CR update #2

• an introduction to the organisation here, the changes over the years and differences from the other partner countries
• team building with our staff team
• leadership, group building, etc. training
• safety and policies for working in the field
• some sessions that we (group leaders) ran
• identification of our projects and group leader pairings
  
  The exciting thing, although I did not get excited about it beforehand, was the selection of the projects/partners. I am going to be working with Mark, an Australian. He is a self-described "YCI-virgin", although he has a lot of leadership experience backing him up. He is young, just 22 years, but his qualifications made him a good choice for our project. I am glad to be paired with him, because he has more first aid experience than I. So I will be able to lean on him in that area, where I consider myself to be weakest, at least in this context. He is a quiet fellow, sometimes I think he is quieter than me, which is unusual for me to encounter. That could be a challenge for us to work through when we are leading... We have a lot of common interests, including food, reading and movies. We are getting along famously so far. We have 2 projects to do in the 10 weeks. So far, only the first one is 90% confirmed. It is likely to be in Guayabo, which is a park with a national archeological monument of some ruins from 800 BC. Should be very interesting, we will be building a concrete trail (this spot is apparently very susceptible to erosion) and a concrete (longer-lasting) bridge to replace the current one. That will be for 3-4 weeks. I'll let you know about the other when I find out...
  
  I am trying to visit as many friends here as I can. I am doing not too bad so far. I mentioned my friend Dave in my last letter, I had dinner with him and their group again last Tues night, just before they flew back to Canada. I received several gifts, including some donations for Nicaragua. It was nice to chat with Dave, and hear what their high school group had been up to. They were doing an environmental project with Reto on the coast near Panama. It was a good primer to get me in the mood for working here with Reto.
  
  At my previous encounter with Dave, I also met my boss, Tomas, who is extremely dynamic and interesting. We talked for an extensive period about Nicaragua and the feasability study. After visiting Nicaragua, I had started to feel a bit down on the prospects for Reto working there, but he helped dispel some of my worries. He is VERY keen to do the project. In any case, that is a ways off yet. I have to get through the project first.
  
  Also that week, I met my friend, Maria Luisa. She was one of the nuns we had worked with in Nicaragua who now has a project here in San Jose. She is working with a squatter community just 6km outside of the downtown area. I toured it on the weekend and it has quite the range of housing and poverty levels. Some houses are nice concrete, although very small - I even saw some with rice cookers and other appliances. Other houses were made of scrap wood and had dirt floors. Reminiscent of Managua in a lot of ways. One difference here is that even the poorest family here has a washing machine. It seems to be a cultural thing here that no matter how poor you are, you have to keep up the appearance of non-poverty, i.e. have a washing machine and TV. It's very similar to Nicaragua, except they don't have washing machines there...
  
  Also had lunch with Marcelo, a friend who worked at Nortel. He graciously invited me to a swanky Italian place out in Escazu and we had a delightful meal and discussed his many girlfriends, his family business and our common friends. Hopefully we will get together again soon.
  
  That night (Sat), I also met my friend Roger for a beer. We are kindred spirits in many ways, fighting for social justice, poverty alleviation, etc. We went out dancing after and wowed the women at El Infinito. It was my first introduction to the "game" as it is called here. Flirting is the true national sport, don't let anyone try to tell you anything about soccer. :) It's quite apparent in the bars, especially. The disco last night was especially interesting because there was lots of international people, so there was a sort of causacian ritual and a latin one. The latin one is far more direct. One Tica danced right into me, apparently by accident, but the second and third time was probably not. It was quite scary. :) Anyway I had fun.
  
  Had dinner with another friend, Ari, and met her family. They are in the upper middle class range. The father had just jogged 25km that day, probably in better shape than I... Ari made dinner then we went out and heard her sing with some of her friends. She sings quite amazingly - is studying singing formally as well. I was quite impressed.
  
  Also saw my friend Johnny finally on Fri. (Some friends have been hard to get a hold of, most of them are working too hard) We went out to a vegetarian restaurant near my office. It was nice, he has a second child, Gabriel, that I didn't know about, not to mention the first, Florcita, who is one of the cutest things, rivaling Maelle (my friend Victor's daughter).
  
  I'll hopefully be seeing more friends this week....
  
  In addition to meeting old friends, I have been getting to know these new ones that compose our staff team. We have gone out dancing several times, as well as two movies and one symphony so far. They are a fun bunch...
  
  It's raining again, as I type. One question we foolish foreigners keep asking each other as we hang our washing out to dry is: "Do you think it will rain?" It is definitely the rainy season right now. I think only one or two days have gone without a real rainfall. (A couple have had just really short drizzles) Today it seems to be a hard one. It's nice in a way, it cools it down a lot. Although I don't find it too hot here, it is still quite warm, usually around 25-26 degrees plus LOTS of humidity.
  
  Our life in the house is fairly normal, we take turns cooking, (usually 3 times a week), cleaning, and all the usual chores. I have made french toast several times, naturally. I finally set up my mosquito net last night - not because there are a lot of mosquitos, but the night before I hardly slept - there was one jerkface mosquito buzzing around for most of the night. I slept beautifully last night, as I have for most nights, but now I know that no darn mosquito can bother me.
  
  On Tues we went to Laguna de Fraijanes for a day trip (more training sessions). I got up at 3:55am to cook french toast for everyone and we caught a bus at 6am. It was a fun day. It's a nice little park.
  
  Yesterday, Rachel (another leader) and I went on a day trip to the Aerial Tram near Guapiles. (I know, I know, a stupid tourist thing to do, but hey, what the heck - in any case, I will claim it was Rachel's idea :) It was way overpriced and we had some misinformation about the buses, but in the end it was still enjoyable, especially to be out of the city, if only for a day. We saw lots of birds, butterflies, etc. including a dwarf squirrel and toucans. The guide was very informative and gave us lots of interesting stories about how the tree frogs grow from tadpoles in flowers or nests that collect water in the trees. We were fascinated.
  
  Well, I'm off to visit another friend from Nicaragua who is here, studying to be a nun (Adita). Should be a pleasant afternoon. Hope all of you are well. Take care and write soon (postal or electronic)...
  
  Rob