Home

So I’ve hit the 2 month mark of being home in Australia, and not surprisingly it’s been difficult. I spent the first month feeling like I was in a bubble and I just went to each activity without really engaging very much in anything. After all, things were busy; I went back to uni 5 days after getting off the plane, jetlagged and overwhelmed. I also dealt with the fact that my part time engineering job no longer existed (I managed to find about 5 hours tutoring a week which has made up for it). But the idea of living without being productive and working was difficult.

The second month was interesting; my parents went off to Papua New Guinea to investigate their own mission hopes with MAF. It amuses me that the two times I have disappeared off for six months, within a few weeks of returning home my parents have gone to live somewhere else. They were only away for one month and honestly it didn’t affect my life hugely, I spent a bit more time cleaning and cooking and driving people around, but overall it was minimal disturbance.

But month 2 was hard, I found I was able to venture out of the bubble I found myself in, but I didn’t really like it very much. Parties and social occasions were very difficult; numerous times I walked in the door and wanted to go home again. Church has been hard, most of the time I’ve been very tempted to stay in bed longer. I’ve been missing my Tico lifestyle, my strong Christian subculture, the warm weather. But, God is good, He has brought me through this time. He has provided people to speak to throughout this whole readjustment process for which I’m grateful. And at the end of the day, it’s generally these hard times that we grow closer to Him, and I can certainly testify to this. The Psalms provide an amazing insight because they are so raw and honest. God speaks, so regularly, so comfortingly.
I never felt completely at home in Australian culture, and I doubt I ever will, with materialism and apathy seeming bigger than they ever did before, but I’ve come to see this as a blessing, that it’s good to see what’s wrong with your own culture. I’ve come to accept that I’ve happy to be a stranger in this world, after all it’s only temporary.
I want to finish off with Psalm 18, I love it, verse 6 espically, nut ti’s worth reading the whole lot!

1 I love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn [a] of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5 The cords of the grave [b] coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called to the LORD;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.
7 The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
9 He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
13 The LORD thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded. [c]
14 He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies ,
great bolts of lightning and routed them.
15 The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, O LORD,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
17 He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the LORD was my support.
19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
20 The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD;
I have not done evil by turning from my God.
22 All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
23 I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
24 The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
26 to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
27 You save the humble
but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.
28 You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning;
my God turns my darkness into light.
29 With your help I can advance against a troop [d] ;
with my God I can scale a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield
for all who take refuge in him.
31 For who is God besides the LORD ?
And who is the Rock except our God?
32 It is God who arms me with strength
and makes my way perfect.
33 He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he enables me to stand on the heights.
34 He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You give me your shield of victory,
and your right hand sustains me;
you stoop down to make me great.
36 You broaden the path beneath me,
so that my ankles do not turn.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
I did not turn back till they were destroyed.
38 I crushed them so that they could not rise;
they fell beneath my feet.
39 You armed me with strength for battle;
you made my adversaries bow at my feet.
40 You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,
and I destroyed my foes.
41 They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—
to the LORD, but he did not answer.
42 I beat them as fine as dust borne on the wind;
I poured them out like mud in the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;
you have made me the head of nations;
people I did not know are subject to me.
44 As soon as they hear me, they obey me;
foreigners cringe before me.
45 They all lose heart;
they come trembling from their strongholds.
46 The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock!
Exalted be God my Savior!
47 He is the God who avenges me,
who subdues nations under me,
48 who saves me from my enemies.
You exalted me above my foes;
from violent men you rescued me.
49 Therefore I will praise you among the nations, O LORD;
I will sing praises to your name.
50 He gives his king great victories;
he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed,
to David and his descendants forever.

News

I watched the news last night. I was wanting to find out more about what was happening in Honduras (it's not really affecting us here- even though they did fly the President into Costa Rica orginally).
One thing that still shocks me about the news here is how graphic it is. There is a new murder every night and they film right next to the body and then show the body upclose. It's like a horror movie, except that it's the 7pm news that everyone watches over dinner. I' not sure what explains this culturally, but I'm looking forward to ratings when I get home.

The long silence

Yes, yes I know, it's been a while since I've posted anything. Well here's an update of what I've been up to for the last month.
I visited the below volcano with my host parents. First time in the last 6 months that I've been cold.


