7 years since Ghana!

Wow, 7 years since I volunteered as a teacher in Ghana and realised that teaching was my passion and took a complete career change!

 

A lot can happen in 8 years.......

Today it is 8 years since my volunteer programme in Salvador, Brazil with Cross-Cultural Solutions, and since I started this blog, to allow all the fabulous people that sponsored me to go to keep track of what of I was up to.

It is crazy how much of an impact that 4 week programme had on my life!!

In those 8 years I have:

• lived in NYC and worked for CCS  for 3 years
• travelled to and trained offices in Denver, Boston and Toronto about CCS programmes
• been an Advisory Board Member for the International Volunteerism Resource Center
• volunteered in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ghana and China
• discovered I loved teaching while in Ghana
• moved to South Korea to teach for a year
• gained my CELTA
• taught in Leeds and Brazil on and off for about 2 years
• went back to my placement in Brazil 3 years later and was still remembered by name by the teacher in my class!
• met the man of my dreams  through an ex-colleges, ex-boyfriend's mum's nephew's birthday party and got engaged
• completed (and hopefully passed!!) a PGCE  specialising in ESOL
• Met and stayed in contact with some amazing and inspiring people

And now for my next adventure..... I am moving to Brazil in 37 days where I already have a job lined up, and if all my documents are in order, will get married!!!

Let's see what the next 8 years have in store......

After being placed on the reserve list for the PGCE, I received a letter saying that I been offered a place.
So, as of September I will be a student again! It is nice to have a plan for at least the next year and will hopefully bring me better career prospects long term and all that grown up stuff!

As my summer job hasn't started yet I have a lot of time on my hands. I have made all the birthday cards I need for the rest of the year, made all my Christmas cards and started ideas for Christmas presents. I figure that the PGCE is going to be pretty stressful and I know we have a deadline after Christmas so might as well get on top of things now!

I have also started the couch to 5k running plan (let's see how this goes!) and went for a walk up Helsby Hill at the weekend!

Also, today it is 7 years since I went to Brazil and volunteered with Cross-Cultural Solutions!
I have said many times on my blog about it being a life changing amazing experience and it really was.

I have been extremely fortunate and lucky to have had some fantastic experiences and meet so many wonderful people!

Let's hope my luck and adventures continue........

5 years on, I finally return to Salvador

After 5 years I finally made it back to Salvador.

I was actually really nervous about going back for several reasons.

One was when I have travelled here I have been with Monica who speaks fluent Portuguese, so I was slightly concerned about my shameful and appalling lack of Portuguese.

Also I was leaving my safe comfortable bubble of European Brazil and heading up north which is much poorer and therefore more crime and favellas. I would be travelling alone and with out the safety net theoretically of CCS like last time. (Obviously anyone there would be there to help me if I needed it) But it was me that had to get my self to and from the airport and over to see frutos.

The main reason for my anxiousness was last time I was in Salvador, it was amazing, incredible and a life changing experience. After 5 years I was concerned I was just seeing it through rose tinted glasses or that something would happen to make me hate the place, or that it was as amazing as I remembered.

Turns out I was wrong. On all counts.

I managed to get myself all the way from Joinville to Curitiba, to Curitiba airport, to Sao Paulo, to Salvador, from the airport to the hostel, all by myself, with my baaad Portuguese, without being mugged or getting lost. Good start!

I got to my hostel - Che Lagarto about 7.30, called Jonas, my Capoeira teacher from 5 years ago and we headed into Pelourinho. It hadn’t really changed and it was really strange to be back there after all these years.

On Monday I headed over to the CCS house to see the staff that had played such a huge part in my experience last time. They had moved to a different house that was roughly in the same neighbourhood. So armed with my google map I set off several hours earlier as I knew I would get lost. I actually ended up finding the old house – or at least where it used to be. It had been knocked down and huge apartments had been built there.

I got to the house and Vini was picking up the volunteers from Placement. Vivienne was there and Lolo the cleaner. I got the biggggggest hugs off Lulu and she gave me a tour of the massive house, that can take up to 45 volunteers. The volunteers came back and I caught up with Vini and had lunch with them. Also much to my surprise I knew 2 of the volunteers!! Judy and her husband! Judy used to work in the Canada office and all of us did the Guatemala program and I travelled with them up to Quezeltanango!!

