Time to Catch Up on the Fun!

Alyssa, 17

I haven't blogged since Day 2, and today is Day 5! We've been so busy, hustling from place to place, and trying to get caught up on sleep. Here's a recap of Days 3, 4, and 5.

Day 3 - We started off the day by going to the Legislative Assembly for an interview, and also got a tour of the building. After lunch, we went back to La Carpio for the last time. It was one of the best experiences I've had. We (both our group and people from La Carpio) worked together to create a road. The hardest part was mixing cement by hand! Well, with shovels. But it's a lot harder than using a cemement mixer! Once our work was done, we had a small gathering to present our group's donation to the La Carpio community. Nate, Patrick, Shalyce, and I presented a community leader with the donation and each reflected on our experiences working in La Carpio. Then, we had cake and Coke! I don't drink pop, but the cake was really good. It had caramel and fruit in it. A few of us also bought purses made by a few of the women in La Carpio.

After we (FINALLY!) got back to the hotel after a long ride in traffic, we had dinner, which really surprised me. First off, there were no rice and beans! Instead, there was mashed potatoes. And the meat was fish! Which usually, I HATE fish, but I tried it, and it was really good. I even had seconds! I was happy I ended up trying it, despite the fact I thought it would be really gross. Traveling to another country has really surprised me in the sense that I am being a lot more open minded about things like food, which I would have never tried before.

Day 4 - Today started with probably the best breakfast we're going to have. We had cantaloupe, pinapple, and a ham and cheese croissant. I love cantaloupe and pineapple, so I was psyched. The first thing on our itinerary was a trip to Dos Pinos, a local dairy cooperative. We got to see how things like milk and ice cream are made, and get a lot of information about CAFTA and how the tariffs on trade between the US and Costa Rica and going to change over the next 10 years. The end of the tour was spectacular, complete with ice cream and stuffed animal cows!

We had our second interview after lunch, at the U.S. Embassy. I was really looking forward to going there because I heard so much about it and I wanted to see what it was that they did for Americans. We learned a lot about what people do there, how they help Americans, and the process of becoming an officer in international embassies. One of the officers also gave us a few travel tips! This was really helpful to me because I plan to travel more in the future.

Last night, we went to a Jazz Cafe. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't too different than just a restaurant with a live band. I had never really listened to Latin Jazz before, but it was better than I expected it to be. I really liked how the piano was played, it sounded so cool and different. The only downside was that we didn't get back to the hotel until 11:30! Which would have been fine if we didn't have to get up so early for Poas today!

Day 5 - Got to wake up around 6 to leave by 7:30! First we went to the high school to pick up the students. We had about half of us and half of them in each of the two buses. I really liked that we got to talk to them on the (long) ride to the Poas volcano. I talked to Paula the entire ride there. She is very good at English and we found so much to talk about. It wasn't constricted to just, how old are you, and what type of music do you like. It was about everything from our school classes, who are friends are, where we like to go to hang out, and just everything we could think to talk about. The volcano was really clear of fog, so we got lots of great pictures. On the way back, I talked to Larry and Pepe a lot, they were so funny. It is really interesting trying to break a language barrier, even if we know a bit of Spanish and they know a bit of English.

The high school students came to our hotel for a small get together. It was so fun. We listened to music, attempted to dance, and ended up playing hand games. Who knew that other countries played Slide and their own version of Stella Ella Olla! I miss them already and they only left a few minutes ago. I can't wait to get back home and e-mail my new Tico friends.

We are leaving for Yorkin in the morning and we won't be able to blog again for about a week! I'm worried about the food we will have to eat, but I'm doing much better with eating rice and beans and today I even had squash soup. Weird, right?

I miss everyone back home and I can't wait to see you guys when I get home.

Cows to the States...

Larry, 16

Arturo, 17

Today we made the trek to from Dos Pinos, a dairy cooperative to the US Embassy, and it was truly interesting. A lot of the information provided to us in both places couldn't have been looked up, or photographed.

