Ah.....

Daontay 18

Today I woke up early again, which is nice. I think it's something about being in a beautiful new place each morning that causes my body to wake up with the Sun. We interviewed a member of the PLN at the Legislative Assembly. We had deep questions, but the answers we received were about the history of Costa Rica as opposed to the personal beliefs and thoughts we were hoping for. We also took a brief tour of the building, and heard more about the history of Costa Rica.

The work in La Carpio has ended, though it remains incomplete. I didn't find it life changing or hard. When something needs to be done, you just do it. I was pretty sweaty though I must admit. My shirts have never been so wet. We worked pretty well together. I wish we could have finished though.

We had our first encounter with the rain, which I find to be very soothing. Standing in the entry way of the small market, trying to keep out of the rain, I watched the people as they walked by. That is also something I find soothing. I like to imagine what their thinking, where they're going, or what there about to do. My imagination now has new stories to feed off of.

And the weather is amazing. All of the people who went last year talked about how hot it was but I don't think it's hot at all.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day. I need to rest. Ah, sleep and showering have never felt this good.

At the Legislative Assembly

Facing Realities

Ryan Oliver, Social Studies Teacher

As you will read from the postings below, the last 24 hours was an intense, sometimes tumultuous introduction to the people, culture and food of Costa Rica. Extremes have so far been the norm.  We went from the relative wealth of a suburb of San Jose where we are staying to the abject poverty of La Carpio. We transitioned from dirt, sweat and pigs to polite conversation in an air-conditioned school building. And we went from Spaghetti to rice and beans three meals a day. We are encouraging everyone to be as fully conscious and present in each of these experiences as possible, and the students seem to be taking this to heart. As Courtney says, "I keep saying THIS is my favorite part of the trip, but I think I will probably say that about everything."

After an exceptionally long day students were asked to do some difficult mental work in preparation for our two interviews this morning with leaders of both the ruling and opposition political parties at the Legislative Assembly, Costa Rica's version of Congress. A small group of students was asked to put in extra work based on their experience with the Politics and Civics interviewing process and showed incredible stamina and leadership. They developed some of the best questions I've ever seen on one of these expeditions and modeled the depth that we are hoping for in these conversations with leaders of Costa Rican society. Others are doing their best to jump on board and facing their challenges with courage.

We are impressed by the depth of energy, intelligence and good will this group is showing so far, and look forward to continued great results as we delve deeper into the work, the interviews and the interactions with our friends at Liceo JJ Vargas. At the moment we are fully immersed in the rush of activity and new experiences. Look for more reflections and more pictures once we catch up with ourselves.

Oh, Leo

Samantha, 18

Today we went to La Carpio and our job was to dig out a sewage drain. I used a pick-axe for the first time and it was intense! I took a break for water and there were two young girls playing with their dolls near our break spot. I tried talking to them the best I could, but my Spanish level is dreadful. One of their mother´s told us she had pet pigs and our whole group went running through her house and into her back yard. She kept the pigs in pens and once we were all in the yard she let them out to roam free with the dogs. They were so cool and I remember thinking how bizzare of a situation I was in when I was leaving the yard full or roaming pigs to dig in a sewage pit as a rooster walked by crowing.

We went to visit our Tico pen pals after digging and that was fun. Mat and I were left sitting at our table when everyone´s pen pals came pouring in. Ours had not showed up and we felt stood up and sad, but before we started to shed tears Leo and Pepe (Our penpals) came in all sweaty and said that they were playing a game of soccer. Pepe knew some English and Mat knew some Spanish and then there was Leo and I. We were both obviously the people who slack off in foreign language class because we couldn´t understand eachother at all. I got paper and tried drawing things and that kind of worked. He showed me pictures on his phone of his motorcycle and I pointed out his eyebrow piercing which I thought was cool. We talked about that kind of and then we just went on about our pets. Apparently he has a cow, a dog, a beaver and a tucan. One day his dog bit his beaver, but the beaver is okay. Just typing that sentence made me reevaluate whether or not I really translated what he was saying correctly..

We played this game that was basically Monkey in the Middle only with soccor incorporated and it was really fun. Leo betrayed me by putting me in the middle, but it was all good. We explained that in the USA their game would be called ¨Monkey in the Middle¨ and Pepe laughed and started making monkey noises and acting like a monkey in the middle which made me laugh because I had never thought of the game title so literally.

Before we left everyone was taking pictures with their pen-pals so I got a picture with Leo and I was smiling and he made this really tough scowl. I then began (very patiently and kindly) yelling at him to smile and not be such a macho jerk. I´m not sure if he understood, but needless to say I have a picture of us both fully smiling and looking like two peas in a pod! Nate was taking these pictures and he got one of me yelling at Leo and it makes me laugh every time I see it.

That was basically my day. We stopped at the bank and exchanged our money so now I´m rollin in the colones.

Food Update: I´m doing better than I thought for being such a picky eater. All I need is their salsa/hot sauce and I´m good to go. I have become an official vegetarian as well. Some aren´t feeling as well as I. I know of one person who has been literally living off her secret stash of Teddy Grahms and there is talk of another girl who is planning to make a jail-break tonight for the grocery store down the street that sells junk food. If you were to walk into someone´s room right now and mention food you would think you were at a fat camp; it´s so funny!

Pura Vida!

Visit with Liceo J.J. Vargas School Pen Pals