Week 2 in Costa Rica!

Brittney being hardcore again... and the two of us hanging out in the rainforest.

We cannot believe that almost two weeks have gone by! It is all going so fast. After an awesome weekend we were thrown back in to the "real" costa rica where no one speaks english and everybody stares when they see an American. It was incredibly refreshing to be back in our home in Cartago and we are begining to get the hang of things. We have finally figured out how to have a semi warm shower, which was a big acomplishment. We went to a kickboxing class with a woman we swear is named Olga and she kicked our butts. We also attended spin and our weekly dance class with Fabian:) After our hike in the Rainforest we have concluded that we have never seen so much green in our life, which means a lot coming from people who live in Seattle. While all the activities are great fun, they are slightly overshadowed by our awesome volunteer work. This week we began to really forge relationships with the people at our placements and are already dreading saying goodbye in a 3 weeks...

Brittney- This week I continued to work with pre-school age kids in the slums and it gets more and more fun as the kids open up. They are so loving and cute that it is hard to ever get mad at them, in fact, Dona Flory (the woman in charge) told me that I need to be much stricter with them! The challenges of the week were trying to keep the kids happy when they didn't have any food for lunch, trying to teach english during a rainstorm (the roof has many holes), and of course trying to understand what anyone is saying. I leave and my mind hurts from thinking so hard haha. The highlights of the week were teaching the kids all the shapes and colors in english, and now we are working on animals. The children are so eager to learn, it is weird to have kids ask to learn. Another highlight was having the kids imagine they were on a island with dinosaurs for HOURS. They have the wildest imaginations. Next week I will continue at Dona Flory's on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but on Tuesday and Thursday I am going to an actual school to teach English. I am excited to experience another aspect of volunteering. The other highlight of my week was discovering that my hair wasn't incredibly greasy because of the bad water pressure in Costa Rican showers but rather because I brought two conditioners...

Kimberly and Yesley posing for the camera

Photograph by a six year old... oh well the kids are cuter anyways

Picture of me and Rosa, when we took a walk to nearby park.

Caitlin: So far I have only been able to take pictures at San Rafiel Community Center for the elderly. I work here Tuesday and Thursday and upon arrival I had no idea what to expect from this placement. I kind of thought I would be purely creating activities to entertain a huge group of old folks.. And boy was I wrong. I spend most of my time assisting the physical therapist and I have developed relationships with so many of the residents. So many of them inspire me with their positive attitudes and hard work. One individual in particular has made a HUGE impact on me and I dare say he has changed my life. Here is the story of Milton: Milton had a stroke 8 years ago which caused paralysis on the left side of his body and two hip replacements. He has been in a wheelchair since. 11 months ago the PT proposed the idea to Milton that he should start trying to walk again. It took 10 months of convincing and doing exersizes to build up muscle in his legs to get him to try. When I arrived last Tuesday, Milton was struggling with walking between parallel bars, by Thursday he was walking around the room with a walker, this Tuesday he made it up 6 stairs, and today he walked around the room with only a cane. The PT told us Milton comes in every single day and works harder than any other resident. I am not suppose to pick favorites, but Milton is definitely my favorite. Besides his hard work he has a one of a kind personality, I think he actually tries not to smile but cant help it when I walk in and say "HOLA MILTON!" in my very american accent. Today, the physical therapist told me Milton never says more than one line at a time, but today he talked to me for a good 5 min (I dont think he understands I dont speak Spanish). Our conversation included him asking me if I had a boyfriend, me saying no, him pointing to himself, then him telling me sorry, but he is too old for me. Haha. Then he continued with a more serious tone. The stroke effected his speech as well, but the part the PT could understand was that Milton was telling me to be grateful for everything I have and my good health and to enjoy my life because it is just beginning...

THIS IS MILTON WALKING WITH HIS CANE!!!!!