Finally Getting Videos Together

Here's Day Two's Collage:

Going Home!

Above is a picture of a native Costa Rican plant. Sonia loves this plant and has them in several places around her house. I'm going to miss Sonia. I wish I understood spanish better, however, we managed just fine. When I return to Costa Rica with David, I WILL know more spanish! And I'll have friends to visit!

I'm looking forward to picking back up on Day Four of our trip, but now Sonia is calling for me, "Baby!" She just made the most phenomenal cake. Picture coming soon!

Quick Note Before Last Class

Time is very precious on this trip. I just spent most of my morning talking with Sonia and watching her body language in order to understand her stories (and what interesting stories they were!). Now I have 15 minutes to get ready for my last class at El Barco. I will have to wait until I return to the States to continue with my day by day documentation on this blog. It's absolutely important to me to complete the series as my way of processing this trip.

By the way, the picture is from the festival in Siquirres.

Talk to you/see you soon!

Necesito un café con leche

We got home late last night from a festival in Siquirres. It was close to eleven o'clock, and while that's not really late for me normally, I definitely felt it this morning. Typically since I've been here I have woken up on my own at 5:30am. Not so today. Sonia had to wake me up from a dead sleep by knocking on my door. I'm surprised that it's taken me this long to feel tired. Surprised and relieved actually.

Today we dance with the students at El Barco and then show. I'm looking forward to this!

I'll continue with my day by day account tonight or tomorrow morning.

Adios por ahora!

Day Three - National Park Manuel Antonio

By the time we got to the park, we only had an hour before the park closed at 4pm. That didn’t give us much time to explore the wildlife or plant life as much as we wanted. That said beautiful movement studies of monkeys, lizards, birds, and deer presented themselves on the beach that day. I have some great video footage, but for the sake of quickly uploading images, I will pull some stills from the video, so keep reading...

Alexis and I held back from the group and executed our own “Noticed What We Notice” walk, an exercise Simone Forti writes about in “Animate Dancing.” I noticed that I watched the other students for clues about wildlife. If they bent over to see lizards or looked up to see monkeys swinging in the trees, I followed their leads. They became indicators for me. When we made it to the first beach on the trail, they immediately indicated that they were going to swim. I don’t think they could shed their clothing down to their swimsuits fast enough. I couldn’t blame them – it was a beautiful day and a beautiful beach and they needed to blow a little steam in some relaxing water. To my surprise, they were ready to dance when Alexis and I queued them to get out of the water and go over what they wanted to share with the group for our “Human/Animal Motions” activity. For the most part we were all able to deduce which animals were represented. This activity was just a taste of what we could work on more throughout the week here and something we could develop more after we return to the US.

Some quick thoughts about what I saw:

The looseness of shoulders in Meredith and Joanna’s monkey dance...

The lines of lizards that Kiki and Brittany saw...



The nonchalance of a wandering deer performed by Mary and Haley...

The cautious inquisitiveness of Rachel and Emily’s black bird...

Day Three - Coopesilencio

Saturday we traveled to Coopesilencio in Quepos. This particular community works the land together – their main crop (rather large covering hundreds of hectáreas/acres) is the African palm plant. They sell the fruit from the plants for oil that is used in cosmetic crèmes. They also conduct ecological tours – hikes, rafting, etc. for visitors. The community does all the work; each person has a job and all the money goes back to their own community and their families. All decisions are made democratically. Our tour guide kept using the phrase, “We use our democracy.” I found this an interesting way of putting it. Though, I’m sure it’s an issue of translation, the phrase reminds me that sometimes in a democracy like the United States, we don’t always “use our democracy" effectively. I mentioned this and he reminded me that they are successful because they are a much smaller community, to which I uttered, “Think locally.” I couldn’t help but think about politics and admittedly, I wish I could have shut that part of my brain off and just appreciate the land and environment. Because we are humans though, I feel like we are all trying to understand (and some are trying to control) the environment with which we live. Going back to Tuan’s “Topophilia” I am again reminded that each person has a different perception of the world around them and with each interpretation, there’s bound to be differing power dynamics.

Regrettably I did not take pictures at Coopesilencio. A few other students were responsible for that documentation and I really wanted the opportunity to be free from holding a camera. I’m glad I gave myself permission because a lot of things swam through my head during that visit. For starters, I want to volunteer there for a week. I left wanting to really experience the actual work, the physicality required to simply live there. The following “timed writing” reflects my time in Coopesilencio:

Heat, beads of sweat running down my white freckled face. Fresh air – enjoy the breeze occasionally sweeping through the covered patio as we eat lunch. Fruit drink, cas, is now my favorite. Our tour guide is the first tico to prounounce the ‘sh’ in my name. He did not say ‘rashana,’ but he did say ‘shana.’ I was elated. Our guide walked us through trails and pointed out the ants carrying leaves back, spiders weaving webs – spiders are our friends, citronella plants, butterflies that camouflage themselves – this one looked like the bark of a tree. The trails are in great condition. Coopesilencio cares about their fellow creatures. The animals they have in pens are there to protect them; they were all domesticated animals whose owners could no longer take care of them - these animals can no longer exist in the wild. This is not to say that there aren’t monkeys in the wild at Coopesilencio. We saw much wildlife. The white-faced monkeys, monkeys, monkeys, monkeys – how they communicate! Barking, smiling, swinging, hugging.

