and I was stuck with water rushing over me. Now, I had no idea I would react like this, but I had a panic attack. I know his intention was not to harm me, he was just playing, but this was the most terrifying sensation I’ve ever had. I started hyperventilating and trying to hold back the tears, but I couldn’t. The experience totally threw off my equilibrium, and I felt embarrassed that I had no control over my reactions, and it took a good 10 minutes for me to come out of to be able to breathe normal. SCARY!!! I hope I never have another panic attack like that again.

The rest of the day was kind of off for me, but luckily we didn’t have anymore adrenaline thrilling activities planned. We had a nice lunch, hopped on the bus to La Fortuna, and when we arrived there we made our way over to the hot springs. The hot springs were not exactly what I was imagining, but relaxing nonetheless. I expected something a little but more rustic and authentic to nature, but of course the hot springs have been turned into a tourist attraction and has a resort built around the springs, with various restaurants/outdoor bars attached to multiple, large hot tubs. We were there for a few hours and then headed out for a late dinner and then back to our hotel for the night.

The hotel we stayed at was surprising a lot nicer than what I was expecting. There were three girls to a room, with A/C (a rarity down here), and a down comforter… I was in Heaven!! Our Hotel had an amazing view of the volcano and we were even lucky enough to have a clear night and day so we could actually see it (that doesn’t happen very often either)!! Sunday morning we had a delicious, traditional Costa Rican breakfast, of fruit, eggs, frejoles, arroz, and plantains (black beans, rice, and fried bananas). After breakfast we went kayaking in a nearby lake (it was man made lake, and having the luxury of growing up in N.Michigan it wasn't quite the same, but it worked). Luckily, no traumatic incidences, and after kayaking/swimming we went on a bridge tour of the forest canopy. This was about a 2-hour hike through various levels of the rain forest- we walked across a few suspended bridges over deep trenches, and a few smaller bridges. It was a cool way to walk through the forest. We didn’t see any monkeys or other animal wild life, but I did enjoy the scenery and the exercise. It was defiantly like walking through a scene of Jurassic Park.

From there we hopped back on our tour bus and headed back to San Jose. It was a good weekend for us to all be together and bond with our professor and each other. I think we were all ready to head back though.

This coming weekend I’m happy that we have decided to all spend the weekend in San Jose. It’s a lot to travel EVERY weekend, and San Jose has plenty to explore. This might be the weekend I take a day to sit down town and people watch.

Last night we went back to the bar that Kirby and I ventured to last Monday. They were supposed to have a reggae band, but again no luck with the reggae band. The band this week was pretty good though, 5 of the girls went and we had fun dancing. I think Monday will become our regular night to go out dancing.

This week I’m going to try a pilates class and baile class at the gym. The classes are only 2 dollars each- sooo much cheaper than in the States. The baile class is the same one I did last week and it was a blast! I’ll let you all know how the pilates goes!!

Sorry for such a long post!!! I hope everyone has a good week!! I’m missing you all!!

-A

I'll post more pictures soon... my internet was being sooo slow today!!

Where we stopped to have lunch and rappel.

The Waterfall!!!

My first trip down :)

I was pretty proud of myself...

The larges ox cart in the world- a tourist attraction we stopped

at on our way to La Fortuna.

The sidewalk by the ox cart- I LOVED the colors!

Another attraction on our way to La Fortuna...

A random sculpture garden

TGIF

Even in Costa Rica, Friday is still the best day of the week. Friday’s are kind of my down day. I don’t have to go into RJI or Spanish class. I still wake up at 5:15 to go to running and have breakfast at 7, but after breakfast and getting ready I head into San Pedro to meet with my professor for supervision. Today was my first meeting with him. It was nice to have a little period of debriefing everything, figuring out how I’m feeing about things so far- putting all of my questions, comments, and concerns on the table. He was really digging to get some issues and concerns I’ve been having, but honestly I’m feeling pretty great about everything. I’m not much of a complainer, and my experience here has far exceeded any of my expectations. We talked for about an hour, and now the rest of the day is mine!!

Our group is headed to Fortuna tomorrow morning at 6:30am. Bob is coming with us and we are going to be doing some adventure stuff. I have never been an adrenaline junky, but I’m going to force myself to participate in EVERYTHING we do. We are starting the day with propelling- yes, propelling ourselves off the side a mountain…. I’ll be sure to document every detail of that after the weekend! We will also be doing zip lining, rafting, hiking, and hot springs. I’m a little nervous, but very excited.

Tonight we are going to take it easy, we want to go to dinner together and go see a movie. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to understand the movie, but I’m kind of excited. One of the girls asked if they would have subtitles, unfortunately I don’t think that will be the case. It will be a good way for me to practice listening to Spanish though!

I wasn’t really feeing that great this week. I discovered that I have allergies. All week I was blowing my nose and sneezing. My face felt congested, I was extremely exhausted, and all I wanted to do was sleep. I finally started to feel better last night, thank goodness!! I think adjusting to the climate change is what did it for me. I got almost 8 hours of sleep every night to help myself rest up. Finally, today I have felt great, and I’m ready for this adventure weekend!! It is interesting the way the pharmacies work here. They are these little stands on the side of the street, the one next to my house is fenced in to this woman’s front yard, and you just go up to them, tell them how you are feelings and they’ll give you a medication. I didn’t used it for allergies, but some of the other girls have. I’m sure that doctors prescribe certain medications for illness, but A LOT of things are just available over the counter.

I asked Marcela if she can start to show me how to cook. I’m very excited to bring home some new ideas. Although, it’s going to be kind of sad to come home and not have anyone to feed me breakfast, dinner, and dessert too everyday!

I will post more pictures soon- I don’t have my camera with me right now. Everyone enjoy your 4^th of July weekend!! Miss you and love you all!!

-A