happy thanksgiving!

i'm sitting in my sister's dorm room at king's college in LONDON, BABY!!!!! my family is busy planning out our day (i think we're going to walk over to see the london dungeons) while gabe reminds them that he wants to buy a lighter. we got in yesterday at 7:30 in the am, napped a little, and then set out for the day. mom, dani, gabi, and i went to the wax museum (AWESOME) and then browsed around a big market. we met up with daddy and dustin to eat dinner and see the lion king. all fabulous.
we're going to have thanksgiving dinner tonight at a friend of mom's house tonight - i hope they have pumpkin pie!

happy thanksgiving to all and to all a good night!

goodbye party

last night my tia threw a goodbye dinner party for me, rachel, and phil. it was at her house, with her 3 kids, her husband, her mother, and 3 out of 12 of her siblings. i was really nervous that it would be too frustrating or awkward (or both) to be enjoyable, but somehow everything worked out fine and we had a perfectly wonderful evening. this is in part thanks to phil's ability to speak spanish and to rachel's ability to make everyone laugh (usually at her expense). we exchanged gifts, addresses, and a few tears before rachel, phil, and i had to catch a cab home.

today will be my last day at the hogar comunitario with the kids. i wanted to blog now because i know when i get home this afternoon after having to say goodbye and i have to start packing, ill be too heartbroken to blog. i spent most of yesterday preparing my final activity, which will be painting a bench. the only plastic lawn bench i could find was $50, so (thanks to rachel's brilliant suggestion) i went to the local home-depot-ish store and bought wood to make my own. phil had to help me build the bench because i don't know squat about wood or benches. all things considered, it turned out pretty great. today the kids will (one by one) put their hand prints on the bench, unless i come up with a more creative idea in the next hour. this way, we'll have a fun last day and there will be something beautiful left behind for them to remember me by.

i get home pretty late tomorrow night, so (if you live in chicago) hopefully i'll see you sunday!
thank you for reading this and for commenting and thanks anat for making this for me in the first place. i'll start this back up when i'm travelling again.

pura vida <3

felipe

today phil came with me to my placement. once they warmed up to him, we had a great day. they made paper-chains to hang up on the wall, colored, played with clay, and played soccer outside. i cant even count the number of times we had to remind them that futbol is played with your feet, so picking up the ball is illegal.

phil showed them his trademark magic trick where he can make a toothpick disappear. then he sticks it in his ear and (magically) pulls it out of his mouth. they loved it so much that they made him do it 5 more times (not even to try and figure out how it works, they were simply fascinated by it- hence why i love kids).

when my tia began her daily quest to feed everyone that walks in her door, phil gladly accepted. every morning she offers me breakfast and i tell her i already ate at the house and every day at noon she offers me lunch and i tell her i'm going to eat when i get back to the house. she does not like this. phil, however, made her ecstatic by letting her feed him.

after we left he said she reminded him of his grandma. i bet you're thinking the same thing.

our last weekend

manuel antonio (aka never never land), picture taken by rachel from the national park

we ventured all the way out to manuel antonio, a big town on the pacific coast. its a big tourist spot because of the huge national park there, which we actually did check out. we saw some screeching monkeys, a mysterious unidentified animal, and what looked like an inflated rat.
we also spent a fair amount of time at the beach. some of the boys in our group learned how to surf while the rest of us just lounged around (and shopped).

today i brought twister to play with my kids. they had a hard time figuring out which hand is right and which is left, but we had fun nonetheless. we spent the rest of the day drawing and playing with clay. i've grown accustomed to sitting my kids down after lunch and reading them a story, so they rest a little. today while i was reading in the living room i looked over at the kitchen table and saw my tia sat down and had fallen asleep. i didn't wake her until my bus came to get me and i had to leave. i mean, she's the one who really needed the rest.

right now, a few of us are sitting in the common room editing the english tests from a local high school for grammar and spelling mistakes before they are administered. i'm also drinking this green drink that's supposed to cleanse my system and nourish my body. when i finish the editing and the foul-tasting drink, rachel and i are planning on walking around ciudad quasada a little to explore and to shop.

luckily i'm fluent in spanish

last friday was a holiday called "day of the cultures," where they celebrate the diversity of their population. then monday everyone got the day off of school and work (for the holiday), so they grouped us up and sent us to the placements that always meet (orphanages, nursing homes, ect). i went with emily and rachel c. to a home for teenage girls who had been removed from their houses because of domestic violence or drug abuse.
we made bracelets with them, played crazy eights, played some board games, and (obviously) talked about boys. they were excited to hang out with new people and to get to practice their english.

