Advice for a Newbie from an Oldie

It has been over a month since I was a Peace Corps volunteer, but I as I answer questions about my service it got me thinking about what advice I have for future Volunteers.  The Hubs and I brainstormed and came up with a few things we wish we knew before we started our service.  

• Bring a head lamp
• Bring a small towel-that way you don’t have to carry around nor wash a normal size towel (very heavy)
• Hard drive
• Water bottle that keeps things cold and doesn’t sweat (or hot if you are living in a cold country)
• Bring a huge supply of your favorite face was and shampoo/conditioner
• If you are missing an item you can’t get in your host country, don’t be afraid to ask people to send it to you
• Share the items on your hard drive with your fellow Peace Corps volunteers 
• a backpack that can hold a few days worth of clothes 
• think of what are things you love to do in the States and then brainstorm on how to do them cheaply and modified (i.e. exercise-I only ran in Peace Corps)

We still have the travel bug and keep crossing things off our bucket list

If any Returned or current Volunteers have more advice, write it in the comments

Evaluating my Peace Corps Service (PC style)

This blog was started in 2011 to document and share our experience with Peace Corps.  Our time as Peace Corps volunteers has come to an end.  I am struggling with wrapping my head around this fact.  While I plan and dream about our lives as grad students and full time employees again, I am struggline to grasp the fact that we are not returning to Costa Rica.  We have spent more time as a married couple and college graduates as Volunteers living in Costa Rica than in the States.

Officially Peace Corps Volunteers

The Hubs and I have discussed what we miss about our site, Santa Cruz.  Claro que sí, we miss the Ticos and Volunteers we have bonded with the past two years.  But thank goodness for technology because we are able to stay in contact with many of them.  But we also miss walking around town, the hospitality of Ticos, and their attention to detail.  We miss speaking Spanish and having a flexible work schedule.    

They let us all in 

As we closed up our projects, my counterpart (the local who I work along side with the whole two years of service) and reflected on what was effective in the projects we led together.  I was a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Volunteer.  So my primary project was to aid local educators in improving their teaching methodology and their confidence in English.  My counterpart and I came up with different ways to achieve the TEFL goals.  We successfully implemented spelling bees that are now required for all schools to participate in.  We led 9 conversation clubs so that EVERY English teacher in my region had an opportunity to speak in English for 40 hours (and get a pay raise) that included mini workshops on teaching methodology.  

My counterpart and I 

Peace Corps also encourages volunteers to do projects that are outside of our primary project.  With my background in education, many of my secondary projects (projects outside my TEFL project) had to do with education.  I created a teaching blog aimed at TEFL teachers, privately tutored students, and co-led a (community conversation club) for young professionals.  I also led a women’s workout group for a couple of months. 

Throughout our service we were required to report our activities quarterly: who was involved in them and what was successful.  Because of this and reflecting on my service, I have evaluated my time there.  While my secondary projects are harder to evaluate, I still deem them successful. 

Our community conversation club 

The spelling bee demonstrated the importance of English and increased teachers’ and students’ confidence, vocabulary, and pronunciation. 

Interregional Spelling Bee 2013

The teachers’ conversation club allowed teachers the opportunity to learn new activities to use in their class,  to get a raise, to practice their English, and to get together as a department and share ideas.

Two of the conversation clubs

My teaching blog has allowed me to reach teachers that I don’t get an opportunity to see but once or twice a year.  It has also been a one stop shop for resources for the lessons they have to teach. 

The main student we have worked with has improved his grades and increased his confidence in speaking English.

The community conversation club has opened doors for job opportunities for some of our participants. 

The women’s workout group was a space for women to workout without feeling scrutinized.  It taught them basic exercises they can do at home. The workout group also gave them accountability partners to take care of themselves. 

While I haven’t completed a giant project or raised thousands of dollars for a project, I still believe my time in Costa Rica as a Peace Corps volunteer was extremely successful.  I believe I achieved the three goals of Peace Corps and the three of Teaching English as a Foreign Language.    

Success is not deemed by the size of the project but the effect on the person. - me

And just like that, they are letting us out

Recounting my Peace Corps service

2 years 3 months.

27 months.

7.6 earthquake.

2 host families.

9 conversation clubs.

50 spelling bees.

8 cluster mates.

3 conference presentations.

36 Monday tutoring sessions.

2 sets of visitors.

3 trips home.

4 countries visited.

1 manicure and pedicure.

3 broken fans.

4 parades.

14 beaches.

3 Peace Corps trainings.

2 project working team meetings.

2 birthdays.
1 counterpart. 

2 graduations.

3 babies.

2 bee stings.

1 wedding band cut off.

3 allergic reactions.

141 teachers.

164 runs.

2 stolen items.

2 blogs.   

120 hours of language training

68 hours of Teaching English as a Foreign Language training

3 good bye parties

7 spelling bee meetings

Countless laughs

Countless hours waiting for a bus

Countless hours on a bus

1 (almost) Returned Peace Corps Volunteer

Our first day of being a PCV 

The first time we met our counterparts 

Content Wednesday

Today I am overwhelmed with gratitude about 

random facebook chats with friends 

dinners at my counterpart's house and playing with Mia the puppy 

a laughing husband in his school's uniform 

Spelling Bee meetings 

surprises from the host family 

Grateful Monday

Today I am grateful for 

the people that fill this office 

Beautiful views on my runs 

Landmarks directing visitors to our house 

Quick trips to Liberia for sushi, a movie, and air conditioning 

Movie rental store 

Random dinner nights with friends 

We went to a coyolera to try vino coyol 

Vino coyol is made from trees 

Thankful Tuesday

Today I am thankful for

Conversations between spelling bee kiddos from different schools.  

puppy time 

walks into town (they put molasses on the road to help with erosion and they dust)

grocery shopping and knowing the employees (notice how they put the carts in)

Gratitude Monday

The Hubs' Little Sister gave me a book by Ann Voskamp for Christmas a few years ago.  I devoured this book, and immediately started documenting the things that make me happy as Mrs. Voskamp encourages.  Then today I ran across this blog post by this cute couple's blog.   And just reading the short post about what she was grateful for put a smile on my face.

I have been wondering how I could document all my photos and memories from my Peace Corps   experience.  This blog is my story of this experience.  And while most post are dedicated to big events like the completion of conversation clubs, the next few will be about the little things I have come to cherish about my Costa Rica.

 This is my favorite road to walk or run down.  It is covered by overhanging trees and has a great view of the mountains. I like it so much I made my in-laws walk down it when they visited instead of taking the shorter path.  (It is not always this desolate, the Hubs was almost knocked over by a car on one of his runs here)

Seeing this dog everywhere.  Meet Three Tone.  He is a dog that we have seen wandering the streets for the last two years.  He was named as a joke towards me because I named a similar looking dog Two Tone when his coat was obviously  black, white, and brown.  (The Hubs and I tend to come up with names for random animals)

OUR ice cream shop.  The local Volunteers have started calling it that since this is the only place we take visitors for ice cream and smoothies.  The owner is extremely nice (he often gives me the leftovers from my small smoothie) and the prices are cheaper than others.