On thursday we arrived home from our Nicaragua trip, then right away on friday a group of us headed out to Manuel Antonio foe fall break where we have been enjoying the national park and beaches and zip lining! We have free internet here at the hostel and Nicaragua was the most amazing experience of my time so far, so I guess I should blog about it, even though I dont even know where to start.
Nicaragua is a completely different world than Costa Rica. The people are far more poor (over 70 percent live on less than 2 dollars per day) there country's history is pretty violent, with military dictatorships, violent revolutions, earthquakes and hurracanes that destroyed the country and power hungry corrupt leaders. Nicaraguans are very passionate, especially about thier politics.
For 2 days our group studied some history in politics in the capital of Managua, then we headed out in groups of four to little villages outside of the city. My group traveled about an hour, further and further away from modern conveniences. I didnt know what to expect, but when we saw people legitimately travelling with horse and buggy instead of cars and when we got out of our taxi and began our trek up the dirt road, i knew i was in for a crazy different experience. I live in La Montanita. Our toilet was an outhouse, i showered with a bucket of water and a bowl, all my food was cooked over a fire and there were chickens and other animals everywhere.
I loved my experience so much. My family was so excited to have me. They hosted one other student 2 years ago and they still talk about her all the time like she is one of the family's nearest and dearest friend. They people were asking months in advance when we students would be coming, and i think it was the highlight of the year that we went. I really enjoyed the slow pace of life there. I just sat and was quiet at times, other times i played baseball and cards with the kids. My family always serevd me first and gave me the best food (the boughtfresh cow milk from their neighbor evey morning so that i could have milk in my coffee...woah) They poured traditional nicaraguan gifts on me like hairclips, earrings, a hammock and hand made sandals, even though they were poor and im sure these gifts required sacrafice. I just felt so loved by my family there and in those 6 short days I really fell in love with them too.
Since LASP teamed up with a church denomination called Brothers in Christ to find us our Christian host families, the villages we all visited just assumed we were missionaries, despite us saying we were really just students. They had us sing in front of church, teach kids' sunday school and my friend McCall actually preached in Spansh on Saturday night. We led a special youth group meeting and they had a special food sale and invited a neighboring church on sunday. Church is a very important part of their lives. They have 4 or 5 services a week. There were things i really liked and things I really didnt like about the church. One of the things I didnt like was the pastor's attitude that we could teach them so much and enlighten them with our spiritual ideas just because we were from the U.S. as much as we wanted to live on the same level as the Nicaraguans for the week, they always wanted to draw lines between us and them. We were the rich people they were poor. They thought we had so much to offer them, financially and spiritually, but they didnt realize what they were giving us.
There are a lot of difficult issues my experience in Nicaragua brought up. Many members of the community worked in sweatshops owned by American clothing companies. Often times foreign involvement in Nicaragua involves giving money, while ignoring the economic and political structural problems. Nicaraguans just expect other countries to give them stuff and they are never empowered to be self sufficient. These are things I will struggle to think about, along with many more.
Already I feel i am fogetting some aspects of my trip, as now my mind is filled with this gorgeous ocean view in Manuel Antonio. Tomorrow we go back to classes, I will be starting my literature classes and another round of spanish classes. I am forced to "move on" from nicaragua. But if any of you ask me about my trip when I return, please ask me about this awesome part of it.
prayer request: there are still boy drama issues with my host family here. My mom and sister are both moody and angry with each other. I feel really ackward and sometimes just wish I didnt have to be there so please pray for peace for my family and that I would feel loved and there.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
So I have been avoiding blogging because there is just too much to say. I could go on and on about how lovely the beach was and how I saw monkeys and ate good food etc. that’s not really the heart of what is happening. I am changing. My perspectives are changing. One of my biggest fears is that when I return I will have so many ideas I want to share but I won’t know how to communicate them and I don’t know if I will find anyone who truly wants to listen. But I guess if I am worried about expressing myself, I might as well start now.