today my tia had a meeting, so i went with phil to his placement. his kids are ADORABLE. phil brought his guitar so we could perform. we rocked out to "i want to be sedated," "eye of the tiger," and the pokemon song phil wrote years ago. they weren't really digging the ramones but they went crazy for the pokemon song. i took a lot of pictures of them jumping all over phil but i'm having trouble uploading them so ill post them later.

to quote rachel's blog

"During the week there are various optional activities for us to participate in. Twice a week I go to Spanish classes, but I'm having a hard time learning much because I keep confusing it with Hebrew. Every Thursday there is some sort of day trip, which I'll go into more detail about later. We also have different kinds of cultural activities. Things like a lecture from a historian, dance lessons, cooking lessons, discussions about current social issues, etc. I like going to some of them and I take notes because I do miss school...a little."
-Rachel Derman

which way is the beach

we took a gruesome 6 hour drive out to the caribbean coast this weekend, to a town called puerto viejo. puerto viejo is completely rasta-ed out. everything is covered in red, yellow, and green and i was asked 15 times if i wanted to be given dred-locks.
our hostel was empty with the exception of two stained beds, a pipe sticking out of the wall as a shower, and some sort of red powder on the floor that mysteriously stained everything. none of that mattered to us though because the beachfront was right in our backyard!

i heart my tia

my tia is truly a wonderful woman. she opens her house up every day to mother 9 children under the age of 5, thereby enabling their mothers to work. during the week she cooks every meal for them (from scratch), cleans up after them, changes them (the littlest ones at least)... ect., ect., ect., for close to nothing. this all wouldn't impress me half as much as it does if she didn't treat each child like he/she was her own. it took about a week before she was mothering me too (shes worried i don't eat enough so she tries feeding me 20 times throughout the day).

whenever she has a spare minute we talk, which is difficult and frustrating because it requires time, patience, and my handy-dandy dictionary. its always worth it though and i feel like -despite my toddler level vocabulary- we've really gotten to know each other.

once i leave, the kids will probably forget all about me in no time, but my tia already wants me to promise her i'll visit. i told her today after i'm done with school and after i've made enough money, i want to come back to visit her. her response was (roughly translated) "with a husband and kids, right?"

nature-freak

group 75 went on an excursion this afternoon to a beautiful waterfall in la fortuna. i was never one to be all that wow-ed by postcards or computer backgrounds featuring waterfalls. i always preferred the sunset picture or the mountains. but seeing one up close quickly changed that.
i sat on one of the rocks beside the waterfall (far enough to be safe but close enough to get nearly pushed off by the rushing water multiple times) and i was beyond wow-ed.
i felt like i could stay there for hours staring at the enormous power the waterfall had on every rock and leaf surrounding it. it was the kind of fully sensory experience that makes you forget about the existence of absolutely everything else (people, places, the past, the future...) and you have be snapped out of it. i feel like i've been having that sort of experience almost on a weekly basis.

escuela

for reasons unbeknownst to me, my tia cancelled day care today so i went with rachel to her placement. she is an english teacher's aide for grades 1-6. rachel helps her by coming up with creative lesson plans and writing up quizzes (which -prior to her arrival- they didn't have).

the thing is, the teacher's english isn't all that good, so its hard for rachel to figure out whats expected of her sometimes. she spends all the time between classes teaching the teacher. anyway, the kids are sweet and completely infatuated with rachel so they try hard in class to impress her.

it was interesting spending the day in such a different environment. i realized that in our completely seperate ways, rachel and i are having relatively similar experiences. i mean that only in the sense that we both struggle with the language barrier, mild confusion as to what's expected of us, and the overwhelming desire to do more every day than is phsyically possible. my wonderful day at school was topped off with the 5th and 6th graders trying to teach us how to dance after their classes were over.

this just in

The free trade agreement between the U.S. and Central America (CAFTA) basically eliminates all taxes on U.S. manufactured goods. This referendum has been at the forefront of Costa Rican news for weeks, because although people in America have yet to hear about it, the decision effects every worker in the country, rich or poor. In general, the progress which CAFTA engenders for Costa Rica, is another step in its economic development. Along with the agreement will come an influx of big American companies that will compete with smaller local businesses. Since these large companies can afford to have lower prices than the local businesses, what starts as healthy competition will end in brisk elimination. Farmers, who represent 19% of Costa Rican workers and 10% GDP, are the ones whose livelyhoods are at stake. Unfortunately Costa Rica doesn't have the resources to cut themselves a better deal than CAFTA, which is an agreement that is more in America's favor.
The results of the vote are 51.5% to 48.5% in favor of the agreement. Last night as we sat in our living room, people were driving around, honking, playing music, and shouting in celebration. Being here during such an important part of Costa Rican history has been an interesting and eye-opening experience about global politics.

