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…