costa rican life

HELLLO! everythings been going really well here. in the past week, lou and i have made a better effort to see the town and become a part of life at the school and in monteverde. we have pretty much come to the ultimatum that we would rather spend our time with the ticos than the interns at the school. the other 2 volunteers that we love are leaving after this week... so we will be lonely, but apparently we are getting in groups of 20 kids at a time for a couple weeks straight.

last saturday (on valentine´s day) was a fundraiser race for the school at which lou and i volunteered as street guards. we met the cutest puppy at our stand that we named miel (honey in spanish). lou got to be a crossing guard again, but the traffic was only about 2 cars, 10 runners, a 4-wheeler, some motorcycles, and about 100 dogs. the street dogs are precious, but half of them are pregnant, and the other half follows us around.

the ice cream is really good. and so are the mangos. and we are both getting pretty tan!

lou finished all 3 of his books but has his little brother axel to keep him occupied. all. the. time. i get lonely because my family is so used to volunteer´s doing their own thing. and i miss the family life of the croitoru house. and actually the gemunden house as well.

MY favorite experience so far was riding HORSES down a mountainside. our boss at school named milton had a friend who let us ride horses on his farm about a half hour away from town. we rode on a rocky path about 2 feet wide on horseback with absolutely no instruction. and a guide who did not say a word to us and only made kissing noises to the horses to make them move. lous horse would constantly stop in front of mine teasing my horse (named imperial... the most beautiful one hehe) to get ahead. as soon as mine would get close, lou´s would start up again. poor vanessa cried because her horse was crazy and almost threw her off... but the four of us had a great time. we rode down to natural hotsprings in the forest where we got to spend the afternoon.

we love you and miss you. next week we will be at the BEACH! school is on vacation... so we will try to find an internet place closeby, otherwise you will hear from us in a little over a week.

More Family

It has surprised me how similar my new family in Costa Rica is to mine at home. I have a mother and father (Esperanza and Melvin) who married each other after previously being divorced with 2 kids from Melvin and 3 from Espe. So now, there are 5 kids (Natalie, Melany, Beatriz, Eduardo, Alonso) and me. And actually, both of the boys have the same name, but when the parents got married, they had to call one of them by their middle name... It is a cozy house, but everyone has their own room (about the size of Stine´s room) in a two story house right across from Lou. I can see everything that goes on in Lou´s house right from my window. And I watch. All day. All night... when he is not around. just kidding... All of the kids go to school with me except Melany who attends public school. Esperanza also joins us on the bus and is a kindergarden teacher at CEC. Melvin is a carpenter/ construction worker. TOBY is my favorite part of my new home. He is the little puppy who lives right outside and occasionally gets brought in to chew up the furniture and snap at our ankles. Today he tried to eat my book. and both my legs. So I am finally getting comfortable, and learning to use my excellent Spanish skills (thank you señora)... But it is much more difficult than I would have hoped, especially with English speaking kids in the house.

Miss you all! We will try to update once a week at least.

love,
rachel

Family

My family has a small house across the street from Rachel´s and a nice dog named Uvenall. The dad´s name is Rafa and is a quiet hardworking man who works at the Hotel in Monteverde most of the day and then again for the nightshift. Today I went with Rafa and my brother Erol (20ish) to go play soccer at the turf pitch up the mountain. Rafa is 50 and still absolutely incredible. He scored the most goals on our team with Erol coming in at close second. All the guys there were very nice and we ended up playing for most of the morning. My sister Adreina (16) was still asleep when we left in the mornign. She had been skating at the local disco the night before. My other sister, Hannia (17) is usually the one who spends the night out, but last night she was home for the first night since I arrived and we both had dinner together. The oldest sister, La M, has a little boy named Axel who has made me his new older brother. She is a chef at one of the hotels as well. Axel and I usually spend the day playing soccer but because of the rain and the fact that the ball got stuck in the sewer, we have been playing a lot inside. The mom is just called Mama by everyone and is hilarious. She laughs at everything and keeps everyone in line. Every meal I have about 3 times a human portion of rice and beans and something else on the side. She is teaching me how to make all the amazing fruit juices of Costa Rica. Yesterday, I saw my first cockroach in our house, which kept me up most of the night, but our house is clean and small so I am not tooo worried. Every morning Axel and I walk to the bus stop together, with Rachel always barely catching the bus with her sister. My family here is wonderful and has adopted me into their home but I still find myself missing my family at home and all the comforts I didnt realize I enjoyed so much. The shower here is a bit mean but I am learning how to deal with cold water. Next month is mango season so I plan on eating only mangos for a month straigth. The family says they have an Aunt who has a field of trees and I can get a huge sack full of mangos to keep in my room.

lou

the first REAL post

So Lou forgot his password to the other blog :)
We have been here for a good week now, after months looking forward to this trip. More than 24 hours of travelling... and Lou sitting with microscopes on his lap covered with my blankey for the majority of our time in the air. But the science teacher and volunteer coordinator just about fell over when they saw that we had brought them. Go Hanover.

The first week of work has been hard but enjoyable and the two of us now have our fair share of blisters, sunburn, and sore muscles. We are currently in a little period of rain that should be over by tomorrow. Most of the first week it was raining a bit but it didnt bother us much. The school here that we are working at is called the Cloud Forest School and is probably the greatest school in the world, even though the kids all act like they would at any other school. The school is located at the top of the hill and from the front porch that we eat lunch on everyday you can see the Pacific Ocean. There are two other nice volunteers that we spend our days working with named Vanessa and Connor(both about 25). They met at a Shins concert so obviously we like them alot. Vanessa is a massage therapist and Connor used to work for an environmental engineering firm but quit his job. Together they are working with us for the month, raking trails in the rainforest, painting houses, teaching environmental edudation classes, and ruining all our clothes.