On Tuesday I decided to head to Frutos, again I was pretty nervous about going. I would not be being chauffeured around by CCS and would have to get a bus into one of the favellas. I had spoken to the guys at the hostel and their reaction when I told them where I was needed to get off the bus didn’t fill me with confidence! I ended up getting the bus to Bonfim Church and then got a taxi to Frutos.

The neighbourhood Frutos is in

I completely recognised the place and was let in by the guard. He obviously knew I was a volunteer – some white girl turning up - and he showed me to the classrooms where the CCS volunteers were. I tried to explain that I was an old volunteer and wanted say hi to Sara – who I had been in contact with. I felt like a bit of a fraud and hoped they didn’t think I was just some random walking in off the street. He then showed me to the class room with the 1 and 3 year olds. I literally walked into the classroom and within 2 seconds had a child wrapped around each leg shouting ‘Tia, Tia’. And my heart completely melted. I spent the next few hours being smothered in hugs, kissing as many kids as I could, giving hundreds of cuddles and pinching myself to make sure it wasn’t a dream. The kids here are adorable and very very stark contrast to the kids I have been teaching in the south.

After playing with the kids, it was lunch time, so I was helping feed them. I had seen the teacher who was in my class years ago, she was the cook now but I hadn’t said hello. I really didn’t think she would remember me after 5 years and goodness knows how many volunteers, I hadn’t said anything. I was feeding the kids and she walked past me and said hello, then did a double take, squealed Jossee and gave me the biggest hug ever. I was so so surprised. She completely remembered me I honestly couldn’t believe it. I felt so proud that I must have made some small difference last time for her to have remembered me.

By this time Sara had arrived back and we sort of chatted in my baaaad Portuguese. I kept saying how surprised I was to be remembered and she kept telling me what a special volunteer I was and I would always be in her heart. (I bet she says that to all the volunteers but still!)

Frutos De Maes had recently closed because of admin problems. Tia Mira set up the place as a family business to help out people, and it grew and grew. When I was there 5 years ago here were about 300 kids. As amazing as the place is Tia Mira didn’t have the business skills – that’s what it is – a business. Donations stopped coming in and Tia Mira became ill. Fortunately an Italian priest has stepped in and is providing funding for the next 2 years. After this they should be sustainable, and with new administration it is back open. There are only about 85 children there now but hopefully it will flourish again.

I am working with them to create a website for them to help attract sponsors and funding. So quick plug here. It is coming up to Christmas, so how about spending a little less this year on gifts that we really don’t need and donate to Frutos De Maes instead. I will update more later.

The AMAZING, wonderful, hard working staff at CCS Brazil.

I headed to the CCS house again as Grace was supposed to be over from Rio. Her and Vini had just left for lunch. I got some lunch and chatted with the volunteers until they arrived. It was so good to see Grace. We went for ice cream and had a fantastic talk about Brazil, how I felt the first time round, how I felt now, what I had done since Brazil, everything, the impact of the volunteers. Grace is an amazing woman and I feel honoured to have her a as a friend. I couldn’t believe that after 5 years I was sitting there with her. Her and Vini and the rest of the staff do such a fantastic job. It is too hard to describe, unless you have done a CCS program, you just don’t understand. This program literally changed my life. I know it sounds corny but, I feel as if the program in Brazil was the catalyst for how my life turned out.

The rest of my time I spent catching up with friends, I went to the São Joaquin open market. It is a public market abut 15 minutes outside the city where all the locals shop. I somehow managed to end up in the meat part. I was hoping to avoid it as last time it was not a great experience. After a lot of gagging, flies, livers, stomachs and intestines I made it out the other side and did some shopping. I love this market as it really feels like Brazil, the smells – some good some bad, the amazing array of fruit and the fact you don’t have people hassling you like in the tourist areas. I was also super proud of myself for finding it and getting the bus there by myself again! Have a look at some of the pictures of it here.

Porta da Farol at night

So once again an amazing trip to Salvador to catch up with some inspiring and wonderful people. Hopefully it won’t be so long next time.

5 years since Brazil!

Warning these next few blogs are probably going to be pretty mushy. With lots of anniversary type dates and 16 days until I leave, it’s all pretty emotional!!

So…..

