Fox Life

So there we are, waiting outside of the Facultad de Educacion, and things are looking bleak. We were supposed to meet Kenlor, our contact at Adapte (the microloan place we want to work with) at 2pm and it's now 2:40. And if I understood correctly (which is only a 60% chance in this crazy language) we were supposed to me in front of the Facultad de Educacion at the University of Costa Rica. Now after having attended this university for a full semester, I pride myself in two things: 1. Being able to understand the school's name when I hear it. 2. Read signs posted outside of buildings. These two skills firmly intact, I was now entirely sure that I was at the UCR, in front of the Facultad de Educacion. I deferred to Sarah on matters of time as she had a watch, and she quickly confirmed that it was Tuesday and we had been waiting for the last 45 minutes. Both of us being fairly sure that it was the right year, we were left with two options: 1. Kenlor stood us up. 2. Kenlor doe...

A quick rundown of a few of the wonderful things that have happened in the last two days. 1. Left our host family in Jungapeo. That was actually hella sad. 2. Had probably the most exciting airport encounter ever. Our bus dropped us off at the airport 30 minutes before our plane left. Not knowing where the ticket counter was, we ran until we found a security guard, and ran more tossing a rushed "gracias" his way as we continued in the direction he indicated. Before we even got to the ticket counter, Sarah shows one of the Click Mexicana employees our boarding passes and says that we only have 25 minutes to get ourselves on the plane. He says it's possible but very difficult. At this he leads us ducking under the barriers they use to control the flow of lines at airports. We cut the line at security, get waved through (as opposed to the 20 minutes TSA took to search the bags in SFO) and run to the gate. At this point our tireless guide leaves us with 15 minutes to s...

Things worth noting: we had a meeting with an MFI operating in Zitacuaro, the "big city" right next to Jungapeo. It was just a preliminary meeting, so hopefully we'll get a follow-up to find out more about the wonder that is microloans. Basically the meeting consisted of: Sarah: Question? Woman: Sorry, I can't answer that until I get permission. Sarah: Oh, okay. Other question? Woman: Yeah, can't answer that either. Sarah: Request to record a short video of you saying it's important to help poor women? Woman: Yeah, there's no way that's going to happen. Ezra: Well, we're out of questions then. Woman: Damn right you are. Fin She said she might be able to talk to us more later, but I'm not really holding my breath. Strange that it would be so bureaucratic, but that's how it is sometimes. I can't really blame her I guess. It just wasn't the warm gringo reception I had hoped for. Perhaps my sense of self importance needed a slight reali...

Well, Sarah and I are off to Mexico and Costa Rica to learn first-hand about the wide world of microfinance. It'll be awesome. More updates when we get there and things start happening. Thank you so much to the Forest Foundation who gave us the money to get this project off the ground, and giving it to us just in the nick of time! And I want to give a big thank you to all the people who donated to our project. We raised a grand total of $0 out of our desired "More than $0", so all in all, we only missed the target by a little bit. Moreover, several billion people donated $0, which is an incredible participation rate for our first time doing this! Rock and roll, Ezra Official Red Scissors Alliance Blogger Official Red Scissors Alliance Photographer UnOfficial Red Scissors Alliance Everything Else

Ah, Winter break. It's a fine break so far. I'm doing... kind of nothing. Or at the very least, I'm doing enough things I'm not ecstatic about that it feels like nothing. But let's stay positive. I am currently learning Japanese thanks to Pimsleur's "Instant Conversation" course, and I'm working on a follow-up to my critically panned one-act "Indifferent About Walnuts". This next one has a woman talking to a radiator, which is more than enough for me. I've been watching a lot of stuff lately. Which I figure, while not the best for me, is certainly easier than doing things. Monster House: Awesome. 8.5. That house was super pissed. The Devil Wears Prada: 6. Meh. Anne Hathaway getting pretty, losing her morals and regaining them was done earlier and better in The Princess Diaries. There, I said it. Superman Returns: On the X-Men scale, it was above 3 and just below 1. If you understand and agree, we should talk. Wordplay: Soli...

I'm home. For me that has meant flipping between thinking everything is normal and being weirded-out that everything is so normal . Truly bizarre. But despite everyone speaking English, the abundance of fat white people, and the conspicuous absence cheap public buses and taxis that go everywhere (driving? So odd.), you get used to it. I do miss my gringo-cool that I finally perfected. I was talking with a stranger who told me about his friend who went to China. He said that what emerged were these two different selves. The new Chinese self was bumbling and kind of dim and that's what he left behind when he left the country and went back to being a local. So maybe I miss my Costa Rican self. Sure he got lost and sunburned a lot, and he made a whole bunch of mistakes, but he was eager to learn and fail. He tried his best, and to be honest, I'm not sure if my American self always does that. I don't think he died, I just think he stayed in Costa Rica. So mayb...

I can not believe I am still here. It’s kinda like when a practical joke goes on so long, you just can't believe anyone would put that much effort into trying to fool you. But I can't shake the feeling that if I just admit I'm in another country everyone'll start laughing and speaking in perfect English and it'll turn out I'm just in a soundstage in Burbank. It's only been 4 months. That might be the most ridiculous part of all this. Like I won't even be here for a year. Not even half a year. I'll spend 5 months total in Costa Rica (if that is your real name) and 2 weeks in Nicaragua and Guatemala. I think part of my disillusion comes from the feeling that I'm not in another country so much as I am in another school- a school in which I'm substantially stupider. That's what study abroad means to me right now. And of course that feeling will change, as they all do, but it's just good to get it out in the open. I've become a badass ...