Yesterday my program coordinator showed me around town and introduced me to a few people at Casa de las Mujeres, which is where I will be starting out with my work and where I share an office with another intern. She has been here since January doing interviews and researching migration in Nicaragua and the needs of migrants and their families. I will be working along with her for the first week or so while I get to know the organization and the nature of her work, in addition to beginning my research on migration policy and migrant rights in Costa Rica. I will continue this research and prepare presentation materials through my second week, and then begin presenting this information to different communities for the last two weeks of my internship. Since I only have a month, I really want to make the most of my time.

In the afternoon yesterday, I went with the other intern to a focus group with about 15 children at a community center/preschool just outside of the center of Granada. We began by asking them to draw pictures of who lives with them at home. Next, we talked with them about whether or not anyone in their families lived in Costa Rica or the US and asked them about their feelings. We had cards with illustrations of happy, sad, and angry and asked them to raise their hand for each one and explain what makes them feel this way. Most of them responded that they were happy or sad, and not many said that they felt angry. The sad responses were due to missing their family members, and those who were happy said that they liked receiving gifts and things and were also happy that their relatives had jobs and could work.

The last activity was to make a card to give to someone in their families. The cards that the children made were very nice and creative, and the messages that they wrote were very nice. Over all, I felt a little bit overwhelmed and like I couldn´t help out enough with the activities, but I was glad that I was able to go and meet the children and a few of the mothers and one grandmother there.


After the focus group, a few of the interns and I tried to go to a dance class, but it was cancelled. We went out to dinner in the main tourist area where there are a lot of restaurants. There was a lot going on, people walk around playing music and selling crafts that they make. While we were eating, a group of guys started break dancing in the center of the area where people sit outside to eat. They were really good at it and also had stunts they would do with two people together.

Also during dinner, I saw what is apparently a very common street performance where one person is on stilts inside of a large costume of a white woman and another person is inside of a very short little costume of a man. They dance around and I´m not sure what it represents and I can´t find it online, but I´ll ask my host family what it is called and try to describe it better or take a picture next time.

I really like my host family and the home I am staying in. Doña owns a beauty salon and lives with her son, his wife, and their young daughter. They have a parrot and a small dog. The salon is in the front of the house, and then there is a sitting room with rocking chairs and a TV and a garden with trees and an open roof. There is a corridor with another open garden and to the right is the kitchen and dining room and to the left is my room and the bathroom. The other bedrooms are farther back in the house. My room is very nice and my bed is bigger than the one at home.

In the mornings, I really enjoy opening my mosquito net and the windows of my room. The cold shower is welcome and Doña gives me breakfast of fruit, coffee, and bread. The food she cooks for lunch and dinner is very good and I have had gallo pinto, meat with rice and vegetables, and tortillas. She made a soup yesterday for lunch that was called sopa de rosquilla. The soup broth is made with tomato, onion, garlic, mint, and milk. The rosquillas are little fried rings made out of corn and cheese and together they are delicious!

Today I am not working so I took the morning to walk around Granada and look around. My host family was really nice before I left and gave me advice about where to visit and highlighted a few things on my map. I am going to go back for lunch soon and then I might go swimming down the street from the house. Tonight I am going with my program coordinator and a few interns to give soccer jerseys to some children in a housing project that Casa de las Mujeres works with. I´m excited to meet people there and hear about the soccer games that are coming up.

Next week in addition to working I am planning on going up to Managua with some of the interns to see El Nica, a monologue play about a Nicaraguan living and working in Costa Rica. I am very excited about this because I read about it last year when I was doing research for my senior paper and now I have the chance to see it live. The guy who picked me up from the airport told me that it is very sad and it usually makes people cry.

I also plan on going to a film screening at a place called Casa de los Tres Mundos where they have art exhibits and a lot of really neat cultural events in the center of Granada.

For now, I am enjoying the weekend and getting acquainted with Granada. I am really looking forward to starting work next week! I have a few things to read over about Nicaragua´s history and about migration here, so I am enjoying that as well.