Quiero esta muerto

So I went to the doctors again last night. This doctor at least seemed to have an idea about what was going on. He said the medicine the other doctor gave me wasn't for the symptoms that I was having. He still wasn't exactly sure what was wrong with me. I think we are still going with a virus or infection. But luckily no more blood work or butt shots. Instead I am on an antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, and a pain killer. And I hate Costa Rican pills. They are huge and aren't coated so they start to disolve as soon as you put them in your mouth. Then they get stuck in my throat. It's terrible! But anyways...today I have felt probably the worst of all but it seems to be coming in cycles today. I've been nauseous for a week but today was the first time I actually almost threwup and it's happened 3 times. I hate it and I just feel miserable. And after class today I had to take an hour bus ride to Heredia for an interview for my position paper. The ride was terrible but the interview was great. I left finally feeling like I knew where I wanted to go with my paper. Tomorrow I will meet with my advisor and see what she thinks and talk about the interview. Then we took a 2 hour bus ride home. And now here I am sitting in my bed typing this instead of doing homework. Tonight I have to do my second biblical reflection. This one is over the Good Samaritan passage and it is interesting how it challenges your views of it. There really is so much going on here that is really challenging my way of thinking and my views on my faith and country and lifestyle. At the beginning it all seemed so overwhelming but now I think I am finally being able to digest some of it and try to begin to form some of my own opinions about it. Hopefully by the time this is over I will have some idea what I think about it all but maybe I will just come back with more questions then answers. But anyways....pictures will come, write me letters, and I love you all!
P.S. Thanks for the videos mom! I love being able to see my little sister grow up!

My address

Here is my address at least for the next several weeks while I am in Costa Rica. Just is case anyone wants to write me a letter, but they did ask not to send packages because those tend to never make it. Also anticipate it taking a week or so to get here, so don't wait until the last week in November to send me something because I will be in Cuba before it gets here.

Jessica Scheuffele
Latin American Studies Program
Apdo. 54-2070
Sabanilla, Montes de Oca
San Jose, COSTA RICA

Well besides that I still don't feel good but my laptop decided to turn on today so hopefully it will decide that it finally likes Costa Rica and keep working. The picture is of the Arenal Volcano. My family drove past it on the way to San Carlos a few weekends ago. My mom put that photo on her facebook so I stole it and used it as my photo. Hopefully i will get to download some pictures soon. I know I keep saying that but I keep hoping for it!
I love and miss you all!

Malaria, Virus, Dengue, Infection....which is it?

I went to the doctors today because I have been sick for over 3 days and so Laura, the staff person in charge of health, told me I had to go. So I waited for my mom and dad to get done with work and then we went. While I waited it was just me and my little brother Mariano at home so we played a lot of games of Uno. It was a lot of fun. At the doctors, I got to talk to the doctor and he said (after feeling my stomach) that I didn't have an infection but that since I had been to Limon that weekend it was possible that I could have malaria or dengue. So I have to get blood work done. I hate getting my blood taken. Ugh it was terrible. Then after waiting for the test results, I found out it was just a virus and I didnt have malaria or dengue which was really good. So instead I got 2 different medicines to take and I got a shot in my butt to help with the nausea. That was awkward and painful. So now my butt hurts, my arm hurts, and I'm really tired from the all the medicine. I'm going to bed but keep me and all the other students in your prayers. Probably at least a third of us are sick with something. So the doctors office is pretty used to us. When he saw that I was a gringo he asked if I went to the christian program because earlier that day he had seen another one of the girls from our program.

