Everyday holds a potential downpour, usually in the afternoon. But some days I even wake to water droplets drilling down on my tin roof. Everything is green and lush, and muddy. Vehicles slide all over on the now mud roads, and with our steep hills, that makes for a dangerous combination. This has mainly meant that I have not left my site much in the last few months. The rain is very disabling in terms of transportation, activities and events. We have hardly even been able to play soccer and the soccer field is now watery and overgrown.
I have cabin fever for sure. Saving up for my Panama trip coupled with the constant rain has left me house-bound with my now totally scratched up from overuse aerobics dvd and my dog for company. I still continue the basic activities that make up my work. Four English courses are in full swing. My advanced adult class will have their final test in December, followed by a party to conclude the course. The English for rural tourism class progresses nicely. It is made up of mainly older women from the Women´s Association. The beginner´s youth class we started in July is a real kick. I have a lot of teenage guys in this course who get pretty rowdy but keep things interesting. And as always my kids class twice a week continues. We celebrated the Day of Children on the 9th of September by having a movie day with popcorn and ice cream at my house. I will be losing one sixth grader to the high school when this school year ends in December. But I will also gain two new first graders.
The beginning of July held the famous week-long Semana Cultural event. I was raffled on to team blue, just like last year. Due to the rain this year´s week-long mini Olympics-type event was not quite as rewarding as last year. Most of the sports just became some modification of mud wrestling. But we all persevered anyway, playing our guts out in volleyball, soccer, basketball, relay races, dodge ball and more. And the more artistic participants competed in singing, drawing and dancing. After holding a first place lead all week, my team took some hard hits on the last day in the competitions of tortilla-making, tug-o-war, and wood chopping and ended with a 3rd place finish. During this week I also had the pleasure of hosting a new volunteer transfer. Ronel Perry was a volunteer for a year in Paraguay and transferred here the beginning of July. He spent 5 days with me for a shadow experience before heading off to an indigenous site southeast of San Jose. Unfortunately or fortunately depending how you look at it, Ronel was not really able to see any of the work I do because he came during the two week Costa Rican school holiday and during Semana Cultural. Basically this means he was able to experience a bunch of partying and sports rather than my daily life as a volunteer here. But Ronel said he enjoyed the stay and even enjoyed competing on a team in the week-long event.
We´ve started our volleyball league, but the rain often cancels the events. Still, we´ve gotten out a few times on the field and played some intense games. I like to see this sport bring together a real mix of people. We have all ages, both male and female.
On the 4th of September we held the inauguration of the new community youth group and their first project; a youth garden. The day went spectacularly. Every youth age 10 to 25 was invited to participate in raffles, ice breakers and lunch, and to sign up to be a part of the new community youth group. I was personally nervous for this inauguration because I really wanted to push the idea that a commitment of time and effort was necessary to be a part of this group. But I also did not want to scare them away from joining. We did some just for fun team games, but I also led some serious team building activities. We did the Bridge of Change activity in which we planned the real backbone of the group. This activity forces group members to pinpoint major group goals, the challenges faced in achieving these goals, the way to overcome challenges, and the strengths we as group members have to succeed in our goals. As small groups they came up with their personal favorites for these categories and we then narrowed it down to the ones that represent the group as a whole. A whole slew of discussions ensued regarding Tico culture. Laziness, hora Tica, non-committal, lack of motivation, and more made up a lengthy list of challenges. Then there was discussion on how to overcome these attributes that are especially used to describe youth. It was agreed that without punctuality, commitment, motivation, and a general sense of responsibility, we would never even get close to achieving the many goals we had listed which range anywhere from maintenance of the soccer field to anti-drug activities. If you don´t show up, nothing happens.
In the conclusion of the event I challenged each participant to commit to being a member of the group and sign up. Eighteen out of nineteen youth signed up, committing to attend once per month meetings and be active in at least one project for the group.
As for future plans, English classes will continue to the end of my service in May, 2011. When the Wednesday night course ends I plan to take on the boys of the community and host Chicos Poderosos from January to March. The girls liked their girls group so much, I think the boys got jealous. The new community youth group will hold once per month meetings and hopefully begin implementing projects and event in the community. I plan to really push the youth to take over leadership positions rather than depending on me to organize everything. I am also helping a new committee of mothers that has begun planning a Christmas party for children in December. We have already held one bingo and raffle and plan to do more in October and November to have funds for a grand Christmas party. I also plan to host the second annual kids soccer camp in March of 2011. The kids were very happy with last year´s event and would like a repeat.
I´m going to Panama for two weeks in October with fellow volunteer Jessica Robinson of Colorado Springs, Colorado. And then I look forward to Aunt Cheri, Aunti Lauri and Cousin Susanne visiting for a few weeks in November-including the Thanksgiving holiday. I will spend December, the Christmas season, and my birthday here in my site with a palm Christmas tree, lights, other decorations, and the traditional Navidad fireworks. In January I look forward to a trip to Nicaragua with my mom.
As for now, I will continue awaiting the dry season and try to be thankful for this rain.
