Namaskara!

Let me start by apologizing to everyone for the lack of updates at the end of last semester. Everything was so crazy with my Wheaton buddies visiting, a two week field trip to Ecuador, home for spring break, a last minute trip back to Nicaragua and a hectic portfolio writing week.

The summer was long, jam packed and pretty enjoyable. I was able to journey to Ohio, Scotland, Canada, Maine, Boston, numerous trips to NYC, Tanglewood and also work at two very different and amazing camps.

On a new note, I have now reached the land of Milk and Honey, India! All put together, it is a place of chaos, but every small thing is completely wonderful; besides rickshaw drivers but I’ll get into that later. It has been a little over two weeks since my arrival and I think it would take hours upon hour to write everything that was packed into that time. I will explain some of the more exciting things that have happened and some details you might be interested in. I am in a story telling mood so this might be long.

Orientation:

This ended up being longer than I expected. We started in New York with a two day gathering of all first year and second year students. Basically everyone who was going to Costa Rica, China or India was there. It was really great to be with everyone in my class all together again before parting ways. We had a good time staying up all night talking and catching up. After some meetings on the 3^rd, mostly with Dean Glass, everyone said farewell to their parents and we had some waiting to do. The Costa Rica kids left first, there were a lot of tears in that group because they are going to College for the first time and in another country, then china left and had some tears because they are our classmates and finally in the evening India departed. My first flight I assumed I would be flying alone because I was not on the group flight, turns out one of the new students was with me. This was great because the flight flew to Brussels and was very long. It was pretty empty so we were able to sit next to each other. Jet airways is an awesome airline. The food is fantastic as well as the in flight entertainment system thing and the service. I watched some bollywood flicks and also some Hollywood flicks. Pretty nice. In Brussels I had only a two hour layover and I was off again on a flight to Delhi. The whole back of the plan was empty so I moved myself and slept for those many hours all the way til landing, spread out on four middle seats. My first experience of India was in Delhi. I had to figure out getting my bag, even though the guys told me I would not have to get it until India, I took a wild guess and waited for my bag. Good thing I did because It came out and I would have a lost bag in Delhi somewhere. Then I had to try to figure out how to get from the International airport to the domestic airport and it was about 1am at this point. I found a shuttle place and got on the one that some guys shuffled me to and for awhile I was a little scared they were just putting me on some random bus. It delivered me to the domestic airport after awhile of driving through the night and thankfully my friend molly found me in the parking lot while she was out there trying to ask a question. I found my fellow students that were on the first group flight in the waiting area. Now this started a long round of waiting rooms for the morning. The first was just a large room with chairs and by the time I got there at 130am they were all taken up by Indian men spreading their bodies across them and snoring loudly. I was able to squeeze myself in next to my friends and began my waiting. The next step, checking in and checking bags was in the next section which didn’t allow entry until 4am. SO.. we sat. At one point I had to use the restroom and this was my first real step into Indian air. The air smelled of burning trash and food and reminded me of some smells of east Africa. Molly and I walked across the street and found a public toilet which we had to pay 2 rupees to use and it was, yes mom, without toilet paper. The drip method worked fine for this though. Granted this was the worst bathroom I have used to far, no worries. When I sat back down, some random young French speaking hippie dude sat next to me. He took his shoes off and I almost died. I had to smell the stench of his rotting feet for the next two hours while he casually read his lonely planet north India guide book in French. Finally the doors opened and I was able to check my bag. I some how got away with not paying a heavy baggage fee in both Newark and Delhi! In Newark I put my bag up and it was 27 kg which is about 60lbs. A bag cannot be over 50lbs or you get a fee. Anyways the dude checking my bag said, “I guess I will let this one slide”. He was cool. I just brought my empty hiking backpack as a carryon and put in overhead. In Delhi I just right away said “oh I checked it all the way through to Bangalore”, and they didn’t even ask me. They did give my friend Sam a hard time about bringing his skateboard as a carryon and he had to check it in Delhi. Then came more waiting, this time in a waiting room that had food. I wasn’t hungry because of all the airplane food so I just sat and talked to my friends. We had to sit there until they called our flight number which was about 530am. Our flight was at 630ish. They called us and we had to go through security twice. The first one was just a general bag one, then we had to stand in separate lines men an women. Women walked into a booth where there was a lady with one of those black detector sticks and she rubbed it all over our bodies. It was quite awkward. We all passed and then came MORE WAITING. We sat in another waiting room just reading and listening to music until they called out flight and we stood in line again. We thought we would be getting on the flight but instead, after getting our tickets torn, we all got on a bus! This bus took us to our airplane and finally we were on our way to Bangalore!

