Este Semana

This week we've done many activities and have had loads of fun with the people from Costa Rica. Here are some photos from the week.

Here is where we go from 1:00pm-3:30pm. This is a mural painting created by one of the local Universities in Atenas. In this area we do activities like volleyball, bowling, foursquare, or just relaxing. There is also a pool table for those who like to play billiards. 

We make sure to incorporate everyone in our activities. The woman shown here up to bat was super good at baseball, by the way. This area is the outdoor area that now is getting a new roof built because of the rain. This area is where we've done baseball, a parachute game and socialized.

This is Carlos in the blue and Marvin in the white. They were creating animal puppets and Carlos was kindly helping Marvin. On friday, I had an amazing experience with Carlos when we took me aside during the day and opened up his past as a niño and the troubles he has had because of certain issues. I felt completely taken aback and flattered that he trusted me with this information and I felt for him. My heart ached because of his pain. It opened my eyes and he was able to communicate what is in everyone of the people here's heads. It assured me that this is completely what career I want to go into.

This is mi hermana Cara leading the parachute activity for El Hogar in the morning. We wanted to get them nice and warmed up for the day. They generally like this activity, but since we did it every day other than Thursday, it's hard to maintain creativity and not fall into a routine. I was in charge of this on Friday and didn't do as well as leading it as I would like. But it just showed me how to improvise a little better.

This is the view from the home of the elderly. Muy bonita. Cara left, Marcia center, Jessica right. This intense hill that you see is what we walk up at 7am every morning and down at 11am to go to lunch. Es bueno. Puravida!

ENJOY! 

Sarah Mendez

Jueves 17, Mayo 2012

So a lot has happened since i've been here last. It's now Thursday night and my last post was Sunday. Sorry about that. But there is a sports bar here in town that gives access to free wifi and I felt it appropriate to seize the opportunity.

Mi Familia

In Atenas, I have a family that consists of Mamita, Papita, Marcia y Cara. They are great people and Marcia, Cara and myself were lucky enough to be the only students to acquire spots in a house of some affluence. The typical "Tico" home is very small, rooms with no air conditioning or fans, no cars, or maybe one. Our family is not the "typical" costa rican family with privileges such as a car for each person, warm showers, a pool, una case grande y muy linda. <<A house very big and nice. They have internet and a phone. This means that they are very very fortunate and wealthy. Papita, una hombre chistoso owns a grocery store here in town y Mamita, sells clothing on the side I think. We have 3 tios y 1 tia. The sons and daughter of Mamita y Papita. They are very nice and fun to talk to about the culture and good places to go.


Hogar de Anciones y Aprodisas


"Hogar de Anciones" is the home of the elderly here in Atenas. We have been coming here every morning at 7 to prep and organize our days events. We only stay until 11 when we then have our lunch and go home to eat. During our time there, I have had the privilege to speak to the residents and bring them down to the recreation area that is generally kept by the therapia fisica<<physical therapist. We have been starting off with a parachute game every morning and they really seem to enjoy this activity. One thing I learned when coming here is that they REALLY like bingo. It's humorous. :) The second place "Aprodisas" is a place where adults with mental disabilities can go and gain some interpersonal skills. They are great people and are much more active physically then the second group. This makes planning a little easier. I organized one activity for them so far and that was ribbon dancing. We created them first, I showed them a few moves and then they took it from there. The latino music got them dancing and swinging their ribbon, and me too to be honest. The atmosphere is great there.

Food

So the eating habits here are something I've gotten used to very fast. They eat 3 meals a day with rice with almost every meal. Rice is my favorite food so of course i'm loving it here. We'll see if that stays the same after 3 weeks. Also fruit is with almost every meal. In our yard there is many mango trees and this makes it easy to pick and prepare them for breakfast. They also create fruit juice out of the left over fruit from the meals which is great! The best juice i've had so far is piña<<pineapple. Muy rico, me lo gusta mucho. The water is absolutely fine, but we've found what to look out for is some of the local restaurants. Two girls have felt sick from the food already. I haven't been one of them but there's still more time. Let's just keep our fingers crossed. But generally you can buy food for cheap and really good here.