The Dos Pinos plant really gave us an in-depth view of not only of how milk is processed, but WHAT a cooperative is, and HOW it's beneficial in many ways. We really enjoyed it. The way that a cooperative is run, as well as how it's run, is completely different from how a traditional company in America is run. The business is based on all around inclusiveness as oppose to the traditional exclusiveness that we've grown accustomed to in American businesses, especially large corporations.

The cooperative has many different farmers contributing their milk, but the interesting part is that the people contributing into this cooperative can be the little guy that has 20 cows all the way to the big guy with 200 or 2,000 cows. They make it so that everyone is involved and everyone has a say in how the dairy cooperative is run regardless of how many cows you have. To ensure that this process is carried out effectively they set up a system kind of like a field campaign. Each area has field organizers who are farmers themselves. Those farmers report to their regional field director who is the elected leader of that specific area. Then that person reports to the state director which is part of the cooperative council.

As we were walking around with the group and the Dos Pinos PR representative, We were interested to learn how much money business marketers make in Costa Rica. Apparently from $17,000 to to $20,000 a year is typical for what people in this position make, though it depends on how long they have been with the cooperative. Even the highest paid person in the company makes no more than $150,000-$200,000 a year, a big difference from US corporations where CEOs can make $8-$10 Million a year in some of the biggest companies. The representative we spoke with said this was partly due to the cooperative model where members have greater control over leadership actions, and partly a result of Costa Rican values which focus more on egalitarianism. [This was also echoed by "Chico," advisor to the ruling PLN, during our interview at the Legislative Assembly. He stated that Costa Ricans have always been opposed to titles and any other conspicuous signs of putting one's self above others. Jokes meant to bring someone back down to earth are the norm when people, historically and in the present.]

We also learned that people in La Carpio make an estimated $100 a month which is below poverty line in Costa Rica. Another question I asked was, "Can people who graduate from college with an undergraduate degree and earn an MBA work in Costa Rica?" The answer was that it can be possible through different programs that company's have or on different working visas.

Aqui

Danielle, 18

While I was on my water break a little Tica girl, probably about 6-years-old, came up to me and said, "Aqui" and handed me a flower. I thought it was the cutest thing because I wasn't expecting the little girl to give me a flower and she was just adorable. I didn't know what the little girl said to me since I speak very little Spanish and it made me a little sad, but Nate heard what the little girl said and he saw that she gave me a flower. 

Later in the day, I asked Nate what did the little girl said to me and Nate told me that she said, "Here." Everytime when I think about the flower that the little girl gave me, I think of, "Aqui."Yesterday we all were working really hard in La Carpio. Every once in a while someone would take a water break to get a drink of water and to relax for a little bit.

The best day so far

Nathan, 18

The most exciting part of today was in La Carpio.

I really got involved. I'm really proud of myself and the whole group. We made concrete to make a road so that cars can travel the streets of La Carpio. After we finished mixing concrete and placing it, we went back and had a meeting with everyone from the organization that we were working with in La Carpio.

There were a few of us that got in front of the group to say a few things about the experience that we have had over the past few days working with them and I was one of these people.

Basically all I said was that I loved helping them better their condition, and loved working beside the people of La Carpio to get the job done. After the four of us said a few words, I got to present the President of the organization a donation that will go towards the community and help them get things that will help improve their conditions even more.

I'm really sad that today was the last day in La Carpio. I wish we could go back for a few more days because it was fun being there and assisting people in need alongside the people themselves.

Overall, it was a really busy day and tiring, but in the end we succeeded in what we came to do, and I believe we can continue to do so for the remainder of the trip.

Arturo, 17

Our second full day in Costa Rica was spent getting more familar with the community. While in San Jose, some students are tired of eating rice and beans for breakfast lunch, and dinner. However, others are actually feeling good about the pattern.

In the morning we interviewed ¨Chico¨ who is an advisor to many powerful diputados (congresspeople) of the PLN political party in Costa Rica. Hearing him speak and answer our questions, he seemed to feel very comfortable with us being around him and taking photos. In other words, he sounded very truthful when answering our questions. Afterwards, he gave us a brief tour of the congress building with a lot of historical information.

