Cooking class with Dona Olga
Caitlin enjoying the scenery
A typical street in Costa Rica- notice the dogs
At the highest point in Costa Rica
We arrived in Costa Rica on Sunday and have done so much already. We spent Sunday night getting to know the other volunteers and getting settled into the house. The house has the atmosphere of summer camp with bunk beds and people singing songs in unison. Monday morning we went on a tour of Cartago. The city is a little different than we expected... A few things that caught our attention were that all of the houses and buildings are fenced in and all of the windows have bars covering them (sounds creepy, but it's not), there are dogs EVERYWHERE (the dogs are accompanied by their droppings all over the sidewalks) and there are not any street signs which results in addresses being something like "100 meter north of the fancy house, then 50 meters west past the horse statue, across the bridge...etc" we have yet to find out exactly how their mail system works. The weather is cooler than we expected which is a nice surprise, and the food is way more delicious than we imagined.
Caitlin: I am working in the HIV clinic MWF and in an elderly community center TTh. At the HIV home I have helped with cleaning projects for half the day, and then activities for the patients the other half. At the elderly community center I get to assist the physical therapist and entertain the residents. My first day I got to dance with two old men which I later found out were flirting with me in Spanish. I could take this as creepy, but rather look at it as a compliment! Today was my second day at the home and when I walked in and said "Hola Donas" to all the women and they got huge smiles and said "HOLA!" followed by about 20 kisses on the cheek. I love them all!
Brittney: I have been working at Los Patitios which is a safe place for children in the slums to go while their mothers are working, since they don't really have access to a formal school. I have been teaching the children english and planning activities to keep them entertained. When I arrived I was greeted by 12 or so children running at me saying, "hello teacher". The children are amazing and so eager to learn and thankfull for any supplies I bring. They can get excited about a chewed up broken crayon. It is a lot of work keeping them busy, since nothing is planned, which I have come to find is sort of the Costa Rican way, but it is very rewarding.
We work from 7:30 am to 12:30 everyday then have the rest of the day to explore. So far we have taken 2 Spanish classes, a salsa dancing class and cooking class at our home base, then decided to join a local gym which offers spin classes in Spanish (of course). Yesterday we went on an excursion to the top of "Volcan Irazu" which is the biggest volcano in Costa Rica. Today on an excursion through the city, we stopped at the most famous church in Costa Rica and joined in on the custom of drinking holy water, however we did not crawl there like many of the Ticos. In the past week we have come to realize Costa Rica was the perfect place for us to volunteer because of the loving people, the beautiful scenery and not to mention the endless supply of delicious, fresh coffee! Stay tuned for next week including our weekend adventure to Arenal...
Caitlin: I am working in the HIV clinic MWF and in an elderly community center TTh. At the HIV home I have helped with cleaning projects for half the day, and then activities for the patients the other half. At the elderly community center I get to assist the physical therapist and entertain the residents. My first day I got to dance with two old men which I later found out were flirting with me in Spanish. I could take this as creepy, but rather look at it as a compliment! Today was my second day at the home and when I walked in and said "Hola Donas" to all the women and they got huge smiles and said "HOLA!" followed by about 20 kisses on the cheek. I love them all!
Brittney: I have been working at Los Patitios which is a safe place for children in the slums to go while their mothers are working, since they don't really have access to a formal school. I have been teaching the children english and planning activities to keep them entertained. When I arrived I was greeted by 12 or so children running at me saying, "hello teacher". The children are amazing and so eager to learn and thankfull for any supplies I bring. They can get excited about a chewed up broken crayon. It is a lot of work keeping them busy, since nothing is planned, which I have come to find is sort of the Costa Rican way, but it is very rewarding.
We work from 7:30 am to 12:30 everyday then have the rest of the day to explore. So far we have taken 2 Spanish classes, a salsa dancing class and cooking class at our home base, then decided to join a local gym which offers spin classes in Spanish (of course). Yesterday we went on an excursion to the top of "Volcan Irazu" which is the biggest volcano in Costa Rica. Today on an excursion through the city, we stopped at the most famous church in Costa Rica and joined in on the custom of drinking holy water, however we did not crawl there like many of the Ticos. In the past week we have come to realize Costa Rica was the perfect place for us to volunteer because of the loving people, the beautiful scenery and not to mention the endless supply of delicious, fresh coffee! Stay tuned for next week including our weekend adventure to Arenal...
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