The director of eMi came to visit from Colorado Springs.
We finally finished our project in the north of Costa Rica today. The binding finished 5 minutes ago.

New interns arrived a few weeks ago, and suddenly we were the expereienced ones!

I went to the beach for the weekend with some of the interns and staff and even saw some monkeys! Though nice beaches, I still think Australian ones are better!

The rainy season has arrived

It appears that unlike Melbourne, Costa Rica is not in a drought. The raining season started a few weeks ago, and was definitely welcomed by me. The lead up to it wasn’t really great as everyone got sick, apparently due to the changes in humidity.
I’m normally in a basement office with no windows when the rain comes, so I don’t notice. This Sunday however, I was home with not much else to do. So I watched the rain and took lots of photos. I love it when it rains. The light changes just before, and everything smells and looks so much better afterwards.

I’d heard people say that in the tropics it always rains at the same time, so much so that you can set your watch by when the rain starts. I thought that would be really cool, but unless you want to be late by an hour every now again (which most Hispanics wouldn’t mind), it’s probably not the best idea.

Haitian Childrens Home

At the moment a team from our office and some other volunteers for the USA are working on a master plan (including orphanage, school and church) for the Haitian Children's Home (HCH). Haiti is the poorest country in Central America, with 75% living in absolute poverty. It's hard to believe the such poverty exists so close to Miami.
The following video shows something of the work of HCH.

And the water is off....again

One of the nice things about living in Costa Rica is that it's a developing country, rather than an undeveloped country, so where I live has power and running water. The problem is that it's not a developed country, so the water and power go off regularly. Which makes things very annoying when you work on computers in a basement office. Early this week the water was off for 2 days, about a week earlier it was off for 3 days. Without water, everything and everyone in this tropical climate tends to smell a bit. I find it especially amusing when there are advertisements everywhere telling people to wash their hands well because of swine flu, but you can't because there is no water.
However there are some advantages to lack of water.
1. It gives you something to talk about with everyone you meet and the vocab is really very simple.
2. It creates a sort of community feel as everyone waits for the water truck together or visit the few people with tanks.
3. Everyone in developed countries feels really sorry for you.
4. You get to change lunch plans because you can't prepare food in the office, or wash up the dishes- change is as good as a holiday.
5. You get to write a blog like this, or this, or even this (yes, someone came up with the idea of a little blog competition on the lack of water).

Granada, Nicaragua: Europe without the price tag

On Thursday last week I found out my visa had been denied and I needed to go Nicaragua for a few days. On Friday afternoon I was looking through a guidebook which told me Australians needed a pre approved visa o get into Nicaragua. It was at that point I began to worry. Some quick calls to various Australian embassies which were open assured me I would be ok and the rules had changed. Saturday I was all day with some of the staff. On Sunday I left my host families house at 4:30am. It was sort of a rushed thing. I’ve never been to another country without that little notice.
We crossed the border at about 12 noon. As we were coming from Costa Rica where there is Swine Flu we all had to get checked and fill in medical forms. They took our passports, told us to get off the bus, and we waited for 90 minutes. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in Latin America behind Haiti. While waiting people tried to sell us food, phone calls, shoes and our passport were stamped we worked out which local vendors to support.The poverty was fairly confronting, like the 8 months pregnant woman trying to sell hammocks she makes to feed her children. On Sunday afternoon we arrived in Granada, a city settled in 1524, and known for beautiful architecture. We crammed a lot into the following 38 hours; wandering the streets, going to the markets (local and tourist), walking and swimming along the sore of Lake Nicaragua, lying in hammocks, visiting a few churches, eating pizza, accidentally gate chasing a private party at a bakery and listening to the music, going to an ancient pottery museum and touring by boat some of the 350 Islands of Lake Nicaragua. We stayed in this great little hostel which was super cheap (like everything in Nicaragua). Complete with hammocks and a beautiful court yard.
One of the best things about the hostel for me was that we got to meet David, a Modern Orthodox Jew in Nicaragua for a few days travel and some volunteer work. He spent Monday with us. All too quickly our time in Nicaragua came to an end, and it was time to head back on the 6am bus and the relative wealth of Costa Rica. Next time my visa get denied...I might not complain so much.

Internship poster

Marcos made this cool poster to be displayed in the office once we leave.

