heres a bunch of pictures that i owe you... theres some from the 3 suprise parties from my birthday and then our NEW PLAYGROUND! i will get some pictures up soon from my new house and the works. everything is super busy here but going very well. cant wait to hear from all of you :)

one thing i love about peace corps is...

... that the little things can make my day. i think ive said this to a lot of people already, but it´s really true. when i was back at home, when did a phone call from a good friend make me smile for the rest of the day? what i mean is, back in the states, it was a given that i would talk to friends on a regular basis. so instead of getting super super happy when one would call, i would get upset or worried if days passed without hearing from him or her. now, all i need to do is get an incoming call and good luck wiping the smile off my face.

the same came true this past week for my birthday. the people in my town are super good at keeping secrets. my adult english class threw me a suprise party in the class the night before my birthday. i started the class as normal and noticed that oddly enough, NO ONE had done their homework. this had never happened before. then, the lights in the classroom get shut off and in walks one of my students with a cake with 24 candles, pizzas, and presents. i seriously had NO idea that they even knew my birthday was the next day. but it was super nice of them and made me feel real special. then, my 6th graders threw me a little suprise party the day after my birthday in the morning. they came to my house asking for the keys to the school, saying they had a project to do. i called the director of the school to ask if it was ok to lend them the keys... she was apparently in on the secret and told me to give them all the time they needed. turns out, they needed the keys to decorate the classroom, bring the food and drinks, and plan the games. we spent all morning hanging out and playing volleyball. then, in the afternoon, come suprise number 3. a few of my women said we had to go to this guys house with a pool to ask for some wood to start building the greenhouse. they told me to wear my bathing suit cuz we´ll jump in his pool. well, when we get there, my whole womens group is jumping out behind a wall and screaming happy birthday. they decorated, brought cakes, pinatas and games, we grilled, and had a reeeeally nice time. needless to say, i had a great birthday. and it was even better getting all the calls, emails, etc from home. so thanks :)

i brought my camera to put up pictures from all of these fun occasions but didnt bring the cable to connect the camera to the computer. so next time...

moving on

hey all! im here in san jose for a peace corps dinner with all volunteers. we had a really great time and now im taking advantage of internet time :) any way, we just found out that we got our grant money for a playground! so in a few weeks, look out for some awesome pictures of that. its going to be from wood and we are planning to put benches and tables and a jardin and the whole shabang.
another construction project in my town is.... my new house! my counterpart organization is fixing up this little house for me and i'm going to live on my own for my second year. im really excited to just have a change, a new little challenge, and have my own little place. i think it's gonna be real great to be able to have my friends from town over for cafecito or to chill. the kids are all super excited too to have a place to hang out. and im going to have to be an adult again and cook and clean. the people in my town are so excited to see me doing oficios, or the household cleaning and cooking stuff. anyway, thats my big update. aaand, check out this little girl...



she's going to be keeping me company in my new place :)

anyway, i will get some pictures up soon when i have my place, of the playground, etc. cant wait to hear how you all are doing!

semana santa and other updates

hi all! chag sameach and happy easter :) im in san jose after going to the seder - the same one we went to last year. it was a really nice seder in the most gorgeous synagogue ever. it always impresses me how open and welcoming everyone is.

anyway, semana santa, or holy week, is a week long holiday here. kids are off school all week (which isnt really a big surprise since they never have school), lots of people travel to visit family and sleep out in tents, and there are lots of special foods like tamales mudos, empanadas de chiverre, tilapia and lots of bread. i know, it's interesting trying to keep passover... the whole country starts shutting down by thursday and it's a really nice holiday where you spend time with family and friends. we go to the river since its so so hot right now and take some road trips if theres a car around.

since it's been a while, im gonna try to put some other updates here. hmmm. our soccor tournament ended this past weekend with a great dance and award ceremony thing. even though my town didnt win, we had a really great time with the tournament and at the dance last weekend. im actually taking a dance class in my town with this guy who comes in once a week. we are 6 or 7 pairs and have been learning cumbia, salsa, swing, merengue, bachatta, bolero... its real real fun. ill learn and then come back and teach you all :)

as far as projects, we got this great grant from kids to kids (http://kidstokids.org/) to go an art class in my town. arte por la paz, or art for peace, will try to discuss communication and how to resolve conflicts through art projects. it's going to be a real cool program that we're going to do with the kids from kinder and the school. on monday we go pick up the money, buy a whoooole lot of art supplies, and get started. im also working with the 5th and 6th grade girls in a group called chicas poderosas. we meet each week and talk about anything from communication, how to work in groups, leadership, ya know. the girls are having a great time and im really enjoying it too. the medical center, roads, playground, etc are all going well. we're just waiting which im getting good at here.

