Nov 17-23: Congresos, World Cup Disappointment, and Exploring Escalante

As the school year winds down in Costa Rica, the academic schedule gets weirder and weirder. I’ve mentioned this phenomenon on occasion in previous blogs, but in Costa Rica, many teachers belong to Congresos, which are akin to teachers’ unions in the United States. A couple times a year, teachers receive days off of school as part of union days. Because of this, from Tuesday to Thursday, almost all of the classes were canceled by nature of being union days. Additionally, Friday was Día de la Cofraternidad. That doesn’t translate neatly to English, but is pretty much a co-workers’ day. This day is designed to promote team bonding and friendship between coworkers, so if I’m being honest, it strikes me a little strange that this day takes place at the end of the school year rather than the beginning. Some of my counterparts spent the day at a beach resort, while others got massages. I’ve been spending a lot of money lately, so I decided to pass on paying to lounge at a resort and instead spent the day at home doing some chores and Peace Corps work. Unfortunately, because of all of the chaos with the academic calendar, I was only able to host one workshop during the week, a PE class on Thursday with the one teacher’s class who wasn’t a part of the teachers' union.


Outside of class, I was able to take advantage of some of the extra free time this week that the union days allowed for. Tuesday night was a huge soccer game between Costa Rica and Honduras in San José with a trip to next year’s World Cup on the line. I was able to join a couple of Peace Corps friends and we found some tickets right before kick off. Sadly, the game ended in a tie, which meant neither Costa Rica nor Honduras advanced to the World Cup. It is the first time in several years that Costa Rica hasn't qualified for the World Cup and Tico fans were pretty disappointed with the result. (The coach was fired immediately after.) Another highlight was going on a date with my girlfriend on Saturday in which we checked out the Museo Dr. Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia and grabbed a cafecito in Barrio Escalante. It was a beautiful afternoon in San José and a great opportunity to further explore the city with her. I’m not sure how next week will unfold at school given the chaos of the end of the year, but I am hoping I can close out some of my activities for the term.












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