Friday, July 10, 2009

July 10

So every two weeks turned into almost a month I think. Oops. My bad. I’ll be better with my next entry. At least I’ll try anyway. Everything is well with me down here and I’ve been keeping busy. I’m writing a participatory community diagnostic which I believe I mentioned in my first entry, and from there I’m supposed to come up with a work plan for the first year. So I’ve been interviewing people and going over community analyses from previous years done by the local school and health clinic. However, I’ve sort of skipped the work action plan part and jumped into some projects already, which some past volunteers have advised against, but I feel my comfort level in the community and with Spanish is high enough so that it shouldn’t be a problem. Last Thursday I signed up to be a leader of the Costa Rican equivalent of boy and girls scouts in Cariari, called Guias y Scouts, although they don’t separate by gender for any of the activities or meetings. I’m a leader in the 7-10 age group, called a manada (pack) and composed of about 30 screaming, highly-energetic kids. There are two other leaders, a 27 year-old woman from my community Caribe and an older woman from Cariari, who is the main leader due to her past experience with the Guias y Scouts. On Saturday we had our first meeting, which involved playing lots of games and making the kids run around for 2 ½ hours until they were exhausted (as was I). So on my first day as a Guias y Scouts leader I learned about 5 new games in Spanish to play with kids which should help me a lot in the future since I am a Children, Youth and Families volunteer.
Also, I’m going to begin teaching an English class starting in September, so in the next month and a half I’ll be signing people in my community up for the class, preparing lesson plans, getting materials, etc. The getting materials part is what takes the longest, I believe. I might end up teaching two classes as well, one advanced for the students who already graduated from the previous volunteer’s class (whose name is Kim by the way, so I can refer to her by name instead of previous volunteer), and a beginner for those who want to start learning. I have to decide how much I want to actually teach, since each class is supposed to meet either twice a week for 1 ½ hours or once for 3 hours. So that’s another project to keep me busy.
The pastor of the Iglesia Centroamericana here in Caribe, Cristian, and I have been talking a lot about possible projects for the community, and so far we have gotten a Saturday film night started, called Cine Caribe. Using a video projector that took a lot of work to acquire—including a half-day trip that turned out to wasted time since the man who was supposed to give us the video projector got sick the night before, was taken to the hospital, and failed to have anyone tell us he couldn’t meet with us that day until we were already halfway there—along with my computer, we project movies on to a screen in the Iglesia Centroamericana. The screen is actually a huge piece of cloth about the size of a small movie theater screen and also took a lot of work to set up, but it does the job. Last Saturday was the inauguration and more than fifty people came to watch Up, a Pixar production (down here we can get movies on DVD two weeks after they are released in theaters in the states, so it actually is somewhat like going to see a newly released film). This Saturday we are going to play the new Transformers film if we can get a hold of it. So at least the first film night was a success. I want to get funds from the program Courts For Kids to build a basketball court/small soccer plaza here in Caribe, since there is only one small basketball court in Cariari and it is in terrible condition. There is an interest here in playing basketball, but nowhere to play it. Other volunteers have used this program with great success, so hopefully I can as well. One of Kim’s projects that I’m definitely going to continue is the recycling center at the local school, which is really the only form of recycling in Caribe. Hopefully I can expand it to include the rest of the community as well instead of just the school.
In other news, I ate cow’s intestines in soup a few days ago, called mondongo. Don’t plan on doing that again. I managed to get it all down, but the texture was too chewy and it smelled like something else. My grandma, Alicia, made it for me to try; luckily she recognized the look on my face that I never want to see mondongo in front of me again. I also had soup with chicken feet in it about a couple weeks ago. I didn’t eat the chicken feet, but they were quite a surprise. Alicia left the soup for me on the stove because I was going to be getting home late, and when I went to serve myself I saw four chicken feet floating on top. The soup was actually good though. I guess the legs and feet go in to add to the flavor. Michael Jackson’s death has been hug news down here. There have been special reports on the proceedings of his death, funeral, music (especially Thriller), life, wealth, etc., every day since he passed away. Tonight there is a special TV event, an Adios to the king of pop, which is supposedly going to be watched by most of the country (at least those who watch TV at 8 pm). I plan on seeing it. I guess he made a huge impact with his music in Costa Rica, as well as in the US and much of the world for that matter.
That’s about all I have for now. I opened a PO Box in Cariari, so if anyone wants to send me a post card, letter, whatever, the address is:
Andy Durland
Apartado Postal 28-7209
Cariari, Pococi, Limon
Costa Rica 70205
If you send anything larger than a letter, you gotta right that it’s either books or clothes or customs will try to confiscate it. Still adjusting to the heat and humidity. Luckily the water is drinkable out of the tap, so I’m staying hydrated at least. Hope all is well with everyone. Best,
Andy

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