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!