Ahhh...la playa and good company.

Well, I don't think it's any surprise that for the last two weeks my work load has been lighter.  It's been nice, although I'm still doing stuff here and there, not having English class or PDM has just been a huuuuuuge relief.  I feel like my vacation to the U.S. is going to be a bit whirlwind, and so it's nice to take a few days here to recuperate.  For instance, I read a whole book in like, two days.  Also, I blow-dried and straightened my hair and painted my nails.  I went to go see some friends at two seperate sites.  The overwhelming feeling that I have is profound gratitude to my subconscious for not making me feel stressed or guilty for being out of site.

I know it may sound silly, but for a few months every time that I wasn't doing something specifically Peace Corps related, every time that I wasn't out and about and being social, every time that I wasn't planning or preparing for something a few months down the line...I felt like a bum.  But the past two weeks have really shown me that it's okay.  I feel happier and more willing to do my job when I take some time out for me, too.  That's an easy conclusion to come to when you work regular hours, when you can leave an office or a workplace behind and sit on your couch and eat at your table.  But for the past 9 months I've been eating at table that was arranged for me by Peace Corps and sitting on a couch that belongs to a community member.  All that and more made me feel terribly guilty for relaxing at all.  But now I know better and I feel like I have a healthier approach to my work and, separately, my own private life.  Hopefully I can keep thinking of some part of my life as apart from my work.

So that's me, and thank you Steph for taking such a lovely photo.  Junquillal beach is not that great for swimminng (many people drown in the rip currents) but it's really great for this rock formation that we walked out on.  I was kind of anxious about the incoming tide, but all the little fish and shelled creatures were absolutely fascinating.  Loking at this photo I realize I should never take my eyes off the ocean when I'm in it, just like Dad says.

It was overcast yesterday, but I'm returning to my community a good deal more pink than I left it.  Classic - I never learn.

Things are better...

Woooo...so things are now beginning to look up from my last post.  Actually, I cooled down and deleted the last one because I would rather never be reminded of last Friday night ever again.  Needless to say I found a way to handle my frustration (I started running in an ungainly fashion) and things started looking up.

So what's next on the agenda?  Well.  My trip home is awfully real right now.  In t-ten days I'll leave site to go stay with my boyfriend's sister's family in San José for the night.  I was thinking I'd get my flue shot then, but the office as it turns out won't be open so it's just turning into a social visit.  Then I'll go to Liberia the next day, spend the night, and fly home the following afternoon.  Ain't vacation grand?


In the meantime, tomorrow I'm going to visit friends Chris and Steph in their community.  From there we will depart to a somewhat abandoned beach to spend the day.  I'll spend the night, come home and Friday night is movie night in my town!  I suggested that the dance group do a fundraiser with a movie night and wouldn't you know...people thought it was a good idea.  Saturday is, again, dance practice with the little kids.  Next Wednesday I'm going to a meeting with some members of my PTA (more or less) to San José where we will be attending a meeting with the Omar Dengo Foundation to see if we can get some computers for the school.  My strategy is to chat up the PTA the whooooole time about building a new school.  Ours is literally falling apart as a result of having been built in the early 1940s.  We'll probably need better facilities anyway as a requisite for receiving free computers from the foundation.  So hopefully the abstract, ''Can I come to a PTA meeting sometime?'' will turn into, ''So when are we meeting to discuss building a new school?''  Those questions seem similar.  The latter definitely means that I'm getting some sort of returned interest on behalf of the PTA.

I've been trying to teach Genesis, my goddaughter, words in English.  The first word I chose is part of her favorite TV jingle for laundry detergent.  Unfortunately, ''bubble'' when spoken by Genesis sounds a lot like, ''papú'' which my family says means whore (''puta'') in Costa Rica.  So then after a lot of laughing which Genesis probably takes to mean encouragement to say papú more, I tried teaching her the word ''cookie''.  Well.  Every time I say cookie, she just looks around for Doky, my dog.  They sound a lot alike to me, too.  I did not give up, though, and I've started introducing the word, ''Bye-bye!'' whenever I walk away from her.  But she thinks I'm saying ''bubble'' and says ''papú'' with the absolute conviction that only an innocent one year-old can evince.

Speaking of Doky (what I really wanted to write was, ''Speaking of whores...''), the puppy is doing okay.  His head reaches a little bit higher than my mid-calf and I don't think he's going to get much bigger.  He's already way bigger than his mom, but I've told him that if he does decide to grow more that he's not coming back with me to the U.S.  I have no idea how to carry two suitcases and a dog his size, much less if he does get bigger.  We'll see.  He's a sweetie.  Just now getting into the stage where I can see him decide, ''Whoa!  This petting and scratching thing is GREAT!  I'm going to stop chewing people who are obviously trying to do this to me.''  So hands are now safe to put near my dog.  Still, I'd watch your flip flops.

