Meanwhile, in the land of pineapples, we have been relaxing and enjoy "summer" vacation. The school schedule is opposite of what is typical in the U.S. The two months of vacation in between school years began in December and will end mid February. During this time, I have continued to enjoy getting to know my community and creating a work plan for the following school year. I also took my own little vacation with my very first visitor!! :) We went to La Fortuna and hiked through the rain forest. We went to my site, laughed with my host family, swam in a nearby river, cooked a typical U.S. breakfast, taught an English class, and received private Latin dance lessons from my family! What a great time we had sharing cultures and laughter with my host family! After visiting my site we went to the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. It was absolutely paradise! Check out some of our photos below!
After spending some time on the beach, I had a week long Peace Corps conference in the capital, San Jose. My whole training group met for a week to share our work plans and engage in conversations about the realities of life at site. It was wonderful to see the group together again and take a moment to share the highs and lows of transitioning to site. We also were able to invite one of our project partners from our sites to the conference. It was great to share our work plans and progress with not only our group, but also our project partners, who are engaged in our communities and interested in our work. What a full week we had learning about gender, inclusion, and language challenges, and then, learning how to incorporate what we have learned into our work plans for the upcoming school year. It was a refreshing, successful week with fellow PCVs.
After a week of full-day meetings, my high school principal invited me to go exploring around the area where I live. Without personal access to a car, all exploring greatly depends on the buses for me. And, with a very restricted bus schedule in and out of my little community, it has been a little tough to explore the neighboring areas. It was really nice of her to invite me to drive around the surrounding towns. We actually went back to La Fortuna and drove to the other side of the volcano. From this angle you can see the burn marks of the volcanic explosions. We ate Costa Rican bbq and also went to the Nicaraguan border.
After a week of full-day meetings, my high school principal invited me to go exploring around the area where I live. Without personal access to a car, all exploring greatly depends on the buses for me. And, with a very restricted bus schedule in and out of my little community, it has been a little tough to explore the neighboring areas. It was really nice of her to invite me to drive around the surrounding towns. We actually went back to La Fortuna and drove to the other side of the volcano. From this angle you can see the burn marks of the volcanic explosions. We ate Costa Rican bbq and also went to the Nicaraguan border.
After nearly two weeks out of site for vacation and a work week in San Jose, I returned to my little town in the country. To finish off the rest of "summer" vacation, I've been hanging out with my host family and fellow community members. One week, I was invited to three birthday parties! I always appreciate such kind invitations, it makes me feel like I am integrating into the community well, which is especially important for any type of development work: You have to really know who you are working with in order to create new conversations and implement new projects.
Schools open tomorrow with nearly a week of introductory information: a welcome day, scheduling, sign-ups for electives, going over rules, etc. Classes won't really begin until the following week. I'll be working with horas guias, typically known as home room teachers in the U.S., for my main project at the high school. This class, held once a week, will incorporate life skill lessons through a non-formal education approach. It will be my first big project, reaching out to both students and teachers. I will also be working in the elementary school and the community in general. If there is anything I learned form my three months of training, it's that projects come with time and patience. With that, I only want to implement one project at a time, and once that gets going (or potentially busts, who knows?), I can start working towards the next one with other community members, and so on, and so on. The project at the high school will be my first step towards a larger type project.
With all projects, the goal is to create sustainability by working with community members from the planning stages through implementation, in order for the projects to continue once we leave. (Which can you believe it, is already less than a year and half? Time is already flying!) However, along the way, there will naturally be little projects, little one-day events that may not necessarily be sustainable but are just as vital for integration and building rapport with community members, and I had my first one last Friday! With a few community mothers, I hosted a recyclable art day for kids in the community. The kids were asked to bring toilet paper rolls or tin cans and whatever type of art materials they already had in their homes. The little kids made bunnies and monsters out of toilet paper rolls, and the older kids made organizers with the cardboard tubes and shoe boxes to hold pens and pencils, just in time for classes to start. We had a great turn out of 23 children and youth, as well as several mothers stopping by to help! It was a really fun first activity that brought all the kids together to share and have fun together!
