Weekend countdown...Who needs it?

Oh hey everyone! Don´t think I have forgotten about my less than exicting blog at the moment. The truth is my laptop decided to stop running itunes, then iphoto and now just stopped turning on all together. Therefore, I will not be able to use my laptop for a couple weeks. Besides that, this week has been great! but nevertheless exhausting. I have a love, hate relationship with the club/bar scene here. We all know that on Mondays, one of our first thoughts is how freakin far Friday seems and for those of you who party on Thursday, still can´t accept that there are still 4 days between you and the weekend. Fortunately, for ticos this doesn´t exist. Monday is actually a wonderful day because your body got a full night sleep and more importantly your liver rested for 24 hours. Monday is also a fantastic night to go out, but lets be honest in Costa Rica everyday is a great night to go out. I´ll break down the week.

Monday: El Cuartel is one of the hottest spots, filled with foreigners from all over the world and live music. My roommates and I especially enjoy this place, but my first experience was priceless. Basically every Monday everyone goes to El Cuartel to listen to these 2 older dudes sing/play reggae covers to a bunch of random songs, and they fucking LOVE IT. Like girls crying, guys hurling themselves onto the stage, begging for eye contact with these superstars, kind of LOVE IT. Let me describe these ¨super stars¨for you. One guy is legit from Africa, he has all the traditional clothing on and the other one stole his wardrobe from one of the cast members of Jersey Shore and humps the air for the duration of his performance. At first I could not stop laughing because I couldn´t understand why people came to listen to THIS, but over time you realize they aren´t all that bad and rather contagious.

Tuesday: Barrio California, its a strip of hipster bars where people drink all down the street and munch on gringo food. The Irish Pub, is where its at with its bombass burger and famous drink, which is the:::::, it consists of 1 shot of tequila, 1 shot of jaeger, and some red bull. Its basically a jaeger bomb but you take a tequila shot first. Its a more relaxed environment and more of a place to throw back some beers and enjoy the potato wedges.

Wednesday: La nena, that was the place to be at this particular the week since Sak Noel paid San Jose an awesome visit. For those of you who don´t know who this is, he is the DJ from Spain that is most known for LOCA PEOPLE, all day..all night etc. Other than this visit, la nena would most likely be poppin anyways. If not you can always go to la calle de amargura, which is open from 11 am to 2 am everyday. This includes various clubs and bars, including Caccios, Terra U, Xscape, El Pueblo, and Congos. They all have different vibes and are primarly flooded by college students, all day, everyday.

Thursday: Our personal favorite is TAO because there is no cover and open bar until 1 am. Music is good, its never packed which is also fantastic.

Friday: Bochinchesssss, this is a gay club that is ridiculously fun. It also includes and open bar until 1 am. Needless to say, its absolute madness until 5 am.

Saturday: I am always traveling so this list is extensive. Bars and clubs from all over Costa Rica. So far the best party beach has been Puerto Viejo. Waking up in a hammock in a bikini the next morning is all I really have to say.

Sunday: I have not gone out but believe it or not people do, really.

So if you like to party, drink, or just have a good time in general, Costa Rica is the place for youuuu

Oh Hey!

So I was supposed to keep up to date with my blog and I failed miserably. The good news is, I still have two months left in this wonderful country that I have grown to LOVE. This way instead of sharing all of the adjustments and obstacles that a foreigner could experience, I can share everything there is to know about my experience becoming completely adjusted as a tica.
Quick recap after 2 months:
- moved 3 times
- traveled two additional countries
- switched offices
- almost got stitches
- ended my short lived cooking hobby
- snorkeled
- slept in a hammock on the beach
and
- made awesome friends from all around the world, for a lifetime

You take the bad with the good because in the end, the journey is all that matters.

Cooking? Uh no.