We arrived and were picked up in a van that said “Infant Jesus”, it was really funny. We were already jetlagged and just wanted to sleep. We got to our home for the next week, the United Theological College hostel. It was nice. We had two days, one at school and then Saturday to sleep and explore. On that Sunday, the whole school; students and staff, left to the outskirts of the city to a peaceful little sanctuary place. It was so nice! We continued our orientation here to get adjusted an away from the city. There was a pool and green grass and I can’t really explain it but there were lots of flowers. We did all the normal meeting type things there like safety, academics, blah blah. We also did some cultural things like our professors showed us typical dress, we learning north Indian dancing for out long field trip and we drew Rangoli (colored sand pictures on the ground with flowers). On our last day I caught the virus that was going around. A couple other students got it as well. I thought it was Delhi belly at first and just travelers sickness but ohh no. Every student who got sick went through the phases; chills, fever, puking, diarrhea. Nice right? So I puked right before getting on the bus to go back to Bangalore and again at the UTC. Then I was sick for about 3 days and I started to take my meds. Anyways it passed. More orientation things happened at school and finally one week later, Friday, we moved into our Apartments!!

Apartment and Neighborhood:

I thought I would be living with some other students but turns out things were decided when I got here. I am content with that because I really love where I live. I have a studio apartment so basically it’s a big room with an attached bathroom and an attached kitchen. Its really nice and big according to Indian standards. There is the ground floor, the first floor and then my floor. The first two are actual floor with two apartments on each and then mine is special. You walk up the stairs from the 1^st floor and onto the terrace, turn the corner and there is my apartment right on the terrace! Its awesome because I just open my door and walk outside and I can see the whole neighborhood. There is also another roof type thing up above me. I live in an amazing neighborhood. Most of the other students live all together in an apartment building on the other side of town. While their apartments are new and fancy, they definitely are lacking a neighborhood. It’s a very homely type place. Two students Alane and Freddy live downstairs so I am not completely alone. My neighborhood is predominately conservative Muslim. There is even a beautiful green mosque on my block. Everyone is always out in the streets cooking food and hanging out. I hear the call the prayer five times a day and its so cool! This past weekend there were even camels walking down my street for some strange reason? I think for children to ride? I have already become friends with some of the neighbors and neighborhood kids. My friends and I were hanging out on the terrace the other night and our neighbor who lives across the street turned five years old, I didn’t know them at this point, but he and his mom came over and delivered us cake and snacks! It was so nice. Alane and I have since been to their house to chat and look at her Sari’s. Anyways, I am happy where I am living.

Classes:

Classes just started last week. So far so good. We have only had two of each class so far. Hindi is really difficult. I have never learned a language where the characters are completely different. I am going to struggle with this I think. We are learning the alphabet but my teacher is trying to teach us both classical and modern at the same time! Ahh! For my other classes we have already had some great speakers and gone on a field trip! We went to the market and some of the old palace in Old Bangalore. It was quite an interesting trip. I like my writing teacher best so far, we talk about the most interesting things. Today he read aloud a selection on Cows in India. My advisor is also really great, Dr. Kumar. He is helping me be able to work at this organization for Independent Study time. It’s an organization that works with children that used to work/work in the sex industry. They are prostitutes, children of prostitutes or children affected by HIV/AIDS. They have tons of programs and hopefully I will be working with one. Not much else to report on the class aspect because I haven’t had many yet!

Transportation:

The main mode of transportation here is the auto rickshaw. Now this little yellow device is a three wheeled moped with a driver’s seat and a back seat that can fit 3 people uncomfortably or four with a person on a lap. Now these guys really piss me off. Rickshaw drivers really make me lose my cool. They all have meters, and during all hours they are supposed to use the meters. Even at night they are supposed to do meter and a half and after midnight double the meter. Meters start at 14 rupees, and from my apartment to school its usually around 25 rupees which is a little over 50 cents. Every day I have to fight with these drivers to take me where I want to go. Before even getting to the payment options, you have to get a rick to want to take you someplace. This is not like in other countries where there is a cab or some other mode of transport and since it’s their job, they usually will take you where you want to go. Now I stand on the side of the road and flag one down. They will either slow down and keep gliding or stop completely. At this point I yell “MARAPPA GARDEN” which is my neighborhood and they will either drive away without saying anything, give me a really angry face and drive away without saying anything, shake their head and drive away without saying anything, not know what I am talking about OR Agree to take me. Now that I have reached this step I need to find one that will not take me for a fool and use his Effing meter. On a good day this will take about 3 or less tries but usually I will need to ask about 6 drivers. They give their little head bobble (an Indian way of saying “okay”) and smile goofily and said “60 rupees”. Hell no. If this is the first rick I asked then I try to negotiate and tell him that he needs to use his meter. Then he just says no. By the time I get to the 3^rd rick I am usually pissed off and I just say “psh” and wave my hand at them as if saying “do I look stupid to you?” Other times when I get really angry or I really need to get someplace on time I might start yelling. I have gotten in fights, well not fights, but yelling at rickshaw drivers and I really say, “do I look stupid to you?” or sometimes I will even say, “Whats your rickshaw number I am going to call the police.” Just threatening, because they are by law supposed to use the meter. At some major spots in Bangalore there are rickshaw stops and cops actually stand there. One time the drive had such nerve. My friends and I stood in the rick line next to the cop and the drive said “okay meter” when we got to him. Then as soon as we sat inside and he thought the cop wasn’t looking he said “40 rupees!” At this point we decided to start getting out of the rick and he fought with us and finally pushed the meter thing down. One of my friends even said once she pushed the meter down herself when a rick was being that way.

