Heavy rains, brown beans and fast speaking Ticos

(Beginning of the week)

Carefully avoiding the big puddles on the dirtroad which leads to the small town of Liberia, I can't stop wondering about the huge amount of water that fell out of the sky just minutes ago. This morning, when I woke up by the ever so early rooster of one of the neighbors, the sky had been lightbleu and without a cloud. During my breakfast of brown beans, rice and egg, the sun shone through the open door and it seemed to become yet another warm and sunny day. Not so much later though small clouds appeared. Small clouds turned into bigger clouds and by the time I was having lunch, consisting of brown beans, rice and tortilla, darkblue, almost black clouds had filles the skies. Thunder and lightning followed and then the rain came...for a few minutes a light tick tick tick on the roof, but within a few minutes this gently ticking sounds became louder and louder, till it was so loud that I could not hear a thing anymore. Rain came down as if there would be no tomorrow....and then, after an hour or so, the heavy rain stopped as sudden as it started. The sun came out and the sky turned bleu again...just like that.

Not that long ago I was in Managua, writing about the colorful buses with their black fumes and the even so colorful murals we have been painting with the children.
Now I am in Liberia, a small town in North-western Costa Rica, in the province Guanacaste. When Central America was still 'owned' by Spain Guanacaste 'belonged' to Nicaragua. Soon after the Spanish people left, lots of people living in this province wanted to belong to Costa Rica. And on the 25th of July, 1825 they decided to be Costa Rican. It took another 33 year for both countries to agree on the new bounderies. This (his)story changes a bit, depending on who's telling..proud Ticos from Guanacaste claim that Guanacaste never belonged to Nicaragua at all.

Anyway, I am staying with a friendly Costa Rican lady in a nice house close to the school I will be working at. I have got my own room ( with a window..hurray) and have internet acces all day, which is a luxery. The children of Carolina are grown up and studying in San Jose, the capital, and they are not often here. She and her husband are kind of divorced and he's only pops in to drop his laundrey, have an occasional breakfast or store old, battered cars on the drive way. The first evening Carolina spoke slowly, pronouncing the words very clear to make sure that I understood her well. But the next morning, when I dared to speak a bit of Spanish back, she decided that my Spanish was more than fine and ever since she talks in this high speed Spanish to me. To be honest I do not know all the words she is using, but I do understand what she is talking about and am able to respond as well...so that is a beginning. She likes the company and takes good care of me. I am slightly scared that all the food she gives me will make me slightly curvier, but I will just have to wait and see. I just counted that in the not even three weeks here I have been eaten at least 45 times rice and beans...or beans and rice. That and at least the same amount of corn tortilla's, half the the amount of eggs, many slices of Costa Rican cheese and plenty of sugar added fruit juices...and water.

This week I spent translating my therapy plans into Spanish..quite a time consuming job. Good for my Spanish though. I was kind of expecting to start working tomorrow ( 18th of July), but that is not going to work. The school has been closed for two weeks and so I did not have a change to talk to teachers, form groups, make a shedule together with the team of specialists on the school or have a look at the materials that they have. I will have to do the talking and planning this week and have to wait till next monday to start really working with the children. I do not know so much yet about the children that were indicated...just know that they are quite challenging in their behavior...showing aggressive, disruptive and unfocused behavior in class. In small group therapy we will 'experiment' with different behavior..through art and some discussions. The idea is to work on their behavior, but also to give them a good time, a sense of pride and strenghten their selfesteem. They will get an hour of therapy each week for 9 weeks in a row. The 10th week we will, if the children feel confident about it, show their work to others.
But let's not look to much ahead, things might change. Let's take it paso a paso, step by step.

(End of the week)

And step by step I walk back now from town to my Costa Rican house. I am getting a bit more used too the town I will call home for the coming three months, a bit more used too the big showers that come and go, too the hot (rain)sun that burns my skin and a bit more used too the fast speaking people around me.

Carefully I avoid stepping into big puddles with brownish water....not because I am scared to get my feet wet or dirty, but because you never know how deep the puddle is. Because maybe it'not a puddle, but one of the deep sewer holes that are not covered up well....filled with rainwater and lots of dirt. Last thing I want to do is walk in one of those.
Well,this is it for now. Hope to hear from you again..it's always nice to read all the reactions and to know what keeps you busy as well. Gracias y hasta pronto.
Rebecca