Thursday, September 16, 2010

Independence Day

Costa Rica celebrates its independence September 15th. This past week marked celebrations, festivals and bands, lots of bands. On the 14th they had the running of the torch and lighting of the faroles (I dont know how to translate this, but its esentially a decorated box with a light inside). So in the morning the high school ran the torch from a town about 7 miles letter and then meet with the grade school that ran it through the town. In the evening, everyone went to the school for singing, typical dances and walking through town at night with the lighted faroles. The next part of the traditional celebration involved a soccer game. During the day I was told to bring a flash light and rain boots to play soccer later, which I didnt quite understand why. Around 7 pm, it all made sense. At 7 pm in Costa Rica, its pitch black. Furthermore, living in a very rural town, there arent many lights on the streets at night. So as the tradition goes, the football game starts at night. You wear boots because its the rainy season and you are playing on a muddy field. You bring a flashlight so that you can see the ball. And out of bounds doesnt really exist either. It was my favorite game of soccer that Ive ever played.

The celebrations continued the next day, with a parade through town and then a festival at the border. I think one of the most enjoyable parts of Independence Day in Costa Rica was seeing the town united. It was a good feeling to see everyone coming together to show their pride for their country. Its interesting being a part of traditional celebrations in foreign countries. Its hard to explain, but I felt pride for my community while at the same time reflecting on 4th of July celebrations in the States and feeling a renewed pride for where I come from.

Onto the work front. Last Monday was the parent-teacher conference in the grade school. Previous to the meeting, I had requested from the director a time to speak so that I could present the idea of a recycling project in the school. I would just like to note that public speaking is hard. Especially in a foreign language. I was a little nervous. Not just from the speaking in front of 50 parents in Spanish, but more that there would be 0 volunteers to help with the project. So I presented the project, receieved heads nodding in approval at the idea and then crickets when I asked if there was anyone interested in being a part of the committee. But eventually, thankfully, 1 by 1, hands started to raise, and when it was all said and done I had 6 volunteers. Awesome. More than I was expecting. We will have out first meeting next week and Im looking forward to having a concrete group of people ready to work on the project. Step 1, find a group of interested community members, check.

Monday, September 6, 2010

IST in San José and trying to get to a soccer game

Two weeks ago marked the end of my first 3 months in site. During this week, all of the PCVs from Tico 20 headed to San José for our first session of training as volunteers, known as In Service Training (IST). The idea of IST is to give the volunteers to share and receive feedback on their community diagnostic, as well as attend classes related to future work in the sites. The classes were helpful, especially now that I have a better idea of what projects I will be pursuing in my community. Some of the sessions involved resources for teaching ICT and EFL, funding opportunities and general health and safety. Beyond classes, IST meant a chance to relax, share stories and receive some generally needed support from fellow volunteers. I have to admit that the first 3 months have been difficult, what with being a new member in my community, trying to better my Spanish and attempting to lay the groundwork for future projects. It was good to listen to other volunteers stories and see that were all in the same boat.

Speaking of the word boat, today I was at someones house and I told them that since its the rainy season I should buy a boat (bote) to help me get around. I meant that I should buy boots (botas)... It rains a lot here, so I guess both would work.

So the week of IST passed well. I had a great time with everyone and took away a lot of valuable information. As much as I love San José, after a week out of my site, it was good to return to Comte. A man that owns a motorcycle repair shop by my house asked me the other day why he hadnt seen me in such a long time. I told him I was in training in San José for the week, to which he replied, "oh good, I thought you were lost. But now youre back and Im content." Yes, its good to be home.

So its back to the grind in Comte. Back to teaching computer classes, working with the english professors in the community, trying to get new projects started.. and back to soccer. Lots of soccer. Last weekend our team went to a nearby town to play in some matches against other local womens teams. I call the next part of the blog, "trying to get to a soccer game." So my friend calls my house at 8 in the morning to let me know that theres a game that day. She says to be at her house by 1130. The game is supposed to start at 12. At 1130, I arrive at the house. Nobody has yet to arrive. 12 pm, still waiting. At 12 pm, my friend, another girl on the team and her mom get into a rickety 2 door red jeep to drive around and look for the other members of the team. We go to one house after another, picking up all of the teammates. At 1230, most of the team is in the car.. there are 17 of us.. in this 1 little red jeep. It is so packed that a woman in the front literally yells to the back, "Hannah? Are you there?!" I yell back, "Yes!" She replies, "Oh good, I wasnt sure!" Ok, so we are off. Just kidding, because after picking up the last group of people the car wont start. Did I note that the ignition is basically a wire hanging from the side of the steering wheel, which she starts with the help of a screw driver? Oh, and while we are sitting there waiting for the car to start, someone on the other side of the street starts burning their trash, causing piles of smoke to enter the car through the windows. I want to close the window, but its so hot outside that I decide the smoke to be a better option. Ok, so car starts, finally. Everyone cheers. As we are almost outside of town we come across 1 last girl on the team. We literally discuss having her enter through the window, which might possibly easier than using the door. Around 1 we arrive. Nobody is there. We are informed that the other teams arent showing up. We wait about an hour, and bit by bit some girls from the town come to the soccer field and we finally end up playing around 230. We win. To get home, we start the car by pushing it down the street as fast as we can. So that was my Saturday. And the thing is, I wouldnt have it any other way.

Ps if I could snap my fingers and kill every mosquito in the world, I would do it. Ants too.

Pura vida.