SO now it comes to being inside the rickshaw. Sometimes when I think I am getting a good deal like a 20 rupee ride, these buggers totally trick me and once I am in say, “one stop madam, one stop” They take me to a high end shop that they have a deal with. If they bring shoppers they get new uniforms, glasses, money, etc. It is so frustrating. Others will take you on random back roads trying to increase the meter. It’s a good thing I basically know how to get to the places I want to go and usually end up directing them. Its just very annoying the whole process. But I do love riding in them. They are fun if I am not in a bad mood and feel good with the wind. AHH

Festivities:

India is the land of festivals. There is always something amazing going on. Since being here I have participated in many, usually by random. One evening last week, my friends and I were walking around their neighborhood trying to find a place for dinner. We came upon a restaurant with an upstairs. We walked up and noticed we couldn’t eat there because there was some type of party going on. While we were looking from a distance, we were spotted and quickly rushed in. Turns out it was a one year olds birthday party! Everyone was so friendly and wanted us to take part in the festivities. We took pictures with the birthday baby and then ate the most fantastic food… oh and it was free of course! That reminds me, I love eating with my hands! You really get a feel for your food, literally! We all got jasmine chains to put in our hair, something that many Indian women do daily. It smells so delicious! We definitely crashed a one year olds birthday party. On the same evening on our way home we ran into another festivity. Now the first week and a half we were in India, was the Hindu holiday, Ganesha festival. This is I think 9 days of celebrating and worshiping lord Ganesh (He is the elephant diety). In every neighborhood, the people set up their own stature of him and pray to him daily placing flowers and bananas and such at his feet. There are festivities every day. Now on the last day, which happened to be the day we were wandering the streets, the people of each neighborhood gather around thair statue and party until the men take the statue away in a big truck to go find a body of water to dump it in. So we were wandering the streets by my friend’s apartments after the birthday party and we hear tons of music and cheering and we decided to go check it out. It was the neighborhood ganesha festivities. There were drums banging and we all started dancing. Sam went in the middle of a big circle of boys and had a dance off with a 5 year old. It was hilarious. We all started dancing with the children then some kids and women grabbed our hands and lead us to the statue. They welcomed us into the little shrine where we bent down and waved the incense/smoke in our faces then they gave us delicious sweets. Now we probably shouldn’t have done that because of the sickness risk but it was totally worth the experience and we didn’t get sick. So then we all kept dancing and talking with people until they lifted the statue into their truck. Women, big no no going into that truck with the rowdy men. They wanted us all to go but we didn’t and sam, being the only guy also did not go. They drove off crazily shouting in the street and we went home.

Another quick story. As I stated before, my neighborhood is predominantly Muslim and this is the time of Ramadan. There is always something going on in the hood. On the corner by my apartment man gather and cook food for the whole community in a HUGE pot. Then they hang out there all night because the last 10 days they are supposed to stay awake the whole time to pray. Anyways, last night Alane and I heard a band playing in the street. We ran outside and saw a giant parade type float with lights and people on it. There was a band and people marching through the streets. Surprisingly we found out that it was a Christian saint! I think it was some sort of holy day. Nellie would know. Everyone was shouting and having a good time, we didn’t stay long because we would have had to follow the float around the neighborhood and we had hindi work to attend to.

SOOO Basically everything is going well so far! We already only have one more week and then we are going on a long field trip to north India to Rajasthan! I am really excited! I will update again later this week! Ciao for now!

