Change of Plans

For the last couple of months we had been planning a weekend away from our site - an unusual thing for us (something we have yet to do for anything other than trainings) - and so, we were rather looking forward to it.  However, life happens, or in this case, weather happens, and as a result things don't always go as planned.

Our plans had involved a trip to Puerto to see a kind of battle of the bands at the high school there and we were then going to stay in town overnight.  Then Saturday, today, we were going to go to San Jose for a picnic to welcome the newest group of Peace Corps Trainees.  But, as I mentioned, weather happens.  In this case it was rain, and lots of it.  The government declared a national emergency and as a result volunteers received calls from our Safety and Security Officer letting us know that we were not allowed to leave our sites between Friday and Monday. 

There have been some parts of the country that have received four days of rain and as a result are severely flooded.  There have been landslides and floods, and as a result a lot of infrastructural damage.  In our hot little banana fields we have fortunately been spared an overabundance of rain and have happily settled into a change of plans.

David rolling big numbers.

Yesterday we had a gray day with frequent rain showers, and took the opportunity to play games with our neighbors.  Last weekend we were visited by two of Costa Rica's amazing trainees, and they taught us a new dice game called "Amish Dice."  We had a lot of fun learning, and even more fun teaching our neighbors, David and Luis (Thank you Megon and Kevin!!)

Luis trying to decide if he should keep rolling

The boys called the game casino and quickly showed themselves to be risk takers.  In a game where you can pretty much go all or nothing, the boys would sometimes roll away up to 3000 points in hopes of earning even more.  The looks on their faces were priceless - whether expressing intense concentration in trying to figure out how to best use their points, showing surprise after throwing a big roll, or the look of utter disbelief when they failed to gain any points.  We had a ball, and they returned this afternoon with another neighbor, Andre, and explained to him how to play (sustainability!!)

Learning with Dominoes

We've also been playing cards, dominoes, pick up sticks, and jacks.  The kids float in and out, always excited to try a new game or return to an old favorite.  On deck for tomorrow is more Amish Dice and Uno.

Other adventures that we were privy to as a result of not being able to go into San Jose today included seeing baby chicks make their way out of their shells, watching Maria and the boys harvest yucca, and painting with one of the girls from kinder while her mom helped Maria out around the house this morning.

Chicks working hard to hatch (yes, they're in a Santa hat)

Maria with Yucca

David with Yucca (he almost fell over when the soil finally gave way!)

Yucca! Yum!

Liseth, La Artista

It has been an unexpected weekend, but maybe that has made it even better!

Global Handwashing Day!

Friday, October 15 is Global Handwashing Day.  This campaign is geared toward motivating people around the world to wash their hands using not only water, but soap as well.  One of the many things that Peace Corps Volunteers do during their 27 months of service is give "charlas" or chats on a wide variety of topics.  There really aren't any forbidden topics for charlas, though some partnering agencies may have you edit content to be age or culturally appropriate.  We took advantage of this global event and prepared a handwashing charla to give to our beloved preschool and kindergarten students today.

If any of you can remember your preschool or kindergarten days, the first thing that probably comes to mind is nap time.  In order for anything to sink in, it has to be fun.  That being said, you may be wondering how on earth you make something like handwashing fun (without making a mess).  We began our charla with a couple of short videos, because who doesn't love a good cartoon with soap, hands, and water?  We talked about what kids need in order to wash their hands, when they should wash their hands, why they should wash their hands, and how they should wash their hands. 

After the videos, things started getting pretty boring - you can only rub your hands together so many times before you start thinking that you're going crazy.  So, we decided to play a game of tag with the kids.  This wasn't your everyday game of tag though.  This was "Soap and Water Tag."  We played the roles of soap and water and worked together to clear a hand (the floor) of germs and bacteria (the students) living on it.  We essentially formed a "soap bubble" around groups of kids and shuttled them to the space that was designated as a clean hand.  After several minutes of running and screaming, we successfully cleaned the hand of all of its germs.

