A Whirlwind Week

So far, orientation week has been an amazing whirlwind! After staging in Dallas, we checked out of the hotel at 2AM (that’s right friends, 2 freaking AM) for a 6:45AM flight to Houston (Peace Corps hazing, anyone?). From Houston, we flew to San Jose.

When we finally began to descend into San Jose, the mountains were absolutely beautiful and majestic, covered in misty clouds. Just a small taste of the beauty that is Costa Rica.

In San Jose, we were met by some really nice and friendly Peace Corps staff. We went through immigration and somehow I skipped through customs, which definitely does not happen in the US. After that, we found our luggage and hauled it outside. We were met by some more friendly staff, and loaded our stuff into some vans. The air outside was so warm and pleasant and I just loved the whole vibe of the entire city (I know, I was only in the airport. But I don’t know, I could just tell. Great vibes!). It just felt so rich and energetic and lively.

Next, we took a 45 minute bus ride to a mountainous area outside San Jose. I was pretty much glued to the window the entire time, taking it all in. I absolutely love the feel of Latin America so far – walking everywhere, brightly colored homes, adorable children, dirt roads, etc etc etc. It’s just so full of life.

As soon as we got to the retreat center that we will be spending orientation at (called Hotel Villa Zurqui), they gave us our room assignments and got us started right away on informational sessions. They’ve been keeping us suuuuuper busy, but everything has been interesting. We all crashed and went to sleep at like 8:30 and slept for almost 12 hours. We were all so exhausted. It was more of the same today, plus medical interviews and our oral Spanish tests, which, not to sound conceited, I am pretty sure I rocked. The results will determine which community we go to for the rest of training and which other volunteers we will be grouped with.

The retreat center is gorgeous. I’ve taken several strolls to explore and take pictures. Costa Rica is beautiful, and you should all come visit me and see it sometime! Earlier tonight, I was just standing and staring off at the lights of San Jose. They were covered with a beautiful mist and twinkling. I felt like Aladdin staring off at the palace. For real.

Now on to some fun facts about Costa Rica:

·         There are dogs that just roam the streets without leashes or owners and they are very friendly. I have four canine friends so far!

·         You can’t flush toilet paper here. It goes in the waste basket. Something to do with the septic system.

·         Costa Rica actually needs Peace Corps, contrary to the touristy/vacation-y vision we have of Costa Rica in the States. About 21% of the population lives below the poverty line and another 15% live in risk of falling below that line.

Another list—Things I want to make more time for in Costa Rica:

·         Reading and writing

·         Journaling

·         Baking

·         Cooking

·         Taking walks and taking pictures

Today they also made us work on a “Dream Plan” for the next 27 months. My plan includes spending as much time as possible with my host family, making legit Costa Rican friends, learning to cook Costa Rican food, going to as many cultural events as possible, starting a summer camp or after school program, and so much more.

Everything is fantastic here! I miss you all and love you all so much!

Pura vida!

Rachel

Howdy, y'all.

Okay, so that’s probably not how the Texans really talk, but I needed a title, and I’m still in the air, so that’s all I could come up with. I have about an hour left to go in the flight, and I thought I would use the time to update my lovely readers since I will probably be kept busy this week with orientation-type stuff.

Let’s begin from the beginning:

This weekend was full of some really sad goodbyes, but also some really fun times with my family, my boyfriend Alex, and some wonderful friends. I said all my Gettysburg goodbyes on Friday—aka, I waved goodbye to my adoptive Latino family in the Burg until Christmastime. I said goodbye to the College and my lovely friends there. I also stopped by York to see 5 of my favorite kiddos on my way back to Lancaster. As always, I had a wonderful time seeing everybody, even though we were all a little sad.

Alex spent a long weekend at my house—Thursday through Monday. We had a great weekend of catching up with friends, hanging out with my family, eating out (I had to hit all my favorites because it was “my last week in America!” DUH), and watching movies. Monday night was tough, with lots of tears and hugging and a terrible car ride to take him back to Gettysburg. Luckily my shista (aka, Sam) was there with me and drove partway home since I was blurry from crying. I also got to see Genesis, one of my fave girls, one last time, as well as the rest of Alex’s family. So, all in all, a successful night.