We went to a Del Monte banana plantation when we went to Limon last week. We had to come in unannounced and ask if we could look around because they have stopped giving tours because they have suffered some inconvenience over things tourists have seen in the past. We saw the bananas hanging from the trees in plastic bags covered in pesticides. We saw them spraying chemicals on the bananas so they wouldn’t mature until they reach the US, where they will spray more chemicals on them to make them ripen. They workers we were working really hard, and there was just a strange atmosphere, really kind of heavy. Our professors didn’t know exactly how much the workers were paid, but they knew it wasn’t much and that they were paid by the banana, not by the hour, which is not exactly ideal. The workers live on the plantation in little houses. When the airplanes pass over to spray the trees with chemicals, they spray the houses along with the plants. The chemicals cause some health problems for the workers, but who is going to complain? They could lose their job for complaining, and if they lose their job, they lose their house. They essentially lose everything because they are so dependent on their employer. Additionally, “monocropping” is not good for the land. Because the land is stripped bare except for banana plants, there is a lot of run-off. Dirt in the tropics is not like dirt in Iowa. So the earth washes away, together with a conglomeration of chemicals that have been sprayed on the plants, into a nearby river. It is quite likely that just downstream from this river live some indigenous people or another type of people without running water. This river has always been their food source but now they can’t use it because it is filled with chemicals because bananas are the #1 most consumed fruit in the U.S. Who knew that’s where our bananas came from?
As I believe I have mentioned before, Costa Ricans eat beans and rice every day, 2-3 times a day. In the past, they grew their beans and rice here in the country. Now, however, much of the farmland has been taken over by big fruit companies or coffee growers because these crops can be exported to the U.S. for much more money. The U.S. doesn’t want beans and rice, they want pineapple, bananas and coffee so that’s what Costa Rica grows. In the mean time, people in Costa Rica have to pay more money for their staple foods because they now have to import them from other countries. You may be saying, “but Laura, it’s ok that they have to pay more because they are making more money by exporting” (the economic term is “competitive advantage”) False. The people who own the land (US companies) are getting richer. The poor remain just as poor and can now afford even less food.
This is just one example of a perspective change that I have been undergoing here in Costa Rica. I hope people don’t think I’m a paranoid, over-the-top health nut when I get back and want to eat organic or locally-grown food, but I am aware that it is a possibility. ( I know this because I have thought it about other people) But I will leave you with this: Where does your food and clothing come from? Do you have any idea? How do you know that the workers who picked your food or sewed your clothes were not being exploited? Do you know what all those things we can’t pronounce on food labels actually do to your body? I don’t know the answer to these questions, but I’m starting to think that I should.
We went to a Del Monte banana plantation when we went to Limon last week. We had to come in unannounced and ask if we could look around because they have stopped giving tours because they have suffered some inconvenience over things tourists have seen in the past. We saw the bananas hanging from the trees in plastic bags covered in pesticides. We saw them spraying chemicals on the bananas so they wouldn’t mature until they reach the US, where they will spray more chemicals on them to make them ripen. They workers we were working really hard, and there was just a strange atmosphere, really kind of heavy. Our professors didn’t know exactly how much the workers were paid, but they knew it wasn’t much and that they were paid by the banana, not by the hour, which is not exactly ideal. The workers live on the plantation in little houses. When the airplanes pass over to spray the trees with chemicals, they spray the houses along with the plants. The chemicals cause some health problems for the workers, but who is going to complain? They could lose their job for complaining, and if they lose their job, they lose their house. They essentially lose everything because they are so dependent on their employer. Additionally, “monocropping” is not good for the land. Because the land is stripped bare except for banana plants, there is a lot of run-off. Dirt in the tropics is not like dirt in Iowa. So the earth washes away, together with a conglomeration of chemicals that have been sprayed on the plants, into a nearby river. It is quite likely that just downstream from this river live some indigenous people or another type of people without running water. This river has always been their food source but now they can’t use it because it is filled with chemicals because bananas are the #1 most consumed fruit in the U.S. Who knew that’s where our bananas came from?
