A few more stories and lots of love from West Africa!

1.My volunteer visit was amazing! Despite being dropped off a few hours south of my intended destination the guy who was hosting me managed to get us all the way back up to his community...with enough time to meet some other volunteers, have maffaay for lunch (mmmm I will make it for you all some day) and sip frozen drinks on a street corner. We shared a 5ft by 5ft hut for about a week while I got a chance to see what life will be like for the next two years.

2.In his village we hit up a party with VATS of coffee to commemorate a father's death the year before, a giant sand box style cleanup of the common area next to the mosque, an impromptu tour of the village fields/latrines, a few baby weighing and infant health causeries, annnnnnd most importantly a day trip to the town I'll call home starting in about two weeks! I was only able to stay for a few hours, but I did get to meet my new family talk to the directors of the Health Post and the middle school, drink sweet tea with a few of my soon-to-be neighbors..ooo and see a baby born! One of my 'older sisters' is a midwife and thought it only appropriate that I take a hands on approach to health education!

3.Also...to get to and from my town I ride on the back of a donkey cart...its awesome. This particular day was fish market funtime, meaning it was me, Risvik, ten women and their buckets of raw fish sharing space for a few miles of bumping acquaintance. Probably better than walking and maybe more fun than the T!

4.Senegalese Independence Day came and went without much incident, the elementary age children were pretty adorable in their matching purple outfits on parade. We might be planning a giant bike tour to commemorate another upcoming independence day...ending on the 4th in the southwest corner of Senegal with all the fireworks we can find! At least we won't get arrested here...or rather there is no enforcement, no neighbors to complain, and you probably can't accidentally set mud huts on fire!!

5.I spent my first night in my regional house on the way back into Thies. Each part of the country has a place to call home away from the hut...and my region's version comes complete with a kitchen, wi-fi, a HUGE library, rooftop horseshoe court and lots of friends to make mint juleps with! Kaolack is a big – read – dirty dirty dirty – city, but will probably make a nice change from village life every now and again. Plus...Dakar and the beach are only a few hours of minibus bush taxi craziness away!

6.The next day we had our first visit to Dakar. I'm so excited to explore the city and it seems like you really can get/do/see anything your heart desires. The beaches looked amazing and the waves are insane. We ended up spending most of the day in meetings, but hopefully I'll get a chance to grab a board soon and really check things out.

7.Almost the whole group of trainees finally got a chance to check out and we all headed down to Mburro for a few days of beach fun, catholic party time, and raging underwear only dance parties. It was great to get away from the center and really relax for the first time since stepping off that airplane! We rented almost an entire hotel out and were invited to a Catholic dance party in honor of Easter. After more than enough mojitos and a full day of beachness amazing we broke it down well into the night with the religious minority...switching between traditional African dance, club nasty grinding, salsa steps and eventually dissolving into jumping up and down with no regard for the beat. Awesome.

8.Tomorrow starts our counterpart workshop, two days of insanity as the center is invaded by two or three locals from each of our communities with the hopes of giving them a crash course in what its like to be a trainee, how to help us achieve our development goals, and hopefully start up really productive partnerships for the next two years. If nothing else it should be interesting...especially the part where we spend an hour teaching them Spanish, Russian, and Latin, maybe they'll be a bit more sympathetic to our inexpert indigenous languages if we start off with a Buenas Dias!

9.I got my swear-in outfit made...get excited for the pictures. So many sparkles absolutely dance party fabulous. My teacher Ouly put her foot down and called us red necks insisting on assisting throughout the design process, and ps. The ceremony will be broadcast on the national tv station...Ha!

10.Fingers crossed...I'm working at a HUGE women's soccer tournament on May 2nd in Dakar! They have been having qualifying matches all month and small events to promote this giant Soccer and women's leadership summit backed an NGO and the UN...and through some PC connections I might get to coach a clinic for young girls the morning before the championship game. It should be a great time, super inspiring, and hopefully lead to some serious contacts for getting programs up and running my soon to be region! I've just put in to delay my final site installation by about a week to stay in Dakar and help out at the summit...it seems like my ACPD is all for it and I can't imagine a better way to finish off two months of training!