After our long intervew with Chico, our day wasn't over yet. It was just the beginning. We went to La Carpio to finish what we started the day before. However, this time with more intense work. We finished building the road by mixing rocks, sand, and water to make cement. It was a very challenging task with all the students shoveling and carrying heavy equipment, but at the end feeling proud. At the end I felt that everyone worked as a big group and felt proud of what we had done to help the community of La Carpio.

From the Dairy to the Embassy

Cherie, 17

Today was a pretty good day. We originally had two interviews planned, but things changed, and we were only able to do one. It was kind of relieving, but at the same time, it was a little disappointing that we lost the opportunity to meet Epsy Cambell. At first, the interview at the US Embassy seemed to be basic, with them just telling us background information and leaving out the important details that we actually wanted. But after a while, things started to pick up and we were really able to get some interesting questions answered.

Overall, both of the interviews that we completed in the last two days went well and we were able to get out a decent amount of interesting information. I also wanted to add that I think we came up with really intense questions, even if we didn't get to ask all of them or recieve the answers we wanted. I was a part of the first group that stayed up late on Monday night to come up with the first round of new questions, and I was really impressed with what we came up with in the end.

My progress in eating the food kind of dropped today. I had my usual lunch of chicken and water, but I didn't eat anything for dinner. I'm no fan of broth and rice and whatever they had for desert, but I wasn't really hungry anyways, so I wasn't really worried about it. However, I did try the ice cream at the dairy we visited in the morning, despite the fact that I really didn't like the kind they gave us.

Well, we are just about to leave for the jazz cafe event, so my time here is ending.

I'm really hoping to get photos up, because all the ones Ms. Arenth chose of me and for me aren't really flattering.

Hope all is well back in the States! I would say I can't wait to see you all, but I'm really having a great time, so going home doesn't seem like a good option right now! These past few days have really been amazing.

(I still miss you Dom, and I'm going to ask Mr. Oliver if he does too right now, so I'll let you know in my next posting)

Day 4 of Costa Rica

Kiera, 16

Today was one of my favorite days so far. We did a lot of running around today, but it was fun. First thing in the morning, we went to a place called Dos Piños. It is a organic dairy factory located in Alajuela, Costa Rica. It was a gigantic factory, that was really up-to-date on everything. I liked visiting this factory because it gave me the realization of how other companies outside of the U.S. run.

It was interesting how their milk "leche"can be kept out of refrigeration for up to 6 months. The two tour guides explained many things to us, which gave each and everyone of us, a different insight on how their business works. One thing that we though was really funny is that the security gaurds had guns on them, and Matyas made a funny comment saying ¨Wow, they must really serious about their milk." They were really nice to us, they gave us ice cream, and a stuffed animal, in the shape of a cow.

The second great thing we did was visit the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica. I was kind of upset that we couldn´t take photos or video tape it, but it was a great experience that gave me a little thought of a future career. We met with two women that both have important jobs. I cannot recall their names, but I do recall most of the information they gave us.

The first lady talked to us more about economic and social affairs that the Embassy is involved with. We had some questions asking about the projects they are doing to benefit Costa Rica, and it seems like one of their main goals for the country is to ensure a safe envirnoment. I believe that is a really important goal, because Costa is a really "outside-the-box" country, but in a good way. They abolished their military, which shows they have a different mindset, and they don´t believe in any type of violence.

We asked both of the speakers about how their personal beliefs and values, influence their political decisions. They both responded by saying that it´s their job to represent the United States, and they may have their personal views, but they have to do their jobs. This statement related a lot to my thoughts of career, because I want to become a district attorney one day, and I have a lot of thoughts about the death penalty. I feel as though sometimes it will be difficult, because of the career choice, and sometimes I think about my future, and I don´t know where to draw the line. The second lady I related to a lot more, because she is actually being relocated into Afghanistan next month. It´s a dangerous thing, just like becoming a district attorney, so right now I think my biggest question of life is "Where do I draw the line?"