Lists

Wow...it's been almost 3 weeks since I posted! A lot has happened in those 3 weeks--midterms, break with my mom and aunt and a tough week back in San Jose.

I know this is a departure from my usual pictures and week summary, but I just wanted to share what's actually going on in my life. While break was just that--an awesome, refreshing time--it made it hard to come back here to San Jose. Due to a scheduling mix-up, I wound up having to leave Guanacaste a day before my mom and aunt, which upset me more than it probably should have. Being with my mom made it seem like I should be going home with her. Facing 6 more weeks of being away was hard. Even back in San Jose with my super sweet host family, I was feeling very alone. This week on the whole has been tough--we've had long field trips, long lectures and cold food (because the field trips went too long). I got sick on Thursday and felt under the weather today. Even being back together with my friends from the program, I've been feeling alone. The problem with living in the city without transportation is that it's hard to get together with friends--public transport is only safe until a certain hour, it's a bummer to go out in the rain and taxis can be expensive.

God's been using this alone time and hard week to teach me things though. At the beginning of the week, when i was really missing home and Duke, I read a post from my friend Bethany, who's in Ecuador.. You can check it out here if you want: Live In Joy. She's been having a rough semester too, but she decided to make lists of reasons to be joyful. I stole that idea and this week have been keeping a list of things that God says I am, based on what I read every morning. I just read through them tonight and went back to her blog post. So I thought I'd copy not only her title, but also make a few lists of my own.

Things I'm thankful for
1. Friends who are vulnerable and thus encouraging
2. My relationship with my mom--I'm privileged to have her as a a friend.
3. Great friends here who take care of me when I'm feeling under the weather.
4. A very sweet host mom who made me tea and fed me saltines last night.
5. Skype, gchat and itunes that let me talk to friends back home and keep up on Summit sermons.

God says I am:
1. Redeemed because of His great love (Ephesians 2:4)
2. Forgiven for His name's sake (1 John 2:12)
3. His child (1 John 3:1)
4. Heard by the Most High (Psalm 77)
5. The recipiennt of an imperishable undefiled and unfading inheritance (1 Peter 1)

From Rica to Nica and back again!

Note: written on a bus somewhere between the Nicaraguan border and Arenal. 

It’s been another whirlwind week! It’s only taken me half a semester to realize that all of our weeks are whirlwinds.

On Tuesday we left home sweet Las Cruces and headed to San Jose. We stayed at the same hotel as we did on the way in, and eagerly ate dinner at the most American place we could find (Pizza Hut for me!) Then we had a bit of time to work on group projects. I’ve learned that writing a 12 page paper with 7 people is harder than writing a 12 page paper by myself. We have sooooo many group projects here. For example just this week we had our mini research project (8 people), a market observation and write-up (5 people) and our long-term research proposal (4 people). Trying to coordinate all of that, especially when different groups are meeting at different times can definitely be a challenge!

Anyway, Wednesday, after only 4 hours of sleep (that sounds more like Duke than anything else), we boarded our bus to Nicaragua. There was much loading and unloading as we all realized last minute that we needed to keep out clinic appropriate, as in not my pj pants, clothes for once we got to Nica. We managed to get on the road by 4:00, and were at the border by 8:00. It took a while to cross, but definitely not as long as it could have. We entertained ourselves with mind games…like “how many agoudi?”

After crossing the border, we ate lunch at a kind of sketchy Chinese place, but everyone survived without food poisoning. We wandered around town for a bit and then changed clothes and headed to Nicaraguan clinic so that we could compare it to what we’d seen in Costa Rica. I won’t bore you with the details, but I will say that I was shocked at how politicized everything has become in the last few years since I was here last. The president’s logo, font, colors and face are all over everything…even health care forms, educational literature and hospital buildings. It’s an election year, which I’m sure exacerbates that, but still…he’s everywhere.

Our time in Nicaragua was a little more relaxed than in Costa Rica. We stayed at a very nice hotel in Granada—it had a beautiful pool, comfy beds and big, non-lumpy pillows which made me very happy. We were able to do more touristy things, too. Our trip included a visit to the craft market in Masaya (which I’ve been to 5 times now), a visit to Volcan Masaya (also for the fifth time, and after writing an entire semester’s worth of essays and editorials about it) and a boat ride on Lake Nicaragua—something new! We got to see monkeys on the boat ride, which was lots of fun, but I got a bit sunburned! 

