TEFL Con Ticos

Kevin and I shared a little bit of Halloween with our community English students on Friday. We taught them how to carve pumpkins! Well, not actually pumpkins – ayotes . They’re the Costa Rican equivalent of a pumpkin. Same shape, size, smell, and taste, but green instead of orange. The best part about doing a fun cultural activity like this one was that we could actually consider it work. We met Peace Corps goal No. 2 of “promoting a better understanding of the United States on behalf of the Costa Ricans.” So sharing our holiday traditions with our students is always time well spent. We’ve discovered over the last few weeks that ayotes are simply not that popular around here. You can find small ones at the store. But with the exception of our training host mom, Esterlina, we haven’t met anyone who likes to cook or eat them. So you can imagine the fruit and vegetable vendor’s surprise when I ordered ten soccer ball-sized ayotes from her. Her jaw literally dropped. After I explaine...

Last Wednesday, we Tico 21ers celebrated our one-year mark of living in Costa Rica. Megon and I didn’t celebrate much other than a good morning high five for making it this far into our 27-month commitment. On October 5, 2010, 45 eager and innocent TEFL and CED (Community Economic Development) Volunteers flew into San José on little to no sleep as we recovered from a previous day of orientation and out-on-the-town fun in Washington D.C. Though some Volunteers are no longer with us, opting for an early termination of service, those who are still here seem to be getting in the groove of things. As the beginning of September, the 25 TEFL Volunteers reported working on a combined 149 projects and activities since our last reporting period in June. Projects are pretty diverse: community English classes, Tae Kwon Do classes, dance classes; working in the public schools; putting on camps or festivals; starting after-school groups like choir, book club, sports club, science club, homework cl...

Imagine either Megon or me sitting in one of our respective high school classrooms. It’s a Monday and we’re there to observe an English teacher who is scheduled to give a lesson to, let’s say, 30 students in the 11 th grade (the final year of high school). But plans have changed. Instead of a lesson, it’s picture day. Not for the yearbook, but for graduation. It’s an important day for most students, especially the girls, who want to look their best for photos that will eventually be framed and hung on the cement walls of their parent’s homes forever. As students wait in line, they look in the mirror checking for the slightest hair out of place or consulting their friends on which smile suits them best. The time and preparation put into these pictures is impressive. I remember just how important my senior pictures were to me too; my Parchment Panthers baseball jersey positioned just right, corduroys perfectly smoothed, hemp necklace centered exactly. Sitting back in that Costa Rican...

Anticipation hung as thick as the dust in the air as we marched down the gravel road. Colorful lanterns shone in the darkness as far as I could see and shed just enough light to see the excited faces of the people walking next to me. The refrains of familiar songs wafted through the crowd and the smell of burning paper alerted me to the nearby presence of many small children carrying fire on sticks. It was September 14 th , the night before Costa Rica’s Independence Day. Local tradition dictates that faroles , or lanterns, be lit and carried from town to town or school to school to celebrate freedom. When Costa Rica gained its independence from Spain in 1821, villagers spread the news of the country’s accomplishment in this same way, though I imagine their lanterns were not shaped like oxcarts, typical houses, or tropical birds. Making the perfect lantern is a big deal in our town. Kids and their parents spend days planning and creating theirs. There are only two rules: you must be ...

As we sit in our 90-degree apartment sipping care package tea and enjoying fresh homemade peanut butter cookies, it seems like a good time to think about where we’re at in our Peace Corps service, our successes, frustrations, and our plans for the future. Sometimes, when we’re rushing around from school to co-planning session to community class to school again, we find it hard to take a moment to reflect, to appreciate and think critically. (And lately, to write blog posts!) Kevin’s mom came to visit us last week and we had a wonderful time introducing her to our life in La Rambla. We’re coming off of the visitor high now though, re-immersing ourselves in our work and feeling the familiar excitement of another awesome community class, the thrill of a breakthrough with a local teacher, and the contentment that comes with riding past the elementary on my bike and hearing all of the children scream, “Hi Megon! Bye bye, Megon!” We’ve been fortunate to have experienced quite a bit of suc...

