Buenas!

For having prepared  myself to leave and work abroad for two years and for the almost year and a half application and assignment process, I slept very well the night before I boarded the plane to DC for Staging, the event that brought all 31 of us together. The year and a half leading up to this was spent thinking of the things I would be doing around the world, Kenya, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, who knew? Since February however, I had spent my time in disbelief and waiting for someone to tell me it was a typo or wrong email. Costa Rica you say? That’s just a joke, no one gets that lucky. 2 weeks in at this point and I still say its all a dream.

I left FLL around 8 am and said good bye to mom and dad at the airport, something I hadn't done in years. I made it safely into DC around 1130, all things accounted for. I took a cab ride with a man from Egypt and we talked about politics, the massive protests going on and how when people are oppressed for so long, they could and will fight back. He did most of the talking, rightly so. Being American I have realized, we only get worked up about short term injustices, and televise them for a few months before we all return to normal. Alyssa was the first person I met and we shared a room. We wondered around to get food before our official orientation began at 1230. We waited in line and struck up conversation with our soon to be colleagues Laura, Jessica and Kiara. Staging was a mix of getting to know you activities and explanation of expectations from our side of the fence as well as the Peace Corps outlined list. After staging, we set a time to meet back up and go out for dinner. As per usual I was late, but this time only by 2 minutes! Still, I was two minutes too late so I talked with my mom and Jason on the phone and pretended that they were with me as I sat at the restaurant/ bar in the hotel, ate a giant cheeseburger and had a glass of whiskey on the rocks before heading to bed; my final fling with my North American cuisine.  I don’t think I was sad at actually being alone. I think I was sad more at the concept of being alone the night before I leave the country. All's well that ends well, I had a nice chat with Alyssa before bed upon both our safe returns and we napped for a few hours before we had to meet downstairs for check out at 230 am…flight leaves at 6. The expression “hurry up and wait” never fails to be accurate in so many instances. Fading in and out of dreams, I remember thinking to myself, hey Marlee remember that day you are supposed to fly to Costa Rica, to which I quickly realized my plane was already headed that way.

 

 The ride to Costa Rica was a few hours and let me tell you how excited I was to see mountains again, real mountains; I knew, even if it was still a dream it was a damn good one. After we landed and got our things we were shuffled around the small airport until we reached our buses and were whisked away to Tres Rios for orientation week. It was beautiful there. We didn’t get to see the three rivers the name boasts about but we saw plenty of romantic city lights in the valley below and spent the better part of those four days bonding over food, soccer, giant moths, lack of language proficiency for some of us and the state of awe we were all still in. Even when it rains in Costa Rica, I smile. Four days came and went and we were once again shuffled out and onto the buses that would take us to our new families. The night before however we celebrates by dancing and showing off our talents and or lack there of. There was juggling and nun-chucks and dance lessons, it was nice to hang out all together in such an atmosphere.

 

The day we got to our family felt to me, and some agreed, like a team reveal day at an orphanage. We were all homeless and going to be completely dependent on our new families for quite a few many things until we got the hang of it…if we got a hang of it. Christopher, Ramona, and I were placed carefully in the boundaries of our new community and in a few short meters, I was home. My new family has a beautiful home, open for family and friends alike; and to me it is quite cozy. I have a lovely mother who is a wonderful mom to her three kids, two boys 17 and 19 and one girl, who is 10 and my best little teacher. My host dad is also a wonderful dad; being able to be an outsider it isn’t hard to tell that there is a lot of love here. I feel akin to the littlest one, probably because we are both growing into own at the same time. My first night was a little overwhelming as they had some family over, including kids and because I couldn’t keep up with the adults, I hung out with them and they taught me some Spanish. The little one also wrote me a note of which I’ll probably keep forever. I am so very grateful for my family here. They remind me of the way things were for me when I was about 14 or 15. There are lives and girlfriends and plans and, well no cell phones in my day ;), but us kids had lives of our own and yet home was where we all orbited each other and the force that tied us together. My family has made me feel more than comfortable, which perhaps I should keep in mind. I feel safe and although I am miles and miles away from home, there is a very familiar feeling, like I really haven’t gone all that far.

 

 Indeed, there is much more of my North American/ western roots here than I planned on seeing and in some ways it makes me sad to see such a heavy influence. Where at the same time, progress takes on many forms and it has been welcomed from what I can tell thus far. People I have encountered are incredibly hospitable, sincere, and willing to help; even when my Spanish sounds more like Chinese for all they or I know. In the mean time, I am learning the language, poco y poco, and I’m finding my way around. Every day is a new lesson, a new adventure, a new story shared and a new one to tell.