Dec. 9-15: School's Out for the Summer

The lead up to Christmas marks the end of the school year for Costa Rican students. This week was the last week of classes, and unlike in the United States where schooling culminates with finals, there wasn’t a ton going on this week as students had already completed their exams earlier. This week served primarily as an opportunity to make-up exams they’d missed or needed to re-do. Fortunately, this meant the teachers had more availability to chat with me and plan for the future. I spent Monday and Tuesday at the colegio. There, I met with counterparts to discuss and finalize the project ideas that I’ll present to Peace Corps in January. Most of these teachers don’t live in my town and will probably be hard to reach until classes resume in February, so it was great to pick their brains while I still could.

I spent the remainder of the week at the escuela. Wednesday, there weren’t really students in (other than some practicing for graduation celebrations), so this was mainly a work day at the school on my report. The next day, I was roped into doing some work that probably more closely resembles what most Americans have in mind for Peace Corps volunteers - manual labor. I was tasked with moving desks, helping set up over 100 chairs, and spray painting an arch for graduation. Afterwards, there was a staff party at a local bar/restaurant to celebrate the end of the school year. Each teacher (including me) was gifted un montón of assorted candies, snacks, and groceries. This stockpile was much needed, because volunteering with the Peace Corps isn’t exactly lucrative, yet I go through a ton of snacks as a runner. That food should last be at least a month or so. On Friday, I briefly stopped by the elementary school to help distribute some cotton candy and popcorn to students for another end of year celebration they were having.

Fortunately, my weekend started around lunchtime on Friday. I had a couple friends in town, so I bussed over to San Jose to meet up with them. I’ve been on a cold brew coffee kick lately, so I was able to find a boujee coffee shop downtown where we caught up a but before going for a stroll through San Jose center. I really didn’t have too much going on the rest of the weekend. Saturday, I took advantage of a day to sleep in and relax while catching up on some Peace Corps assignments. The following day, I went into San Jose to jog with my Sunday running club and to grab some more coffee. Later, I returned to my community and briefly observed a festival going on in our town’s park. Tomorrow, I’ll attend my elementary school’s graduation for 6th graders, and then the school year will officially be over.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Home for the Holidays: Christmas in MO, New Year's in CR

Image
It's been a busy couple of weeks! Normally I try to post my weekly recaps on Sundays, but I figured it may make more sense to lump everything related to the holidays together in one blog.  On Dec 23, I flew back to Southwest Missouri to be home for Christmas with my family. This was the first time I'd been back in the Ozarks since I began my Peace Corps Service a year and a half ago (roughly 18 months). I was really excited to spend time with family, get some comfort food, and enjoy some colder weather. All three of those things occurred eventually, thankfully, although the latter wasn't until the end of my trip due to a record-breaking warm Christmas Day.  My time at home, was fun and much-needed, although it wasn't particularly relaxing. We had a number of Christmas celebrations and activities, so my time back home went by pretty fast. Some highlights of the trip included celebrating my Dad's birthday sharing a tomahawk steak, eating some Springfield-style Cashew ...
Read more

Sidebar #58 - 2026 Costa Rican Presidential Election

Image
Note: These are my objective observations of Costa Rica’s upcoming election as a foreigner living here, not my personal opinions. Additionally, these observations are my own and don’t reflect those of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps. This is a big week for Costa Rica. On Sunday, February 1, Costa Ricans will cast ballots for their next President. There are other elections, namely legislative, that are also happening on Sunday, but for the purpose of this blog, I’ll keep it simple and focus on the Presidential election taking place. There are several differences between the Costa Rican presidential process and our elections in the US. One of these distinctions is the sheer number of political parties, and therefore, presidential candidates. The election is Sunday (I’m writing this on Thursday) and there are still roughly 20 candidates in the race (with varying degrees of viability). In Costa Rica, the President cannot serve consecutive terms, meaning that there will be a new Pres...
Read more

Feb 17-23: Settling in at School + a Weekend in Puerto Viejo

Image
My first three or four months at site were a bit chaotic as I finished my diagnostic report, or “CASA” report, about the community. Fortunately, counterparts at my respective academic institutions were in frequent contact and communicated to me on the onset of each week how I should divide my time between the schools. However, since classes resumed in February, a more formal schedule has begun to crystallize for me. I’ll spend Mondays and Wednesdays at the high school, or colegio , and Tuesdays and Thursdays at the escuela , or elementary school. Fridays will alternate between them so that I can ensure I split my time evenly at each institution. Although having that schedule seems like a small development, it feels like a bit of a breakthrough in my service to establish more day-to-day consistency. Being the first Peace Corps volunteer in my town’s history, all of this is still relatively new for everyone involved, so getting all parties on the same page feels like a win. And not only...
Read more