This day five years ago, I was on my way to Brazil on my first Cross-Cultural Solutions program. It’s crazy to think how much has happened since then! I remember getting my final expectations talk and really having to stop myself from crying on the phone! It was the first time I had travelled alone to a different country and I had no idea what to expect.

Turns out doing that program was the best thing to ever happen to me. It gave me the confidence to believe that if I could ‘sort of’ control a class of 30 three year olds who didn’t speak a word of English; I could pretty much do anything. I met some amazing and inspiring people in Brazil who I am still in touch with now. Brazil and the people I met captured my heart.

This incredible event led me to move to New York to work for the organisation.
It led me to travel all over the States, again meeting more remarkable people.
It led me to volunteer in Costa Rica, volunteer in Guatemala. And even when I made the hard decision to leave CCS and New York, my astounding journey continued. I volunteered in Ghana for 2 months and realised my passion for teaching, which led to me move to South Korea for a year to teach.

I have said this previously but on each Cross-Cultural Solutions program and each step of my travels I have met wonderful people who have inspired and encouraged me. Every new journey I have embarked on I have always been nervous and apprehensive. But I have the support from family and friends to go and do, it resulting in life changing and unforgettable experiences.

My advice is to go and do. Go and travel. Get out of you comfort zone. Yes it will be scary, yes it will be uncomfortable and there will be awkward situations where you wonder what the heck you are doing. But the positives will definitely outweigh the negatives and who knows what it could lead too….

‘A positive experience causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.’

China Video!

China - it's a long one!!

Saturday 21st November

My journey started off at 4am, I went to try and find a taxi to take me to the bus station. Being 4am in the morning I knew this was going to be a difficult task.

I finally got a taxi, which then proceeded to go and pick up some really drunk Korean woman who stank of booze. I finally made it to the bus station to find it was closed, by this time was 5am and I knew there was a bus at 5.30. I wondered around for a bit and then found an open café and managed to get some help off a couple of older men in there. One of the men had ok English and helped me buy my ticket, sat with me until the bus came, declared he was my friend and when saying good bye hugged me and went in for a smooch!!!

The bus journey was about 4 hours long and I was the only one on the 50 seater bus. Made it to the airport and checked in and tried to go through immigration. Turned out I had printed the wrong thing off for my multiple entry visa back into Korea and had to go over to the immigration office to sort things out.

The flights were fine, I kept being asked if I had ordered a special meal, which I had – vegetarian, but they kept bringing me chicken, cocktail sausages and beef....
Both of them were delayed, which meant I didn’t actually get into Xi’an until about 11pm, when it should have been 8.30.

When I arrived in Shenyang, I wasn’t expecting much culture shock. I was just going from one country where I didn’t really understand anything to another!

I was a little bit nervous getting off the plane and going through immigration. There were lots of guards standing around in very smart uniforms, looking very imposing. A few people ahead of me had been sent back and they were studying the passport photos very intensely. I got through immigration fine and even got a smile off the officer and picked up my luggage.

There was quite a lot of snow when I landed which made me realize this was going to be slightly colder than Ghana!!

















Sunday 22nd November
First full day in Xi’an!
We spent the morning cycling around the city wall, it was about 6 miles and sooo much fun. Sarah and I had a tandem bike and were surprisingly good. We didn’t fall off once. We had a little trouble starting but the stopping part we had down.

The view from the wall was really interesting, we could see the Bell tower and also saw the only Buddhist temple in Xian.
It was such a beautiful way to see the city, the weather was cold and really crisp with some remnants of snow about.

In the afternoon we had orientation, which was really interesting. We skimmed the surface of some of my many questions. The answer was mainly the same though – Chinese people are obedient! I didn’t realize what I rebel I was as I was like what if you don’t agree, what if you don’t love the communist party. Jerome’s answer was but we do, we just know the reasons. The kids are pretty much brainwashed into thinking what the government want.

There is also a saying about do not be the first bird to put your head up in a flock, as you will get shot. Basically any sort of individualism or creativeness is not encouraged in China. It is so difficult for me to get my head around this!

Monday 23d November

In the morning we headed to Xing Quing Palace park.

It seems like all the elderly population gathers here in the morning for tai chi, sword dancing, singing, and badminton. It is a huge social event and is very important as most people live in apartments here and do not get the opportunity to socialize with their neighbors.