I think that's how I'm going to leave it for today, email please...how is the homefront?!
Love and love!
Sophie

To my friends who have waited o so patiently for a blog update:
HI! Assalamalakum and may you have peace only! I'm going to try to keep up the ten short stories theme I started in Costa, basically forever ago, but we'll start off with a quick scene description of life here in Senegal. First off...I've been here more than a month already and we're halfway through training, know our actual site assignments and I can already speak a lot of Wolof (the indigenous language I'm learning...more on that soon!). The training center that I write this from is like a toubab (gringo/giri/foreigner) oasis that we visit every so often for group training activities and as a staging grounds before big trips. My fellow stagaires and I share a few dozen rooms and are free to roam the city of Thies when not in class...with access to(in order of importance) cold beer, chocolate ice cream, and wi-fi Internet cafes. For the majority of our time thus far we've been stationed in small villages nearby and working in the communities to get hands on training in our technical fields and learn two languages faster than I had previously thought possible!

I'm heading out tomorrow for my first visit to the site I'll call home for the next two years, a small village named Patar-Lia. There are a few hundred people, a middle and primary school, and apparently a lot of excitement about what might be accomplished. I'll know infinitely more after this next week...and hopefully update accordingly so you can all start planning you visits! Get pumped...my town is only three hours by car from Dakar (the capital city with an international airport) and there's no need to take a 12 seater prop plane/8 hours in hell bus ride in the style of Playa San Miguel, Costa Rica!

So ten or so stories for you all and more love than I can count!
1.My name is Sophialau Ndianye...rafet na n'est pas? Pretty crazy huh...Sophie is my favorite name in the world and they picked it out for me...after knowing me for just a few hours. Best of all...no one here knows its my dog's name back home haha so I can use it and be so so happy!

2.I love African Dance...like real African Dance...like hundreds of people forming a circle with pounding drums in the background and mass chaos of bodies in the center. The women move in ways I didn't know excited and I have resolved myself to learning! Obviously the fact that I don't exactly know how to dance didn't stop me from trying and it was the craziest thing I've ever experienced. Picture sand flying, arms spinning, and a crush of people as they all rush towards the middle and explode in movement. Yeah...I'll need to get a video haha!

3.I live in a village called Keur Madoro with the Imam and his family. The peace that radiates from the mango trees at the center of my compound has inspired me to write poetry. I won't subject you guys to it but it is a magical place to spend every afternoon. 15 or so children learn to recite the Koran in Arabic while my 'father' discreetly dozes off and I help my older sisters make sweet sweet green tea foamy by pouring it from glass to glass. Their rhythm comes from everywhere at once and seems perfectly in time.

4. I'm pretty convinced Wolof is the best language ever invented. Wow = yes, your best friend is your one nose, children are called sticks of G-d..as in how many sticks of G-d do you have...and there are so many similarities to Spanish I'm convinced that the Christopher Columbus stopped by at some point in 1500s! I've already tested out of the language requirement, I got to an intermediate low level after only 4 weeks and I'm so excited! Its just going to get better and easier and hopefully I'll be fluent in no time at all...and move on to learning arabic haha. My 'dad' the Imam says its a piece of cake haha...well not really he says its un-hard like making rice which is how they say it haha.

5.I'm pretty sure I've found my cultural group the Senegalese eat bread with nutella everyday for breakfast and wear sparkley clothing whenever possible and place great importance on inner peace for all.

6.Eating in general is kind of crazy. We all sit on the floor and eat with our hands..its an art form really and there are an entire set of verbs to describe the different ways of making balls of rice so you can pop them in your mouth. All in all the food is pretty good...fish, veggies, rice and some surprisingly awesome sauces made from the leaves, flowers, and roots of native plants. O and lots and lots of MSG haha...but what are you going to do?

7.Mango season is coming! I'm excited...my family has a mango tree plantation and I think it's going to be amazing. The trees are everywhere around my village...something I think peace corps had a lot to do with a few years ago and had really made a difference for many of the locals!

8.The medicine I'm on to prevent malaria has interesting side effects...mainly that it gives you incredible acid trip dreams that are so vivid you can't imagine they didn't really happen. So far all of my have been absolutely fantastic! Haha...par example I started a Dispatch concert naked from the balcony of my hotel, had a raging party at the Coulton's house in Doylestown complete with all of our parents, every member of the Killer Bees and pretty much every coach we've ever played for, I got to fly an airplane, and go hang gliding...haha. Crazy seriously, but definitely more entertaining that anything I've every seen on tv.

9.I have fallen completely and totally in love with the kids here, they've already made everything we work towards totally worth it. I will be adopting dozens...please plan accordingly. Seriously, these kids are absolutely adorable, so incredibly motivated, giving, open and I just can't stop smiling when I'm with them. They follow the other two girls in my training village and I around in groups from place to place and climb on anytime we sit...or even stand still for a little too long! Haha. The little girls especially...ah There are pictures...you'll understand I'm sure.

