Notes

First I must say I´m very proud of Drew for the poem he wrote. It´s seriously a legit poem, and shows far more sensibility and awareness than I ever had at that age. One day I´ll post it on here, because if you read it, you´d think he´d walked the streets of Orosi too.

Day 6
Amazingly gratifing experience teaching English to Pablo and Randy. I´ve never seen kids so eager to learn. Even Luz cracked and let me know she wishes she sould have learned English.

When my host family smiles, they always mean it. They get immesurable excitement just from expressing their curiousities to me.

Day 7
San Jose. Poverty without charm. As Dave Eggers described it, Office buildings of the sitxties steel and glass ercetor set sort, flimsy and forgettable. The road was 5 lanes wide and was jammed but moving. San Jose looked like LA circa 1973...(from The Only Meaning of Oil Wet Water)

Highlight. 20 minutes alone with a cabby in San Jose. We had a full, dynamic, responsive dialogue. He told me in Spanish that I speak very well. I would never have dreamed that 6 days after stepping foot in this country I would hear that. He seemed to like that I was here to teach English. Any thoughts or doubts about our purpose here, any worries about imperialism, were softened today.

The beautiful beautiful unattractive woman at the Ministry of Education.
This government building would hardly draw attention amoungst trailer homes. Simple, ugly, unkempt. But within, we heard a speech that nearly brought me to tears. In 100% Spanish, a large woman stood in front of our group, and unapologetically began to speak. She said how wonderful it is to have us here, how she hopes we love her beautiful country, its people, and its cuisine. She said the heat is good, cause we will sweat out our hamburger grease. She said the rain is good cause it allows the fruit to grow. She said the people we will be teaching are poor, very poor, but beautiful, strong of heart, honest, interminable of spirit, hard working, and that we will see how grand they smile, and we will wonder how they can smile when they have so little, but we will quickly learn that what they have through family is really all they, or anyone, needs to laugh and to smile. My heart, like those in the volunteer group around me, was beaming.

House notes.
My family plays the radio, loud, every morning around 5am. I know the time only by watching the light creep slowly down the wall of my room. I haven´t used a clock all week.

Also, I learned my first real Ticoism yesterday. Turns out, it´s ok to eat fried food such as fried chicken or french fries, on a consistent basis...so long as you eat salad, rice, and beans. They cancel each other out. Thank you, Doña Luz.

Day 8.
Hilarious, beautiful afternoon with the families at our thank you party. I don´t understand why the families don´t eat the food we provide, but instead hoard it and take it home. They don´t seem to be that much in need, and this little act is apparently a social taboo as well. There´s definitely more going on behind the secnes with these families than I´m able to observe.

Finally. Dave Eggers, in the short story mentioned above, uses Costa Rica as the plot local for a story about pretending to be that which you are not. Many tourists come to Costa Rica, daily, in real life, and continue their lives in comfort, never seeing the true heart of this country. What this place is in tourist brouchures says nothing about its true character and real problems. Kids here have such innocent and genuine, but shy smiles. Moms are quiet, proud, oak like, and humble. This is not what the tourists see in Costa Rica.

San Jose tonight, Llano Bonito tomorrow. I could do without ever seeing San Jose again.