Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You

I saw my first banana tree today. It was quickly followed by star fruit trees, mandarin trees, orange trees and avocado trees. And this was all on our tour of the center where we’re living! It is so amazing to be able to walk outside, grab a mandarin off the tree and eat it. We also have chickens at the center, so that means fresh eggs! I already have eaten more healthy and delicious food in the last four meals than I’ve had in the last four months, I think.

Each of us have been assigned daily pandillas (chores) to keep the center running and clean. I’m on lunch set up this week so I get to work with the ladies in the kitchen, helping them set up and serve lunch. They only speak Spanish, so there was a lot of laughter and demonstrating when I couldn’t understand them. Only a little bit of the frijole dish we were serving ended up on the floor, so all in all, it went well!

This morning we played a name game in order to try and imprint the 36+ names we have to remember into our minds. If you’ve ever been to summer camp or been through any type of orientation at Clark, you’ve probably played this game. It involves saying your name and doing a dance move and being able to repeat the names and dance moves of everyone before you in the circle. Some highlights of this morning’s game were Meredith doing the “get it on” hip/arm movement without realizes that every single person after her would have to do it while saying her name, Colin doing the backwards butt hop right as Dayla told us not to be shy, Dan’s full body shimmy, Amanda’s crow move and matching sound effect (ka-kaaaw!) and Kurt’s shopping cart.

Our tour of Atenas started by piling into two SFS mini buses and driving through the neighborhood of La Presa, which is where the center is located. Next we drove through the neighborhood of Los Angeles and then arrived in Atenas, which is only 2ish miles away.

We changed money at el banco, where the lady behind the glass automatically started speaking to me in English as soon as she heard my terrible Spanish accent. Then we walked around town, which is full of shops surrounding a cute little park where, we were told, young people come to kiss. It was true. There were at least four couples occupying some of the benches in the middle of the park. And I’m not talking peck on the cheek…

There were a few supermercados and internet cafés. One of the internet cafes has a butterfly garden in the back and free coffee. Nice. We walked through an open market area where they had fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, ice cream….everything! There were beautiful arrays of avocados, mangos, passion fruit, squash, and tons of fruits/veggies I didn’t even recognize. In town, strangers kept smiling and saying “Adios” as we walked by. I was confused, since adios means goodbye. I soon learned that it is a Costa Rican thing. Apparently, it is just like saying hey in passing. If you’re going to stop and chat you can say “Hola” but otherwise, adios is used. Directly translated it means “to God” so I guess it makes sense.