Do: A Kiva Fellowship. It'll change your life

Now, we’re no experts in living or working abroad (though we sure do like it), but we have some nuggets of wisdom to offer up for those of you transitioning into a life abroad or beginning your next Kiva Fellowship. Stick by these tips, and you can’t go wrong. (And for more hints and tips, check out the original 33 Tips from Kiva Fellows post from November 2009 or the full 60 tips on the Kiva Fellows Blog!)

Best Way to a Kiva Fellow’s Heart is through…

1. People love to share food in El Salvador. If you’re having lunch with someone or with co-workers, offer up some of what you have for them to try. (Andrea Ramirez, KF16 Costa Rica & El Salvador)

2. Make sure you try the different casados (rice and black beans paired with some sort of salad, and meat). It’s delicious, affordable, and the closest thing to home-made. (Andrea Ramirez, KF16 Costa Rica & El Salvador)

They may not look good. They may not taste that good, either. But do it: eat the fried cow intestines.

3. Try everything. Ok, yes, you could get sick, but worse, you could live the rest of your life without knowing what guinea pig, cow tongue, fermented maize, cow heart, llama, friend random thing with more random things in it, magical juice in a bag, etc., etc., tastes like. If these things don’t seem appealing, remember: even worse, you could miss out on a big chance to share in a local cultural experience that will stay stayed with you forever. (Mariela Cedeno, KF16 Bolivia)

4. Befriending office mates is easy as pie, especially if you bake one. Any baked treat will do the trick: cookies, cupcakes, 7-layer bars – anything tasty and homemade will suffice. Walk around and offer your treats during the afternoon coffee break. (Sandra Pina, KF16, Honduras)

5. Don’t eat cheap food! Factor in the exchange rate when choosing food…in reality food might be $.20 cheaper, but not worth it! (Eric Rindal, KF15 Sierra Leaone, KF16 Bolivia)

Mind your manners:

6. Ladies, doesn’t matter if you’re wearing sweatpants, a miniskirt, or a potato sack. Steel yourself for catcalls- and remember, there’s no sense in lashing out at the singular gentlemen on the street. Number 1, it’s dangerous, and number 2, even the most articulate string of retaliatory words at this one guy from you cannot spark a shift in the consciousness surrounding gender roles. It’s not worth raising your blood pressure. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16 Peru)

7. Unless you enjoy highly passionate debates on Christianity during every remaining day of your fellowship, don’t ever – EVER – admit to your Kiva Coordinator to being anything else but an absolutely devout Christian. If you are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu: just forget your God for four months. If you are an atheist: just remember yours! (Emmanuel von Arx, KF16 Ecuador)

8. If the previous recommendation comes too late for you and you have already committed the capital error of confessing any less than full-blown belief in the word of the Bible, you need to consider immediate and urgent conversion to Christianity. This should ideally take place in a public forum, such as during the Monday morning bible session at your MFI, in the presence of all the employees.(Emmanuel von Arx, KF16 Ecuador)

9. Prepare yourself for all kinds of questions: if you went to university, how much your flight cost, if you have a boyfriend (and if you want one), and so on. Ecuadorians are curious and they’re not afraid to show it. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16 Peru)

10. Follow through on promises (or obligations)– go to dinner with coworker’s families, take a day trip with coworkers or friends, etc. And participate! Don’t be shy (or obnoxious) and get involved with after work sports or after work drinks. This is your new community. (Eric Rindal, KF15 Sierra Leone, KF16 Bolivia)

How do you say…

11. Make sure to learn the local language- and I mean local. Simpatico and ridiculo might mean nice, and ridiculous, in Ecuador, but in Ica, Perú you just called somebody sexy and asinine. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16)

12. No amount of “city” Spanish will prepare you for the linguistic richness and diversity of Spanish spoken in rural Costa Rica. That said, bring a notebook for ALL field visits, and let the loan officers be your best professors and guides. Even Costa Rican urbanites find themselves lost among the colloquialisms of Tico country Spanish. (Julie Kerr, KF16 Costa Rica)