Some notes;

"Pura Vida" literally means "pure life" in Spanish, but in Costa Rica it means anything from "good" to "how are you?"

Rancho Arbol de Vida was the organisation we did the design work for (another others) so alot of the photos are taken from that trip. Arbol means tree in Spanish, hence the tree in the poster.

The verse up the top is taken from Isaiah, it's somewhat of a theme for us here, and it's on the back of our eMi T-Shirts.

The photo in the middle was taken on project trip but he added all the extra people that have been part of this time for us. The photo of the 4 of us at the bottom was taken after running between bus stops during some heavy rain.

You might want to click on the poster to view it full size.

Celebrating Tico style

As many of you are aware, I turned 22 last Saturday. My host family decided that they wanted to put on a party, I'm not really into parties but apparently it was all organised. They invited the other 3 interns and their respective host families, plus the minister at the church and his family. Two of the host families ended up not coming so I thought I'd be in for a quiet afternoon. I hadn't banked on the fact that extended family would just happen to turn up as they tend to on Sunday afternoons. I'd also missed the cultural point that everyone invited would bring some friends. So 80 tortillas and a whole lot of boiled pork later we had about 30 people. At about 6.30pm, (that's getting late here- considering people go to bed at 8pm) someone got up to leave and my host mother said "wait til we sing happy birthday to Susannah" the conversation then followed something like this..
"This is a birthday party?"
"Yeah, it's Susannah's"
"Who is that?"
"Her" and point to me
"oh the foreigner"
Then they prayed for me to have many more birthdays and to find a spouse.
On the birthday front, thanks must also go to the lovely Port Arlington SUFM-ers who sent me a bunch of cards, and everyone else who sent emails/facebook messages. Fellow intern Sarah took me swimming for the morning and out for cheesecake after lunch. Plus the lovely Dan and Sarah (permanent staff) took us both to a neighbouring town, home to the biggest ox cart in the world and even organised a cake for James (fellow intern, whose birthday it was on the friday) and I at bible study last night.

What exactly I do...

Due to popular demand I thought I'd give you all some information on what exactly I do here.

Firstly, a little background information on the organisation, Engineering Ministries International (eMi) that I'm working for. eMi provides free architectural and engineering services to Christian ministries around the world. Generally this is orphanages, hospitals and schools. I'll be posting soon on a feeding centre and school in Guatemala I've been working on. They are 6 offices around the world; Costa Rica, India, Uganda, US, Canada and UK.

The way the projects (school, orphanage etc) work is that after the project is accepted, a group of architects, surveyors and engineers head to the site of the project. They are a group made up of permanent eMi staff and interns (people like me) from an eMi office and a bunch of volunteers who come from places like the US or Canada just for the week (or up to 10 day) long trip. During the "project trip" week, the site is surveyed, missionaries who were working for are conferred with about what they actually want, soil is tested, the avaliability of utilities is accessed and plans started. Then we all head back to the office or our homes and keep on working on the project. While we are still working long distances with volunteers in other countries it is very difficult. We have to polish or change the architectural plans. Most of the structural engineering design needs to be done when we get back. In simple terms this involves making sure the columns and beams are big enough to hold everything up. The water engineers need to decide where the water will come from and where all the waste water will go. The electrical need to look after power supplies and wiring. At the end of the project, reports have to be written up, detailing why we chose to do what we did. And providing all the plans and details of how everything is to be done.

While all the design is happening, everything needs to be drawn up on a drafting program called AutoCAD. Things are constantly needing to be changed and corrected. This is where red lines come in. The plans and details are printed off, and someone checks over them and marks all the problems with a red pen. Then someone else fixes all the mistakes and highlights them as they go. Then they print off a new copy, ready for more redlines. This process continues until everything is perfect. At first, I did quite a few redlines for other people. Then about 6 weeks ago, I got to redline for someone else- oh the power of a red pen! It felt great.

For those of you thinking I'm just drafting, don't fear. I do some design work too, looking at the beam design and the number of bars in them. Sometimes my boss Dan calls me and James, the other structural guy over and gives us a bit of an engineering lesson, showing how he designed where the reinforcement went in the column for example. I've also calculated loads and looked at loading factors set out in "The Code". Loading factors are what Engineers apply as somewhat of a safe guard, like if the steel is not as strong as you expected, or you get more people and furniture in the building than expected. The Code gives details of what loading codes to use in what circumstances. It's basically a big rule book. I also got to look at seismic loading, which was really fun. I even designed an excel program so calculating won't be so involved next time.

