Rain, Rain, Rain

The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or Peace Corps.

November 8, 2010

Some of you may have seen about the rains we had in Costa Rica. It was raining for about a week, from last Saturday to two days ago. We all just made it back from our site visits on Tuesday. A couple days later and we would've been stuck at the sites until the roads were cleared so that was lucky timing. On Thursday morning, my family as well as people all over the country woke up without electricity and without running water. The telephone lines in my community were fine, but most people only had phones that needed electricity to work, and so we were without landlines as well.

We were lucky in my community because we got electricity back the same day at about 2 pm. The phone lines had trouble the next day, but that was fixed quickly as well. Some people are still without phones and water. Running water was a little more complicated as the aqueduct piping had been severely damaged, so we were using mostly rain water for about four days until that was fixed. I was showering again with a bucket like I did in India. I had forgotten how little water you actually need to bathe. One large bucket is enough compared to all the water you use when the shower is running continuously. It seems like such a waste now to go back to the regular way.

Getting all of these basic services back up and running became even more complex because many of the roads were impassable due to landslides. It took crews from Thursday to Sunday to get all of the roads cleared. It was a quiet long weekend for Costa Ricans without work, buses, etc.

Other places weren't so lucky. Provinces like Cartago and Puntarenas are dealing with massive flooding and damage to homes and businesses. It will take a long time to clean up and recover from all that water damage.

I've been impressed with how organized the government is in getting basic services back online, clearing the roads so life could return to normal today, and the minimal loss of life. Peace Corps has been in contact with every volunteer individually to make sure we're all okay and to see what the status of our house is. Some staff even drove out to training sites to check on volunteers in person. They've been very attentive and have made sure we're not only physically safe but also mentally healthy.

Obviously, this has put our already tight training schedule behind by several days. We'll find out soon how we'll be making up the time we've lost. But that's nothing compared to the fact that we're all healthy and safe.

On a lighter note: my training community group and I have been taking dance lessons from my host sister. So far we've learned the basic steps for cumbia (a Costa Rican dance), merengue and bachata. We're hoping to learn salsa next! It's so much fun! I'm looking forward to practicing more.

P.S. I have some photos of damages and other things on my flickr site if you're interested. www.flickr.com/photos/travelmonger

Volunteer Site Visit

The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or Peace Corps.

November 2, 2010

Just returned from a site visit today. All of the trainees went out to visit current volunteers in their communities to observe what life will be like for us in a few weeks! I went to visit a volunteer in the southern part of San Jose province. Its not really that far, but first I needed to take a bus to San Jose which is a little over an hour, then a bus from San Jose to San Isidro, another big city in the south of the province, which is 3 hour bus ride, and then a half hour bus ride to the actual site. Unfortunately, it turned into a much longer trip than that due to the fact it was a Saturday and the buses were busy.

I left my training community on the 11 am bus, and got to San Jose around 12:20. I had directions to walk to the other bus stop, but silly me, I started out walking in the wrong direction and so quickly got lost. I figured it out in a few blocks when the first part of the directions didn't make sense, and after asking about 5 different people (thank God Costa Ricans are so friendly!), I found my way to the bus station. It should've only taken 10 minutes but took me closer to 25 which still isn't that bad.

I arrived at the bus station with plenty of time. I needed to get to San Isidro before 6, since the last bus to the site leaves at 6 pm, meaning I needed to be on a bus that left before 3. Since I got to the bus station at just before 1, and buses leave every half hour, I though I had plenty of time. Not so much. All of the seats were sold out until the 3 pm bus, which would be too late to catch the bus to the site. So I went “a pie” meaning I didn't have a seat. I got on the bus right away and was able to claim a space on the floor in the handicapped area so I didn't have to stand, so it was fine.

I made it to San Isidro, met up with the volunteer, and was at her house by 7 pm. We had a quiet Saturday night.

On Sunday, it was warm and not raining in the morning, so we walked around her site and up to a huge river on the outskirts of town. We stopped at a little restaurant and I had my first burger and fries in almost a month. It was a little different since the burger had a slice of ham on it and the fries were actually “salchipapas” which just means its fries with little pieces of meat that taste like hot dogs. It was ridiculously satisfying.

Monday, I met her counterpart, which is the person in volunteer sites that volunteers work and coordinate with closely. We had lunch at his house, and then we prepared for her English class that night. Since I was going to be teaching it, I read over the lessons she'd said to do, and read the teacher's manual part. It all seemed very easy – until I actually got to the class and had people sitting in front of me. Everything went ok, just a little rocky. I relied pretty heavily on the book, and picked up a few things from the volunteer on how to explain things more clearly. I realize now that I need to prepare and plan out activity by activity next time, but still leave room for tangents. For example, we were reviewing body parts vocabulary, and I had the students read off the words. When they got to knee, they were pronouncing the “k”, so I stopped and explained that the “k” was actually silent. I probably should have gone more in depth and explained this rule by showing them other words like this, like “knock” and “knife”, so that they would understand better. Now I know. Even though it's a lot more work than I thought it would be, I think I'm going to enjoy teaching English.

I also learned that, depending on my site, I will need to wear my heavy duty rain boots. It was raining quite a bit, and the roads were all rocks or grass, so it was pretty muddy. The volunteer didn't really have a walkway to and from her house, just rocks and a couple of tree stumps to jump on. One time, when it was raining pretty heavily and had been for a while, my foot slipped off the rock and my shoe landed in the mud – and stayed there. I was able to hop in my bare foot so that I didn't go down face first, but we had to go back to the house to wash off my feet and shoes. I made it across without incident the second time. I also went home with two pairs of pants that had rain splatters all the way up to the butt. But now I've experienced it, and learned my lesson, and that's all that matters!

The return home was smoother, but still a long day as I left by 7:30 and didn't get back to my host community until past 2 pm. I was glad I'd decided to take the morning bus and not the afternoon one because I wouldn't have gotten home until late evening.

It was a fun trip and now I have a better feel of what the next two years will be like. Looking forward to my own site assignment!!