10.We had our first gardening demonstrations...in Wolof...for 40 kids at once....and believe it or not...things were fantastic! The kids were so excited to get the school gardens going and had so much motivation they made a second seed bed even better than our demonstration one while the other PCTs and I were working on a different part of the garden! LOVE it! They're so receptive to any information we try to teach them and are just so passionately into whatever we want to do with them! O and we've painted our first mural and more are coming soon!

11.I'm running out of things to say....hmmm what else is there....I miss you guys! I did manage to get phone service here and a new number...I have reception everywhere and I can call/text the states! Its a bit expensive....ok not really...its like 20 cents a minute haha and peace corps pays BANK in terms of the local economy. We're in Thies for a few days doing technical training...code word for partying up with all the local volunteers and learning how to do the things we are supposed to teach the locals!

So anyways the new phone number is +221776719932

love and love and love and hopefully another update much sooner than later!!
Stephanie

ps. i rode bumper cars last night...here in Thies. I don't know how in the world they got here but omygosh I am so glad it happened! haha! The senegalese do not call them bumper cars...they're actually called little cars and people drive slowly and carefully trying not to disturb anyone else's ride....a concept that was clearly lost on the Toubob contingent and would have resulted in our first international incident had we not managed to go all at once without any locals on the floor at the same time. SO MUCH FUN!!! Followed by whiskey shots, disco hut dancing, and big big big smiles! <3 besossss!

I leave in just a few days to start my 27 months of service with the Peace Corps in Senegal. At this point I'm doing almost anything to procrastinate packing up everything I'll need! I'm starting back up with my blog so you guys can keep up with my adventures, and keep me updated with all the going-ons in your lives too!

My mailing address for the first few months is:

PCT “Stephanie Shumsky”
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 299
Thiès, Senegal
West Africa

please please please I'd love some postcards!

I'll let you all know about phone numbers when and if I get one.

Lots of love and please be sure to call my cell phone before Thursday if you'd like to say goodbye.

Love!
Stephanie

Amores y amantes:

So here's another batch of ten (very!) short stories...please keep in mind I'm probably a good bit more easily amused and under-stimulated than those of you with access to actual entertainment! En general San Miguel is just the same as always, with lots of baby turtles, big mama turtles, and a few days of torrrrrrrrrrrential downpours here and there. The surfing has been hellish and the waves insanity in a very dangerous way but seriously too much fun to pass up.

In other really exciting news I've just found out that the project will be ending early on December 7^th, giving me about two full weeks to backpack before catching my flight home on the 21^st! I'm planning on heading down to Panama since I've already seen so much of Costa Rica and trying to spend a week with the Kona indigenous peoples of the San Blas Archipelago. I think it could be amazing since I've never really a taste of that culture in any of the Central American countries I've visited....just please don't tell me parents I'm probably going to have to hitch a ride on a merchant ferry to get down there! Also...consider this an open invite to anyone who has vacation time, a school break, or any desire to come along to come with! I'll be in San Jose, Costa Rica around December 8^th or in Panama City on the 9^th before heading out and would love the company!

1. I didn't actually go to Panama before for my visa run!! At the very last minute I found a plane ticket to Miami for $240 to visit Magram and Poppy for Rosh Hashana! Things could not have worked out better and it was absolutely fantastic to be in Boca Raton for the holiday! I was in San Jose at the hotel with my mom trying to find a bus to Panama for the next day and it all started as a joke until we realized the bus company had gone out of business and the flights were so inexpensive. She called Magram and spun a completely ridiculous story about canceled flights and needing to spend three days in transit from CR to Philadelphia so that Poppy would meet me at the airport and all the sudden I was on my way to the US! I have never seen Magram so happy and definitely never pulled off such a big lie! I showed up at their front door backpack and all and was fantastically spoiled in first world air conditioning, hot water, real mattress, phone and Internet, lots of love and peanut butter style for three days! I got to spend tons of time with my Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and godparents who were all around as well annnnnnnnnd I went to TARGET which was incredible. I have never been so happy to embrace mass marketing and materialism...I mean I was able to buy everything I'd been needing for the past few months in about half and hour PLUS I went to the starbucks in the store! Haha...you can take a girl out of the first world...>! Going stateside was a trip and crazy culture shock which I was definitely not prepared for, but by all measures was super successful in getting 90 more days in CR and having a beautiful time! Plus yummmmmmmmm sweet new year food!