Sunday was our day off, and I spent a lot of it working. Our TV got American football though, so that was on in the background, making it feel a little more like fall. Sunday evening, Allison, Bre and I went to mass at a gorgeous church in the downtown square and then got ice cream for dinner on the way back. My eating habits have severely deteriorated in Nicaragua—there’s a bigger risk of getting food poisoning and you can’t drink the water, so safe things to eat are bread products, chips, ice cream and soda. There weren’t a whole lot of vegetables this week. We did, however, find a Greek place for lunch on Sunday and I got my hummus fix!

Now we’re on our way back to Costa Rica and I have to start thinking in Colones again instead of Cordobas. This week we have a couple of classes, but mostly we’re studying for midterms (which happen on Friday) and finishing our research proposals. Then we have Saturday off, and on Sunday, my mom and Aunt Sarah come to visit! I can’t wait to have a week off relaxing and exploring Costa Rica!

And we thought it was rural before

After a week of actually "roughing it" being back in the middle of the jungle with a mattress, hot water and the ability to watch the gamecast of the Duke vs. FIU game seems luxurious!
Las Alturas
We started out in Las Alturas--a small community owned by the inventor of an internet security system. It's an odd little place, with 40 families living in what basically amount to company houses. The interesting thing is that there is no industry in Las Alturas--the reason the owner bought the land was to preserve it, but people still live and work there, helping with reforestation and also doing some experimental organic farming. Basically, it's a little world that the owner gets to manipulate...but not necessarily in a bad way. The people living in Las Alturas seem to really like him--he comes in occasionally via helicopter to check up on things.

Our purpose in being there was to be the EBAIS team in the clinic for a few days. They are not a big enough community to have a full-time EBAIS in their town, so they have a "Casa de Salud" that the EBAIS team visits monthly. We worked in three groups of eight. Our group spent Tuesday morning in the clinic triaging patients and doing some hand washing education with school kids.

She was precious!

Hand washing education

Racing to put hand-washing steps in the right order

 Tuesday afternoon, we performed the ATAP's duties--going house to house and collecting information from each family about the last time they had vaccines, their living conditions, other risk factors, etc.

ATAPing

Wednesday morning, we hiked near our little cabin in the woods, working on identifying plant families. (There were no cute children, so no pictures.)

It was definitely close quarters--our living room, class room and dining room were all the same place and we had 12 people to each very small bunk room. There was also no hot water, because of the lack of electricity and it was VERY cold at night. Nevertheless, it felt kind of like a camping trip! There's nothing quite like eating breakfast and dinner with your professors while in your pajamas (this only happened one day...the other days were just breakfast in PJs) or making s'mores over a campfire and having it be the only light for miles and miles.

Little House in the Big Wood

Update: Duke won!

Boruca
After Las Alturas, the indigenous community of Boruca seemed like civilization! At least there was electricity and headlamps were not a necessary part of our tooth-brushing tool kit. This was a whirlwind trip! The Brunka (the people who live in Boruca) have an arts-based economy, meaning that most of their income comes from crafts that they make and sell to vendors in San Jose and other parts of Costa Rica. For this reason, we spent quite a bit of time learning about their artisan techniques--dying our own white clothing and getting to paint a small version of their traditional masks. In addition, we also developed, executed and presented an entire research project within the span of 50 hours! Our group's project was to research the agricultural techniques used by the Brunka as well as their access to land for farming. While the research required a LOT of walking to various farms it was really interesting to spend time with farmers walking around and learning about the things that they grow.

On a transect walk--a participatory research method in which we walked around with a farmer as he showed us different crops and techniques.

Upcoming week
We are now back at Las Cruces until Tuesday when we head back to San Jose. Then at 4:00 a.m. Wednesday morning we leave for Nicaragua! After that is another week of classes, studying and then midterms. Then break and I get to see my mom!  

Adios electricity, hot water and internet

Based on how regularly I post, I could probably be without internet for a week and no one would know the difference, nevertheless, I thought I’d tell you a bit about where I’ll be next week and what I’ll be doing.

