Dia-a-dia, dia-por-dia

Friday during safety/security and cultural training we had a session on culture shock. Basically, what I took from it is the following:

1. I’m over the honeymoon stage.
2. I’m on a steep upwards (sometimes downwards) hill towards temporary adjustment.
3. The hill will go back down yet, again.
4. Eventually I will get back up that hill towards feeling at home.

Also, the biggest thing I learned was to take things dia-por-dia, or day-by-day. So that’s what I’ve begun to do. Looking ahead to the next two years can be difficult and somewhat challenging, but my new motto has helped me to enjoy the little things of the Pura Vida which I am so lucky to be living.

In honor of celebrating dia-por-dia, I will post a number of pictures of my day-to-day life. You can see more photos at: CLICK HERE!

(Oh, and I´m sure many of you won´t believe this, but I was forced by my situation to buy a POINT AND SHOOT Canon camera. I know.....unheard of! But there are definitely times where it would be a huge risk to be carrying around my large camera.....they place Peace Corps volunteers in marginal communities for a reason. Anyway, some of these pics are from that camera and some are from my regular one).

Drinking my first Pipa, fresh from the tree:

This is the house I live in:
This is the street I live on (and my goofy host dad, Jorge):

My backyard is filled with sweet flora and fauna. Today I saw an iguana there, but this is a picture of something else in my backyard:

Hiking in the Chilamate Rainforest Eco-Retreat Center in Sarapiqui:

Presenting seasonal calendars during Technical Training (a community assessment tool):
Emilia, our language facilitator and my language class in Language Training:
Eating a cake I made for my mama tica´s birthday:

And finally, I just had to share the video of my host mom´s birthday party. It was she, my host father, and my friend Lindsay, also a Peace Corps Volunteer (small, but lovely). And please ignore the horrible singing (and the fact that we sang the song wrong):