'I Go to Seek a Great Perhaps'

    There is no WiFi in this town apparently.  Just two internet places where you can pay to use a computer.  That is why these blogs are all posted at the same time...

    I had my first day of work.  It was good but extremely extremely dirty.  Not just in the fact that I came home with many types of animal "caka" on me, but the whols place is kind of dirty.  Well...primative, I s'pose.  At lunch the guys we're using the benches and ash trays and such.  Quite gross.  It's harder to communicate at work for some reason.  I haven't had much of a problem at home.  But you know in the U.S. how there is that certain group of Missouri construction workers and the like that look like they are perpetually covered in dirt, wearing holey jeans and t-shirts with the arms cut off?  And you can't understand when they speak and it's your native language.  Yeah?  Well I'm working with the Costa Rican version of those guys but it's not my native language.  So, the only thing I can consistantly understand coming out of their mouths is their comments of my being either "guapa," "rica," or "bonita."  It's quite interesting...  They had some sort of argument of sorts about who I would work with after lunch...this guy nicknamed "Cheeky" won and I helped in feed the animals that aren't on display at the Zoo at the moment and clean their cages.

    I had cleaned cages with the owner earlier in the morning and it was gross but not too much and it was covered by trees so it wasn't burning hot.  With Cheeky, however, it was disgusting.  There is a room full of birds (So, like my living room...), one with some little big cats, owls, and some animal I don't remember the name of, one with monkeys, and a room with rats and mice used for feeding said cats and the snakes.  The floors of every room were covered in animal shit.  So somehow whilst using a powerhouse both Cheeky and myself left with at least shit water on us.  Animal feeding was ok at first.  Scoops of dog food like food for the mice and rats, then cutting parts of trees in the blazing sun for the animal I don't remember the name of and the monkeys.  After that Cheeky opened up a hell hole of partially bad fruit literally covered in fruit flies that I had to dig through to find the ripest bananas for the animal I don't remember the name of.  Along with bananas was a bucket of slightly moldy papayas that I had to cut up and put into tubed for the monkeys.  I don't know if any of you have messed with a gooey papaya but it starts to resemble the look and what I imagine to be the feel of the stuff that comes out of the ceiling at the end of Poltergeist.  And cutting it up didn't involve a table and knife.  It involved my hand, a tube, and a long machete like blade.  The inside of papayas have these nasty looking seeds that look like moldy caviar.  I didn't really like papayas before this, which is good because now I certainly do not.  Feeding the cats was actually quite unnerving.  These cute little jaguars and leapords that I was petting then ripped heads off of mice and sucked our intestines.  It was like watching a high school dissection gone awry.  No es bueno parra mi.

    So I was covered in bits of moldy fruit, poop and poopy water, and enough sweat to be thoroughly disgusting.  Luckily for me, I think Monday is cage cleaning day and that I will get to do some more interesting things the rest of the week.  Not that this wasn't interesting, mind you.  I had fun, it was just really gross.  First thing upon arrival home was being laughed at for the look on my face and then taking a nice cold shower.

    I ventured into town to look for internet, a bank, and shampoo (I forgot mine in San Jose).  I thought catcalls and the like in the US were bad.  Here I am exotic so it's much worse.  I thought it was bad in San Jose.  Pero, San Jose often has travelers.  Here in this little pueblo of San Carlos/La Marina I am even more "exotic" and it is much more prevelant here.  Very interesting whilst walking...  I don't get it.  But, whatever.  So this town has no WiFi.  That's alright, I can deal.  It is annoying, however, because on my iPhone I can use WiFi to call my family or whoever in the US for free.  It's muy muy carro to call internationally so this is the best way, even if the reception sometimes sucks.  I can also text through this app.  So, no WiFi means no family/boyfriend contact.  But I emailed at the internet place so everyone knew I was alive and I can talk to them on the weekends.

