Sitting on the couch of my house in Philadelphia, I am trying to write a last blog entry to sum up my Peace Corps experience and sign off. It's a hard thing to do since I have only been back from Costa Rica for just under a week but, here it goes.
My last few months of Peace Corps was full of finishing up projects, spending time with friends from town, and thinking about what would be next. Living and working in a small rural town in Costa Rica was an incredible experience that I would highly recommend to anyone thinking about joining the Peace Corps. I became a completely integrated part of my town and was looked at as another resident there by the end of my 2 years. I never really expected to create such dynamic and important friendships with locals but that was definitely my favorite, and most memorable, part of my time.
Please feel free to contact me at emilyhaimowitz@gmail.com if you have any questions about the Peace Corps or rural Costa Rica. Thanks for reading over the last 2 years :)
Monday, June 21, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
quick hola
I´m not sure why I haven´t written or posted pictures in a while. Time just goes by and I don´t even notice. So, sorry about that. This is a going to be a quick one since I only have a few more minutes at the internet before my bus comes.
My service here ends in just over a month which is very hard to believe. I have loved almost every day of it so it´s going to be a hard thing to leave. The last few months have been the usual work, play, and life. Now I have the job market on mind and a list of to do´s and goodbyes before I leave.
Quickly, holy week was a few weeks ago. That´s the week before Christmas and everyone has off from work on Thursday and Friday of it. Buses don´t run and everything is closed. So I went to Tamarindo beach on Wednesday and stayed until Saturday which was really nice. It´s a beautiful and (but) very developed beach. Other than that and a great visit from the states, life has been pretty much the same. The recycling project we started has turned out to be very successful and the other projects are moving right along.
I hope everyone back home is doing well. I´ll see you all soon!
My service here ends in just over a month which is very hard to believe. I have loved almost every day of it so it´s going to be a hard thing to leave. The last few months have been the usual work, play, and life. Now I have the job market on mind and a list of to do´s and goodbyes before I leave.
Quickly, holy week was a few weeks ago. That´s the week before Christmas and everyone has off from work on Thursday and Friday of it. Buses don´t run and everything is closed. So I went to Tamarindo beach on Wednesday and stayed until Saturday which was really nice. It´s a beautiful and (but) very developed beach. Other than that and a great visit from the states, life has been pretty much the same. The recycling project we started has turned out to be very successful and the other projects are moving right along.
I hope everyone back home is doing well. I´ll see you all soon!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Happy 2010!
A lot has happened since my last blog post. December here is full of holiday prep. A couple weeks before Christmas, there is an annual festival called festival de la luz in San Jose… it’s kind of like light-up-night. The whole city is decorated in lights and at night, theres a huge parade with tons of floats made out of lights. I will post some pictures next time I get to internet. The 24th at night is the big holiday event with a family dinner full of pork and lots of people. This year I got to share that with my family who came from the snow to the sunshine. Together we made a lot of tamales – the traditional Christmas food wrapped in banana leaves. Christmas here means lots of lights decorating people’s homes, portales (which are the baby jesus scenes that everyone puts in their homes), presents for those who can afford them, a day off from work, and good meals.
A week later comes similar celebrations for New Years. Again, this is mostly celebrated within family settings… parents, grandparents, children, etc have parties in their homes with a big meal as well. I went with some friends in my town to my big city (Ciudad Quesada) where there was a huge concert in the central park with fireworks. There were tons of people dancing to the variety of cumbia, salsa, merengue and reggeaton music. We had a really great time there and got to do the 10-9-8-… countdown.
In December we also had graduation from 6th grade and Kindergarten. We have it in our indoor salon that we decorated with balloons and posters. The kids each year dedicate their graduation to one person and this year they decided to dedicate it to me. So I walked in with them and sat with them during the ceremony. It was a really nice afternoon and I will post some pictures of this too next time I can.
Well, I hope this year is a great one for all. 2010 will be an interesting one for me as I finish my service here in May of this year and then at some point well end up back in the states hopefully working somewhere… OK, hope you all had a great holiday season and are staying warm :) Stay in touch!
A week later comes similar celebrations for New Years. Again, this is mostly celebrated within family settings… parents, grandparents, children, etc have parties in their homes with a big meal as well. I went with some friends in my town to my big city (Ciudad Quesada) where there was a huge concert in the central park with fireworks. There were tons of people dancing to the variety of cumbia, salsa, merengue and reggeaton music. We had a really great time there and got to do the 10-9-8-… countdown.
In December we also had graduation from 6th grade and Kindergarten. We have it in our indoor salon that we decorated with balloons and posters. The kids each year dedicate their graduation to one person and this year they decided to dedicate it to me. So I walked in with them and sat with them during the ceremony. It was a really nice afternoon and I will post some pictures of this too next time I can.
Well, I hope this year is a great one for all. 2010 will be an interesting one for me as I finish my service here in May of this year and then at some point well end up back in the states hopefully working somewhere… OK, hope you all had a great holiday season and are staying warm :) Stay in touch!
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