It's the little things...

This journey I have embarked on is truly an amazing experience. It is all about the little things (and sometimes big things) but you have to keep your eyes open or you might miss them. 

The week ended on a really good note. Thursday we brought 3 activities - chalk, coloring bubble letters of the first letter in their name and marshmallows and pretzels to dip in chocolate. It was so fun to watch there excitement and enthusiasm grow with each activity. Drawing with chalk was a blast! They covered the entire cement area as well as themselves. 

They were really proud of there letters

But the best part of the morning were watching their faces light up when they dipped their marshmallows in chocolate. They were so excited. The chocolate faces afterwards were pretty fun too. 

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Our project was cancelled on Friday because they were make tamales at the church and selling them as a fundraiser. I went to La Carpio anyways. I helped Viviana with teaching English and also watched and helped the women prepare to make tamales. I helped clean plantain leaves. Unfortunately I was not there long enough to see the finished project. Here's a few pics

I am really glad I took the opportunity to go and see what they were doing. I learned a lot bout tamales and La Carpio. Viviana told me a little bit more about the area. First of all the population is higher than I first said. It is close to a quarter million people. The kids she works with she sees twice a week. They are 11-12 year olds and they only go to school from 2:30-5:30 because the area is over crowded and teachers are not willing to come teach there. They also do not have any electives - music, or, art, etc. While waiting for the bus I took a few pictures. 

You can't just keep your eyes open, you have to be observant. On the way to La Carpio you pass an amusement park and a water cleaning facility. It's kind of ironic because the kids fr La Carpio won't get to go to the amusement park and the water sanitation facility should not be that close to housing but no one in authority cared. It makes me sad to think that these incredible kids are starting their life on the losing side without ever doing anything wrong. They thankfully don't realize it as they are happy :)

I'll revisit the little things idea again...  Not quite finished with it. 

So far, so good...

I wrote this post on Tuesday night but for some reason it didn't get published. Thought I would try again and add some info from today. 

Three full days of being here and so far, so good!  

I was still nervous on Monday morning as my host brother took me to Maximo Nivel (GVN partner organization) and showed me how to take the bus to get there. It was about a thirty minute ride because of the traffic. The roads are narrow with one lane in each direction (except for a few roads) and there are lots of buses and cars. It is easy to get there as I can get on any bus headed towards San Jose. The day started with orientation. It was only me and Simone. She is from a small town near Nashville and just graduated from UT. It was so nice to meet someone and it turns out that we are working together at the same volunteer site. There was another orientation group and we all went on a short tour together. I  did some exploring and walked over to the University of Costa Rica.

I also talked to a few of the other volunteers. I had my first Spanish lesson. My instructor was great and I am excited to learn but boy do I need to practice a lot!  My day ended with a 2 hour salsa lesson that a bunch of us did together. I was lucky and I was partners with one of the instructors. At times I felt like an idiot but I learned a lot. All in all a great first day. Meeting people helped me feel like I was not all alone. The staff seem great and I went to bed excited for my site orientation Tuesday morning. 

Tuesday was an adventure!  Tuesday morning David, a field manager, took Simone and I the hour trip to La Casa de Oracion, an Evangelical Church in La Carpio. We took a bus to downtown San Jose, walked 15 min and boarded another bus. La Carpio is a slum which is home to 40,000 residents - more than half of them are Nicaraguans who have immigrated to Costa Rica. Essentially, La Carpio was built by squatters who created homes out of the waste of landfills. The church runs a day care every morning. I will be there from 8am-12:30-1pm every day. The church is not very big. We meet in an open area before a set of 8-10 stairs that lead to the English classroom and the sanctuary. There are renovated bathrooms made possible by a Maximo Nivel volunteer that raised money. There is also a kitchen with a sink, microwave and stove. The kids are absolutely adorable and their teacher is great. I hate that I don't know more Spanish as it is hard to talk to the kids.  They have very little but you can see how much they love coming every morning. I'm excited to get to know the kids better for the next week and a half. Yesterday was another reminder of just how lucky I am.  After our return and lunch, I ventured out to buy some supplies for our craft project today. Before I knew it, it was time for Spansih. A little after 5, I boarded the bus to get home. It was packed - standing room only (and not much as the aisle was crammed with people). This was the first time I rode the bus on my own and I was so excited that I didn't get lost and that I made it on the first try. I felt so accomplished by the time I got home. 

Today was another great day. I met Dara (another volunteer - she is from Rhode Island) and Simone at Maximo and we journeyed to La Carpio together. This morning was better than yesterday. Having a day under my belt made it that much easier to jump in. We led most of the activities. We made fruit loop necklaces and played Red Light, Green Light (Luz Verde, Luz Roja) and Duck,Duck, Goose. The kids are adorable and so loving. They come jump in your lap and are so excited if you will play with them. I spent lots of time with this little guy this morning. The second pic is a few more kids from our first class. 

We were lucky this afternoon and got a ride back to Maximo with Vivianne who teaches English in the church. I filled my afternoon with buying supplies for tomorrow's activities. Coloring in a bubble letter of the first letter of their name and marshmallows and pretzels to dip in chocolate. Another good day at Spanish. I have my work cut out for me on the bus tomorrow - lots of flash cards to learn. 

So as I said.... So far, so good. This has already been an experience and I have not even been here a week. It is nothing like what I expected. Looking forward to what the rest of this week brings! I promise to take more pics and post them. 

I made it!

I'm here! After landing and going through customs I was greeted by Ingrid holding a yellow flag with a smily face on it. A few minutes later Leo was there to pick me up. They own Trans Leo Tours and they also do all the transportation for Maximo Nivel. As soon as we left the airport it started to pour. We travelled through town past the Peace Park - I want to go back there to explore. The first stop was the Maximo Nivel office for a quick tour. I'll be back there tomorrow morning for orientation. Next stop was "my home" for the next two weeks. It is wonderful! I met my host mom, Terri and her 24 year old son, Josue. They are great and it's so nice that he can translate for me. Here is a picture of my room. I am not sure if I will have a roommate. I guess time will tell.  

On my way...

Goodbye Cleveland and the nice Delta lady, Teresa, who put me on the 5pm flight to San Jose just in case. She even came to my gate to give me the paperwork. 

Hello Atlanta! You are a friendly site. I'm so happy I am used to the Atlanta airport. I had a tight connection but because of an early arrival and an awesome flight attendant I was able to move to an aisle seat for a quick get away. Jumped on the train and made it to E30 with time to spare. 

On board DL900. San Jose, Costa Rica here I come :)

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go... I can't believe that I am leaving tomorrow morning.  I am excited, nervous and I have no idea of what to expect as I embark on this volunteering adventure.  I'm leaving home with an open mind and a big heart.  My flight from Cleveland to Atlanta is at 7:15 and if all goes well... I will make my very short connection and I will land in San Jose, Costa Rica a little before noon.   I'll be in San Jose for the first two weeks of my adventure.  I am looking forward to meeting my host family and I can't wait to meet the children I will be working with.  The second half of my trip will be spent somewhere on the Pacific Coast helping with turtle conservation.  Stay tuned for updates, stories and hopefully some pictures.