Nov 28
Marshall Owen ended his English teaching program yesterday. He worked there for 6 weeks and had a great time sharing time with the kids. Marshall worked at La Sabana kindergarten, which is just a couple of blocks from the volunteer dorm. La Sabana kindergarten is embellished with colorful painted murals, which make you remember your own childhood.
English teaching in Costa Rica is fundamental; Costa Rican students start getting English lessons as soon as they enter the public education system. The Costa Rican government understands the relevance of tourism and business for the economy, and for that reason tries to make sure its people are well educated and prepared for the future.
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Nov 28
Sometimes, I like not knowing the language here in Thailand. I enjoy being able to be invisible in the sense that I don’t hear people’s conversations, I don’t have to get involved in their daily dramas, and I am free to think my own thoughts and be left to them. At other times though, when out with friends or when trying to communicate with a student at school, I desperately wish I could speak Thai.
Luckily, we have been provided with an excellent language instructor here in Thailand. Meaw speaks about four languages in total, and is excellent at all of them. So when I ask her a question about the Thai language, or an English translation, I know she is an incredibly good resource (one which I utilize a little more often than necessary).
The lessons in Thai that we have been given are incredibly useful. I am using the words I learned daily, and knowing them have made life here much easier. Truthfully, I disliked the idea of the class at first, since I wasn’t here to learn, I was here to teach myself. But that arrogant attitude didn’t last long, and now I try to soak up as much Thai as I can, and I am practicing daily. It doesn’t come easily to me, but the most rewarding skills usually don’t. Overall, I have changed my attitude and am now anticipating the lessons rather than dreading them.
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Nov 24
Having had to sit on the train for 18 hours, I thought I wouldn’t have enjoyed Chiangmai that much, but I am now falling in love with its beauty and I don’t want to leave. Though there are many tourists here, I still can feel a lot of cultural and spiritual energy all over the place.
I got here a few days ago and am still enjoying Khum Meuang (the Thai Northern Language), going shopping, and the hospitality and history of Chiangmai. The main reason I am in Chiangmai is the Loy Khathong Festival which is coming up in a few days time. It is one of the must see festival in Thailand, after Sukhothai, Chiangmai is the most beautiful Loy Khathong festival.
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Nov 18
On November the 8th I visited Karina Hammond at her construction site. This is her third week of volunteering and building a house for a single mom named Adaleidy. Karina works with a wonderful group of people: Jorge, also known as Goku for his long hair, Carlos, Rafael and Eduardo, the foreman. Jorge speaks English very well and practices with Karina. He struggles a bit with her Australian accent but he understands a little bit more every day. Eduardo himself lived in the US for a little while, so he knows a bit of English too.
The construction project is part of the Costa Rica-Canada foundation and the community development association for Piedades Norte in San Ramón. They provide subsidies to low income families so they can build a house in a rural area which also avoids the overpopulation of cities.
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Nov 15
This week is a very special week for uVolunteer. We are celebrating our fifth anniversary. The company started off in Costa Rica in 2006, after the founder of uVolunteer, Nathaniel Amposah-Manu, volunteered himself in Thailand. He thought that volunteering should not cost a fortune, and that is why uVolunteer offers one of the most affordable volunteer vacations currently on the market. Check out our website for more info: http://www.uvolunteer.org/about-us.php
We celebrated on Thursday, November 10th, because volunteer Marshall teaches the community evening classes from Monday to Wednesday, and that way he was able to be part of the celebrations. We started off having some ceviche at the volunteer dorm around 5:30pm. Ceviche is one of the common national dishes in Costa Rica. It is eaten cold, and consists of fish and a lemon based sauce. Karina, a volunteer from Australia, shared her vegemite with everyone. The reaction to its flavor was not as positive as she expected, but at least we had a taste of one of Australia’s favorite foods. Read the rest of this entry »
Nov 04
The Odwira Festival is celebrated by the people of Akropong-Akuapim, Aburi, Larteh and Mamfi in the Eastern Region of Ghana, 30 miles from the capital Accra.
The Odwira festival honors the traditional myths and legends of the people. It is also a period of remembrance of ancestors, a thanksgiving to the gods, and a period of renewal for families and society. Odwira Festival is a week-long series of traditions and rituals performed to purify the town, the people and most importantly, the ancestral Stools of the Chieves. It is also a festival to celebrate the harvest of “new Yams”.
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Nov 04
Madre Verde foundation is one of our project partners located close to San Ramón, where our main office in Costa Rica is situated. Madre Verde Foundation is a private initiative, but it is run so that everybody who wants to contribute can do so.The main goal of Madre Verde is to maintain a water reserve for future generations of Palmares and the Central Plateau.
The staff and volunteers also maintain the area, build new hiking trails, provide environmental education to the elementary school children and take care of the butterfly garden.
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Oct 28
Last Wednesday, on October 26th, volunteer Raili Marks, Karina Hammond and I visited Madre Verde Foundation in Palmares. The purpose of the visit was to be part of a bird watching activity held by two biology students from the Universidad de Costa Rica.
We got up really early to be at the reserve at 6am. Upon arrival we realized that the activity actually started at 6:30am, so we waited a little longer to start the bird watching a bit later. This delay in the scheduled start time is known as “Tico time”, a very common Costa Rican saying, which refers to the fact that Costa Ricans usually start any activity much later than originally planned.
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Oct 21
Last Monday, on October 17th, volunteers Karina Hammond, Marshall Owen, and Raili Marks and the uVolunteer coordinator of Costa Rica went to the community hall of Las Tres Marías in San Ramón.
The purpose was to take advantage of the national holiday and volunteer to paint the community hall. The Costa Rican government moved “Columbus Day” from the 12th to the 17th of October, aiming to increase the national tourism amongst Costa Ricans.
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Oct 17
On Wednesday October 5th we were contacted by Gail Keller, a counselor from Eugene, Oregon. She was visiting Costa Rica for a few days with her brother, husband and niece, and wanted to share the work she does with an orphanage in the US.
On this day, I met Gail early in the afternoon and took a taxi to the orphanage in San Ramón. The home is managed by Doña Roxiris and four tías (aunts) that also live in the orphanage.The home hosts twelve children who are no older than 13 years old. Our volunteers work in the orphanage helping with babysitting, cleaning, tutoring or just giving a hand with whatever is needed. The orphanage is funded by government resources for the protection of childhood and there is also a community group that also fundraises for the home. Volunteers work with the aim of making these kids life as good as it can be while being institutionalized.
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