Ugh...life can be hard

It seems like I am constantly being overwhelmed with information and problems. And then you add on to that the problems of things back home and being sick doesn't help. I have decided that I have to let go of some things and just really focus on being here in every moment of every day. I was talking to my friend Ashleigh who went on this program last semester and she reminded me of how much I will miss it when I am gone. So I don't want to keep worrying about what is going to happen when I get back to the states or what I need to take of right now to get things ready for next year. Everything will work out the way it is suppose to and right now I am in Costa Rica. I'm in a beautiful country with beautiful people and a beautiful language and that should be my focus. It's not that I don't love all of you back home or miss you guys but my focus needs to be here.
So anyways....
Monday we celebrated Independence Day with a parade in the morning. I think I had like 4 cousins in the parade and so we spent a lot of time walking with the parade. I think I will permenately have the band´s song in my head. That afternoon my mom and I went with Tio Jose and his family to a Folklore Festival where they had several different groups of traditional dancers. It was really neat to watch and now that I know the history of the area I could actually understand a lot of the dances. Tuesday we went to the US Embassy to hear the US perspective on US/Latin America relations. I left there with so many emotions I don't even know the words to describe them. There was a kind of anger at the way they tried to avoid our tough questions and said things like "we don't use the word hegemony" Their attitude toward our questions was frustrating. And then they said they didn't like how Costa Rica was "a little too democratic". I didn't realize there was such a thing or that the US wouldn't like democracy. Aren't they the ones trying to make everyone else democratic but not too democratic apparently.... But yeah... Wednesday we had Spanish class and then dance lessons. We recruited a boy into our class so that is fun. Now we do a lot more partner dancing. It's still 2 boys to 10 girls but its better and I like partner dancing because then all the steps we are learning turn into an actual dance. We also did some tango which I loved. It is definately one of my favorites we have done so far.
From Wednesday night until now though has been some of the longest hours for me. I started to feel sick Wed. during spanish class but by the time I got home that night I felt terrible. So I took a little nap before starting on all my homework. Since last night I have written 3 essays (well I'm actually taking a break in the middle of my third one). It's been crazy and my mind is so tired. On top of all that there is just stuff going on that I had to take care of last night. But my tico mom was trying to take good care of me. Before she went to bed, she brought me some snacks and hot geletin to drink. Now that may sound wierd but suprisingly it settled my stomach enough for me to be able to sleep. But yeah I really haven't eaten much today but I've drank lots of tea because that seems to be their remedy for it. It hasn't really done much for me but I love tea so I just keep drinking it. I also took a little medicine because I'm hoping to get better soon so that I don't have to go to the doctor because that is expensive. Today Otton Solis came to speak to us. He was a presidential candidate in their last elections but lost by a couple thousand votes and is the hopeful to win this next election. He talked to us about US/Latin American relations and it was really interesting. He is a great speaker and it was such a priviledge to have heard him speak. He motivated me to actually want to figure out a way to fill out an absentee ballot and vote for our president. Go Obama!
Sorry that their aren't any pictures :( Hopefully this weekend I'll get some time.
Shannon...I wish I could be there to watch OTH with you but just wait for our marathon night!! It's going to be awesome and we can scream and hold hands and everything!

Dia de la Independencia

Hoy es la dia de independencia in Costa Rica and most of Central America. But it has been a while since I have posted so I´ll do a quick overview of the last week. Saturday I went to my little brother, Mariano´s soccer practice and then afterwards I went to a Pentecostal youth service with Rachel and Sam. Sunday we went to Cartago for the festival of the Virgen de los angeles. It is a Catholic festival about the virgin. Monday was the fist day of dance class. I am taking a dance class with 8 other girls from LASP. It was a ton of fun and I wish everyone could meet Hugo, our dance teacher. Tuesday we talked about economic systems and how heaven will be like the perfect communism. Definately some new ideas about economic systems that just challenge the way we are taught to view them in the US. Wednesday after spanish class we went to the mall and bought some cheap jewelry. Everything was equivalent to 50 cents a piece. Then we have dance class again which was great but then after class we realized we had been robbed by this lady that was in our dance room. Short version: we thought she was a friend of Hugo and Hugo thought she came with us. So 2 girls got their wallets stolen and Gracias a Dios that I didn´t get anything stolen. We also learned that that day another girl in our program was robbed. So after sorting out all of that and getting home late I was exhausted but my family wanted to talk so we talked for 4 hours which was good because we dont just sit down and talk like that normally. Thursday at LASP we talked about poverty and I learned a lot of stuff about the US´s involvement in wars in Central America that just made me sad to be an American. Then after class I went to church with Tio Jose and his family. Friday we left for our weekend trip. Here is the 3 day trip in a nutshell: saw coffee, banana, and pineapple plantations, walked around the city interviewing people, walked around the city in search of ice cream, visited the Bri Bris, saw lots of iguanas, went to the beach, saw lots of monkeys, danced with teens from the Limon church, had lots of good food, talked to a homeless guy for an hour and a half, walked around the town some more, made deeper friendships with some people, and just had a great time. I love Limon! When we were on our way back, I realized something. I couldn´t wait to go home and not home to the states but to my home here. The whole trip I kept thinking about how I couldn´t wait to tell my mom all about it. It was just a good feeling to finally feel at home here. Things are still hard but each day they are getting easier. It will definately be hard when I have to go to my next family. I am so attached to this one and I still have 2 more to go.
Anyways, today was Independence Day but I will tell you more about that later. Also I think I have found a way to get the pictures onto my familys computer (since my laptop still wont work) so hopefully tomorrow I can start putting up pictures for you Jenn. Thank you everyone who has commented. I dont always have time to post but I try to check this every couple of days and it is just nice to hear from people from back home. I love you all!