Schools open tomorrow with nearly a week of introductory information: a welcome day, scheduling, sign-ups for electives, going over rules, etc. Classes won't really begin until the following week. I'll be working with horas guias, typically known as home room teachers in the U.S., for my main project at the high school. This class, held once a week, will incorporate life skill lessons through a non-formal education approach. It will be my first big project, reaching out to both students and teachers. I will also be working in the elementary school and the community in general. If there is anything I learned form my three months of training, it's that projects come with time and patience. With that, I only want to implement one project at a time, and once that gets going (or potentially busts, who knows?), I can start working towards the next one with other community members, and so on, and so on. The project at the high school will be my first step towards a larger type project.
With all projects, the goal is to create sustainability by working with community members from the planning stages through implementation, in order for the projects to continue once we leave. (Which can you believe it, is already less than a year and half? Time is already flying!) However, along the way, there will naturally be little projects, little one-day events that may not necessarily be sustainable but are just as vital for integration and building rapport with community members, and I had my first one last Friday! With a few community mothers, I hosted a recyclable art day for kids in the community. The kids were asked to bring toilet paper rolls or tin cans and whatever type of art materials they already had in their homes. The little kids made bunnies and monsters out of toilet paper rolls, and the older kids made organizers with the cardboard tubes and shoe boxes to hold pens and pencils, just in time for classes to start. We had a great turn out of 23 children and youth, as well as several mothers stopping by to help! It was a really fun first activity that brought all the kids together to share and have fun together!
Food: A little update on food! As much as I have loved learning about the food in Costa Rica, from time to time, I'm bound to miss some U.S. specialties. Just when I was missing some familiar tastes, I was lucky enough to receive TWO care packages from the U.S.! One from my aunt and uncle in Missouri and another from my friends in Montana! I was deliciously spoiled with Cheez-Its, peanut butter, nutella, and pesto! It was like Christmas morning all over again! Thank you for sending food and bunches of stickers, pencils, and erasers for the kids in my community! Also thanks to those who sent me Christmas cards! I received several! Although, I'm still waiting on a few to get here that were apparently sent in December...Vamos a ver...
In addition to receiving food, I've had fun making some food here too! One day, I helped my family make U.S. style burgers! I even started the grill from scratch (making my Dad proud!). It was fun grilling out and teaching my family about a "typical" U.S. burger! I also tried out my new solar cooker for the first time! We get plenty of sunlight here to cook lots of things with nothing more than natural, solar energy! For my first experiment, I made some garlic roasted potatoes! It took about 5 hours to cook and they tasted DELICIOUS, if I do say so myself! I'm so excited to cook more in the pure sunshine!!
In addition to receiving food, I've had fun making some food here too! One day, I helped my family make U.S. style burgers! I even started the grill from scratch (making my Dad proud!). It was fun grilling out and teaching my family about a "typical" U.S. burger! I also tried out my new solar cooker for the first time! We get plenty of sunlight here to cook lots of things with nothing more than natural, solar energy! For my first experiment, I made some garlic roasted potatoes! It took about 5 hours to cook and they tasted DELICIOUS, if I do say so myself! I'm so excited to cook more in the pure sunshine!!
This upcoming week, I'll be working at the schools and preparing lesson plans for the horas guias. I also have a regional meeting in Ciudad Quesada with all volunteers in Zona Norte, and we are going to do a little Valentine's Day exchange, followed by rollerblading! Looking forward to seeing all my fellow volunteers this weekend and getting started with the new school year.
Thanks to all who are following my adventures! Hope all is well in the U.S.!
Pura Vida,
Emily
Thanks to all who are following my adventures! Hope all is well in the U.S.!
Pura Vida,
Emily