field trips & barista boys

I am in the lovely city of Toronto, reportedly the most multi-ethnic in all of North America, taking a crash course in how to be an effective cross cultural worker. Topics are culture shock, adaptation, coping skills, interpersonal skills, conflict management, holistic growth...

I feel like i am in school, sitting in a desk many, many hours a day, although they make us get up and act things out, or play games. We get to go on field trips, except we don't need our parents permission this time:-) We went out to eat in Little India (and I caressed hundreds of fabrics in the plethora of fabric & clothing stores), next week we are visiting a mosque, on the weekend we are hitting Chinatown and Kensington market, enjoy some fireworks on canada day.

It has been a good time of growth & challenge on many levels. I have many philosophical debates going on in my head. I dream and think in "cnn". I have a main picture going, but I have one or two subtitles whirring by, and emerging news popping up in the corners, and everything is in loud voices (you know how wolf blitzer makes everything sound so urgent). so a major challenge for me anywhere, anytime, is to quiet my mind and allow myself to "be."

I am getting to know the other girls who are going out with CRWRC (christian reformed world relief committee). Melissa is also a nurse, going to Sierra Leone for 2 1/2 years, Chichi and Amy are going to Nigeria and Kenya (respectively) for one to two year terms as "cultural bridgers". We have alot of fun together, and were all rolling with laughter last night telling fart stories. Melissa, Amy and I visit the local Second Cup on a very frequent basis, not only for the coffee, but for a cute barista boy that we have all developed a crush on:-) There are also several young people who are going on CIDA internships (Cdn international development agency), and wonderfully, several retired people who are moving abroad to volunteer for retirement. so we span most decades of life and wisdom.

I have one more week of training here, then I head back to Calgary for a few weeks. I have to literally sort through my entire life there and discard most of my earthly belongings, visit the friends and family in edmonton, wind down my life, and perhaps get in a few more shifts at work. Then I am heading back out eastwards to Michigan and Burlington for more agency training and preparation. I will wind it up with a week long course on Vancouver Island about community health mid-august. I hope to wrap it all up with a couple of days of surfing in tofino, spending time with my niece and nephew, saying goodbye to my oma again, and finally hanging out in calgary for about a week before I head out to kenya on september 2. (if my visa goes through i suppose).

amy, chichi, me, melissa

swing twisting
(throwing myself into a twisting motion
while swinging as high as possible - better than drugs)

the new bond girl?

internal spedometer

when i arrived in costa rica i was speeding around, thinking i needed to be in the water NOW, needed to surf 12 hours a day or it wouldn't be worth it, got frustrated with people when they walked too slow, wondered what people did all day because it appeared many people did not work at all.
my internal spedometer was still revving when i arrived.
my crazy dutch work ethic and my hospital job don't allow me to be still.
i have slowed down over the last several days. once i took a surfing lesson i realized it is totally impossible to surf 12 hours a day. that would be like working out at the gym for 12 hours straight. i realized that it was okay to actually sit on a beach and think, sometimes of absolutely nothing. i have wandered the same 3 streets of the town, not really caring that i have walked by a particular shop window 30 times already. i have swung in a hammock with a book and a coffee and thoroughly enjoyed it.
my internal spedometer is now going just fast enough to make me get up in the morning and putter me around for the day (except when i surf, i do go hard). and now my vacation is over. tomorrow i head to san jose to do souvenir shopping, and then a long trip back home. and i will be forced to put the pedal to the metal on my internal spedometer. (i am leaving for kenya sept 2 and have way to much to do).
it was nice while it lasted....

pura vida - costa rica

observations of my trip so far...

never stop to talk to a tico (costa rican) man riding a mountain bike on a beach.
(must read previous entries to understand this one)

consider it normal to be watched on the beach by 20 construction workers on their lunch break.

my hostel roommate and i are pretty sure that the owners son is a crack addict. two kinds of crack, however... crack the drug, and his own butt crack. he ALWAYS wears shorts so low that his butt crack shows 2 inches, which means in the front, guess what is showing... yes, pubic hair. it is very gross.

i have deduced that most men showing their butt cracks around town are also drug addicts.

i figured on on my second day here who the local drug dealer is.

mullets are very popular here. the drug dealer has short hair in the front and gross dirty dreadlocks half way down his back.

my bum cheeks look like two red apples.

if you are an american hippie you either used to live in costa rica or have never left and now own a used book store in tamarindo.

seared tuna that is fresh from the ocean tastes really really good, even if it costs $17 bucks.

i wake up with a major afro every morning.

my bottom lip got sunburnt and now looks like i had collagen injections.

i am pregnant with twins by a tico man.... no wait, that was in cuba...

have a great day!