Jumping In

I would be remiss if I didn't start this post by sharing with you a picture of the cutest little Tica girl I have ever met/will ever meet, as far as I'm concerned. Her name's Asly, she's all of five years old, and she is just the best. She's one of the many children who stay at my house throughout the day as her mama is at work. She is remarkably intelligent for a five-year-old, and you should see her dance!

Hand on her hip, as sassy as she is adorable.

So before arriving in country, my expectations of the learning process throughout my time at training were barely formed into more than a vague classroom setting with a myriad of topics. I recall the moment during our orientation when we received a thick binder full of information regarding our entire training process. As I flipped through the pages I dealt with the initial syllabus shock (been a little while since I've gone through that) and eventually breathed again as I processed the course of the next twelve weeks.

One of the more impressive sections was the schedule. I'm a planner to a fault, but these put to shame any of my former project plans quick, fast, and in a hurry. The attention to detail is remarkable; they have items planned for May 17th down to the half-hour. Being such a planner in the past, I understand that there's always flexibility for unforeseen events, but I'm still enormously impressed by the organization of this... organization.

The training itself has been extremely helpful. For example, just today we had a session in which we learned about Junior Achievement, an organization designed to assist in teaching students across the world about financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and work readiness. The primary operation is partnering with local business and organizations to provide experiential learning opportunities for students from kindergarten all the way up through high school. After a brief lesson on the basics of JA's operations - especially here in Costa Rica - we split up into groups and used existing curriculum to create a teaching session based on popular methods. Afterward, the PC training staff gave us some valuable feedback. It was a great chance to get our hands on the materials used by JA volunteers (which the majority if not all of our group will be at one point or another during our service) and experience what it's like to lead a class. Mind you, teaching a particular lesson to a group of peers is one thing; successfully navigating a lesson with local schoolkids will undoubtedly be a completely different set of hurdles, but I certainly feel more empowered with this distinct experience under my belt.

That brings up a very interesting point about how PC encourages our learning throughout the Pre-Service Training process.  As my group walked out into the sunshine to sit and discuss our lesson plan, I thought to myself, "Man, it doesn't seem like Peace Corps really believes in the concept of a shallow end." Truth be told, I'm thankful for it. One of the things I remember considering when applying a year ago was the different ways in which I'd be stretched as a person. For example: is Dakota the kind of person who would volunteer to teach a 20 minute lesson after having 10 minutes to prepare? No way. Nonetheless, that's what I was asked to do today, and according to some others in our class, it went pretty dang well.

And I gather that's the point. The training methods that Peace Corps utilizes are like a pair of semi-familiar hands that essentially push you into the deep end. There is no shallow end here. It's truly a sink-or-swim form of learning, but can you think of a better way to show someone how to live in a new country with a foreign language? It works.

In other news, I had my first live show last night. That is to say a microphone and electric guitar were placed in front of me, and I was encouraged to play Hotel California at the birthday party for a women I'd just met about 45 minutes earlier. It ended being a blast. The birthday girl even filmed it (and I'm talking about a camera alllllll up in my face for parts of it), so if you see a YouTube video from a Costa Rican backyard with me crooning to the Eagles' classic, well now you know.

Friday I was working on some of my own homework when I heard a bit of a commotion in the next room. One of my house nephews - Hansel, the one in my new profile pic of FB - was having a little trouble focusing on his assignments (maybe we're more related than I originally realized). A few minutes later while Hansel was taking a lap to work off his frustration with having to do homework on a Friday, I walked into the kitchen to get a drink. Not much could've prepared me for what awaited. The picture below is of what is called "San Pedro" (I think I'm remembering that right), and he only shows up when kids refuse to finish their homework. Heck of a parenting tool, huh? I feel like we could've used a little San Pedro when I was growing up. He sure did scare the piss out of adult-Dakota.

Also, today I found out the site to which I'll be heading on Saturday for my current-PCV visit. As it is, I'm headed to the southernmost point on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica in the Limon region, to a indigenous little town/village called Gandoca. To me, it's interesting because the last time I was in country, my hosts took me a place called Junquillal Bay, which was on the northernmost point of the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Seems I'm covering all my bases here, slowly but surely.

This weekend's site visit is going to be a whole new adventure. I'll get to spend time with a current PCV who's in a completely new part of the country, I'll have a chance to ask him about his own integration and what works vs. what doesn't work, I'll have many opportunities to meet the locals - more than likely indigenous people groups - and learn more about their ways of life, and I'll learn a whole lot about what it is to ride on a public bus in Costa Rica (it's somewhere around 6 hours to Gandoca).

One of the ways I've viewed a lot of what I've experienced during this process has been through the lens of getting over the next big hurdle. Be it designing a presentation about something I myself just learned, being introduced to scores of Ticos whose language I'm still very much so learning, being prompted to belt out a 70s classic rock song at a Tica's birthday party, or taking a bus to the edge of Costa Rica to meet a complete stranger and do life with him for four days, I'm learning more and more to just go for it. To just take a breath and get on with it. To accept that I will be uncomfortable at times, and that's okay. To be at peace with a common and frequent lack thereof.

To just jump in... to the DEEP END!