13. Learning common words and phrases in an indigenous language is the quickest way to break the ice. Guaraní is Paraguay’s other official language and is spoken by the majority of the population. Purete means cool, haso means not cool, kaigue is lazy, nde ha’e kuña guapa means “You are a hard working woman!,” chevare’a means “I am hungry,” and amokose means “I want a drink!” (Alba Castillo, KF15 Paraguay)

14. When a farmer says he brings his harvest to market using his “salchichón” (commonly known as “sausage”), blush not my friends, he means “horse”. (Julie Kerr, KF16 Costa Rica)

15. If you lose the thread of a conversation don’t just say ‘sí‘ or intermittently laugh. Get them to repeat things and when that get boring pick out a word or phrase that you Do know and make a comment or nonsequitor. They might be saying “fijate, las olas son bravas en la playa” and your response might be an unrelated, “¿Te gusta la playa?” This gets the conversation back on your own terms. Think about how often you respond like this in English! (Jim Burke, KF16 Nicaragua)

16. Because they will ask: Kiva means “unity” or “agreement” in Swahili. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16)

What to Bring

Do: bring a tuperwear container. Sporks can also come in handy, for that mid-morning mountain climb.

17. My three smartest investments for my fellowships? A SteriPen, a tuperwear container, and a pocket knife with a corkscrew. (Also, if you like to bake, bring down baking soda- you can’t get it anywhere in Ecuador or Perú). (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16 Peru)

18. Always carry a small, sturdy umbrella. It will get you through unexpected showers; as well as hot, sunny days. (Alba Castillo, KF16 Paraguay)

19. Rain is as plentiful is the air we breathe. Bring an umbrella if you prefer to shower before getting dressed. (Julie Kerr, KF16 Costa Rica)

20. Bug spray, bug spray and MORE bug spray!! For those of you who like more natural alternatives, anything with menthol or eucalyptus helps repel the mightiest of mammoth mosquitoes, sand flies, ticks and chiggers. Slather it on THICK! (Julie Kerr, KF16 Costa Rica)

21. Bring clothes or shoes that need to be fixed, mended, or altered. It is cheap and the work is top quality. The sasterías and zapateros are EVERYWHERE. (Jim Burke, KF16 Nicaragua)

There’s no place like home (in a new country!)

22. If you can, try to find accommodation near the central market building: there’s nothing like eating shrimp ceviche with avocado at 7 o’clock in the morning. Besides, this may be your only chance for the entire day to get your hands on food that’s neither triple-fried nor made out of pure pork fat. (Emmanuel von Arx, KF16 Ecuador)

23. If it’s possible, go with a homestay! Local food, local language, and a solid support group in-country are just a few of the obvious perks of living with a family. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador and KF16 Peru)

Getting from point A to B

If you're feeling the need for speed, do: hop on your loan officer's motorcycle.

24. When moving around by taxi in Cuzco, do everything possible to seem local to get cheaper prices (there are lots of local gringos, so you can pull it off). How to go about it?

• Say hi to your taxista like this “Buenas, maestro.” Saying hola is touristy, saying chofer is touristy, and asking anything about anything is touristy. You don’t care. You are local.
• Tell him where you are going by saying “I will get off at such and such location”. If you are going to a restaurant, know its name, what street it is on, the nearest cross street, and a reference point nearby BEFORE you get in. Otherwise you won’t be able to pull off the “trabajo aquí.”(Miss any of those four, you are officially a tourist.) (Rob Gradoville, KF16 Peru)

25. If you’re taking the bus and you don’t know where you need to get off, just ask the bus diver. Costa Rica has the nicest bus drivers around! (Andrea Ramirez, KF16 Costa Rica & El Salvador)

26. For safety’s sake, always make a show of noting your taxi’s license plate number in Quito, Ecuador or Ica, Peru- I’ve actually started pantomiming phone calls in Spanish to friends, relaying the plate number and how soon I’ll be arriving to meet them. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador and KF16 Peru)

Get to work!

