Día Uno

So I’ve been here in San Isidro de Aguas Claras for something like 24 hours, and I can already see brilliant potential here.  I’ve been placed in an amazing home - my host family consists of a wonderful woman named Jeanneth who serves as a missionary in the local community, while her husband, Oscar, is a construction specialist. [Get this: when I woke up this morning, I mentioned that I needed to spend a little bit of time filling out some forms that coincide with my site visit. So Oscar walked out to his workshop, and in an hour and half he BUILT a desk for my room. No joke. He just grabbed some wood from his massive stock and built the very desk on which I’m now typing this blog post.] Oscar and Jeanneth have a daughter named Zaylin who lives in the house next door with her husband and their daughter.

My new Tica family! Zaylin (sister), Doña Jeanneth, and Don Oscar.

I’ve already been invited to dinner twice, to coffee three times, and to teach English about 837 times. It’s a shame I only have three days on this visit. One thing that’s obvious about this community is that they’re aware of what’s coming. They may not know my name yet, but there’s an innate sense of acknowledgement that good things are going to take place. My counterpart Jose took me around this morning for a bit, walking by the school, the internet cafe, the hardware store, the supermarket, and a few houses, and just about every time Jose would introduce me as “the volunteer coming to work here” people’s eyes would light up and they’d let out this long, drawn out “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh” as if realizing this is actually happening. Here’s the gringo. He’s literally right here. 

Vulcan Miravalles, 12 kilometers from my house...

Last night Jose also invited me to his house here in San Isidro to have dinner and watch a semi-final soccer match with him and his family. What a blast that was! Jose and his wife Noily have four kids - three beautiful daughters and one feisty 3-year old son - and they took turns asking questions about the strange fuzzy man who came over to eat. Noily cooked some amazing fried fish filets and we talked about just about everything you’d expect a gringo and his new Tico friends to discuss: family, work, music, and sports. Noily is especially excited about having someone in the community who can help teach English, and she made sure that I knew that, too.

Upon returning to the house after dinner, I watched the rest of the Alajuela/Saprissa match with the family. At one point toward the end, when Li Liga was well ahead and attention could be appropriately divided, Oscar turned to me and said, “I need to tell you something else very important.” All the innards I have started to spin around inside my skin as I thought, This is it. This is the moment we’ve been learning about. This is when things get weird. He’s going to tell me we don’t eat meat or that my curfew is 7:30 or that I can’t wear shorts here or something like that. He looked at me and began by saying, “We’re people of faith. We have our beliefs and we know who we serve.” More spinning. More sweating. More panting. More red flags than a Russian Parade. He continued, “However, I want you to know that it’s completely fine if you have a beer every now and again.” *BREATHE* “As a matter of fact, when I’m out in the back grilling up some steak/chicken or I’m working in the heat of the day, I’ll even have one myself. And we also sometimes enjoy a nice glass of wine every now and again if the occasion calls for it. We hope that doesn’t offend you,” he concluded. 

With that he flipped all the tables on me. Here I was worried beyond measure that I’d already done something to offend this awesome family, and he comes out with a “Hey we drink. Don’t judge, please.” kinda statement. Okie doke. No problem here!

This morning started with what I would describe as a mini-hurricane blowing through Aguas Claras. Welcome, says the weather. Interestingly enough, I had shut the windows in my room because a small army of mosquitos chose to attack me around 1:00AM, making it impossible to fall asleep. Since the windows were closed, the rain from Hurricane Site Visit stayed outside and I got to sleep soundly all the way until 7:30. Call it providence, if you like.

The storm passed, and I shared an enormous and tasty breakfast of scrambled eggs with peppers, gallo pinto, coffee, and some of the most naturally delicious platanos maduros I have ever had in my life. We talked about all the un-fun stuff like how much I’ll pay for rent and what my personal emergency plan will consist of, but their playful spirits made it all pass by in an instant. We even got to talk a bit about their faith, which was - of course, with my background - of interest to me as well. Doña Jeanneth shared with me a brief history of how she and Oscar had worked with the church for thirty-six years but after somewhat of an enlightening moment, they decided to focus more on cultivating their own personal faith. These days their focus is people, not tasks, and I couldn’t agree more with them. If there were ever a sign that I’m in the right place, it’s that right there. Very thankful for that.

My new home!

This afternoon I got to walk around town with my main counterpart José, and we stopped by a few community spots like the school, the police station, the internet café, and a couple houses as well. The smiles on peoples’ faces were like gasoline on a fire for me, and I’ve never felt more ready to get things going. While my mind is filled with a billion different things, there's also this strangely calm, underlying peace that streams through my blood as I take each step in this place. It’s not just the people, nor is it just the tropical climate. It isn’t just the lush green landscape, nor is it just the fact that I’m about to live in the shadows of two enormous volcanos. It’s not just the hospitality of my new host family, and it’s not just the openness of the community to new visitors. It’s more than just the sum of these things; it’s something greater. 

I think it’s called hope.