My favorite thing about the tour was something our guide said that I’m not sure everyone heard, but was almost straight out of our readings of Tuan’s “Topophilia” and also Simone Forti’s “Animate Dancing.” He said, “Our eyes are not just for looking; they are for seeing. Our ears are not just for hearing; they are for listening.”

I will write more about how the Forti’s reading played out during the day, but I also want to include this excerpt from David Abram’s “Spell of the Sensuous.”

In the very earliest time

when both people and animals lived on earth,

a person could become an animal if he wanted to

and an animal could become a human being.

Sometimes they were people

and sometimes animals

and there was no difference.

All spoke the same language.

That was the time when words were like magic.

The human mind had mysterious powers.

A word spoken by chance

might have strange consequences.

It would suddenly come alive

and what people wanted to happen could happen-

all you had to do was say it.

Nobody could explain this:

That’s the way it was.

Here Abram was quoting ethnologist Knud Rasmussen to augment his discussion of Merleau-Ponty’s investigation of the “living experience of language – the way the expressive medium discloses itself to us when we do not pretend to stand outside it, but rather accept our inhererence within it, as speaking animals.” Watching those monkeys, not quite twelve of them as in our own party, I saw them as a community quite like the twelve of us students from OSU – each monkey having a personality and a role. While I could not pretend to know the full senses of monkeys as Tuan points out in his work, I felt like I got a general idea of their community. While I want to say that our group is not a group of monkeys hanging out, I’m not sure that it’s a bad thing altogether to admit.

What? The Internet Doesn't Exist Everywhere?

I've been lucky for the most part. I've found some time to hop on a wireless connection while here, but it's definitely intermittent - which explains why I haven't been able to post each day. And tonight, while the Internet is available, I'm going read instead and then get some sleep. It's been a long day of traveling to Vulcan Poas, creating inconspicuous dances, traveling back to San Jose for class where we created trios with the students of El Barco (muy bien!), interviewing two students, and then figuring out how to catch the correct bus back to Curridabat. Sonia had dinner ready for me when I returned. We spoke more Spanish and I shuffled to my bedroom to check in with David via chat.

Having and changing plans are all a part of traveling. This week has presented some wonderful lessons in problem solving. I secretly love it! Not to say that I love problems, but I love it when things work out. Everyone on the trip has been successful in getting to and from homes and classes without a problem. And we've been pretty good about communicating our needs. We're all looking out for each other - all the while getting to know each other's communication styles. (muy importante!)

I'm signing off for now to get some reading done and to see if I can convince a video to upload. Not sure if that will take all night or not, but I'll give it another try. (muy persistente!)

What Would Have Been Friday's Post - Day Two Part Two

Sonia walked me to ICADS, the organization who assigned our homestay families. Sonia sweetly blessed me before leaving me for the weekend. I missed her already.

It was great to see the rest of the group all back together safe and sound. Everyone shared how their first night with their host families went. I enjoyed seeing all the wide eyes and smiles. It was a great way to start a very full day.First up - Spanish Survival classes. As I said before, I don't know Spanish. With only two years of high school French, I found myself responding to questions a la francais. This hurt my brain. Cafe con leche to the rescue!
The four hour class was excelente. Our teacher didn't speak english, which was perfecto. I wish I had time for more. I might have to return to Costa Rica for another spanish immersion program!

Next up - an awesome, rejuvenating latin dance class with Roy Ramirez. I forgot just how much I love partner dances. Well I didn’t completely forget, but dancing with Roy made me swoon.

One, he is mucho guapo. Two, it reminded me of my very first teaching gig at Fred Astaire Dance Studios. The Latin dances were my favorite. I loved teaching Swing, Rumba, Cha Cha Cha and Tango. I wanted to dance all day. Lead, follow - whatever. It brought back warm happy memories of teaching social dances. I must admit I miss it.

We broke for lunch. Jimmy and Jose stopped by to say hi quickly and check on us. We were all so happy to see him; it seemed like forever since Ohio.

After lunch we got on a bus for a four hour ride to Manuel Antonio to begin the ecological side of our visit. Videos coming up next as long as the internet holds up!