27. If you have any freedom to do borrower visits, have no shame in visiting anyone who owns a panatería, heladería, or pisco vineyard. Peruvian hospitality and pride in their business translate to homemade treats for you. Microtenterprise never tasted so good. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16)

28. Email coworkers when you leave! – Even if they weren’t helpful with that one thing you were working on…they still care and want to hear from you when you’re gone. (Eric Rindal, KF15 Sierra Leone, KF16 Bolivia)

29. Make people laugh, even when it’s awkward. Visiting clients who are on a spectrum from extreme introvert, to slightly less extreme introvert, can be daunting, but like everything else in life, there is nothing better than a laugh. You’d be amazed how many times my laughing at people and saying “por favor, sonria porque se me va a romper la camera si sigue asi,” actually made them smile. Don’t rush, don’t pull out your pen and BV template, and don’t start dangerously pointing your camera right way. Chill out, smile, shake hands, take in the scenery, interact! (Mariela Cedeno, KF16 Bolivia)

30. Make sure to hang out with MFI staff outside of work. Don’t worry so much about about keeping it strictly ‘professional.’ I built trust, learned office hierarchy, gossip, and got a lot of technical questions answered after a few beers with loan officers. (Jim Burke, KF16 Nicaragua)

31. Fake it ’til you make it. You will be considered an expert in all things Kiva, even if you’re not. Embrace the challenge. You will have multiple resources at your disposal: use them. Learn along the way and don’t be afraid to tell your field partner, “Can I get back to you on that? I want to confirm with Kiva.” (Sandra Pina, KF16, Honduras)

32. If it should take a day or two, it’ll take three or four. If it’s your Borrower Verification, it’ll take a month. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16)

33. Figure out how your MFI communicates. They are probably using chat or skype. Get your coworkers chat/skype info early on. sometimes you can formulate better questions, get better responses and be less annoying chatting rather than visiting their office for every little thing. (Jim Burke, KF16 Nicaragua)

Safety

34. Always ask before you snap a photo of someone (especially if they’re not a borrower, especially if you’re in Guatemala). Not only can it be extremely rude, but tourists’ cameras, and persons, have been roughed up for this transgression in the past. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16)

35. Never carry your credit card unless you are making a withdrawal. I prefer to carry large sums of money in my shoe rather than bringing my card out of hiding. (Jim Burke, KF16 Nicaragua)

36. Make and carry a photocopy of your passport. Carrying it around for real is a real bad idea, and having no record makes it hard to check into hostels/hotels. (Jim Burke, KF16 Nicaragua)

37. I’ve also got a list of my credit card numbers (scrambled) and call-in information should my wallet get stolen. I also keep an emergency cash supply. Call me paranoid, call me what you will, but this list and back-up cash have come in handy three times in the past year. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16)

Do: try to dance like the locals. Don't: fool yourself into thinking you're really, really good at it.

Living and Looking Local:

37. Never take the first price- haggling is expected. On the other side of the coin, though, don’t haggle some old woman trying to sell you a scarf in the Sunday market into oblivion- that extra dollar probably means an awful lot more than her than it does to you. Lay aside your hubris and indignation from time to time and accept the gringo tax. (Kate Bennett, KF15 Ecuador & KF16)

38. Be a guest (and a friend) – allow people in your host country to take you around…you don’t always have to pretend like you’re not a tourist…let’s be real, this is not your native country (if it is, still go on some trips!). (Eric Rindal, KF15 Sierra Leone, KF16 Bolivia)

39. Get off the internet! Your friends at home really don’t need to hear from you every day (although your mother/father probably does). It’s way cooler to say, “I was out of internet range…” (Eric Rindal, KF15 Sierra Leone, KF16 Bolivia)

40. Outside of San Salvador the people are pretty conservative. Men won’t shake a woman’s hand unless she extends her hand first. (Andrea Ramirez, KF16 Costa Rica & El Salvador)

41. In Paraguay, you greet and say goodbye to friends with not one, but two kisses – one on each cheek. (Alba Castillo, KF16 Paraguay)

