Sep 22-28: Aprovechando some extra tiempo libre

This will be another short and sweet update. Most students were still in exams until the week of Sep 30th. I certainly didn’t want to disrupt anything, so I tried to stay out of the way as much as possible when instructed to do so. However, even as I couldn’t conduct many formal activities over the course of the week, I still made it a point to go to the centros educativos every day during the school week. A nice part about Peace Corps service is that volunteers aren’t on a formal schedule; we don’t clock in or clock out like most jobs. (Peace Corps likes to tout that volunteers are on the job 24/7.) This gives volunteers quite a bit of leeway to structure their service depending on their community’s preferences and their own habits. However, in my case, I still like sticking to a schedule, and the academic calendar provides that. So, even when students are occupied, I like showing my face and doing my work there rather than staying at home and developing some cabin fever. At minimum, I enjoy saying hi to my students and counterparts and not giving them the impression that I’m just taking a vacation of sorts while they are all working. Peace Corps has some reporting deadlines approaching, and a year out from the close of my service I’m beginning to ponder about future opportunities, so I was able to aprovechar some of this free time to work on those kinds of projects.

Although a bit of a frustrating week in terms of productivity, there were some small highlights. At the colegio, I was able to host another informal English chat with some students who were interested in learning more about the US and in practicing their English. Additionally, I had the opportunity to go to a Special Education class (called “Plan Nacional” in Costa Rica) to help students with their pronunciation for a performance at an upcoming English festival. They invited me to attend their performance next month, and I’m looking forward to going and supporting them. Finally, I was able to pencil in and plan my sessions at the escuela for the following week, so I’m relieved to get back on track in that regard.

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