Having learned why, when, and how to wash their hands and acting out the process, it was time to get dirty so that we could practice washing hands.  The getting dirty party was fun.  Each child was able to put their handprint on a poster for their classroom that has the things needed to wash your hands, when to wash your hands, and how to wash your hands.  We talked about these posters and every student agreed that it was a "contract" stating that they would use soap and water and wash their hands after using the restroom, after playing with their pets or other animals, and before eating.  We kept things somewhat tidy by painting their hands for them before they made their mark (this is also a good paint saving technique!)  The end result was quite beautiful, and both the preschool and kindergarten classrooms now have lovely posters to remind them of how to wash their hands.

All of the kids loved this activity and had a great time pointing out their handprints to us after returning from washing their hands.  We really enjoyed the day and are glad that we have teachers in our school who are more than happy to take us up on our offers to do crazy educational activities.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more fun photos click here.

 

This is one of the videos that we showed the kids - enjoy!

Goal 2

As you may or may not know the mission of Peace Corps contains 3 simple goals:

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women. (Tarah and I are trying our best!)
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served. (Here’s where you can help)
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. (tarahandchris.blogspot.com & picasaweb.google.com/Tarah.and.Chris)

We need your help with goal two. As you can imagine, it is nearly impossible to explain the vastness and grandness of a country as large and diverse as the United States, especially to children in a country approximately the size of West Virginia (the 41st largest state in the union) that has less than half the population of the Chicago metro area.

It would be great if you could send postcards and/or photos from your part of the country (or places you have visited). You can also send interesting facts about your city, state, the climate, the topography, your family, yourself or anything else you think is interesting about the USA. Some things that the kids would love to know about are animals, jobs, languages you speak, schools, typical/favorite foods, music, hobbies, family life, weather…

Postcards, letters, cards, pictures and packages can be sent to:

Chris & Tarah Hall
Apartado Postal 04-3069
4101 Puerto Viejo, Sarapiquí
Heredia, Costa Rica
Centro America

Also, please pass this message on to anyone else you think would like to participate.

As always you can read about our adventures at tarahandchris.blogspot.com

Thank you for your support,

Chris and Tarah Hall
Peace Corps - Costa Rica 2010-2012
Children, Youth and Families – Niños, Jóvenes y Familias

Independence Day...

or week, or month, or year. It all depends on how you look at it!

September 15 is the day of independence in all of Central America. After a childhood of celebrating our nation's independence with a picnic or quick BBQ, some fireworks and perhaps a couple of hand-burning sparklers, we jumped, head first, into the experience of independence in Costa Rica.

We started hearing about Semana Civica (Civic Week) about a month ago. This is a week of assemblies that are geared toward teaching kids about the national symbols, the history of independence in the country, and of course learning and singing Costa Rica's patriotic songs - all 4 of them (the Hymn of the Flag, the National Hymn, the Costa Rican Patriotism song, and the September 15th Hymn). As Independence Day got closer, we learned that Semana Civica is really more like Dos Semanas Civicas. This is a great way to learn more about the history of a country as a foreigner, and a great way to get out of copying notes for an hour if you're a student!

One tradition that we took part in was the running of the torch. The torch signifies the passage of the message of independence from Guatemala to Costa Rica. We went with a group of escuela and colegio students to a community about 7 miles away to wait for the arrival of a torch from another town so that we could run with it back to our own. In all we had about 10 students run the whole distance, there were others that rotated in and out of the bus that was following us, running as often as they felt capable. The run was not the easiest as it took place at 12:30 in the afternoon (not exactly the coolest time of day here), but everyone involved was enthusiastic. There were parents cheering us on alongside the road, some community members jumped in and joined the fun, one woman even chose to run with us while holding onto her puppy (whose bottom half was wrapped in a plastic bag, should it feel the need to go to the bathroom). We arrived at the escuela, hot and sweaty, after about an hour and a half to participate in yet another acto civico (assembly) about independence in Costa Rica.

