The Adventures of PeteMan

Papaya Storm

2011-10-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I went to cut down some papayas from a tree out back. You see, if I wait too long, the papayas ripen and the birds come and eat them. The birds are pretty, and I enjoy watching them, but they eat the papayas that are rightfully mine! Mine! Anyway - when I went to lasso a nice, ripe papaya, I managed to knock half the fruit off the tree. This means that I got hit in the head with several unripened, green papayas. Definitely the most refreshing concussion I've ever experienced.

As I recovered from the fruit avalanche, I had just induced - I saw sitting there, alone in a bare section of the tree was the bright yellow, ripened papaya - the one I had been aiming for - unscathed and mocking me.

So, here are some pictures of my fruity assailants. I had to find something to do with all these giant, green papayas - So they wound up in a couple of salads and salsas.

Oh, yes - they ARE that big.

Clearly delirious from impact

Eh, ripe enough... Take THAT birds!

Goats!

2011-10-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

So, this summer, I went crazy and purchased some goats. This was not an entirely preposterous endeavor. It will surprise most of the people that I know that there was an actual plan for the goats all along.

You see… goats will eat darn near anything that they come across. Which means that they are replacing my compost pile for a much faster system of organic reconstitution.

Goats, as with other ruminants like cows, deer and sheep, have a rumen. This rumen acts as a decomposition center that rapidly breaks down things that are otherwise indigestible to animals without one.

Using goats this season, we managed to keep from throwing out any of the corn waste that is produced from corn production. That includes the husks and stalks. The pictures below are the goats and all the personality that comes with them.

The big male and I have a strange relationship - he keeps me on my toes.

This is the mama goat - soon she'll be a mama again!

The baby, he's packed with personality

Soon to be a mama for the first time, she loves banana peels!

I'm excited for this herd to be much larger

In a few weeks, we hope that two of the females will give us some babies so that we can have even more goats and start collecting goat milk for cheese production.

9/11

2011-09-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

Instead of focusing on both the lives and opportunities that were lost as a result of the events 10 years ago, let us focus on the future we have the opportunity to build for the next 10 years.

Posts will resume soon. It's been a crazy month.

Summer Camp

2011-08-03T18:42:00.000-07:00

Melana explains the rules of a modified "Duck, Duck, Goose."

I teach the kids about colors before a painting session.

Melana managed to make our house look like a classroom.

Our younger students were the most enthusiastic learners.

During the summer, Melana and I worked on two projects that offered structured activities for young people while they were out of school. In the US this is often referred to as “camp.” The theory is, children and young adults without structured activities and loads of free time are far more likely to get into trouble in any country regardless of culture. Trouble can be defined as anything from coloring on the walls to throwing balls through windows to drug use.

Structured activities for young people are a rather new concept in rural Costa Rica. It is expected that older children will take care of younger children rather indefinitely with minimal input from the parents except during mealtimes, bedtimes or other ritualized activities.

Keep in mind that this is a system that worked when young people had work to do in the fields and could do jobs around the house at regular intervals. As most young people no longer spend a significant portion of their day on agricultural work, however, they have the opportunity to fall victim to the mother of all bad ideas: boredom.

(Keep in mind that an agrarian model is also why US students have the summers off. If you’re a US student, do YOU work in the fields during the summer?)

The idea that adults would voluntarily spend any more time with children than was absolutely necessary seems a little crazy to the average Tico. Therefore, the idea of camp and structured activities for young people was greeted with skepticism by the community.

So, Melana and I decided that we were going to start with a two day English camp. The first set of kids would come in the morning at 7:30 and the second set would arrive at 12:30. We invited the younger children (7-9) to come in the morning followed by the older kids (10-12) to come in the afternoon.

Melana set up the house to look much like a classroom. There were colorful books everywhere and plenty of space for sitting on the floor. We had 5 participants show up. The kids learned about English and made their own animal books and sang songs. After juice and a snack we took them outside to play.

In the afternoon, we ran into a problem. The younger kids didn’t want to leave! We wound up having to tailor our activities for the younger kids who couldn’t keep up with their more advanced students. In all, we wound up with an afternoon group of about 12 students.

The next week, we helped some other volunteers in a larger city with a much larger camp of 6-12 year olds. We started with about 15 students. This camp was not focused on English learning, however and we engaged the kids with several “camp” like activities. Over the course of the week, friendship bracelets and team-building exercises were all the rage and long, competitive capture the flag style games dominated the late mornings before the kids went home for lunch.

Though all of this was extremely fun and rewarding, the other volunteers and I were exhausted after chasing after children for a week or so. Unlike US kids and young adults, the youth in Costa Rica are not used to structured activities. As such, they need to be guided through every step of the way. Concepts like “tag” need to be explained in nauseating detail because the concept just hasn’t been presented to many of them before. Children usually play on their own, but never with adults watching, and never with rules.

The whole experience reminded me how important structured activities are to childhood development. We don’t just play SPUD, freeze-tag and tennis-baseball because it’s fun. We do it because “play” prepares us for life as an adult. Interacting with other individuals and operating within a series of agreed upon norms are just two examples of skills we can derive from this.

I’ll end this thought here to give you all some more pictures of Costa Rican kids playing.

Introductions are always a must at camp.

Students paint reused soda bottles for potted plants.

In this team builder, participants must turn over the tarp without using their hands!

"Helium Stick" : one of my favorite team builders.

Students join hands for a human knot.

Two students play "capture the flag"

Spanish Joke!

2011-08-02T16:17:00.000-07:00

HAH!

-Thanks to Joan for finding this!

Happy Ramadan!

2011-07-31T23:52:00.000-07:00

Today is the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan. Happy holidays to all my friends who celebrate Islam!

To all non-Muslims, the month of Ramadan is a great time to learn about Muslim culture. For example, did you know that an observing Muslim should not eat before sunset for the entire month of Ramadan? To find out more, you can read about it here.

On Norway

2011-07-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

I do not have the special connection with Norway that I do with Japan. But, as someone who works with youth camps, I feel very connected to this. My thoughts go out to the Kingdom of Norway.

May we all support Norway through this tragedy with compassion and tolerance.

It's my Birthday!

2011-07-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

I'm hanging out with my dogs, cat and chickens and contemplating what it means to be 28. Melana's out of town today, so I'm just relaxing. There are no plans for cake, but it's nice birthday none the less! Thanks for reading!

The cake is a lie!

How to post on this blog

2011-07-22T17:52:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. I have a real update coming soon but I thought I would answer a question that came across my email recently. How do you post on this blog? All you have to do is follow the directions below.

First: Click the comments link. The comments link can be found at the bottom of every post.

Second: Type your comment. Here is where you add a comment. I have enabled comment moderation because this is a family show. That means that I need to give the ok before anything gets posted.

Third: Type the word verification. This word verification ensures that you're not a spam bot. Because spam bots run wild all over the internet, us humans have to put up with these boxes. Simply type the word in the box. In the case above, you would type "junotedl". If you cannot read the word for some reason, reload or click on the stick figure in the wheelchair for assistance.

Fourth: Choose your identity and post! Contrary to popular belief, you do NOT need a google account to post a comment. You may choose any number of identities from your name (Name/URL) to Anonymous. If you have an OpenID, such as AIM, you may post with that identity as well.

I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Agouti Sighting

2011-07-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

I saw one of these the other day! It was pretty cool because I'm currently working on a project to try to bring these to domestication. More on that later. For now, aren't they cool?

Agoutis are hare sized rodents that live in forests and burrow in leaf litter. I want one! Actually, I want several to breed and eat my kitchen scraps.

Ticos consider agouti meat to be tasty, so they have been hunted relentlessly and driven out of many areas in Costa Rica. I would like to have farmers raise them as an alternative to cattle or pigs. They breed like rabbits (literally) and can be raised in forests so that land doesn't need to be clear-cut as it does for cows.

Sadly, this is not my picture. I didn't have my camera with me at the time. A good thing, too because we were caught in a monsoon and got soaked to the bone!

If you'd like to read more about agoutis and their agricultural potential you can do so here!

Chicken coop!

2011-07-09T11:48:00.000-07:00

This kind of got buried a bit ago, but I wanted to announce the completion of our new chicken coop! This is significant, not only because it will allow us to raise our very own chickens for eggs and meat, but also because it offers a model of sustainable home agriculture even for those who have very little land.

It is also significant on a personal note because this is the first free-standing structure I have every designed and built. As you can see below, some of the craftsmanship betrays my amateur status, but as long as it continues to be functional I don’t think the chickens will notice how ugly it is.

Below you can see the progression of construction from zero to finished.

The only tools we used to make this were a hammer, wire cutters and a hand saw...oh, and nails.

We started with four A-frames, supported by a central "spine".

Normally, I would have wanted to use a lot more wood in this project. But with a limited amount of money, (not to mention having to carry all the materials from the hardware story on foot) stretching a fine screen seemed to do the same thing at lesser cost. Even if it is a little less sturdy.

The rain fly can be raised or lowered to allow the chickens air/shelter depending on the weather

Recently, we have also purchased 4 chickens specifically for egg-laying. Because both groups of chickens tend to fight, we've sanctioned off a section of the yard for them. Here is what it looks like now:

These are the same little guys from the June 2 post.

To continue with all things chicken, I killed the first of our chickens today to make room for some of the new ones. Melana had the pleasure of plucking and cleaning it.

Not as happy as she looks about this.

Our first harvested egg!

Melana and I are often stuck wondering why more people don't raise chickens. If you have questions, just ask!

Happy 4th! Plus contest!

2011-07-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

On this, the anniversary of our nation's independence, I pose to you this question.

Which founding father's name is a synonym for the word 'signature' and why?

Only students K-8 may answer to win the prize in the form of a Costa Rican post card sent to your home by me! Please email answers to peteman126@gmail.com

Happy Independence Day!

100th post!

2011-07-04T07:03:00.001-07:00

Thanks for reading! Let's make it to 200 posts!

On Frogs

2011-06-29T11:19:00.000-07:00

So, last night we found something pretty spectacular in our room. I’ll start by saying that there are certain animals Melana normally has me remove from the house. Among them are things that need to be removed by necessity, bats for example, and other creatures that need to be removed because they are harmless but exceptionally creepy. I know, I know, not all animals can be super models, but when it comes to what gets to stay and what needs to leave, I DO discriminate (apologies, Buddhists). There is really only one class of critters that regularly causes disagreements when Melana hands me their eviction notice. The animals in question are frogs. I like frogs! Frogs like to snack on airborne pests, and thrive under the same conditions that mosquitoes do. The more mosquitoes in the house, the more likely there are to be frogs in the house eating mosquitoes. Sadly, they seem to creep Melana out in a special way. For Melana, frogs are guilty of a crime of locomotion. They jump to get around, and this means that they are always only one jump away from her face. I’m not sure why frogs would be attracted to this piece of real estate among all the other surfaces they could jump to, but there you have it.

So I regularly eject frogs from the house. Humanely. Biologists, don’t freak out. I have a special, non-soap washed cup I use to catch them and I don’t touch them unless they jump on me first.

Last night, however. I met my equivalent of a celebrity. Check out this beauty.

That is a Caribbean red-eyed tree frog. A beautiful specimen. Tree frogs like this are often centerfolds for the rainforest and it’s not hard to see why. Their big, red eyes and painted underside make them stand out against a white backdrop. When in trees, however, they are shockingly difficult to spot. They are just spectacular.

Frogs have a special place in my heart due to the class of animals they belong to. Amphibians often get a bad rap. Like, Vanilla Ice bad. Folks think they’re slimy, gross, disease spreading, etc. Little boys smash them with rocks and little girls step on them after little boys put them in said little girls’ hair.

Amphibians are the most threatened class of animals that exist today. Because of their permeable skin and sensitivity to climate changes, amphibians experience extinction and habitat destruction at alarming rates. The run-off from a single farm can be enough to poison a stream for all amphibians that live there.

