Scorpion: 1, Brittany: 0

So.  What’s been going on lately here in the heat of Guan?  Well, should I start with the heat, our Tico 25 trip to Manuel Antonio, my birthday weekend in Tamarindo, or the fact that I got bit by a scorpion?  Let’s start with the scorpion.

I spent last Friday hanging out with a cluster-mate of mine, Tara, in my site having a movie marathon and cooking delicious food for dinner since we had just gotten paid and could once again afford groceries.  All is well and I crawl into bed exhausted after having watched both Silver Linings Playbook and Pitch Perfect.  The next morning, however, I almost fall over getting out of bed.  My ankle is swollen like a balloon and I can’t put any pressure on it.  Also, overnight I had apparently developed a cold?  Odd, but it’s life in CR and I don’t give it too much thought.  After still not being able to walk by the afternoon, however, fellow PCVs convince me to call our Peace Corps Medical Officer’s Emergency phone since it was the weekend and the office was closed.  The PCMO answers the phone and I list out my odd series of symptoms, she tells me what meds to take from my trusty Peace Corps medical kit, and to soak my foot in salt water 3 times a day, along with icing my ankle and walking as little as possible.

Well, fun sidenote- Shadow had just been fixed on Thursday and still required a lot of looking after since her stitches were still fresh and I was already wondering how I was going to control and/or carry her when I could barely walk myself.

Shadow not feeling too great...

Ouch

Snuggle party

Well, in returns fellow PCV Tara with bags full of soup, orange juice, tea, bread, cookies, and mac & cheese to save the day.  And yes, it was actually Tropicana OJ and Campbell’s soup….super spoiled.  We have a Grey’s Anatomy marathon in between my chicken soup and taking Shadow out before Tara finds a SCORPION hiding underneath the sheets of the bed we had been laying on the night before.  My odd ankle ailment finally makes a bit of sense.  I go to sleep and wake up somehow having gotten over my mysterious cold in about 24 hours but with my ankle swelling even more with a bit of a rash.  I send medical new pictures and they decide to wait until Monday to see how it progresses before deciding if I needed a doctor.  (Not that there would have been a doctor open on a Sunday in CR anyway?)

Shadow not understanding why I
stole her water bowl...

Well Monday they do decide I need to see a doctor, so I get a cita con medico general at the clinic in Santa Cruz.  I take a cab over, see the doctor briefly, am sent to go to the pharmacy to buy the shots (including syringes) that I need, walk backkkk to the clinic, let the doctor shoot me up with the drugs, give me another prescription for pills (why couldn’t I get them at the same time when I just went to the pharmacy?!?!), I pay the receptionist 40 bucks and I’m on my way.

Five days later I’m almost completely fine, with just a slight limp and a bit of an itchy rash remaining.  I have fumigated my entire house with “Mata Todo” (kill everything) and am certainly tucking my mosquito net in real tight each night.

One Year of PCCR

One year in Peace Corps Costa Rica.  Obviously such an occasion calls for a blog post, but honestly I don’t even know where to begin.  On one hand, it feels as if no time has passed at all.  It seems like yesterday that I was sitting at staging in DC, being sung “Happy Birthday” by a bunch of strangers and anxiously awaiting being told we were free to leave so I could run back to Capitol Hill and spend the last few hours of my birthday with amazing friends and eat one last basket of buffalo chicken tenders at Cap Lounge.  I remember walking the streets of the Hill, hugging each friend tighter and tighter as we said goodbye.  I finally broke down in tears saying goodbye to the last one as she gave me an inspirational send-off speech that I will never forget.  As I hopped in a cab to head back to the hotel and prepare for our 1am departure, I took one last glance at the Capitol and prayed that I was making the right decision; that following my dream was going to be everything I had hoped it would be and that I would not regret walking away from a life I loved so much.

One year later, exactly 12 months into this 27-month adventure, all I can say is- no regrets.  My Peace Corps experience certainly isn’t what I was expecting it to be, but expectations are meant to be broken and I honestly don’t think I would change my set of circumstances if I could.  I feel truly fortunate to be in Costa Rica, learning Spanish, living close to many fellow PCVs, and let’s be real, I’m extremely fortunate to have wi-fi.  Some days are painfully slow and I will admit to having watched my fair share of TV series (yes, series) and have read plenty of books.  But I’ve also spent days upon days at school, trying to find my place and with a new teacher this year, I’m feeling great about being a part of the staff and truly working with her to teach the kids of my community that have wrestled their way into my heart.  I’ve been a part of a successful conversation club for MEP teachers and my community English class continues to be a success after a few hiccups here and there.  I’m excited about helping to organize local spelling bees, leading up to the first national one this year in November.  I’m also excited about starting the grant process to build a playground at my school.  In reality, I have kept plenty busy.

One year later, that group of strangers who sang me happy birthday is now family and I feel so fortunate to be going through this crazy adventure with such amazing people.  I also found a fantastic group of mentors in Tico 23 whom we are now preparing to say goodbye to.  Your wisdom and advice made this whole journey easier and you all will be so, so missed here in Costa Rica.  On the other hand, Tico 27 arrived in CR 2 days ago and it seems surreal to now be the mentor and I am excited to get to know the new group!