So there you go, my daily working life.

The holy week experience

I love experiencing how another culture lives everyday and on special days. So spending Semana Santa here (the week leadig up to Easter, holy week) was exciting. As 75% of Costa Ricans are Catholic, in some ways it's a bigger thing here than in Australia. Most people have the whole week off and the shops close on Wednesday afternoon. Even buying alcohol is banned for part of the week. The television was full of movies portraying the life of Christ and the lives of various popes. Town was quite as alot of people headed to other parts of the country to be with family. The neighbours visited with gifts of sweet breads and pastries. My own host family had various relatives coming to stay and cook . They asked me about traditional Easter foods in Australia, and all I could think of was hot cross buns! So they asked me to make some, which turned out quite well. After all the lead up I was expecting things to just get bigger and bigger until Sunday, but everything stopped on Friday night. The shops opened up again on Saturday and people came home. Apparently the focus is more on the crucifixion than the resurrection. Sunday church for us was a bit of a non-event, apparently most protestants down play Easter because the Catholic church plays it up so much. To make up for this, all the staff families had lunch together, exchanging "He is risen!" "He is risen indeed!" and hard boiled coloured eggs. I ended up socialising til about 8pm (considering this is bed time normally, that was a big deal!). I learnt more about how North Americans celebrate Easter too!

The week was filled with a few unexpected, pleasant surprises, involving other cultures.

Some of you will be aware I'm slightly obsessed with Jewish culture and traditions. Before I came to Costa Rica I thought it would be really cool to meet some Jews in Costa Rica, but I didn't think the chance of this happening was very high. I considered asking God to send some my way, but decided I should perhaps focus on Latin culture for these 6 months. Well Thursday night I went to a Seder at the home of a Messianic Brooklyn Jew and his Cuban wife! Turns out they actually know someone I know in Melbourne, which was exciting! The Seder was a very intimate affair, with just eight of us. I only got to go because my boss got sick and thus his family couldn't attend. An absolute bonus for me was that I was the youngest present so I got to ask all the cool questions. Plus James and I were the kids (well we were at least 25 years younger than everyone else there) so we got to search for the afikomen. To hear again how passover points to Christ was wonderful, and to know we were celebrating with millions of people around the world was something really special.

The next surprise was a concert taking place in Vienna. I spent holy week in Vienna 6 years ago and visited lots of sights which were shown throughout the concert. The conductor spoke in German, which to my delight I understood. I got a bit of a "I love Vienna moment" and sort of home sick for it all even though I'd only spent 7 days there.

He is risen! Hallelujah!

Interns

As you probably know, I'm not here by myself. There are three others doing the same thing as me (i.e. volunteering for just these 6 months). We all get along well, and compliment each other. We don't just work together, we hang out, go places and babysit staff kids together. So let me introduce my friends and colleagues.
On the left is a photo taken on the project trip in the backseat of a back seat of a van. It was very crowded! Right to left is Sarah, Marcos, Susannah and James. We all love this photo! Right is the 4 of us at orientation (horrible of me, wish I could edit myself out), plus another couple who will be joining us here in Costa Rica soon.


Sarah, is the fellow girl in the office. She works part time here and part time at the local orphanage, because she has more maternal instincts in her little finger than I do in my whole body. Sarah is also a civil engineering student, and does a lot of work with water here. She reads a lot, and always recommends books to us. The eldest of 5 (4 younger brothers) and possibly the most selfless person you'll ever meet. She'll never admit it, but her Spanish is amazing, and so is she, I couldn't imagine this internship without her.



Marcos is the one we're all convinced was accepted first, because he is so suited to this role for a number of reasons! Firstly, he was born in Guatemala, and though he moved to the US when he was three, he speaks perfect Spanish and understands the culture. When we need to find out information in a hurry, Marcos is the one who talk for us. Secondly, he's the only graduate, and thus is more experienced and knows how to use computer programs better than the rest of us. He's the only architect among us. He's very passionate about his youth group back home and loves Hillsong (moot point between the two of us lol!).