Another one of the traditions here is the Parade of Faroles. On the eve of Independence Day it is said that the message of impending independence was passed through a town in Guatemala and as people were informed they lit candles and lanterns (faroles) and joined in the spreading of the news. In the most basic sense, those of you from the United States can think of the story of Paul Revere spreading the word that the Red Coats were coming.

In 1953 the Costa Rican government declared that all education centers will participate in a parade, reenacting this event at 6pm on every September 14. So it was that at 6pm we were at the school surrounded by faroles listening to the national hymns and waiting to march down to the plaza. The students lifted their faroles with pride, showing of their (or their mother's) hard work and creativity. As darkness fell the faroles were lit and we were surrounded by glowing cars, ox carts, stars, houses, torches and anything else that you can make out of Popsicle sticks and plastic. We walked together as a group, hoping that there would not be any unintentional fires set, and finally arrived at the plaza.

We had been expecting a little ceremony in the plaza, but the arrival was the end of the formal events. Informal events quickly began, however. Youth began kicking their faroles, causing them to become engulfed in flames. Parents showed their young children how to put their faroles in the flames near-by to create torches. Students started jumping through newly formed bon fires. We left before becoming witnesses to what we feared would be accidents resulting in 3rd degree burns and whatever else may come of a soccer field full of small fires.

Independence Day, the 15th of September, came quickly enough. For us, it began at 3:30 in the morning. It a tradition here to go around town making as much noise as is possible to wake everyone up early and remind then that Independence Day has arrived. We had been forewarned that this would happen (thanks to our counterpart being one of the organizers) and we were ready to join in the festivities. The first fire cracker went off at about 3:20 and at 3:30 drums were being handed out to community members. The band played in the street for a couple of minutes before climbing into the back of a cattle truck to play as they made the rounds through neighboring communities. This journey ended back in our town where we walked with everyone through the neighborhood shouting "Wake Up, Wake Up!" and culminating in another mini concert in front of the police station. A couple of fire crackers were thrown a little too close for comfort, some "special drinks" were being passed around, and most people took a crack at the drums. This was quite the experience (and we'll probably be OK passing it up next year in favor of a couple of extra hours of sleep!

After returning home, eating a quick breakfast, and taking showers, we headed out to Puerto Viejo for the parade. The parade consisted of bands from local escuelas and colegios and one float from a local pre-school. We may be biased, but our escuela went first and set a standard that others were not able to meet. They are an amazing group of kids that are highly talented and that has the support of many in the community. They were decked out in purple uniforms, followed by the dance team, and were ready to rock. Our colegio was second to last and they took the parade out in style. They showed up with a banner, a horse, their flags, dance teams and band. Without knowing it, we never would have been able to tell that this band was formed roughly 2 months ago. They were great.



Our Independence Day (week-month-year) culminated with us crashing after lunch. I love that we are in a country that is so passionate about its history and customs, but there is something to be said for that picnic or BBQ and being able to climb into bed after a quick presentation of fireworks!

6 Months... Really?!

It's rather challenging to give insight as to what our lives really look like here, and so I have pulled some phrases/blurbs from our journal and created a couple of photo collages in an effort to sum up our experiences over the last six months. That's right, six months. Time has flown by, even though at times days seem to consist of a lot more than 24 hours. It's safe to say that we are settled into our community, are starting to do “projects” and are looking forward to whatever the next 21 months will bring!

March 2

“Finally, it's here – WE'RE HERE!”

March 5

“OK, so last nights 'earthquake' was really just a tremor.”

March 10

“In CR they like to be helpful – even if that means giving wrong directions.”

March 11

“Our bus ride home took us to the last stop – Linda Vista – that place we were told not to go after dark – AFTER DARK!”

March 21

“We were able to sit in the shade of coconut trees and also go play in the bath-like Pacific.”

March 28

“At one point I saw the shorter man look around him, start singing again, raise his arms, take a quick glance over his shoulder, and then 'faint.' After confirming that an usher was behind him to catch him if he fell, he decided to 'express how the spirit overwhelmed him.'”