As I believe I have mentioned before, Costa Ricans eat beans and rice every day, 2-3 times a day. In the past, they grew their beans and rice here in the country. Now, however, much of the farmland has been taken over by big fruit companies or coffee growers because these crops can be exported to the U.S. for much more money. The U.S. doesn’t want beans and rice, they want pineapple, bananas and coffee so that’s what Costa Rica grows. In the mean time, people in Costa Rica have to pay more money for their staple foods because they now have to import them from other countries. You may be saying, “but Laura, it’s ok that they have to pay more because they are making more money by exporting” (the economic term is “competitive advantage”) False. The people who own the land (US companies) are getting richer. The poor remain just as poor and can now afford even less food.
This is just one example of a perspective change that I have been undergoing here in Costa Rica. I hope people don’t think I’m a paranoid, over-the-top health nut when I get back and want to eat organic or locally-grown food, but I am aware that it is a possibility. ( I know this because I have thought it about other people) But I will leave you with this: Where does your food and clothing come from? Do you have any idea? How do you know that the workers who picked your food or sewed your clothes were not being exploited? Do you know what all those things we can’t pronounce on food labels actually do to your body? I don’t know the answer to these questions, but I’m starting to think that I should.
pressing on
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Well, I have completed a month here and I am still alive. This week was kind of rough as far a being homesick goes. I was doing really good at focusing on one day at a time, but i realized that this week I had been saying the words "Jesus get me through this day, I need your strength" but I wasn't really believing that he is all I need. However, I feel like I have gotten back on track. Keep praying for me guys!
I have one more week of "core seminar" and then we all go to Nicaragua for a week. Nicaragua will be more rural and the families will be poorer. We will each be living with our own family just doing what they do for those 10 days. I'm nervous and excited. From what I hear, their life is a lot more simple so it may involve a lot of just sitting around, which will actually be really challenging for me. After Nicaragua we have fall break and then our schedules change up a bit. Its good to have changes in schedule so that I have little goals to look forward to.
For your viewing pleasure, I included this picture of about half our group when we went to visit the ruins of the first Spanish colony in Costa Rica
I have one more week of "core seminar" and then we all go to Nicaragua for a week. Nicaragua will be more rural and the families will be poorer. We will each be living with our own family just doing what they do for those 10 days. I'm nervous and excited. From what I hear, their life is a lot more simple so it may involve a lot of just sitting around, which will actually be really challenging for me. After Nicaragua we have fall break and then our schedules change up a bit. Its good to have changes in schedule so that I have little goals to look forward to.
For your viewing pleasure, I included this picture of about half our group when we went to visit the ruins of the first Spanish colony in Costa Rica
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Volcanoes, Parades, and Coffee
I am writing this blog from the comfort of my internet-free home so that I can save it to a flash drive and post it later. It is so hard to find time to get to an internet café, and then they aren’t always open when they say they will be open and then when I have a clock counting the minutes I use and how much I owe (even though it only costs like 60 cents/hour), I just don’t feel like I have the leisure to write a good blog, so I don’t know when I will actually post this but oh well.
I am 2 weeks into my time here and I have already had some adventures. Saturday I went with some friends to a VOLCANO. yep. It was sweet. We were right up there by the crater looking down into the steaming opening of the volcano, with the sulfur burning our eyes. On Sunday, a group of 15 of us went to Cartago where we saw the ruins of the first Spanish settlement in C.R. We also swam and had a cook-out . The bus ride back was an adventure, because the bus was definitely waaay over maximum capacity and we were driving up a super steep mountain with no guard rails in the rain. But we made it!
Today is independence day, so last night all the elementary schools in Costa Rica have parades of Faroles. A farol is a type of lantern, the kids parents make them in the shape of a national symbol or a school or house or some other shape and then they put candles inside of them and carry them in the parade. At Manfred’s school it was supposed to start at 6. We got there at 6:30 . It was dark by then, the school yard was like pure mud and everyone just seemed to be aimlessly standing around. I really didn’t understand what was happening. It turns out that they were waiting for the torch runners to arrive (because the news of Costa Rica’s independence was delivered to them by someone running with a letter and a torch) and so when the torch runners coming from another school arrived at Manfred’s school, a drum line started playing and everyone started marching down the street. It was quite festive. Then today I went with some friends to another parade. It was probably over 3 hours long, but we didn’t stay for the whole thing (especially since they don’t throw out candy in the parades here).