James is the closest person to me when it comes to culture because he's Dutch (second generation) and Canadian (we love the commonwealth!). James and I are both structural engineers at the moment, and thus share office space and music. He is the most adventurous of the 3 of us, continuously telling us 'if it hasn't worked out yet, it just isn't over yet' (great advice when you're in the middle of a flood, at night, when the power is off, in a foreign country and don't know where you're staying that night). He loves surfing and bikes and according to the mothers, possesses a very well written blog.

So there you go, 4 young adults from 4 different cultural backgrounds who've come together to work here for 6 months. We're all so different, yet we can talk for hours. I love them all, and can't imagine what life here would be like without them.

La comida

Every time I come home from a camp my Dad always asks "How was the food?" so I thought I'd answer that question a few months early.

Rice,beans and bananas are staples here. I eat rice and beans for breakfast, it's actually quite good. Actually, I like it so much that one of the worst thing about having no power in the morning is that I have to have bread for breakfast! They call it "gallo pinto" and add coriander, red capsicum and onion. Often it is served with scrambled eggs, and sometimes fruit or fried green bananas.

The other two meals are generally rice and vegetable mixes, sometimes with beans on the side. Sometimes the beans are blended and cooked with onion and some spices. With evening meals meat is often added to the rice and vegetable mix or served as a side dish. But eating a whole steak like I would in Australia is unheard of. "Arroz con pollo" is a typical dish for birthday parties, it's basically rice, vegetable and chicken. Tortillas are regular, eaten most meals. Green salads aren't an everyday affair, but several times a week. Locals eat lettuce with mayonnaise and tomatoe sauce, but I prefer Lizano a salad dressing used to flavour rice. Costa Ricans love Carbohydrates, so along with the rice is potatoes, bread, or spaghetti.

Beverages are great because the fruit is so plentiful (thought they don't seem to eat it too regularly). People regularly blend pineapple, watermelon, bananas, black berries, strawberries and something called 'cas' with either milk or water. When Costa Rican's aren't drinking juice, they drink coffee, which is grown in town. Needless to say my constant water drinking is surprising everyone.

Dairy is expensive here and not very common, my family typically drink milk 2-3 times a week. Cheese is this white stuff which is pretty awful. Ice cream is a once a month special thing.

I miss Vegemite, but apart from that, I've managed to adapt quite easily to this new diet.

The walk to work

Here is my walk to work. It generally takes me about 30 minutes. I leave this lovely street, which is part of the "Royal Mountain" neighbourhood and my host family at about 7am (my host brothers are in the photos running up the street). Generally there dog follows me for the first 10 minutes or so, meaning all the stray dogs in the street, come and hello.

I pass the sugar farm after about 5 minutes. At the moment they are burning cane, which means everything is filled with ash.

Then I go through a less developed area, which is beauitful. The grass is getting yellow (like Australia) because the raining season is just about to come.

Next comes this small set of shops. It's offically part of a new neighbourhood.

There are often people selling bananas and watermelon out the front.

People are always sitting out the front of these shops talking to each other. As I walk by I am greeted by many people.

Not long after the shops is the very steep hill shown, with the very big drains, which I'm sure will seem appropriate when the raining season arrives, rightnow I just use them as a footpath though.

A little while later I get close to the centre of town. This intersection is the only one with traffic lights, in the town. But no one really obeys them anyway so they are quite useless. It's normally very busy and I'll spend up to 5 minutes trying to cross.

Just before I get to work I pass through the central park, the best thing about this town. Right opposite is the Catholic Church. It's a typical design for almost every town to have the church and the park next to each other. The park is full of couples, high school friends, mothers talking, old men chatting together, or interns reading the bible. It's my favourite part of town.

El fines de semana; extented family, Catholicism and haircuts

Well even though it will be Wednesday by the time most of you get this, I thought I'd fill you in on my weekend, it's a fairly typical one in ways and represents alot about culture here.

I left the office a bit later than usual on the Friday night. As I walked home I saw some groups of people gathered outside their homes having mass. Some houses had finished and just a few statues and candles were left outside. I knew that the Catholic church was strong here, there are 40 churches in this village of 10 000, yet every third of fourth house having this construction outside made it even more obvious.