Amphibians are not only important because they represent an evolutionary link that ties vertebrates to the ocean, but they also control mosquito populations in some of the most malaria ridden areas of the world. By the way, whereas many animals only eat airborne mosquitoes, frogs newts and salamanders will often inhabit the same areas where mosquitoes lay their eggs and also eat many of the larva before they can leave their nursery pool. Additionally they and provide important links in the food chain wherever they occur.

If you are interested in amphibian conservation and what’s being done in your area, you can get information at any local aquarium or zoo. Also, you can check online at http://amphibiaweb.org/maps/index.html to find out about amphibians that live near you!

Lucy continues to grow.

2011-06-28T11:32:00.001-07:00

She's getting big!

Nerd Power!

2011-06-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

Above: What work looks like for me some days

Today I will, once again, work to answering the ever nagging question: What exactly do I do everyday?

Normally, every day is different but I thought I would share some projects that I have been working on with you.

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working on developing a computer laboratory in the local high school.

The room selected had been a storage room for the library and had been cleared out about two months ago. It was small, cement and completely unwired save for a line of florescent lights in the ceiling. I spent a few hours a day for the first couple of weeks installing desks with the shop teacher. He directed me in the fine arts of making cheap materials look nice and he even let me bevel! After we installed the desks (simple plywood beveled down and then stained) we had to wire the room.

All things electronic tend to get me irrationally excited so I loved this part of the project. I got to sit down with a big spool of electrical wire and ethernet cord and run electrical wiring through PVC piping around the entirety of the room before installing outlets to pop out through the desks at each computer station.

After electrifying the room, I sat down with the ethernet cord and stripped and put heads on about 30 different pieces. You know that little plastic head that fits into your computer? I went ahead and put those on. Pretty easy to learn, but it was so cool to do!

After that I had to return to the states for about 2 1/2 weeks and, sadly missed much of the work with the computers and final electrical wiring.

The other day, however, I was able to participate in the installation of about 15 disembodied hard disks that were stacked in a corner awaiting installation. When I entered the room and dusted off my first lobotomized computer and attempted to bring it back to life I knew I was in for a treat. As I brushed off the faded “Made for Windows 2000!” advertisements, I wondered just how much fun bringing these computers back from the great beyond would be. I spent a good three hours taking apart these modern antiques. I’ve included some pictures below for your enjoyment. It is my hope, that after this laboratory is finished, the average high school student will have a place where they can feel free to explore the internet and pursue academic or personal interests in the carefree nature that many US students take for granted.

Below: Everything that used to be in the storage room.

Below: one of the computers in need of a hard drive

Below: Various hard drives stacked for my convenience

Above: the wiring we were working with along with the ethernet cabled that I had to "head" - go ahead and take a look at one of these sometime, they're surprisingly intricate

Below: the room as it was when I put everything back. Only a few more steps to go!

More Lucy!

2011-06-12T21:26:00.000-07:00

Lucy continues to grow and be generally adorable. I'll be posting more pictures periodically.

She's much healthier that she was when we got her and has befriended Melana's dog, Lisa. You may remember Lisa from some films as "The Tour of Our House".

And with Rainy Season...

2011-06-12T20:56:00.000-07:00

Come rainy season bugs!!

Ok, seriously? Look at the size of this fly.

The swarms of mosquitoes are one thing. The ants, I can deal with. The cockroaches, fine.

What in the name of great googly moogly is a fly doing that big?

Not to mention the giant beetles that clumsily fling themselves through the house, drunkenly smashing into things and occasionally KNOCKING THEM OVER.

Melana has charged me with removing all things that creep, crawl and/or fly from the house. (except for geckos, we like geckos)

It's like living in the Carboniferous period down here sometimes. (look it up, kids!)

PS - This is not my pictures... but we've seen this guy! I swept him out of the house with a broom. He came back in twice before I finally threw him into the jungle.

Rainy Season

2011-06-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

June has been the start of the rainy season in the north of Costa Rica. Of course, because of the micro-climates that the country has, each region experiences the change in seasons differently. You see, true rainy season for the majority of the country doesn't really start until late summer or early fall in the States. Here, however, it never really ends.

My host father described the dry season in the northern provinces perfectly one day when he said,
"There will be absolutely no rain for three months. Totally dry."
I: "Wow, no rain at all?"
He: "None"
I: "What happens to all your crops? Do you have to bring water in from the river?"
He: "Sometimes, but it's not that important."
I: "How do all your crops survive with no water?"
He: "Oh, it rains at night, of course."

And so you have an accurate description of the weather in northern Alajuela province. It rains all the time.

So, when I say that we had the start of the rainy season this month, what I really mean is that we've gone from midnight sprinkles to late afternoon torrential downpours. It just gets so hot during the day that the rising hot air creates some serious thunderstorms as the day tries to cool down around four or five o'clock.
...And in Costa Rica, they don't mess around with their thunderstorms. It gets so loud in the house from the falling rain that Melana and I cannot understand each other even if we're yelling while standing right next to each other.
The rain might be loud, but nothing compares to the lightning strikes that can happen all around us and the thunder that follows it, sometimes only barely. Often, when there is flooding in town, we lose electricity and huddle excitedly in the darkness and watch the flashing sky as the rain around us turns into an indistinguishable rush of sound. This auditory overload coupled with the near visual black out seems to turn our little wooden house in the jungle into a ship adrift in stormy seas.

It is not often in the more developed parts of the world that nature snatches from us all distraction and forces us to face it head on. When it does, the circumstances are often so dire that fear and tragedy become the prominent distractions. But when, as in our situation, our modern diversions are pulled from us at low enough a threshold as to withhold any real threat of mortal peril, nature reveals itself to be a thing a great beauty, even in the darkest of storms.

A view from our living room.

2011-06-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

Beautiful sunsets are not uncommon around Costa Rica. In the last week or so, however, they have been uncommonly beautiful.

At times the sky and all the world of twilight resonates with a deep pink or even green depending on the weather.

Here are two of the sights we were treated to as the rainy season started last week.

Chickens!

2011-06-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

Along with our new puppy. Melana and I have decided to start raising some farm animals of our own. So I went to the store a bought some chicks.

I'm going to start building a home for them soon. Pictures to come!

Lucy

2011-06-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

Well, Melana and I just had to adopt some animals of our own.

So, Melana talked to our host family and got me a puppy... and here she is!

We don't know how big she's going to get, but her mother is a Lab. We'll see!

Our House!

2011-05-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

Questions from Sea Girt Students #3 (Part 2)

2011-05-25T14:01:00.000-07:00

Continued...

Hey PeteMan! How's the weather? I hope that Costa Rica is treating you well. I think that it was fantastic that you were able to visit our small-town school to teach us. If you have any more amazing encounters/pictures feel free to write them down for us to see! I hope that you enjoy your adventures!

Sincerely, Sea Girt 6th Grade

I sure will!

I’m also combining this weather question with the next one:

Hi Peteman,

Thank you for coming to our school we enjoyed it. You were really funny. How is Costa Rica? Is it fun there? Also how is the weather?

From

Charlie 6 grader from Sea Girt

Right now it is hot ...and I love it. Melana does too, she just doesn’t know it yet. Today it’s not as hot as it’s been, but it is 30°C with 66% humidity. Making today nice and cool. The weather’s not actually too bad, but our house has a tin roof and it gets pretty hot in there, I’d say over 45°C some days. Remember, we don’t have air conditioning and only just bought a fan last week.

Hi Peteman,

I wanted to thank you for coming to visit us 6th Graders at Sea Girt Elementry School. I was wondering.....Does it take a lot to tend and care for the farm and animals?

Thanks,

Nina 6th Grade

Like taking care of any pet, animals need to be fed, and cared for. The pigs probably take the most work because, unlike the chickens, dogs, cats, horses and cows, they are not allowed to roam around and must be fed and cleaned regularly. Personally, I don’t do too much with the animals, but every once in a while I will help to milk a cow or hop on a horse to move the herd around.

Thanks for coming to our school, PeteMan. I have two question for you. First, how is Costa Rica doing for you? Second, you know what's weird? Donald Duck never wore pants. But whenever he got out of the shower, he'd put a towel around his waist. What's up with that?

I love Costa Rica!

You know what’s really weird? Pluto is Micky’s dog but Micky isn’t Pluto’s mouse…. what’s up with THAT?

Dear PeteMan,

Thank you for visiting our school. I just have one question about your job. Where do you think you will go after Costa Rica?

From,

Connor, 6th grader

Has my mom been talking to you?

After I finish here, I hope to go and work for one of my mentors, Simon Norton, doing youth programing. Last summer, we worked with teens from the UK, Ireland, Iraq and the US to talk about how young people can make a difference in conflict and post conflict situations.

I am also looking into experimental forms of classroom techniques to make education more engaging.

So it looks like education in one way or another is in my future. I hope I get a chance to talk about it with all of you some day! (maybe after I write my thesis)

Whatever I do, I want to make sure that I’m making a positive difference in the lives of young people.

Thanks again for all your questions! Also, thank you to those who wrote me Thank-yous! I really appreciate it!

Coming soon... a tour of my house!

Questions from Sea Girt Students #3 (Part 1)

2011-05-25T12:38:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone! Thanks so much to the 6th and 7th graders at Sea Girt School for your questions. I really enjoyed speaking with your class and am looking forward to corresponding with you in the future.

I want to give a special quick note to the 7th graders. Great job with your understanding of microfinance! I think you understood the concept faster than some of the adults that I’ve introduced it to. Any of you think you want to study economics?

First off thank you very much for coming to our school and teaching us about economics and stuff, it was very interesting. Also one question do you enjoy skiing or snowboarding?

Sincerely,

Sea Girt Students

I have tried both and am bad at both. I think I like skiing better because after I snowboard I can’t sit down for a week. I’m more of a warm weather kind of guy.

...ouch. It hurts just to think about it.

Hey Peteman,

Thanks for coming to Sea Girt Elementary School. We learned very much about the Peace Corps and what micro-finance is. The pictures of Arizona is the Grand Canyon. When you were talking about the baby animals, what happens to them after they are born?

P.S. The fish feeding at the bottom was fun to use! :D

Sincerely, Tim

Most of the babies get sold. Pigs sell very well because they grow to be very big. Piglets sell for about $50-$60.We kept 3 of the piglets to let them grow to use them for making more piglets and pork.

Puppies can be sold for about $20 each because people use them to guard their houses and protect their livestock.

Kittens, calfs and chicks are usually left to grow up. Calfs that grow into cows can be used for milk and to make more calfs before being sold while kittens are kept as pets and chicks are used for eggs and meat.

Hi Peteman,

Its Marietta and Paige at Sea Girt Elementary School. We were wondering if you were scared of any type of animals that you see a lot???

I REALLY don’t like spiders! That’s pretty much it. I’ve always been afraid of spiders. I just freeze up when I see them.

Melana, however, has a larger repertoire of animals she doesn’t like. Any large insect, snake, spider, centipede, or scorpion will pretty much make her do a panic dance. This means that I find myself in the position of having to remove these critters from the house.

EDIT: We found a rat in the house and Melana has tasked me with disposing of it. I'll let you know if I ever catch it. I've never seen it but Melana says it's BIG.

Hi Peteman,
Thanks for taking time to come teach us about microfinancing. Really interesting stuff. About the pics, were you flying with Peace Corps or commercially? Those pictures are really awesome. We've never seen that clearly out of a plane and seen cool things like mountains and canyons. Thank you again, Sea Girt 7th Graders.

I am combining this question with the following:

Peteman,

As i am looking at your photos i am wondering if you were in a normal commercial airplane or you were in a smaller plane that flies lower to the ground?

Thank you, chip.

I’m glad you enjoyed it. I was flying commercially, the pictures I took were out of a Delta issued Boeing 737-800 aircraft. PCVs always fly using commercial US carriers. In an effort to support the economy. In fact, I believe all non-military flights are mandated by congress to be commercial US carriers for all government business.

I rarely see that clearly either, which is why I took the pictures! I think it was just a really clear day.