At least say Dios Mio

This week has been crazy and busy! We started classes this week and so that meant the homework began. We have Spanish class at ICADS every day from 8-11. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays we go to LASP for our other class that lasts until about 4:30 or 5. We have had so much homework it is overwhelming. Wednesday I did homework for 6 hours straight and then Thursday after being in school from 8-6 I went to the internet cafe to write my 5 page paper in Spanish. It is definately tiring because we are spending all day with Spanish. Even our classes are in Spanish most of the time. My mind is exhausted. But it is finally starting to get easier. I feel like I can finally have a conversation with someone without having to pause every sentence and figure out what to say. And I am finally starting to get a good group of friends. That has been great! Yesterday when we got done with classes, Andrew, Sam, Rachel, and I met my family to go to the zoo. While we waited for them in the Plaza de Cultura, there were so many pigeons. We meet there often because it is the only place us gringos know how to find...haha. But this time there were so many pigeons it was crazy! So Andrew decided to sit down and let the birds land on him while us girls took pictures. Well everytime the birds would fly at us, we would shriek and run. Andrew told us "Stop drawing attention to us being gringos. Try to blend in. If your going to yell at least say Dios mio." It made us all laugh. It was just so funny. We try so hard to blend in and be more "tico" but sometimes we can´t help but stand out. Then we went to the zoo and got to see a whole bunch of different animals. One animal was loose (a pizote) so that was interesting and I got to learn a lot of new words. This week I have also done a lot of walking. To save money, several of us students walk to LASP on Tues and Thurs. Its about a 45 minute walk but its not bad because we get to talk and get to know each other better. Then on Tuesday, after class, Anna (another student who lives near me) and I decided to walk to see how long it would take to get to our houses from LASP. Well it took an hour and a half and it was all uphill. But at least we are getting some exercise...haha.
Well it is time for cafecita and then I am going to church with Rachel´s family tonight and then in the morning we are going to the Catholic church in Cartago for some big festival and then I´ll come back for church with my family. So this will be a weekend filled with all sorts of different churches. I love you all and thanks for leaving me comments. It is really nice to hear from you guys and hopefully I will post pictures soon!

Cuerva de la Meurta

Yesterday my family went on a trip to San Carlos to take Marecela to a bike competition. We took this car that was like a mini van but it can seat 12 people. It is a pretty common vehicle here. So we had the 8 of us in the family and then Vini`s girlfriend, Adriana`s boyfriend, and a friend of Marecela who was also in the bike race. After dropping them off at the competition and wandering around the city for a while, we went to a place called Recreo Verde. This place was so beautiful. It has swimming pools and hot springs and you could take this walk up to the canopy. You could also pay to zipline through the rainforest and go into the Cave of Death. We didn`t do those things but I hope to go back with sometime with some other students. I took a whole bunch of photos so hopefully I will get to post some pictures soon. Well I have to go but I will try to post later.