Acclimated with Sights, Organization, and Family

I've arrived, after much delay at airports and inability to get in touch with Gail beforehand (her phone number wasn't working), but here I am now, in my host family, with access to internet (yay!). Here are some general thoughts and observations.... it's kinda long, but it was my first time in a spanish-speaking country, and I had lots to say.

Everything seems to have settled down.

I've arrived at the SJO airport yesterday, and Gail (the director of my organization) recognized me at the airport based on a description I gave through email (6 foot three, dark-brown long-sleeved shirt, and shorts). Upon arriving, I expected this place to be pretty underdeveloped... but it's actually quite beautiful. There's a lot more nature, and Gail says that this place isn't bogged down by capitalism, an expression which I found funny. Then Gail took me to my host family, which was about 20 minutes away from the airport, a little house located in Santa Ana, Costa Rica. Frances Aunon is taking a vacation to the beach this weekend, and will meet up with me tomorrow. She also lives in Santa Ana, Costa Rica, about 5-10 minutes of bus-riding away from my host family. In my family, there is a mother named Susanna, a father named Raymond, and a young boy named Christopher. I was at first a little bit intimidated, seeing how I didn't speak Spanish nearly at their level. But they were very friendly, and the mother cooks all my meals for me. During lunchtime, she usually packs something for me (a sandwich, some fruits, some water). I'm already feeling "oriented," and it's the second day.

My room is pretty spacious for the most part. I spend yesterday and today reorganizing all my materials, and "redecorated" my room. I was extremely glad to discover today that the family has an internet port I can use to connect my laptop to. Gail gave me a tour of the neighborhood, took me to the supermarket to buy some soy milk and honey nut cheerios for myself (as she calls it, "American" food). In the afternoon today, she and I went over all my interview and survey questions, corrected some of them, and gave me a pretty comprehensive review of the purpose and mission of CRHF, as well as a detailed map of the city of La Carpio and all the locations of CRHF buildings (my brain works a lot better sometimes when I can "see things visually," or when I can visualize something such as the CRHF as a "system" with many interconnecting parts that have cause and effect relationships).

Currently, there are two CRHF buildings (each contains a clinic and an education center for little kids), and each building takes about 10 to 20 thousand U.S. dollars to start. Gail has been working seven days a week, without a salary, for 30 years. Her goal is to establish three more centers in the city of La Carpio.

The CRHF, from what I've heard so far, seems to be one of its kind. Although it asks for donations from patients for about 1,000 colons ($2), it runs pretty much on the willpower and humanitarian efforts of the CRHF staff (Gail receives pretty much zero salary) and the donations that volunteers give.

Gail drove me around, and she seems to know everyone in the community. She asked me about my personal life in LA, my university studies, and my religion. She showed me some churches around where I can go to. She said that she has a couple daughters and a few dogs, one of which is named Tony. I told her that I love to play basketball, and she showed me some basketball courts next to my homestay place, and then later showed me some printing areas. The neighborhood has good weather, and lots of plants, but it could get dangerous at night.

In the next two days, I will get a phone card, talk to doctors and med students for "practice interviews" and advice for the interview questions, meet up with Frances and her crew, and volunteer with Gail for the entire day tomorrow. We will continue our discussion about the CRHF and its plans. She's getting me plugged into the whole system, and it does sound very, very exciting. I feel more "adultlike" by becoming more in-tuned with the organization, and taking a leadership role in developing more projects.