2. Back to the bosque for the beginning of October and I spent a few days alone while Claudia went to Nicaragua for her own visa run and Eduardo (our PhD volunteer from Barcelona) left to do some traveling. It was a nice few days to reflect and make plans for the 2^nd half of life in Playa San Miguel although to be honest I basically managed to get over being sick (the doctor in Boca thought I had tuberculosis and/or was pregnant... aka a bad chest cold and severe lack of sleep! I suppose that's what happens when you work too long in FL with retirees..).

3. We've just gotten in a new group of volunteers, a mom and her two kids are down here for two months, like home-schooling jungle style and very excited to be here. The kids are great and have made a huge difference in our interaction with the community, and the mom is this balance of semi-responsible tree-hugger, arts and crafts idea pot and eastern religion wine drinker....obviously lots of love! Things are changing for the better in big ways and I feel like we're really starting to connect with the families here in San Miguel, to educated them about the project and to learn about them in ways we never have before. Its the first time I'm really feeling like a member of the town and integrated as a normal person here as opposed to some strange objectified extrajera for the hombres to bother ALL the time. We have been holding court in the restaurant/bar in the center of town almost everyday making posters, meeting new people (Insanity after two months in a town of 100 people) and having more fun than ever!

4. We spent a day doing henna tattoos of turtles, ying-yangs(they're still cool here!) and flowers (some in rather racy places!) on the dozens of vecinos that came by and have invited everyone to accompany us on our patrols when they can. There was a giant game of capture the flag a few nights ago and I cannot imagine a better place to play...its totally and completely dark out here and there are miles of places to hide and secret paths to take and absolutely no shortage of super - competitive players. When we're not screaming down the beach chasing the kids they're sneaking up behind us with giant ghost crabs, learning how to play spoons and blackjack (I never learned that many card games!) in addition to the very important art of shaking it to American music on my front porch.

5. I spend a good bit of time at the Flying Scorpion if I want to see Claudia and as a total bonus there's also this girl Amanda from Texas who just came work for Rossi...or maybe just to hang out with us while we watch the baseball games (GO PHILS!), play beer pong, make mojitos with BASIL instead of mint (it was our third drink of the day at 11am ok?!) , cook quiche at 3am *Stephanie I miss you and our cooking! * And generally get a little crazy now that the restaurant is closed until the tourists come back in November.

6. I learned how to make hammocks from this old man who sits in the center of town. He's like 80 years old and everyone calls him Pollon, which means old, fat chicken, and half-blind from cataracts buuuuuut awesomely sweet and incredibly patient with my lack of knotting skills. Now I have a hobby with a purpose and possible Christmas presents for you all!

7. There have been road trips all over the place in the back of pick up trunks, on quads and motos to a dozen beaches, towns and the middle of nowhere! I've jumped over fences to steal guavas right off someone's trees, and slept in a room with walls made of glass, looking down on the beach for miles around....that is until being woken by a crowd starting the party up again with fajitas and tequila sunrises all before 10 am! Hitching home from these parties has turned into a habit...one that I might try to break before our 8-year old visitor asks me again where I spent the night as I pull up to lunch wearing the same clothes as the night before! Also...I've introduced 'never have I ever' to the town...things may never be the same.

I was aiming to get to ten points but I've basically forgotten everything else I've been up to besides the fact that my Daddy and the beautiful, talented and O SO amazing Amy King are coming to visit in less than a month and there is nothing that could make me more excited! Things on the Playa are great and life is pura vida, super tuanis, and more tranquila that I can explain. Lots of love, gallons of coconut milk, and un monton of besos for you all!

ps. Sneak preview: we're planning a haunted house at the station for Halloween !! We already have the bats and found a dolphin skeleton and things are just getting very creative. I'm superexcited to show the kids how we do things stateside and buy them lots of candy too! We're also planning a crazy party at Rossi's and I think Amanda, Claudia and I are going to be Imperial (local beer brand) girls! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures of both!

HELLLLLLLLLO my friends! Sorry for the long long time gone but here goes a hell of an update----

I've been reading far too many books about writing books, something of a coincidence but in all ironic honesty I'm beginning to think myself an ESL author doing undercover research for some kind of sad comedy best seller. Playa San Miguel really does defy description, not just in general appearance and infrastructure but the societal fabric and character cushioning that pad every experience are just like whoa ok. Even if I could show you pictures the most obvious parts would be invisible, so I suppose you'll just have to read on and wait a few more months for what I'm sure at the best stories I have ever told.