Heaps

Hello People! I wrote this many weeks ago before I returned to Costa Rica but I have been super super busy and could not post! Ciao °!

March 7th
Greetings from Managua, Nicaragua!
I have been here for two weeks already! Time really does go by quickly.
The past 13 days has been an experience. I worked in a dump every day, cooked food for 600 school children, rode around a city in the back of a construction truck, went to a Nicaraguan gay discotheque more than once, attended Carnaval of nicaragua, got 2nd degree burns, drank fresco from a plastic bag three times a day, saw a cuban revolutionary musician perform (sylvio rodriguez!!) and met some amazing people.
I came to Nicaragua for my two weeks of independent study granted to me from my school. My plans were a little iffy before I left because communication is often slow around here. The goal was to do a photo project of the children that live and work in the city dump or just children of Nicaragua. It was pretty vague and i had a few organizations lined up but fortunately for me, I stayed with One for almost the whole time.
I settled myself Into the Managua packpackers inn which has been a great home for the past two weeks.
Most other travelers only stay for the night besides the few of us here for other things. Some interesting people have gone through here including some rambunctious peace corps volunteers. They just reinforced my desire to not join the peacecorps after graduation. They were so cliquey and worst of all racist. I couldn't comprehend how they could keep talking about "those mexicans" and "those arabs" while they are volunteering in Nicaragua for two years! It makes not sense to me. It makes me question their real motives to being a volunteer.
I became good friends with Shannon from the USA here working on her thesis for grad school on violence against women, Fernando a gay Guatemalan here helping Shannon out and Calle this crazy swedish kid who's been traveling through central america for six months!
So let me try to remember my days, they all kind of blended together and passed really quickly!

The bus ride was long (11 hours!) from costa rica. There were about 8 of us from school on the same bus but everyone got dropped off in Grenada except for Rachel and Me. We arrived in managua around 5pm on a saturday meaning one thing, no banks were open. This posed as a major problem for the both of us considering our independent study money was in dollars and not cordobas. We convinced a cab driver to drive us to both of our hostels for $6 which is pretty expensive now that I think about it. Rachel was staying at a house type place but actually ended up going back to costa rica three days later because she got really sick. I was dropped off at my hostel with no money and no idea what I would be doing for the next two weeks. Hooray for me! I guess that's why they call it independent study. I managed to walk down the street in the dark alone (against all warnings from the school and parents) to find some food. It was a steak place and the only thing veggie on the menu was a salad of course and it was $7!! Expensive for nicaragua (usually less than $1 for a salad)! I was told that managua was a dirty, ugly and very dangerous city but I found most of it to be opinion based and I actually like it a lot and really want to come back!

I basically hung around the hostel for most of the first day because I didn't know the city at all. Discovered the mall about two feet down the street after a lot of searching and the supermarket in the opposite direction. Careless me, I forgot my travel alarm clock in heredia so I had to find a watch with one so I wouldnt be late to work the next day. Got some food and went to bed really early.

I had no idea what I was in for in terms of work. All I knew is that I wanted to work in La Chureca, the community that lives in the city dump.
I don't really remember how I was put in touch with Deanna, but I am sure glad I was. Deanna is the co-founder and director of the Organizaion NicaHope. This might all be kind of confusing so let me break it down and stop tying in a daily schedule.

LA CHURECA
On the outskirts of Managua the poorest city in the poorest country in Central and South America is the city dump. It has been there since the 1960's right on the edge of Lake Managua. Every day hundreds of people go there to pick out whatever they can to sell, use or eat; mostly plastic bottles. Included in these hundreds are many children that instead of getting the education to help secure their future, are working in the trash heaps. Even small ones as young as three years old are helping their parents and siblings find plastic. The plastic collected is then sold to small dealers on the outskirts of the dump, which is then sold to central america and finally to the United States to makes new bottles for some aquafina. Most of the workers live in the barrio outside of the dump, aqaualinca. Around 175 families actually live inside in La Chureca. La Chureca is the slang name for the community of people that live and work in the dump. Literally people living among trash. There is a small private jesus school inside but thats about it. The children have blonde in the their hair do to lack of nutrition and many start huffing glue around the age of 8 to ease hunger pains. This is where I decided I wanted to do my work. My plan was a photo project of the children that live in La Chureca.