r&r

last friday, rachel's school had the off so she came with me to day care. the kids were all immediately taken with her, which was wonderful because they were on their best behavior to impress her. she still got to see what my days are normally like because that only lasted for the first hour or so. she also saw how sweet and loving the pookers are. as the picture shows, rachel's maternal nature made the kids forget she didn't understand a word of what they were saying.

the kids had just finished lunch and began running around wild, when a big ol' 4x4 pulled up. to my surprise, it was my dad!! (who wasn't supposed to come until 3 in the afternoon to pick us up from the ccs house) he wanted to drop in and catch me off guard to see where i volunteer every day.

i can't even express how wonderful it was to see him. along with rachel and phil, we had a relaxing weekend of hot springs and good eats. it was definitely nice being spoiled for a weekend. i think we all needed a little peace, a little quiet, and a little raph in our lives.

this one's for you, grams

speaking as someone with no experience ever working with pre-schoolers before, i have to say i think these kids have behavioral problems beyond the average pre-schooler. it's pretty normal for some kids that age to throw a fit when told to share or to wait their turn but these kids throw fits and act out aaaaaaall daaaaaay.
with my limited conversational abilities in spanish, i asked the tia why they get so out of control. she explained to me they all go home to single mothers and their fathers, for the most part, are completely out of the picture. i mean, these kids are at this community day care center because their mothers work during the day and can't afford anything else. she said when they go home on nights and weekends there is no discipline in their lives, so it's hard to discipline them during the day.
sometimes i feel like they don't really understand what's acceptable behavior and what's not. which explains the necessity of a stoplight of rules i made for them. now when they're misbehaving i can point to the poster and ask if what they're doing is in the red or in the greeeen, and, subsequently, should they stop or go on.

in any case, we went on a group trip horseback-riding today and i'm pooped.

it's all fun and games

as excited as the tourist part of me has been about being here, i think its about time i bring the focus back to my placement and what i've been doing with the kids. in addition to their regular daily activites of coloring, playing house, and throwing tantrums, i like to bring some fun and new things for us to do every day. they're always fun activities that i turn into semi-educational activities for the older kids by asking them to identify the colors/shapes/numbers involved.

the combination of cut up paper towel rolls and soapy water equaled a little mess and a lot of bubble-y fun. they had more fun popping the bubbles than they had making them, as any kid would. this is something we'll do again real soon because all the kids (from the 1.5-yr-olds to the 5-yr-olds) could participate and because apparently it helps improve their gross motor skills.

plasticina (clay) is another big hit with the kids. again, it has the messy appeal and its also perfect for all ages. we sculpt and mold whenever they want to because it's one of the few activities that can actually hold their attention and it's grrrrreat for their fine motor skills.

today we made fruit-loop-necklaces or at least we almost did until they started eating them all.

the bottom line is that im pretty much a pre-school teacher and im aboslutely loving it. every day is more fun than the last. these kids, as out of control as they can get, are perfect. i love them. and they love me too, errr at least the girls do. look:

back to the volcano

nine of us from the house hopped a bus to la fortuna on friday, to spend the weekend in the arenal volcano town. we stayed in a backpacker's hostel, in a room almost big enough for all of us. it was one of the girls' birthday, so we went out to a nice dinner at a cute little touristy restaurant down the street.



on saturday five of us went zip-lining (all the boys chickened out and went to a spa or something). we were about 300 ft high and the longest line was about 1/2 a mile long. it was so exhilirating i could have sworn i was flying. you couldn't have smacked the smile off my face. we were supposed to ride horses afterward but it started to pour, so we skipped that. rachel and i are probably going convince phil to go zip-lining just so we'll have an excuse to go again!

folcanos are dangerous business

we went on a group field trip yesterday to hike around the arenal volcano. unfortunately it was raining so we couldn't cross the river (out of fear that things would be flowing down it) and our hike was cut in half. allen, one of the program directors, told us that the last time he took a group to hike around the volcano there were minor earthquakes. oh how i wished it would earthquake. he also said that if it were to errupt than it would be pointless to run. scaaaary.
i brought back a volcanic rock to give gabe.

vivan los ninos!

we've pretty much got a rhythm to our day now, me and the ninos.

we start out with some casual drawing.. nothing too serious. then we move to some sort of puzzle-like or lego-like game, depending on whatever i bring that paticular day.

