Call For The Manager Ashore, Let Me Go Home!

I needed a trip to the beach after my cold trip to NYC for New Years Eve. I saw snow so of course, a day in the sun and surf was required for my Costa Rican adjustment process. Plus, there's no running water in my apartment... For the last week, the water is shut off from around noon or 13:00 until near 22:00 and later! Every day! It's ridiculous! Word on the street is, that this is typical "summer time" shenanigans, which usually occurs in march and april. The local folk keep referring to this as summer time, as the days are hotter and nights are colder than in the wet season (June to October), but I'm seeing trees shed their leaves and people wearing jackets. That means winter, not summer. Silly Costa Ricans.To start this story off, I thought I'd inform you that I saved up some money and bought myself a pair of flip-flops. I think the last time I owned a pair of flip-flops, I was 12 years old, but these things were calling my name! I bought them on a weekend trip to the beach, Jaco, one of Costa Rica's main tourist destinations. It's the dirtiest, sketchiest, scariest tourist town I've ever been to. In fact, while searching for a cheap hotel room at 12:30 AM, we must have passed 20 transvestite prostitutes! We probably saw 100 throughout the whole weekend - The only thing missing was the flier that advertised, "Transvestite Convention! This Weekend Only - Put on your lipstick and short skirts, guys, it's time to have fun!" Lola was everywhere!

Back to the silly Costa Ricans... My students began their English classes again and boy, were they excited to see me! I usually spend the first few minutes of class on an introduction - "How was your weekend?", "What's new?", that sort of thing. This time, they told me about a local doctor that had committed suicide. It's super shocking that that would happen in a town of this size. They expressed anger at the doctor, saying that his son turns five in only a few days, and asking how he could be so selfish. I thought it was an interesting lesson so I probed a bit. I asked them why they thought he would kill himself, but they were completely baffled. "He had everything," one gal said, "a job, a family, money. He even bought his father a car last year! Probably he was gay."

What?!?

She continued, "Well, why else would he kill himself? He had everything to make himself happy and, you know, if he had mental problems, [like being gay] that's probably why he killed himself." I was lost. I've never been stunned by the likes of this kind of logic before. Close - but not the same. And then the story got deeper. "There was another doctor in the next town who killed himself on the same day and they worked at the same hospital so probably they were lovers." Her claim was verified by the nods of the two other students in class.

"But why?" I persisted, "Why would it mean he's gay if he killed himself? What's the logic?" My disbelief and confusion was met with shrugs and confusion as to why I was so confused. I thought it would be a good time to point out that in many other countries (the developed world) homosexuality isn't looked down upon by all of society and in some cases it's even widely accepted. In other countries (developing countries run by religion) it's a crime to be gay - a crime punishable by jail time or even death! I asked where Costa Rica fit in on that spectrum.

"It's accepted here. Guys are always patting each other on the ass in sports and stuff and making jokes so probably I think it's fine to be gay here. But in Mexico you will get killed if you're gay!"

Oh stereotypes, how you entertain me.

Class went on and one student sneezed. I said, "Bless you" and then explained why we say that in America. The blog inspiring response that followed was, "In Costa Rica, if you sneeze, it means that your wife is cheating on you."

As Costa Rica stimulates the 'I-can't-believe-this' part of my brain, the University for Peace (UPeace) is doing it's damnedest to stimulate the 'this-is-ridiculous' part.

A buddy and I are trying to stage a coup at UPeace to get the university to do something about its lacking amenities. It does some things better than any other university could do: assembling a diverse student body and facilitating discussions and culture exchanges with varying perspectives on current world issues. Unfortunately, it falls way short in important standards to which a university should hold itself. I was briefly in communication with the vice-rector of UPeace to solve some very serious student safety issues, but he stopped responding to my emails and requests for followup meetings in November. Perhaps it's his computer. The campus internet rarely works, and it's affecting classes when we're analyzing things online or referencing something. Researching anything often proves quite difficult when there are no resources with which to work.At the end of the day, I can only really say that I really like my new flip-flops. They're made of leather, which comes from one of my favorite meals, and they make me feel like I'm on vacation. With that in mind, it really can be a happy day in Costa Rica at the University for Peace!

Hail to the Chief!

Sorry for the break in my storyline. My computer crashed, several times, and I lost all my class notes for all my classes... Bummer. So the first semester is now complete and boy, am I grateful. It's been filled with hard work, trying to stay awake, drama, worry, stress, homesickness, and I guess learning or whatever.

I had to say goodbye to some of my great new friends as their term here is finished. I look forward to completing the second and final semester with the remaining students on campus, including new students, and I'm excited for new possibilities.

This program at UPeace is not exactly what I thought it would be. I feel like I felt in third grade when I came home from school and my mom asked me, "What did you learn today?" I would reply, "Nothing" not knowing that I had actually learned something. I feel like I'm not making any significant gains in knowledge or skills as my time in Costa Rica progresses, but perhaps it's just as it was then and I simply don't recognize it. Perhaps it's just that I don't see, on a daily basis, that I am in fact making gains. I hope that's the case. I hope that my daily exposure to mind challenging conversations is actually building my capacity for greatness. Or perhaps I'm just having fun hanging out with hippies. Unfortunately, only time will tell.

I was quite happy to put my first semester of grad school to rest. One down, one to go. I'm starting to aggressively apply for jobs back home and I'm hoping to land something soon. Even if it should happen before my time here is finished. I've been away from the working world for far too long and I miss it almost as much as I miss my friends and family. It's time. I'm ready.

My winter break was great! I got to visit my good Peace Corps friend, Alex, in New York for New Years! It was sooo cold! It was my first time to New York and I loved it! I sure hope it won't be my last!I'm back in class again and the particular class I'm taking, Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector, is a major challenge to my abilities. It's nothing like anything I've ever studied. This is the "elective term" at UPeace so I thought I'd take something to broaden my horizons. Man, is it demanding! I have to write a 20 to 30 page business plan for a social enterprise from my creative mind in less than 3 weeks time! As you can imagine, I have no idea how I'll pull that off. It's no surprise that I probably won't post that one on this site. Regardless, I think it will hold promise and potential for my upcoming thesis and supplementary material.

Classes were cut short for the Obama inauguration speech the other day. UPeace has students from something like 60 countries, and they all paused their educational progress to take a gander at the current happenings of the United States. It was quite impressive. We gathered in the cafeteria to watch a projected presentation of the speech in real time... Well, with only a 15 second difference between the video and audio, until the internet cut out and we only got patches of the speech. I felt like a kid sitting around a radio broadcast 100 years ago - only a radio broadcast wouldn't have been interrupted by Costa Rican/UPeace shortcomings, I imagine.

In any case, this is really an inspiring global event. And it truly is a global event. To have representatives from 60-ish countries on the edge of their seats, clapping to great statements, is really significant in that it shows that the world is behind the new United States presidential administration. It's quite touching and it made me feel proud.

I know that a larger-than-I-care-to-admit part of my family is not excited about President Obama, but the fact is, that the rest of the world is excited. I don't think Americans recognize that we hold such a leadership position in the world, and as such, we should fulfill the part of a good leader. However, I'm waiting to be impressed by his actions and not by his reputation, but in the meantime, it should be recognized that the world really is watching. Hell, we skipped classes to watch! And large part of our discussion the following day was directly pertaining to his speech and what he stands for. It's an interesting time in history that I hope you all can appreciate.

As far as my love for Costa Rica goes, it is still non-existent and I can't wait to come home.