Aug 31-Sep 6: Mejengas, Errands, and Dancing

The week started off with a holiday as Costa Ricans celebrated Dia del Afrocostarricense on Monday. This day pays homage to its black community which plays a significant part of Costa Rican culture, especially on the Caribbean coast in the Limon region. This meant that there was no school on Monday. The rest of the week wasn't particularly jam-packed either. For example, at the colegio, I only popped in on Wednesday to help with an English class. As my service winds down, my work load has eased a bit. But, I've tried to be as present and active in my community too. 

During the entirety of my two year service, students at the escuela have begged me to play soccer, especially pick up games, known as mejengas. Using my best judgment (and advice from other teacher's) I've tried to focus on activities outside of soccer. Students tend to be a bit aggressive when playing soccer and it's something they all aleady know how to play and have regular access to, so I prefer to bring new sports and games. However, since my classes are all but done, I wanted to end with something memorable. After securing permission from the principal, I formed a mini tournament of mejengas between different groups of classes during the recess period. The games started this Tuesday and Thursday and were a big hit - pretty much the entire school body came out to watch.


This was also a week that I was out and about a bit. On Thursday, I went into Escazu to attend my last VSC (Volunteer Staff Collaborative) meeting. It has been a really cool experience representing my cohort in ongoing dialogue with agency admin in-country, so I definitely didn't want to miss one last opportunity to participate. On Friday, I spent the afternoon in Desamparados to knock out some errands that I can't get done at site. I went and got a haircut, went shopping for some new glasses, (Peace Corps offers volunteers replacement pairs during service free of charge) and met my girlfriend Keily for a Subway dinner while I did my fantasy football draft with my friends from college. 

It was a pretty acttive weekend too! On Saturday, I was locked in on both football and futbol. After watching an uninspiring Arkansas Razorbacks performance to kick off the college football season, I went over to my Keily's house to watch "El Clasico Nacional" between Liga and Saprissa with her parents. Sadly, my beloved Liga lost 2-0 and her parents have bragging rights. On Sunday, I joined Keily for a free "Lindy Hop" dance clinic in San Jose put on by the Taller Nacional de Danza. She's the only person in the world who could possibly get me to dance, and I didn't exactly crush it, but she's passionate about dance, so it was cool to get a little glimpse into her world.



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