Classes here are interesting and challenging. We have lots of guest speakers from the community come and talk to our class about poverty, economic systems, music and culture etc. We also have a good deal of homework. It is so interesting to study culture, politics, economics and justice from a different point of view, in a land that has been hurt by American policies but at the same time loves American pop culture and fast food. This weekend we are taking a field trip to Limon, a province on the east coast. We will visit a banana plantation, and pineapple plantation and a coffee plantation (!) and no worries, we will also go to the beach!
I am still enjoying my family here, but I would like to bring up one thing, not because I want to air their dirty laundry but because I would really like you all to pray. There has been an issue because my 16 year old sister here has a “boyfriend” who is 23 who she met online. Her parents are in an uproar and really don’t know what to do. It is awkward for me to be on the outskirts of all this, and I think we all need God’s wisdom and direction, and I want to be able to help the situation as best I can.
As a side note, I have eaten so much beans and rice here! Especially rice. I also decided today that I miss Mexican food. Tacos, burritos, and enchiladas are NOT traditional Costa Rican (or “Tican”) food. But it doesn’t even matter what the food is like here because the coffee is SO GOOD. I have it in the morning and in the afternoon every day. When I travel outside of the city there are coffee fields everywhere. I would also like to mention that you can buy a pineapple here for less than a dollar, and one of those little baskets of strawberries for 50 cents.
Many of you have told me you read my blog. You don’t even know how encouraging that is. I don’t have time to respond to everyone but know that I really appreciate your thoughts and prayers. You can pray for me in the following ways:
1. My relationship with my family. Sometimes its hard to know how I fit in and what my role is.
2. Balance of time between school, cultural events and family
3. We are being faced with many challenging ideas, and I really want to process them in humility with a biblical perspective, not a perspective of human wisdom.
4. For the people I am missing and who are missing me (ie family, friends and Kipp)
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Chapter 2... Costa Rica
I made it to Costa Rica! Preparing for this trip has been so different from Mexico just because I know how much loneliness and homesickness to expect, and for that reason I think I was more nervous than excited. In the Miami airport I met up with the rest of my group. There are 34 of us in all, and we are a very lovely group if I do say so myself. I only slept 3 hours the night before I left and I think I am still trying to make up the difference. I have been SO EXHAUSTED all week! This week was orientation, on Thursday we split into group of 3 and explored downtown San Jose we had a list of things we had to find, and a map. Unfortunately almost none of the streets are labeled and nobody really knows which street is which, so it is very difficult getting from one place to the other. I was with McCall and Andrew and we laughed a lot at ourselves. After a morning of being quite disoriented and getting incorrect directions from the locals (they don’t want to disappoint you by saying they don’ know where something is) we ate lunch in a very pretty park. We just couldn’t get over the fact that 2 days prior we had been at home in the US and now we were on an adventure of cultural blunders in a completely foreign country, eating lunches packed for us my women we hardly even knew in a park that we couldn’t even find on the map! There was also a lovely object lesson at lunch. Andrew’s mom had packed him a huge orange, but she had peeled it with a potato peeler and cut a small part of the top off. We just really didn’t know how he was supposed to eat it. McCall decided it was a great representation of our situation because “it’s like we have things that are sort of familiar and we have our ways of doing them, and just the fact that people here do things differently makes the normal seem completely abnormal and makes us feel completely incompetent.” We just have different ideas of how to do things.
I have a great host family. Thank you Lord! Henry and Maritza are my parents, and my sister Alejandra is 16, and my brother Manfred is 8. They have had 11 students before me, so they are “pro” hosts. But speaking of doing things differently… tonight we had taquitos for dinner, meat rolled up in a taco shell and fried. I was excited when I got to the table and saw the taquitos piled with lettuce and sour cream and salsa, until I looked closer and realized the “sour cream” and “salsa” was actually ketchup and mayonaise. Yep. It was drenched in ketchup and mayonaise. But I ate it J
A few other observations:
It is colder here than I expected. It rains every day and right now I really wish I had some sweat pants and not just shorts.
People here a clean freaks. EVERYONE takes a shower EVERY day. For those of you who don’t know my showering habits… let’s just say it’s a stretch.
