The End is nigh......

So my week in Costa Rica is coming to an end....

As I expected the week has been amazing. The School I have been working is such a fantastic place. The kids that come to the school come from abusive and/or extremely poor backgrounds. The school is their safe place where they come to be educated in the hope that they can build a better life for themselves.

We painted a mural, did recreational activities with kids and just hung out with them.
The teachers at this school care for the children so much and really want to help make a better future for them. It is amazing.

My group were equally as good and as usual on a Cross-Cultural Solutions program I know I have made some life long friends.

I have been to an organic coffee farm, a volcano, had salsa lesson, Spanish lessons, cooking lessons. There has been so much packed into this week.

This week has been exactly what I needed!! Seeing the impact the volunteers have on the partner programs we work with is amazing. Hearing about the changes in the volunteers and how it impacts their lives is equally amazing and makes me extremely proud to work for CCS. It is so hard to forget what we do working in a office and participating in a program refreshes why I chose to move half way across the world to work for them!

I cannot rave about the staff enough. They are FANTASTIC. They are so dedicated and care so much about the volunteers and the partner programs, that it leaves me in awe of them.

We had a meeting this afternoon, where the got all the staff together, we had coffee and ice cream and they made me feel so special!! When it is them that do all the hard work!!

So now I am sitting in Jose's apartment (listening to Dancing Queen by Abba!!!) getting ready to go out in San Jose, hoping that tomorrow doesn't really come. I am hoping that when Santi (the Program Coordinator) said the office called and said I was to work form Costa Rica and move in with him that is was true.

It has been a wonderful week and of course I am sad that it has to end but I must get back to reality!

Pura Vida!!!

Photos later.. many photos later....

COSTA RICA

So I am in Costa Rica!!
I made it into San Jose on Saturday, I got picked up and taken to my super hostel!
I then went for a wander around town and got caught in the rain!!
They are having the cow parade here at the moment so there were all kinds of cows. Pole dancing cows, taxi cows, ALL KINDS!!
I then got completely lost and it took me to hours to find my way back to the hostel!
I had forgotten how empowering it was to travel and this was the first time for ages that I had travelled by myself. I love the fact I can just wander round and take in the sights. It was great to have some me time and do what I wanted to do. With no work, and no one else interfering.
Ok So I don’t know the language and don't really know where I am going but it’s all fine and the survival instinct kicks in and everything’s ok!


San Jose


The Kids at my placement

We have done all kinds of exciting things, but I have better things to do than spend time on the Internet. So will update either later or when I get home.

Off to Salsa lessons!!

Costa Rica Next Week

So...
last night I was at a dance party, techno music, not really what a I am into but it was held in the Planetarium at the Natural History Musuem!!!
It was so much fun. It was a really odd mix of people, you had the trendy arty students from Brooklyn, preppy boys and then middle aged women just doing crazy dancing!!!

I am off to Costa Rica in Central America on Saturday to take part in the Insight Abroad program with work.



I will be staying Cartago, check out one of the videos here

I am so excited!! I get in to San Jose on the Saturday and the program does not start until the Sunday. So I am staying at a hostel on the Saturday and Jose the Country Director is taking me out on Saturday night!

My placement is at a school.

The school surroundings:
Most of the children attending this school come from unprivileged homes, mainly from “Los Diques” area. The origins of this community go back to 1962, after the Reventado River`s great flood, caused by Irazú Volcano’s eruption. During the disaster, a group of US Marines came to Cartago to build a large dike to protect the city of new avalanches. Few years later, this area was occupied by different groups of homeless families who decided to live around the dike permanently, generating a high socially at risk community.
This community is the most affected area in Cartago by poverty and violence; many of the children have to deal on a daily basis with physical and emotional aggression as well as sexual abuse cases. Besides these problems, drugs abuse, drug dealing, and urban delinquency are becoming part of everyday life for children, teenagers, and adults.
The school was founded in 1982. There are 26 staff members including teachers and administrative staff working at the school. There is an interdisciplinary team with a social worker, a psychologist and a sociologist as part of the school staff.


Project Description:

The insight participants will paint murals that have been previously outlined. The mural outline is located in the outside walls of the interdisciplinary team, right in front of the kindergarten classrooms.


Insight participants will paint the mural according to the colors that will be selected.
Volunteers will also have the chance to interact with the kids and get to know more about the community and the Educational system in Costa Rica.


General Objectives of the project

1. To promote cultural exchange and interaction among the participants of the project: volunteers, students, school personnel, CCS staff
2. To paint murals
3. To visit the community and its surroundings

I am really looking forward to doing another program and visiting a new program obviously but I looking forward to having my own experience and doing it alone again, like Brazil. Although I recently visited the Guatemala program for staff travel, another staff member was there. I loved the group I was with in Guatemala as it was a small group and we all got on so well.

This is going to be a totally different experience as I will be a volunteer again and the house is full - 38 people!!!

Well the weather at the moment in NYC is RAIN RAIN RAIN, so off to see Sex and the City movie and try to stay dry!