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Two Years Down, Two Months to Go

It’s crazy to think that two years ago today, Kevin and I arrived in Costa Rica. It’s even crazier to think that we only have two more months to go. Our Peace Corps service officially ends Dec. 4, a day that I imagine will be full of mixed emotions — thrilled to be going home to see family, celebrate Christmas and enjoy the beautiful state of Alaska, but sad to leave the pura vida we have lived in Sarapiquí. Little by little, we’re noticing signs that our time here is limited. Just a couple of weeks ago Tico 21 participated in the Close of Service conference, where all of us gathered at the lovely Corobicí Hotel in San José to reflect, celebrate and say farewell to friends and Peace Corps staff members we’ve had the pleasure to get to know. At times it was hard to hold back the tears, knowing our incredible Peace Corps experience will soon be finished. Speaking of farewells, after 20 months of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and communicative activities, our c...

160 Pounds of Progress

About three weeks ago, Kevin and I went to San José to pick up a long-awaited special shipment from Alaska. We waited in line at the post office, with passports and customs papers in hand, for just long enough to be glad we’d taken the whole day off for the task. We were ushered from one window to the next, signing this and dating that, writing my passport number here and answering questions there. It was well worth the wait though, because the busy man at window six pushed us out a cart piled high with four huge boxes of books! The books were all donated by Government Hill Elementary in Anchorage. But they couldn’t have arrived without the help of the group of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers in Anchorage, who secured $600 to pay for the shipping costs. The books were more amazing than we had expected. The first box alone held exactly 200 books — no doubt thanks to my Dad’s expert packing skills. Kevin and I oohed and aahhed over each one as we pulled them from the boxes. All of ...

Kids Don't Like to Read

We’ve heard it many times since we embarked on our elementary school library project. Kids here just don’t like to read. A library is a nice idea, we were told told, but don’t expect kids to actually enjoy it. Thank goodness we didn’t listen. Our first classes in the library on Tuesday were a huge success. The fourth and fifth graders filed in first and greatly enjoyed the True Story of the Three Little Pigs. They loved taking their shoes off and snuggling up for story time on the brand new rugs, despite temperatures in the 90s. We discussed the library rules then moved on to free reading time, which was a bigger hit than we’d expected. For almost 20 minutes, all we could hear was the soft whisper of kids reading under their breath and the sound of pages being turned. Next came the first graders. They loved Kevin’s reading of “Is Your Mama a Llama?” and energetically guessed the names of the upcoming animals. They acted out the library rules and spent a peaceful 10 minute...

TEFL Con Ticos

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