So last night's soccer game went pretty badly for the US. We ended up not watching the whole thing, but we could tell by the sound in the streets whenever Costa Rica scored. I'm glad they won though. I think they put a little more enthusiasm into backing their team than we seem to..
We've been on two field trips in the past two days: one to a tobacco plant and one to a sugarcane factory. It's amazing to see these people work. They pass hours of monotony in hot and smelly conditions, doing the sort of tasks that you almost forget actual people are required to do. They don't seem to dislike the work too much though, or at least that's the impression I got from my perspective. I guess there's a certain amount of pride to be found in the productivity of their monotony, as they can sit cutting leaves or pouring sugar and watch rows and rows of cigars and sugarcane blocks appear before them, resulting solely from the work of their bare hands. There was actually a sign on the wall of the tobacco factory that made me smile. It said something like "The best products are those that come from the hands of happy men and women. Live happily." I think it was one of those things that sounds a lot more poetic in Spanish, but that was the general gist.
I admire anyone who can work in that tobacco plant's environment and really put that meaning into action. Imagine a single, large room, filled with tables and desks, dried tobacco leaves on one side, countless Costa Ricans, equipped with all sorts of blades and racks and measuring tools, cutting and rolling the leaves on the other, and an air so thick and tobacco fume-filled that it stung our noses and throats to breathe in. These people's hands moved so quickly and mechanically, producing such uniform products that they might as well have been spit out of a machine. I actually felt like we were interrupting their flow just walking around. And our tour guide was missing half of his pinky finger, which I think may have happened one time when his own flow was interrupted..
The sugarcane factory was a smaller building located out in the country behind someone's house. We were told that it's a community-run project, so I think one man oversees it and lots of community members help out. The workers get there at 4:30 in the morning and don't leave until 4 pm! And the room they work in is filled with huge pots of boiling liquid that's been squeezed out of the sugarcane, giving off a sort of sticky steam that smelled like a mix of sugary sweetness and sewage/mulch. We got to taste the pure liquid that first comes out of the sugarcane. I'm pretty sure it was the most unsanitary thing I've ever had to drink. It didn't taste bad though, just extremely sweet. And later we got to taste the more solidified sugar that's been filtered and boiled. It was served to us on banana leaves, like a big block of caramel. I was one of the few people who didn't like the taste...I think because I wanted it to taste like caramel, or peanut butter, or even butterscotch, but it just wasn't happening. Then they gave us a block of the final product, which is melted in boiling water to make Agua Dulce, a popular Costa Rican drink. We had some at dinner, but I just couldn't make myself drink it...something about that smell..
My kids didn't have class today because Nina had to take her parents to a doctor's appointment in San Jose. I was given a list of cleaning tasks to do around the room though, so I spent my morning washing plastic play dishes, changing out dirty old pillowcases for cleaner ones, and sweeping the windows with a broom (I guess this is a makeshift form of dusting?). I can't say I particularly enjoyed being in the classroom without the kids, but even my morning of cleaning alone wasn't without its entertainment, as the older kids were running in and out the whole time making conversation.
One girl, who I'd never met before, came by to ask for newspapers and was absolutely adorable. As soon as she realized I was from the US, she started trying to speak to me in English--nothing fancy, just the little conversational bits she has been learning in the school's English class. I asked her how old she was and her response was a slow but well-pronounced, "Hi, how are you?". I thought she was gonna stop there, but she must have been able to tell by my face that that was the wrong answer, so she thought for a second and then looked down and proceeded to count up to 12 on her fingers. Once she gave the right answer, she looked so satisfied. Then I complemented her on her Dora the Explorer fingernail decals and she gave the cutest, most effort-filled sounding "Thank you". The whole rest of the morning, she stuck her head in the room periodically just to say another "Thank you!" or "Hello!".
There's a boy in the 6th grade, Mario, who has apparently developed a crush on me. Now I don't know when this happened because I had never even spoken to him until some giggling girls dragged him into the classroom a couple of days ago, but I guess he's been popping his head in the window for the past couple of weeks. The older kids are always doing that. Whenever I look up at the window, there are always little hands clinging to the sill, and then some eyes will jump up to peer in for a second and then disappear.
Mario is probably the scrawniest boy in the 6th grade. The first time I talked to him though, I was sitting at a table with him and about 4 other kids from his class, and I asked them all how old they were. They started going around the table, all responding "twelve...twelve...twelve.." and then it got to Mario and he raised his eyebrows (I guess in the most seductive way a scrawny 6th grader can) and said "twenty". Hahaha. I'm fairly certain Mario and I don't have a future together, but he's determined to at least get a picture with me before I leave.
Tomorrow we are headed to Monteverde, a town in the mountains in the middle of the country. We are going ziplining on Saturday and I'm SOO excited. I can't believe that it's already time for the last weekend though. And, what's worse, 5 more people are leaving tomorrow :( It's only going to be 4 of us going to Monteverde, and the past couple of weekends we've been traveling with 11! Even with the long days, the laid-back lifestyle, everything goes so quickly..
Well, I'll update again after this weekend! Pura Vida! (as they always say here...literally ALL the time...it means "pure life" and it's like the whole country's theme)
:)
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