Saturday we left to go to the next big town, which is home to all my extended host family. We dropped the kids off at Grandma's and went to the market. It was fairly similar to the Vic-Market in Melbourne, except there were beggars and guys selling things like lottery tickets and pens wandering around. I tried some green mango with salsa, which was quite good, sort of like an apple with a hint of mango.

Then my host mother and I went to the hairdresser. I had a section in my lonely planet phrase book with phases like "the water is too hot" or "I would like a trim". The salon was a small room off what looked like a large wood shed. Costa Rican women are generally well presented so I was quite confident. As this is a relationship orientated culture, rather than time orientated one, we waited for about 2 hours for our turn. Apparently giving specific times can seem rude. The hairdresser kept saying "Que color!" (what a color!) as she cut my hair.

We left the hairdresser for my and it turned out it wasn't only her who thought my hair was something special. The plan was to walk but we got a taxi because my host mother decided it "wasn't safe for two women alone with my hair to be walking on the street"!

At my host mothers house we had lunch, along with the rest of the extended family. Given the effort in the food and the presence of everyone I thought that it must be some special occasion and it was...family together! After finsihing up there a few hours later, we set off to my host father's parents place for a similiar function. Then we headed home for dinner and some friends came around. The next day after church, some more extended family came to visit. I knew to expect a culture where family was important before I came here, but I never expected to see them every weekend or to be accepted into there family with such warmth. My host grandfather told me that his house was mine also!

Hot climates

When I got accepted into this program, I was sent a few books, a T-shirt, and a whole lot of information. One of the books talked about "hot" and "cold" climate people. Hot climate people value (among other things) relationships and being with people. Cold climate value efficency. While it reached 48 degrees (that is 118 for all the imperial lovers out there) in Melbourne a few weeks ago, I'm a cold climate person. In fact I'm practically frezzing. Costa Ricans are hot climate people. As fellow intern Marcos says, there is no such thing as introverted Hispanics. I was reminded of this a few days ago. I decided a walk would be a good idea. The temperature had dropped a bit and I felt like some exercise, so I told my host mother I was going for a walk. (note the I, e.g. first person singular). She quickly changed her shoes, and we set off, along with 3 kids, 2 bicycles and a dog. Where we walked to normally takes me about 5 minutes, but it took us about 30, because as we walked we stopped and spoke to the neighbours. Anyone we saw we had a conversation with and made sure their children were ok and that they were enjoying the weather.
I had invisioned exercise, and some time alone. But the idea of being alone for pleasure is unheard of in this culture, everything is about relationship. So I am learning and by the end of this 6 months I may have moved from freezing to just cold!

Slideshow

Fellow intern James made this slideshow of his experiences so far., which are fairly similar to mine except our host families are different. He spelt my name wrong though. You can view it here.

Star gazing

I had a lovely evening last night. Venus, Mars and some other planet whose name I could work out in Spanish were aligned or visible or something. So my host family and I spent about 45 minutes laying down in the backyard star gazing. It was beauitful. The weather was pleasantly cool, which is rare in this climate. It was nice to look at a whole knew sky, though occasionally I tried to look for the Southern cross, hoping it would appear. I learnt some new vocab listening to my host family chat and when I didn't I rembered this song. It is a favourite in Australia, and felt very fitting.

Lord of all creation
Of water earth and sky
The heavens are your tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on high

God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy

Early in the morning
I will celebrate the light
And when I stumble in the darkness
I will call your name by night

(by Chris Tomlin)

Speaking spanish without even realising

My cultured North American friends and I were out at tis place which advertises itself as "Tex-Mex". I see this item on the menu which says "Chilli", that's it, just "Chilli". Bemused that someone might just order a spicy vegetqable for lunch I ask if anyone had any idea what this might be or if anyone can come up with a translation. This is when they look at me and ask "don't you have that in Australia?". So they explain it is made of tomatoes, beans, mince meat, onion, chilli powder all cooked together. It's at this point I explain that we do eat that in Australia, in fact my Dad cooks it amost every week, with Kangaroo meat. Then they ask what I call it, then it dawn on me, I've been speaking Spanish without even realising it! For years! And my Dad is actually more cultured than I even gave him credit for.
Sarah ordered Chilli/Chilli con carne/Chilli with meat and it was cheese sauce. Interesting....

