Directions

So before I tell you about my weekend let me first just explain how "addresses" work here. There isn't really any such thing as an address, just a "direction." For example 175 meters south of the church or 25 meters west and 75 meters north of the old factory. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. For example, this is the mailing address for one of the houses here in Orosi:

Contiguo del Hotel "Reventazon" casa blanca 2 plantas = Adjacent to the Reventazon Hotel, white house with 2 stories

So in other words get a compass and good sense of distance and the ability to ask people where something is if you want any chance of finding something. And don't send anything in the mail you're not willing to lose or wait a really long time for.

This weekend I made my visit to my permanent site. First time traveling solo in the country. Pretty exciting, interesting and only a little nerve-wrecking. We got directions as a group on how to get to Cartago (thankfully I didn't need to go to San Jose... some people's sites are at least 8 hours away by bus) My directions once in Cartago were to go to the Plaza Iglesia and essentially just ask at least three people where the stop for Frailles is. You have to ask at least three people because Ticos will sometimes tell you something just to be nice even if they don't know. So after asking about 15 people I had 7/8 split between two locations that the bus might arrive. I chose the one that seemed most likely to be north of the Colegio (also part of my original directions) and finally my bus arrived.... in the form of a yellow school bus.

Unlike the bench seats of a regular school bus this one had an extra wide middle aisle and pairs of 12 inch by 12 inch seats with about 6 inches between the end of the seat and the seat in front of it. Picture me with my freakishly long legs and two huge back packs trying to squeeze into that with about 65 ticos. It wasn't the most comfortable ride but the views were amazing winding up and down mountain sides. At least halfway there I realize it was unclear how I was supposed to know when to get off... it's not like stops are announced or clearly marked. When I did manage to get off at the right stop I realized I didn't remember my host family's names or know what they looked like. Being the only gringa on the bus helped and when I got off a woman came up to me and asked "Es nueva teacher?" I said "si" and figured this must be the right person. She told me to follow her and continued talking away in Spanish. I had no idea what she was saying but was trying to keep up so I kept saying "si." We met a young woman and her two children. We proceeded to approach and enter a car (which I later found out was a pirate taxi) and as I went to put my bags in the trunk I realized I had NO idea if this was my family or not. It struck me as strange but only mildly concerning. I couldn't exactly ask them partly due to my limited Spanish but mostly because I was pretty sure it had already been explained to me and I had agreed to this. I figured if they weren't my family that they would probably take me to them.

Well it turned out they are my family and the house is gorgeous. I live with a husband and wife and their daughter Kimberly who is probably in her late teens/early twenties. The young woman we met is their daughter-in-law who lives with their two grandchildren Daniel and Maria in the next town over. The communication was pretty difficult. They speak a lot faster and with a slightly different accent so I felt pretty frustrated for the first few hours. For the first 5 or 10 minutes (or whenever someone new came over the house) they talked about how tall and white I am. That much I understood. They also talked a lot about last years volunteer (who was clear shorter, darker and better at Spanish since she just left) but I guess it's just something to talk about, nothing against me :)

There was some confusion about which room I wanted. There are two rooms joined by a curtain and they put me in the smaller room. I was unclear if they were asking whether I wanted a door there or a new room all together. My director talked to them and it turns out that the volunteer last year had a bigger bed but they decided to cut it in half for when their grandchildren sleep over and wanted to give me the bigger bed. You read that correctly. They cut a mattress in half. I will investigate further and send picture evidence because this still baffles/amuses me a little.

There are lots of the plants and trees growing around the house not to mention the ubiquitous coffee plants EVERYWHERE on the mountains. They also own about 27 birds. Seven or so small birds in cages in the house, 8 or 10 more in a big cage outside and 10 or 12 chickens and roosters outside as well. In other words I'll be getting up with the sun from now on! I'm also going to be getting TONS of exercise on these "hills." I took a walk to the school in the morning and thought I was having a heart attack! It really is uphill both ways! Despite the newness of it I'm looking forward to going back and getting to know everyone better (and improving my Spanish!) Also can't wait to see my classroom and start teaching!!!