Scenes of Nature.

A stick bug! This little guy was hanging out by my front door as I was sweeping and surprised me... he's probably 8-10" long!


I was greeting by these cows while walking to wait for the bus the other day...



All on a Sunday stroll...

Arte por la Paz!!

5:30a.m.-5:30p.m.

Perez Zeledón, Puntarenas

So much fun!

Visual update on some of my projects....

Preschoolers listening to book club members reading aloud


They loved it! (and the suckers afterwards too)



"Art for Peace" group in front of our "tree for peace" mural in the school


Highschool ladies participating in an activity about leadership and what makes an effective/ineffective leader in the group "Voces Valerosas"


Book Club reciting a poem for the 4th grade class to celebrate "National Book Day"

A HUGE congratulations to my friend, Josh, who's 2 year project, the "Copa Indigena," (a country-wide soccer tournament with Indigenous tribes where non-indigenous and indigenous kids play soccer together while doing home-stays and cultural exchange) is finally coming to fruition this weekend in the National Stadium in San José! WOO HOO!! The event received a 3 page spread in the newspaper this past week. It's going to be great!

This was an image on the opening slide during our first "Arte por la Paz" meeting. I thought it was kinda funky and visually pleasing enough to share.

Here's the group!


We meet once a week to discuss an issue surrounding peace and violence and then do an art project representing what we've learned. (read: have fun and paint with our fingers). The 7 students were chosen from the "government housing" area of our neighborhood based on their interest level and art abilities. Most of these guys haven't had the opportunity to leave the county, so they're ultra excited about participating in a regional event with other Peace Corps groups from all over southern Costa Rica 3 hours from here.

Book Clubbers are anxiously preparing and practicing their "reading aloud" skills to start a project next week where they'll read to the preschool class. This comes as a bit of good news after the school assembly, to celebrate National Book Day, was cancelled where they were going to recite a poem and give a quick workshop on the right way to treat and care for books. But, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going and instead we're going to visit each and every classroom (time out of class!!) to give the presentation and simultaneously honor the time and effort they put in to memorizing and preparing.




I'm also working on a project with the Speech Therapist of San Vito directed at parents of children who are on the waiting list to receive therapy. There are 34 families currently waiting with 50 currently receiving treatment... needless to say, she's the only therapist in the entire county. This has been especially valuable and rewarding for me as I plan to dive into this career post PC life.

So there is a lot of work happening these days... I'm starting a project called "Voces Valerosas"-a group for high school girls about leadership and social issues-and a service learning project with the kiddos in book club and the older kiddos in the Senior Home. But, this year has been choked full of challenges, confrontations, and counterparts rapidly losing their interest and responsibilities with regards to the projects. But, I'm grateful for the forward movement.

Finally, last and certainly not least, since the last critical and invigorating update about my time here... Dan AND my Mom & Bill have come down to visit me!! Both trips were glorious in their own ways, THANK YOU!! I've uploaded photos from each.

It's almost May!

This is an exciting week because it marks a full revolution around the sun since:

I was re-accepted to Peace Corps/Costa Rica and Dan became my main squeeze.

Last year at this time it was impossible to envision what I'd be doing, where I'd be, and how I'd be feeling health-wise in February 2011... But, alas, here we are and here I am, thriving and grateful to be exactly here. I'd like to extend a very sincere thank you to everyone who helped me get to this point.

Oh, work is also going well, I've joined step-aerobics, and mangoes are in season!

Other than Green Bay bringing home the coveted Lombardi trophy (!!).... here's the latest in San Vito...

My tomatoes are growing! (along with the rest of my little garden)



While I was away in San José for the weekend, my neighbors (9 and 13) were riding their bicycles and, well, one of the bikes got away from them, subsequently hitting the side of my house and leaving a pretty sizable hole. Sadly I don't have a photo of the actual damage (they repaired it pretty quickly) but here's the aftermath. Think that new siding will be painted before I leave in 8 months? Prob not.


School starts tomorrow! Today I met all of the new teachers that arrived to replace the 4 that left last year. Everyone seems really nice and is in good spirits. My last first day of school in CR!!

GO PACK GO!!

I'm off tomorrow on the 7:30 bus for San José to cheer on the beloved Green Bay Packers to a big win for Super Bowl XLV! Sunday kicks off with a friendly 5-on-5 Peace Corps flag football tournament in a beautiful park outside of the city. Shortly after I'll be donning my Rodgers' jersey and drinking overpriced American refreshments. It's officially the last weekend of "summer vacation" for all students. Back to work!

Enjoy the game! And the 1 time Masterlock advertises each year.