Costa Rica Independence

This past Saturday (15th of September) was Costa Rica's Independence Day. For the past few months, kids have been practicing band, bastonera (baton), and learning how to make faroles (lanterns) in preparation for the big celebration and desfiles (parades).

Unfortunately, last Tuesday the President of Costa Rica put out a notice to prohibit celebrations on Friday night and Saturday due to the recent earthquake and the possibility of another one hitting while everybody is in one place.  So, sadly my first C.R. Independence Day celebration was short lived, but I still got to see a little bit of what makes this country tick!

For the past week every day before lunch, the kids at El Llanito gather together to sing the same four Independence songs (they even gathered on Saturday to sing their songs). Afterwards the teachers took turns teaching them about the Independence holiday (attitudes, national figures/animals/songs, etc.).

Below is a picture of one of their sessions and of course some of my kinder class kids.

For those of you that don't know what a farole is, a typical lantern is pictured below.

For the past few weeks, I have been teaching the kids about toys. We've learned some new songs, danced and did some construction projects along the way.  Lots of fun!

Two things I did get to experience was eating tamales and playing Bingo. For Independence Day and Christmas a lot of the women cook tamales for their families and/or sell them to the community.  Isabel tried to show me how to make the tamales but someone in her family passed away...we'll have a rain check for another date.  Here is our first one. 

 AM put on a Bingo match for the community of Potrero on Saturday. It was a huge hit and the women's group of Potrero cooked some wonderful dishes to sell as well. I believe over 100 people came out to play. I never knew how much Costa Ricans LOVE bingo! Another volunteer and I were helping at the door and it was so funny at the number of adults/kids that would come up to change out their bingo card between each match because it just wasn't lucky enough!

Last night John and I taught our adult English class.  In the middle of class, the rain began and it was a downpour.  When the roof is tin, it is really hard to speak over the pounding rain, but we both made it work. It's funny ... I hear John yelling in the room next to me, and I can tell we are both having a good time with this and our class is too!  Then the electricity goes out about 10 minutes before the class is over.  So, with my phone as a flashlight, I pass out their homework assignment and we all scurry home.  My kinder class this morning got cancelled due to the heavy rain from last night and I was a bit thankful due to my small case of gripee (C.R. term for any head/congestion cold).  And then the Potrero's women's group got cancelled tonight (which I probably needed as well so I could rest more).  It's funny, one thing that you have to get used to is the schedule of Costa Ricans. Things seem to change, get cancelled or move almost every week ... so just a little adjusting for me :)

All is going well here ... God is good!