Progress

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I had promised myself before I came here to start early with my work so that I would be sure to have enough time to finish it, and hopefully some weeks at the end of my stay to travel around a bit. Obviously, that's not what happened. I am the World Champion at putting-things-off (tomorrow is always the best day for anything!). But after almost two months, a lot of reading, sleeping and general relaxing I actually got started. This is what I've done so far:

Went with Marcos around la Laguna handing out questionnaires to some of the Nicaraguans he knows here. Discovered:

• Many Nicaraguans can't read.
• Some Nicaraguans get uneasy if you show up with a Costa Rican.
• Marcos and basically all other Costa Ricans I know will not let me go alone to talk to the Nicaraguans because they don't trust them and think it would be dangerous.

Wrote to my supervisor and was told:

• If they can't read the questionnaire you have to read it for them and if you have to read it for them you cannot do so in front of other people.
• Children born in Costa Rica or who have spent most of their life here cannot be included in this study.

Went back into "the field". Discovered:

• The children in the Nicaraguan families I have visited are mostly born in Costa Rica or have come here as infants.
• Interviewing Nicaraguans who can't read without being observed by Costa Ricans can be complicated when you are not allowed to go near Nicaraguans alone.
• Interviewing Nicaraguans who can't read without being observed by Costa Ricans can be complicated when you find people at work in groups, and perhaps even more so when you find them at home in their one-room house.
• It is apparently easy to skip a question, mark the wrong line, leave out some personal information or otherwise not complete the questionnaire, leading to the questionnaire being useless.
• There are very few Nicaraguans in Costa Rica who are more than 50 years old.

Redefined the age categories and finished almost all of the questionnaires I need. Wrote to my supervisor with some questions. Was told:

• New age-categories: OK
• People who have been in Costa Rica for ten years or more cannot be included in this study.

Discarded about half of the valid questionnaires because the person had been in Costa Rica more than ten years. Realized there is no way to get all the answers I need in Zarcero due to this being a purely agricultural district and therefore the Nicaraguans who come here to work are mainly men between 15 and 30.

Talked to Marcos, to Diego at the Red Cross and to Karina in la Fortuna. Planning to go to Zarcero tomorrow to talk to two young girls Diego knows, to Naranjo on Saturday to see if I can find people in the park, to San José on Sunday to another park and back to la Fortuna on Monday.

Have read a very interesting book about the role of Nicaraguans as "others" in the construction of Costa Rican national identity.

Have written an email to author of this book, the Director of the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Costa Rica, telling him I have read his book and would be very interested in speaking to him. Very grateful that I have a friend like Karina who basically wrote the email for me, because it was really scary (she suggested I call him... my telephonophobia may have got a bit better over the last few years, but not quite there yet). Have absolutely no idea what I would say to him if he has the time to see me...

Have read a book about social psychology. Have realized it might not be exactly what I was looking for. Sociology next.

Have read the linguistics thesis of the girl whose questionnaire mine is based on. Did understand some parts. Have realized I may have to learn some statistics. Not too happy about the idea.

In addition to all this (actually does seem a lot more than it really is when listed like this...) I have come to realize a thing or two about education. I have tried hard to make the questionnaire I am using simple, easy to understand and fill out. Still, many of the people I have talked to have problems understanding how to use it and generally what I want from them, even if it is in their mother tongue. I didn't really think about it before, but I have come to understand better how education not only fills our heads with more or less useful facts, but actually teaches us to think in a different way. And also how handicapped many of these people are for not having learnt that.

Perhaps not the most interesting post ever this one, but at least it was useful for me to get an overview and nobody forced you to read it anyway.