I have been seriously slacking on this blog thing, but I am trying to keep it going so here's another entry.
So so much has happened since my last post and training seems like it's gone on forever, but in reality, it's only been not even 3 months.
Couldn't have asked for a better Spanish Facilitator.
One of the more important things that have happened, is that I found out where I'll be living for the next 2 years, beginning Thursday, June 5th. It's Panama! Not really, but it might as well be in Panama. It's called Laurel, and is located in the province of Puntarenas, literally minutes from the Costa Rican/Panamanian border (about 7 hours away from San Jose, the capital). I took a trip there last week to kind of feel things out, get introduced to my new host family, etc and that went pretty well.
My site is the very bottom right (Laurel).
One thing about where I'll be living is that it's HOT and RAINY. That'll take some getting used to, but hopefully it won't take too long. The town itself is around 2000 people, which is actually really large for a Peace Corps site. Because it's close to the border, there are malls and stores near by that have everything for suuuper cheap. I believe they bring products over the border and somehow don't pay Costa Rican taxes on them.
The people there are pretty nice, but it's a little frustrating because they all have accents much different than where I've been living and they all speak super fast, so needless to say I had a hard time understanding them. But they seem eager and willing to start working with me to develop their town. The second day I was there, I had to introduce myself and tell a bit about why I'm there in front of every development group of the community (Indigenous, Women's, Farmers, etc) which was nerve-wracking and intimidating, but they seemed to understand my so-so Spanish, and appreciate that I'm there to lend a hand.
As always my family here in my training site has been great. I'm really going to miss them when I leave next week. They have spoiled the hell out of me but I'm definitely going to visit in the future.
Also, me going to my site means leaving all of the amazing other volunteers I've gotten to know these past 3 months. Somehow I've grown really close to a lot of these guys over just a couple months and it's gonna be hard being so far away from all of them. Okay, enough sad stuff.
Obviously, I miss you all back at home, but the internet will be pretty accessible where I'll be living, so I'm really not much more than a Facebook message or Skype away.
Peace, Love,
Tyler
PS- My swearing-in ceremony will be on June 5th at the US Ambassador's house here in Costa Rica and will be streamed/archived at this website if you want to see. http://www.livestream.com/usembassy
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