Dear Peteman,

We really enjoyed you time here in our class,we learned a lot and had a splendid experience. Therefore, we wanted to ask you a question. Are the farm babies only born this time of year?

Sicerely,

Julia & Torey

Primarily Spring is the time when animals have their babies. They do this so the babies have plenty of time to get strong before the next winter. However, the seasons are different here in Costa Rica. The animals seem to have their babies in the middle of the dry season. That way, as soon as their old enough to fend for themselves, there’s plenty of food at the beginning of the wet season. Because there is really no time of year when there is a uniform food shortage (like winter in temperate climates) babies are born for different species all year round.

Peteman,

Thank you for coming into my class and teaching us about what the Peace Corps does. I am doing a project on John F. Kennedy and I was wondering if the Peace Corps gives him and recognition?

Absolutely, it was JFK’s presidential order that created the US Peace Corps. This year marked the 50th anniversary of our organization and, to celebrate we recognized both President Kennedy and Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr. who was the driving force behind the creation of the Peace Corps. In fact, Sargent Shriver (as he’s more commonly known) took the model for Peace Corps training from the Experiment in International Living, an organization of World Learning. This is extra important to me because SIT World Learning is also where I’m getting my Master’s degree!

Hello Peteman,

Those animals were adorable, especially the pigs! I was wondering if that was you farm or if any of the animals were yours?

Melana has claimed one of the dogs as her own. Other than Lisa (the dog), all of the other animals belong to the family on whose land we live.

Puppies!!

2011-05-18T16:45:00.001-07:00

Answers still in progress!

Cute picture

2011-05-17T09:12:00.001-07:00

Melana and Alexa say hi!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Miami

2011-05-17T09:11:00.001-07:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

More airplane pictures

2011-05-17T09:06:00.001-07:00

Not as clear but still pretty! This is the southern tip of Florida.

While I was in NJ I spoke at Sea Girt school. I would like to thank the 6th and 7th grades for being such great audiences.

Also, I would like to extend a special thanks to Mrs. Lawlor for inviting me to speak and for making room for correspondence amid a very rigorous schedule.

I am very excited to answer your new questions. I will get on that as soon as I get back to my house.

Bird's Eye View

2011-05-02T10:24:00.001-07:00

I've recently had to fly to California due to a family emergency. On the way, we flew though one of the clearest days i've ever seen from an airplane. Here are some of the pictures we took.

This is Arizona. Any idea what this is a picture of?

And the following are Colorado.

Farm Babies!

2011-04-12T10:03:00.000-07:00

Before I hit everyone with another wall of text, I thought you would all like to know that it's baby season here on the farm! So I went around and took pictures of all the babies. Enjoy!

IST Part 2 - Micro Finance

2011-04-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

So, what was the training actually about? Well, it covered a variety of topics, some was the normal HR stuff about discrimination and diversity and then some country specific security topics. Most was programmatic, however and we talked a lot about implementation of possible projects in our communities. We discussed micro finance and working with local development associations to develop local economies.

I’m going to pause to explain this for a sec because micro finance (also known as micro credit) is a pretty cool concept. Bear with me as I try to explain this concept in a couple of paragraphs. In the US, people take out loans all the time, for example, they get loans for houses, businesses and cars. They also get money for every day things. A credit card is a little device that facilitates loans all the time. Little loans, like $15 for a DVD. All of which needs to be paid back eventually.

Now, why would anyone lend someone money for nothing? Well, they normally don’t, they charge interest, which is a percentage of the money you borrowed to be paid back in addition to the principle, or original amount borrowed. For example, if I borrow $100 dollars and need to pay 5% interest, my interest will be $5 and my principle will be $100. So, I pay back $105 dollars to my lender and my lender profits the extra $5. (This is a very basic description; I’m keeping it simple on purpose.)

Basically, because small, rural communities don’t have access to credit cards or banks, they need someone to loan them money to start or improve businesses. This is where micro finance comes in. In Costa Rica community credit businesses are called Empresas de Crédito Comunal, or ECCs. They lend small amounts of money to businesses in rural communities so that those businesses can make money and eventually pay back their loans.

So, for another example, this time I’m borrowing $100 for a cow. I buy the cow and make cheese from her milk. After 6 months at 2% monthly interest, I need to pay back $12 in interest (interest = 6 months x 2% of 100 OR 6 x (.02 x 100) = $12) PLUS my principle, $100. So I would owe the ECC $112 after 6 months.
During those 6 months, I sold enough cheese to make $120. So I pay back my $112 and I still have $8 left.

Why did I do all that for $8? Because after I pay back my loan, I get all the future money I will make from the cow. So, if I make another $120 dollars in the next 6 months, I get to keep it OR I can buy another cow.

This is how businesses grow from micro finance.

The best part about setting up ECCs is that none of the money comes from outside the community. The community buys shares, or pieces of ownership in the ECC, much like stock and receives dividends at the end of the year. (Dividends being a percentage of the ECC’s profits divided among all the shares. Example: at the end of the year, the ECC profited $1000 and will pay half of that to dividends. So $500 is divided among the 50 shares. $500/50 = $10 So ever share receives $10. The other $500 is loaned out to make more money!)

To learn more about ECCs, micro finance or credit in general, you can feel free to write question to me or check out Kiva to see what kind of projects get done with micro finance.

PLEASE send me questions about this if you’re interested. I studied this in university, so it makes sense to me, but I can’t tell if I explained this very well.

IST Part 1 - Intro

2011-04-03T14:44:00.000-07:00

IST Part 1 - Intro

Melana and I were in IST last week. That’s “In Service Training” in Peace Corps terminology. There are a few major trainings that we are required to go to as PCVs. They include Pre Service Training (PST), In Service Training (IST), Mid Service Training (MST) and Close of Service (CoS).

This IST was the longest in the history Peace Corps - Costa Rica, ten days. Normally, IST is about four days or so but, due to the landslides that ravaged the country during PST, we had to make up a lot of work. Each day was 8am-5:30pm with two coffee breaks and an hour for lunch. As far as accommodations go, Uncle Sam REALLY took care of us. I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a nicer hotel. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza in downtown San José, the gorgeous hotel pictured below.

After spending three months in our site, this was a real treat for Melana and I. In particular, the food was delicious. Every morning we would have some of the best Costa Rican food we’ve tasted along with a variety of fruits and pastries. This was really a shock to our bodies which are used to having the same three or four entrées over and over again out in the country. So, predictably, I hoarded food in our room, particularly multiple pastries and pieces of banana bread.

The only meal that we didn’t get at the hotel was dinner. For dinner, we were left to fend for ourselves. Luckily, there was a supermarket across the street and we managed to make ourselves a variety of soups and sandwiches on most days in order to keep costs down. We did manage to indulge on some days, though, having such a variety of exotic cuisines as fried chicken, hamburgers and salads. I even caved to Temptation and bought myself a Whopper one night*. On our final night there, Melana and I even found a Korean restaurant and had some familiar† Kimchi jjigae (김치찌개) - pictured below.

Also, were were there to see the opening of the new stadium in San Jose - traffic was unbelievable. The government of China has been working with Costa Rica to put up this new stadium in the middle of the San Jose’s answer to NYC’s Central Park. After all of the fireworks and Chinese style theatrics, China and Costa Rica played off in an inaugural soccer match that left fans cheering. At the time, I was eating dinner about a block away and everyone ran outside to see the fireworks before returning to the restaurant to watch the game on TV - what a night! Costa Rica and China tied 2-2.

* I know, I know - fast food is bad for me, the environment and the economy, but I needed to indulge. Also, I was curious to see the spectacle of fast food in Costa Rica. Here, fast food restaurants are sit down affairs where the whole family comes and eats.

† For those who don’t know, Melana and I used to live in S. Korea. If you’d like to know more, check the older entries of the blog.

IST

2011-03-31T23:08:00.000-07:00

Melana and I have been in "In Service Training" for the last week and a half. I would love to go into what that is right now but we just got back from San Jose. I'm writing this because I know that if I promise to follow up with the blog, I will!

And, to all those who do....Thanks for reading!

....and here's Dilbert!

Peace Corps' Birthday

2011-03-21T11:40:00.003-07:00

Peace corps recently celebrated 50 years of international development and citizen diplomacy! We had a celebration in San Jose where we has this wonderful cake and a presentation fair for PCV projects. Happy birthday employers!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Clear day

2011-03-21T11:40:00.001-07:00

Now that the rain takes a break in the afternoons, we have these crazy clear days. Here's a view from the main road in town. You can see all the way to he volcano! Gorgeous!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Art for Peace

2011-03-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, the volunteers in the Zona Norte (Northern Zone) held an Art for Peace event for local kids in La Fortuna. Many PCVs brought an art activity to teach to the kids. There were many activity tables including poetry, theater, cupcake decorating, friendship bracelet making, origami and others! Melana and I hosted a table where we had kids make home made play-dough for them to bring home and rub into their parents' furniture.

We also had many ice breaker activities as well as a cultural dance presented by a children's dance group.

In this particular dance, the girls seem to harass and torment the "bull" as they simulate a bull fight.

Regarding Japan

2011-03-16T08:49:00.000-07:00

I need to state to all my friends in Japan, Japanese friends and to the whole of the Japanese people that our thoughts are with you during this tragic time. I love Japan, it's a wonderful country full of wonderful people and it pains me to watch this unfold from afar. Also, if you haven't already, please let us know you are alright.

Questions from Sea Girt 7th Graders #2

2011-03-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

First - oh geez, I am SO sorry for being so late. I actually wrote this about a week ago and just put off proofing it until today, so hopefully there are no mistakes and I got all of your questions! Things have been picking up lately as Melana and I have been preparing our research for a report on the community that we’re writing. I’ll write more about that later, but first! Questions from Sea Girt 7th graders!

HI peteman,

I was just wondering if you knew if "Terror" was a Spanish word and if so do you know the meaning it would be great if you could reply.

As far as I can tell, the word “Terror” is roughly the same in both Spanish and English. I have no idea why a household good would be named that.

As a side note, however - you may find it funny that one of the bug killers we use on the larger roaches around here is called “la última cena.” Which means “the last supper.” Hilarious!

Dear Peteman,

Is the ginger tea a regular thing you drink, or is it a special occasion drink?

Unlike a whole bunch of other countries in the rest of the world, tea is not widely drank here in Costa Rica. Tea is replaced here with coffee. Furthermore “Tea Time” (a small snack time featuring tea served around 3:00 in the UK and a few other countries) is replace here with “Cafecito” (a coffee break around 3:00). Tea in Costa Rica is most often reserved for strange foreigners such as myself, a rare option with a meal or for sick people.

The ginger he is holding will most likely be used in cooking, soups or medicine.

Are the olingo critters some type of monkey? How populated are they in Costa Rica?

I am SO glad someone asked about the olingo! Let me get my book…

…

OK!

Olingos come to us from the family Procyonidae. Strange name, but this means that they are closely related to raccoons. This particular family is ONLY found in the new world, which means that that raccoon going through your trash is a joy that no one living anywhere other than the Americas gets to experience (naturally anyway).

The olingo is pretty nifty, but it’s not called an olingo here in Costa Rica. That’s because the locals do not distinguish it from the coati, another arboreal mammal from the same family.

Olingos are located mostly in the north-eastern parts of the country and are common only in cloud forests. Like most other super-cool animals, their numbers are in decline due to deforestation - buy banana paper!

note: most information I get about Costa Rican Mammals comes from a book called The Mammals of Costa Rica: A Natural History and Field Guide by Mark Wainwright and published by Zona Tropical. ISBN: 978-0-8014-7375-3

Hey Peteman! The Olingo looks like a friendly monkey. Because of the Hummingbird Feeder is this outside someones house, or do the paeople hang them in the middle of the forest?
Thanks!!!

This picture was actually taken off the internet, the camera photos didn't survive the rain for the most part. People do tend to hand feeders around their houses and in the middle of the forest, this is because many people have houses in the middle of the forest!