One thing that has struck me, is the smog/mist/fog. As it is so cold it lingers and makes Xi’an seem pretty depressing. The amount of pollution is here is tremendous with all the trees at the side of the road being covered a layer of grey grime. I can really feel it in my lungs sometimes.

We also had a mandarin lesson. The characters here are so complex and really makes me appreciate Hangeul!! Originally some of the characters were pictograms with the character representing the thing it was trying to depict, gradually they got more complicated – even though now they use simplified Chinese. There are still over 1,000 characters!!! There are also 5 tones which can completely change the meaning of the word. For example ‘ma’ depending on the tone it can mean mother, spicy, horse, when you are scolding someone or used to make a sentence into a question!! Not much difference at all!

In the afternoon it was our first time at placement!
We worked with about 13 kids to help them practice Snow White.

The school is government run and has about 2,000 students in total. Each class has about 60 students in!!!! The students have different teachers for each subject and move around from class to class. It is pretty open and as a result is FREEEZING! It doesn’t seem very welcoming in that it is quite grey and not many posters/pictures everywhere. But the kids seem very well treated.

After rehearsal we spent a few hours with the teachers helping them with questions they had about English. They had questions about how to teach phonics and also how to write the alphabet. Because Chinese characters are so complex with many strokes they were worried about what was correct. Adding a line here or there in Chinese can completely change the meaning. We explained that it was just different styles and all of them were right.

In the evening we had a performance by some local music students. They played the Er Hu and Pi Pa. It was pretty amazing and really difficult!!

Tuesday 23rd November
In the morning we went to Shaanxi History museum. Xi’an had been around for 13 dynasties, so the history of Xi’an is pretty much the history of China. There was a lot to take in but it was extremely interesting.

In the afternoon we practiced the play with the kids again and then helped grade 3 and 4 practice their speeches for the speech competition. The level of English is pretty good.
When you walk into the school you feel a bit like a celebrity. All the kids stare at you in fascination and shout hello, what is your name. When we arrive it is break time, so there are hundreds of kids running around shouting and waving at you. They are so cute!

In the evening we had a lecture about traditional Chinese medicine, which includes things like cupping, acupuncture, massage, herbal medicine, moxibustion and massage. All of these are available and patients can choose whether to have traditional treatments or ‘western’ treatments. There is no bias on what can be chosen. Typically older people will go for more traditionally methods and the younger people for western.

After the lecture we headed to Trust Mart to buy some chocolate, where Nicole nearly got arrested for stealing chocolate! They had security tags on the bars of chocolate and it had not been deactivated. It caused a bit a scene but we managed to get away!

Wednesday 25th November

In the morning we had a lecture on the history of China and the one child policy.
The one child policy or ‘Family Planning policy’ fascinates me. It was established in 1979 and was to encourage later marriages and late births. (By late they mean aged 23-25!) It was supposed to promote less but healthier children and to slow down the population growth.

Again, at placement we practiced the play and helped some students with their speeches.
We actually had the contest for the younger ones, they were really good. We had to mark then on appearance, their introduction, the text/story they read and then how well they answered some questions we asked them. Some of them got total stage fright and it was so awful to watch. But they were really good.

In the evening we had a calligraphy lecture, which was really interesting to learn about the history of the Chinese characters. The characters originally started off as pictograms, so that the words would look like what there were trying to say. We had fun guessing what certain characters were not too much success though!

Thursday 26th November
In the morning we headed over to the Terracotta warriors. It was about an hour drive (with no traffic!) from the home-base.

The warriors were pretty impressive, there are over 2,000 of them and each one is different, different clothes, facial expressions, hair etc. The detail on them is amazing. The mausoleum was started when the Emperor was 13 years old and he died when he was 50. I find it slightly morbid that they start preparing his mausoleum before he is even dead, but after seeing the amount of work that went into it, it is understandable!

In the afternoon it was the 5th an 6th grades speech competition. Some of them were really good, others were so nervous and forgot their speech it was awful to watch. To stand up in front of a group of people and do a speech is bad enough, but to have to do it in a foreign language – I’m glad I didn’t have too!

The Snow White performance went really well, I was so proud of the kids! I t was pretty sad to leave them even after only working with them for 4 days.


In the evening we had English Corner, where students from the local area come and practice their English with the volunteers. It was pretty interesting to hear some of the questions that they had.

