Feb 10-16: Second Week of Classes, Valentines Day, y Vamos La Liga

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday this week were spent at the colegio. Students and teachers alike (and Peace Corps volunteers) are still getting in the swing of things and navigating new schedules, so this week was primarily spent planning for upcoming projects. At the colegio, in the coming weeks, I will start helping implement programs related to Student Government, or Gobierno Estudiantil, and will serve on the school committee for Servicio Comunal Estudiantil, which is a community service requirement that students must complete before graduation. In the latter, I’ll be a lead tutor for students completing various projects. I’m hoping some of these will be sports and recreation-related. Also at the colegio this week, I co-taught some English classes alongside a counterpart in which students had to use basic phrases to present some facts about themselves.

On Thursday and Friday, I went to the escuela. There, I had a couple of really productive days as I identified a more concrete schedule, determined counterparts for some of my project ideas, and began to lesson plan for certain workshops and classes. At the escuela, I will lead PE classes as well as “life skills” workshops and a club I’m dubbing “Amigos Sin Fronteras” in which students will learn about other countries and cultures. 


Outside of class, Friday was Valentine’s Day, or Dia de San Valentin, in Costa Rica. I didn’t really do anything that involved to celebrate, but I should note that Ticos refer to the day as un Dia de Amor y Amistad, or a day of love and friendship, and thus don’t emphasize the romantic connotation of the holiday as much as we do in the States. However, couples certainly still go out to celebrate the day. On Thursday and Sunday, I ran with running clubs in Desamparados and San Jose, respectively. Saturday evening, I ventured to San Jose’s Estadio Nacional to watch my favorite team in Costa Rica, Alajuelense (or Liga), play a game. Normally they play home games in Alajuela, but their stadium is actually undergoing a suspension right now for fan violence at the end of the previous season. The atmosphere surely wasn’t as lively as it would’ve been in Alajuela, but it is much easier (and cheaper) for me to get to San Jose, so I was grateful for a chance to see them win.



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