So I have been living off of a combination of pb & js, turkey/cheese sandwiches and cereal for a little over a week now. Therefore, I am taking on a very ambitious undertaking, I am going to learn how to cook. It has been decided. In order to do this, I have to actually buy real food to somehow put it together and make it taste good. I'm pretty sure that is how it works. So, I went to price mart, which is IDENTICAL to Costco (BJs, Sam's Club, etc.), they even give samples, and bought a shit ton of food. Last night I made a salad, nothing too challenging, but you have to start somewhere. Tonight I was a little lazy and just made an egg and cheese sandwich but I plan on taking on the chicken tomorrow. Today was also my first day at the gym! super exciting. I took a kickboxing class and it was amazing. In the states, kickboxing involves punching and kicking the air but in Costa Rica, your personal punching bag is included! For those of you how know me, I thoroughly enjoyed this class and it was a great workout. I get to take it tomorrow tooo, woooo! Lesson learned: don't wander around the mall in shorts, its like you don't even have a face, just stay put at the gym, period.

Little sleep in exchange for a good time, I'll take it

This weekend I made a pretty great discovery so I have to start off with sharing something that I believe does not exist back in the states. Pre-mixed drinks in a can! They have Captain Morgan with Coke (my personal favorite), vodka with sprite, etc. Besides that Costa Rica's beer, Imperial, is also not bad. I also learned that some places close at 2, but mostly at 4 and some even 7 am! Therefore, I didn't get much sleep this weekend. On Friday, a couple of friends took me to a Reggae Club (apparently very popular here). It was nice atmosphere and I definitely enjoyed myself. The music can get a little repetitive but its super chilled out too. Saturday I was able to go to this festival called Palmares about an hour and a half away. It lasts for two weeks and students normally will rent a party bus to take there and back. At the festival there is concerts, food, bars/clubs and other activities. But to sum it up its basically a huge party. I couldn't miss out on going, so I did just that with a group of students. It was tons of fun and everyone was really nice and friendly. Learned a little lesson though, don't let a minor borrow your id. One would figure that would be common sense, but I felt really bad when she couldn't get in. However, I also didn't know I would be talking to security guards for almost an hour and would even have to cry for them to give me back my CT license. Other than that it was a great time, danced until I could dance no more.

Survival 101

I am finally moved into my new place and was able to experience a wonderful long hot shower. My first week has gone by but I still haven't visited San Jose or gone out. Fortunately, the supposed Japanese girl that was my roommate for a week, isn't Japanese at all, but rather from Guanacaste, Costa Rica. She is going to take me out this weekend at last! Let's see what I have learned from my first week?
- Don't sleep without socks on, you will wake up with polka-dotted feet aka bug bites
- Munoz y Nane is the equivalent of target and the landmark of all landmarks
- When the little man turns green, cross the street immediately, if you don't forget it, a bus will accelerate and attempt to hit you
- Mai = bro, man, dude, etc. y para los colombianos parce/marica
- Carepice = penis face, when someone asks you to say something, ask them what it means first
- No one likes people from Nicaragua
- Costa Ricans use lots of slang, so I won't understand 99% of their jokes for a while
-  Pura Vida! and tuanis are one in the same
- Asians still roll deep in foreign countries
- Ketchup taste different everywhere you go, so I should probably start carrying my own...somehow?
- Police/Security guards' main function is to assist with directions
- Two for one special at the movie theater on Wednesdays

@ Oiko:  Another one of my tasks is to visit Oiko's counterparts and interview clients, as well as, update their score cards. Today my manager confirmed that I would be visiting Asoprasanramon on February 2nd or 3rd. Asoprosanramon is an NGO that provides financial and technical support to micro/small enterprises and farmers in the region of San Ramon. Founded in 1982, Asoprosanramon, was originally created by the citizens and communal leaders of that region, in order to promote social and economic development. Due to a stagnation of their two main crops, coffee and sugar, there was a need to support the decentralization of the agricultural industry in order to minimize dependency on traditional products. As a result, this particular organization was able to find its niche and target market. The average loan is of approximately 2,000,000 colones which is about 4, 000 US.The organization provides credit to projects in agriculture, livestock, small industries, workshops, services and commerce. I will be interviewing three women and two men. They have micro/small enterprises that work with a range of products from avocado and corn to clothing and flowers. I am really excited to meet them and be able to share their story. I will also get to take lots of pictures and travel a bit too!

