Projects and Activities
What is it exactly that you´re doing? I´m asked this a lot, and it is still a puzzling question to answer. In short, there are days where I run from one meeting to another, and other days where I do nothing. Here are a few activities I´ve got going on so far, after three months in site:
Knucklehead youth tourist group: There are two separate youth groups currently involved in bringing tourism to San José, both of which are very wishy-washy and difficult to organize. We´re hoping to give talks on tourism in the next few months, as well as host a few groups of tourists who will be visiting the caves.
Municipality: The mayor being my primary counterpart, most of my days in the office are spent working on lesson plans and hanging out with the staff. However, I hope to work with a few projects funded by the Strategy to Reduce Poverty (Strategy for Poverty Reduction? It´s more well-known by its Spanish acronym ERP), including an agricultural cooperative. There is also a waste management cooperative that I´m hoping to work with, funded by a local NGO.
Free English classes for everyone: I give conversation classes once a week to the English teacher at the high school, twice a week to the English teacher at the elementary school, and basic English once a week in a school in an aldea. I´m also the go-to person for all English homework assignments.
Millions of charlas: Literally “chats,” charlas are short one-hour or two-hour talks on a given topic. This month alone I´ll be giving ten: seven charlas on the environment to all classes in the elementary school, the charla with the tourist group on agrotourism, one charla on HIV/AIDS and one three-hour workshop in the municipality on human relations.
…and more! I´m working with a committee on bringing a municipal library to San José; I´ll be teaching a class once a week in the sixth grade on the benefits of staying in school; I´ll be teaching business concepts once a week in the high school and helping out with their nascent computer program.
Together with these activities, I also do a lot of reading, learning to cook, or alternatively, eating at neighbors´ houses, taking periodic trips to civilization to buy fruit and peanut butter, taking strolls around town, playing with kids and general hanging out in site. It´s a low-key, in-bed-at-nine kind of town, but luckily there is always a project or a charla to work on, a neighbor to visit, coffee to drink and a novela to watch.
Knucklehead youth tourist group: There are two separate youth groups currently involved in bringing tourism to San José, both of which are very wishy-washy and difficult to organize. We´re hoping to give talks on tourism in the next few months, as well as host a few groups of tourists who will be visiting the caves.
Municipality: The mayor being my primary counterpart, most of my days in the office are spent working on lesson plans and hanging out with the staff. However, I hope to work with a few projects funded by the Strategy to Reduce Poverty (Strategy for Poverty Reduction? It´s more well-known by its Spanish acronym ERP), including an agricultural cooperative. There is also a waste management cooperative that I´m hoping to work with, funded by a local NGO.
Free English classes for everyone: I give conversation classes once a week to the English teacher at the high school, twice a week to the English teacher at the elementary school, and basic English once a week in a school in an aldea. I´m also the go-to person for all English homework assignments.
Millions of charlas: Literally “chats,” charlas are short one-hour or two-hour talks on a given topic. This month alone I´ll be giving ten: seven charlas on the environment to all classes in the elementary school, the charla with the tourist group on agrotourism, one charla on HIV/AIDS and one three-hour workshop in the municipality on human relations.
…and more! I´m working with a committee on bringing a municipal library to San José; I´ll be teaching a class once a week in the sixth grade on the benefits of staying in school; I´ll be teaching business concepts once a week in the high school and helping out with their nascent computer program.
Together with these activities, I also do a lot of reading, learning to cook, or alternatively, eating at neighbors´ houses, taking periodic trips to civilization to buy fruit and peanut butter, taking strolls around town, playing with kids and general hanging out in site. It´s a low-key, in-bed-at-nine kind of town, but luckily there is always a project or a charla to work on, a neighbor to visit, coffee to drink and a novela to watch.
posted by Maureen at 11:35 AM
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