Jonathan: El Principio

January 20, 2008
So, we arrived in San Jose yesterday. That was an adventure. Thankfully, it wasn’t much of an adventure getting our 350lbs of medical supplies through customs. The biggest part of the adventure was cramming that, along with 9 people and their luggage into a van and then driving to the FIMRC clinic. We only had to stop once on the way to make sure nothing had fallen off!

We had a little orientation last night before meeting our host families and settling in. We had a wonderful dinner that they prepared for us: arroz con pollo, frijoles negros, melon. If all the food is as good as that, we’ll be gaining some weight unless we run quite a bit.

We unpacked after dinner and then went to bed, pretty thoroughly exhausted after a long day of traveling. Apparently some of our classmates were a little more energetic and went to a local bar. So, it was no surprise when they did not meet us, as planned, in the morning at the local fruit market (la feria).

They had tons of interesting fruits and vegetables. The family bought some stuff, including something called guanacanama or something like that. All I could think of was the Muppets song, Mahna Mahna. Anyways, we tried it at breakfast and it may very well have been the most delicious fruit I’ve ever had. So rich and sweet, with a nice texture. Mmmmm...

We also had pupusas. They reminded me a lot of gorditas in Mexico. Dough with beans and lemon and chicharones stuffed inside before grilling them. Those were good, too.

It’s been interesting getting a peak into family life here. There are definitely some stereotypes/machismo in action. The mother of the family we’re staying with seems to do all of the housework (at least from what I can tell), yet defers to her husband to explain anything to me (use of the keys, how the shower works, etc.). Also, whenever something needs to be explained, they don’t ever talk to both Libby and myself, but single me out as the one to receive the instructions. I think it’s because of my gender, rather than my language abilities, but I’m not sure...

Speaking of the shower, that was interesting, too. The set up is that the houses here only have cold water, but the shower head is electric. It has what basically amounts to an electric stove burner inside that heats the water as it passes through. Not the most effective, but it’s apparently cheaper.

I am a bit thankful, though, that our host family’s toilet/plumbing can handle toilet paper. Apparently that’s quite a rarity here. Normally, they just have a little wastebasket next to the toilet for you to put used toilet paper in. I haven’t actually encountered that, yet, though.

It’s been kind of fun staying with a family with kids. It makes me look ahead to what it might be like for Libby and me some day. Some day. The younger of the two, Fabian (almost 3) is a handful. He keeps wandering into our room and trying to take off his pants. Not exactly sure why, though.

That reminds me of another adjustment that has been a bit difficult. Not majorly so, but a little disconcerting. You see, the host family we’re staying with has a mother and father, both in their 30s or so, and two kids. The disconcerting piece is that the father tends to lounge around wearing nothing but boxers. I personally don’t care, but I don’t want my wife to be seeing such things. Inappropriate. But I suppose it’s probably culturally acceptable with all the machismo and such.

Jonathan