Sunsets, etc.

It's generally interesting, and often quite surprising what foreigners ask me about America. I imagine it's fairly interesting for anyone traveling abroad to see what people know about their host country. Yet, with America being by far the most powerful, the third most populous country in the world with the biggest economy and probably the most widespread culture in the world, people tend to know a fair amount about the States. So, for me, when I've traveled and lived abroad, it's less about if the locals know about America, and more about what sort of impression they have of America; which facts and images have stuck in their heads. One thing I really like about my job is that two of the three Peace Corps goals have to do with culture exchange. On the one hand, this is awesome because it means that I'm working sitting in a bar, having a Pilsen and talking about why Americans don't like soccer or sitting on the bench at school, eating a candy bar and talking about what kids do in high school in the States. I think things like this are important for a whole lot of reasons, I'm sure I've mentioned them time and time again. One, very basic reason, is that, it's often best to hear it straight from the horse's mouth, and that cultural exchange can educate people using primary sources. 


So, I had a great opportunity to drop some knowledge on some Costa Ricans the other day and fulfill Peace Corps' second goal: "helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served." Or, well, I guess American geography/general science in this case-but kind of the way Americans live. 


As the horrendous second half of the Gold Cup final ended, the US giving up an early 2-0 lead to lose 4-2 to a much superior (read: faster) Mexican team, one of the two older guys at the table next to me (I watched the game alone) leaned over. We had been making small talk at times during the game, commenting on calls, missed shots. I have been pretty reserved when I watch US games at the local restaurant, kind of because I don't want to be The Ugly American, partially because I don't know if the people around me are cheering for the US, and mostly because I have no one to cheer with. I figured he'd comment about the game. I'd already told them "Hey, sometimes you lose," which is, in my opinion, pretty much the best reaction to a loss. But, instead, as the Mexican players were frolicking around the sunny field in joy, he asked "What time does it get dark there?" 

I think he expected a specific hour. He got a whole lot more. While I didn't get into explaining that the earth is on a tilt, blah, blah, blah. I explained that it depended on the part of the country on is in, and the seasons. I gave rough estimates of the different sunset times during the year for Des Moines, but explained that in parts of Alaska (and much of Canada (America Lite)) there are dramatic changes-crazy things like 20 hours of sun in the summer and 20 hours of darkness in the winter. It was almost nine o'clock in Costa Rica, so eight in Los Angeles, where the game was, so I said it'd go down within a half hour or so. I was a bit off, it set at 20:09 on June 25th in LA.


In my previous post on the weather, I've already expounded on my frustration/amusement at getting questions about the US as if it's one place. But, in reality, that's a fairly reasonably viewpoint for Costa Ricans. Likewise is the question about what time the sun sets. Being only 10.5 degrees above the equator, means that Earth's tilt doesn't very much affect the sun that reaches Costa Rica as it makes its elliptical mosey around the sun. For San Jose (and the differences within the country are minimal), the summer solstice sees a 5:17 sunrise and a 18:00 sunset. When everyone is busy making tamales and the winter solstice hits the sun rises at 5:48 and sets at 17:21. Yeah, there's less than a 40 minute difference in when the sun sets throughout the year. Add in that there's only a rainy and dry (read: less rainy) season, the lack of seasonal changes make it so most Costa Ricans probably don't even notice the slight change in sunlight hours. And the fact that the sun is never up later than 5:48 might do something to explain why everyone gets up so early here. 

Judging by their reactions "Really" "No way" "How strange" it's pretty crazy for a CRican to think about the sun rising at 7:38 and setting at 16:47 as it does in Des Moines during winter solstice. And, I bet they'd run out of things to do in the sunlight, when, after rising at 5:40 it doesn't set until 20:52 during the summer solstice. Two really cool volunteers near me, Kevin & Megon, moved here from Anchorage. I can only imagine what sort of madness must transpire when they try to explain that in the dead of winter, Alaska's biggest city doesn't see sun until 10:14 and is watching it fade at 15:41; (summer: 4:20 and 23:42). It's things like this that are super interesting to share with people from other countries. This is a first for me, I've only previously lived between 30 and 45 North, and have yet to even cross the equator. Yet, I was oddly excited to share this seemingly normal detail of life, but, that by traveling, by engaging with people from places other than good, ol' Polk County, have a very different understanding. 


Oh, and, sorry, there's a big series of hills west of my house, so I haven't been able to snap a picture of a sunset. Of course, I bet the sunrises are gorgeous across the fields and palm trees behind my house. Maybe one day I'll be awake to snap a photo. So just pics from around town. 