42. If you want to look like a local, wear jeans. Even if it’s 100 degrees outside. Tourists are associated with shorts. (Andrea Ramirez, KF16 Costa Rica & El Salvador)

43. When in Rome…always pour some out for Pachamama. If you find yourself sitting around a big bucket of Chicha with nothing but a full gourd in hand, don’t be stingy, pour some out for Mother Earth, she’s thirsty too. (Mariela Cedeno, KF16 Bolivia)

44. Walk, walk everywhere, all the time. Yes you need to be at the office at 8 a.m. and you get up at 7:40, but maybe during your two hour lunch break and on weekends you can make sure to take the time to pace yourself. Remember to absorb everything around you: the sounds, the streets, the people, the street vendors, the conversations, the protests, the smells. For some reason, those were also my most peaceful times. (Mariela Cedeno, KF16 Bolivia)

45. Getting haircuts is cheap and always a great experience. Getting a straight razor shave sounds bad ass but is just bad and hurts a lot. (Jim Burke, KF16 Nicaragua)

For more hints and tips, check out the original 33 Tips from Kiva Fellows post from November 2009! To learn more about the Kiva Fellowship experience, check out “Why I Volunteer Abroad” by Eric Rindal, “Migration, Microloans, and the Journey of a Kiva Fellow” by Kate Bennett, or the official Kiva Fellows Blog.

For two years, La Vida Idealist.org has reached audiences in over one hundred and fifty countries and discussed the highs-and-lows and ins-and-outs of nonprofit work in Latin America. We’ve discussed the g-word (gringo!) and the ethics of “poverty tourism,” wondered how much impact teaching English really has in the long run, and dispensed dozens and dozens of tips on working and living abroad. We’ve fostered connections and collaborations between volunteers and social change organizations all over Latin America. And speaking for myself, we’ve had a blast while doing it!

Now we’re looking for new writers to share their stories, experiences and insights with us and our readers. Whether you’re a temporary volunteer or running your own organization, a photographer or photojournalist, or someone traveling abroad and making volunteer stops along the way, your anecdotes and acquired wisdom can continue to facilitate connections and enrich the ongoing dialogue of “just what does nonprofit work in Latin American mean?” If you’re interested in contributing to this conversation and joining our team, check out our Opportunities page! We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Here in Chilamate, I live with a local family and 2 other volunteers. I live in a nice room inside the house and the other volunteers live in cute cabañas out back. We usually eat meals together and also get to spend a lot of time with the family.

Our “host-mom” doesn’t speak any English, so it was a rather steep learning curve when I first arrived – going from being able to read restaurant menus and ask for a room to being able to have a full conversation in Spanish. Believe me, you learn things the hard way after telling your host family that you have “hermanos enanos” (dwarf brothers) instead of “hermanas gemelas” (twin sisters).

Language isn’t the only benefit this arrangement has afforded me, though; I’ve learned how to make homemade tortillas, gallo pinto (rice and beans with seasonings), tortas and lots of other yummy Costa Rican dishes.

We’re lucky that the family we live with always serves a lot of fruit, fresh vegetables and a good variety of meats along with the standard rice, beans and plantains.

Living with a family also allows us to see daily life in a local family; I was able to participate in the grandsons 4th birthday party and meet many members of the extended family.

Of course, there are down sides to living with a family – sometimes I get woken up much earlier then I would normally get up, I share a bathroom with 3 other people and the kitchen can get a little noisy and crowded.

For the most part though, living with a host family is one of the greatest things about being here in Costa Rica. It would be a completely different, and much harder experience if I were living on my own.

For more on eating and living with a homestay family, check out Becca Mondshein’s “Living with Locals, for Better or Worse?” or Bari Laskow’s “The Importance of Food for the Soul.” Jen Johnson is from Calgary, Canada. Currently, she’s living in Costa Rica and working as an EFL coordinator at a conservation center.

