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.