Week One

I have officially been in site for one week and let me tell you, it has been a ride. Not so much a rollercoaster ride that you might be thinking of, but more like a very slow and scary Ferris-wheel ride.

I’ll start with Friday which is the part where I am waiting in line for the ride, feeling excited and a little throw-upy.  

I, along with my 20 training peers, swore-in as Peace Corps Volunteers at the Ambassador’s house. It was kind of a surreal moment for me as it marked the transition from trainee, where I had planned schedules, a host family that treated me like their toddler child, and was with my friends all day, every day, to a volunteer where I am on my own.

The day was really fun and I couldn’t imagine swearing-in with any other group. I don’t think I’ve really spoken to how fantastic my training group is, but really, we are fantastic. Everyone is so different, yet we fit like a puzzle without any missing pieces. It might be because there are only 21 of us, while most groups swear-in with 40ish, so we’ve had the ability to make connections with everyone individually. Some of us are cray, cray, and others are just chill enough to make the group a nice level of fun.

Watching everyone walk up to get their certificates, take pictures, and say hi to their families brought tears to my eyes; literally and probably not that surprising since I’m a smidge of an emotional person.

After, we all went out to eat at a Lebanese restaurant to celebrate and nine of us stayed in San Jose for the night to shop around and celebrate some more.

I spent Saturday with my host family and packing and crying.

On Sunday I left for El Capulin. Strapped into the Ferris-wheel, no getting off.

First, let me say, Peace Corps does a great job in training. I’ve learned a ton of Spanish, a lot about Costa Rican culture, I feel safe and healthy, and I think I know some stuff about teaching English. However, there really isn’t a fool-proof way to teach integration or how to start the job we were sent here to do. These are case by case scenarios and volunteers kind of have to throw themselves into it.

With that said, I woke up on Monday feeling pretty sick. Like, stomach in my throat sick, don’t know what the heck I’m doing sick, don’t want to get out of bed sick, do I have to make my breakfast or will it be made for me sick. I’ve had this feeling before but never so intense. However, in every other experience I’ve had, once I put my feet on the ground, stood up, and walked out my bedroom door, I felt a little better. So that’s what I did.

Breakfast was, in fact, made for me but then everyone left the house for work or school and I was alone. I took about three hours to pull myself together and walk over to the school to say “Hi! I’m here! For two years!” (FYI, I was making educational materials during those three hours so I didn’t feel completely useless)

I spent the first day at the school chatting with teachers and the director and the cook. Basically stalking anyone and everyone that would speak to me.

The second day I did the same.

The third day I still had not spoken to the English teacher or stepped foot in a classroom and I started thinking this was going to be harder than I thought. A little background info: The school day is split in two. One week, first, second and third grades go to school from 7:00am to 12:10pm and then fourth, fifth and sixth grades go from 12:30 until 5:40. The next week they switch times. That means the English teacher goes to school from 7:00am until 8:20am and then from 3:30pm to 5:40. She also has a baby so when she leaves class she books it home. I was always missing her.

On the fourth day, I finally set up a time to meet with her and chat about what she wants from me and how we are going to work together.

On Friday, the fifth day of stalking the school, I met with Leslie after a teacher’s meeting. We chatted for about seven minutes but I officially have a schedule to go to classes with her in the afternoons and I was able to explain to her some ideas I have. She is really nice and seems like she really wants my help. It will be tricky with scheduling time to co-plan, but we’ll deal with that as it comes.

After school on Friday I took some time to collect my thoughts and evaluate my feelings. While during the most of the week I felt pretty bad, once I thought about it, I think I did a pretty good job of starting the integration process in the school community. I was there every day, ate lunch with teachers, chatted with students, made copies in Liberia with the Director, met the president of the Junta (PTA), and one teacher even invited me to go to the beach with her family. Of course I wasn’t teaching English, but I was still there, getting to know the system, and getting to know the school that I will be part of for two years. And while the week really did feel like a long and scary Ferris-wheel ride, it was one where when you get off and think about it, you want to give it another go. And I suppose that’s a good thing since I have quite a few more weeks to ride.

The weekend was a little more relaxed, probably because I didn’t feel like I had to be doing something. I went into Liberia and set up my PO Box (address below/send me things), went into three copy centers looking for the cheapest rates, wandered in and out of stores that had air conditioning and bought myself a fruity drink for a hard week’s work!

I also met with my other English teacher from Escuela Labrotorio, Medleen. She is young, super sweet and super motivated. It is really kind of incredible. She made me lunch and she and her husband took me out for ice cream. I felt a friend vibe from her which will be good to have from a Costa Rican, and she can speak English which is a bonus.

There’s a lot more that keeps popping into my head that I want to say, but I’m going to leave my “Week One” post at this for now. Everything else, I am sure, will be continuous topics that I can share later.

Most important info: My New Address!!!!

Annie Mott PCV

Cuerpo de Paz

Apartado Postal 27-50101

Liberia, Guanacaste

Costa Rica, Centro America

That is my PO Box in Liberia. You can still send things to the old address, but this one will get to me faster. Also, only send packages through USPS and if you put “educational materials” on it, it supposedly doesn’t get tampered with as often.

I love all of you and miss everyone so much.

Annie