Things that I used to consider simple tasks now take planning, or at least a little creativity. Take the issue of addresses for example; getting my mail has turned into an interesting ordeal. In Costa Rica few houses actually have addresses. If I ever need a cab I have to tell them “it’s the little yellow house 100 metres north of El Gallo bar, with the Virgin Mary out front” and hope they know where I’m talking about. I use the place I work as my mailing address, forcing friends and family to cramp their hands while trying to send me a postcard.  El Centro de Aprendizaje para la Conservación en Sarapiquí doesn’t shorten so well.

In the past few months I’ve certainly learned to slow down, take thing as as they come and really appreciate a good hot shower. It doesn’t hurt that the country’s motto ‘Pura Vida’ basically means pure living – a phrase that is used to express everything from greetings and farewells to resigning yourself to a fact.

It's hard not to relax here (Manuel Antonio)

When someone asks how you are, this is an appropriate response whether you’re doing great or feeling awful. Even when a bus is 2 hours late and people have been standing around in the baking hot sun they greet each other with a genial “pura vida!”

Although most things take longer, are more difficult and you need some creativity to get anything accomplished, life here is actually less stressful and much more relaxing.

I’m down here to teach English, but I have a feeling I’m learning a few things too.

Jen Johnson is from Calgary, Canada. Currently, she’s living in Costa Rica and working as an EFL coordinator at a conservation center.

I have a background in the Oil & Gas industry, totally different from the majority of people I’ve met volunteering down here. Most are environmental science majors, or have a background in language teaching, biology or sociology. My background was in paperwork.

Financial statements weren’t exactly stimulating my creative side, and I wasn’t feeling fulfilled where I was, so at the end of 2009 I left my job, moved back home and went to school to get my Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA). The idea for obtaining this certificate stemmed from previously having had volunteered at a local elementary school, and the desire to travel of course.

I left Canada at the beginning of October, and spent a nice, relaxing month in Las Vegas visiting my dad and hiking through the national parks, before venturing out into the world to find an EFL teaching position. From there I traveled solo through Central America for 4 months, starting out in Mexico City. Along the way I met amazing people, had some extremely humbling experiences, and learned so much about life and living.

After being mugged in Nicaragua at knife point, and having everything of value stolen, I had to decide whether to pack it in and head home or tough it out and try to survive on what little money I had left.

Luckily, at the beginning of February, I found a great organization in Costa Rica that was looking for volunteers and needed an EFL Coordinator. Decision made, I headed into the rain forest – to a remote town 2 hours northeast of San Jose.

I hope in the next few months I’ll be able to share some of the great stories that go hand in hand with traveling and the volunteer experience while I continue to learn about this amazing sector I’ve fallen into.

Jen Johnson is from Calgary, Canada. Currently, she’s living in Costa Rica and working as an EFL coordinator at a conservation center.

After quickly hitting some random buttons on his calculator, he came up with the number 500, and enthusiastically told me I was getting a deal for my 40 bucks. I calmly explained to him that 20=400, which he agreed to. He smiled, handing me 700 Cordobas.¨800!¨ I insisted, until he gave up and handed me another 100 Cordoba bill. (If you stand your ground, you are more likely not to get ripped off; hopefully there are enough cops around to scare thieves into doing the right thing.)

Upon reaching the Nicaraguan border crossing, the Tica Bus representative told me that my passport, which expires in March, would not allow me to pass into Nicaragua. I was on the 90th day of my 90 day Visa, issued to me at the Costa Rican airport three months prior, so I didn’t want to risk going back.

¨Is there anything I can do? ¨ I asked, thumbing the twenty in my pocket.

¨How much can you afford?¨ he asked shamelessly.

¨20 dollars,¨ I replied.

¨O.K., let’s go.¨

Volcano Concepción, in Lake Nicaragua

For a few minutes, I was sure the “law” which the border guards were overlooking on my behalf was imaginary: they told me my passport needed to be valid six months after the date I entered Nicaragua. I made a quick phone call  (luckily my cell phone still worked in the purgatory between the two countries) and, to my chagrin, I found out the law is real. I now had to face the decision: do I enter Nicaragua illegally, and risk not being able to bribe the guards on the way back to Costa Rica? Or do I go back to Costa Rica on an expired visa?

