life doesnt turn out the way you plan, not that lesson again!

So its been a while. And there are a few reasons why. I will try to keep this short and I will apologize now if it comes off as whiny or self-indulgent, Im working on it.
After getting back from the Romeria I had a pretty nasty ingrown toenail. I think it was my hippie toes way of declaring their hatred for shoes. Then the water went out in town for a few (4) days and I dont think bathing in well water helped the infection that had taken up residence on my toe. Lots of blood and pus, really gross. Decided to come into San Jose and have things checked out by medical, mainly because Mom and Dad have instilled a solid fear of infections in me from a young age. What I expected was going to be an overnight (by that I mean 1 night) trip has now transformed into...well into something completely unexpected.
I took antibiotics for a while, then had surgery to remove part of my toenail and part of my toe which was aggravating the toenail problem. Have some nasty looking stitches (8 to be exact) in my toe/toenail right now. I was told that I had to remain in bed for a minimum of 4 days after the surgery. So with 5 days of antibiotics, a weekend, a holiday (Costa Rican Mothers Day), two doctors appointments, surgery, and 4 days of rest I will be in San Jose until IST, which is two weeks of training in the last weeks of August.
Remember how I thought I was coming into town for one night, yea, you can guess how much variety my wardrobe has and how well its going to serve me through the month. Thanks to my peers coming into town for the training I will hopefully have enough outfits for training.
But after some readjusted expectations I have shifted to a positive focus on healing, reading, and laying in bed. The healing is going well, as is the cable watching and book reading.
Sending love to all those who I miss and who miss me. Especially Michelle, because I missed your birthday, hope it was amazing!
Chelsea

To dream and to wake

I think the strangest part of my experience so far would have to be my dreams. I can’t exactly tell whether they are nightmares or not, but multiple times a week I find myself returned from Costa Rica, back in the states, awaiting a flight to another country. I am full of anxiety and ambition, but more than anything I am scared. Then I wake up, and most of the time I am shocked to find myself lying in bed-in Costa Rica. Because in order to get here I overcame that exact type of fear I am dreaming about. How can something that I have already done be something I am scared of?

It has been wonderful to have time again to re-settle into my life at site. Since my birthday I have been traveling every few days, and it’s comforting to have time to put down more roots here. Time to play soccer, sit around and chat with community members, attend local government meetings, teach English, read, go fishing and settle back into my new favorite pace of life. I am learning that the US has a lot to learn about time and productivity. By shoving so much into a 12 hour day I think I missed so much of what made the days special, enjoyable and worth living. I’m not here to see how quickly I can make the days pass by. And there have been some amazing moments in my week. When was the last time you took notice of the moments in your life?

There are these wonderful fruits called Guayabas, that you eat like an apple, and have crunchy little seeds in the middle. I have been practicing my tree climbing to retrieve their juicy goodness. I am improving, but any 5 year old can still whoop me in tree climbing. That seems to be a theme in my life here, I may be improving, but any ol’ youngster still easily shows me up. A highlight of life on the fruit front, a neighbor came to the door today and brought me fruit! Not the family or my GMA, no, she brought ME green mangoes, which are an acquired taste, but I am intent on acquiring that taste. For those of your unfamiliar with rural Costa Rican life, bringing friends or neighbors fruit is the equivalent of waving to your neighbors in suburbia- easy to do and rude not to do.

My fan died. It was a very sad day, but I salvaged another old fan from the living room that I have never seen anyone use. I was told that it works for a while, and then it stops. I have been using it since Friday and it is still going strong. Here’s hoping. My other fan was dissected beyond recognition, in what I imagine was an attempt at fixing it. I sat by the wayside and created an auditory eulogy for the fan – Era un buen ventilador, hizo viento muy fresco y me ayudo mucho para dormir en las noches… No one seemed particularly amused, but I was thoroughly entertained.

There is now a chicken house in the backyard. I can’t be certain when it was built, or who built it, but it wasn’t there before and its there now. So there are considerably fewer chickens inside of the house. Besides this one devilish chicken, whom we refer to as Pelon (Hairy). He likes to shit in my room. I know its awful but when I clean up his shit I think about how one day I will eat him, and how that will be the last laugh. The other night three hens ended up hiding in the house at night and we had to catch them and put them outside (which I still argue is slightly useless with the holes in the walls, if the hens really wanted to sleep inside, let’s be honest, we can’t stop them). So 80 year old GMA (I have now officially verified her age, and its not 90, only 80) and me start trying to corner the chickens and grab them. Well wouldn’t you guess that 20 minutes later GMA has three chickens in one hand hanging by their feet and I am standing around looking useless.

Sunday the women’s soccer team had a feria, which roughly translates to soccer game with food. There were four futbol games and we prepared and sold food to raise money to pay for our travel to away games. Unfortunately only two of the three women’s teams we invited showed up, so we split our home team between the two away teams and played against each other. It was unbearably sunny, but the game was fun and my team won! Great day.

Mom sent me two new books for my birthday; The Art of Racing in the Rain and Born to Run. I read the first one during my travels and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Parts of it were set in Capitol Hill, Seattle and nothing could have made to happier than to read a well written fiction book referencing some of my favorite old haunts. I am currently in the middle of the second book, and I think it just be what I need to get my ass out of bed in the morning, to go for a few runs. I was running during training and I really loved it, but the heat here can kill the best-formed intentions. (I have a feeling that insufferable heat has something to do with the saying “the road to hell is paved with good intentions)  Am always on the lookout for book suggestions and will post below the list of books I have finished so far on my Peace Corps journey. I really do love books, sometimes I am hard pressed to find something that makes me happier than a new book and a Sunday afternoon.

 Hectors Search for Happiness/The Impossible will Take a While/Cutting for Stone/The Known World/Remember Me?/12 Steps to a More Compassionate Life/Shopaholic and Sister/The Jungle Effect/The Three Pillars of Zen/Savannah Breeze/In the Time of the Butterflies/The Reader/Trauma Stewardship/The Kite Runner/100 Years of Solitude/The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao/The Art of Racing in the Rain/Born to Run

It just started raining, and I have been waiting for a good rain for weeks. Hope this one sticks.

Loves,

Chelsea

To another morning, another sunrise and another reason to get out of bed

The best part of having a dog in  rural Costa Rica is that he follows you everywhere. So you always have a friend. Downside, he hides your shoes.

New Photos at

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.629490723705.2119787.32404648&l=2f868fbf48&type=1

A lot has happened since we last spoke, so let me get you up to speed.
-Its Friday August 5th today-did you know we were in August. I will admit, I was shocked.
-I walked 25 KM in 10 hours from San Jose to Cartago with 16 people aging from 2 to 80 years old. And we all slept outside on plastic bags sharing blankets.
-I hike Rio Celeste again. It is still beautiful and am amazing thing to have practically in my backyard.
-VAC PCV meeting with 17 other PCV from my Zona. Met some new people, ate some wonderful food, laughed.
-Have to finish my diagnostic in the next two weeks. Good luck with that Chelsea.

Many more stories and wonderful things I should share. But I am tired of typing and thinking. Tal vez another day.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Krema, Aunt Rhonda, Aunt Carol and Uncle Mike and Lindsey for the letters and birthday wishes.

Sending love.
Chelsea