Change of Thought

       So, it hasn´t been a while since the last time I posted, but I thought I should post today since I have the time. Not that much has changed since the last post, but oh well! I guess I can just go more into detail about Llano Bonito and Costa Rica! I´m already more than half-way through my time here. The time during the days are going faster, but at the same time, time still feels like it stops here and I don´t progress forward!

       I am very grateful that I don´t have to pay to take buses here, since everything is so close in this community! The place where I teach my computer lessons to the women in the Proal is only about a five minute walk from my host family´s house! That´s a lot different than the 40 minute travel distance time with a bus from my host family´s house in San José to the ACM building! When I give my lessons as private lessons, which has only occurred a couple nights since the women have only asked for those specific nights, the farthest house is also less than ten minutes away. I have no fear of walking alone at nights here in the fog too! This community is very safe and chill; whether or not you want to believe it´s because this community mainly consists of women, you can analyze that correlation.

       The picture above is an example of how the fog looks pretty here among the greenery! Just like how it rains here everyday, sometimes around six hours a day, there is fog everyday here as well!!! Not just at night, but during the days too! It reminds me of a scary movie sometimes when I´m walking along the trails here and I can barely see the tree right in front of me! But again, this community is so chill and safe, I have no fear of being mugged or attacked - no matter where I am in the community or at what hour. Vanessa and Judy, two staff members of ACM, came out to Llano Bonito today to see how Christina and I are doing in the community and with our volunteer work. Let´s just say by the end of the hour, they wanted to pack their things and move the ACM building here because the views are so beautiful! Also, the community members are so close, it seems like everyone knows everyone! It was funny because they told my host mom that they weren´t hungry (because it was lunch time for me) - but she still did the Tican way and convinced them to eat something. :) So Elliot would cringe at that time because they said that they weren´t hungry, but ended up eating a bowlful of vanilla ice-cream with chocolate pieces in them and strawberry jell-o. Haha, I eat so many calories here in Costa Rica with every meal.
     
       The reason why I named this post ¨Change of Thought¨ is because I was stating in my last post that I wish I had more to do here because I feel somewhat bored and as if I´m not helping the community at all! But I have discovered a way to help myself go more with the flow here in Llano Bonito. Instead of feeling like I have a volunteer schedule to attend or that I have any schedule at all, I now view my time here as purely vacational. In that sense, I feel more comfortable being what I consider ¨lazy¨ and just sitting around the house all day. I still wish that I could have more things to do here, but at least this way, I don´t feel like I´m not being a good volunteer. I pretty much don´t even ask anymore the next time I´m going to the Proal to help with computer classes or making shampoo...I just wait until they ask me to come over! I figure that if they want to learn computer skills, I should adapt to the culture here to teach them. Granted, that means that I´m not teaching them anything really since there isn´t any structure or time-schedules!...but one of my problems here might be trying to make a culture more structured when they don´t want to or change to be more efficient. So this is what I mean when I have changed my thought here in Llano Bonito with my way of living and teaching the computer classes! It seems to be working so far!

        The host family here is very different from the one I have in San José. LB family doesn´t have any pets because the mother has really bad alergies and shoos away any dogs coming near our house, while the SJ family has a pet bird and everyone loves dogs. LB family doesn´t like to leave the house that much and sits inside and watches TV all day, while the SJ family has a mom that is the same way, but the 24 year-old sister likes to take me out places, like the movies, city parades, bars...etc. All of these comparisons, by the way, are somewhat unbalanced because of the different locations (for example, there isn´t anything really fun here to do in Llano Bonito, instead of San José where there is much to do). Also, because the community is a lot safer than San José, my LB family never cautions me against the men in the community or walking around late at night or not wearing my shorts, whereas my SJ family is constantly telling me this. The interesting thing though is that the families in San José warn us about wearing shorts and strapless shirts and such, but we see the University of Costa Rica students wearing just that. I´m not sure if the families are just being extra-cautious, or because we stick out more and have the American easy-gringa stereotype because the naive people in Costa Rica believe since we´re from America, OBVIOUSLY we´re just like the stupid reality TV shows like Jersey Shore. Nevertheless, Christina and I don´t have to worry about those dangers in San José here. My LB family only has all females, while my SJ family has a father that lives in the house and a brother that lives in the backyard house. My LB family is a LOT less polite and formal than my SJ family (but still polite)! For example, I don´t feel pressured here to say ¨please¨ and ¨thank you¨ and ¨you´re very welcome¨ in all of my sentences here like I do in San José. :) I feel more comfortable here in that aspect because I feel like I can be more of myself. ;)