¨F*%# it, stamp my passport,¨ I told the Nica border police.

Worst case scenario, I get stuck in Nicaragua for a few weeks. I was supposed to be working anyway, so who cared if I had to stay in San Juan del Sur, sip on some rum and knock back Toñas on the beach for few extra days, right? I could think of worst places to be, that is, as long as my credit card worked.

The following morning I woke up hungover and hungry, and went for a stroll to the local ATM. Long story short, my Costa Rican bank account was inaccessible on the card I brought. Everyone I’d asked prior to leaving (including my girlfriend) told me that my card should work in Nicaragua. They were all wrong.

I had forty dollars cash left and decided I’d better try to get back into Costa Rica before I ran out of money. Survival mode kicked in. With my passport in my sock and my pocket knife in my pocket, I jumped on the cheapest bus from San Juan del Sur back to the border, which was full of various types of vendors eying my foreign looking backpack. Scenarios played out in my head: What if I got denied at the border for the same reason? What if I hadn’t been out of Costa Rica for long enough?

I decided I would sell my camera and hitchhike to the embassy in Managua. It didn’t come to that. At the border, I got lucky. The Costa Rican guard stamped my passport without asking me a single question. Phew. “Home,” sweet “home.”

Sebastian Kindsvater is currently living in San Jose, Costa and is the Kiva Coordinator/Loan Officer for Fundacíon Mujer.

Everywhere you look, every product you pick up, whether it be an agricultural good, a piece of clothing, or a new bit of technology, it is stained with the sweat of exploitation and big business. The ignorant proletariat masses spend their minimum wages on cigarettes and Victory gin, supporting the institutions that keep them suppressed. In this chaotic backwards global environment, the people who produce the food for the rest of us are starving. The irony tastes like rice and beans.

Pedro is a farmer who speaks plainly and directly about the progressive impoverishment of the community in which he lives, Los Chiles, located in the heart of Central America in Northern Costa Rica. Pedro and his fellow farmers earn a living by producing the foods for consumption by families in Europe and North America.

At the moment, farmers in Los Chiles are struggling to produce hot peppers which they sell to a Spanish exporting company at 177 colones (35 cents) per kilogram. After all the costs are accounted for (transportation=100, labor= 40), this price leaves 37 colones (7.5 cents) per kilo for the farmer.  My visit to Los Chiles made me realize how dependent the livelihood of farmers is on the weather. Speaking about a bacteria which killed a portion of his crops he said, ¨Against nature there’s not a lot you can do.¨

In my interview with Pedro, he scolded me.

¨For you people who come from the outside, you should know that companies like Tico Fruit, Dole and Del Monte are not creating jobs; they are impoverishing the area further. The jobs created are short term contracts which pay low wages (less than two dollars per day) and some days for example, orange pickers get no pay because the collection trucks have already been filled. The companies come in, buy the land from the local farmers at prices above the market value, and poor farmers accept because they’ve never seen that kind of money. The companies don’t care about people, all they care about is making a profit. We are the losers,¨ he said.

Pedro is obviously deeply troubled by the situation in Los Chiles. He is a proud farmer who has held out, refusing offers to sell his land (Tico Fruit owns a large orange plantation on the neighboring property) while watching his neighbors sell and move to the cities.

Pedro has stood his ground and continued to produce on his own. He is a member of a group of producers who have banded together to share methods and ideas in order to be more productive. I asked him what outside help the producers had received.

¨The main obstacle is money. Organizations that give loans or grants help a lot,¨ he said.

Sebastian Kindsvater is currently living in San Jose, Costa and is the Kiva Coordinator/Loan Officer for Fundacíon Mujer. To contribute to the livelihood of Costa Rican farmers, check out Pedro’s loan on Kiva.

