Hey again! It’s been over 2 months now, so I figure I’ve left you more than enough time to guess where I’m living now. Figure it out? I’m in Costa Rica, where the famous greeting is ‘Pura Vida!’, which means ‘Pure Life’ in English. Believe it or not, Costa Rica will be the 6th country I’ve had a chance to live in (U.S., Spain, France, Guinea, Peru, Costa Rica) and the 20th country I’ve visited! If you get a little time, do a little research about what Costa Rica’s all about. How many people live there? What U.S. state compares in size to Costa Rica? Is Costa Rica bigger or smaller than Indiana? In the meantime, I’d like to share a little about my experiences here.

I arrived on March 2nd, and boy was I surprised how different Costa Rica is from Guinea. It’s a very developed country (what does developed mean?). A lot of the activities that took a lot of time in Guinea are very easy here. For example, there is always electricity. In the town where I trained in Guinea, we only had electricity every other day; and in the site where I was to be living, there wasn’t any electricity, except when people ran electric generators. I used to have to go to a well to get water to take a bath or to flush the toilet. In Costa Rica, I find running water almost everywhere I go. In Guinea, only about 2 out of every 5 people can read. Here in Costa Rica, nearly everyone can read. If you lived in Guinea, you might expect to only live until you’re fifty years old. The typical person in Costa Rica, on the other hand, lives longer than a person in the United States (how old is that?)! Below are pictures of two families. The first one was my host family in Guinea. I lived with them for three months while I was in training. The next photo is a picture of my current host family. I’ll have lived with them for three months as well, here in a town called San Antonio. What differences do you see between the two families?





There are many similarities too. Rice is eaten at almost every meal; but instead of rice and sauce, Costa Ricans typically eat rice with black beans. It’s the national dish (dish is just a fancy word for meal), and it’s called ‘gallo pinto’, which actually means ‘painted rooster’. Strange, huh? There is also a ton of fruit here, and much of it is the same kind as all my favorites in Guinea. Mangoes and pineapples are very popular, and boy do I love mangoes and pineapples! Remember my presentation back in November when we were talking about seasons? What were the two seasons in Guinea? Rainy season and dry season. Here in Costa Rica, it’s exactly the same. What’s different is that dry season isn’t nearly as dry as it is in Guinea; it still rains a lot in places. Also, the dry season is from December to February, which is the wettest time of year in Peru.

My work here in Costa Rica is going to be very different. In Guinea I was going to be a physics teacher. Here, my job will be to work in an elementary school just like yours to work on projects with kids just like you! I’ll be living in a region of the country called Limón (it sounds like lemon, but it actually means lime) and can’t wait to get started with the kids. They’re in the middle of the school year right now, unlike you guys who are almost done with the 4th grade! I hope you’re enjoying your last few days at school and making big plans for the summer. I’ll keep posting in case you’re interested, so make sure you have the name of the website written down. That way you can check what I’m up to from your home. And remember, if you ever have any questions for me you can ask your teacher or leave a
comment for me on one of my blog entries, and I’ll answer it as soon as I see it.

Have a great summer!
Kevin