    When I got home the house was nice and lively.  Patricia runs a small tienda out of their converted garage.  Thinkgs like snack and drinks.  So all the doors in the house are always open and people come up and buy things and the kids run between the two sections of the house.  We all eat together in Patricia's side though.  I think it's the one with the kitchen and washroom because the laundry and cooking are communal.

    After dinner Melanie and I attempted to teach eachother some songs in English.  It was very confusing because she was too shy to sing alone so we finally ended up singing Disney Channel songs together in English because she watched that station and knows the songs.  But we had a nice time talking about music and I hepled her with her English while she helped me with me Spanish.  When we finished singing people in various parts of the house clapped.  It was cute :-)

    Then Patricia came in and asked me about my family and we talked a lot about Picasso's and mi casa and my life in general.  She wanted to see pictures of everybody so we spent like an hour and a half, she, Melanie, her sister, and I, going through pictures and telling stories.  They were really interested.  People would point out pictures while I was scrolling and ask about them.  Like a picture I have from my sophmore prom after I took my hair out of the pins.  My hair was everywhere.  They loved it, thought it was hilarious.  They looked at pictures of Picasso's, the shop, the picnic we had a year or so ago, latte art, pictures of Main St.  I had my Mickeys out and told their story and showed pictures of Mickeys in various places.  For those of you who don't know.  When my family went to Disney World a couple years ago we didn't have the money to bring Emily.  So, whilst there I bought a stuffed Mickey Mouse and wrote her name on the bottom of the foot like Andy's toys in Toy Story.  For the whole trip we brought Mickey along and took pictures of "Emily" in various places, with us, with characters, etc.  That way it was like she was there.  Before we left I bought another and wrote my name on the bottom.  Now wherever we travel the Mickeys come.  If we travel seperately it's as if the other has come along and if we're together it's even better.  Pretty much we're just adorable friends.  Mi tica familia thinks this is wonderful and is excited about taking pictures with them.

    Patricia found out that the bank was closed when I went today so we went through my money and she traded some out for me and we went through my change and she gave me c100 coins for all of my obnoxiously small ones.  And she showed me how much certain buses cost and stuff like that.  It was very very nice of her.  She said she can always go to the bank later, it's harder for me because I get off work at 3 and the bank closes at four.  

    We got to talking about food and I asked if either Melanie or Patricia had ever had rice krispie treats.  They don't have them here.  So I'm making some tomorrow for everybody.  "Mi casa es tambian Su casa, Ashlee," she said.  I asked about marshmellows because when I went to the supermarket they only had fruit flavored ones.  Ew.  That's all they have here.  Costa Rica doesn't do S'mores, Rice Krispie Treats, or Sweet Potatoes (what else are marshmellows used for) so marshmellows are normally used as decoration for fiestas and such, thus the need for colors.  I said I didn't know about fruit rice krispies.  Turns out she had a bag of mini ones so we tried some and they're barely flavored so we're gonna try it.  Then Patricia left and came back with toothpicks and a lighter.  She said that her family would often set marshmellows aflame and eat them.  That's when I mentioned s'mores.  They didn't know what they were so I showed pictures of Dave and I making s'mores at Kayaks.  So the three of us sat on the bed roasting marshmellows and talking.  Tomorrow, rice krispie treats and maybe s'mores.

    I'm really glad I am with a family that is interested in me and doesn't treat me like a job, which is what Naomi did.  I was so upset with my first placement and this one is awesome.  Patricia said that if I ever came back to Costa Rica I could stay here for a few days or I should at least come by, bring David, or Emily, or mi familia.  She also gave me the house number so I could give it to the aforementioned people since there's no WiFi.  She said she knows it costs a lot to call here but it's not too much on her end so I should at least have it so people could get ahold of me if they need to.  Most host families don't even allow students/volunteers to use their phones.  It's quite nice and helpful and loving.

    Before she went to bed, Melanie came into my room to say buenos noches and she gave me a wooden butterfly charm.  Because we're friends she said  :-)

Buenos noches!