Bonita Ojos

Hola mi amigos!

Today was very eventful, with a lot of information thrown in my face. San Jose is an intense college town and very alive. Half the population of Costa Rica lives in San Jose. It's incredibly different from Drake Bay. It's definitely a city. There are people everywhere. Every nook and cranny is filled with shops, supermarkets, bars, restaurants, you name it. And the traffic here is terrifying. Yes, there are street signs, but no one pays attention to them. People do whatever they feel like and they most definitely do not stop for pedestrians. Motorcycles weave in and out of traffic, sometimes going in the wrong lane to get ahead of the traffic. It's very intense, yet I've seen no accidents.

I started out my morning by being greeted by a cold shower, and then heading to Maximo Nivel and joining my orientation group. We learned about safety tips, tours, where we will be working, all the information you would need to know. I got placed at a wonderful daycare called Rayito de Luz. After our orientation, I took a spanish placement test to see what level of classes I should take. Of course, I didn't know anything, only how to say my name and a question in reading comprehension, and by the look on his face, one of the other test takers felt the same way.

After my test, we went on a walking tour of San Jose. We were shown restaurants, shops, markets, bars (the drinking age is 18), etc. I feel so lost in this city. After an hour or so, I felt like we were three or four blocks away, but we were outside Maximo.

I was able to socialize with a bunch of other volunteers and learned about their sites. People were from all over, all over the US, all over the world. Everyone is super nice and is excited about their sites: turtle conservation, childcare, teaching english, construction, etc. I loved hearing about different people's lives back home, why they were there, it was so interesting. I met a girl named Arielle from Houston, Texas, who I really like and found out that she and I work at the same site!

At 1:00, I set off for my site, Rayito de Luz. Emily, our guide from Maximo, showed us how to get to the daycare, which is about an hour away. We had to take two buses to get there. On the first bus, we sat in the back and Emily was telling us about the city. As we were talking, a man got on the bus, and was climbing on the railing. "He's trying to climb over the sensor so he doesn't get counted as a passenger and has to pay." He chatted with the bus driver a while, they seemed to be friends, and then he started selling things on the bus. Once he got through the passengers, he climbed back over the railing and hopped off.

Once we got off that bus, we headed for the second bus. We had to walk through downtown San Jose to get to the second one. Downtown San Jose was really exciting. It was for pedestrians only, so you didn't feel like you were going to die wherever you walked. We walked past shops, theaters, museums, everything. When we arrived at the second stop, we waited a few minutes, and then the bus arrived.

On this bus, we got the pleasure of experiencing two men play lovely music on the bus (one with a guitar, one with a hand flute) and then try to sell CDs, I bought two! Eventually, we arrived at the site. The children in this daycare all live in the same slum and most are related in some way. They come from really tough backgrounds and the program helps keep them out of trouble. The children range from three months to ten years old. We walked in and were greeted by a huge blast of energy. Children were running around everywhere, coloring, playing, giggling, fighting. We were dragged over by different kids and started doing different activities. When you don't know spanish, it gets a little overwhelming to be constantly yelled at by children who don't speak english. I felt bad that I couldn't understand their questions and listen to what they were saying but we did our best to communicate. I met a little girl named Celia who had one arm and burns all over, but she was very sweet and wanted to color with me. She kept saying something about my ojos, which are eyes, and I found out they were saying "beautiful eyes" over and over. I was sad to leave!

We didn't stay too long, maybe an hour or so just to get a feel for the place, and then headed off back the way we came. We got on both buses and headed back. On the way back, I noticed something that had been occurring every since I had gotten to San Jose: everyone was staring at me. People in Costa Rica aren't used to seeing someone with blonde hair and eyes that aren't brown so me, Arielle, and Emily (who looks similar to me) get stared at and hollered at a lot. We stopped so Emily could get an expresso and as we were standing there, something behind me went, "pss pss pss pss pss." I turn around and a man kept walking like nothing had happened. Sometimes, men in Costa Rica do that to a girl so they will turn around and look at them. It's so unlike the states!

We made it back the center at Maximo and Arielle and I talked and hung out. We met up with her roommate and headed over to Sweet Sensations, a fantastic cupcake shop that was started by a Maximo employee a year ago. I got a banana sundae cupcake, which was amazing (a banana cupcake with vanilla frosting, chocolate drizzled over it, topped off with a cherry). After that, the three of us headed over to a bar, where I was supposed to meet some other people. They weren't there so we parted ways and I was going to head back to Maximo. However, about a block later, I ran into the people I was supposed to meet! Linda and Richard, students from Waterloo, Canada, were eating chicken and rice at a little shop. I joined them and struggled to order food of my own. It was fun hearing about their sites. Richard is in healthcare so he told me about the underfunded hospital he works at. I enjoyed my food and then we all headed back to Maximo for salsa dancing class!

The class was a lot of fun! It had about twenty people participating and three teachers. The teachers were amazing, and most people didn't know what they were doing. We learned basic footwork for the first half and the second half we had to grab a partner. I was gone too long on the break to nab a partner so I got to dance with one of the male teachers. I was so glad because he knew exactly what he was doing. He led me all over the place, spinning me everywhere, and I had a great time. I'm definitely going back next Monday.

We headed back home on the bus at 8 and had a late dinner. We went to bed soon after. I hung out a bit with my roommates, chatted with them, and went to bed around 11:30. I'm ready for tomorrow! I can't wait to start officially working with the kids.