Dec 8-14: Last Week of Class and Graduations

This week was primarily a formality work wise. During the prior weeks, I wrapped up all of my workshops for the year, so I didn't have much to do at the schools besides offering to help set up and take down decorations for the end of the year and for graduation. Thursday was the last day of school, officially, and I was able to attend the graduation for 12th grade students at my colegio. This wasn’t a group that I’ve worked with a ton, other than perhaps having an occasional English conversation; however, it was still a nice event to attend to close out the year. Side note: graduation ceremonies here appear to be more or less the same as what we do in the United States. There weren’t any glaring differences that I noticed. Students have a longer “summer” break than normal this year - classes will resume February 23rd. So, expect any updates here for the next couple months to be a little less focused on my Youth Development work.


My life was a little bit more exciting outside of class this week. The highlight of the week occurred today, on Sunday, when I mainly got to see a show at Teatro Nacional with my girlfriend. Teatro Nacional is one of the most historic buildings in Costa Rica, so it had been on my bucket list to see a program there for quite some time. We saw a really nice show called “Donde nace la luz”, or “Where the light is born”, which was a collection of fictional short stories throughout Costa Rica highlighting the country’s regions and its unique Christmas traditions. Especially as a foreigner, this was a really neat way to celebrate the holidays here, and to learn even more about Costa Rica. Other highlights included doing some Christmas shopping in the city, meeting a friend to get a guava-related product from his community, and using my Peace Corps budget to rack up enough McDonald’s points on the Costa Rican app to get a limited edition towel. (Thank goodness I run now that I’ve become a McDonald’s frequent flyer during service). Although my workload will slow down over the coming weeks, I’m excited for a little bit of a break and to enjoy the holidays.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Home for the Holidays: Christmas in MO, New Year's in CR

Image
It's been a busy couple of weeks! Normally I try to post my weekly recaps on Sundays, but I figured it may make more sense to lump everything related to the holidays together in one blog.  On Dec 23, I flew back to Southwest Missouri to be home for Christmas with my family. This was the first time I'd been back in the Ozarks since I began my Peace Corps Service a year and a half ago (roughly 18 months). I was really excited to spend time with family, get some comfort food, and enjoy some colder weather. All three of those things occurred eventually, thankfully, although the latter wasn't until the end of my trip due to a record-breaking warm Christmas Day.  My time at home, was fun and much-needed, although it wasn't particularly relaxing. We had a number of Christmas celebrations and activities, so my time back home went by pretty fast. Some highlights of the trip included celebrating my Dad's birthday sharing a tomahawk steak, eating some Springfield-style Cashew ...
Read more

Sidebar #58 - 2026 Costa Rican Presidential Election

Image
Note: These are my objective observations of Costa Rica’s upcoming election as a foreigner living here, not my personal opinions. Additionally, these observations are my own and don’t reflect those of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps. This is a big week for Costa Rica. On Sunday, February 1, Costa Ricans will cast ballots for their next President. There are other elections, namely legislative, that are also happening on Sunday, but for the purpose of this blog, I’ll keep it simple and focus on the Presidential election taking place. There are several differences between the Costa Rican presidential process and our elections in the US. One of these distinctions is the sheer number of political parties, and therefore, presidential candidates. The election is Sunday (I’m writing this on Thursday) and there are still roughly 20 candidates in the race (with varying degrees of viability). In Costa Rica, the President cannot serve consecutive terms, meaning that there will be a new Pres...
Read more

Feb 17-23: Settling in at School + a Weekend in Puerto Viejo

Image
My first three or four months at site were a bit chaotic as I finished my diagnostic report, or “CASA” report, about the community. Fortunately, counterparts at my respective academic institutions were in frequent contact and communicated to me on the onset of each week how I should divide my time between the schools. However, since classes resumed in February, a more formal schedule has begun to crystallize for me. I’ll spend Mondays and Wednesdays at the high school, or colegio , and Tuesdays and Thursdays at the escuela , or elementary school. Fridays will alternate between them so that I can ensure I split my time evenly at each institution. Although having that schedule seems like a small development, it feels like a bit of a breakthrough in my service to establish more day-to-day consistency. Being the first Peace Corps volunteer in my town’s history, all of this is still relatively new for everyone involved, so getting all parties on the same page feels like a win. And not only...
Read more