Livin' La Vida Tica: Tes' Peace Corps Experience: December 2008

I just had an extremely honest conversation with my host family, in light of the fact that apparently people in my community don’t have a clear understanding of what my role here is as a Peace Corps Volunteer for these 2 years. Many volunteers say that they feel that people in their town see them as being there exclusively to find funding for projects. Luckily, I haven’t felt that pressure, I think as a result of my way of integrating into the community— from the beginning, I’ve explained that I am here to help in community development, but haven’t necessarily mentioned the idea of fundraising, though it is certainly coming into play as things progress. This is, in theory, the natural sequence of events. It is for this reason (among many others!) that it is so necessary to be here for the 2 years: to make at least a dent in the organizational development of the existing organizations to then work on fundraising of projects deemed necessary as a result of the very same organizational development— something one would not be able to do in a few weeks, or even a few months.

The point is that I really need to make a more concerted effort to explain to people the 3 goals of the rural community development program (organizational development, economic opportunities, and education). However, there is another aspect of Peace Corps as an institution which led to the most interesting part of the conversation. A lot of times with Peace Corps, I think that volunteers loose sight of the 3 founding principles of the organization. While one of the goals is to “help people of interested countries in meeting their needs for trained men and women” (ie the concepts listed above), the other 2 goals have nothing to do with community development:
-help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served (aka my community)
-help promote a better understanding of other peoples (aka Ticos) on the part of Americans (aka my family and friends).
(fyi: these goals come directly from the Peace Corps handbook)

So, really Peace Corps is about this exchange and mutual understanding of cultures. Doing Peace Corps in Costa Rica, a country that sees a disproportionate number of Americans as compared to other Peace Corps countries due to the tourism industry, creates an interesting dynamic when it comes to these other goals. Ticos have a lot of interaction with “gringos” (I’ll call Americans gringos from here on out because that’s how they refer to us here. I personally don’t take offense to the term—something people are constantly asking me—because I know they aren’t using it in an offensive manner at least when referring to me, although I imagine that in other situations, that may not be the case). These interactions lead to generalizations and stereotyped that all gringos are extremely wealthy and spend their money on anything (the other day my host brother was joking around trying to convince me to buy “authentic” Costa Rican products of random things lying around the house, because supposedly all gringos will by anything if it’s “made in Costa Rica”). Gringos also exclusively eat hamburgers and junk food all the time. Also, from all the backpackers there’s the idea that gringos don’t bathe very often and live in sandals.

So my host mom, host dad and I are having this conversation and I said that this idea of breaking stereotypes is a part of the Peace Corps experience and that now people in my town at least know that all gringos aren’t blonde hair and blue eyes and my host mom says, “Yea but Tes, I wouldn’t call you gringa!” And I said, “Why not? I was born in the US, my parents were born in the US, my grandparents were born in the US.” And she says, “Yes, but you have different habits then most gringos—you don’t eat hamburgers and junk food, you have good morals and values”--- basically alluding to the fact that I am somehow an exception to the rule and that, in reality, most gringos are like those in the movies and those that they see here in CR (who, I may add, are on vacation and therefore perhaps the fact that they are wearing sandals and not bathing as often as usual, doesn’t mean that they are like that in the US!). I could not believe that my own host mom who obviously knows me extremely well still believes that I am not “gringa” because I do not adhere to the stereotypes. However it was simultaneously fascinating to realize that these stereotypes are truly ingrained into the culture here.

To say the least, it was an extremely telling conversation that revealed the need to have these conversations more often, in addition to the importance of this aspect of the Peace Corps experience, perhaps even more so in Costa Rica than in other parts of the world. If there is something that this experience has taught me (among so many other things, of course) it is the harm in making generalizations about groups of people. It always cracks me up when people make generalizations about people in the US because I then explain to that person: how can you say that all Americans are alike in any given way when we are however many million people living in a country that is varied in every possible way, minus language (and even that is disputable!). And while these stereotypes are more or less harmless, the concept of generalizing and making stereotypes about any group, whether it be the people of a country, religion, etc. can become dangerous and is the root of many of the problems facing us on a global level.