Thank you to everyone, both here in CR and back home, who have supported me this past year.  I couldn’t have made it this far without fellow PCVs to vent to about the heat or the amount of rice & beans we eat and it brightens my day every time I catch up with someone back home.

March 12, 2013 sitting in the airport with a bunch of strangers

March 2014 spending the weekend with great friends

One year down and I am so excited and ready to take on year two of Peace Corps Costa Rica!

The New Digs!

After 6 months with a host family, we PCVs here in Costa Rica are allowed to live on our own and I couldn't have been more excited for a bit for space.  Now in a community of 500 people, there aren't exactly a lot of rental properties, so, instead we converted my host family's shed into my new house!

So I didn't move toooo far away, but it's just been fantastic to have space that is my own and to simply have more of it.  I still go over to their house to cook and use their fridge, but other than that, I'm perfectly content on my own in the new digs with Shadow!

Bathroom

Guest room!  You know you can't wait to visit!

Marking off where I've been in CR so far...

JS Over and the New School Year Beginning

Well, JumpStart is officially over and the new school year has begun.  Not going to lie that I would have liked slightly longer than a weekend of “summer vacation,” but I couldn’t have been happier with the success of JumpStart Santa Cruz.

Pendulum Science Activity

Presenting their conversations

After two more weeks of English-learning, it was time to get ready for graduation.  During graduation the kids were going to present short conversations on the different topics we had learned.  After assigning the pairs and topics, the kids set to work writing out their conversations.  Only about 20 minutes later when they all said, “Finished!” I had them come up to the front of the room to present.  In my mind, they would come up with their notebook and read what they had written.  The first group strolled up to the front without their books, recited way more than I was expecting, and without a single error.  The pattern continued and I honestly could not believe that not a single student asked to use their book.  The kids didn’t just memorize something, they knew enough and were confident enough to not need their books.  For me, it was at that moment that I realized I would have happily gone through all the work it took to put this camp together all over again.  The kids really did learn so much and I can only hope they will go into high school more confident and ready to learn even more! 

Thank you for all of the support from Costa Rica Mutilingue and the United States Embassy.  Without their support, this project would never have come together.

 Congratulations to ALL the Peace Corps Volunteers here in Costa Rica that put on these amazing camps (29 in total!).  I think I can speak for all of us in saying that it was an extremely rewarding project, but we are also breathing a sigh of relief that it’s all done (until next year!).

My Camp

All of JS Santa Cruz

Happy first day back at school!  I’m certainly intrigued to see what this upcoming school year has in store…

JumpStart Santa Cruz

Well JumpStart Santa Cruz is officially more than half over and I can honestly say it’s flying by.  We have a lot going on here in Santa Cruz.  First of all, we have two camps with roughly 20 students in each camp.  We have a MEP English teacher in each camp and while I am co-teaching one camp, we are lucky enough to have 2 volunteers from Oregon come to help with the second camp.  Also on our staff list are two fantastic science teachers who come and teach a mixed science / English lesson on Thursday afternoons.  So with plenty of teachers around, it can certainly be chaotic but there’s also a heck of a lot of English learning going on!

We have students participating from 4 different schools in the Santa Cruz region; El Cacao, Estocolmo, Lajas, and San Juan.  And while I assumed most kids lived at least generally near those schools, I was sadly mistaken on day #3 when we taught “Where do you live?”  With the plethora of answers to the question, I realized that many students were staying with relatives for the month in order to participate in this camp and I’ve truly been astounded at their dedication for giving up not only 4 weeks of their summer vacation, but for all giving up being with family during that time.

Unfortunately I lost most of week one’s photos when my phone broke a few days ago (always remember to back things up!), but week one’s science lesson was for sure a hit.  In groups, the kids made bubbles out of 4 different kinds of soap and using the scientific method, tested their hypothesis of switch soap would create the most bubbles.  It was great to see the kids so engaged and they all enjoyed calling out “shampoo!” as the test’s winner.

Getting all the bubble ready

The science teachers making wands

The kids working on the experiment

This week’s lessons moved on to slightly more difficult topics such as physical characteristics, personality traits, and body parts.  The science lesson for the week involved animals and a discussion of their physical characteristics before a discussion in Spanish regarding slightly more in depth topics regarding animals such as different habitats and endangered species.  It was quite amazing to teach vocabulary such as “whiskers,” “horns,” and “fin” and have the kids actually remember which animals posses those characteristics (in English) during a game shortly after the lesson.  Even more impressive was during the review activities we did today, they even incorporated some of their animal vocabulary into their drawings of monsters.  It’s great to see them learning in a fun and engaging way.

Unscrambling sentences

On the bus ride home today with some of my kids, one of them asked if we could do JumpStart for a whole month more.  While I would love to do it, they’ll just have to settle for showing off their new English skills when they head off to high school in a few short weeks!