Copa Indigena

Fresh off the solid, if worrisome, US victory of Panama tonight (we're headed for the Gold Cup/Copa de Oro final against Mexico!) I'm going to stick with the soccer theme. Get over it, it's the world's most popular sport. I have no idea why I haven't posted about this yet, but over a month ago I went into San Jose for one of the best weekends I've had yet in Costa Rica. The weekend was awesome due in no way whatsoever to my work, which is always better. Josh H. a volunteer from Tico 19 (I'm in Tico 21) had been working hard with a group called SEPRO-Joven, which is a government based organization that promotes healthy, positive activities for youth in Costa Rica. Well, between Josh and some of the Sepro-Joven staff, the Copa Indigena was imagined, planned, and pulled off. I don't imagine it was in any way as easy as that sentence makes it sound. 


For those that don't speak Spanish, Copa Indigena translates as the Indigenous Cup, and that's what it was. Note-soccer enthusiastic countries like Costa Rica pretty much assume that cup refers to a soccer tournament, not something one drinks out of. Copa Indigena, as I understood it, had two main goals: to promote athletics/healthy lifestyles among the youth and to promote communication, recognition, and friendship between the various indigenous communities in Costa Rica. Most of the indigenous communities live pretty high up in the mountains or pretty deep in the forest in Costa Rica. For two groups my understanding is that that is their traditional land, more or less. For the other five groups (there are seven recognized groups) it's my understanding that this is where they eventually chose to go/were forced to go/ended up, after colonization and then the establishment of the modern Costa Rican state. The indigenous population is spread across the country, so the Copa Indigena was trying to overcome these different obstacles and try to eliminate the sense of isolation/being singled out that many indigenous youth may or do feel. 


The first stage of the Copa Indigena was a traveling, round-robin tournament, where the men's and women's teams from each community traveled to the other communities to play games, meet the other youth, and engage in some team-building activities. All of these games cumulated in the weekend tournament in San Jose. Travel problems meant some teams showed up late, but eventually, all the teams showed up on Friday evening. We went into the gym of a local high school where the teams were staying (on sleeping mats in the classrooms) and broke them into groups, mixing all the communities and playing all sorts of ice-breakers and team-building exercises. I noticed that, the more I yelled and tried to get the kids motivated, my Spanish became less and less grammatically correct and the pronunciation took on a greater and greater Ugly American accent. Looking back, the same thing used to happen when I would try to yell at the refs in Spain when I was assistant coaching el Club Baloncesto de Santa Marta. Many of the kids were dead tired from early a.m. wake ups and spending all day traveling. But, for a bunch of kids that just met each other, they were pretty awesome.


Most of us were pretty tired that night, and actually got chastised at the hostel by some British blokes for not going out. Best line was when they said "you're only in Costa Rica once" and all of us looked around at each other thinking, umm, well actually, we're all here for two years. Saturday was a pretty cush day as volunteering goes. I tried to be as helpful as possible without seeming officious, but Josh had asked for more than enough volunteers, so we pretty much just hung around and watched soccer games. Despite all Josh's worries, it was quite well organized, and all there was for us to do was 
hand out water, lay the chalk lines, keep score, and kindly remind the teams when they had to play, go back for staggered lunch breaks, help serve lunch (feature photo above). I did my best to chat with the participants, but invariably only talked about pro soccer with the guys and most of the girls/young women were pretty shy. I was able to squeeze a couple of words out of two cousins that had only recently moved to Costa Rica from Panama (they were now living with an aunt/grandmother). For them, the trip was their first to San Jose and it was neat to talk to them about what they thought of it, how the tournament was a great opportunity for them to see more of Costa Rica, meet more Costa Ricans. Their team, like another one or two of the female teams, had just been formed for the tournament. Most of the communities had men's teams-which they selected the younger members to participate, but for some of the young women, it was their first time being on a sports team. And considering that, the level of soccer was quite solid. Remember, all these awesome new experiences and great life skills being developed had nothing to do with me, it was all Josh H. from Maine. Oh, and, during the day Josh was splitting up duties amongst us Peace Corps peeps, and I was all about volunteering for bathroom duty, halfway because I didn't think others would want to do it, and half way because I enjoy cleaning. Somehow, Josh interpreted my raised hand as speaking for Darryl L., standing next to me. Needless to say Darryl wasn't exactly stoked with mopping and plunging. Furthermore, among the various skills I learned as VP of the Kappa Sig house was a touch for plunging toilets. Said skill came into use, Darryl was only mildly impressed. 


