June 29-June 5: Back at Site post-CoS conference

My week started off still in the suburb of Escazu, where I checked out of the Peace Corps hotel and said goodbye to my friends. The rest of the day was a busy one, with 3 different stops scattered across San Jose: a physical at the Peace Corps office, a trip to the hospital to get some lab work done, and a visit to the dentist's office. Fortunately, I could get all of my appointments taken care of, had nothing come up on my medical tests, and I was able to arrive back at my house fairly early in the evening, whereas many other volunteers had to trek across the country to return to their communties. 

On Tuesday morning, it was back to reality. I had six PE classes that day, which was the perfect way to be thrown back into the fire. The rest of the week, I tackled a fairly normal work schedule at my institutions. I continued with community service projects at the colegio and focused on my PE classes and clubs at the escuela. Unfortunately, I had to cancel the reading club and international club for my students on Thursday because of an impromptu science fair. These types of cancellations rattled me much more earlier in my service, but it's become so frequent that two years into my service I plan for similar curveballs to be thrown my way.

Over the weekend, I hosted my run club on Saturday. Unsurprisingly, the 4th of July wasn't' nearly as big of a deal here, but after watching the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest from home, I joined my girlfriend, Keily, for our version of a 4th of July celebration. We went to the movies and watched the new Toy Story 5 film before dining eat Popeye's. Eating chicken, biscuits, and Mac & Cheese definitely felt a bit like home despite being in Costa Rica. 

These next two weeks mark the halfway point of the Costa Rican public school year. Similar to our winter break in the States, they take 2 weeks off of class. I will spend part of next week at the beach in Guanacaste province with Keily and will probably spend the rest planning the remaining months of my Peace Corps service.


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