Ive been wondering about the olingos. When you are walking down the street do they just pop out of nowhere? If so, tell us about a personal experence of when you had an encounter with one.

Well, I've only seen the one, but from what I've read they are pretty shy creatures. Like most wild animals they fear humans and, being arboreal they blend in fairly well in the treetops. The one time I did see one was when it ran out onto a branch that didn't have many leaves on it in a sparse area of a rainforest that I was hiking through. I very rarely see any animals by just walking down the street, save for birds. There are lots of birds here and many of them are very beautiful!

Do you eat exotic fruits like the Maracuya? Do you like them or are they just too different for you? Thanks!

One of the best parts about living abroad is eating new fruits! I love fruit!

In Costa Rica, it is very, VERY common to have fruit juice with your meal. In fact, water is considered somewhat strange. As such, I’ve sampled many different kinds of fruit in drink form. By far, the most common are different types of citrus which are, irritatingly, all called “limón.” They tend to look like a crosses between lemons, limes and oranges.

Many of these fruits grow right outside our house so I will go out with a machete or hook and cut some down if I feel like eating or cooking with them.

I may need to do a couple different posts about the different fruits I’ve eaten, but I’ll list some of them here.

Guanabana (Soursop)

Mango

Mamón Chino (Rambutan)

Mamón Verde

Passion Fruit

Malay or Water Apple

Avacado

Banana

Tamarind

Cassava

Chayote

Papaya

Guava

Two of my favorite fruits I can’t seem to find here: dates and mangosteens. I used to gorge myself on both when I lived in Asia. I may try to grow them here.

What do you do on a day to day basis?

This is SUCH a good question! I don’t know!!

I haven’t really settled into a routine yet but I can tell you that every day so far has been different. Often I’ll wake up around 7 or 8 and hide in my room and work until around 10 or 11. This is because these are the only hours that the internet is working. This also mean that I spend a depressing amount of time inside. This is changing though, I am trying to get up earlier (5 or so) to help milk the cow and do other farm tasks. Also, Melana wants to start running in the morning, so I may need to get up for that as well. I think things will settle down after next month.

After that, I usually have some form of meeting in the afternoon, or some project that I’m working on, so after a cold shower (showers are cold here, by the way) I head into town to either shop or interview or attend a meeting. By mid afternoon the house is asleep, so if i return in time I’ll hang out with my host family and practice Spanish and talk about upcoming project. By evening, if I’m not in the middle of baking something, I either read or hop on my computer for a bit. Sometimes I’ll get some stuff done online if the internet decides to come back.

And that’s kind of it. It’s pretty dull, but I enjoy it. Sorry I can’t be more specific, I’ve had a lot of meetings in San Jose recently so it feels as if I’ve spent as many days on the bus as I have had “normal” days at my site.

Feel free to ask me follow up questions about any of this because this blog is about helping you understand the answer to your question!

That looks good ! What kind of cake is most common to eat or cook there? Did you discover any new kinds of cake that you never knew before?

Commonly the cake here is the same as the cake in the states although we make most of the cakes here from scratch - no boxed cakes (they’re expensive!) Other than that… the REAL difference, and the one that’s most bothersome is the frosting. To me it tastes just…. wrong! I’d say my frosting tastes weird to them to, but everyone goes crazy over the frosting that Melana and I make to put on our cakes and cookies.

A true Costa Rican cake, however is Tres Leches. Tres Leches is a kind of white cake that’s had wholes poked in it. Then, three types of milk are added on top and allowed to soak in, hence the name (“three milks”).

It’s actually easy and fun to make! You can try to make it at home, just be sure to ask a parent so I don’t get blamed for a kitchen fire! You can find the recipe by following the link here.

This may not refer to any of your blogs, but now that you live in Costa Rica, do you live more eco-friendly?

Ahhh! Great question!

I am trying so hard to be more eco friendly. It’s true, we do live more eco-friendly in Costa Rica because Melana and I don’t drive cars and we don’t have the money to waste like in the US. Also, we are actively pursuing ways of reducing our trash through natural means. For example, I have started a composting project and want to start a garden. I make a lot of food that I would normally buy packaged (cookies, bread and, recently, bagels!) We also use less electricity as we don’t heat either our home or our water and the lights are off most of the day because sun lights the house. There is, however no recycling, and it kills me! One of the projects I want to do is start a class at the local high school about recycling and get the next generation (your generation) excited about it. There’s just plastic waste everywhere!

Interestingly, however, there is nothing that I am doing here that can’t be done in any home in the US as well. For example, composting projects are fun, easy and provide you with great soil for gardening. I recommend considering starting one of your own either at your house or organize with a teacher at school!

If you are interested in starting an Eco-friendly project, please follow up and I’ll give you a whole bunch of information!

Hey Peteman,

Do you buy the worms to eat or to fish?

The worms are for composting and fishing. We have a few ponds on the land here that have tilapia to fish for. The majority of the worms, however, are for converting a large amount of organic garbage into usable soil. Right now, they are all living and reproducing very, very happily in a big mound of poop. In about three months I will put them on the compost pile.

How is the worm compost going hopefully well? Back home in the states I once saw a worm compost. It was very interesting write back soon!

Well, as I said above, the worms are currently happily multiplying in a pile of cow poop that we’ve set up for them. The biggest challenge with composting here is getting the locals to recognize what is compostable and what is not compostable. I’ll find whole pineapples or sugar cane stalks in the regular trash and gum wrappers in my organic trash. I’m thinking of making a series of signs that explain this in Spanish.

I hope that if I can get kids doing this at the school, then I can get the adults to do it in their homes.

Whew! I hope I got all those answered satisfactorily. I asked a couple of you for follow up questions and I hope you guys keep asking!

Olingo!

2011-02-16T08:08:00.001-08:00

olingo+costa+rica1
Originally uploaded by Pete Plass

The other day we went on a long, wet hike to a waterfall and I saw one of these (longer post to follow on this trip).

I didn't take this picture, but since I didn't have my camera I couldn't very well just post, "hey everyone! I saw an olingo!"

Or as Anna, a PCV friend of mine likes to call them - "kmonkeysquirels"

Black pepper

2011-02-16T08:06:00.001-08:00

DSCN0219
Originally uploaded by Pete Plass

This is what it looks like when it's growing. It turns red when it's ready to harvest, much like coffee beans. This was the primary crop on the farm.

Farmer with ginger

2011-02-16T08:04:00.001-08:00

Farmer with ginger
Originally uploaded by Pete Plass

Freshly dug up ginger...mmm, fresh ginger tea. I also buy worms from this man.

Maracuyá

2011-02-16T08:03:00.001-08:00

maracuyá
Originally uploaded by Pete Plass

A passion fruit relative. These grow on vines and turn yellow when ripe. They have a pomegranate like interior but taste more acidic, like a tart orange. They're great in juice!

Pineapples!

2011-02-16T08:02:00.001-08:00

Pineapples!
Originally uploaded by Pete Plass

Three stages of pineapple growth. Each plant produces a single fruit which is actually a cluster of buds that have merged together.

Corn

2011-02-16T08:00:00.001-08:00

Corn
Originally uploaded by Pete Plass

Here's an example of a polyculture going on at the organic farm. This just means that different plants are grown on top of each other as opposed to a monoculture where only one type of plant is grown over a large area. The benefit to this is that the soil doesn't degrade and you get the benefits of multiple plants. This type of agriculture is also much more resistant to disease and pests.

Pineapple

2011-02-16T07:58:00.001-08:00

Pineapple
Originally uploaded by Pete Plass

This is a pineapple.... they're strange, strange plants from the mind of Dr. Seuss. I... I can't even....

IT'S SO WEIRD!

Well, that's just rotten...

2011-02-16T07:56:00.001-08:00

I’ve been falling behind on updates. So, this update comes from a few weeks ago.

We have a bit of a garbage problem here at my site. It’s getting picked up by the local government, but it’s being dumped somewhere that is considered unsuitable by the ministry of health. So, short of having a new dump commissioned, Melana and I have been looking for ways to help out with this situation.

While we work on getting the whole recycling craze up and running, I’ve been working on getting our host family to begin composting their organic waste.

For those of you who may not know, composting is a process where organic material is reintegrated into the soil through an aided decomposition process. In the case of our home here, I dug a big hole and piled yard clippings and food scraps into it.

In order to aid the process, I decided that we should take a look at vermiculture, or the use of worms to aid in the soil enrichment process. So, today I’m setting forth to bring back 1kg of worms from an organic farm that’s some ways up the road.

Oh, the errands I run…

Below (or above, who can tell with the internet here) are some pictures of the organic farm that I took when I visited a few weeks ago to get a feel for the composting process.

V-Day!

2011-02-16T07:54:00.001-08:00

V-Day!
Originally uploaded by Pete Plass

I went ahead and baked Melana a carrot/pineapple cake for Valentine's Day. Her favorite! (well, carrot anyway) It turned out really well, this was my first cake!

Giant Scrabble!

2011-02-07T08:05:00.001-08:00

Melana playing giant scrabble at our hostel

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Terror!

2011-02-06T21:18:00.001-08:00

The only dish soap not allowed on commercial airlines.

A day at the beach

2011-01-26T20:04:00.000-08:00

About two weeks ago, our family took us to the beach for a get away that would take us to the western province of Guanicaste. Melana and I were excited by the prospect of the family relaxing and spending a couple of days free from the constant barrage of new people that descend upon our house daily. Not that we don’t love them, but a change in atmosphere was something of a welcomed prospect.

Boy, did we have the wrong idea.

It was revealed to us about a day before we left that not just our family in its entirety would be going, but also a couple of family friends and their families. The result of all this inclusivity was a caravan that ultimately included about six cars carrying roughly thirty people… possibly more. The true highlight off all this was that fifteen of the thirty to be going on the trip with us would be children. That’s right, fifteen kids between the ages of three and twelve with two surly teenagers thrown in for flavor. It would be like a really dysfunctional class trip.

To prepare for this familial excursion, Melana and I spent the day prior to departure helping our host mother to prepare food. For Melana, this meant doing something with a couple of former chickens and mixing them with about twenty pounds of rice. For me, this meant going off into the forest with the children to pick fifty pounds of oranges that would be turned into a giant vat of juice.

We emerged from our room at about 5:00 the morning of departure to behold a truly miraculous site. All the bleary-eyed children were not only up, but showered and holding their bags ready to go on the porch. It was a little incredible. I would challenge anyone who has ever had to organize children (or people in general) to think otherwise. After waiting for the obligatory one family member that slept through their alarm, we were off around 7:00.

It was much like a large family road trip in the states. Well, the trip part, not the roads. You know that road that mom or dad insisted that needed to follow “just a little further” despite the protests of the rest of the car?

You know the one.

The one where the pavement dropped out after a time but the driver was too invested at this point to turn back now. The one where maybe you had to drive through a “puddle” in the middle of the road that turned out to be a small river. Where you had to get out of the car at least once to let the driver know that they were “ok on that side.” Or slow to the point of a light stroll due to the harshness of the terrain and the effect it was having on your small family car that clearly wasn’t built for this sort of thing. And so on.

Anyway, the drive was something like that, except for the fact that it was all perfectly expected as that’s how roads seem to be in the rural areas of a developing nation.

We did hit a bit of a snag, however. When we showed up at the beach around 11:00, we found that they didn’t have room for the six cars and thirty people to camp out on the beach. In fact, there only seemed to be about 10 parking spaces total in the whole of the park.

Well, now we’d done it. Still, in high spirits we stopped for lunch before proceeding to get completely lost looking for a plan B. We tried every national park we could find and made a lot of wrong turns. Around 5:30, ten hours and about as many U-turns after departure, we wound up in the little beach town of Playa Coco looking for a place to stay. We waved at all the freshly sun burned tourists as we drove past the night clubs and ritzy hotels and into the back-alleys where our host sister negotiated a deal on a little house where we’d all stay for the next two days. Thirty people in two rooms for about $50 - perfect.

