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
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