Project trip...with photos

When engineers and architects want to build something, they generally want to look at where something will be built, and test the soils. This looking was the purpose of last week. I traveled with the interns and 2 permanent staff to north-western Costa Rica. We were joined by 10 other professionals from the US and Canada. My official role was assistant structural engineer, but I did alot of other things; like literally eat some dirt when conducting a soil analysis. Just so you know it was gritty and floury which suggested it was a silty clay. Not my favorite dish in the world! It was a somewhat relaxed week for me because I was waiting for the architects to make something pretty before I made sure it stood up. But I have a new found appreciation for those guys, they work really hard and they are pro drafters. The photo is of my fellow interns Sarah conducting "perc tests" to look at how the soil will respond to water.









Our site was about 5km from an active volcano, which provides 15% of Costa Rica’s power through the geothermal plant located close by. At first I thought it was just lots of cloud permanently surrounding the volcano, and only the volcano. A few days later dawned on me, this was probably steam/smoke. The scenery was stunning, the “Rio Blanco” (white river- due to the minerals) runs through the property.

Our last night was spent at the nearby Pacific coast. It was a beautiful setting and a good way to relax and spend time with our “collogues”. Plus it meant I went to The place was full of gringos. The term offically refers Americans, but generally includes any white people. The large number of gringos lulled many of our team into a flase sense of security, expecting everyone spoke English. This is where my less than perfect Spanish came into play. I got to translate!! It was great.

The case of a watch too small

This is a blog my Anafa Fok Chuk and John Oliver, my "medical advisors" in Australia who between the two of them amnaged to convince me that I would die of something horrible in Costa Rica. Well a few days ago I was required to test out local health care. Some insect bites had made it difficult to do up my watch. My boss Tom took my to the pharmacy where we got some cream and antihistamines. Consultation later with a nurse suggested that I would have struggled to get them in Australia without a prescription. Here a pharmacy normally can give injections and often have a doctor on staff.
After a morning asleep and locking my room mate out of our room due to th medication I ws able to put my watch back on. I was fairly impressed by the standard of care so to Anafa and John, hopefully you'll be proved wrong.

Weather extremes

It's times like these that I realise I really am on the other side of the world. After language school I headed to the Carribean with the other 3 interns; Sarah, Marcos and James. It was about 4 hours by bus so the chance to go was really to good to ignore. Unfortunately it had rained non-stop for the 5 days preceeding. Sarah and I stayed in a place that literally had a river in the front yard (picture me wading up to my knees). The weather cleared up a bit and we even got a bit of a walk on the 'playa negra' (literally 'black beach'). The beach however was covered with palm trees. we even saw some in the ocean 400m from the shore. So after a weekend spent getting to know each other rather than getting to look more like locals (i.e sun-baking) we headed off to the internet cafe, because it had been almost 48 hours without internet. It was then, via the Canadian news I learnt what was happening in Melbourne. Ten minutes later on the way to the bus stop the reality of 84 deaths and 700 houses set in. Fairly recent emails from my parents suggested they and the house were probably ok, but it was a difficult experience feeling so helpless when so many people who share my geographic surrounds were dead or homeless. So to all the Melbourians out there, please know that we are praying for you all.

oh to communicate

One week of language school has past. James, the enthusiastic Canadian, encouraged by Sarah, the possessor of excellent Spanish decided it would be an idea to speak only spanish here. Needless to say, we have not communicated much in the last week and the coversation has been puncuated by mad flicking through dictionaries or drawings. Saturday we spoke English and it was amazing to be able to communicate again! I spent the week thinking of things I would love to tell people but not having the ability.
On the upside I had some time to get to know some locals, during soccer and at church. I even braved public transport with them to go to the next town.
By sunday night, we all needed a night off absorbing Spanish and the USA superball (or is it superbowl? I do not really know!) provided an opportunity. So I spent the evening hanging out with a brunch of north americans learning about this sacred event. The thing went for about 6 hours! In between I fielded all their questions about Australia. Some of them, inspired by Crocodile Dundee have decided to call me Shelia, and they are all working on adopting my accent! I feel like a celebrity.

Clase de cocina

Yesterday was my first cooking class. Six students and 2 teachers produced some fantastic frijitas. Due to lack of working space and plenty of cxooks it was a great time to hang out with the other students. Ross, one of the students who is working part time with the mission here, decided doing the Ramba in the kitchen would be great fun!
The teacher asked where we where all staying when we were eating, it turns out she is related to 4 out of 6 host families.... just like Worri Yallock again.

