Good Times and Good People

_{Disclaimer: These opinions are my own and may or may not reflect the views of the Peace Corps.}

Its the end of my third week in Costa Rica and I am doing great. Im going to write this blog by answering the questions people usually ask when I call them.

Where are you?

I am in Escazu it is a very nice and quiet town 20-30 minute away from the center of the capital San Jose.

What is your job like / What do you do?

This is a good question because up until I got here I wasn’t really sure either. For the last 3 weeks I have had 8 hours of sessions a day Monday – Friday split evenly between Spanish, Economic Development and Cultural learning. This will continue for the next 9 weeks with a few field trips. In total Pre Service training is 12 weeks and around week 6 you start to learn more about which part of the country you will spend your 2 year service in. As of right now the economic development volunteers are most likely to get placed in the provinces of Guanacaste, Puntarenas and Limon. This is exciting because these provinces make up all of the Costa Rican Costa line. It also hints that my job will be helping with a project to help bolster a local economy so its economy is more stable during periods of low tourism.

How is your living situation?

I am very lucky to have a beautiful host family that has taken on the responsibility of helping me feel comfortable, helping me practice my Spanish and helping me to understand Costa Rican Culture. I have my own bedroom and eat all of my meals with the family, except for lunch which my host mom makes a lunchbox for me to bring to work.

Both of my parents are chefs and they will often wake up at 3 or 4 am to make catering sized orders of tamales or empanadas.

Drinking coffee or having a “Cafecito” with the family and talking for an hour is very important in Costa Rican culture. This is a common way I spend my time before and after work.

I am a 14 minute walk to the Centro Civico where the daily sessions are held. It takes more like 20 or 25 minutes to walk home because we live on the side of a mountain and its all uphill. My calves are getting stronger and Ive already dropped a belt loop. I will usually play sports after the sessions are over because ill be dripping sweat by the time I get home regardless.

Do you have any friends?

My cohort “Tico 42” is 28 people half economic development volunteers and half youth development volunteers. It is a good group of people and I have already made a few friends that I know ill keep in touch with when we all get sent to our own sites.

How’s the weather?

Its fantastic . It is usually between 70-85 degrees Fahrenheit or 21-30 degrees Celsius. I am working on my understanding of Celsius and the metric system. My host parents said that in the San Jose area it doesn’t rain as much. This has been true and i’ve only had one rainy walk home so far. That being said the rainy season hasn’t started yet so Ill enjoy the weather while it lasts.

How’s your Spanish?

It is coming along well and the people near me don’t speak english, so the motivation to learn in high. Need to practice other verb forms, but I have 9 more weeks before Im relying on it completely.

Highlights so far with pictures