Today was a pretty long day overall. First thing in the morning, we filled out the last of our course evaluations, and we took our Spanish Grammar mid-term, which actually went a lot better than we were all expecting. We won't know our grades until mid-October, but I feel pretty confident about it. After the test, we all split into our Conversation groups to prepare for our dramatizations. Each group has been preparing a short skit to present to the class encompassing some aspect of Costa Rican culture or our experience thus far. One group did a hilarious skit about how to interact with ticos (people from Costa Rica) by following the advice of several members of the ACM staff (the impersonations were truly incredible). Another group did 3 short skits about 3 field trips we have taken: Finmac (the cacao plantation), Arenal Volcano, and a particularly long and hot trip to a cemetery in San Jose (part of our architectural tour of the city). Again, the impersonations were spot on. Since Carly and I are in a two person Conversation class, we teamed up with our teacher Maynor to put together a reenactment of the first day of classes at ACM in which we all attempted to buy cheap cell phones. The process was difficult to say the least, and Maynor did a great job acting the part of a crazy cell phone salesman.
We had a delicious lunch at ACM to celebrate the end of the first part of our program. A few last minute things had to be taken care of, like getting money from Alejandra for our bus tickets and gathering all the supplies we'll need for our rural stay (for me that means rubber boots, a mosquito net, and some teaching supplies like markers and flashcards). We all made hesitant phone calls to our new host moms to confirm our travel plans for tomorrow. I can't imagine having called my San Jose host mom before I got here, but calling my rural host mom was surprisingly easy. Just goes to show how much my Spanish has improved without my realizing it! I came home a little earlier than usual today to get some of my packing out of the way. I'm mostly done, except for a few last minute things like my towel and pillow.
Sooooooooo... without further ado, here are all of the details for my rural homestay during the next three weeks:
I will be taking a taxi tomorrow morning to the bus stop in San Jose and taking a bus (by myself!!) all the way to Grecia. It's south of the Poas Volcano and north of the cities of Heredia and Alajuela - generally northwest of San Jose. In Grecia, I will meet my host mom Faynier (President of the Association of Agricultural/Industrial Women) and we will take a taxi together to San Luis de Grecia where the family lives. I will also be living with a host dad Victor, host brothers Jeffrey (31 years old) and Cristian (32 years old), host sister Jenny (35 years old), and Jenny's daughter Lucia (3 years old). There is (yet another) french poodle living in the house, a dog with puppies outside, and chickens in the backyard.
My volunteer work is a little up in the air right now. It sounds like I will be doing a little bit of everything, which will be great. I will spend some time working with my host mom and her group of women. They work with medicinal plants and make and sell natural products (like shampoo). I think I will get to work with each part of this process. Apparently their products are really good. One of the women from ACM orders from them all the time, and I'll be bringing back her next order when I return to San Jose in October. I will also be spending some time working with children who need extra help in their English class. I might even have the opportunity to incorporate some environmental science into my time in the classroom.
I'm really excited for the rural stay, but it's hard to believe I'll be on my own tomorrow! I'll have to settle into a new house and a new routine. That would be hard in the US (and in English), but it gets so much harder when you're trying to figure out how to work the finicky toilet, how the laundry works, or even just how to offer to do the dishes in Spanish. I've already done this all once before, so I'm hoping it'll be easier the second time around. And, worst case scenario, I'll be back in San Jose in 3 weeks, which is becoming pleasantly familiar.
I won't have internet in my house, but I think my host brother Cristian has internet access in the small market he owns, so I might be able to update a few times here and check my email/facebook once or twice. On the off chance that I can't get internet while I'm gone, I'll post as soon as I get back on Saturday, October 13th!
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