“It is known for ensalada de frutas – which is not fruit salad as the name implies. We had one with bananas due to my allergies, but the rest of the 'ensalada' consists of two scoops of vanilla ice cream, two scoops of strawberry ice cream, and a huge scoop of red Jell-O. It tasted amazing, but later it turned out that that was our lunch.”

April 4

“At the same time, a group of adults were encouraging (and helping) the dogs burrow under a tress in search of squirrels.”

April 12

“Of course, we left class at 10ish because my jaw popped out of joint. We bought queque de queso during descanso and when I tried to take a bite my jaw locked. What an experience.”

May 21

“We're Volunteers! Yay!”

May 22

“From the moment we walked in the door here, it felt like home.”

“We saw more fruits tonight than we've seen in the past 3 months – and we were told to eat whatever we like, so delicious!”

May 25

“I went to the left today, through the farms, and it was beautiful. Cows, horses, rivers and rolling hills.”

“After second grade we found ourselves in the middle of a swarm of Tico children – just staring.”

May 27

“I must say that the hardest part of the day for me is when the kids have recreos. They're so curious that they come up and stare, but mostly aren't sure what to say to us. Of course, we don't really know what to say either, so for ten awkward minutes we kind of talk, kind of stare, and I let out a sigh of relief when the bell rings. This will get better though, right?”

May 29

“We're not really sure, but we saw the eyes and know it was something of respectable size that is scaly.”

May 30

“It was a great afternoon, flying down hills, splashing through puddles, we couldn't help but smile.”

June 3

“Of course, all of this happened with the warning to watch out for crocodiles since it is mating/nesting season.”

June 4

“We were invited to eat lunch with the teachers, but then we were kind of uninvited since we don't eat chicken.”

June 13

“They bought Welch's grape juice for us and call it our wine. So, we had it with dinner last night and tonight. I'm not sure if they think it's alcoholic, but Rafa refers to it as vino or vinito, so we'll refrain from drinking it for breakfast for now.”

June 19

“He rode the loop through Progresso which, with its lack of road in some parts, was quite muddy. At least that's what I gathered from the state of his bike when he returned. He was also covered head to toe. He said that he sunk up to the bike's pedals a couple of times.”

June 20

“Today I was hit by a drunk driver. We were both on bicycles.”

June 29

“Our phone is on vibrate and at first Chris thought it was a cow mooing.”

July 1

“Then people were on stage leading dance moves and exercises and eventually we fell into a game of limbo. What at night.”

July 4

“They had never imagined eggplant fried before – in a world where everything seems to be fried this strikes me as funny.”

July 7

“I'd say another success has been that kids have taken to waiting in front of our house for us, and today Anderson asked Rafa, “donde estan los muchachos que hablan ingles (where are the guys that speak English)?”

July 16

“Next thing you know, we've got a caballero frantically trying to tame a toro – or at least get it into its designated pasture. Needless to say, we turned around quickly, telling the kids that we can ride tomorrow.”

July 23

“We went to Civics class today, which was about traffic lights. It's crazy that most of the kids don't know what they are and have never seen one. They also talked about the proper way to cross the street in the city. We're really in a different world.”

August 2

“Along the way Yuli pointed out a plant that bites...it only causes a reaction if you touch it while breathing – hold your breathe and you're good to go (Yuli bravely demonstrated this.)”

“The only discernible paths I saw were those from the cutter ants.”

“Climbing proved to be a noble effort on Batazaars part: he was wielding the machete in one hand and holding Yuli's hand with the other, simultaneously clearing trail and helping her climb.”

August 3

“She loves butterflies so much that she pulled the legs off of the one she caught, pulled its tongue out and then folded it into a piece of paper and put it into her pocket for safe keeping.”

August 10

“Steven and a couple of guys came by the house this morning with a baby sloth.”

August 15

“We started the day watching Rafa kill some chickens. Then we ate pizza and cake for breakfast. Kind of an odd way to spend the morning, such is life.”