also, since in may i complete my first year of service here, im going tooooo... move out on my own! my counterpart association has this falling apart house that we're going to fix up and in about 1 month, i'll be on my own. it was super great living with my host family but im ready to be an adult again and also only have to eat when im actually hungry. this also means that you are all MORE than welcome to come visit and crash with me! it'll be soo fun :)

oook. well i hope everyone has a good semana santa, passover, week. ill try to post some pictures next time i get on here so look out for them. i miss you all and have been thinking of you all. be good and stay in touch.

check out our puesto de salud!

hey there! just checking in while i'm in san jose with good internet. everything is going nice and smooth on my end here. project-wise, things are moving real fast. we're working on our puesto de salud (or medical facility) and waiting on word from the grant we wrote for a playground. we also just submitted a grant to get a little bit of money for an art extra-curricular program to talk about good communnication and promote peace and all that jazz. and the women's group is moving fast and about ready to start trying to start a bakery. i'm teaching them a business course, haha. so that sucks for them. the roads are being fixed as we speak too. then there's all the english classes and i'm about to start this group of 5th and 6th grade girls to talk about girl things. im really excited about that group... and i'm working with the new director of the school to try and see if a library or computer lab would be possible.
sooo, thats my life here. otherwise, i'm having fun taking a dance class in my town once a week with a bunch of friends from my time. we've learned a little bit of merengue, salsa, swing with a tico twist, etc. and i've only stepped on my partner's feet a few times so i'd mark that in as a success.

also, since my last post, i went to palmares for a huge festival with some friends. it's a larger town that one week a year has a gazillion people go to it for concerts, events, rides and food, the usual festival things. and then the next week we went to puntarenas, its a beach on the pacific coast and is a major port there. we went cuz we were going crazy with the constant rain and winds that wouldn't even let us leave our houses. so you can check out some pictures of those too...

some pictures

here are some pictures from beautiful flamingo beach. also, theres a picture of my holidays in costa rica... the menorah under many christmas decorations haha.

earthquake update

in the last 10 and a half months i´ve been in costa rica (ah!), there´s been a number of floods and natural disasters hitting several towns here. they have all been nightmares for the people in those towns, but nothing on a huge scale. until a week and a half ago... on january 8th, around 1:30pm, a 6.2 degree earthquake hit here. the epicenter was not too close to me, gracias a dios, but it hit a number of small rural towns near volcan poas. towns called cinchona and san miguel de sarapique, for example, have been literally whiped off the map. it´s been a huge disaster here, killing a lot of people and displacing more than a thousand others. the towns were completely destroyed, highways ripped apart - picture new orleans style on a smaller scale, obviously. it´s been a big problem getting a lot of the bodies out since, every day, replication quakes are hitting. the point is, there are still rescue crews from here and colombia looking for bodies and trying to get people out of buses and cars, houses and restaurantes, and so on. but it looks like there are going to be a lot of bodies that will never get rescued since it´s so dangerous for the rescue teams to get into these little towns.
each day, the news here shows interviews of survivors - how they got our of the quake alive and what happened to their families, friends, homes, etc. almost everyone who got out is missing family members or friends who weren´t as lucky. these survivors are living in tents, eating out of meal lines, and wearing on their backs their only posessions.
it´s been hard for everyone here to hear about these stories each day. we feel lucky that we´re all ok and our town, families and friends are not hurt, mostly, but its a helpless feeling. as many of us felt with new orleans, and i imagine many are feeling in israel, its hard to be so close to the destruction and not do anything. but its just not safe to go to these displacement camps yet. the quakes are still hitting each day.
the women´s group that i´ve been working with in my town and i agreed to atleast do a collection drive in my town. the many committees and organizations in my town are great but often get carried away with their own projects and forget to think. so i was able to get the women to agree to do the collection since no one else in my town was doing one. we went literally door to door on thursday and friday, put collection boxes in the local store, and so on. today i was able to deposit close to 400 dollars in the fund for the earthquake victims and on monday, we will be dropping off dozens and dozens of bags of clothing, food, and household items to the red cross. even though my town is relatively poor, it was nice to know that everyone was willing and ready to help, even if it was just with a dollar or a can of tuna.

otherwise, im happy and healthy here. things are going well job-wise, too. hope everyone at home is doing well!