Friday 27th November
We had the morning free to go and do some shopping. We headed down to Muslim Quarter and shopped – a lot! We somehow managed to get lost and ended up in the meat and slaughtering section – not very pleasant to see sheep being dragged down the street to their death.

In the afternoon we went to a foster home, it is run by a South African lady in 2 apartments. There are about 50 children in total ranging from babies up to about 2/3 years old. They all have disabilities some of them have heart conditions and have been abandoned. Other ‘disabilities’ include a cleft pallet. I was shocked to learn that children were abandoned because they had facial disfigurements. People cannot afford the surgery, so they abandon them. They were so adorable and it was great to get some cuddles in off them all!

In the evening we all headed out for dinner. We had hot pot where we all our own individual pots and we cooked fish, potatoes, spinach and lots of other delicious food!
After Nicole, Makayla and I headed to Karaoke! It was super swanky place with some one to carry your beer from the shop to your room, open your beer, escort you to the bathroom! The doors had small circular windows a man walked past, happened to glance in and saw a bunch of foreigners and kept trying to come in to have his photo taken with us. We ended up having a body guard out side the door to stop them from coming back!

Saturday November 28th
Last day - L Nicole, Eva and Johanna left at 6.30, so just Sarah and I were left in the morning. We had a wander round and went to get a massage. For one hour it was 5 pounds 50! Not bad, it was pretty intense but for 5 pounds you can’t complain!

I also went and got my hair cut, £1.50 later I was pretty much scalped. He didn't understand the term 'I want to keep as much length as possible'!

Then 3 planes, 2 taxis, a bus and 24 hours later I was back in The Goon.

CCS China!

It has been just over a year since I left NYC and Cross-Cultural Solutions. I cannot believe it has been a year, or what has happened in that year. Since leaving I have been to Spain, Ghana, moved to Asia and changed career paths!!

Out of all the CCS programs I was never very interested in China or Thailand and had no interest in Asia what so ever! So what do I do... I move to Asia for a year!

I am really excited to visit China. A - to see another part of Asia, I think that South Korea is very erm.. unique.. and it will be interesting to see another part and compare. B- it is nearly 6 months that I will have been here, that is the longest I have been in one spot and not travelled outside the country/state for a LOOOOOONG time. Getting 'cabin fever' slightly so looking forward to travelling.

I also received my placement today! I will be volunteering at a school!

The school was established in 1957. It is located in western part of Xi’an and covers an area of 8,000 square meters. Presently, it accommodates around 2,200 students who are divided into 36 different classes according to their ages.

The content of the volunteer work at School is composed of 3 sections:
l Rehearsal of a short stage play
l Coach the students for an English Recitation Contest
l Judge in the English Recitation Contest

Volunteers help students rehearse the play Monday through Wednesday and the play will be acted on Thursday. The Recitation contest will be on Wednesday and Thursday.

Approximately 30 students from Grade 3 to Grade 6 will take part in the English Recitation Contest. And the volunteers will be divided into 3 groups to help different students with their pronunciation, grammar, and presentation skills if possible. The students can choose either a text from their book, or one of their favorite stories to be the content of their speech. Each student is expected to finish their speech in no more than 4 minutes and it should last no less than 2 minutes.

So on my week off from teaching English, I will be ... teaching English! It is going to be pretty interesting to see the differences between teaching here and in China. For the first time I actually feel qualified for my placement! I remember when I got my placement for Ghana, I was so nervous about teaching!

China!

I have been toying with the idea of going to China during my next week off and doing a Cross-Cultural Solutions Insight program. I have been receiving fare alerts from Kayak to keep an eye on the flights. They had been about £350-400. Yesterday I got an email saying flights had dropped to £143!!! Needless to say I got VERY excited. After searching a bit more, the flights were coming out around £300, Kayak lied. I then tried Expedia which had shown up in the Kayak search and low and behold a flight for £143. So I pretty much booked it straight away!!

Unfortunately I cannot enrol in the CCS program until 60 days beforehand, and they may or may not even be space for me but the flight was too cheap to miss!

So either way in November I will be spending a week in Xian!

2 Days until Ghana!

Well... I know what my placement will be!!!!

Just call me Miss Ellams for the next 6 weeks!!!