Another aspect of the conversation was me telling my host family how lucky I feel to get to experience a part of Costa Rica that most tourists never get to experience, being a part of an “authentic” rural town for 2 years. I told them that was a huge part of my motivation in joining Peace Corps, to be able to really become a part of a community outside of the US and I feel that I have been able to do that here. In turn, I am then able to impart what I’m learning about life here to people in the states. It is satisfying to know that my blog has been a wonderful way to fulfill this goal--- I am able to tell you (my readers) about my experiences so that you can learn more about Tico culture, or at least my perception of it. I appreciate you all for reading about my experiences and for helping, in turn, to expand the conceptions of Costa Rica that you may have, which are hopefully changing for the better as a result!

Ok, on that note, I’m off to bed as it’s 9:30pm right now, ya tarde!
Buenas noches!
Tesa

I realized today that I haven’t written since I’ve gotten back from my trip to the states, which I think is somewhat indicative of how I’ve been feeling since then. I had an absolutely wonderful, if somewhat whirlwind, trip home last month, primarily for the very special occasion of my cousin Nora’s Bat Mitzvah. The bat mitzvah was lovely and it was the perfect opportunity to see lots of family members I had not seen in quite a long time. It was nice to have over a week, because I was able to really catch up with my aunts/uncles, cousins, and grandparents (and my Mom and Austin, too!) and at the end of the week I headed to Boston to see friends from college and CT. Needless to say, it was great seeing so many people I care about and had not seen in person for a very long time (besides my Mom and Ali, I hadn’t seen a family member or friend from home in over 9 months!). Let me say that all of the joyous time spent with all those people has made it a somewhat difficult transition back to Costa Rica. Of course it’s been nice seeing everyone and everyone has been more than welcoming after my absence. But it has been somewhat difficult coming to terms with the fact that I truly have two lives: in the US and here in Costa Rica and, though somewhat unfair for the CR life, my US life has a 23 year head start in terms of the relationships that I have there. I don’t want to make it seem like I’m not happy here, because that sincerely isn’t the case. This is more to explain that when choosing to do Peace Corps, it is difficult to conceptualize the idea of leaving one’s life behind for 2 whole years and I think that going back home to visit has certainly illuminated the weight of that decision.

However in typical “Tesandra, PC Volunteer” fashion, I am slowly assimilating back to my life here. Last week, I invited all the members of my English class to my house for a potluck Thanksgiving dinner. It was a major success, with the Ticos adventurously trying some new food I had brought back (stuffing, cranberry sauce, and, if I do say myself, some delicious pumpkin pie). Part of the PC experience is this cultural exchange and I was really happy to be able to share that part of our culture with them, specifically the concept of giving thanks for what we have. I had us go around in a circle and share with the group what each person was thankful for. I was really touched, and also surprised, that many people were so thankful for the English class and not so much as a chance to learn English (that too, but that’s more implicit), but also as an opportunity to get to know more members of the community. I think I take for granted the fact that it is such a small town and everyone knows each other, but while people know each other on more of a surface level basis, there aren’t that many opportunities for people to get to know each other on a deeper level and so the English class has been an outlet to foster those friendships.

the full spread-- yum!

my host mom serving the food

some of the boys in the class enjoying their food

my host mom and I!

On a related cultural note, now that I have shared Thanksgiving, I am really excited to experience a Tico Christmas. It seems that there are lots of traditions (and lots of eating!) involved and I can’t wait to experience it all. This past weekend we got the Christmas tree in our house (my very first Christmas tree!) and have been decorating all over the house. I’m sure I will be repeating the fact that I’ve never celebrated Christmas and why not countless times over the next few weeks, because even my host family, who definitely knows that I´m Jewish, ask if I’ve ever had a tree, even though I’ve told them many times that Jewish people don’t celebrate Christmas (not even the tree part!). I brought down a little menora and it’ll be interesting to see what they think of lighting the candles and reciting the prayers in Hebrew—I told them that after 8 nights, they’ll be singing along with me! We’ll see what happens!

Other pictures:
Long-awaited proof of me milking cows!

The corral where it all goes down

Across from the corral is this crazy looking contraption called a trapiche which turns sugar cane into a liquid, which can then be made into something called tapa de dulce which is basically a hardened block of brown sugar (really yummy!) used for cooking and making various drinks. Back in the day people used oxen to power the trapiche, but the trapiche at my host family’s house is really now more used for decoration, except for every once in the while when we decide we want some fresh caldo de caña (the liquid), but instead of using oxen, we use man-power!