Ahhh..home sweet home

I found the ideal place! I have my own room and bathroom but more importantly it is spotless, I would be more than willing to still eat a cookie after dropping it on the floor. Whereas, were I am currently living, if I accidentally dropped my undies on the floor, they immediately became dirty laundry. Anyways, this new place is 4 blocks from where I work so its super close too. I am really looking forward to situating myself permanently (aka. not live out of a suitcase), so I can start a routine or something. I was also able to go to the gym after work and sign up for the month. I still can't get used to how Costa Rica does not use street names, numbers, or anything of that sort. Everything is determined by landmarks, so if the McDonalds goes bankrupt and moves, you're screwed. Literally, people draw little maps with pictures for me every time I ask for directions. I think its pretty funny, but I am also starting to get to know the city a lot more and I'm beginning to recognize popular landmarks. I am also starting to learn my orientation in the world, if that makes sense. In order to get anywhere, once has to learn what is north, south, east, west and so on. This is great for me because those of you who know me, know that I easily get lost, even with a GPS on full volume. Unfortunately today I also have to tell Anita that I am moving out, not fun, really not fun. GAHH can I just write her a letter or something?

@ Oiko: Today I got a list of all the counterparts we lend to. Oiko's portfolio is primarily made up of MFIs (60%), but they also invest in PYMES (micro, pequena y mediana empresas), which are micro, small and medium enterprises. Furthermore, they invest in projects that involve/enhance education, agriculture, health, housing, and commerce in rural and urban areas. Currently, Costa Rica has 49 projects in the areas I listed above. My job will also be to visit the different projects and interview clients, as well as, evaluate them using the ESG score cards. Today I went through some of the counterparts I will be visiting and read over their reports. Something interesting was the different forms of collateral MFIs use. In Spanish, there is the fiduciara (which is comparable to a co-signer), prendaria (which is when people use an item of value such as a car, or a tv etc, as a guarantee) , hipotecaria (which is the option to put your house up as a guarantee), or other. Speaking with Anita, she made me realize that there weren't any options for someone like her, who would benefit from a credit to expand her business, but also does not want to risk putting her house up as a guarantee. She is a single mother, therefore, she has no co-signer and nothing of significant value besides her home. I am going to keep looking, but I feel that this segment of the population is not being reached.Urban poverty is a larger problem in Costa Rica, but I feel that Anita would be a prime candidate for credit and there is no tangible option for her. It really does upset me, so hopefully I will find something.

So, we had hot water the whole time?!

It has almost been a week and I just found out that I actually do have hot water. Therefore, all those painful cold showers at 6:30 am were totally unnecessary. Unfortunately I am not as comfortable as I thought I would be with my housing situation, especially since I will be here for decent amount of time. For that reason, I have been looking for housing. I feel really bad because the family I am currently with is super nice and has been incredibly helpful. I went apartment shopping last night and met a cab driver that was AWESOME. He took me around and gave me a little background on the different neighborhoods. I think I found a place, but I am going to visit some that are a couple blocks from the office. I have no idea how I am going to tell Anita, but I honestly feel like I am not supposed to live there. Tonight, water from the washing machine drained into my room while I was skyping with my mom and the floor was covered with an inch of water in a matter of 30 seconds. I had to navigate over the furniture to pick up all my things off the floor. I still feel really bad though!

@ Oiko: Today I learned about the smart campaign, which is a global effort to unite microfinance leaders and reinforce the founding principles of microfinance. Oiko's goal is for at least 75% of their counterparts to sign on to the Smart Campaign. Unfortunately, MFIs in the area are too nervous and hesitant to sign on because they fear that their institution won't be able to comply and fulfill all the requirements. However, most are more than capable, but are just unaware or need capacity building from us to incorporate strategic planning or workshops to assist them in the process. I am also trying to pick up on the language used in the field, but in Spanish. Most of them are cognates so it has been fairly easy to pick up. There are a lot of acronyms too, like ONG (organizacion no gobernamental), which is an NGO. There is also MIVs, which are microfinance investment vehicles.


I've been using this site a lot, it has been super helpful: http://www.globalnegotiator.com/trade-dictionary/