"The School was established in September, 1985 to provide quality and affordable basic education to the youth in and around Hohoe in the Hohoe District of the Volta Region. It was founded by the Church Musama Disco and later on taken over by the government of Ghana. It is now managed by the government through the Hohoe District Assembly. Government is the sole financier of the school.

The school currently has about three hundred and thirty two (332) students. They run the following courses; Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Pre Technical, Pre Vocational studies, Religious and Morals studies and Agriculture science. It has a kindergarten, primary one through to six and a junior secondary (junior high) school.

Volunteer Activities / Duties
Teaching conversational English
Teaching simple arithmetic
Teaching rhymes and action songs
Playing games and other outdoor activities
Teaching basic hygiene
Taking the kids to places of interest and events.
Assist teachers by grading papers and organizing learning activities.
Organize projects and activities for the children.

Goals of the Partner Program

Long-Term
Provide free basic education to kids.
Provide pre technical/vocational skills to the kids so as to earn an income if they are not able to further their education.

Short-Term
Expose the children to a culture that is totally different from their own.
Looking for diverse way of teaching the children"

I am so nervous! I knew I would end up a a school and this was the one I was most nervous about. I know I will be fine but I suppose I was just being lazy as I know this will be a challenge for me, which is good! It will be a good learning experience for me! I have been looking into lesson plans and activities already and created a cheesy book with photos of my house, family , life etc to show the kids.

I leave on Wednesday and am staying at a hostel for a couple of days the Crystal Hostel and then start the program on Saturday.

I am so excited to be a long term volunteer again. The last couple of programs I have been a week long, which are great if that is all the time you have. (Rubbish US Holiday allowance!!!)But I am really looking forward to really being able to soak in the culture and build some great relationships.

So I am all packed and ready and just have to sit and twiddle my thumbs for the next 2 days!!!!

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!

Overview of My time in Guatemala!!

So my travels in Guatemala started off with just under a week in Guatemala City.
Here I volunteered for a few days and visited some of the partner programs that we work with in Guatemala City, such as elderly homes, a soup kitchen and clinics.



This was the chapel we re-painted before


and the courtyard


Coming soon - the after pictures!

I then spent Friday night in Antigua.


At a very posh hotel


It was then on to Panjachal and to visit Lake Atitlan - the most beautiful lake in the world.






Then on Sunday Morning we went to Chichicastenengo, to visit one of the largest markets in Central America





It was then a 4 hour bus ride to Quezaltenango.


I stayed there for 2 nights at our program there, visited a few placements and some areas of interest that the volunteers visit and it was a 6 hour bus ride back to Guatemala City to fly home on the Wednesday!

Guatemala!

So I arrived in Guatemala City on Saturday, the whole experience was so different from my Brazil program. Obviously the main difference was this was staff travel, I knew the organization and knew pretty much what to expect. With Brazil I was so nervous when I had my expectations talk and nearly cried and decided not to go.

With this I trip I had hardly any time to prepare because I had been so busy with work and really had not thought about it much.

When I had picked up my bag and gone through immigration, I walked through the doors and there were hundreds of people with their faces pressed up against the glass looking for people. Again I was not nervous or worried, I saw the CCS sign and it took about another 15 minutes for me to make my way through the crows to it!!

There are 9 of us in the house and they are all lovely and we are getting on really well.



The placement I am at it a home where there are a couple of mother and daughters, a mother and a son, a writer and a painter that lives there, as they have no where else to stay. We are painting the chapel and the courtyard and also doing crafts with them.



So just a quick update really to let you know I am safe and well!

less than a month to Brazil!

Well... Had my second rabies jab and my yellow fever yesterday and Renne rang me. She's going to be emailing me a list of everyone else who going to be at the hostel with me - oh my goodness its all starting to feel a bit real now! I'm also going to find out what my placement is going to definitely be. It doesn't feel like I'm actually going to go yet - but seeing as I'm all paid up be a bit silly not to! It's going to be a fantastic experience and I really want to be able to make a difference.

Also went in to my old High School today! It was so bizarre showing my old art teachers my uni work! Also they have given me £250 towards Brazil! I couldn't believe it I've just been working everything out and I've managed together about £2,000 which is fantastic - so huge, massive, whopping, great big thank you to everyone that's helped me and contributed.
I didn't realise I had that many friends!!!!

Also I feel the need to tell everyone that it is Daisy - my great Grandma's 100th Birthday party on Saturday! -100th!!!!!