NicaHope
I am not really sure how I got in contact with Deanna, the director at NicaHope, but it was through a bunch of other organizations. She and the organization really helped me make value of my time in Managua. NicaHope is a new organization that Deanna and some other people started a year ago, though many of the programs just started this past month! It is a vocational program set up for the people that live in La Chureca that will hopefully lead to jobs in the future. There is a computer literacy program, jewelry making, business class, accounting, blacksmith, auto mechanics and computer repair. They also have set up a free lunch program at the public primary school in aqaualinca in order to try an increase attendance. This school is where I spent most of my first week. The children that go to the school live outside of the dump but most of their families and some of them work there. My job was to see how the lunch program was running because it was newly established. I worked with the volunteer mothers every day cutting and serving for hours. It was quite an experience. I was able to give Nicahope and the mothers some input mostly about organization so things would be easier for them in the long run. For example, setting up buckets for the children to put designated ´bowls,spoons, etc. in when they were done eating. It made clean up so much easier.
NicaHopes most advanced project so far is the computer literacy program. Hired professors come and teach children and adults from La Chureca how to use a computer and windows for the basic classes and some hard stuff for the advanced classes. I sat in on a few and they are really quite interesting and try to make it fun for the younger kids by incorporating games.
I made many trips with Deanna and others into La chureca throughout my time there.

ETC
The second week I was supposed to join a group of college students from Virginia on a trip with orphannetwork but that didn't really go as planned. I met up with them on their 2nd day in Managua and went to a church service...sort of. We went to a refugee camp that was set up many years ago after hurricane mitch for the people who had their houses destroyed, mostly on the edge of aqaualinca. The church service was singing and then after we just hung out with the kids there all day and had a carnival sort of thing. It was fun but it got annoying after awhile being with 200 students from different schools in virginia. It was basically, pick one kid to be "your kid" for the day. So it was weird. I also joined them the next day on a trip to El Canyon an orphanage well.. in the Canyon. We painted a wall and played with the kids. It ended up being similar to the day before as in.. picking out kids. I did not like this concept and hanging out with so many people so I ended up going back to NicaHope to spend the rest of week there.

Dia De Luz (Day of Light)
Before I left for Nicaragua I had been in brief touch with a guy named Brad who founded an organization called Love, Light and Melody. Little did I know that he happened to be a member of the late 90s craze rock group, Distpatch, whom many of my friends back home really enjoy. They broke up a couple years ago but recently had a reunion for some zimbabwe benefit in New York. So Brad, or Braddigan as his solo stuff is known as, held a big concert in La Chureca last year called Dia De Luz, and lucky for me It was happening again on my last day in Managua. The point of the day was to talk to the people who work and live there and then end with a concert and hang out with the kids. While all this is great it was really really awkward to see about 600 gringos marching through the dump. I felt almost as though a lot of it was patronizing and uncalled for. The people seemed to enjoy it and I suppose that was the point. I got really sunburned and by sunburned i mean a whole layer of my skin peeled off.

I met this amazing woman while being in Nicaragua, named Alejandra. She is a single mother with 7 kids under the age of 9. All of them beautiful and happy. The photo above is of Olondra (9) the oldest, John (9 months) the youngest, and Brittany (8). They live in probably the worst spot in La Chureca,right on the edge of the road near where everything is dumped. Alejandra now works at Nicahope as a cleaning person but also a program organizer because she recruits a lot of people to go to the programs at NicaHope. While this is better than her old job of working in the dump, it is still very hard for her to support her family. I loved playing with her kids and just having conversations with her. It really made me question all that I learn and beleive in.
I have worked with nonprofits and social justice groups for a decent amount of time and have always learned that implimenting long term programs such as vocational centers is the best way to alleviate poverty. I still strongly beleive this, but meeting alejandra and the people of La Chureca makes it so hard. There are immediate needs that are not being met such as shoes to be able to goto school and a bed to sleep in. How will the long term ever be accomplished if there are these immediate needs in the way? I cant answer that because I know handouts are not the way to go but a lot of me just wants to do it. Its a really difficult internal struggle that Im going to have to deal with because I know I will be working with these causes for the rest of my life. The people that I meet are just amazing. hmmm

On a more scholarly note, I have a lot of fantastic pictures and my project is going to be great. I think I might go back to managua during portfolio week if I finish early. Thats my goal.


Overalllll....
It was one of the best experiences ever being on my own and trying to figure everything out. I really think my spanish improved a lot in two weeks and I feel like I can go anywhere alone now. The feeling of seeing and doing things for myself and just being independent was awesome. Every experience at this school just makes me feel so accomplished and I learn so much. Yay!

An Adventure

Last Thursday I departed for a three(turned four) day field trip and I had the most amazing time. This was by far my best Costa Rican experience to date. There is so much to say that I think I am going to write in chapters. Here we go...