People dress up here. Most women wear high heels or fancy flats. I want to fit it, but I have to walk about 2 miles to school most days and then another 2 miles to language school in the afternoon, so I’m wearing my tennis shoes… go ahead, call the fashion police.
I’m doing this guys! Please keep praying for me. It is overwhelming to think about being here for over 3 months, but God is faithful to give me strength and joy for TODAY, and that is all I need.
I have a great host family. Thank you Lord! Henry and Maritza are my parents, and my sister Alejandra is 16, and my brother Manfred is 8. They have had 11 students before me, so they are “pro” hosts. But speaking of doing things differently… tonight we had taquitos for dinner, meat rolled up in a taco shell and fried. I was excited when I got to the table and saw the taquitos piled with lettuce and sour cream and salsa, until I looked closer and realized the “sour cream” and “salsa” was actually ketchup and mayonaise. Yep. It was drenched in ketchup and mayonaise. But I ate it J
A few other observations:
It is colder here than I expected. It rains every day and right now I really wish I had some sweat pants and not just shorts.
People here a clean freaks. EVERYONE takes a shower EVERY day. For those of you who don’t know my showering habits… let’s just say it’s a stretch.
People dress up here. Most women wear high heels or fancy flats. I want to fit it, but I have to walk about 2 miles to school most days and then another 2 miles to language school in the afternoon, so I’m wearing my tennis shoes… go ahead, call the fashion police.
I’m doing this guys! Please keep praying for me. It is overwhelming to think about being here for over 3 months, but God is faithful to give me strength and joy for TODAY, and that is all I need.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
I'm home
Well, I'm home now, safe and sound. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that. I was starting to have my place and fit in down there, I was getting a pretty good handle on the language, and now I'm gone. I was happy to come home, but I love so many people in Queretaro and I already miss them a lot. I am surprised how easy it is to go through my day and not think about my experience and all I learned there, all those special people. I think I need to process a little bit more.
Praise God that I was healthy and safe my whole time this summer- it really is amazing how He protected me
Praise God for all I learned and how He revealed Himself to me this summer
Pray that my time in Queretaro will have a lasting impact on many aspects on my life in the US.
Pray that I can maintain my relationships with my Mexican friends through the internet
thank you all so much for praying for me. You are a blessing!
Praise God that I was healthy and safe my whole time this summer- it really is amazing how He protected me
Praise God for all I learned and how He revealed Himself to me this summer
Pray that my time in Queretaro will have a lasting impact on many aspects on my life in the US.
Pray that I can maintain my relationships with my Mexican friends through the internet
thank you all so much for praying for me. You are a blessing!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
A picture is worth a thousand words...
And since I don't feel like writing thousands of words, feast your eyes on these!...
Left: a gordita! Saturday I ate a gordita (not the one in the picture) that was by far the best thing I've eaten here... it was pretty close to life-changing
Below: The Paredes family (minus Ramon, the dad, who is taking the picture) and myself in Bernal
Photos from the youthgroup "garage sale" of sorts. The purpose was to provide a poor neighborhood with cheap clothes, and then use the money to prepare food for people who sell things in the street near the church
Pijamada!!!!!!! (aka slumber party) we are making jewelry. Notice how well I fit in ;) Also, notice that Ariola is having no fun whatsoever at this moment haha!
Left: a gordita! Saturday I ate a gordita (not the one in the picture) that was by far the best thing I've eaten here... it was pretty close to life-changingBelow: The Paredes family (minus Ramon, the dad, who is taking the picture) and myself in Bernal
Photos from the youthgroup "garage sale" of sorts. The purpose was to provide a poor neighborhood with cheap clothes, and then use the money to prepare food for people who sell things in the street near the church
Pijamada!!!!!!! (aka slumber party) we are making jewelry. Notice how well I fit in ;) Also, notice that Ariola is having no fun whatsoever at this moment haha!
*I have just over 2 weeks left here. Pray that I can "aprovechar el tiempo" make good use of my time. I want to spend every single day with a purpose. And I don't just want to "hang out" with the girls, I want to point them toward the Savior, I want each conversation to be seasoned with the Holy Spirit. Honestly, I don't really know how to do that, so pray that God gives me wisdom!
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