We began unloading all the food, snacks, drinks, toiletries, cloths and whatnot that a large family would need in such a situation and began to cover the poor, unsuspecting floors with makeshift mattresses (large pieces of foam insulation) that we had brought. As the kids began to get cranky, our host sister whipped up an industrial sized dinner with surprising speed and sated the youngsters before they could cause a ruckus.

Soon, all the kids were in bed and the adults were sitting around the kitchen table shrugging off the day. At this point, Melana noticed that some of the younger women were changing into nicer clothes. After inquiring further, Melana told me that we would be changing out of pajamas and into our “club cloths”. And so, at 10:30 at night, after being in the car for close to 10 hours, our host family took us clubbing.

For better or for worse, there is really not much to tell about that night. The night clubs were very, VERY tame. I spent most of the night practicing various forms of Latin dance which I am very bad at. However, knowing how to dance a good Salsa is a requirement to cultural integration here… one that I have yet to meet.

The next day, the kids were up at 4:30 and making a racket by 4:31. It was all a blur at this point but I’m pretty sure the kids all ran around the house while their parents vainly attempted to put them back in bed and keep them out of the sugared snacks. Eventually, the parents gave up their dream sleeping in and took to cornering their kids in the bathroom or catching them around some of the sharper turns in the house in order to rub them down with sun cream and get them into their swimsuits.

After a rather dramatic awakening followed by breakfast, it was off to the beach. Beautiful. The beach itself, being volcanic in nature was covered in mostly black sand and was not necessarily much to look at, but to see the mountains falling right into the sea was definitely something.

Initially, I thought that I’d try to hold off and stay out of the sun for a bit. The prospect of swimming was altogether too inviting though and I decided to take a quick dip in the ocean. As soon as I entered the water, every adult within fifty meters decided to split and I was left there, floating quietly among a troupe of unsupervised, not-so-buoyant children. From that point on, I spent basically the entire day in the water. Hey… someone had to watch them.

The kids really enjoyed having an adult in the water. Mostly because this meant that they could try their hand at swimming in the deeper water. This was especially exciting because most of the people in Costa Rica (and the rest of the world for that matter) don’t know how to swim. I spent a good deal of the day holding their heads above the water and teaching them how to float comfortably on their backs while the less patient of the youngsters gathered rocks and seashells that they wanted identified. Occasionally, just for laughs, one or two of them would give drowning a go, but I made it pretty clear that I frowned upon that sort of thing. I think we were in the water for about 8 straight hours before finally stumbling home to collapse. There would be no clubbing, at least as far as I was concerned.

The final morning, the adults were a bit more spry and were up and making coffee around 6:00. The kids, having not slept well the first night, had collapsed after jumping around until about 3:00 the night before and were slow to avoid their parents as they slowly rose around 7. Like sick gazelle being stalked by lions the children were easily caught and rubbed down with sun cream before they knew what hit them.

Again, it was off the the beach. But this time we would be trying a new beach a short drive away called Playa Cocatal. Playa Cocatal seemed to hold promise initially, it was absolutely beautiful and there was almost no one there. All seemed to be going according to plan until Melana and I tried to get into the water with the kids and we realized that the steep drop off and strong current were not ideal swimming conditions for the kids. We needed to save about three of the smallest ones from nearly being pulled out to sea before a collective decision was made to find a new beach.

And so, after about twenty more minutes in the car, we all settled down and set up shop at Playa Panama. There Melana and I continued with our life guard duties for the majority of the day.

At the end of the day, the drive home was shockingly short. We had backtracked so far in our being lost that we only had to drive about two hours to get back to our site.

I got terrifically burned, by the way. Six applications of sun cream did nothing to shield my Irish skin from the horrors of the outdoors. Yikes!

Pictures either below or to come… we’ll see what works.

What can you do to help save the rainforest today?

2011-01-25T21:52:00.000-08:00

New posts are on the way, I promise! They'll even have pictures!

In the meantime you can check out this Costa Rican based company that Melana and I found. The Banana Paper Company is a company that makes paper from... wait for it... Bananas! Well, not bananas, but from agro-waste from banana plantations. Seeing as banana production is one of the nastier agro-industries out there, it's nice to see that there's a company capitalizing on the opportunity to create a quality product from the waste.
The paper is both acid and tree free and is really nice to look at. I'll be looking at them closely to see if they have any contradictory policies. Until then, feel free to support Costa Rica and their rainforests by checking out their website here.

more monkeys

2011-01-12T12:06:00.001-08:00

DSCN0153
Originally uploaded by e5826b36676daffd8535f2705371232d

I didn't get any spectacular shots... mostly because I don't have a spectacular camera. If anyone feels like donating a camera with high quality zoom on it to my PC experience, I'll get you some better pictures - I promise!

There are monkeys outside my house

2011-01-12T12:04:00.001-08:00

DSCN0166
Originally uploaded by e5826b36676daffd8535f2705371232d

Specifically mantled howler monkeys (alouatta palliata). They occasionally visit the trees outside our house. They like to howl at passing trucks to assert their dominance in the area.

Our host parents

2011-01-12T11:56:00.001-08:00

Our host parents
Originally uploaded by e5826b36676daffd8535f2705371232d

...and Melana's cake!

Melana Baking a cake!

2011-01-12T11:55:00.003-08:00

DSCN0109 copy
Originally uploaded by e5826b36676daffd8535f2705371232d

Melana made a cake for our host mother's birthday

Bread Ears

2011-01-12T11:55:00.001-08:00

DSCN0117 copy
Originally uploaded by e5826b36676daffd8535f2705371232d

Our family wound up calling these "pan orejas"

Melana and I making Fried Dough

2011-01-12T11:53:00.001-08:00

DSCN0119 copy
Originally uploaded by e5826b36676daffd8535f2705371232d

Hopefully I'll find a way to make photos go up a little less clumsily. Until then... the photos continue!

Fried Dough

2011-01-12T11:51:00.001-08:00

DSCN0120 copy
Originally uploaded by e5826b36676daffd8535f2705371232d

The Tasty treat Melana and I put together for our host family.

Costa Rican Xmas Tree

2011-01-12T11:50:00.001-08:00

DSCN0121
Originally uploaded by e5826b36676daffd8535f2705371232d

Picture from previous post, more to follow

Technical issues

2011-01-06T12:49:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that the last post displayed no pictures. It turns out that the latest update to Blogger didn't like me so much. I'm looking into ways to get around it.

Holidays!

2010-12-31T13:16:00.000-08:00

Before I begin, I would like to give the not-so-long anticipated amendment to my answer regarding Christmas trees in the lowlands of Costa Rica. From what I see, they’re all plastic versions of the “normal” tree we associate with Christmas in the US. See the photo of our family’s Christmas tree below.

As for Christmas and the celebrations following, our family has dealt with the problem of being extremely large by giving everyone a single gift arranged through a “secret santa” type of system. This is nice as it seemed to take the “gimme!” spirit out of the children and got them more focused on giving than getting.

Christmas celebrations here seem to be largely held on Christmas eve as opposed to the familiar Christmas morning depictions often seen in the states. The kids stayed up until midnight and wished each other a Merry Christmas while setting off fireworks and swatting at a piñata that Melana and I purchased for the occasion.

In addition to the holidays, we have also had two birthdays over the course of the past week. (that’s a lot of parties!) Our host mom had her birthday, and the whole family came out to celebrate. Feeling extra creative, Melana baked a cake for the special night. The kids were very excited to help (and to lick the mixers after we were finished).

Inspired by my wife, I went ahead and tried out a bread recipe the next night. It came out something like funnel cake, or other fried dough concoction. The family loved it so much they they decided to forego dinner and fill up on fried dough or, as they liked to call them, pan orejas - bread ears.

New Site

2010-12-25T09:19:00.000-08:00

These past couple of days Melana and I have been settling in to our new home in the the northern province of Alajuela. Melana’s host family was kind enough to drive us down to our new home and we stopped by the beach along the way for lunch. This also meant that we came the long way around Mt. Arenal (and the whole Vulcan Tenorio park) and had to swing up to Upala to in order to get to our site. It was a nice trip though, coming from the relatively cold San Jose province through the heat of Guanacaste and finally settling in the warm yet dry zone in the north. I’ve included a detailed map of Costa Rica in the link below. If you’d like to find out what the heck I’m going on about, you can do so here.

So far things have not stopped moving as we’ve made preparations for Christmas. We have been cooking non stop for the horde of people that will descend upon the house come Christmas Eve. On Wednesday, I watched my host dad and his neighbors butcher a newly slaughtered pig which we would later cook and make into chicharrones (fried pork fat) and other dishes. Chicharrones pictured here:

In the afternoon, I donned boots and made my way into the forest to chop down banana leaves which would be used to wrap tamales. We then held the banana leaves over a fire to soften them before cleaning them for wrapping tamales.

For the uninitiated, Tamales consist of a ground corn paste and rice with meat (in this case, from the pig) and some vegetables. The combination is then wrapped in a banana leaf (or corn husk in the US) and boiled for several hours. Tamales are pictured below!

I have been struggling in Spanish. Melana’s six years of diligent study are really putting my paltry three months to shame! I’m getting better every day, though! Hope everyone is having a great holiday season!

Answers to Sea Girt 7th Grader's questions #1

2010-12-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

First of all, let me thank you for your wonderful, insightful and thought-provoking questions. A lot of these are really, really interesting! I will answer every one of them below and encourage you to keep them coming, though I may not always be so prompt in my replies due to internet access. Before I begin, I want to let everyone know that Melana and I graduated training this Friday. That means, as of Dec. 17th we are full fledged PCV's! We'll be traveling to our site on Monday! The graduation ceremony was held at the US Ambassador's house and we were received with grand pomp and circumstance... we even sang the Costa Rican national anthem (which is in Spanish - ahh!)

This also means that we said good-bye to our host families, who we've grown to love. The pictures posted below are of our family parties.

Melana with her family:

And me with my family!

We kicked off activities with a classic water balloon toss.After I hung the piñata, I kind of got stuck in the rafters. You could say it was a "hit".

Ok, questions!

Q #1

It looks like most of your daily routine outdoors. DO you eat outdoors? What are some stuff that you do outside that you wouldn't do outside here?

Great question! Most of our daily routines are indoors to a large degree. This includes meetings, meals, time with the family, etc. In a lot of ways, Costa Ricans spend as much time inside as US Americans do. The difference is that when we in the US are inside, we're really, REALLY inside, as in, four wall that go to the ceiling with glass in our windows. In Costa Rica, a lot of the buildings are very open air, meaning that it can feel or look like you're outside even in your house (this means bugs are everywhere!) The other difference is that I walk everywhere, so I'm outside when I'm traveling (usually 1-4 hours a day just doing that.) One activity we do outside here that US Americans usually don't do outside is wash clothing. Most CR households have an outdoor sink where they wash their clothes by hand. This is usually under an overhang but, for all intents and purposes is outside. We usually eat inside too, unless we're grabbing a meal to go.

Q #2

Hey Peteman I was just wondering if the people down there are celebrating christmas and if so are you getting a real chrismas tree or a palm tree (because i've seen it done)or are you not getting any trees and just celebrating this great festive holiday!? please write back

They are definitely celebrating Christmas! Christmas here started back in October as far as decorations and music go. There are Spanish versions of Christmas carols everywhere. Most homes do have typical Christmas trees if the families can afford them. There is a Christmas tree farm on my way by bus to San Jose. Then again, we're high in the mountains here. When I get to my new home in the lowlands, I'll follow up and let you know!

Q#3

Is Peace Corps ever dangerous?

Yes. Next question...

Ha! I'm kidding! Peace Corps can be dangerous - but the US Government does everything it can to keep us from harm. Being in impoverished and underdeveloped areas, though, there is always at risk for certain natural disasters, crime and political instability. We are briefed weekly from the State Department about safety and security issues and the Peace Corps has a special Safety and Securities Officer responsible for training us on how to mitigate risks. The biggest natural threats in CR are earthquakes, landslides, flooding, volcanoes and tropical diseases!