Chapter One: Dr. Grant, my dear Dr. Sattler. Welcome to Jurassic Park
The Journey began with a very long trek (4 hours!) to the coast of the country. To get there we had to drive through giant mountains and rain forests. I don't really have many words to describe how spectacular it was besides a visual. Imagine the classic film of Jurassic Park , and the children sitting in a giant tree and a brontosaurus reaching his neck over to eat some leaves. While driving through this lush green place, i really expected some velociraptor to jump on top of our bus. I found out later on that Jurassic park was in fact filmed in Costa Rica... go figure.
We contunued on through the jungle and then all of a sudden BAM! there we were right next to the beach. Litteraly rainforst then beach. I read a sign that said "in the midst of the jungle at the edge of the sea". perfect.

Chapter Two: Come, Mr. Tally Mon, tally me banana
Upon arrival in Limon we were quickly rushed off the bus in order to eat a fast lunch because we were late. Some free time was throw in there and Rachel and I proceeded to get lost somewhere by the park next to the sea as it started to pour and I mean POUR rain. The bus was supposed to meet us down by the park but it wasn't there so we got pretty wet. Eventually after some exploration on my part, the bus was found. Turns out it just hadn't arrived and everyone else was lost with us. We were then dropped off at some sort of community center where a man told us the history of Limon and growing up in the afro-carribean community. Then we had our own personal concert by a calypso band. They played classics such as Day-O and Matilda. They were so amazing! Unfortunately this was a pretty short visit and we had to get back on the bus for another long trek to the indigenous community of BriBri.

Chapter Three: 107
Sleep was my first activity in the BriBri community since we got there pretty late in the evening. Friday Morning there was a 6am wakeup call and I basically wanted to Die. The days activities were to be based on what class we were taking. Holistic health had their own agenda while the people in Indigenous peoples, including myself, would be divided. The first was going on a one hour boat ride and a treacherous hike to visit a women's tourism project. While that group ended up illegaly crossing the panama border by boat in order to play in a really cool waterfall , I still feel like my experience was Incredible. There were only six people in my group so it made for a good adventure. We ventured down the mountain a little ways to the watsi community. There we first went on a walk through the forrest with a watsi girl learning about different plants and what the watsi use them for. She told us that in her parents youth women were the powerful people of the community. They were the leaders and the ones that everyone followed. Then of course some preistly person came in and converted them all to catholicism and women are now looked upon as less than men because "the bible says so". ugh. Following that escapade, we walked over to a mans house where he showed us everything to eat and do with plants in the area. It was so cool. He made a rope bracelet, that is now around my wrist, out of palm leaves and dyed it with different seeds/fruit. He showed us this awesome tree that has really sharp spikes all over it and then showed us the spikey seed of the plant. If you scrape off the spines on the seen then plant it, the tree will grow bare! So interesting.

We continued across the road to the "father" of the watsi community. By the way the watsi are basically one big family of great great grandkids, aunts, cousins, brothers, etc. We entered a building that was one of the typical inside/outside kinds and had no idea what was coming. In the corner there was an old man sitting in a chair whom looked to be about 80ish. The woman we were with introduced him as her grandfather and said he was the only one in the community that knew the traditional dance and song of the watsi. The tradition had never been passed down. She needed participants but lacked males because there were only two in our small group , so she scurried to some other houses and rounded up some guys including our weirdo bus driver (he liked to bark at me and sneak up behing me and try to scare me). I cant really explain what happened next but the men formed a circle holding onto each other backs and started movin in a circular motion while the old guy sang. It was also a call and response and sounded so cool. After about 5 minutes i was pushed in under the old guys arm and my friends seths arm. Considering seth is the tallest person I have ever met (6, 6) and the old man was half the size of me, I was in a little pain. The circle continued with all the girls involved for quite awhile. It was such a fantastic experience. We found out soon after that this guy was 107 years old!! 107! I couldnt beleive it, that just made it so much more incredible. I was standing in a room with 5 generations at least. After the dancing we were served traditional food in GIANT leaves! It was so good and I couldnt even finish. Then we followe the old man down the road to a path. We were invited to his home. Walking down the path we all of a sudden saw a river and some metal stuff. We realised then, that there was a giant bridge we had to cross. Again, think back to jurassic park. Long, very long rope and plank bridge. It was so scaryy! See photo above. I really thought I was going to fall into the river way down below. It was all worth it in the end because we got to hang out in this guys home which was on stilts! The floor was all made of bamboo type stuff and wow, we all wanted to sleep over. Hammocks, chairs, no shoes, so cool. We were sad to leave our new, more than a century old friend, but we did and had another adventure in store for the rest of the day.
We headed over to a womens co-operative that makes chocolate! We got a little sampling of how it was made and then of course got to eat a little bit of it. Chocolate is not good raw in case you were wondering. Back to the hotel for a speaker from the association and another short night of sleep.