What Would Have Been Friday's Post - Day Two Part One

(I've been keeping up via Word until I was able to reach the Internet again. So... here it goes.)

Last night was the third time I've read Yi-Fu Tuan's "Topophila," specifically the second chapter. I love the way it starts out because it reminds me why I am engaged in researching communities.

“The earth's surface is highly varied. Even a casual acquaintance with its physical geography and teeming life forms tells us as much. But the ways in which people perceive and evaluate that surface are far more varied. No two persons see the same reality. No two social groups make precisely the same evaluation of the environment.”

As I walked through Sonia’s house, she pointed out objects in her home and described their significance in Spanish, almost none of which I understood verbally, but mostly understood kinesthetically by her facial expressions. What I noticed:

• Her sister recently passed away and it was obvious that she missed her dearly.
• She loved the chocolate I brought her and that made us both very happy.
• Three birds – parakeets, maybe?
• Yellow roses and other beautiful plants that she made a point of mentioning represented her love for gardening.
• I now know that “Poco, poco” means “little bit, by little bit.” Sonia is very patient with my lack of Spanish.
• It seemed like my room might have been an addition to the main structure of the house or is that just my North American imagination?
• She made the most of her kitchen. It wasn’t large by U.S. standards, but it seemed like she had everything possible to make the most wonderful meals.
• She reminded me of my relatives, which made me feel really comfortable.

I’m curious about differences besides geography, age and language. I'm also curious if I'm really understanding her correctly. Hopefully I will have interview questions in español when I return from the weekend at Manuel Antonio. Here's where we're staying: http://www.verdemar.com/.

We made it to Costa Rica!

We made it to Costa Rica! It felt like a small miracle by the time we each were dropped off to our host families. Everything went fine; don't get me wrong. It was definitely a long day though preceded by most of us not sleeping the night before. Some of us are still a little sick from the stress of winter quarter. I suspect everyone's going to feel much better today; we're going to the pacific coast.

I went to bed early last night. I was beat and the food that my gracious host Sonia prepared (along with a cake decorated with my name!) was mucho delicioso and practically put me into a food coma. I heard she was a good cook and she definitely did not disappoint. (Let's see if I can get all this correct - yeah for google translate.) She served: crepes de pollo una salsa blanca y ensalada y platano asado. I was so excited when she asked me if I wanted cafe con leche because besides de bano and uno, dos, tres..... - that's about all the spanish I know. Ferdinand, our bus driver knows Sonia very well. He joined us for dinner. He doesn't really speak English either. From what I could understand, they wanted me to hear as much Spanish as possible. By the time Sonia explained how to operate the shower, I thought I could understand her words, even though I knew I didn't. She mimed to me that I turn the water on this way, let it wash over me quickly, turn the water off, soap up, turn the water on and rinse off - water is too precious to stand under it the whole time.

Before turning my light off, I went over our itineraries again to consolidate them. I have my own research itinerary, the itinerary from Norah Zuniga Shaw (our professor who made this trip possible) and the itinerary we received yesterday from ICADS (the Costa Rican study abroad organization). Some of the events have changed a little, which is bound to happen. There was a little uneasiness at first about the changes, but I am confident that everyone will adapt gracefully and I'm so anxious to hear about their first night with their homestay families. We're going to have a lot to share this morning!

Currently, it's a little after 5am. I've been up since before 4. (I really went to bed early!) Sonia said she'll knock on my door at 6am and breakfast will be at 7. More cafe con leche! Until then I will work on recording my thoughts about our first activity and the reading I did before going to bed. That will follow soon!

¡hasta luego

Correction!

It's been pointed out to me that in my earlier post about Costa Rica I said I was leaving for 10 weeks and I thought - "nah, no I didn't." Lo and behold I did! I must really need a break. I'm only leaving for 10 days. :-) See ya before the end of March!

First Game of the Season

Old news, but I just noticed the post and thought I would share.

Ohio Roller Girls

If you're in Columbus, the next bout is April 2. I probably won't play since I will have just gotten back from Costa Rica - but check us out anyway! It's a lot of fun! Plus, there's always great afterparties. ;-)

Okay, back to work I go....

Temporary Stress

It's been months since I last posted. Second year Winter Quarter is rough stuff. A lot of grant writing on top of everything else in graduate school. I'm taking a quick break while I transfer VHS footage to DVD in order to say hi there! Although I haven't posted much in a while, a lot has happened - more than I want to type in fact. The short news though is I leave Thursday the 17th for a ten week cultural exchange program in Costa Rica. I'm really excited although it really hasn't sunk in yet that I'm leaving the country. I have media projects and a ten page research paper to get finished and then I can get ready for some sun and dancing in Costa Rica. I can't wait!