Aug 11-17: Congresos and Dia de la Madre

My colegio is so structured and comprehensive that I often find it difficult to facilitate my own projects or start new activities. There just simply isn’t too much time or interest. That is part of the reason I’ve latched onto the servicio comunal estudiantil community service program I’ve previously mentioned - it’s a mandatory program for 11th graders and there’s a robust need for new projects and ideas in that space specifically. However, something that I’ve found is always in demand is my English. There are double-digit numbers of English teachers at my colegio, and they are always interested in looping in a native English speaker. This demand manifested on Monday - I was called in to help create audios for a listening exam in English. I played the role of a voice actor reading off various scripts. It was a little goofy, but I’m always happy when I can help use my American background to promote intercambio in any manner.



The rest of the week was a bit more complicated. The most difficult part of my role as a teacher In Costa Rica isn’t necessarily the teaching or even facilitating in another language. It’s simply understanding the school schedule. For example, this was another complicated week in terms of scheduling. Here in Costa Rica, there are a number of different teachers’ unions. When the unions meet, teachers don’t go to school on those days. Furthermore, Costa Rica does not have a system in place for short-term substitute teachers. Accordingly, several of these congresos took place this week, meaning that many teachers didn’t show up and thus classes were suspended for many students and sections. Additionally, Friday was Mothers’ Day in Costa Rica, which is a federal holiday, so there was no class that day either. I ended up only going to my schools on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, so things felt a bit interrupted. However, fortunately, I was able to creatively schedule some sessions with the teachers and students who were still in the building so that we didn’t fall too far behind. 


I’m traveling next weekend, so I kept this weekend a bit more lowkey so that I could save some money and energy. I originally planned on taking advantage of the holiday on Friday to day trip somewhere local, but was nursing a little bit of a cold, and was warned of heavy Mother’s Day traffic, so I decided to stay home and to catch up on chores and work. On Saturday, I woke up early to conduct my weekly run club with the 11th grade students; however, they decided to cancel the run about 30 minutes before. As frustrating as that was, cancellations are pretty common here, so I just brushed it off and got a run in on my own. Similarly, on Sunday, I went into San José for a nice longer run with my running group there.

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