Chapter Four: Paradise Found?
Saturday was another distant drive, only not so much. We went down the mountain and again exited the jungle to find the ocean. We were in the small beach town of Puerto Viejo know for the best wave on the carribean side of the country. Its tourist season, but there were not too many tourists. Most of the gringos actually lived there. It a mixture between the hippies that moved to live on a commune down there in the 60s and the west coast surfers that came down for the waves. Their offspring make for a pretty interesting bunch. They are a bunch of dreaded, surfing, art selling hippies. Totally cool! They also all speak spanish so its pretty interesting. I feel like it would make a great independent study. somday. Anyways, before we hit the beach my group went to talk to man named sunnyboy. yes, sunnyboy. He is an elderly man of afro-carribean decent that has lived in puerto viejo his whole life almost. He told us his thoughts of the discusting marina they are going to build next year in the bay. This bay is beautiful by the way and pretty soon it will be filled with yachts and everything that comes along with that. He also showed us around his property and the interesting plants that he had. After, we went to the beach! How many schools take you on a field trip to the beach? We went to manzanillo beach which was right down the street from puerto viejo like 15 minutes. Beautiful! I have always hated beaches but for some reason this one just called out to me and i actually swam in the ocean! Imagine that! Maybe it was that I felt like I was in a little piece of paradise with the beach and the palms trees and basically just the surroundings. A few hours of sitting on the sand, it was time to head back to Heredia. My friends and some other people decided to stay behind for some extra beach time and exploration of puerto viejo. Whitney, Jim and I got a room at hotel puerto viejo, a hostel right in the center of town. It was pretty entertaining. That night we went to the local dance place and rocked out and met some cool tico friends. Sunday morning we all got up early to spend the day on the beach. That is where I met Scrat. Scrat is a 5 year old boy who looks like he came right out of a dumpster. Okay not that extreme but he has blond dreaded hair, freckles, walks around in just his bathing suit, missing a tooth and has staph infections all over his face. He speaks only english because his family is from louisiana or something. His parents are nomadic hippies whom had been living out of rockin Js (the hammock hostel) for the past month or so with Scrat and his baby sister. Oh his name is scrat because he picked that name and so his parents decided that would be it, totally hippie-like. Cutest kid, I wanted to take him home. Its a shame his parents dont really look after him. I really wanted to give him some sort of ointment for those staph infections. I hope he is there for me to hang out with when I got back. Dont ever let me become like his nomadic hippie parents.
So beach was fun and beautiful and the bus ride back to San Jose was horrible, but it was all worth it. Now I cant wait for my wheaton friends to visit me in two weeks so I can show them this awesome place!

This field trip really made me appreciate the education I am getting. I would not be able to do the things I am doing without being at this school. They really let you be independent but also have structure. And I am learning things first hand. How often in a traditional school would I get to go on a field trip like this and actually meet the people and see the things I am learning about? Not very often.
Okay thats enough for now. Ciao!

Long Time no See

I realize it has been a good three weeks since I last updated. Things here have been crazy! I've been busy with a lot of writing, planning and well...hanging out. Last post I was planning on attending my host sister's birthday where she turned 32! That was a fun time and everyone was up until 6am! Her friends were pretty interesting characters.
I don't have much time to update right now because the center closes in ten minutes, but I was finally able to upload the video of my house. I didn't really feel like talking the three weeks ago when i created it, so don't worry if there isn't any sound.
A longer update will follow tomorrow.
House Tour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HKo2m6uVvY

Crazy Classes

So experiential learning is basically the coolest thing ever! That is the conclusion I have come to so far.