The big deal came on Sunday morning, when the men's and women's finals were played in the brand new National Stadium. It is important to remember that Costa Rica is a country of just 4.5 million people with a level of economic prosperity just 1/5th that of the United States, and to see their National Stadium in that light. I was fairly impressed, it has nice TV screens, and is pretty attractive/modern looking as stadiums go. Although it quite reminded me of the stadiums I'd been to in Changzhou and Nanjing (you'll understand in a sentence or 

two). It was just opened in March, with a 

game between Costa Rica and China. Why China? Because China built the stadium as a gift for Costa Rica-because Costa Rica cut ties with Taiwan and established ties with China during the previous president's administration. I think Ticos (and the Chinese) prefer to see it as a gift rather than a pay-off, but either way, it's the third largest stadium in Central America, and by far the most modern/technologically advanced. And I got to go inside just more than a month after it opened! Legit. 

In between the games and at half, some of the different indigenous groups performed skits or dances in traditional dress, which was pretty cool to see. Some of the skits had fairly strong and thought-provoking messages. The men's final was pretty solid soccer, so it was a joy to watch, and chat soccer with one of my bosses-Jose-who is a typical Costa Rican male-aka a soccer nut. As opposed to my typical weekends of review class, ice cream cones in the plaza, reading on the porch, and lesson planning; hanging out with a bunch of indigenous kids and watching soccer games in La Sabana (San Jose's main park) was quite a joy. 

Association football

Soccer, as it's known back home, or football, as it's known in those small islands in Europe's corner, or futbol, as it's known down here in Costa Rica, both get their name from shortening the official name: association football. Soccer, humorously, was originally used in England, as a short form of association. 


I thought I'd write about soccer because I've had Gold Cup fever recently. Gold Cup? Yes, the Gold Cup, I didn't write that wrong, and moreover, the Gold Cup is happening in the U.S. What? In America, what the heck is the Gold Cup, the only cup that I've been hearing about is named Stanley. The Gold Cup is a tournament that occurs every two years between the members of CONCACAF. CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football). As is obvious by its title, Concacaf includes all the countries in the Americas north of Colombia. There are regional tournaments in Central America and the Caribbean, but Canada, the US, and Mexico seem to always qualify (I haven't read enough up on this-but that doesn't mean you can't). I've had Gold Cup fever because it's going on, and it's a really big deal here. Costa Rica, like pretty much all of the world except the U.S. and India, is pretty crazy about soccer. 

(the greatest team in the world playing in the world's best stadium)

Costa Rica, actually, is really crazy about soccer. Unlike their neighbors to the north (Nicaragua) and south (Panama) Costa Ricans don't play much baseball. It, like basketball, volleyball, and handball, is found in pockets around the country and is taught in some PE classes, but soccer is pretty much the main concern of half of the Costa Rican population (the men-the other half are mostly concerned with Mexican telenovelas). Costa Ricans are also great fans of their national team. Costa Rica's national team is, well, um, ok. It's among the better Central American teams, alongside Honduras and El Salvador, but this isn't a great level to be at, it means it has to play pretty well to qualify for the World Cup. Concacaf has three spots, and for the last 20 years, two of those spots have always gone to Mexico and the US, so Costa Rica has to battle it out with the rest of Central America and the Caribbean to make it. But, despite this, Costa Ricans are very good fans. Yes, they complain a lot, and are quite unhappy that their national team isn't better, but on the other hand, they cheer for them and sport La Sele (the team's nickname) jerseys all the time. 


I spent Saturday afternoon watching the game at a local appliance store with the workers-I pay my cell phone bill there, so kind of know the guys. It was a tough loss, Costa Rica missed a penalty shot, and then lost in a penalty shootout after overtime. I was sad to see Costa Rica lose, I was hoping for some US-Costa Rica action in the final (unlikely, but I can hope). Sunday was much more pleasant, as the US beat Jamaica 2-0 and faces Panama on Wednesday for a rematch from group play (a surprise 1-2 loss by the US). Most Americans (you reader) are probably thinking, blah, blah, blah, why are you telling us about this. Well, partially because it's my job to share Costa Rican culture, and partially because I've caught the soccer bug. 

(in the Puerto Viejo plaza)

I caught it when I first lived abroad. Of course, it's impossible to catch the soccer bug in America, all Americans take the antivenom of football, baseball, basketball, NASCAR, and hockey early in life to prevent against the bug. I caught the bug in Spain, where my Sunday afternoons were spent alongside my host brother and dad, watching La Liga games. La Liga is the professional soccer game in Spain, which is a lead in to my little, friendly, helpful explanation of world soccer. There are three types of competitions you'll see featuring these goofy guys trying to get a ball into a net. The most common are professional games, most countries in the world have a professional league, in the US it's the MLS. Some of the most famous leagues are Spain's La Liga, England's Premiership, Italy's Serie A, and Germany's Bundesliga. As you can clearly see, the most important are European, which run from September to May, and usually have 20 teams, with each team playing each other twice-for 38 games per team. The second type of game is a inter-league tournament. This is when the best team(s) from a few different countries in a region get together and play against each other. The third type are when the national teams play against each other-the World Cup being the granddaddy of these type of games. Regional tournaments, like the Gold Cup, the EuroCup, and Copa America, are also big draws. National teams will also play each other in 'international friendlies' which don't count for anything but are meant to prepare teams for tournaments or World Cup qualifying. 


