My second life in Costa Rica
Trip Start
Aug 17, 2005
1
7
Trip End
Aug 15, 2006
San Jose, Costa Rica
Friday, March 3, 2006
A lot of changes have come! Live is like a box of chocolates, you never know what flavor you are going to bite into.
First a quick summary of month of January and my fruitless, but very enriching experience of looking for a project to work with.
After my parents left I decided to look for a new project, in which I could learn about the background work as well as work in the field with the children.
So I first went to the OIT (Organisation Interntional du Travail)to work with a governments program for the eradication of child labor. At the end of January they contacted me to say that Geneva did not give them the funds to carry out the program again, so I went hunting again for some interesting project.
I had an other appointment with PROCOMER, the ministry of commerce, for exportations.
I had an offer for a great project to export Cota Rican products to Europe but I could only start in March.
My dear Eric, the director of the association for the volunteers (the program I am here with), I meet him on the bus when coming out of the appointment... This was at the beginning of February and he said that I could not stay the month of February without working so he send me the next morning to an other appointment, I started that same day.
After chasing different projects and seeing that the project that Eric was offering me repeatedly came up, I took it as a sign and decided to try.
Now I am working in an NGO called Wolrd Vision in the advocacy department. The job is extremely interesting. It is a regional office in charge of all the other offices of latin America. The atmosphere in the office is very warm and welcoming, and I have a very good relation with my boss, MariaJose. We get along so good that she trusts me with of interesting cases. Last week she asked me to prepare a case that we are presenting to the Interamerican Human Rigth Court of Justice to sue a dump in El Salvador which is polluting a river, thereby contaminating the source of water for a village.
This is an example; I also got to work on a project with indigenous people.
I really like seeing the administrative side, and I should be going next week to see in the projects how they evolve.
An other aspect of the organization, is that they are very religious. Each Friday at 11am we have biblical lecturing, which is a mass in the office. I have assisted to these lectures, but do not participate actively.
I respect their believes, and admire the goodness of their actions, but do not intend to convert.
Ok, enough about the job, let's talk about the families here:
I left my family in the mountains, but go back to see them often on weekends. During the election weekend, on the 5th of February, I was helping a political party, and was was interviewed on local TV...Wouhou!
The candidate I was with won the elections after 2 weeks of counting the votes (this is typical Costa Rica), he is Oscar Arias. He won the Nobel Price of Peace 20 years ago because he convinced the US to stop suppling central America with weapons and brought peace back to Nicaragua and Panama, which were both in civil war.
My host sister from Juan Viņas, Gabby, works in San Jose, so I see here after work from time to time.
For the month of January I was living in an apartment with an other french girl, we had a greet time, I regained some independence again, it was good to breathe for a while. But that was only a temporary situation because part of the contract of volunteering is to live with a local family. So now I am back with my first family, the ones I lived with during my Spanish classes, my first month in Costa Rica. I kept contact with them since the beginning.
My host sister, Annapa, works in events, and always has places for concerts or festivals. Since this year, San Jose is the capital of Culture for Iberoamericana (Spanish speaking countries), so every weekend there is something going on, and I am out there each weekend.
I am glad I got to see the 2 aspects of Costa Rica. After 5 quiet months in the mountain, I now have a job were I don't have a minute to spare, and I love it, I have dance classes twice a week after work (salsa, meregue, cumbia and bolero), and will be starting drawing classes once a week.
I am having the time of my life and enjoying every moment of it.
Yesterday in the dance class, the teacher asked me if I would do a dance with the other teachers to present during one of the festivals coming up in April...hihihi. I love it!!!
Hey, great news, I updated some pictures, so have a look at the entry injanuary I have some pics there.
I am uploading soem more at the moment, it's great to have internet acces again.
Hope you enjoy them,
Take care guys, and keep me updated about your live projects too.
PS: Felicitation Nico, Je ferais tout mon possible pour venir a ton marriage!!!!!
Bye guys,
India