On Wednesday I had my first Field Work Methods class. My professor Steve(also my advisor) does a lot of theater for social change work so he incorporates that into our class. So in order for us to learn about participant action research, we had to act out carnival in Brazil. We got into groups outside and had to make up a dance then combine all together in a parade sort of thing. For homework we had to write what we observed. Pretty awesome.
Yesterday I had my global issues course. We watched the movie "road to Guantanamo" if you haven't seen it, put it at the top of your list! My friend Rachel and I are doing our group project on child trafficking in and out of Costa Rica. This was also going to be my theme for my independent study but after talking to Steve I decided on something else.
I am going to be doing a photo project comparing children in Nicaragua and Nicaraguan immigrant children living in the squatter community outside San Jose. Steve and another staff member, Gail, so a lot of work in the community so I am going to do that research while here. Then for my two weeks of independent study I am going to Nicaragua. I have emailed Plan Nicaragua and am waiting to hear back to see if I can go to some of their community projects there. Wednesday night I went with a bunch of students to Jazz Cafe in San Jose because one of our professors wives was dancing flamenco. The Band and dancers were amazing! I will definitely have to go back to that place.
Whitney and I ventured to the USA style mall last night so I could buy a few things. I needed some random stuff but I also bought a webcam!! So all you people who have cameras on their computers, I can now see your beautiful faces!
Today I had my first Indigenous Peoples of Latin America class. We did a lot of talking then went outside and read the declaration that a group of indigenous people in the great lakes region reads before any community meeting. It was really interesting. I got to read the part about trees being a symbol of peace in many societies.
My host sister is having her birthday party tonight and there is going to be a band and tons of people at my house. It's going to be crazy I think. I invited my friend Jeanette to come over so she can hang out with me. I am pretty excited about this.
I have TONS of homework that I am going to get started on now so I can go to the beach tomorrow.
Here is the link for the youtube video I made today with a tour of my school. I will try to do make the one of my house either today or sunday.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mfZPOy3ri1Q

ciao

ps. I am really excited about the possibility of foxy, alana and mermaid coming to visit

The First Few Days

So here I am in Costa Rica!
I it absolutely amazing here. The weather is perfect, I like my school and my host family.

I arrived on sunday evening around 4:30 and was met by my Host mother and sister. The woman, Marci, who was suppose to pick me up was really sick. My host mother and sister drove me from the San Jose airport to their house in Heredia, where I will be living the next 4 months.
My mother is 52 and is an in home hairdresser. My sister is 20-something and works someplace. They both take a lot of pride in what they look like. They are the only immediate family members I have. I have already met my aunt, uncle and younger boy cousin. They are all super nice.
Our house is in the barrio of Merecedes Norte which is a bus ride and 7 block walk from the center (school). It is a small house, typical of people in Heredia. I have my own room and bathroom and its really cute. I will post a youtube video this weekend if I have time. My street is beautiful because I am on a small hill so I can see the mountains.

The school is so nice. Its tucked away on a street in the middle of Heredia by the National University. I will also post a youtube video of this at some point. Half of the center is outside with hammocks and couches. Everyone is usually hanging around before/after classes. There is a kitchen to make stuff with free coffee and such. Its really incredible.

On Monday I went to the center for the first time for new student orientation. There are 5 new students, 2 boys and 3 girls. One girl, whitney, is here for her study abroad with LIU and the rest of us are transfers. We did general information sessions and a tour of a little bit a Heredia. What a beautiful city. Well.. here is it considered a city but in the states it would be a town.

Tuesday was the "ingathering" for all students. We went to this cute little place in the mountains near Heredia. There was a field, pool, river, etc. We just had Hangout/bonding time in the morning and in the afternoon learned about the semester's courses. Everyone is really cool. They are my kind of people. I can already name most of them so Yay for me!

Today was my first day of classes. I have spanish Mon-thur from 8:30-10am and I am the only one in my "class"!! So I basically have a personal spanish tutor 4 days a week. My spanish is already SO much better. I am remembering a lot from my basic spanish class and being around is all the time is a great help. I can only speak to my host family in spanish which is challenging but helping me pick it up quicker. Later this afternoon I have Field work methods. My adviser is the professor of the class. He is a perfect adviser for me. He has done a lot of work with human rights issues and even did his graduate studies in Human trafficking.
The classes I am taking are
Spanish, Field work methods, indigenous peoples of Central america, Global issues in a LA context, electronic portfolio construction, living latin american culture, and independent writing.
We have 3 integrated field trips, a one day trip to an indigenous community, a 3 day trip to different parts of costa rica to indigenous communities and the beach =), and a two week trip to ecuador. We do a lot of work on the field trips for our classes.

At the beginning of march I have my two-week independent study project. I have a lot of ideas for what I am going to do but havent picked one yet. I am thinking of doing something with kids in Nicaragua, possibly with Plan because I have those connections. A lot of students are going to mexico, DR, ecuador or panama for theirs.

Hmm what else.. This weekend a bunch of students invited me to go to Puerto Viejo ( THE BEACH) with them. I am not sure if i am going or not because it is my host sisters birthday and they are having a party on friday at the house.

Oh If anyone wants to send me a letter or something then here is the address,
Annie Schneider
Global College - COS
Apartado 8496-1000
San Jose, Costa Rica

mail gets delivered every tuesday and thursday.
Okay I have a lot more to say but this is long enough.
Adios for Now!
Reminder: My birthday is Feb 7 =D