Q#4

Wow! those are a lot of ants! Imagine if they could hold up something even bigger!

Ants can carry 10x their own body weight - or more!. Meaning that if you as strong as an ant, you could carry a car! The African lion ant, I've heard, can carry up to 50x its body weight!

Q#5

Does some of Costa Rica live in poverty? Eh?

Yes, this is why the Peace Corps still operates in this relatively developed nation. According to the CR government. 18.6 percent of CR households are impoverished. However, poverty is difficult to measure. There are both national and international poverty standards. For example, in the US, the US Census Bureau estimates poverty to hover somewhere around the 13 percent mark. However, an impoverished person in the US most likely still has access to roads, water, public schools and other resources that an impoverished person in CR does not. Still, poverty in all countries is something we must take initiatives to combat. In the US, the group that does the job of Peace Corps is called AmeriCorps.

Q#6

Was the earthquake horrifying or was it just a little shake? what happened when the earthquake came? Did you try to take cover or hit the ground?

Honestly, it felt like a cheap ride at a local amusement park. The kind where a platform shakes and an unenthusiastic ride operator says, “Oh no, earthquake!” Fortunately the earthquake was strong but very, very deep underground (5 miles, I think.) Earthquakes are especially dangerous in CR because they can cause landslides. This one did not. Also, because we were outside anyway, I just hung on and enjoyed the ride! If I were inside, I would hide under a door frame.

Q#7

Hello! You're adventures in Costa Rica seem very exciting! Did you want to be a PCV when you were younger? Also, do you plan to do peace corps projects for the rest of your life? Thank you.

I have always been a traveler, but I didn’t really know that much about Peace Corps until College. Your teacher can probably tell you stories of how I was as a student! I loved everything to do with nature, science and far-away lands. I always envisioned myself traveling, but I didn’t really know how I would be able to do that for a job. Would I do it for my whole life? Probably not because I need to make money at some point! What I would really like to do after I finish my Master’s is look for new ways to bring the international experience into classrooms like yours, much like I'm doing right now!

Q#8

hey Peteman,

I was pondering if you have to take some type of pills before you eat so you don't get sick.

Keep on pondering! That’s how Pinky and the Brain do it! Food here is relatively safe compared to the rest of the world. All I really have to do is look out for the same things you have to look out for in the States: uncooked meat, raw eggs, unwashed vegetables and stagnant or unclean water. I DO have to take special pills when I travel to Malaria zones in the country, but those are not for food.

Q#9

Those look a lot like the ants in "Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

This isn’t really a question but I’ll simply state that Indiana Jones has always been my hero and that I love all of those movies - especially the first 3, but that could be because I’m old.

Well, there you have it, 9 great questions! Keep ‘em coming and be sure to ask your teacher about any words or concepts that you didn’t fully understand and discuss them in class! If you need to ask a follow-up question, I’ll be happy to answer it! Also, be sure to research topics you find interesting on your own either online or in the resource center (library) in Sea Girt School!

Site Visit

2010-12-12T20:03:00.001-08:00

This week, Melana and I visited our new site where we be living for the next two years- or at least the next six months. I'll break any suspense that you may have by saying up front that it was wonderful.

The region of Guatuso is very different from where we have been living the last few months. The area outside of San Jose are magnificently mountainous with climates ranging from cool to warm during the day to cool to cold at night. There is a lot of fog as the clouds pass right by our homes on there ascent up the mountain and it is generally humid and rainy in the evenings and afternoons.
You also get magnificent. Views like this one:

And this one:

The new Location, however, is flat - very flat. We're not talking midwest-I've-been-driving-for-six-hours-with-only-billboards-for-company flat, but it's flat for Costa Rica.
It's also much warmer

Our new home is on a little farm set among other pineapple and sugar cane farms. It is surrounded by orange, lemon and lime trees that are populated by a very pretty assortment of tropical birds... and monkeys. Yes, there are monkeys at our new site, howler monkeys to be specific. They like to yell at trucks when they go by (it is THEIR turf after all). Though I haven't seen them, we are also supposed to have smaller capuchins and toucans. According to the family, there are NO tarantulas at our site... which is awesome! It almost makes the 3-4 inch cockroaches easier to bear. There are also chickens, cows and horses about as well as a number of dogs and other critters.
Our whole house seems to be more of an ecosystem than simply a house for people. I'll tell you what I mean, on our second day there our mom killed one of the chickens that was walking around outside, cleaned it and served it to us for dinner. the feathers went into a pile out back, a bunch of the bones went to the dogs (dogs seem to eat chicken bones here without a problem, I don't know what's wrong with our snooty US dogs) and a good deal of the organs were put out back for the vultures and eagles to keep them around so that they would eat the mice in the area. The dogs run loose next to the chickens and protect them from local predators and, in return, are fed milk from the cows every day plus all the scraps from the house. What the dogs don't eat, the chicken or buzzards do. It's pretty amazing.
We also have a pet parrot that walks about the house and will occasionally sneak up on us and squawk very, very loudly.
As far as the family goes, they are a charming old couple, a retired farmer who still busies himself with farm work and a grandmother who is content just being a grandmother. I should also mention that there are 15 grandkids, almost all of whom appear in the house on a daily basis. Our mother cooks for all of the grandkids and a good deal of her five children and their spouses in addition to some friends that occasionally show up. The result of all this activity is a house that looks a lot like a restaurant a lot of the time with piles of dishes and food cooking at an industrial scale. Melana also noted that the children tend to descend upon the kitchen like a swarm of locusts leaving only empty spinning plates settling amid an eerie calm as the dust slowly settles from the recent rush of activity.

I've gone on long enough for now. I'll document more about my site when I'm actually living there. Until then, here are some pictures!

Birthdays!

2010-11-29T05:53:00.001-08:00

We recently had two parties for both my host parents, so here are some pictures!

Here's a picture from Sandra's birthday that I just love!

And here are two of my Tico cousins awaiting cake.

Thanksgiving cont.

2010-11-29T05:52:00.001-08:00

On Sunday, Melana and I (both still fighting colds, mind you) prepared for a thanksgiving meal with the rest of the PCT community. There had been a similar gathering in my community on Friday, but I had missed It due to the fact that I was still running a fever. Fortunately, two of my friends were kind enough to walk over a plate of food that I could enjoy while busying myself with fighting a virus. Thanks Roxanna and Audrey!

Pictures of Melana's event below!

The turkey wasn't quite done so we wound up microwaving it to make sure no one got food poisoning (take note peace corps!)

With everyone waiting for food it was up to Melana to teach the boys how to carve a bird.

As the event waned to a close, dancing commenced...

With Megan still washing dishes.

Later on... Limbo!

This mission, should you choose to accept it...

2010-11-26T19:54:00.000-08:00

Well, it’s official. Melana and I finally have our site assignment. On Wednesday, Melana and I received our very Mission Impossible style folders containing the details of our assignments. Though I am disallowed from disclosing the exact location of the site (clearly if I told you, I’d have to kill you), I can say that it is fairly close to the town of San Rafael de Guatuso in the northern province of Alajuela. I will be working with a women’s cooperative of cocoa growers and with high school and middle school students, though I won’t know more details until I actually get to to site and assess the community. Melana will be working with a local high school acting as an English teacher. As far as more details about her assignment, we’ll find out more on Tuesday. Due to some clerical error, Melana’s folder was a little.. erm... blank.

The site is about as far as you can get from the beach, but the good news is that that’s only about 3 hours in Costa Rica. Melana and I will be living on a farm amidst cocoa and pineapple fields. More details will come later, as I get them. Next week, Melana and I will be traveling out to meed our new family and to survey our site. Below you’ll see a picture of one of the locations that is supposably near our town. I’m psyched!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

2010-11-25T16:11:00.000-08:00

The Peace Corps Trainees and Staff celebrated with a Thanksgiving lunch yesterday. There were mashed potatoes, turkey, stuffing and even pumpkin pie. Unfortunately, there was also some very bacteria filled juice of some sort and today, everyone has food poisoning - and I mean everyone. I'm writing this between trips to the bathroom and everyone got out of class early today.

Melana really commented best on this when she said, "you know... of all the opportunities to get sick from the water and food of Costa Rica, who would have thought the Peace Corps would be the ones to wind up poisoning us."

Happy Thanksgiving!

CED Training

2010-11-25T15:45:00.001-08:00

It has occured to me that, with all the things that I write on here, there is not that much information on what we're doing on a day to day basis. So, today I wanted to fill you in on what I've been up to for the past couple of weeks. Normally, I have Spanish class in my community with two other trainees three times a week. On Tues. and Thurs., however, we hike to the neighboring town of Tarbaca (there's a bus, but where's the fun in that?) To study business and economic development stuff specific to Costa Rica along with safety, security and medical procedures generic to Peace Corps. With the flooding and landslides throughout the country, though, things have NOT been normal.

Usually, at this point in training, the trainees would be sent to another volunteer's community to study the technical aspects of their projects. It is normally an intensive and challenging week that incorporates business theory with Spanish and cultural immersion. Sadly, the normal tech training that we normally had planned was canceled and replaced with a condensed week of business theory.

For this past week, our CED group was in Tarbaca for the whole week. During this time we conducted a market survey and started

a mock company. For most of the week we went over the technical specifics of a business plan. That means, roughly 6 hours of marketing followed by 6 hours of accounting and so on... We basically covered what a normal JA program would cover in 18 weeks. What's JA you ask? Well...

This is actually a great place to plug the JA program. The Junior Achievement program is a program designed to educate young people about the world of business and entrepreneurship. If you want to learn more specifics, you can check it out at www.JA.org.

We also recently had another birthday, and this time - thanks to the internet, the entire Diaz family was in attendance.

A Special Welcome

2010-11-20T12:14:00.001-08:00

I would like to extend a special welcome to the students of Sea Girt School who are now following my blog! Please feel free to leave comments!

Here's a view out the window of the internet cafe I'm at!

Nicaraguan Border Dispute

2010-11-15T21:20:00.000-08:00

Read all about the latest in international disputes. This one has been ramping up recently and is a very hot topic among Ticos at the moment. You can read about it here.

Ants!

2010-11-15T21:19:00.001-08:00

Specifically Leaf-cutter ants. They're outside my house!

YouTube Video

Landslide

2010-11-15T19:12:00.001-08:00

I couldn't seem to get a good picture, this wad the best I could do.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Aftermath

2010-11-15T18:43:00.001-08:00

As you may have heard, the rain last week turned out to be more than dreary weather for the people of Central America. In addition to the flooding that the lowlands experienced, landslides throughout the isthmus caused our president to declare a national emergency as much of the Costa Rican infrastructure was damaged, cutting off transportation and communications throughout the country. Beyond damage to highways, power lines and water pipes, hundreds of people lost their homes and at least 23 Ticos lost their lives. This is considered one of the worst disasters in recent Costa Rican history. Just before the rain finally let up, I received a call to be prepared to evacuate within the hour, due to the landslides that cut off my community and those beyond it. Fortunately, we did not have to be evacuated as the weather let up.

Most volunteers were without water, electricity and telephone services for at least a couple of hours. In my community, we lost water for about a week and a half. Melana’s home only recently got power and water back. It was an experience to have to physically gather all the water that I would be drinking, cooking with and bathing in for the time between. Much of the water was collected from containers we put out in the rain, however, extra water for dishes and toilet flushing was gathered from humanitarian water trucks that were sent up the mountain to help out the isolated towns. For my town and those beyond it, there is a single highway that had to be dug out by hand in order to let the relief vehicles up the pass. For more immediate support, helicopters surveyed the areas by the river to search for missing persons.

In addition, Ticos have been on edge due to the recent tension on the Nicaraguan border. You can read more about that here.

So, an eventful week for those of us down here in Costa Rica. Most of the roads are busted up pretty badly. My bus basically needs to go down steps to get me back to my community from the training site. Today, my friends and I were waiting for the bus for about an hour and a half before we learned that there had been a crash up the road and that no buses would be running for the rest of the night due to the fear that the road would collapse. So, we hired a taxi.

