The security guard at my building calls me Kabby... and some Wonk.

... and his nickname is Gato: The Cat. (He´s still the only feline I´ve met here. Which is still weird.)

So. Ok. I´m really really ready to be fluent in Spanish now.

That being said... here´s the Wonk.

Yesterday was a long day in the field: first to the town of Barva, where we met with the Mayor (who was wearing jeans and a tshirt), and a rep from the Police, the Oficina de la Mujer (the Office of Women, which has one employee), a rep from the Ministry of Health, & a rep from the Office of Transportation to go over the part of the program that is called the Observatorio. It is the piece that is trying to set up a system for tracking crime data. Currently, on a local level, there is no mechanism, so communities don´t know what´s happening in their town: they don´t know the rates of domestic violence, or home invasion robberies, or car theft, or even car accidents. As far as I can tell, murders and crime of that level is tracked by the Federal Govt, the OIJ (Dept of Justice), but, frankly, it´s all a bit confusing, and I don´t think it´s just my Spanish that makes it so. I think this country just doens´t have a comprehensive manner of tracking these things, so the Foundation is trying to help.

So, that went well, they were all really interested in the process. The Mayor actually stayed through the whole thing (way beyond the photo op!) and was asking questions, and it was very cool, because it was the first step to the program, all three parts, and I will be able to see the entire thing while I am here.

The program, that I keep referring to is this: Safe Schools/Safe Community, an is has its 3 parts:

1) The Observatory

2) The Community Component. This is a series of workshops where, ideally, the city, the police, Health services, the Red Cross, non profits, etc. all sit down together, and through a series of workshops, hammer out what the main problems are in the community, and, most importantly, what the roots of the problems are. So, it´s not just, "we have a lot of violent crime here, what should be done about it?", but rather "we have a lot of violent crime here as a result of lack of recreational spaces for kids, unemployment, etc.... and we are going to focus on those problems and concrete programs to address them." Rather, I suppose, like the Community Plans that are built in LA.

Barva, where I was in the morning, is the 6th community that they are trying this program in. And I'll get to the see the whole process, including the 3rd piece, The School Component, which I have yet to see, but I'm sure I'll tell you all about it when I do.

WONKY ENOUGH FOR YOU?

more to come.

love,

kabby

San Jose, you rascal

It's pouring in San Jose. This is not unusual, and it will stop soon. Each morning starts out sunny and hot, and then, almost every afternoon, the clouds that look so pretty hanging out on the mountains in the morning come rushing in and drop down, sideways generally, onto this fair city for an hour, or for a half hour and then again in an hour, or until next week.

So, that's me telling you about the weather. But it's a whole thing for one who has dwelled in the desert for the past 8 years. I forgot how wet seeps into bones, though old injuries make me remember. I forgot how awesome my hair looks in humid climates. I forgot to bring rain boots.


San Jose. Here I am in San Jose. I don't understand this city yet, though we're definitely dating, but I'm not completely sold. (Especially on the part called Los Yoses.) (I kid Yosi, I kid.) (Mostly.) (Love you.) I have yet to see the jaw dropping magic that everyone talks about when they coo over Costa Rica. Ok, I've only been here 3 weeks, how much can I learn? I'm proud that I've found yoga, and find 3 square meals every day, and know which buses to take, and only occasionally get laughed at when I ask someone for something. But the mysteries of San Jose... not so sure. I know they must be here somewhere.... somewhere the cool kids do the things that they do. There are some mysteries in the Foundation that I am finding slowly but surely. And my new neighborhood surely holds many, as do the towns where I will be traveling with the Safe Schools program, as do the beaches and jungles that I will be exploring with Teresa who comes next week and Miss Fuss who comes the week after that (bless their adventurous hearts), as does my Flamenco class which starts on Friday.

Olé.

It's gets dark at 6pm here. That makes exploring after work difficult. Wandering around at night as a Gringa is not advisable in this city. So I don't. There's a lot of taking cabs (which usually cost $2 and are Red) (the bus is 35 cents) and looking over my shoulder when I walk. There's a lot of dressing down and leaving the jewelry in the closet.

And, interestingly enough, I am here studying Human Security.

Work is slowly unfolding, as quickly, I suppose, as my Spanish will allow. Today, one of the other interns and I were plotting on how we can help the Program with quantifying and proving it's effectiveness, and we sort of pitched it to Ana Yancy (my boss) and Lizeth (my other boss) and they were so thrilled. Ana Yancy said, "thank you so much for coming to us. we never know with people who come here to work... it seems like most of them are just here to finish there time but don't really want to do much." Right. Well, now she knows more about Kabira.

Tomorrow I am heading to a town called Desamparados, north of San Jose, to observe how they track their crime data and present how the Program does it. Today, and for the past 4 days I have been translating, from Spanish to English, a 32 page document on the legal details of each Latin American country and the Arms Trade Treaty. It is fascinating and grueling work, though my vocab is getting a serious boost, as is my knowledge of the Latin American arms trade and laws. I have a lot more respect for translators now, I gotta say. It's amazing how you can translate all of the words in a sentence and still not convey the meaning of the sentence.

The past 4 days have also been a roller coaster of wicked homesickness that has led me to believe that 6 months is really long time, and that I am truly one of the luckiest people on the planet for having so many outstandingly amazing loving beautiful people in my life. Nice work, all of you.

Ok, I'm off to yoga. Gracias a Dios.

Love you.

-Kabira

2 weeks in

Right... so I was worried that this would happen- I'm a little behind on this whole blogging thing. But, as my wise Aunt Stef said, I'm not behind, I'm right where I'm at.

So, here I am. It's been 2 weeks now. I've gone to the beach (Manuel Antonio) and I've gone into the field for work (Miramar) and currently I have a slight fever which I am banishing from my body with rest and tea and noodle soup and You Tube episodes of "So You Think You Can Dance." I want to be better for tomorrow because I'm scheduled to go to the American Embassy for their 4th o July BBQ to meet the head of the Democrats Abroad, Obama shirt on body, Obama stickers in hand, Democracy in my heart. (Yes, I just wrote that.)

I uploaded pix of the beach and of Miramar on Facebook... you can look here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27820&l=134c3&id=780253228

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=27667&l=334c1&id=780253228


Ok, back to resting. Wanted you to know that I am alive and safe and acclimating.


Peace,
kabira