“Sandwiched by Gringos” (5/12/2010)

As announced through Facebook, I finally received my site assignment! For the next 2 years, I will be living in MonteCarlo de Cajon in Perez Zeledon. There is much to say about the beauty of Perez Zeledon; but until you have seen San Jose, the beauty of Perez Zeledon cannot be understood. Think Cinderella and her ugly step sisters: San Jose is loved by the stepmother but Perez Zeledon is prettier and kinder.

As I write this, stories of the past week continue to pop up. So please excuse me beforehand for the randomness of this blog.

“Mommy has always wanted a brown daughter.” First, this past Thursday, PC took the trainees and their counterparts (members of the communities that will host and work with us). As in PC tradition, things are never as simple as: This is your Counterpart. Instead, we had to find our counterparts by asking questions. After finding Maureen (counterpart / sister) and spending the day conversing, she made a phone call to her mother. “Mami, the volunteer is exactly what you wanted.” She hangs up the phone and explains that her mother has always wanted a morenita (brown girl). When Maureen and her sisters were born, the mother was disappointed that they were blancas. Therefore, the mother is very happy to have me living with her. I died laughing and made a mental note to share this, particularly with Collette. I wasn’t insulted or even shocked.

As far as I’m concerned, I’ve had the most positive, welcoming experience with my complexion. I’ll put it like this: If I didn’t already know that black / brown was beautiful, Ticos have boldly remarked on the beauty of my skin. Example: Standing at the bus stop at noon, a random person states that my brown is the most beautiful color that she has ever seen, especially with the sun reflecting off of it. But I share this because it reflects the bluntness of Ticos.

“Sandwiched by Gringos.” Heading to my site for a week signified a new phase in my Peace Corps service. First and foremost, it marks the transition from Trainee to Volunteer. After swearing in on May 21, I will be living amongst Ticos and speaking Spanish 98% of the time. Seeing Americans & / or my fellow volunteers will require that we make arrangements to meet up in the nearest city or wait until official Peace Corps training. Or at least I thought this before arriving in my new site.

Seventy percent of my new site is owned by foreigners. A Swiss families owns a large farm and employs majority of the town. Actually, this family established the town by bringing the original families to the area in order to work the farm. The farm’s main product in coffee, but it also has sugar cane. Who owns the other 30%? Not quite sure. There are 300 permanent residents and I suspect that majority of them own their land. But interesting enough, my 3 closest neighbors are….Gringos!! While two of them own property and come to Costa Rica for vacations, the third neighbor is a Returned Peace Corp Volunteer (he served in Peru, Jamaica and a 3rd country) and lives here year long.

Best View in Costa Rica. When revealing our site assignments, my program director gave me a couple descriptions: 1) I have the best view in Costa Rica and 2)My family spends all of its time on the back porch. He definitely understated the beauty of my new site! I didn’t take photos of the new site, but trust me, it is absolutely gorgeous! My entire site is on a slight incline with only three road. My house lies off of the main road with the front porch facing the road. But the back porch overlooks La Valle de el General. The family eats EVERY meal on the back porch. There is also a hammock and I have claimed it as my thrown, so useful for watching sunsets and sunrises.

Get on the scale! My final night of site visit summed up my new life with my host family. While eating dinner, my host brother brings the Mom a shirt to be ironed. The Mom looks at him and then brings out the scale. While weighing him, my host sister reveals another of the Mom’s secrets: to fatten me up. YIKES!!!

El trabajo. While the visit was overall pleasant, it also demonstrated that I actually have a job to do. My job title is even more defined by the community’s expressed needs: build a new clinic; new ebais; school cafeteria; computer knowledge; youth group; women’s group; English. The only thing that concerns me is building things. Sidenote: I won’t physically be building anything! If I am involved in infrastructure, it will entail that I help the community petition different government agencies for funds and approval to build. While I explain my role in building to you, its more so something that I will have to explain to my community: the role of the volunteer.

But that’s jumping ahead (building things.) My first 3 months will be spent completing a diagnostic of the community: attending meetings, identifying and helping the community to prioritize the needs; and identifying the resources (human capability as well as financial and goods), interviewing people, etc…

I think that this random collection of stories/thoughts describes my site visit. If not, no worries. Two years to fill in the blanks!