June 9-15: Rainy Season Renaissance

Once June hits, the rainy season returns in Costa Rica. We’re in for six or so months of pretty steady rain every day, particularly in the afternoon. I might need to invest in a heavier-duty umbrella in the near future; however, I’m happy to report that I was able to get some new projects and lessons off the ground this week without taking a rain check.

Last week, I finished my second rotation of PE classes and “life skills” workshops with students at the escuela, so that meant I started new lessons this week. Students learned about empathy as a life skill and played an American game called “Gaga Ball” which I learned about several years ago in a youth club on a cruise ship. Gaga Ball doesn’t require a ton of athleticism, so this was a welcome change for the students who weren’t as excited about playing soccer last time. 

However, the most notable change at the escuela was that I finally started a new afterschool club called Amigos Sin Fronteras, or Friends Without Borders, in English. In this club, students will “travel” to a new country every week where they’ll learn about different cultures from around the world. Of course, since they have an American Peace Corps Volunteer in their school, students “traveled” to the United States for this first week. I briefly presented on the US and the Peace Corps before students competed in trivia and created a postcard of somewhere they’d like to visit in the US someday.

Costa Rica’s Public Education Ministry, MEP, runs several nationwide activities and initiatives. This means that volunteers in different parts of the country can have quite a bit of crossover. In June, for example, all elementary and high schools have specific English programming, which was a focus of mine this week. At the colegio, students will participate in an English Festival next Friday in which they’ll each be part of a “living museum”. They’ll dress up as a famous English speaker from history and give a brief speech (in English) about their life. I’m participating but I’ll wait until next week’s update to reveal my character. At the escuela, Students competed in a Spelling Bee on Friday. I helped judge and was tasked as being the pronouncer of the words. At someone who never got to compete in a Spelling Bee for whatever reason, it was fun to play a small part in this one. 

It was a busy week in the schools, but I found some time outside class to do some noteworthy things too. On Friday, I went to the independent movie theater in San Jose to watch an Oscar-winning documentary about Israeli settlements in the West Bank. This certainly wasn’t a fun watch, but as an international relations student. I feel like it is important to absorb content like that whenever I can. On Saturday, I helped run my community running club in the morning before meeting a fellow Peace Corps friend in San Jose’s Barrio Chino later in the day. On Sunday, I went into San Jose for a third consecutive day to log some miles with my running group in the city. Later in the day, I swung by a carnival in my town as part of the fiestas they are putting on in celebration of San Juan Bautista, the patron saint of the city. It was cool to see the town center decorated and I found some churros that functioned great for my post-run nutrition.