Other activities


We really haven't done much outside of the town yet, but in the town there is plenty to do. There is a central park that is right across the street from a beautiful catholic church. Next to the park is many social bars, restaurants, shops and benches. Today we went on our first program trip to waterfalls or "cataratas"and explored on trails under the shady canopies of the trees above. It was only about 30 minutes outside of Atenas. In Atenas we've done a group salsa dance lessons with Fabio<<Right?>>and have hugh out at the internet café and this sports bar. Although we don't have much free time, I'm enjoying every minute of Costa Rica. Tomorrow in fact I'll be leading the parachute exercises and I can't wait to see my abuelos. Paco y Daisy are mi abuelos that I am claiming because I love being around them in the home and spending time with them. They are too precious. There is a man who is actually a fisherman, or used to be, and lived in California for awhile so he speaks good english, but he's kinda grumpy :p




In any case enjoy the read and comment if you'd like. I love and miss my family and friends back home, but just think, costa rican gifts! :) Hasta Luego

Sarah Mendez,

Tres Días Hasta Costa Rica

                                                              Wednesday May 9, 2012

          " Which translates to, "Three days until Costa Rica!" (Technically its 4, but it's late evening now) What this also means is scrambling around to make sure all of the last minute items, documents, and confirmations are found and taken care of. This process can be extremely stressful and two current issues that remain is my international sim card for my phone and the installments for paying tuition. Therefore, in order to make things a tad LESS stressful, i've been running as well as reading up on Costa Rican geography, language diversions from mainstream spanish, and cultural issues that I may run into, or in my version, embrace joyfully. Here are the things that I am most excited for about going to Costa Rica:

1. Biodiversity- %6= the percent of biodiversity Costa Rica has in comparison with the rest of the world. That's is a huge amount considering it's size is comparable to Vermont and New Hampshire combined.

<<<Marine biology! 

       2. Culture (Music, Food, People)- All of my family members should know by now how in love with diverse lifestyles I am. I've found that oxcarts are apparently a traditional "Costa Rican" way to travel about. Hopefully on my trip I'll be lucky and get to take a ride. Maybe I'll pull. Who knows.

<<<<Pretty oxcart

          3. Learning my trade, hands on- I'll be serving in a "Casa de Ancianos"(house of the old) and another location working with people who have intellectual disabilities. I...am...pumped. Each student will also be in charge of 3 activities...eek. Responsibility. But this is going to let me test for myself just how capable I am at adapting. And let's be real here; I love people. 

         4. Reporting my experiences to those I love- This Blog, Facebook, and the international phone will allow me to share everything I'm experiencing with you guys. You'll know how excited/anxious I am often. We are also required to write a journal anyway so i'm just getting a head start. I am excited for this because I am going to be pushing to actually use a blog, which i've been trying to start for years. 

             
           5. Weekend activities and bonding with fellow students- So far I've heard of weekend trips to beaches and zip lining. Tell me that's not great. Costa Rica is a main tourist attraction so there is going to be SO many fun things to do on the weekends. It'll be over much too soon. 

<<<<That'll be my face :D

Here are the things that I am either concerned about or NOT excited for:

1. Foreign bugs- Don't get me wrong. I like bugs....but take a look at what I found. All I'm saying is that it's going to take some adapting to seeing the different little/not-so-little critters. 

       2. Plane travel- Planes make me feel pretty gross. Enough said. 

<<<They go hand in hand

       3. Diarrhea- I've listened to Uncle Garth, as well as Annie on her return from Honduras, and I'm convinced that this is going to happen whether I want it to or not. No matter how hard I try to consume sanitarily, I may slip up. Actually I probably will. I'm too adventurous. It's my flaw, so sue me.
<<<<This shall be my friend overseas

           So there it is, my first blog. Email me at sarmmend@indiana.edu if you you want to comment or talk to me about it you can call me since, as said above, I don't leave for another 3 days. Sunday May 13 is when I take off. 

              I'm  out of here :) 

                    ~Sarah ~