Flipping through a February issue of Sports Illustrated one recent afternoon, the headline “What Was He Thinking?” grabbed my attention. It was the story of why former Denver Bronco quarterback Jake Plummer retired early and walked away from $5 million in guaranteed money just to do something different with his life. The article got me thinking: 'Would we have done that?' Well, we kind of did. Though we didn’t walked away from millions when we left for Costa Rica nearly 11 months ago, we did walk away from a helluva lot to join the Peace Corps. Let’s face it: right now we could easily be teachers in the Anchorage School District, making decent salaries and living comfortable, convenient lives. But years ago Megon and I both knew that that kind of life could be put on hold. Our Peace Corps life is teaching us there’s more to life, more to money, than what we ever had in Alaska. Between the two of us we live on ¢424,000 colones a month, or about $850 (that was a month’s rent ...

The Casket That Keeps On Giving “Come and see this,” Mario said shortly after we arrived at his in-laws’ house in El Higueral, Nicaragua. He led us toward the back door, through which we could see several pigs and a handful of chickens poking around in the mud. Then he pointed at a large object looming in the darkness behind the door: a beautifully decorated wooden casket. It turns out that about 15 years ago, a doctor told Ofelia, the elderly mother of our former host mom Esterlina, that she was about to die and that she should start putting things in order. The first thing she and her husband did was purchase a casket, which they would store behind the door until it was needed. A neighbor passed away before Ofelia could use it, however, and they used her casket and replaced it with another. And so it went for 15 years; someone in the town would die and use the casket and that family would replace it. Ofelia’s still alive and getting around very well in her old age, but the casket’...

Months ago when Megon and I were just trainees our program training staff had us draw waves, big waves with tall crests and deep troughs. We labeled those ups and downs with emotional moments that lead up to our departure for Costa Rica. They told us those waves would continue and soon represent our lives for the next 24 months. As corny as it seemed at the time, they were right. Being a Peace Corps Volunteer is totally like riding a wave; some days are great, some are just average and others we would just rather put in the books and forget. Lately though, our waves are moving at full strength as our 9-month mark rapidly draws closer. And keeping ourselves upright and upbeat has been the name of the game. Community Class One of our lowest moments came two weeks ago when zero students showed up to our community English class for teenagers. Attendance has been dropping ever so slowly since Holy Week, but we knew that would happen – time eventually weeds out the non-committed folks. B...

~ By Megon Coon Standing in the kitchen, I was wholly unaware of the creepy scaly thing just waiting up there. It was calm and patient, as still as could be, neatly curled up there just looking at me. In an instant I saw it and man did I scream as the boa constrictor unwound from the beam. “Don’t worry,” they said, “It’s eating the rats! That’s what they’re made for- they’re better than cats!” “Rats?” I said, “We don’t have those, just geckos and cockroaches under our toes!” They poked and they prodded with the end of our broom ‘till it fell to the floor and fled from the room. They got straight to work, shoved it into a sack, and I was just glad it didn’t end in a WHACK ! They took it and left it in a field far from here, I doubt if we’ll ever again see it so near. But that night I saw a rat big and black and I though to myself, “Could we get that bécquer back?”

Just when the rhythm of our daily lives was becoming predictable again, everything changed dramatically. These sudden changes, both unexpected and long-awaited, have really shaken things up for Kevin and me…. and we’re thrilled. One rainy night after Eliza and Martin’s wedding, Kevin and I were at their family’s house saying goodbye to Martin’s dad before he flew back to England. I was the first one to the door when a stranger drenched and wearing motorcycle gear approached us and asked for directions to a nearby farm. The woman, sporting a Canadian patch on her jacket, a reflective vest and speaking perfect (though definitely foreign) Spanish, got the directions she needed from one of the family members and, after thanking us, drove away on her large motorcycle with another mysterious rider. Everyone in the house had a different theory about the foreign woman: “Definitely a Nicaraguan,” someone said. “That accent’s not from around here.” “I think she’s Canadian. Didn’t you see her...

