My New Community

I finally received my site assignment! I am going to live in a beautiful town in the mountains south of San Jose in a district called Pérez Zeledón. Last week I went to visit my new town for the first time.

Here is a picture of my new house, surrounded by a garden and flowers.

From the garden (with fishpond), you can sit on benches and look out over the town's soccer field.

Here is my host father and two host sisters (ages 17 and 1 year), watching the Sunday soccer game.

Here are the players, including my oldest host brother.

And here are my two host brothers (ages 22 and 15), with the baby sister.

Here I am taking a ride on my family's horse - a great way to get around town.

And here is the family's garden and greenhouse above our house.

My host parents love roses, and they grow gorgeous roses of all colors and sizes.

Behind the house is a beautiful mountain and tropical forest. The family has made trails through the forest for exploring.

All the plants are beautifully colorful and lush.

And some benches for resting in the shade.

From the top of my family's mountain, you can look way down and see the center of our town.

On my visit I climbed the mountain with my host father to help plant potatoes on the farm at the top.

Here is my host father with all the potatoes.

And here I am placing each seed in its place.

Later I snacked with some new friends on fresh honey from a beehive!

And on my last day I picked baskets of blackberries to sell in the farmer's market.

A final shot of the mountains of my town behind the blackberry bushes. I am very excited this will be my home for the next 2 years!

Dia de la Tierra

On Earth Day, my friend Tes and I led a community activity in our training town for the 4 to 6 graders at our school.

First the kids made posters about "Dia de la Tierra" and what it means to protect the environment.

Here is a poster with "Reducir, Reusar, Reciclar."

Here I am, providing some guidance.

And here's Tes, working with a group that made cut-outs of the globe.

Afterwards, the students posed with their posters on the wall of the school.


The posters were very creative.

Next, we led a big Trash Pickup competition at the school.

All the kids raced to collect the most garbage.

We also gave them plastic bags to protect their hands.

Here I am with one group and their trash bag.

In the end, Tes and I were very happy and took a moment to pose with the artwork.