To end with a positive story. This weekend Melana and I also hit up the local farmer’s market in the somewhat larger town of Assari and had a great time. Shopping in the farmer’s market reminded me that soon Melana and I would be pretty much on our own as full fledged volunteers.

My address

2010-11-09T10:34:00.001-08:00

Peace Corps office headquarters
Apartol Postal 1266-1000
San Jose, Costa Rica

Last address clearly didn't post.

Rain, rain....

2010-11-05T16:41:00.000-07:00

It has been raining here for over 4 days straight now. “but, Pete,” you may say, “you live in a rain forest, why is this of any interest to me?” Well, normally it rains here in the afternoons and evenings and clears up by morning. We live on a mountain and, normaly, as the clouds ascend for the day, everyone up the mountain gets fog followed by rain. That’s how it normally goes. This is something completely different.

In fact, the whole of Costa Rica has received what is normally the entire cumulative rainfall for November and most of December in the last 96 hours. I used to think that this was due to now Hurricane Tomas as it passed by, but I’m beginning to think that there is another system at play here.

I say that I THINK that because information is not too easy to come by here. Internet is spotty, as is electricity and access to water. The entire country is in a state of emergency. We will likely be fine, and by “we” I mean those of us nestled securely in the mountains. Those outlying, however, are experiencing landslides and flooding. The lower lying areas by the Panamanian border and Limon seem hit hardest. I shutter to think what’s going on in Haiti as Hurricane (class 1) Tomas is sitting just outside of Port-au-Prince. While we’re at it, I hope Cuba’s doing alright.

I think pretty strange for a Hurricane/Tropical storm to be on the western side of Hispaniola without going through the Dominican Republic to get there.

So, here’s the scene. We are sitting at home, waiting it out running around the house catching leaks with buckets. That’s about it. Last night I went ahead and made bread with the family as a rainy day activity. Tonight, we’re sitting - I want to venture out into the town and get some playing cards but the rain is just too hard tonight.

The main road to my town is apparently completely blocked off. Which means that they’ll have to send in a helicopter to get us out of here if it comes to that. Not that there’s anywhere it can land as the ground is saturated. Anyway, it won’t come to that as all of us good volunteers are hunkered down with our families translating news broadcasts from Spanish. Miraculously, I have internet, so I’m letting everyone know that, as far as I can tell, every volunteer is absolutely fine. Melana is also doing alright, occasionally I get about 2 minutes to talk to her before she looses phone service again.

All PCV/Ts are on an alert known as “Standfast”, formerly “Cod

e Yellow”. Which means we are restricted from leaving our communities and must be ready to move to a safer location at a moment’s notice. I don’t think it will come to that, if we moved up to “code orange” it would be the first time in the history of Peace Corps that Costa Rica hit above standfast. Unfortunately though, the standfast order does mean that the PCV picnic was canceled, so I hope that get’s rescheduled.

Oh well, I could use a few days of rest anyhoo.

For more on the storm, you can read about it here (that means click on the pink "here" for my less computer savvy readers!)

Proof!

2010-11-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

Here's that picture I promised. The handshake is obscured... but that's TOTALLY me with the president of Costa Rica!

Birds!

2010-11-03T20:00:00.002-07:00

I've been getting some requests for animal pictures. Well, I don't have any, but Google Image was kind enough to give me the above picture! I see this occasionally at my site or on hikes.

Recouping lost posts

2010-11-03T20:00:00.001-07:00

So, I discovered to my horror today that several of my posts over the last several days have been lost to the cavernous maw of cyber space. I'm currently attempting to track them down, but, in the meantime, I figure I should update you, my loyal readers. (all 3 of you)

This weekend, Melana and I were sent to a small town just outside of San Isidro to observe another couple and get a taste for what PCV life is like. The bus ride took about 3 hours though a mountain pass that was surprisingly cool. I took the opportunity to pick up some candied figs for our guests.... apparently they either pick them or make them up there because they were really cheap.

The town we were sent to is considered "urban" for your average Tico (Costa Rican) town that is not a major city. This means that most of the residents there had homes to live in, and more than 40% of the roads in town were paved.

At this point I should say that I am referring to the town we went to as “the town” on purpose. For security purposes we (that is PCV/Ts with blogs or access to social media) are to avoid mentioning the exact sites that current PCVs are assigned to.

Anyway, the town we went to had a interesting economy. Because of its proximity to the larger city of San Isidro, the town contained very few of its own services save for a single soda (a soda is like a small grocery and snack shop) which is directly across from the school and only open during school hours.

What the town DOES have in terms of income generation is a large dump that serves the nearby urban areas. Unfortunately, this is also a source of a lot of social hardships as the dump serves as a staging ground for a lot of unsavory characters who scavenge through the waste to salvage metals and other such items of value from the detritus. This, would not seem like such an unsavory way to make a living if the revenue from these activities was not supporting the drug habits of many of these individuals. This makes the town a bit of an unsafe place in the way of petty crime, particularly after dark.

There is also a sugar can plantation and a lot of trees that are completely saturated with an enormous population of vultures and other scavenging birds that live off the dump. Seriously, there are about 5 in every tree with branches to support them.

So, despite the description I’ve given of the place, I really liked it. Our hosts, Jared and Morgan, were wonderful and really gave us the rundown of what it’s like to be a PCV. We discussed strategies for community development and generally what it’s like to be married and in Peace Corps.

I should also mention that they HAVE to be two of the most positive people I’ve met since I’ve been here, which is saying a lot considering how positive most of the people here are.

While we were there we got to attend a Halloween party that they threw for some of the local children. This is quite a feat as most of the local Ticos believe that Halloween is the work of the devil. The kids did some bobbing for apples, then Melana helped with some face painting and I helped carve pumpkins before having them go around to all the doors in the house and Trick-or-treat.

While there, we also visited the school across the street and got to see the choir that Jared had been working with and the world map project that Morgan has nearly completed (fix Korea!)

On the last night there, I taught Morgan, and their host mom, who is totally awesome, to make flat bread. In total, I had a really good time and didn’t want to leave!

All of the above had been written on a broken down bus as Melana and I attempted to get back to our training communities in the pouring rain. Speaking of rain, we’re really feeling Tropical Depression Tomas at the moment. I put a couple buckets around the house tonight to catch the leaks.

Tonight, I also got a call telling me that we’re on alert for rain, and, more specifically, that I’m not allowed to hike to class tomorrow. oh well!

Time for bed!

btw - Internet access has been VERY spotty, so who knows when this will go up!

How many foreign leaders have you met today?

2010-10-27T18:49:00.001-07:00

This picture was taken just before meeting la presidenta de Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla. I managed to introduce myself as a PCV in Spanish. At least... I think I did... Still looking for a picture of the handshake! Exciting!

My fellow Spanish classmates and I then attended her speech in the main church in Acosta, pictured below.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Pictures incoming!

2010-10-17T12:43:00.001-07:00

Having some technical difficulties with the Internet here. I can't seem to hold a connection to upload normally. Going to try another way.

First week summary

2010-10-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

Classes are going well. I have Spanish classes three days a week for six hours a day. They’re tough, but I’m really enjoying going full throttle on the language learning. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, all of the PC Trainees meet together to take classes (called tech training) that are either considered “core” or “technical.” Core classes center around the general mission of PC and the KSA’s (Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes) that all PCVs need to know. This includes both information about the global mission but also practical information like how not to get pick-pocketed on the bus and the recent political history of Costa Rica.

The “Technical” classes focus on our respective programs. Melana and I are separated here because were are in different PC programs. She focuses primarily on TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and I go to class for CED (Community Economic Development). The technical classes are intensive and last for roughly nine hours minus lunch. We don't have a crazy amount of homework, but there is a bunch of reading. Grad school makes this look like a cake walk, though.

This week we will have an additional tech session where everyone will learn the ins and outs of the US State Dept. computer system as well as getting some visa stuff finalized (fingerprinting and what not). For that, we will travel to the capital, San Jose.

Until then though...

here are some pictures from Costa Rica!

Specifically, these are pictures of our training site. Everywhere we go there are mountains - it's a lot to take in!

Shaking things up with a host family!

2010-10-10T20:11:00.000-07:00

Friday:

With orientation over, everyone settled into a relaxed mood to enjoy a send off BBQ before we met up with our host families the next day. In the midst of all the festivities (and wonderful food) we were all caught off guard by a slight rocking sensation. You know - the kind that goes on at a bad theme park ride. Well, it seems that we all experienced our first Costa Rican earthquake - measuring at around 5.6 - it was one of the strongest tremors our instructors had felt.

Not to be shaken up completely (haha!) - everyone then settled in for a night of dancing and festivities - tomorrow, families!

Saturday:

After saying good-bye to Melana for a couple of days (we have to live in separate communities for the first three months) I found myself on a bus headed for my host family in Vuelta de Jorco, which is in the mountains outside of San Jose. And when I say in the mountains, I mean there are multi thousand foot drops in all directions. The roads were pretty intense and I found myself often grabbing hold of my seat a little harder than intended. A dry pair of pants was also in order.

It is also fun to note that the bus carrying Melana's group got totally lost and had to make a harrowing set of multi-point turns on a very narrow road. As we passed them, I caught a brief glimpse of my better half whipping around in her seat in what seemed like a small panic. Hope you're ok, honey!

Familia del Diaz: If first impressions are everything, than I love everything about this family. The father, Marco, is intelligent and hilarious, clearly the life of any party he comes across. while the other families were waiting patiently for their participants, Marco rushed the bus to see if he could chat up the driver and figure out where I was. After Marco led me back to their glorious home in the mountains, I met Sandra, my host mother, who is just a glowing source of hospitality and affection. Additionally, I live with a host sister, Cindy, and her daughter, Nicky, (I guess she'd be my host-niece?) who are both balls of sunshine and enthusiasm.

I have to say that I couldn't be happier with my host family - they are all truly wonderful people, and I've only been here a day!

Pictures to come when I get my camera back! (Melana has it at the moment)

Rebirth of a Blog

2010-10-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I updated this blog. Since then I have married a beautiful and amazing woman named Melana and gone to grad school at SIT in Brattleboro, VT. For the last two years we have also been applyIng for the US Peace Corps. After mountains of paperwork, doctors appointments and setbacks, we finally received our assignment many updates. Melana and I were informed that we would be leaving for Costa Rica at the beginning of October.

Now that it is nearly mid-October - I am proud to say that Melana and I are safely in Costa Rica and our Peace Corps training is well underway. So far, I'm loving it. Nearly all of the Peace Corps training is similar to if not identical to the training I received at SIT. There is a lot of potential to directly apply what I have learned in the past year. Most of the training staff has had at least one class at SIT and everyone I've talked to knows at least one of my former professors. This makes me very happy as I found myself doubting the value of my education before arriving here.

That said, we spent the first week of training in a facility high up on a mountain and away from other communities. The purpose of this was to sequester us for meetings and initial training without us having the distraction of leaving the training facility. After a week of exhaustive prep - we are finally going to meet our host families. I am currently making notes on my ipod rather than carrying my computer around with me. This is one electronic toy that I think I actually feel smart for buying - rather than all that guilt I usually feel about being indulgent.

Henceforth (hopefully) this blog will contain updated regarding the experiences of PeteMan in Costa Rica. I'll also make an effort to fill in the blanks of the past couple of years so as to enthrall the interested. The lack of internet here means that often my posts will be short, possibly misspelled (ever type on an ipod?) and in all sorts of strange fonts. It also means that posts may be out of order or 5 at a time.

Knowing that, welcome again, to the continued adventures of PeteMan!

20 day recap

2008-09-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

So it's been quite a while since I last posted so I'm going to let you all know what I've been doing this whole time. I was really trying to get some pictures before I posted again so you didn't just get a text wall, but it looks like that's how it's going to have to be.