       My host mom here is so loud, she wakes me up serveral times in the morning around 6:00am when she´s getting her daughter ready for high school. I know the houses in Costa Rica seem to have very paper-thin walls so you can normally hear everything going on in the houses, but I know she normally talks very loud and somewhat cackles because the town members have joked around saying that by the time I get back to San José, I´m going to be screaming to my family members because I will have gone partially deaf! Sometimes, when I´m reading my very difficult Spanish book here and I need her to help me understand a Costa Rican phrase, she is sitting right next to me, but is talking so loud that my ears actually hurt. I also can tell if she is visiting neighbors down the road because I can hear her cackling from sitting in the living room in our house. I´ve often wondered if she has a hearing problem and that´s why she speaks so loud... Either way, she´s definitely what I would call an interesting character!

       The families here seem to coddle their children, or act like it I mean. They also seem a lot more touchy-touchy than in San José! My host mom here is constantly touching my hair and sitting right next to me to hold me in her arms and give me hugs. I know it´s not just me though because I´ve seen Christina´s host mom do the same thing! I´m wondering if that has anything to do with the feeling of family and sense of security here within the women of Llano Bonito. Or maybe it´s just because this community consists mostly of females and we tend to be more touchy-touchy anyways! It´s very different from my family in the United States and it´s taken a little getting used to for me personally! Since it´s my host mom and not my host dad, I really don´t mind, honestly!! It´s just very different. As far as being emotionally close though, I connect more with my host family in San José because they´re more of my intrinsic personality type!! But both host families are super nice and treat me well!

        It´s funny how I have certain things now that I look forward to in the day. They´re so simple and common, but feel like the highlights of my days. My number one thing I look forward to everyday is waking up and having hot chocolate on the kitchen table ready with my breakfast! The hot chocolate tastes much better here than any hot chocolate I can remember having in the United States (and Christina agrees) because the cocoa is more smooth and has a fluffier taste...if that makes any sense. I also look forward to using the internet everday so I can chat with Elliot, post on my blog, check my e-mail and facebook. Some things that I took for granted in the United States - but having to walk up a steep hill just to use the internet everday for only a couple hours really makes you more grateful. :)

       Another thing I look forward to everyday is running at night! I never thought I would look as forward to working out as I do here, but I do. It is something that I associate with doing back home in the United States and it makes me feel a little bit less guilty for eating so much here. And I eat here thoughout the entire day! The warm shower after is a real treat because I believe my host house here is one of the only ones in the community that has access to warm water. I´m so - so - so- grateful to have access to warm water, even if it´s only warm and not hot!!!!!! Since my body is warm from running anways, it really is nice!

       So. This trip to Llano Bonito has been just like my Costa Rica trip so far: one of the most difficult, but rewarding trips ever. I know that going back to the United States in December and chatting with my friends in Spanish will really help me realize how much my Spanish has grown! Or continuing to watch Eva Luna in the United States, since it is a novela (Spanish soap opera) that I can watch to help my Spanish progress even more forward. If anything, that is one thing I am doing the most here in Llano Bonito - working on my Spanish fluency and confidence. Although I talk to Christina everyday in English here, almost no one else speaks English. So I constantly find myself having to wrack my brain for Spanish words or how to word something differently when I can´t think of the word and my host family is waiting for me to continue my sentence. Sometimes their faces are so funny because they look just as confused as I am while I´m searching for how to say something in Spanish. Sooner or later, we find a way though. :) My professors at ACM tell me that my Spanish is greatly improving! That is the number one reason I decided to study in Costa Rica, so that is great news to me! Well, until next time family and friends. Since I´m almost half-way through the program, time is most likely really going to fly by now!! Miss you back at home. :)