Sep 29-Oct 5: Half of the Week in Costa Rica, the Other Half Stateside

This week was my busiest week in quite some time as the perfect storm of exams ending and personal travel collided. Sometimes it’s nice to have a little bit of time off, but in terms of Peace Corps service, I find these more productive and busy weeks much more satisfying.

While I was in Costa Rica for the first few days of the week, I split my time at the colegio and escuela, per usual. At the colegio, I was able to host English sessions with teachers, the student body, and with a special education English group. At the escuela, I resumed PE classes and had another club meeting with my students who are interested in other countries and cultures, Amigos sin Fronteras. In PE, I introduced students to American Football. Some of them had familiarity with the sport because of family in the US, but it was by and large new for everyone there. Although I love football, I fully acknowledge that it is a violent and complicated sport, so I avoided anything but the absolute basics. (Even 2-hand touch football felt a little too risky for elementary students). I instructed students how to throw a football and had them participate in some running and throwing-related relays. With Amigos sin Fronteras, we “traveled” to the European countries of Italy, France, and Spain. After a quick presentation on those countries and a European language game, my counterpart, the librarian, surprised the group with pizza since we “traveled” to Italy. 




On Thursday, as some of y’all may have already seen on Facebook, I headed from San José to Nashville (via Miami). My parents were nice enough to pick me up at the airport and immediately took me for some much needed soul food which included some of my favorite foods in the world: barbecue, fried okra, and Mac & cheese. Afterwards, I met up with dozens of my friends and teammates from college at a welcome reception hosted in a brewery.



The rest of the trip, although fun, was a bit of a roller coaster for me as my body didn’t adjust well to being back stateside. I must’ve picked up some illness before leaving Costa Rica, because almost immediately upon landing in the US, I started having some symptoms of illness and Friday (wedding day!) was the worst of it unfortunately. 

The night prior I’d had some sweats and chills, but I suspected my body was simply re-adjusting to Air Conditioning or that it was a lack of sleep. So, I proceeded as normal and ran 7 miles with a buddy of mine from the Nashville area. I felt fine during the run, but afterwards, I took a turn for the worst and started feeling really out of it. Fortunately, the team has always been a huge support system for me, and this weekend was no different. After taking me to get some electrolytes and medicine and sneaking in a nap, I was able to recover enough to still make the wedding that afternoon - which I was nervous about missing because I’d felt so bad earlier. It was a really beautiful ceremony celebrating the love of 2 awesome teammates of mine and 2 really great people. I’m so glad they invited me and that I could make the trip back for it.


On Saturday, I took things quite a bit slower to get over whatever bug I had. I joined some friends at brunch before we hung out at a beer garden and watched the Vandy-Alabama game with a Vandy-heavy crowd being in Nashville. That evening, I grabbed a nice dinner with my parents and felt quite a bit better than the day before. 

On Sunday, I woke up bright and early in Nashville for a connection in Dallas before landing in Costa Rica that evening. It was so nice to be with friends and family for the weekend, and it was the perfect taste of home after 15 months abroad. However, I’m also glad that I wasn’t there too long. I didn’t have time to get too comfortable or readjusted and didn’t miss too much work either. I’m also enjoying my life in Costa Rica so much that it wasn’t hard at all to get back on that plane for my community.

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