a quick update

i know i haven't posted anything in a while so i wanted to post a quick update. i dont have any pictures to post right now, but i will try to get some of the pictures from the hot springs that i went to last week up soon. in other news, life in my town is going real well. the women's group that we started is looking good. we are about to get some lectures about how to work as a group, women's rights, self esteem, all that kind of good stuff. and english classes for the kids begin next week - the schools have been on winter vacation the last two weeks, weird huh?
but, other than that, no real news. this past week, i went to hot springs (aguas termales) with a bunch of people from my town. we rented a little bus and spent the day in nice hot water. the week before, i was in san jose for a diversity workshop that peace corps did. it was nice to see some of the other volunteers, take hot showers and watch some english movies.
so, i hope everyone is doing well. keep sending emails and free (!) text messages, calling and sending mail. miss you all!

riding in an elevator

i went with some kids from my school on a trip this past saturday to volcan poas. unfortunately, we weren't able to see the volcan or the lake because of all the fog. but, we did stop at a water fall on the way there and a few towns on the way back. the last place we stopped was a mall...i thought we were just stopping to get a bite to eat or buy a few things. but the kids had a different plan. they were going to ride an elevator for the very first time. i never realized that it takes learning to ride an elevator. but everything from pushing the button, to not putting your fingers in the door, to whether or sit or stand in the elevator were things they had to learn. anyway, i thought that was a pretty funny story to share...at least i got a good laugh out of it.
the rest of my life here is going really well. i'm meeting new people each day, working a lot with the kids, and learning a lot. here are some new pictures to check out...the first 4, as im sure you can tell, are my room. there are a gazillion pictures all over the walls (these are just some of the many pictures on the walls). then there are 3 pictures from the trip to the volcano. the last of the 3 is what we saw of the volcano...absolutely nothing. then the last 2 pictures are from my host grandmothers 95th birthday party. there were more than 40 people in our tiny house so i got to meet all her other kids, grandkids and tons of family.
that's all for now. more to come later. stay in touch!

safe and sound in my new home

Well, it’s been a while since I posted a blog with anything more than pictures so it’s about time for that. I’ve been in my new community for a little more than a week now, and I’m really enjoying myself. I’ve been spending my days meeting a ton of new people each day and taking in the gorgeous sites. And, on Tuesday nights they show Grey’s Anatomy on tv so, how could I complain??

I’ve learned a lot in the last week, too. Everything from new Spanish words to how to get frogs out of the house at night. I have also observed a lot of interesting tendencies that we were told about but that I hadn’t really seen so much in my training community. I don’t want to say it’s a characteristic of people in rural communities, because that would be wrong and I’d be guilty of the same thing. But, a number of people that I have met tend to generalize people into specific groups. For example, “Chinos (people from China – although they would call a person from Vietnam ‘Chino’ as well) eat cats and dogs all the time” or “your parents must be really good lawyers because they are Jewish”. It’s an interesting phenomenon and I’m not exactly sure yet how I’m going to confront it, if at all. I think part of it has to do with the education here. For those in elementary school, it is very limited because they only have a few hours a day. Also, since there are only 2 teachers for 6 grades, many grades are mixed in classes, which again, limits what they can learn. The teachers seem to be doing really well with what they are given but, unfortunately, it’s not a lot.

So, clearly this leaves me with a ton of things I’d like to do in this community. And I’m sure a lot more will come up as I live here longer. But, when it comes to education, I’d like to do a lot of out-of-school things to help these kids learn a little more; things like life-skills, sports clubs, girls groups, book clubs, and so on. They also all want English classes, since they are not getting this in school either. The second part of my job has to do with organizational development. Under this goal, I will be working with all the committees and associations that are formed to help them in the projects they want to do. We will hopefully be able to get a medical center built here so that a doctor can come to our town more than once a month. Other things they have mentioned so far include improving the roads and bridges, working on finishing the church, and so on. Finally, the third part of RCD jobs is that of economic development. This will consist of trying to create more jobs for people in the town. We definitely need to work on this since there are very few jobs available in our community. This might get done by working in rural or eco-tourism. I’m obviously not so sure how we’re going to do this one yet but, hopefully we’ll come up with something. If you have any ideas or suggestions for any of these, I’d love to hear them!