Another new enviroment.....

Another week, another town. I am now in rural west Costa Rica at language school. The main industry in this town is coffee and sugar. It is in a valley, surrounded by mountains. So it reminds my of the Yarra Valley, where I grew up.
We started classes yesterday. It is very relaxed, classes in the morning and free afternoon except for 2 days per week, when we have a cooking class or extra language classes. I am in a class with just one other which should increase my learning pace.
I am living with a local family, who are very friendly. My host mother cooks tortillas everyday, sometimes twice a day. Everyday I feel bad at the effort she goes to. Making the dough, patting it out into a round shape, dry frying in a pan, toasting over a fire.
Had my first hot shower since I arrived in Costa Rica today which was very exciting. There is no hot water, except for instant heating so it is still lukewarm, but I felt like I was at the Hilton, even though there was a gecko outside! These form of hot water showers are known as widow makers or suicide showers, but I am assured they are safe!
Apologies for the lack of contractions, this key board is a bit messed up. The question mark in under the underscore button and I can not find the apostrophy!

Orientation and the arrival

On monday we finished up with our Orientation week in Colorado Springs. It was a great 4 days for me and 8 for everyone else. We went hiking at 2300m and i saw my first frozen lake! the altitude was difficult though. We had times with small groups (those of us going to costa Rica, another group of those going to Uganda etc) to talk about strengths, personalities etc. we also had plenty of time for prayer and worship and general getting to know each other. 

The other Costa rica interns and i left mid morning on Monday. We flew first from Colorado Springs to Atlanta. The security checks were extreme, and i discovered travelling on an Australian passport is not always an advantage!  Our flight was delayed by half an hour so we only had 24 minutes to navigate one of the world's busiest airports. but we managed it just. they we closing the door as we arrived. The rest of the journey went quite smoothly. the added advantage was that our luggage was the first off, probably because it was the first on.

As soon as we got through customs we were surrounded by hundreds of people wanting to sell us a taxi ride. The permanent staff were all there to meet us, which was lovely. That night we stayed with staff as we didn't get into Atenas until 11:30 pm and most people are in bed by 9pm.  

Tuesday morning we came to see the office, had devotions went out for lunch and talked about cultural differences. Cultural differences was interesting for me, as i need to change things from the North American perspective. But I did remeber to refer to my jumper as my sweater yesterday.

In the evening we went to our host families. I was struck by how friendly and welcoming my host families and in general all Latins are. 

More information coming soon! I'm off to language school on saturday.

The Castle

Without wanting to sound like that scene from "The Castle" when the main conversation after the sister returns from the honeymoon overseas and all the brother can ask is about the food here is my take on the flight.
We were contacted a few hours before my Sydney flight to say that the flight to LA would be delayed. So I got on a later flight to Sydney but still left sydney at 9pm after leaving home at lunch time. At least i got an emergency exit window seat next to someone who composes music for movies. After navigating through LAX, and finding the correct gate i boarded the flight to Colorado Springs. After quite a few hours alone it was great to finally make it. The other three Costa Rica interns came to meet me at the airport which was great!
So 31 hours after I left home, we arrived at "the Hideaway" where we are staying, to more friendly welcomes.
Today was the commissioning at head office, then 3 hours talking about the causes of poverty, God's response to the poor and then looking at good and bad example of relief.
In the afternoon we went for a walk around town, and then I had the unique American exerience of Wall-mart, which was just like Big-W.
The scenery here is amazing, the rockies are really close and there is lots of snow. I keep explaining that snow is actually exciting to me, because when I left Melbourne it was 40 degrees...and that is not Fahrenheit.
I'm really enjoying getting to know the other 21 interns and some permanent staff. But then again putting me in a room with a bunch of Christian engineers with a social conscious was bound to make me happy!

Just about to leave...

After injections, passport photos, hours on the internet looking for travel insurance and flights, several lovely farewells I'm just about ready to go. Tomorrow morning I'll fly from Melbourne to Sydney to LA and finally to Colorado Springs for 4 days of orientation.
Thanks to everyone for your kind word, cards, presents and prayers over the past weeks. I really appreciate it. There will be another post once I get to Colorado!