But everyone has a different threshold when it comes to the level of cleanliness in which they feel comfortable. I have experienced a range of levels of acceptance for things like dirty dishes, dirty bathrooms and growing cockroach populations. These are the inevitable problems roommates must cooperatively manage.  Living with strangers is always a bit risky; it’s like an intense speed dating session with no escape. In general, people try to get along but I’ve come to realize that it is unrealistic to expect everyone to get along. Interpersonal friction is inevitable.

In Costa Rica — and I imagine in any country that is foreign to a person — I feel like there is an added incentive to get along with your roommates. For one, I have no idea what my legal rights are as a tenant. It would be very difficult (not to mention costly) to enforce those rights, so it’s better to avoid having to pull the legal card.

Likewise, roommates are a source of support. It can be alienating sometimes living in a foreign country. Having someone to talk to and share experiences with is therapeutic. Roommates can remind you of your friends and family back home in an otherwise strange world. You help each other navigate the intricacies of local problems like how to get a cell phone hooked up, which parts of town to steer clear of, and which fruit vendor sells the best avocados. You help each other work through similar problems and situations in a new country. In general, it’s just better to try and get along, for so many reasons.

The following are a set of rules which should be agreed upon before allowing a new roommate to move in, or a guest to stay on your couch. Although they may seem simple and might sometimes be regarded as  “unwritten”  rules (ie. common sense), I can tell you from personal experience that some people need these rules to be written down. Agreement on these principles will help you to avoid uncomfortable situations in the future — even evictions.

1. Don’t eat or drink other people’s food without permission. If you do so, replace it.
2. Don’t smoke inside without consulting those who will be affected by it.
3. Don’t bring an animal into the house without consulting the people who will have to live with it.
4. Clean up your own mess. Contribute to communal cleaning once in a while.

These rules came to me as I was sweeping and mopping the couch area where our latest guest mooched for the past five days. Of course, these types of freeloaders are always very social and generally upbeat, relaxed, without many worries or responsibilities. The trouble is they create a mess, eat your food, and do it all with a sense of self entitlement that almost makes you wonder if they do deserve to sleep on your couch in an endless hung-over state, watching your television and eating your grapes. I suppose I only have myself to blame for not laying down the law and kicking him to the curb; hopefully, someone out there can learn from my mistake.

Sebastian Kindsvater is currently living in San Jose, Costa and is the Kiva Coordinator/Loan Officer for Fundacíon Mujer. For more on living situations in Latin America, check out “Homestay in Rio: An Ode to Ica” by Mehr Amin, “Department of Homestay Security” by Kent Green and “For a House to Become a Home” by Flora Lindsey-Herrara.

I have a minimal formal Spanish education (beginners Spanish at university, which I barely passed) and I have never lived in a Spanish speaking country other than Costa Rica. Most of what I’ve learned I’ve picked up by working at Fundación Mujer: speaking with microfinance clients and working with colleagues. I’ve recently come to realize that I don’t really know all that much — and I probably sound like more of an idiot than I can imagine. Sure, I can get along and people understand me, but I’m starting to see that if I don’t take a more aggressive approach to learning the intricacies of Spanish grammar, people here are going to start to think I’m slow.

Hanging out while some speak Spanish and others try

I’ve come to accept that all foreigners are put on the same scale of evaluation when it comes to the expected rapidity in climbing the language learning curve. No matter your educational background, whether you have studied Spanish before or lived in another Spanish speaking country, you are expected to learn at the same rate as other visitors to Costa Rica.

It all came to a head when we welcomed a new Kiva volunteer to Fundación Mujer. Immediately, everyone is asking me why I can’t speak as well as she can. Well, it probably has something to do with her majoring in Spanish and living in Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica before. But my co-workers don’t see it that way. Usually I let the criticisms regarding my odd distortions to the Spanish language roll off my back. This time I was offended. To me, it’s like asking someone who plays the violin to team up with someone who doesn’t know what a violin is, and requesting they play Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons in unison.

Although I was angry, the experience has made me listen more acutely in conversations and read more critically. Over the past year, I knew so little  Spanish that my main goal was to just survive the day, hopefully learn something and maybe trick someone into thinking I’m a local. I would read, but not look for patterns in verb conjugations or look up new words, satisfied in figuring out the overall meaning.

