Mi Casa y Escuela

{Our kitchen table}

{An example of some of the delicious fresh veggies from the farm}

{A peek at the courtyard garden at my school}

{The entryway to my school}

{The fruit and veggie tree in the kitchen at my Tica house}

{The new little quail-like birds my family bought for eggs}

{The fountain at my school}

{The courtyard and classrooms at my school}

{The side area of my house where the laundry is done and where there are lots of plants and storage}

{A view from above of the side area of the house with a peek at some plátanos}

{a really grainy photo (sorry my camera sucks in dim light) of my host moms sewing shop upstairs}

{A view from the top area of the house, the little window with the white lacy curtains is my room}

{Our sink where all of the dish washing happens}

{The upper area of the house where the laundry is put to dry}

{More drying laundry}

{A dinner of rice and beans and pork and squash salad and tortilla (sorry the color sucks again)}

{Our kitchen!}

{My mama ticas! Left is mama Ana, middle is family friend Graciela, and right is mama Rosie}

{Another view of the upper area of the house}

{Some food in the kitchen, sorry for the graininess again}

{More kitchen views}

          My goodness it has been a while since I updated! It's so hard to find time to be honest with you. I don't have easy access to internet and when I do, I don't have time to upload photos to blog because the internet is pretty slow. I have been coming to this little ice cream/pastry shop on the weekends because they have free wifi and cheap coffee and tasty donuts. I posted some more photos of the inside of my house to better show where I am living. I still need to take a photo of the outside view! It's an all green house, like everything is completely green. My house is feeling so much like home. My moms are so sweet and Ana's cooking is the bomb, although I am secretly afraid I'm going to gain about 50 pounds here because she feeds me so much! Plus Costa Rican food is heavy on starch, but oh well, I'm just gonna enjoy it for now and deal with consequences when I get back I guess. Even though my life with this family is pretty old-lady-like (sleeping at 9:30 and getting up at like 5:30 or 6 everyday) I am loving it. I am even getting into the telenovelas in the evenings! Although I still can't really understand what is going on very well. Also fun fact, Costa Ricans don't like peanut butter and don't really ever eat it. They think it is hilarious/strange that I eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and thought it was so funny when I showed them the classic snack of celery with peanut butter. To each their own I suppose. 

       A lot has happened since I last wrote. I went to Nicaragua for a week, I have gone out a few times to the local bars, and my birthday! Plus lots more that I haven't mentioned. I will hopefully get a post up of my visit to Nicaragua. The going-out here has been pretty interesting. The styles here are very different but sometimes very similar. There seems to be a general consensus in a lot of style groups that tighter is better, and shorter is better, no matter the body type. We went to this reggaeton bar last night and the style of everyone was like 90's and early 2000's wrappers and music videos. I don't even understand how some of those dresses covered all their body parts, nor how the girls walked in the some of the heels. There is also a "hipster" style here that mimics the US a bit with a mix of grunge in there. And there is also the brand name style where guys wear tight pants and tight Hollister polos. Also, everyone wears like 10 pounds of cologne and perfume. It's funny though because most bars are in some ways very similar to the US. People are shy to start dancing and everyone just kinda sticks to their bubble of people. I assumed before coming here that it would be the opposite because everyone warned me that guys are more aggressive here, etc. However, the only change in "aggression" has been the occasional cat call on the streets but not much more. The music is funny though, it's a lot of remixed popular American hip-hop songs with latin beats, or just plain American pop songs. Although, the few times I have danced with people they are all good dancers! They actually spin you around and lead you a bit and have good rhythm. Lots of people dance merengue and salsa here and it reflects in their free style dancing too.

        I decided where I am going to do my internship. I will be heading back to Nicaragua to work for a women's rights and health organization called Grupo de Mujeres Sacuanjoche. It is located in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, which is a medium sized city. I really liked the city when I visited and am super excited to be there again. My only worry is that I got sick last time I was there because the water there has a lot of bacteria my body isn't used to yet. Hopefully my body built up a little more immunity since I was sick and I won't have to run to the bathroom every half and hour. I need to avoid uncooked veggies, un-bottled water, and ice. I drank a lot of gatorade when I was there last time too because I got so dehydrated from using the bathroom all the time. I also will be bringing my peanut butter so if worse come to worse I can eat peanut butter and crackers for a while until I adjust. 

        I will be sad to leave my Tica family, but I know this organization and experience in Nicaragua will be eye-opening. I'll try to update again soon with more photos of my visit to Nicaragua and my visit to the family farm!! I'm so behind! Oh well! Until next time, more adventures await!