Sitting on Peoples´ Porches Drinking Coffee

I have been informed that I am being a bad blogger.. so I will try to pick up my game. Things have been pretty relaxed these last few weeks. The schools are currently on vacations, which is their mid-year break. In Costa Rica, the school year begins at the end of January and ends early December (though I´ve heard that November is the unofficial end of the year). So my last week in town has been relaxed, as will the next.

I have been continuing to get to know people in town, and have been enjoying spending my afternoons in the houses of neighbors and friends. I can´t sufficiently express how friendly the town is. I especially adore the kids from the grade school that run to give me hugs whenever I´m out walking around town. One thing in particular that I am enjoying about this experience is that by spending an afternoon on a neighbor´s front porch, I am essentially doing my job, because I´m learning about Costa Rican culture, sharing my culture and through general conversation I am learning what types of projects interest people in my town. I particularly love the aspect of learning about culture here, because everyone is so excited to share their lives. People are particularly amazed at the common things I have never done in my life, such as killing snakes and milking cows. All in due time...

For the 4th of July weekend I traveled to San Jose to celebrate Independence Day with the other volunteers. We found out that their is an annual picnic (50th year this year!) in San Jose, which was a lot of fun. Normally I am not a fan of corny typical holiday celebrations but I think 4 months outside of the States has made me start missing some of the things that I love about the states. We enjoyed an all you can eat/drink, live rock band, traditional games and sports kind of day. Though I have to note, that after being around 4 months of energetic latin music and dance.. the optional square dance lesson wasn´t my cup of tea. But it was good to be back in the city, see close friends and visit my host family.

8 hours by bus later and back in Comte... I am looking foward to the next month from a work stand-point, because I will be starting computer classes in the grade school, finishing up my town diagnostic and holding a community-wide meeting to discuss potential projects that we can work on over the next 2 years. I see a lot of potential and looking foward to the meeting as a jumping-off point for larger projects.

As always, much love to friends and family in the states. Pura vida.