Friday, September 23, 2011

I'm currently living it up in the USA (you should start chanting USA! USA! USA! right now). I have plenty of stuff to share about all sorts of happenings in Costa Rica, but probably won't be doing that during my vacation. But, for the time being, if you're wondering about what Costa Rica does really, really well-it's celebrate its Independence Day.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

The ol' J-O-B

While I spend most of my time working on Peace Corps goal #1-the helping Costa Rica meet its need for trained men and women, I thought I'd throw up some observations about Costa Rica-part of goal #3-helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the behalf of Americans. 

First of all, I'd like to quote my good buddy David W., who probably was quoting someone else, in that "the differences within groups are much greater than the differences between groups." I firmly believe that a well-educated, wealthy, urban, middle-aged Costa Rican male would probably find as much, if not more, in common with a similarly well-educated, wealthy, urban, middle-aged American male than he would with a poor, sixth grade educated, rural, middle-aged Costa Rican female. Or more succinctly, I think socio-economic factors affect one's personality and interests as much as where they are from, if maybe much more. But, I'm no sociologist, and the U.S. government isn't paying me to act like one. So, here's to promoting a better understanding of Costa Ricans (or Ticos, as they all call themselves). 

Costa Ricans are super open, friendly, and nice. I think this is something that is super noticeable between the various countries I've been to. Especially where I live, in a town, but in a rural area, people smile, wave, nod heads, whistle, or utter a grunt at almost everyone. A low, guttural 'hayyyuuuuppp' is my preferred method. It makes sense, it's a relaxed tropical country (aren't they all)-so there's always time to say hi, shake hands and chat.  Add on that it has a huge tourism sector, and there's lots of incentive to smile and wave. 

Costa Rican teenagers and young adults (mostly male) are infatuated with heavy metal. Iron Maiden, Slayer, and Megadeth make t-shirt, backpack patch, and graffiti appearances way, way, way, way more often than would be expected. And it's not like it's that a bunch of old guys are wearing ropa americana t-shirts (see below), they look to be original buys.

Ropa Americana (American Clothing) is a big deal in every small town I've been too. From what I can tell, it's less donated clothing, and more unsold/excess stock from clothing brands back in the US. Tiny little Rosario, where I did my training, featured a ropa americana store among it's six or seven businesses. Some of the biggest clothing stores in Puerto Viejo are ropa americana stores. Aéropostale and American Eagle seem to be the brands with the biggest influence at my high school. 

Out here in the hot, humid plains/river deltas, Costa Ricans young and old absolutely, totally, completely LOVE ice cream popsicles. Regular ice popsicles not so much, but ice cream popsicles absolutely. Coconut and chocolate chip cookie are the biggest sellers at the high school. I believe my use of the obnoxious all-caps was justified in that I'd say each high school student averages 1.5 if not two ice cream popsicles per day.

Despite having gorgeous flowers growing everywhere, surrounded by lush green foliage, littering is a big problem. Except in the center of town, most litter never gets picked up, so sidewalks, roads, and trails are generally bordered by ice cream popsicle wrappers, among others. It's not just a countryside thing, San José is littered with litter (haha) and the street sweepers are constantly falling behind. 

I'm often the only male with more than a quarter inch of hair at the high school without gel in my hair. Includes teachers and staff. Costa Rican dudes are all about gelling up the hair. I attribute this to the emulation of European soccer stars (see image on right (most popular athlete on Facebook, 7th most paid athlete in the world, and my least favorite player on my favorite team)). That's my best guess, maybe it's something else, I'm willing to take any guesses for gratuitous gel glops. 

Men watch soccer. Women watch telenovelas.  Okay, maybe that's a bit too general for my list of generalizations-yeah, there are popular variety shows, the news, random American TV series (CSI, Smallville, House), and reality shows. But lets not get caught up in the exceptions. I'd bet a Hamilton (or a Gamboa for Costa Ricans) that if the TV's on and a man's watching-it's soccer and if a woman's watching-it's a telenovela (imported from Mexico/Colombia/Argentina).

Let's all remember, these are all generalizations, but, I've been to every province this country has to offer, and well, I'll bet a rojo to anyone that disagrees with these generalizations. Oh, yeah, if you don't know what a rojo is, then you're not qualified to be making generalizations about the country. 
(image source: http://www.whitegadget.com/pc-wallpapers/41210-cristiano-ronaldo.html, http://scenerux.blogspot.com/2011/08/zion-lennox-amor-genuino.html)