The weather has turned and there's very little rain now.  I think this is the trend until next May.  It's super hot during the day but it cools off by nighttime.  4:30pm is perfect running weather - I'm not a runner in the classic athletic sense, but there is something about 80 degrees with a breeze that makes me want to be outside.  I got some other girls in town to ''run'' with me.  They walk.  I run.  When I can't run anymore, I double back walking and meet up with them until I feel like running again.  It turns the two kilometers between Las Pozas and San Vicente into a little bit more distance that way (not really, but you get it).

In other news, I'm watching Rango for the first time and...well...the only real merit is hearing Johnny Depp play a lizard.  But they even type-casted him for this one, too.  I will say this, though...my favorite quote is when our lizard hero is down-and-out, nearly dead, talking to a mirage of the iconic Hollywood cowboy hero.
''Is this Heaven?''
''No.  If it were, we'd be eating PopTarts with Kim Novak.''

Ladies and Gentlemen...the one...the only...Aaron get Luce

I have the distinct pleasure today of posting another guest blogger here!  Aaron's a good friend, so pay attention to what he says, hehe...

Greetings from Fila Pinar de Coto Brus! I am excited to share with my good friend Lily’s blog readers! It is interesting to think about what I should write to a group of people who I have never met. So let me briefly introduce myself. My name is Aaron Luce and I am originally from Maryland and have been living in DC for the past few years. I live in a very small community called Fila Pinar which is in the deep South of Costa Rica, within 20 kilometers of the Panamanian border. In my town coffee is king, the bus only passes through two days a week, and two kinds of toucans circle the tall trees around soccer field in search of fruit after heavy afternoon rains.

One of the reasons I joined the Peace Corps was the allure to travel to an unknown place and meet people I would have otherwise never met. Prior to joining, I was blessed with many opportunities to travel and had enjoyed them.

Throughout my travels, one thing that has always come crashing into me, like a refreshing tidal wave, is how no matter where I go, I always find many similarities between myself and the people I meet. From Egypt to Chile, Argentina to Morocco, my belief that we share more in common than we have different, has been upheld. And that is refreshing because many times we focus on our apparent differences, which distance us from others, possibly causing isolation or at least social discomfort.

My belief was reaffirmed again last Sunday afternoon when I cooked tacos for a very nice family. After my environmental youth group meeting, I rushed back to my house to pick up some secret ingredients and headed over to Doña Lorena and Don Enrique’s house. They have a daughter, Treicy, who is a teenager and a son, Chadai, who is in kindergarten. Doña Lorena was rushing around frying plantains and grilling hand-made tortillas. Treicy was helping me dice red peppers and onions for the taco mix and Chadai was running around the house, buzzing like a humming bird with the excitement of many visitors. Don Enrique’s cousin and his family were visiting and they have two younger children. The cousin and Don Enrique were having adult male conversation about the local prices of different agricultural products like peppers and different pig raising techniques. Cartoons were on the TV and every 3 minutes my attention was being called to look at a funny face Chadai was making or to answer Doña Lorena’s questions about my recipe or to reaffirm that I was still single and that the Costa Rican girl I was seeing had still broken up with me (long story). The mix of familiar house hold Sunday sounds were like that catchy song on the radio that I have heard a million times.

When we finished cooking, I stuffed my face, drank a cup of coffee, and felt great. Don Enrique pulled out the Connect 4 board game and everyone in the family played (Don Enrique is an evil mastermind at Connect 4). And once again, the refreshing tidal wave of similarity came splashing through the living room. I had a freeze frame moment where I felt like I could see myself through the window, sitting in the living room with my shoes off, joking with Don Enrique and telling stories to Chadai. I felt déjàvu. But I had been there before just with my family in DC on break from college or during Christmas when we visited my Grandma in California. Don Enrique is like my Uncle Allen, a jokester, and Chadai is like my Cousin Annette’s son, Jacob, and daughter, Sofia, who are precious and playful. Instead of cooking patacones (fried plantain chips) and black beans, my Grandma would roast a chicken and serv biscuits with jam. Doña Lorena was like my Grandma asking me if I was seeing anyone and if I wasn’t, why not.

In both places it was Sunday and it was dinner time. For those couple of hours I only needed to be human to fit in and that was really refreshing.

Pura Vida,

Aaron