Happy Belated Easter! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Mine was very nice because we had off Thursday and Friday for Semana Santa (Holy Week). It was really nice to hang out with my family and relax. And I got to play a lot of Uno. My youngest brother found my cards and Uno cards and now the first thing he asks me when I come home is “Can we play?” and then he asks when we can play and if I have to do something else first he asks why we cant play first and then I go do what I have to. But its been really fun and its been a good way to integrate (integrate is another big thing for PC - to integrate into your family and community).

Easter Sunday I went to church with my family and afterwards there was a procession – complete with a band and a giant “float” of the risen Jesus (it was actually a statue on the back of a truck). There are a lot of processions here…on Friday I went to 2 and I’m sure there was one in almost every nearby town. The procession on Friday for Good Friday in San Antonio was really elaborate. There was at least 100 people taking part in the procession and several hundred more lining Calle Principal to watch. There was a large band, lots of girls dressed up as angels and other related characters, and two giant floats of the crucified Jesus and Mary. The procession went all the way from the Catholic church to the cemetery to “bury” Jesus…it was really interesting. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera so I don’t have any pictures L

After church, I went with my family to a large park in the next town over and then we went out for pizza! Which was awesome because I had been really craving pizza the past couple of days! I think my host mom must have read my mind lol. And it was really good pizza too! It was a really good that unfortunately ended with a cockroach in my room hahah, but we won’t talk about that…

Also, on Saturday, a couple of us went to the house of another trainee and hung out with her family. We ended up teaching her parents how to play “Spoons” and everyone had a blast!

Training is going well….and good news…we’re already ½ way through! AND in just 3 weeks, I will know where my final site will be! So soon, I’ll know where I’ll be living for the next 2 years! Woohoo! Also, on Tuesday, we had our second Spanish language exam and I am happy to report that I have reached the level required to swear-in! I wasn’t really worried but it’s still nice to know I’m at the level I need to be. And, this Saturday is a dinner for all the volunteers in Costa Rica to say good bye to the out-going group and to welcome my group (Tico 19). It’s supposed to be a really good time and it will be nice to meet more current volunteers and get their stories and advice. And then, the next week, we go in groups to our tech visit, where we have to give a lesson/workshop to a group of youth or adults whom the volunteer there is working with. This will be really good to get an idea of how the work we will supposed to do in our future sites might actually go.

I know I have been slacking with the pictures and I will try to post more (especially from my site visit) really soon! I will also try to take pictures of San Antonio because I just realized that I haven’t taken any pictures of where I’m living lol. Hope everyone is well, post comments and send emails! Or real mail is great too…it only costs 90 cents! My address is:

PCT Nicole Noecker

Cuerpo de Paz

Apartado Postal 1266

1000 San Jose, Costa Rica

So What Does a Volunteer REALLY Do???

So this weekend I finally got to see a real volunteer!!!! Very exciting cause up till now, what we actually are going to be doing (and how we´re supposed to it) has been very vague. So,I went to visit a volunteer at a very rural site in northern Costa Rica, very close to the Nicaraguan border. Santa Cecilia is a small-medium sized down with all dirt roads and is very spread out....very campo (country). It was so awesome to see what a volunteer does, and get to see some more of this beautiful country!

So I arrived at Angela´s house (the volunteer I was visiting) in the afternoon after a beautiful but looong (6hrs) trip. She showed me around town, introduced me to a ton of people, and then we walked to the neighboring barrio (neighborhood) to go to a women´s group meeting. Very cookl, cause this was something that some of the women in the town had always wanted to do, they just lacked someone to help them get organized and guide them. That´s been pretty much Angela´s role so now the group is it´s own entity and they meet without her, want to start their own projects, etc. Basically, what Peace Corps work is all about: you help people get mobilized and then step back and they take over....sustainability is a BIG buzzword in PC.

I also got to visit a finca (farm where they grow fruits, etc) and an animal farm!! Very awesome, there´s so much beauty out there. And Santa Cecilia is home to the second largest orange juice plant in Costa Rica, so there are orange groves for miles around the town. I promise I will post pics soon. The farm was really cool....trying not to sound like a little kid (lol) but I got to see chickens (and hold baby chicks!), horses, and cows!!! The cows are a good story. So the family we visited that had the farm asked if we wanted to see the baby cows that were just born a few days ago, so of course we said yes!! So we went to the pen where the cows are kept, got to see the babies, and just hung out with the cows for a while. Haha, seriously....we were just chillin with the cows. We even petted them.....AND, one LICKED me!!! It was sooo hilarious cause I wasn´t expecting it and wasn´t even looking...and then out of nowhere, this cow just licked my arm!!! Totally startled me haha. Just an FYI, cow tongues are very rough.

I also got to see some real work that Angela does....we went to a meeting at the school in Santa Cecilia (she works really closely with the school). I met a lot of the students and teachers and we talked about some of the challenges she has encountered in the school (for example, a good amount of the teachers, etc aren´t from the town and so aren´t as invested/interested in doing different projects). I also got to sit in on one of Angela´s english classes...even though I really don´t want to teach english, it´s a pretty big thing here and almost every town that has a volunteer asks for them to have english classes in some way so I think I have to resign myself to the fact I will have to teach in some capacity during my two years.