Well, here are some pictures from my first week here. There are a few of the green-ness and then a bunch from a reinado (kind of like a beauty pageant) that we had this past weekend. It was for younger girls and boys and then grandmoms and grandpops. The older woman that won is my host grandmom. There is a picture with her and her 2 daughters (my host mom is the one on the left in pink). Then there´s one of her grandkids and great-grandkids. You´ll also see a picture of the 4 winners and one of a some younger kids. I hope you enjoy!

swearing in ceremony!!

last friday, we all become peace corps volunteers!! the swearing in ceremony was at the ambassador's house from the US embassy so it was absolutely gorgeous. here are some pictures that we took...it was nice to see us all looking nice for once, since we're so used to rolling out of bed, throwing on the same clothes every day, and heading to classes.



ladies in black.














here's my host family at the ceremony.














here are the four of us from my training community. don't we all just look great??













and here we are: Tico 18 RCD :)














thank goodness for bagelman's, the only bagel store in this country. this probably made the rankings for the best day ever.
















of course after a day like that, with graduation and bagels involved, celebrating was in order.










some of my favorite tico 18 CYFers...











and finally, some other RCDers who have been in the country anywhere from 2 years to a year.

training is almost over!

so here are a few more pictures for you to take a look at. right now, im at the peace corps office for our final interviews and stuff. the swearing in ceremony is this friday! which means noon-time on friday, i'll finally be a peace corps volunteer. crazy! then i am moving to my new site on monday. im super excited to get there and meet everyone who i haven't met yet and get to know my new host family better and stuff. so anyway, just wanted to post some last photos from training. there should be more to come from our swearing in ceremony, though. so keep checking back!

here's a picture of all 18 of us from RCD.

the rest of these pictures are from the family party we had for our host families. here is team rio conejo! we did the relay races together :)


heres my host family when they got the certificate from peace corps :)

here is a picture of all of us from my training community. there are us 4 volunteers (me, matt, kelsey and megan) and then all of our families.

and here is the infamous water fight that we had at the family party. none of us left any less than absolutely soaked....and it was started by a host family!

just to make you jealous....

here are some photos of where i´ll be living, some birthday festivities, and peace corps training fun. i cant believe its almost over. at this time next week, i will just have been sworn in as a peace corps volunteer. nuts!





this is the soccor field at my new site. my house is just on the other side of it, too.



thats volcan arenal in the left corner. as you can see, i have a perfect view of it from my site.



here is a picture from a trip to the river during my visit. i went with these two young girls and my host mom.



this is called a maca or puente de amaca. its one of those foot bridges that shake when you walk on them. its sooo fun. when you all come to visit, ill take you here!



here´s a picture from my surprise birthday party that my tico friends and rio conejo friends threw for me. here i am hitting the elmo piñata they got me.

look how great megan is and the wonderful cake she made me for my birthday.

here we are perfecting the kareoke skills we have all learned over the last few months. this is from one of our rcd parties...

this is the group of costa ricans that i, and the others from rio conejo, have been hanging out with. this is the night of my birthday. we went to a bar to watch a soccor game and celebrate.

here victoria saved my life with a bagel recipe. and it was soooo good. so good thing i dont have to go 2 years without bagels. im not sure if i would have made it then....

more to come....

home sweet home

well, they don´t exactly say that here but oh well. my site is gorgeous. and the people are amazing. im living about 10 miles north of Ciudad Quesada but it takes about an hour to get there on the bus. my town is full of trees and green, lots of cows, tons of people, and lots to do. i cant post pictures right now because im at the slow internet but when i can, i will. and you´ll see how amazing it actually is.
my host family is great too. i will be living with a 43 year old woman and her 94 (!) year old mother. they are both super nice. also, one of the mom´s many sisters lives right below us and has 6 kids. and they all live within a minute radius of the house. so there are tons of people to hang out with... and tons of kids!
it is a pretty developed small town with electricity, running water, a mini store, church, common room with a basketball court and soccor field, a place for meetings and parties, a bar, and thats about it. there are 2 rivers that run through the town with some good swimming options and some of those wlaking bridges that you can shake as you cross called macas.

so i am back in my training site and will be here until May 16th, which is our swearing in ceremony. its unclear exactly what happens after that but, on May 19th, i think, i move to my new site. so until then, you can use the same phone number to reach me. i also have a new address at my new site:

Emily Fisk Haimowitz (it has to match the name on my passport...well maybe it doesnt but better safe than sorry)
Apartado 105-4400
21001/4400
Ciudad Quesada
Costa Rica

so keep on sending lots of mail and packages. its super appreciated. also, thanks so much for all the birthday wishes. i had a really good few days celebrating my birthday with my new host family, old host family, PCVs, and my Tico friends. and it was also so great to hear from so many of you all. and i can´t wait to hear from you all again!