A blog update in several parts:

1. THE BABY TURTLES ARE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. The baby turtles are the most important thing in my life at this time in all seriousness. I, like Clau and the volunteers, have a six hour shift of watching sand everyday to make sure the babies aren't stuck in the hatchery for longer than necessary and when they come up we put all 100 of them in a big blue bucket and walk down the beach on top of the world. This is better than the chickens and their eggs...I LOVE LOVE LOVE concretely successful things. I feel so validated actually everyday....and all I have to do is notice their coming. Delayed gratification has its advantages..never thought you'd hear that one from me eh?
3. I've probably been hanging out too much with a certain Canadian guy eh?
4. I've noticed a trend in the pictures the volunteers take that I steal and put of my computer to show you all in December....basically all the same. Beach, station house, baby turtles, sunset, bar nights, house parties, surfing, sunset, baby turtles, ridiculous rain gear, beautiful nature/waterfalls/mangroves, bar stools and gallo pinto, ect ect ect. Like some kind of parody of my life repeated every two weeks or so. I wonder how I can keep cycling through this like it were new everyday. Some things are different, things change, and I keep moving...but seriously, my life is a well documented caricature or itself. Gracias a dios I do so much yoga haha.
5. I live in a sorority house...seriously I thought that Shakespeare was ridiculous but this is worse and better at the same time...since we have no actual responsibility or occupation in general. Sometimes its loud music and dancing but seriously...there are no pants allowed. The girls that have been coming down are incredible, fun, and awesomely independent lately. I'm having the most wonderful time getting to know them and sharing life as a turtle girl in the insanity that is this tiny town. The perfect foil to our supposed sisterhood is the older divorced men that have stepped into a kind of gay/father/pimp role and simultaneously present and protect us in our various escapades.
6. I lost my voice last night to a rendition of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody that I barely remember...I'm sure it was awesome mostly because I do remember the bootylicious Beyonce dancing the preceded it. I sound like a 50 year old who left the womb with a cigarette in hand and I feel wiser for it. I love American music and to hell with anything even remotely 'good.'
7. I watched the sun come up this morning while skinny-dipping in an infinity pool that looked out over three separate beaches from the mountain above. You could hear the howler monkeys bitching about their hangovers way before ours set in and it was possibly the best feeling I've ever had. Maybe there is something to materialism after all...it was the first house I've ever considered worth settling down for. It has more to do with the location, the people I was with, the guacamole we had for breakfast, and the immense amount of ron consumed... but I think its a pretty intense step along my twisted decent into the real world.
8. Everyone I meet inspires me to take a page out of their books...to try what they've done for myself, to work in the same way and to follow in their footsteps. I'm keeping a list and it keeps getting longer. I feel like I'm no closer to finding myself but its fun to imagine being someone else. Also...since my shoes all have holes in them (two pairs of old navy flip flops to last for 6 months of walking miles everyday) I am actually walking in their shoes that they've left behind for me. I'm often a disaster and it shows.
9. Everyone here is constantly defending their decisions to adopt a non-traditional lifestyle...makes me want to go climb the corporate ladder just to spite them. Its like some kind of religious conversion that they're trying to push on the rest of us and I'm not sure why I resent it so much. I just hate the idea that even at 40 all of them are still trying to prove themselves...especially to someone like me. I hope I never have to feel that way.
10. None of you really knew but I was in a pretty bad place a few weeks ago. It had to do with a lot of things I'd rather not post but the news for punto numero 10 is that I'm back to bliss. Things have never been better, I feel like myself, which I thought I'd lost for a bit, and life is beautiful like its never been. I'm better for going through it and I hope I never have to do it again. Sorry for the super profundo end note but I felt the need to share and I suppose that's what blogs are for.

Too much love,

Stephanie

ps. I'm going to Honduras on the 26^th to see a great friend whose diving on Roatan and to renew my visa. If anyone was planning a visit I'll be in San Jose on the 2^nd of October or so and could bring you back to paradise with me instead being forced to brave a solo bus trip into the great unknown.

Pps. My mom is coming next week! She's bringing surprises (read: new shoes and craisins) from home...Its like Christmas!!

PPPS. Speaking of Christmas...I'm thinking the party on the 23^rd of December. Save the date like it was your own wedding since its the last one until I'm done with Africa!

Hey guys!

Just a quick update on life down south...things are going pretty well, I cannot believe I've been down here a month already! Its crazy how time goes even though I don't do all that much, especially during the days. I've been surfing quite a bit, we're up to 20 nests in the hatchery with the baby turtles coming in a few weeks. I'm generally pasando puravida and just have a few fun stories to share:

1. For those of you that don't know, I sometimes had trouble sleeping at night, or ever actually...this job is thus amazing since I work a few hours at night and get to wake up and go run around at 2 am and nap all day...I feel like I keep normal hours too since there's always people up with me!