after a bit, they're bored of that and tensions begin to rise so we switch it up with something more active. sometimes we'll go play outside (this 2 year old is better at soccer than most high schoolers), but we usually end up putting on costumes and dancing around. the girls put on skirts and the boys put on button up shirts. adorable. then we blast some kids' tunes and just rock out. our favorite song goes:

"vivan los ninos! vivan los ninos! que siempre tienen ganas de jugar!!!"

then we sit down to do an arts&farts&crafts project, which holds their focus for the longest part of the day. that is, unless the girls decide to throw temper tantrums in which case i start a game of hide and seek or something of the sort. by this point in time, they're usually dying to go back to drawing so we start the whole cycle over again!

wherever, whenever the jews congregate

out of 22 volutneers in group 75, the 6 jews got together to observe yom kippur. friday afternoon we took off in what should have been a 4 hour van ride to jaco beach. unfortunately, it took us a much longer time to get there and we missed pre-fast shabbat dinner. we knew we were in the right place when, on the sign, underneath the hotel's name it said "bruchim habaim." the hotel is run by israelis, who led us to services taking place at a different hotel.

saturday was a very lonely yom kippur for me, being my first away from home. i didn't really feel homesick until i thought about the whole family rocking out at moriah and breaking fast together. also, it my first time praying with a 'michitzah' (seperation between the men and women). its just not my style.

we learned there's a huge population of israelis in jaco beach that ocassionally gets together. they were all very welcoming and unexpectedly comforting. everything this past week has been so foreign to me that being surrounded by jews and hearing hebrew just felt gooooood.

rachel, phil and i walked over to the beach to do 'tashlich' right at sunset.

it was not just beautiful, it was powerful. don't laugh. it was.

we spent all day sunday at the beach, hanging out with the chabbad boys from services. turns out i'm far too clumsy to surf. we were in a really tourist-y part of jaco beach, which was a fun way to spend the weekend but definately made us all grateful that we're seeing the real costa rica.

on the van ride home, our driver pulled over right before a bridge. he told us to get out and look around at the beautiful sight. it was gorgeous. postcard gorgeous. and there were crocs in the lake under the bridge! i was pretty grateful for the distance between us and them, they're scary lookin.

ill get better at this, i promise

i hope you guys make gabe read this.. because i'd really like for him to hear about the biggest culture shock about living in the ccs house. apparently san carlos has a pretty weak plumbing system so they dont flush down their toilet paper. talk about gross.
another huge culture shock is how slow time goes by here. they call it "tico time." everyone is so laid back compared to the fast-paced lifestyle im used to. nobody here is ever in a rush to do things or get anywhere. i started talking to the woman behind the register at the supermarket last week and was surprised to not be interrupted by some disgruntled mother whose valuable time i was wasting. the only structured time of my day is meal time. i love it here.

all the volunteers living in the ccs house, hereby reffered to as group 75, went to the hot springs last thursday. its absolutely beautiful there and oh so relaxing. every thursday we go on group excursions. luckily we aren't supposed to go see the volcanos until next week, because one had a small eruption wednesday and we would not have been able to go.

friday we went to help out at the peace festival. we split off into pairs and ran different activities for all the kids. rachel and i, being the talented artists we are, did face-painting. now i know how to say "mariposa" (butterfly), "corazone" (heart), "estrella" (star) and other such words in the genre of things-rachel-and-becky-can-draw. between speeches that i couldn't understand, the fully decked out kids did adorable dance performances.

First Post! Yowza!

hello hello!!
everythings wonderful here and i am blissfully happy. were living dorm style, rachel and i are in a room together sleeping on bunk beds. the food here is delicious and we live next door to a bakery.
there are 20 other volunteers here, mostly 18-22, all very interesting people.
my placement is "Hogar Comunitario Divino Nino", a government subsidized day care center run out of this woman's house. she's called "tia" (auntie) and there's 10 kids that go there, all under the age of 5. she spends all day preparing their meals and cleaning up after them, so she doesn't actually have any time to organize activities for them. they would spend most of their time watching tv or rough-housing.
enter becky.
its only been two days and im already in love with these kids. if its possible, they have shorter attention spans than i do, so we do 10 different activities every 5 minutes. they call me "Beea," although im not sure whether its an endearing nickname or just because "becky" is too hard for little kids to say.
in only two days my spanish has vastly improved. i know only the most important phrases for working with kids; 'sit down', 'stop that', 'do you need help', 'lets clean up', & 'what do you want to play'. my "tia" doesn't speak a word of english, nor do any of the kids, so the language barrier makes things a little difficult.
i love and miss you all, but im off to bed. we wake up pretty early because our carpool-vans leave the house at 7:30. i'm ready to pass out anyway. kids are exhausting.

with love,
becky