We also stopped in Liberia, the small-medium city about 2hrs south of Santa Cecilia to see another volunteer. She works closely with an albergue (basically, a foster home for children taken away from their families for various reasons). That was really great because I am really hoping to be able to work with an albergue once I get to my site.

So that pretty much sums up my weekend...Oh, I also could see Lake Nicaragua from some points in Santa Cecilia so that was pretty awesome. Angela is a really great, hard-working volunteer and I learned a lot about being patient and persistent...and that real volunteer life is nothing like training! Thank God...cause, its good, but very intense and I´ve definitely been missing downtime lately. But this coming weekend I will get some cause we don´t have to do ANYTHING and I´m not going anywhere so it´ll be really nice to relax a bit.

I hope all is well with everyone...I miss you all!!! Post comments or send emails..I´d love to hear what people are up to!

So I´ve been with my host family for a whole week....and what a week it has been! I´m still adjusting to my host family - I haven´t been able to communicate that they need to speak slowly for me to understand exactly what they´re saying...especially the three little boys. It´s fun though, I get the jist of what they´re saying and the boys like asking me a ton of questions and asking how to translate different words into English. They are also fascinated for some reason by the fact that I have a brother lol...the youngest one (Elias, 5) has already asked me about 100x what Justin´s name is and how old he is! I also shared all my pics from home with my familly....I miss everyone so much!!

We started language classes Monday and had our first introduction to what CYF volunteers do on Wednesday. I can definitely say I´m going to be busy these 3 months! We have lots of different activities and projects to help prepare us for when we become "real" volunteers. Today (Sunday) is the first "day off" we´ve had since moving in with our families. I´m getting to know Costa Rica better, been to San Jose twice now and a couple towns near where I live.

I will try to post more pics when I have them. Next weekend is a big deal: we are making our first visits to real volunteers!!! I don´t know where I´m going yet, but I´m very excited to get my first look at what CYF volunteers really do.

Sorry this post is so short, I will try to give more details next time.

Hope alls well stateside....hasta luego :)

Training Begins!

So, I've been in Costa Rica for a few days. They have been very busy...learning more about Peace Corps, lots of icebreakers, getting to know my fellow volunteers/trainees, learning a little more about what my job will be.....etc, etc, etc. Everyone has been so awesome....I've been amazed at how similar and at the same time how varied everyone's experiences are, especially those in my project - Children, Youth and Families (from now on CYF). Above are pictures of the retreat center in Tres Rios where we are staying.

We got to meet the US ambassador to Costa Rica on Friday (above, left) so that was pretty neat. And then, Friday night, we broke up into groups and went to two little towns right outside of the retreat center. Our task was to get dinner for 3,000 colones (the local currency) which is equivilent to about $6. I am proud to say my group succeeded tremendously...we found a pizzaria where we got a huge pizza, huge soda and bread for 5 people for less than 2,000 colones each.

The Pizza Group

And Saturday was a big day: we got our host family assignment for training!!!! We live in small clusters of communities according to our projects. So...for the next 3 months, I will be living in San Antonio, a town about 1/2hr outside of San Jose. I live with a mom (Doña Ana) and her 5 kids!! They range in age from 25 to 5! They´re all so great....the 3 youngest asked question after question in rapid Spanish all night last night haha. So hopefully this means I´ll become awesome at Spanish really fast!

Roommates from Orientation Week

I don´t have internet in my house, by there is an internet cafe close by. You can call my host family´s phone, but only if you have a calling card. I´ll post the address and number when I have it.

Hope everyone´s doing well!

Im in Costa Rica!!!!

Well, I finally made it!!! We arrived in San Jose Wednesday around 11am local time. Needless to say its been a loooooong day....lots of time in the airport and lugging around all my bags. It feels wonderful to actually be here though...there were times I didn't think this day would come.

Until Sunday the 15th I'll be at a retreat center outside of San Jose. Its a little up in the mountains that surround San Jose, but it was still upper 70s/low 80s today when we got here (I know you're all jealous back in PA!). It is cooler at night...probably in the low 60s. The place we're at is beautiful, its a huge compound that used to be a monastery for priests. There's lots of land and beautiful views of the valley (I will post pics, I promise). I'll have good internet access till Sunday so please take advantage!
We spent most of today settling in and had some info meetings in the evenings. I had my first Costa Rican meal in while tonight...everything was awesome of course. And I'm meeting lots of awesome people too....I'm really getting exciting to start working in CYF!!

Tomorrow is our language "test" where they see what level we're at so wish me luck that I remember some espanol! lol

I am sure I will have much more interesting posts very soon...

Hasta luego

Welcome to my Blog!

So I finally made a blog to keep everyone posted as to what I'm doing in Costa Rica. For those who may not know, I leave March 10th (just over 1 week!!) for Costa Rica to begin my two year service in the Peace Corps. I probably won't post much until I get to Costa Rica because until I leave I'll just be packing and saying goodbye to people....so if you want to meet up before I leave, let me know!