August 16

“We did laundry this morning, but in the whole process of setting up the washing machine forgot the one little step of hooking up the drainage hose to the tube to the backyard. This meant that when the washer started to drain water came rushing into the kitchen.... It took about 30 minutes, but eventually this was mopped up and we were able to go about our day.”

August 21

“Considering the out and back to Los Arbolitos is close to 30K we thought we'd see what this 25K loop would be. For starters it was more like a 40-45K.”

August 25

“We settled in with PB&J and some milk and called it good.”

September 1

“Happy six months in country, go us!”

*If you happen to be curious about any of these blurbs, feel free to ask, we'll be happy to share!

Cat Traps

Our neighbors have been very focused these last couple of days on a mission given to them by our host mom: catch the black cat, and receive 1.000 colones each.

José David and José Luis (they have informed us that they are both named José because they are brothers – obviously) spent all day on yesterday building and setting up a cat trap. It looks like a pyramid and is only held together with a piece of cord strategically tied. They have balanced one edge of the trap on a piece of bamboo; in theory the cat will enter the trap looking for food (there is a bowl of bread under the trap), hit the piece of bamboo and the trap will fall, detaining the animal that likes to enter the kitchen at night, knocking baskets of eggs on the floor and biting into any bread or bananas accidentally left out when everyone goes to bed.

Last night as we were washing up after dinner María called out to the boys to say that they had caught the cat. Everyone ran outside to see what we had. It was not the black cat, so unfortunately the boys didn't get their money, but one of the black cat's kittens had been caught. Of course, this was a process. The kitten hadn't actually set off the trap, it just got scared and started meowing. José Luis was able to corner it, but didn't want to get scratched so he scared it back toward the trap. María was there waiting and knocked the trap off its post when the kitten entered. She and Rafa then put it in a bag and Rafa took it to the cuadrantes where they say a family will take it in. So, one kitten down (there are 5 more that are currently living in our attic), one black cat to go.

This morning the boys decided that the cat would not be strong enough to set the trap off, so they tied a string to the piece of bamboo and sat at their house, watching and waiting for the black cat to enter their lair (this was their plan for the day as there is apparently no school). They lasted a little while, but by the time we had returned to our house at 8AM, they were no longer sitting in wait. Around 10 we heard them working in our side yard again. This time they had sequestered the help of André. They had decided on a new method:

Tie a box to the window bars where the cat frequently climbs into the attic. Place a little bit of food in the box to lure the cat in, and make sure the box has a whole in the bottom. Place a bag under the box and in theory when the cat enters the box for food it will fall through the hole in the box and into the bag. They have a piece of cord situated around the top of the bag and it is rigged so that once the cat in in the bag they can tie it shut. Of course, they had to watch the trap if they wanted to tie the bag after the cat fell into it, and instead they decided to come inside and talk with us about the US.

So, we still have a black cat wandering around the premises – but there are two traps waiting for it, and two boys anxiously awaiting its capture so that they can be 1.000 colones richer (approximately $2).

Butterfly Battles and Sloths for Sale

Yesterday we had the brilliant idea to move into the front room of our house. It is a smaller room, but it has two windows – which in theory will result in fresher living space. The two windows also mean that there are twice as many opportunities for creatures to enter our room.

One of the creatures that entered our room was a giant butterfly. It was kind of like a welcoming gift. We looked up at the ceiling when getting ready for bed, and there it was hanging out by the light. Chris tried to take a photo, because this is seriously one of the largest butterflies we have ever seen. Unfortunately his movement scared the butterfly, it went crazy. Its flight in front of the light-bulb created a unique type of eclipse and the sound of its wings on the ceiling alerted us to its incredible strength. I was certain that if this butterfly lost control and hit one of us on the head it would result in a concussion. I did my best to protect myself by utilizing the duck and cover drills that we would do in elementary school. I curled into a ball and covered my neck and head and laughed until I ceased to hear butterfly noises. When at last the butterfly settled, once more on the ceiling (much to my displeasure), I was able to take a quick photo utilizing the zoom. We turned off the light and hoped that we wouldn't be attacked during the night.

