Written by: Annika, Charlie, Kaia, Jacob P, Jacob L
We woke up early to go ziplining through the Costa Rican jungle before having our last breakfast at the Mirador. We then loaded into the van and drove into the city of San Isidro where we stopped at a large store to get snacks and any other necessities before arriving in Pueblo Nuevo de Cajon.
When we arrived, the group went straight to La Salon – our town’s community building – to meet our new families. Both the students and families were very nervous and excited to meet each other, and we were all given Costa Rican snacks. We met our new families by finding the family that had the matching snack and ate a welcome lunch with them. We then settled in to our new homes and left for a tour of the town, before going home for our first dinner.
The next morning the group met to watch a local soccer game and do our last preparations for the Friendship Camp, which would begin the next day. After eating lunch at home, the group left for one of our host families’ pool, where we enjoyed swimming, dancing, playing games and eating fresh fruit and sugar cane with our community.
On Monday morning we met up to set up the Salon for the camp. At 2pm, children began to arrive and we welcomed them with a large game before splitting up into three rotations of Art, Sports, and Games which all the kids enjoyed. During the camp the LIAs were challenged to learn how to communicate with the kids in Spanish and enjoyed bonding with them. On Tuesday, we began the day with our service project, painting the inside of the Salon. The group listened to music while cleaning and painting, and worked productively until lunch. In the afternoon, the second day of our friendship camp began, where we continued playing and talking with the local children. Some LIAs felt overwhelmed when challenged to communicate fully in Spanish, but we’ve found new tactics to connect with the community, and learned a lot of new Spanish, even from the kids at our camp.
After each day, we play frisbee and soccer games in the plaza, which locals will often join in on. Even though many people in our group don’t play either sport, we’ve found ways to include all levels in our games and have enjoyed bonding with the community through sports. We’ve been having so much fun, even when experiencing nervousness or culture shock. The community has been so sweet and welcoming and we’ve loved staying here so far.
What were three of the top highlights this week?:
1. Meeting and bonding with our host families and the children at our camp. Our host community has been so welcoming and we’ve enjoyed cooking, playing sports, and talking with our new families and friends.
2. One of our host families invited us all to come to their pool, where we bonded with our host siblings by swimming, playing games, dancing and eating fresh fruit by the pool.
3. Everyday, the community comes together to play sports and games in the plaza. Our group has enjoyed playing soccer and frisbee with locals. We’ve even got to play a large game of World Cup with the president of Pueblo Nuevo, who taught us new skills and winning tactics.
What is something you or the group is challenged by this week?:
Our group has been challenged by the fact that the people of Pueblo Nuevo know very little English, so we have been forced to immerse ourselves in a new language. This means we’ve had to try our hardest to understand what our families are saying and have to respond to their questions and comments fully in Spanish. We’ve also had to advocate for ourselves and our needs which has challenged us to speak up and talk to our parents about what we need. As a result, many of us have greatly improved our Spanish comprehension and speaking skills and have learned new ways to communicate with host parents and siblings.
In what ways have you grown since the start of the program?
The group has learned how to work better with each other, the leaders, and also the children at our camp. We’ve learned how to communicate and collaborate with each other, as well as encouraged ourselves and others to go out of our comfort zones and create new learning experiences. We’ve also had to embrace Costa Rican culture which encourages us to adapt to an unfamiliar lifestyle.
