Week 3 at Site: Hiking, Raining, and Observing

After the excitement of Limon, I went back to my site near San Jose for a more typical week. On Monday and Tuesday, I spent time at the elementary schools in my community doing more classroom observations. My observations focused primarily on younger children, taking place in 2nd grade and preschool classes. These kids are full of energy and curiosity. I’m excited to work with them and for them to keep me on my toes. On Monday afternoon, I also had the opportunity to interview the town’s local expert on everything related to soccer and sports. As a huge sports fan, this was a special treat for me. He recounted to me the history of sports in the town. His stories ranged from the creation of the community’s Third Division soccer club (which he previously managed) to providing a background on Jupas, a variation of soccer unique to the town. This interview was a blast and allowed me to further ponder potential sports and recreation projects I can help facilitate in my community.

The remaining school days that week were spent at the colegio tecnico, or the technical high school. On Wednesday, I observed a 7th grade English class. I had a fun time getting grilled in English about my sports preferences. They were dumbfounded that I root for Alajuelense (Liga) instead of Saprissa in the Costa Rican Primera Division for soccer, and that I prefer Messi to Ronaldo. On Thursday, since my high school is a technical one, I had the opportunity to observe a class focused on tourism. Specifically, this was a day that the class was taught in English to learn vocabulary unique to their industry. In that particular class, they discussed agreements and protocols related to environmental policy. As someone with an international relations background, I found that day’s topic interesting. 

Friday was a humbling day for me as a Peace Corps volunteer. Although I’d been assured by staff that I possessed an advanced mid level in Spanish, I somehow miscommunicated with a counterpart at my school thinking I was hiking early that morning in another city before class. In reality, that hike took place on Saturday, (which makes way more sense) so I got up at the crack of dawn and went to another city for nothing. Also that morning, I got to re-learn how to use a plunger, a drug dog sniffed a false positive of my backpack in front of students, I had a couple of my classes for observations canceled, and I got caught in a downpour on the way home from lunch. It felt a bit like Murphy’s Law if I’m being honest. However, a silver lining was that I got to observe a PE class that morning and played soccer against my students. I think there will be ample opportunities to collaborate with physical education classes down the road.

Saturday morning, I once again woke up far too early, but this time the hike was on. I joined my high school principal and about 15 other people, mainly other educators from around the region, and headed over to the town of Alajuelita. The hike was only about 4 miles in total, but the terrain was a bit more technical than anticipated, and the group had a variety of fitness levels. Thus, what should’ve been a short hike quickly turned into an all-day affair. Although the sky darkened towards the end of the hike, many people in the group were hungry, so they stopped at a little “soda”, or cafe on the side of the trail. There was still a mile or so left on our descent. In the middle of lunch, it started to shower before quickly turning into a downpour. There was no other way down, so we just had to brave the trail despite the thunderstorm. The path was already tricky and slippery before the rain, and it got way worse once it started pouring. I fell at least two or three times and some of my clothes and my Rhodes Track & Field backpack may be totaled from the mud and rain. However, I survived the descent and avoided any major injury in the process. That night, I spent the evening drying out and watching college football.

Sunday was a much-needed recovery day. For the first time all week, I got to sleep in a little bit. I had thought about jogging with a club in San Jose that morning, but the early wakeup call and the $15 roundtrip Uber cost swayed me away. I instead was able to get in a nice run in my community. The rest of the day, I finished writing this blog, watching football, and prepping for the upcoming week.