Do I look like a kangaroo? Opossum?

I promise, the post title will make sense. So, one of the big goals of the Peace Corps is community integration. I think the idea is that if we are seen as a member of our community that people will trust us to lead economic development, health, and education projects. Also, being part of the community will help us be able to share about American culture and learn Costa Rican culture. Integrating into my community is a big task. I'm not going to say that integrating into a community is harder in one community than another, and on the whole, I'd say among the 68 countries that the Peace Corps is currently working, Costa Rica is probably one of the easiest in which to integrate. Yet, I say it's a big task because my community is much bigger than almost all other Peace Corps communities in Costa Rica. The regular high school has 1,100 students enrolled and the night school more than 700, so with 1,800 people, my two high schools have more people than communities of maybe half my colleagues. I'm not making excuses or complaining, just explaining, that I'm in no way about to claim that I'm integrated into my community. I'm still working on integrating into the high schools. community integration. 


I do though, spend a lot of time at my town's version of Kinko's. Copicentro Sarapiquí has the poster board, markers, folders, and contact paper I need to make classroom materials for the community classes I teach. And, as it's name indicates (I'm going to boldly assume you're witty enough to figure it out without the translation) it provides me with all my printing and photocopy needs. On top of that, it has a friendly and funny staff of young twenty-ish guys, most of them pretty fresh out of high school. I originally introduced myself to the staff during one of my walks around town introducing myself and the Peace Corps. After that, despite being in the store once or twice a week, I didn't develop much more than a friendly business-customer relationship. 

Two events changed this, one of the guys that works there lives with my host mom's nephew, who had told the worker of an arepa dance I had done. Arepas are like pancakes-not exactly the same, but pretty much. My host dad had a little song that he sang sometimes when we ate arepas, I think there is a slight sexual innuendo used with arepas, but honestly, I can't remember it now. I made up a dance to the song some day when we were eating arepas and much of the maternal extended family was around, because all songs need dances. Well, one day at the copy store, upon hearing about my dance from his roommate asked me to do it, so I did a brief, subtle version (I'm not trying to look like a giant fool in public, well, not yet).



After this event I joked more often with the copy store staff and/or make comments about how I had no problem with homosexuality to them-which may make them think I'm gay, open-minded, or both. The second event happened when one night as I came in they were making some jokes amongst themselves involving the YMCA music video, sadly, the joke was probably quasi-homophobic. But, I not only sang along with vigor, but threw up my arms and did the YMCA. I let them know that a good song is a good song, whoever sings it. I had time, so I sang along as they played some Doors and Led Zeppelin videos. Since then I have all sorts of fun when I go to make copies, mostly saying ridiculous things (or things that become ridiculous said with my accent), and joking around with the workers. Often they see if I know what a Costa Rican slang word means: I often don't. They have called me a few nicknames (one guy refuses to call me anything but Clark Kent) which usually have to do with the slang words they are trying out. I'm more than willing to be the butt of their jokes.

So, the most recent nickname, which came at the end of a conversation a few of them had that I didn't understand (lots of slang, plenty of distractions to my listening) was marsupial. Luckily marsupial in Spanish is marsupial, so I understood what they were calling me. Just not why. I guess that means I've got some more integration to do, eh?


(images: http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek030608.html, http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Eastern-Grey-Kangaroo-Kosciuszko-National-Park-New-South-Wales-Australia-Posters_i2668538_.htm)