Well, I know its been a while….I’m not going to make any excuses.

The 5th graders raising money to paint the lines on the basketball court was a success. We raised all the money by December and then had to wait for the climate to cooperate with us. During December and January we had a lot of rain and the court was saturated so it was impossible to paint. In February we finally had a week full of sun so we took advantage and painted.

The mini-company project with high school students went fairly well. They chose to make greeting cards. There were 19 students in 8th grade. Ideally, there should have been a professor from the high school to work with me for supervising purposes and also to become familiar with the program to continue it later on after I am gone. No professor could be convinced to sign on but I decided to do it alone anyway. I think the students learned a lot but we ended up losing money in the end. Selling shares to community members financed the company for $3.00 each with the idea that at the end we would have profits and be able to give more than the $3.00 they had invested. We ended up giving about $2.50 back to each shareholder. The program finished in late November.

In March, I started the same program with a different group in the high school. This time, I selected 12 students after conducting interviews with about 60. There is one student in 11th grade, six students in 10th grade, two in 8th grade, and three in 7th grade. We have decided to make a candy called “cajetas” which is a fudge-like candy made principally from milk and sugar. We are focusing on 4 flavors: coconut, peanut, milk, and Pejibaye (which I think is beach nut? I don’t know I’ve never seen it in the US. But my dad knows what it is! He tried them!). Anyway, this program ends on June 30th and then it will be up to us to see if the group or at least some of them would like to continue to make cajetas.

Another thing I´m working on is an event called Arte por la Paz or Art for Peace. I am working with 11 students from a small elementary school on the outskirts of my town. I really like working at this school because its smaller, the children come from households that are more rural and they have never really had contact with someone from a different country. Also, the administration is more cooperative than the elementary located in my town where I did the world map. So, Arte por la Paz is an event being organized by the volunteers in the central valley region of costa rica. There are 12 of us who are all working in schools giving workshops on peace, anti-violence, and conflict resolution. At the same time, our students are preparing art (visual arts, poetry, theater, or dance) within these themes. I have 2 boys doing poetry, 2 boys and 1 girl doing visual arts, and a group of 5 girls and 1 boy doing dance. We have been practicing and preparing our art to take to San Jose the day of the event where it will be shared with the kids of the other 11 groups. We will do workshops there, possibly listen to guest speakers, there will possibly be prizes, face painting, etc. It will be a great celebration of art and peace. The hardest thing has been trying to coordinate transportation to and from san jose. It costs about $100 to contract a mini-bus for 14 people which is a lot for a community/school to try to raise. I asked the local municipality for funding and was rejected. Now, I have asked the owner of a local bus company and he ¨said¨ he would lend us a bus for that day but since nothings written down I´m nervous....

March was full of visits. My dad came in the beginning of the month. Manuel Antonio, my site, and then Playa Flamingo.....it was a fabulous trip. I think we set a record of 1,600 miles put on a rental car. AND as far as I know we got away with putting a huge scratch on the back bumper because I was clumsey and backed into a ditch....
Then my brother came for his spring break at the end of March. We enjoyed time in my site as well as Cahuita. There were many girls, ladies, women, and grandmothers who were in awe of his presence and I have since received many bribes if I am able to convince him to come back and be a boyfriend to them.

Only 4 months left in my site....time has gone fast.....there are parts of me that are really ready to leave and get on with my life....however, the state of the economy scares me and makes me nervous to search for a job.....also I dont really know what I want to do. I´m glad I have a degree in Marketing but I feel like this experience has really changed my priorities. I would be interested in working with international aid or sustainable international development. Finding a job where I would be speaking spanish is key. Maybe working with immigrants....but i dont know if my studies qualify me for that. Its tough...

More to come later....hopefully sooner than later!

Much Love, Hope everyone is well.

Emily