Now, I am past that point.  It’s time to stop making mistakes like yo dijo/usted dije. It’s time to take my Spanish to the next level — and take my coworkers criticisms as constructive by hitting the books. The first grammar book I bought before moving to Costa Rica has four tenses: preterite, present, future, imperfect. My roommate, who studies linguistics at the University of Costa Rica, tells me it’s time to graduate to a new book.

Sebastian Kindsvater is currently living in San Jose, Costa and is the Kiva Coordinator/Loan Officer for Fundacíon Mujer.

For more musings on learning Spanish, check out these posts from other La Vida Idealist bloggers: “Chileno No Es Castellano“; “How to Learn a Language“; “The Multiple Personalities of You“; “¿Dónde Está El Baño?“; “Help! I’ve Reached the Foreign Language Flatlands!”; “What Your Language Teacher Doesn’t Want You to Know”; “Could You Pick Up Some Milk and a Second Language While You’re Out?”; “Forget Language Teachers…I’ve Got Kids”; and “5 Surprises About International Volunteering: #2 – Language Non-Barriers.”

I had been working in an office setting in San Jose for a month and had forgotten what the rest of Costa Rica has to offer. It is actually dangerous, for your mental and physical health, to remain cooped up in San Jose for too long. You know it’s been too long when your skin starts to slowly grow scaly, your smile is transformed into a frown and you start to question what you are doing here in the first place. I haven’t met anyone, local or extrañjero, who likes to spend time in the city.

View of the jungle and "Whales Tail" peninsula from cabinas at Rancho DiAndrew, a backpackers hostel in the jungle of Uvita, Southern Costa Rica.

The black smoke emitted by buses into your face is a welcome treat on your way to work in the morning. Taxis, motorcyclists, basically anyone driving do not view pedestrians as obstacles to avoid, but targets rather.  I’ve come to realize that there really is no way to walk around with the same level of security that you get in Canada. You have to acclimatize to an environment of constant potential threats. You never know if a smile from a stranger means somebody wants to rob you or be your friend; better to avoid eye contact all together and keep walking at a swift (but not so swift as to draw attention) pace. If somebody wants to take what you have, they will, and there is nothing you can do about it, without risking your life. The worst part is, it can happen at any time of day.  It’s just the luck of the draw.

I was letting the city get to me – the honking, the stares, the dog shit everywhere, the senseless risk taking of drivers and the pollution. I had forgotten how beautiful and peaceful other parts of the country are, until this weekend. I got a ride to the paradise Punta Uvita, located on the southern pacific coast of Costa Rica. Granted, it is a place full of gringos who know little Spanish and have few Costa Rican friends, but it is a jungle with endless possibilities. There are tropical waterfalls full of fresh prawns, fish and crabs, monkeys and sloths, dolphins and snakes, and there’s also surfing too. I got back to the office today rejuvenated by the idea that there are such amazing destinations available for weekend trips.

In the beach communities of Costa Rica’s Pacific or Caribbean coast, a traveler will encounter a laid back environment full of surfers and generally relaxed individuals willing to party the night away with strangers. In the hostels of Puerto Viejo, Playa Hermosa, Uvita or Jaco, you will find wandering souls with no plans and no interest in talking about plans, living for the moment, every moment. I have never been able to fully capture this mysterious and tranquil way of life, just living to catch the next wave, but I am curiously attracted to those who have mastered the art of simply existing. Having said that, it is my personal philosophy that one should not stay in any of these places for too long, but this weekend, it was just what the doctor ordered.

It’s like Baz Luhrmann says in the Sunscreen Song, something about living in New York once, but leaving before it makes you hard, and living in California once, but leaving before it makes you soft. What I’m looking for is a balance between the beach hostel environment found along both coasts of the country and the serious work which many foreigners (and locals)take part in, whether that be socially or environmentally focused. Having said that, remember, if you travel to Costa Rica, make sure to see more than  San Jose.