Tico Time

Time operates a bit differently here in Costa Rica. Basically, everything consistently happens a LOT later than it’s supposed to. The other day, I got to Spanish class at 8AM and our teacher didn’t arrive until about 8:30. Last week, my host mom told me we needed to catch the bus at 7:30. We didn’t leave the house until 7:40, and we still made it on time. My second week here, I had a meeting with the principal of the school in Concepción at 8:20. I didn’t step into his office until 9:00. Basically, this is perfect for me. It’s Rachel time. The other night, I was actually ready and waiting around for my host family for about 15 minutes. (Take that, dad! I’m NOT always the last one ready!).

On a similar note, in addition to being late a lot, things here tend to be rather disorganized. For example, we are teaching English classes in our communities’ schools during training. We had our first day at the school on Monday, and the director had completely forgotten that we were coming. In addition, he had mixed up all the dates of the English classes with the dates of the girls’ empowerment program I am doing. So, we spent a solid hour and a half sorting out that mess and re-making the entire schedule on Monday. We ended up teaching our first English classes today, which went very well. The kids seemed to learn a lot and have fun.

Today was also the very first day of the girls’ empowerment program I am running here at the local school. Today we talked about stereotypes of women and how the girls themselves are different from those stereotypes and how they imagine their future selves. We had a great turnout—17 girls—and we all had a lot of fun. At the end of each class, the girls are going to write in a journal about what we learned that day. I am hoping to combine their writings into a book we can get printed at the end of training to give back to them as a souvenir. Next week, we are talking about healthy relationships and relationship violence, which is really important because of all the sexism that remains here in Costa Rica.

Everything here is good! This weekend, I am going to a place called Sabanillas de Acosta to visit a current Peace Corps Volunteer and get a taste of volunteer life. Wish me luck, and cross your fingers that I don’t get lost!