2. I've been practicing my Spanish by reading Homer's The Odyssey. Seriously, I asked my friend to bring me back a book when he drove into one of the bigger towns nearby since the only one I found around here was the ex-president's memoirs...and obviously he returns with Greek Mythology, in Spanish haha. We'll see about that one...if anyone takes pity and can download me a sparknotes/reader's guide and email it...that's be awesome. Haha, either way I suppose I'll learn something!

3. There are chickens everywhere...almost everyone has a few and the term free-range does not even begin to describe how they roam all over town, eating and laying where ever they please.

4. Friday is Karaoke night at the local bar and it is a huge event...I would say you have to see it to believe the local guys belting out ballads, dancing and generally going crazy. We started out playing blackjack with bottlecaps, I got a love song dedicated to me and sung down on bended knees! and then took a late night ride to a nearby beach that has this amazing rock formation where you can jump off into a tidal pool...and the stars just feel like they're falling into the water. We ran into some poachers and I managed to convince them to come hang out and throw back a few instead of stealing eggs!

5. BINGO! another grand adventure...something they take quite seriously around here, everyone from kids to grandparents playing for refrigerators, an oven, or a washing machine! Afterwards there was a live band and lots of dancing...gotta love to salsa! Claudia even managed to get us home over the jungle roads after the driver of our giant, manual transmission van decided not to designate himself!

6. We had a real bad rainstorm last night and it turns out that water comes into the house sometimes...combined with the soap I had spilled on the porch earlier in the day and Claudia and I were ankle deep in bubbles haha...kind of reminds me how we (ok...steph and me) used to wash the floor on Shakespeare! No worries on the wet floors since everything drains out and some of the guys came over with cement today to fix the problem...but I wish I could upload the pictures for you guys to see!

That's about all that I've got for now...I'd love to hear from anybody who has time to write...especially since I'm walking a few miles to come update you guys! On a GREAT, AMAZING, AWESOME note to end....I've got my first visitor coming down in three weeks and I CANNOT wait! We are going to have the most fabulous time and you should all be very jealous haha...and come visit too!

Besos!

ps. I almost forgot to explain the rash of drunk dials I made a few nights ago...it was a local festival for the the virgin somebody or other and we went up to this incredible mountain estate of the one of the hotel guys we know...beautiful, overlooking the ocean, AND with great cell phone coverage! The night was hysterical...just getting a little crazy and dancing to the excellent-ness of my ipod. We also watched a movie...something I haven't done since I got here!

Una otra vez hola!
Just a quick update from puravida land...everything is great! We´re really starting to settle in here in Playa San Miguel and the turtle sightings are picking up every night. So far we´ve seen 5 turtles, found 3 other nests, and 2 that had been poached by the time we got them. So I guess that meansturt les - 8 and poachers - 2...winning in my book! Hopefully things will keep improving as Claudia and I get better at what we do!

Aside from ´work´I´ve been going surfing just about everyday and its actually amazing. The two guys that run the restaurant where we have all our meals are huge boarders and have kind of adopted me...meaning that I get thrashed every morning with them by GIANT 2 foot waves...haha. Seriously though, I´m getting better I swear. I stand up for real now, no hands and all and can ride the wave all the way into shore...sometimes at least!

Besides the surfing we just hang out and read, play some cards and on motivated days explore nearby tide pools, mangroves, and butterfly gardens. Its a tough life, I know, but someone has to do it! We have 5 volunteers right now and more are set to arrive in a few days. It looks like Claudia and I won´t be alone in the station house until mid-september. The guy who runs the hotel is down for cutting a deal since I promised him any visitors might be able to add to his rather outdated dvd collection and would be as fun as I am! I´d love for any and all of you to come visit...whenever and for as long as you like.

So that´s about all I´ve got time for now that I finally got access to the Peace Corps website...still reviewing the forms! Cross your fingers they believe I´m not 90 pounds!

Much love and besos!
Steph

Buenas tardes de Costa Rica!
So I´m here and I walked about 8 kilometers to come and tell you all about it! Its amazing basically, the beach, the girl I´m working with and all the people in the town. Its not nearly as isolated as I thought! There´s a small restaurant-bar where we have all our meals about an kilometer from the house and a convience store and a few other things too. On the VERY bright side I get to use surfboards for FREE because I´m a coordinator and the guy is really cool about it! I´m pretty excited for that in a few days once I we get done building the hatchery. Its almost done now and we´ve already found two turtle nests, taken out the eggs and transplanted them into a more secure fenced in area.