(It may look small here, but the plank it is on is 8" wide)

Unfortunately, I had to get up and go to the bathroom a short while later. I got out of bed in the dark to grab my headlamp – only to step on the butterfly. This caused it to fly up into my hair, bounce off of my head (thankfully it did not have enough force to cause the aforementioned concussion,) and start sputtering around the room, once more bouncing off of the walls. This all happened as I was turning on my headlamp, and when I could finally see well enough to locate the butterfly it was staring at me like a menace from the door that I had to walk through. I was brave and flung the door open – hoping the butterfly would have the decency to leave during my absence. But no, when I returned it had only managed to crawl closer to the lock on the door. Not wanting to put my hand that close to it, I grabbed a pen and tried to provoke its departure. Unfortunately, this just caused the giant beast to start flying around again. I quickly shut the door and proceeded to run to the bed and once again use my duck and cover skills.

The night passed without incident, though I did wake up several times to the sounds of the butterfly bouncing off of the walls again. In my sleepy daze my mind wandered to those creepy movies such as Mothman, where those that see the moth end up dying. Thankfully, this was a butterfly, not a moth, and I wasn't just seeing it in my dreams. We survived the night and the creature was gone in the morning. I imagine it left through our window – I just hope that we don't have a repeat performance in the near future.

One of the benefits of our new room is that we are able to see out into the street with ease now. This morning I happened to look out the window to see a couple of the guys from the colegio (high school) walking down the road. They were carrying a broken tree branch with one of their uniform shirts draped over it. We see all sorts of odd things in town, so this wasn't a particularly strange sight, but they came directly to our house. This was a little strange due to the fact that we mostly talk with these guys when we are at the colegio or when we're playing Frisbee with them. They proceeded to take the shirt off of the branch and present us with a baby sloth.

A baby sloth! YES – a baby sloth. It was really adorable. We asked where its parents were – it was abandoned (or at least that's the story we got). Where did they find it – it was just hanging out (the lack of specifics makes me wonder about the validity of its being abandoned). It's so cute, can we touch it – of course. So today, we petted a baby sloth. It was much softer than we had expected. Cool, we saw and touched a sloth. This is what being here is all about right? New experiences. We were good to go, we took some photos and were ready to send the guys back to school. That's when the real purpose for their visit was revealed.

What are you going to do with it, we asked curiously – we're trying to sell it. Do you want it? DO WE WANT A PET SLOTH???? Were they being serious, you better believe it. Being curious as to how much a baby sloth costs I proceeded to ask how much. 10,000 colones was the reply. What?! We could buy a pet sloth for $20. What are the chances! We did have our wits about us though and told them we regretted that we were not able to have pets (a slight untruth, but more polite than we don't want pets) due to our lack of money and we are only renting a room, so we wouldn't have space. They eventually left our front porch, a little sad that they hadn't been able to sell their sloth, but we had gained a new story to tell.

(What could have been ours)

As an aside, you might wonder, what does one do with a pet sloth? We're not really sure what you would do. I guess stay up all night to watch it be active. Otherwise you would just watch it sleep. I don't think they make the list of the most exciting pets you could have. We had both had the thought of buying it so that we could take it into the jungle and set it free – but then we'd be short $20 and not have a baby sloth (of course we could always tell stories of the one time that we had a pet sloth).

An additional point of interest: in Spanish a sloth is called perezoso. This makes me smile because perezoso also means lazy. How fitting (I suppose this is the same as the dual meaning of sloth in English, I just like the way it sounds in Spanish a little more.)

And so, these are our animal adventures as of late. Hopefully we'll have more (as long as they are not attacking butterfly adventures.)

*Please note, the sloth was given to a gentleman who lived near a wildlife reserve. To the best of our knowledge, the sloth is living a happy life, dangling from trees and eating as many leaves as its belly will allow.