First off, I've been working on getting a new job. I've gotten some offers and am currently looking at getting a new job with more of an international school than just a straight English academy. Unfortunately, this has been complicated by the fact that there seems to be an internal struggle for power going on in their company over who is able to hire and fire people. So I seem to have come in right in the middle of that and really would rather lay low until it burns itself out. Other specifics I would rather not mention as this is a public blog and they may go so far as to google me seeing as I am a potential new hire. Nobody likes seeing their dirty laundry on the web, but I'll be happy to tell you in private as there are some funny stories that have come out of this.

The "new job" thing has also been complicated by the fact that my current boss is acting like a 5 year old regarding my leaving his company. He has fallen just short of stamping his feet in meeting where he has yelled at me to stay threatening me with insults and empty legal action. He demanded I give him 3 months notice, I said that three weeks was more than adequate and now I'm leaving in the middle of October and he still thinks it's outrageous.

Honestly, after all this i'd almost rather just come home so i could get away from people hanging visa problems over my head to act as false leverage in business encounters. I think i've handle myself well though - so we'll see if this all winds up to a favorable conclusion. If it doesn't, I can always move.

So, aside from that, i've taken up scuba lessons and am going for my PADI Open Water certification. I, just yesterday, finished the confined water dives which were done in a pool in Suwan. I had a lot of initial problems breathing underwater without my mask on (one of the requirements) but I finally got it after about 10 tries and lots and lots of coughing. Next week I'm heading to the ocean in a wetsuit that will hopefully fit in order to finish up the certification by proving that i can do everything i just did in the pool in the ocean. I'm worried though, mainly because it's SO cold right now. the temperature last week went from about 28 degrees C to about 15 degrees C overnight! Fortunately the instructors have noticed my aversion to cold and are pretty keen on taking precautions to prevent my premature demise.

so, that's it! I tried to make it pretty short so I left at lot of little details out - but now at least you know what i've been up to!

I'll post about the job stuff later. until then, i'm going to go mentally prepare for a very cold ocean!

Shark Diving!

2008-09-09T07:53:00.000-07:00

I went shark diving this weekend. This was my first scuba experience and I hope it wasn't my last! I had a great time!

We went to Busan aquarium where we suited up, went through roughly 2 hours of training and dove into the shark tank. Mike, the guy who was instructing was absolutely wonderful, he made everyone feel at ease and none of us felt like we were going to die.

Honestly, I wasn't too scared of the sharks, I was more scared of somehow blowing up my own lungs.

Keep in mind that all the pictures are taken from inside the tank!

The coolest part of the whole experience was hanging out behind the scenes at the aquarium. I love aquariums anyway, so I felt like I was about 5 years old when I got to see all the breeding tanks and staff rooms, etc.

I also met some great people while I was down in Busan. Most notably, a scuba diving pastry chef named Alex helped me though some of my initial anxieties involving death among other things.

If I can muster the time/money, I will totally go for my open water certification!

Two Quick Pictures

2008-09-07T22:33:00.000-07:00

From the rafting trip two weeks ago. I have pictures from this weekend too, but it's going to take more time than I have right now to write that post.

Sooo, here I am, in a helmet - looking awful. I guess their kind of funny, consider them "action pictures".

Clearly I wasn't too aware of the camera... enjoy!

Next post: Shark Dive~!

Rolling on the River

2008-08-26T06:47:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went river rafting on the Hantan River in Cherwon, Gangwondo. Fortunately, due to all the rain, the river was higher and faster than it's been in years. So, what is usually a yawn of a paddling trip turned into an actual rapids experience. We nearly flipped a few times and at one point were run into the raft in front of us so hard that the guide fell into our raft and the raft we hit flew into the air, sprinkling paddles, people and sandals everywhere. I have to say, it was more fun than I expected it to be. The water was cold though, I can't imagine rafting in a river flowing high with snow melt... brrrr! I was enough of a wimp when it came to just the rain water.

As I said before, the river was faster than usual. So fast, in fact, that we had to cancel the scheduled bungee jumping that was to take place afterwards (no, I wasn't planning on jumping). Instead, we went to the remains of a historic government building where North Koreans used to torture South Koreans *shutter*... It wasn't quite the light activity that I had expected for the day.

They did double back around on the bus so that we could take a picture of the place we WOULD have gone bungee jumping... which I felt was unnecessarily cruel for those that actually wanted to do it. So I took a picture of it, as can be seen here:

I do not have any photos currently of the river rafting. There was one water-proof camera on our raft so I hope to be shaking down those photos soon. When I have them, I will post them.

So, Caving...

2008-08-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

Will have to happen another weekend. I woke up late and then took the wrong bus to the wrong bus station. Now I'm home again 4 hours later and have decided that today would be a good day to go read in the park and fall asleep.... yeah, I'm going to be lazy - how's that for an adventure?

Also...

2008-08-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

For no other reason than this is just really funny (sorry kids, close your eyes):

Cookies or bust dagnabbit!

The reason it took me so long to get that last post up is because I was sick most of last weekend and this week has been an endurance test with the amount of work I've had to do without losing my cool at shifting working conditions. Sometimes I feel like I've been tasked with washing my laundry without the use of water for no reason other than it makes for great entertainment.

This weekend I hope to go caving. Looks like I'm going alone to, as most of the people I know really aren't into doing stuff that's not drinking yourself into a coma. Anyone up for an adventure?

Taiwan Final!

2008-08-14T22:22:00.000-07:00

I wanted to include in a separate post some additional places I visited in Taipei. I also wanted to say again that I was really impressed by the beauty of the city. Places like Democracy Memorial Park (Above) were amazing surprises. The monument in the center of the park is actually so massive that there is an entire museum underneath it. The park also had its own performance theater and concert hall. At night, the park is filled with the sounds of musicians warming up their instruments as well as various clubs practicing hip-hop dancing, yoga and kung-fu among other activities. It was a bit of fresh air from Korea where everything feels like it's on top of you at all times. In Taipei I could feel alone, but I still felt like there were people around. I really loved the city! If I decide to change countries, I may just go to Taiwan.

FYI

2008-08-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

Today I submitted my completed graduate school application!

Taipei Part 3

2008-08-08T18:39:00.001-07:00

I went to the Palace Museum on Friday where I was shocked by both the scale and beauty of the building. Also, by the fact that it's roughly freezing in the building at all times in the middle of the summer heat. (ok, not really, but it IS 21 degrees C in there, which for me is cold) I took some time to explore the gardens around the museum and feed the fish, which is something awesome that you can do at about every pond in Taipei. Don't freak out there environmental people, we have to buy the fish food, and there's a limited amount for the day - I'm not feeding them nickels. Just the scale of this building is something to behold. One person told me that the museum (which is 3 full buildings) contains roughly 600,000 artifacts from Chinese-Taiwanese history. This includes pots, weapons, clothing and, most of all, calligraphy. The scrolls and tapestries go on and on and on in this place. From official state documents to poetry and art, every style is examined. It made me wish I knew more about it.

While I was getting back on the subway (which is way better than ours.... get on it, America!) I was kidnapped by a group of traveling international students. In particular, a very sweet indivudual by the name of Kim picked me up and had me follow the group to a big computer expo and then on to Taipei 101 tower. Along with Heidi, Vivia, Tim, Fatih and others - these guys really made my day.... and here they are!

That would be Taipei 101 tower behind us. Some call it the tallest building in the world. True, the one in Dubai is taller, but it's not finished yet. Either way, at 509 meters tall... it's nothing to sneeze at. We went to the 91st floor where you can go out onto one of the lower roofs. Unlike the Empire State Building though (which is the only other tall building I've been on the roof of), it's actually nice to be out there because of the wind barrier.

Stay tuned for the action-void conclusion!

Temple Video (extension of part 2 )

2008-08-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

This is one of the temple buildings. I thought I'd take a video to try to capture some of the feel of the place. Lots of chanting, drumming and incense*. Marvelous!

Sure this could have been included in the previous post, but - hey, you want it or not?

* - It took me around 2 minutes to figure out how to spell this word... what's wrong with me?

Taiwan Part 2

2008-08-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

So, I've been sick, but I'll get to that later.

My second day in Taipei I rode the Maokong gondola to the Zhinan Temple. By the way, for those who are uncertain about heights, the Maokong gondola is a pant-wetting experience - let me show you what I mean:

Of course, the view was spectacular... wet pants aside.

There I got to spend a really relaxing day reading, walking around and talking to people who were not used to seeing white people around. One person said "I never see white people here!" It was great.

I had a lot of tea that day... which lead me to the bathrooms... By the way, can someone, ANYONE, explain how anyone could be comfortable in the following room, because I have trouble peeing when someone walks by:

Having said that, I'll try to refrain from mentioning urine again for some time. (no promises)

Regarding Taiwan Part 1

2008-08-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

So, I went to Taiwan this last week and let me make something clear for those who have already asked me. No, Taiwan is NOT Thailand. It is a separate country off the continent and no, I didn't ride an elephant while I was there because that's not where they live. Taiwan is off the coast of China and 90% of the people speak Mandarin. Now that the geography lesson is out of the way...

Taiwan was so much more than I expected it would be! I had a great time! It is a beautiful country and Taipei is unlike any Asian city I've seen so far. In fact, it feels almost like a European or American city with its many coffee shops, parks and museums along with what can only be described as a very cosmopolitan culture. It is not surprising that many of the Taiwanese refer to their country as "Asia's America".

I stayed in a Hostel, pictured below. I stayed in a room with 3 other people and there were about 5 rooms in the hostel. In the mornings and early evenings the common room was full of chatter and I seldom had a conversation in a single language. Most of the people staying at the hostel were Korean, but there were also people from Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Holland, Denmark, China and Mexico floating around.

The one view is from inside my room and the other is the roof where we had outdoor showers. The accommodations were rustic and not for everyone, but I loved it.

My first day there I spent a great deal of time walking the length of the city. My first stop was Longshan Temple in the Center of Taipei. This is where Sunday's picture came from. The entire inside of the temple is full of people meditating, bowing and burning incense. The site was pretty spectacular. I felt a little bad taking photos, so i didn't take too many.

After visiting the Temple I walked down through the city and just sort of took it all in. More later!

Back from Taipei!

2008-08-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

... and I'm sick. So I'm not going to do any writing right now. So, here's a picture!

What the Deus?

2008-07-28T07:18:00.001-07:00

Seriously, Bloggspot picture interface, you're killing me here.

Busan

2008-07-28T06:22:00.000-07:00

After my meeting on Friday I went down to Busan early Sat. morning. Or at least I intended to. I really wound up getting down there at around 3pm. Which was fine because I got to spend a good portion of the afternoon lounging around the beach - with roughly 600,000 other individuals. I had a great time, though. Sure, I had to stay in a love motel in the red light district, but where's the adventure in posh accommodations anyway?

I also managed to get away from the city (aka: get lost) and wander up to the mountain overlooking the beach. Up there I found a gorgeous Buddhist monastery. I took a good hour or two to meditate / relax in the room displayed below. I just find it very relaxing... I imagine my mom feels the same way when she prays. This does not mean that I'm a Buddhist, I just enjoy being in places that I find to be peaceful. I did find the juxtaposition between this serene temple and the beach bellow just...weird.

The highlight of the weekend was sitting on the beach in the wee hours of the morning as this

semi-pro guitar group sat around in lawn chairs and performed some really great music. There were only about 50 people gathered around and the whole thing was just very intimate and just plain cool. They even sang a song for me in English because I was the only non-Korean there. (Radiohead's Creep, if you must know) Also, when I sing in Korean, it seems to make people laugh, maybe that's my superpower?

See everyone? Fun IS possible without alcohol, we non-drinkers just have to get really creative.

I also got to take the KTX train down and back. At 300mph it's the fastest train in Korea and the nicest train I've ever been on. On the way back I discovered that I'd been seated in the movie theater car and got to experience a full, surround-sound cinematic experience from the inside of a speeding train. Unfortunately the movie was some horror flick that I didn't care to watch... but the concept of having a movie theater in a train is still pretty impressive.