Besides the beach, which is awesome, I´ve been reading a bit, hanging out in my hammock and doing some great yoga. My partner here is pretty into aerobics so sometimes we do that too...like some crazy gringas in bikinis jumping around on the beach is totally normal. Everyone is super friendly and keeps stopping by the house asking how everything is going and if we´ve found any nests yet. I´m not sure if they´re really genuinely interested or they´re thinking about how they might go about stealing the eggs. Apparently the turtle eggs are a hot commodity in Costa Rica and many of the people in town and elsewhere steal them to sell or supplement their families´ diets.
I don´t really have much time to contarles todo but with a little luck I can upload some photos and continue the story next time!

ALSO! This the phone number for the restaurant that we eat all our meals at and they said you could call us there anytime! We´re there at 9, 1, and 6 costan rica time so that´d be 11, 3, and 8 for you guys! 0050626558046.

So here we go again...I'm leaving on Saturday night for six more months in Costa Rica and thought it'd be fun to try and stay in touch a little better this time. I'll be working in Playa San Miguel with an organization that does sea turtle conservation until right before Christmas. It should be pretty fantastic, beach living and latino culture is always a great time and the girl I'll be working/living/loving with sounds pretty awesome so far. Hopefully the trip there will go well and I'll be in touch soon!

I should have email access at least once a week and I will also have limited cell phone service. As of yet I'm not sure on the exact number or my mailing address but hopefully that information will come in the near future. Thanks for reading and come back anytime!

<3 Steph

ps. links for anyone who is interested :::
Pretoma is the NGO ::: http://www.tortugamarina.org/content/view/68/97/lang,en/
Some additional info on Playa San Miguel ::: Ejemplo 1 Ejemplo 2

mis amores!
So this is the first time i've had email in like a month for more than 2 minutes but i wanted to say hey! i couldn't possibly try to update you on everything, but its amazing. My dad came for a few days in nicaragua it was the BEST and i met these crazy south african backpackers (and like every other nationality) and partied up on the beach for a few days and stood up on short board! (surfing) and stayed up all night and went skinny dipping a ton and tried to steal a boat! and went scuba diving and saw sea turtles and barricudas and million other things. After break we went to this cloud forest called monteverde with no electricty and freeeeeeezing water and it was so much fun. My friends bday was up there and we managed to trek in (by the way everything had to be hiked in on our backs for the week since the station was inaccessible by car or truck!) rum and cookies and had a crazy party for her. The forest was incredible, clouds all over the place, just walking through them. This past week we've been on an island in Nicaragua called Ometepe which was basically a semiactive volcano with a biological station on it, so just us learning about fish mostly. There was this incredible waterfall that we all went under naked...there will be pictures i promise, and it was just incredible! Now we're in Nicaragua and heading down to CR tomorrow where I'll have email again, but that's a quick update. Miss you all TONS and see you in a few weeks!
<3 Stephi

Todo Bueno!

HEYYYY! I hope everyone is doing awesome, things down here are pretty tight, school's definately different but amazing. We've just finished up these really intense independent research projects where we made up and experiment, did it, analyzed everything, wrote 10 page papers and presented to a symposium in 6 days! kind of amazing, but a little crazy, especially the kids doing nighttime research! We are currently brewing jungle juice in our room...in the jungle...its a little silly but will be put to excellent use in a few days annnnnnnd i'm getting reallyr eally really excited to go on fall break next week in Nicaragua with my DADDY! and some of my friends. It should be incredible, SCUBA, volcanoes, and kayaking...o and a beach! haha it will be wonderful and I cannot wait. Alright, short update but message me with a phone number and I might be able to call with this Skype out thing...cheap calls to US phones...it could be fun! <3 hasta!

Jungle Time begins:

We left San jose monday morning after a bit of crazy wkend activity. Thursday was the last day of our Spanish class, which was a bit sad but totally awesome thanks to my final presentation on the Loch ness Monster...so necessary! and a then Friday was Rosh Hashana celebrated in Tico style with way too much wine, and some friends over my tica family's house! and of course a great deal of bread and honey! Saturday night was incredible, the bar that we've been meeting at every night was tended by yours truly and my friend Madison in exchange for free drinks and food all night! Sooo soooo fun! but unfortunately resulted in a highly illegal sleepover and maddy's...a girl...homestay family's home! We had to sneak out at 6 am, after about -2 hrs of sleep to make it on time to the interleague championship soccer game in Herredia! One of the craziest experiences I've ever had with a million people jumping up and down shouting punta(bitch) for two hours! We also had quite the experience getting there involving a bus trip from hell that prompted drinking before 10 am. Don't ask...