Out here in the country, Kevin and I don’t have many opportunities to get dressed up. Kevin’s nice collard shirts are safely stored away in Ziplock bags in our suitcase (to keep the mold out), and my nicest dresses hang out in the back of the closet just waiting for their moment in the sun. Within the last week, however, we’ve been able to attend two formal affairs deserving of some of our nicest attire. First, a wedding. Ever since we arrived in Costa Rica, we’ve been working hard to integrate, integrate, integrate, into our two host families and communities. It seems that all of that work paid off in the form of invitations to the wedding of a local friend. Eliza, an English teacher from our community, married a man from England, last Saturday in the nearby town of Horquetas. While the two novios communicate easily, their families struggle to understand one another. This is where I came in; I was asked to be the official translator for the ceremony, up front with the priest repeat...

If there are any similarities between Costa Rica and Alaska, it’s got to be their abundance of volcanoes. In Southcentral Alaska, we have Spur, Iliamna, and Redoubt that tower over the Cook Inlet. In Sarapiquí, the big ones that surround us are Turrialba, Irazú, Poás and Arenal, all of which form an east to northwest chain. Megon and I woke up at 4 a.m. Saturday morning to catch the earliest bus to San Jose and visit our host family’s daughter, Lucy, and her husband Fernando, who live outside of the capital city in a little town called El Roble. After picking us up from the bus station, they gave us a tour of their beautiful farm, fed us breakfast and loaded their car for a trip to Poás , the country’s third tallest volcano at 2,709 meters. Poás separates two extremely different climates: the dry central valley and the humid Caribbean coast, which means cloudless days are few and far between. “ Tuvimos mucha suerte, ” according to Fernando, because we had ourselves a blue-bird ...

Megon and I slipped back into reality this past week after nearly a month of what seemed like a constant state of transitions – in-service training, visiting family and host family outings. And there was no better way to reconnect with La Otoya than by celebrating Semana Santa , or Holy Week. The majority of Costa Ricans are Catholic, so students and teachers around the country have the week off to enjoy Easter. Many vacation at the beach or go to the river, but most spend the time with family. We used Semana Santa to get to know other members of our community, go fishing and swimming in the rivers, do some planning for the next topic of our community English class (Costa Rican and U.S. cuisine), catch up on some reading, and take long walks in the sweltering heat. Months ago, everyone kept telling us April, especially Semana Santa , is the hottest month of the year. They weren’t kidding. Temperatures soared into the low to mid 90s last week and it doesn’t seem to be letting up any...

Q: What do you get when you combine 6 gringos, one Mitsubishi Montero, a barracuda, a few sloths and a couple bold Capuchin monkeys? A: A wonderful Costa Rica adventure! Kevin and I hosted our very first visitors from home last week: my uncle Dawson, aunt Shelly, and cousins Ben and Katie. We were able to cram an incredible amount of adventure and fun into our eight days together! The story begins in San José, where the four Seattleites arrived late Sunday evening. Their arrival into the country was marked by a spectacular fireworks display at the new national soccer stadium, which Kevin and I took to be a good omen for their spring break trip. By midday on Day 2, we had rented a hearty SUV and were on our way to Sarapiquí, the beautiful part of the country Kevin and I get to spend most of our time in. The Selva Verde (Green Jungle) Lodge was everything we’d hoped it would be – beautiful, green, wet and crawling with tons of interesting creatures – and served as a great home bas...

King-sized bed. Warm showers. Big screen TV. Delicious food. Workout facilities. Abnormal as it sounds, that was our Peace Corps life for nearly 10 days. Every Peace Corps volunteer is required to attend an In-Service Training (IST) three months into service. IST serves two purposes: 1. Gives volunteers more technical training after gaining a better understanding of their jobs and communities; 2. Gives them a mental health break. Most ISTs last only a few days, but our Pre-Service Training was cut short one week because our late arrival date, so we tacked that week to IST, which meant we got to spend nine and a half days reuniting with our fellow Tico 21ers. Peace Corps Costa Rica and Crowne Plaza in San José apparently have such a good relationship, 44 volunteers were allowed to invade one of the nicest hotels in the capital city. Most volunteers slept three to a room. Megon and I were spoiled and got a room all to ourselves. When we checked in, we immediately went to the gym and ...