After all those goodbyes, I feel like I’ve been sent off to Costa Rica in the best possible way – with the love and support of a lot of people who truly care about me and whom I truly care about.

Now, a brief detour in my story—SPOILER ALERT: This part is gross. Proceed with caution if you have a weak stomach. About halfway through last week, a very weird, very large bump emerged on my chin. Now, if you know me, you know I tend to have very weird allergic reactions to things on my face. I’ve had mysterious swollen lips, enlarged eyelids, etc. You name it, it’s happened to me. I thought this was either something like that that would go away on its own a normal breakout. I was wrong. The right side of my face was literally disfigured (go ahead, ask Sam if you don’t believe me, she’d be happy to laugh at me again!) It got red and puffy and pussy and painful and all sorts of other fun things, so my wonderful grandmother squeezed me into the dermatologist’s office where she works as a nurse. Turns out, it was a cyst that had gotten very badly infected and which, according to the doc, very likely could have turned into a staph infection if left untreated. So, at first, I was scared, thinking I might not get to leave for Costa Rica on time, but then I realized I should be grateful, because if I hadn’t gone to the doctor Monday, I probably would have ended up in pain and in a Costa Rican hospital far from home. Now, I am feeling much better, and my face has returned to a somewhat normal shape. THANK GOD it happened like this! J

ANYWAY, back to the story. This morning, my parents and I got up at the ungodly hour of 4:30AM to drive to Philly. We said goodbye at security. I could tell my mom wanted to cry, but she was a good little soldier and held it together. About five minutes later, though, I wanted to cry MOMMY after I ran into a problem with my boarding pass. I was using an American Airlines mobile pass, which security should have been able to scan from my cell phone. It didn’t work, and the security guard did not seem too concerned about whether I would make it to the plane or not, despite my obvious anxiety. Of course, I was making a mountain out of a molehill (shocking, eh?) and I got a paper boarding pass printed pretty quickly. Since then, it’s been smooth sailing. I should land in Dallas in about an hour. By this time tomorrow, I’ll be in Costa Rica. Until Sunday, 2/25, I’ll be in a retreat for new volunteers. On Sunday, I get to meet the family that I’ll live with for the next 11 weeks. And then training will begin. 

All is well here.

Much love,

Rachel

PS--Staging (aka, today) was pretty run-of-the-mill, orientation stuff with cheesy ice breakers and a bunch of info we already read in the handbook! C'est la vie. Now we are all going out to dinner to celebrate the fact that we are officially PEACE CORPS TRAINEES! :) 

It's not goodbye, it's see you later

I have less than a week--5 days to be exact--before I head off for Dallas! I'm excited, nervous, happy, unbelievably sad, and so many more emotions that I cannot even begin to describe! 


On Feb. 4, I had a lovely going away party with the best friends and family I could ever ask for. I got to see some wonderful friends from high school and college, as well as my family in Lancaster and my surrogate families in Gettysburg :) I was so touched that they all came so far to wish me well! 

Gettysburg + Perla at my party :) 

This girl will be one of the hardest goodbyes <3 

Since then, I've finally gotten serious about packing. I have one bag down, one left to go! I need to seriously weed out some clothes because I over-packed. I'm hoping to get that done tonight, because tomorrow I am off to Gettysburg for two days for what I'm sure will be some very difficult goodbyes! I'm trying to keep it all in perspective and remember two things: first, that I am about to set off on an amazing adventure, so I should be happy, and secondly, that this is not goodbye, it's see you later (Thank you for that sage advice, Paige!) 

After that, I'll be spending the weekend at home with my family and Alex, and hopefully visiting with a few more people. I'm just trying to make the most of my last week in America--a phrase I've been throwing around a lot this week, usually in a pathetic attempt to get what I want from my mom ;) 

And now, I'll leave you with this lovely travel quote, courtesy of my best friend and alma gemela, Katie :) 

“Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.”