We left the next morning(after I went to an all night gay club called la abeja...the bee, with my friend Chris) for Cuerci, a mountain forest region that was incredible. Our guide Carlos was a real live mountain man with beard and dogs to boot! Amazing experience hiking and learning and just general jungle living...I was sad to go but on the bright side, the station we're at now is a bit warmer and has internet...tada! I'll try and post some pictures from Cuerci soon, but trust me it was more than words...hopefully this place will be fun too!

Talk to everyone soon, miss you all like crazy, please comment and help my homesick! <3

This ^ is from last post but now the pictures work!

The weekend of my life-

Thursday was the Dia de la independencia in Costa Rica so the night before there were incredible parades with hundreds of kids and paper laterns and drums that set off the car alarms and we all got caught in the middle! but so incredible! Thursday night we all went out salsa dancing until around 2 when we left to go to an afterparty at a reggee bar with the owner of a bar we always meet at! So funny!

The next morning alyssa and I went bungee jumping! Off a 260 ft bridge into the forest...it was one of the most incredible things I´ve ever done and you should all try it! After bungee jumping still a bit tipsy since we didn´t get in until 4...we did the natural thing and pregamed our four hour bus ride to the beach! In broad daylight drinking at 11 am...fantastic really.

The beach is another story entirely, the most beautiful I have ever seen with all sorts of monkeys and sloths and iguana all over the place! So much fun...and then slow dancing in the waves in a thunderstorm...swooooooooon. There were sloths in our tree and we swam and laid out all day, and I´ve bought some pablo neurda poetry to read along with the russian lit...and its beautiful!

Sunday night after we got back I went to see the orchestra but instead found a nicaraguen ballet that was sold out...but somehow managed to talk myself into a free box seat in the friends and family area! haha it was beautiful and I loved it! So that is pretty much what has been going on...there are more pictures on facebook if you´re into that sort of thing.

Hasta! <3!

Hola chicos!!

Alright its been awhile since I wrote but here goes...before I left La Selva we went white water rafting and had the most absolutely insane guide but the most incredible time and that night I did laundry for the first time! and went to a tiny bar and danced salse with the ticos in my knee high snake boots that we have to wear AT ALL TIMES! Basically ridiculous.
We came to San Jose the next day and I met my host family, who I love, and got to explore the city a litte...and I met a ton of great people my first day...including uno quien se llama Ricardo haha and will take me dancing! Its wonderful, we've been going out like crazy and our Spanish classes are really not like classes at all but more like field trips for a few hours then conversation. I played soccer a bit after school yesterday against 9 boys...which was a little funny and tonight we might head to the roller disco! Everything in the city is such a throwback its amazing...We've all also been taking salsa classes and break it down like whoa in the bars!
This weekend a bunch of us are heading to el volcano arenal for the weekend and it will be incredible, hopefully I'll have some great pictures for you guys next time of tonight and the weekend!

<3 Stephi

ps. I got a haircut which was funny since I didn't know the right words for anything!
pps. Happy birthday Hillarey! <3

Sooooo I'm here in Costa Rica! Things are fantastic, I never even imagined it would be this cool. We've already experienced so many amazing things in the rainforest and out...We spent the first night in San Jose and got a chance to go out and have a great time with some ticos and a little spice girl love and then headed down to La Selva, a nature preserve, and have been getting oriented to life in the jungle. We've seen pecuries (wild boars) and tons of howler monkeys and a too many face size insects and just a million other things. This is so my scene! I'll post some pictures as soon as I can, I already have some great ones of huge spiders. I also just found out that I can recieve mail so please send me some!!! The people on my trip are amazing, we all are getting along pretty well...we played our first soccer game today *ps I miss the BJ's good luck girls!!* and I'm leading a yoga class tonight obviously! I miss you all and I hope you check in soon because some outside contact would be awesome...the newsweeks in the library are all from 2002! Alright that's about all I have time for... pictures next time I promise and get working on a postcard!!

<3 Stephi

Stephanie Shumsky
Organizacion para estudios tropicales
PO Box 676'2050 San Pedro, Montes de oca
San Jose, Costa Rica. Central America

Almost Away!

Hey everybody...this is my first post and hopefully is enough to get you all to come back in a few days when I'm actually in Costa Rica. I'm crazy crazy excited and trying to pack up my life a little before I go. Summertime was amazing, I learned so much and went a million places and got to see tons of people and I really can't believe its over.

Please comment and check back soon so we can keep in touch, I'm not sure how much access to email I'll have but I'll do my best!

<3 Stephi

ps. I bought a return ticket finally...so I'm probably coming home!