Tomorrow morning we leave bright and early for Las Alturas—a rural community about 2.5 hours from Las Cruces.  We will all (students, professors and cooks) be staying in one large 30 person house with two bunk rooms and no electricity. While I’m not looking forward to the close quarters and cold showers, I am excited for what we’ll be doing in Las Alturas. Tuesday and Wednesday we will be opening the clinic in Las Alturas with us serving as nurses and medical records technicians while one of our professors acts as the doctor. When we aren’t at the clinic (we won’t all fit at once), we will go house to house with one of our other professors filling out “fichas familiares” or family surveys. These surveys note the condition of each family’s house, their water supply source, how they cook, how many people live in the house, whether or not they’ve had all their vaccines, etc.. These surveys then become part of their medical records and help the healthcare providers monitor health risks.

After our three days in Las Alturas, we’ll be heading to the Boruca territory (a group of indigenous people). There we’ll be doing homestays, some research and we’ll get to participate in some cultural activities like dying fabric using natural dyes.

Saturday we head back to Las Cruces, and then next week we go on to Nicaragua to renew our visas and explore a new country! Our weeks are still packed, but I’m looking forward to having more hands on experience and fewer lectures!

Riding on the struggle bus

I write a lot about buses don't I?  Despite all my previous stories, I think this past weekend takes the cake. But first the non-struggle part of the trip.

Since we had two days off this weekend, Allison, Bre and took a quick trip up to Monte Verde--a could forest about five hours away by bus. We arrived around noon, checked into our hostel (super cute with a kitchen!) and explored the small town of Monte Verde. It's mostly a destination for backpackers, so even though it's a tourist destination, it's mostly hostels, locally owned restaurants and adventure companies. We at lunch at soda (little restaurant that cooks typical food) and the owner's two-year-old daughter brought us our silverware. It was so cute!

Now some pictures to summarize:

The trip was not devoid of work...the 3000 page Tropical Disease book also made the trip

Our hostel had a kitchen, so we got to cook dinner and breakfast for ourselves! 

We spent the evening playing cards, but went to bed at 9:00 like old ladies!

Sunday morning we walked through the canopy of the cloud forest on suspension bridges...it was a long way down!

After our hike/walk, we were soaked because in a rain forest it tends to RAIN! So we made it back to town and went to buy our bus tickets. There was a small problem, however...when we asked for tickets back to San Jose the man selling them told us there were no spots left! He suggested a different route, through another town but couldn't guarantee that we could make it back Sunday night. The only other option we had was to take a five hour bus ride standing room only. So stand we did...out in the rain waiting for the bus, eating our lunch, and then on the bus. Fortunately, there was space to put our backpacks down and sit on them. It was an adventure...a very damp adventure, but we made it back to San Jose!

Now we're back in Las Cruces doing lots of classroom work before spending a week living without electricity in a more rural area...more on that next time!

As seen on the Cedros bus

Since I'm a city girl and take the bus to and from school every day, I've had my share of interesting experiences...some have made me smile, others have made me laugh, still others have made me cringe. So here they are:

• A man carrying a trash bag full of individually packaged plantain chips who has apparently decided that buses are a great customer base. With a captive audience, I suppose he's right.
• After the chip incident, I was suspicious of anyone walking on the bus with more than a backpack. I didn't really think a drum was anything to be concerned about, but when the man carrying it decided to stop right next to my seat and proceeded to launch into a soliloquy and song about life on the banana plantations I was clearly proven wrong. 
• More soliloquizing later in the week when a woman got on the bus, stood in front and told the sad, sad tale of how she was from Chile, but shortly after arriving in Costa Rica had all of her belongings stolen. I guess I have to give credit for creative panhandling. 
• A more smile-worthy observation was the morning that two men got up to give their seats to middle aged women. 
• On the more laughable end of the spectrum is the German student (also taking Spanish at CRLA) in manpris and popped collar awkwardly trying to stand up on the bus.
• And finally on the weird end are the couples I see EVERY DAY blatantly making out on the bus. Apparently PDA is acceptable here? Let's just say it's kind of awkward when that's going on in the seat in front of you and in the seat behind you. 

Ahhh...city life. I'm not so sure I'll miss it when we back at Las Cruces.

Schedules!

To make up for my lack of posting last week and what I'm sure will be limited posting next week, here's a picture of my schedule for next week. (Because if there's anything I like more than a list, it's a schedule.