Out of the Routine

So, the schedule that I explained in the last post has been my life for the past five weeks or so. It was nice to get into a groove and feel some form of stability, but I was ready when we had two activities planned that were out of the norm.

First, each PCT visited a TEFL PCV. These are volunteers in our same program that have been in Costa Rica for about a year and a half. The point was to see how and where a volunteer lives and what they do. I visited Jackie for four days and we had a lot of fun. She lives in Congrejal de Acosta. It is in the San Jose Province, but is up in the mountains on the other side of the city from San Miguel. It was about an hour and a half bus ride to Acosta and then another 45 minute drive, in a yellow school bus, up the mountain to Congrejal. This was the first time that I felt like I was in more of a developing country. The roads were pretty bad and the town where she lives does not have many resources. There are about 300 people living there and most are cattle farmers. It was pretty hot during the day, but cooled off nicely at night.

Jackie moved out of her host family’s house and lives in a “mansion.” It is a two story house with a pool in the backyard. It doesn’t have water in it, but it is there… There are also a ton of orange and mango trees on the property and pigs and a horse. The house is a vacation home for a Costa Rican family and Jackie rents it from them. I was told not to expect something so fabulous wherever I am going.

The first day we hiked out behind Jackie’s house, down the side of the mountain, to a waterfall and river. It was gorgeous like something out of National Geographic where only five people have ever visited. It was really nice to hang out and swim there. We also visited another volunteer who lives an additional eight kilometers up the mountain in Sabanillas. We hung out at her house, way smaller and more Peace Corps-ish, and sang Karaoke at the bar next door.

The next day a couple of men were going to be installing toilets in the cultural center that Jackie is helping to organize so we went down to “help.” It was really cool to see the project. The building is an abandoned elementary school that Jackie is converting into a space for workshops, meetings, band practices, parties, and a library. She said it has taken some time getting everything in order and gathering resources, but it is coming together really nicely.

I was also able to go to one of the schools where she teaches and observe her in her first grade class. It was a lot of fun and the kids are so adorable. The school does not have an English teacher, so she is there alone which is kind of difficult to make sustainable, but the kids looked like they were having so much fun.

It was a great weekend and it was cool to see a glimpse of what my life might be like in a month and a half. I liked it.

The second event was this weekend. A PCV group planned a night for all the volunteers in Costa Rica to come together to welcome my group coming into the country and to say goodbye to a group that will be leaving in May. We all booked rooms at a hostel in San Jose, had a cafecito and then went to a bar for pizza and dancing. It was a lot of fun to meet the other volunteers and to hear everyone’s stories… and to be away from home.

This morning we had time to hang out and do whatever so, naturally, a group of us went to see The Hunger Games. Movies are CHEAP in Costa Rica and that movie is fab! We wandered around the mall and downtown before getting on the bus to come back home.

This week coming up is Holy Week. Costa Rica is a Catholic country so pretty much everyone except Peace Corps has the entire week off. Schools are included. I have class Monday through Wednesday and then there are a bunch of processions and activities that happen Thursday through Sunday. My family is actually not Catholic and does not celebrate Easter, I might meet up with another volunteer and their family to go to church.

And the week following Easter is “Tech Week.” I will be going to visit a different volunteer and will be teaching in the schools where she works. That is pretty much all of the information I have on that unfortunately. We find out more details on Tuesday, but it should be really good practice and will hopefully give me an idea of what working will be like.

The love is still rolling in. Thank you!

Love and miss you all.

Annie