Why is almost every country in the world crazy about soccer? Why do many high school girls in Costa Rica know as much about soccer as a college kid knows about college football? I'm sure there are books and essays written about this, but I have a few ideas of my own, and reasons why it is, by far, the sport I follow the most. (Which isn't saying much, there's essentially no other sport to follow here, I'd have to work way harder than I'm willing to.) 
Firstly, unlike baseball, football, and hockey, soccer requires almost no equipment. Just a ball, a field, and some goals. And, really, goals aren't that necessary, a rectangle can just be painted on a wall, or two t-shirts can make an improvised, poor-man's goal. Basketball, once you get hoops built, is a pretty similar sport-you can just show up and play. In the poorer parts of the world, this is definitely a reason for the sports permeation. Additionally, soccer is a sport, that because it's so basic, can be played at many, many different skill levels. All sports (like everything) require lots of practice and patience to get good. But sports like baseball, golf, tennis, and hockey require a lot of practice and patience to just be able to play a functioning game, basketball is kind of this way too. In no way am I saying that soccer doesn't require the skill of other sports, but I'm just saying that the threshold of kicking a ball into a 24 feet by 8 feet goal is very low. 

(at the Copa Indigena--more to come)

Personally, I love soccer mostly because it's popular around the world, which means I can talk to people about it in various locations. Another reason, is that soccer, unlike some of the other major sports actually features athletic, fit people. Whoa, you say, what sort of claim is that. Because of its mixed requirements of endurance and speed and of power and agility, soccer players end up being very fit. Despite being huge and strong, most football players are not what I would call fit, because they simply carry far, far too much weight. Basketball players also tend to be overly bulky and not well conditioned. With players like Prince Fielder and David Wells being all-star baseball players, their is little doubt that baseball requires a whole lot of skill, but little fitness. And, well, I don't think golfers ever get their heart rate much above its normal resting rate. NASCAR drivers may endure lots of heat and have super strong forearms, but I don't see them doing too well on any agility drill. To be more blunt, I have never, ever seen a fat soccer player, something I can't say for any other sport. My last reason for liking soccer (and honestly, I like watching it as much or more than I like playing it) is the exact reason it will probably never be popular on American TV: it is continuous. Yeah, some punks take falls and roll and cry on the ground, but otherwise, the game has only very short, temporary stops during each 45 minute half. This means no commercial breaks-probably the main reason why soccer isn't more popular in the world's greatest country. Whether or not it was your goal to learn about soccer, looks like you've achieved said goooooollllllllllllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Class started two hours ago? Oh, am I late?

So, as promised in my last blog, the next post (this post) would be about the bad news. Aka a bad experience working with one of my teachers. There are many challenges in trying to improve the quality of English teaching at my schools, and I enjoy the challenges. There are also plenty of delightful experiences. I thought it would be unfair to just present just one story or the other, so that's why I put them up right after each other. As the following events transpired, I took some notes, thus the format given below.

9:20 The twenty minute morning break is officially over. Class officially begins (no passing period). I am sitting in the teacher's lounge, chatting with an English teacher.

9:26 I end my conversation and leave the teacher's lounge, I am the second teacher to leave. The rest remain.

9:27 I lean against the wall next to the classroom of the teacher I will be helping/observing/working with, she was in the teacher's lounge, but in conversation when I left.

9:42 I see the teacher I am planning to work leave the teacher's lounge, but don't see where she goes (she doesn't walk down the sidewalk to where I am standing.

9:44 I give up waiting for the teacher/class at the classroom and walk towards the direction the teacher went. A large group of teachers leave the teacher's lounge. I am hoping to maybe find the teacher, but also was tired of leaning on the wall.

9:51 On my walk, I see two other teachers going back to their respective classrooms.

9:54 I complete my loop of the lower part of the high school and return to the class, the teacher is there with the class room, calling roll.

10:14 The teacher finishes telling the students their grades, which she did while calling roll.

10:15 As the teacher is working on filling out a piece of paper, filing papers, etc. I ask students why they weren't waiting outside the classroom. I find out that they thought they were supposed to go to a presentation, but it was actually just for the seniors (these kids are juniors). So, they hung around and chilled until the teacher went to the auditorium and told them to come to class. The auditorium is a 2-3 minute walk from the classroom.

10:21 A group of three students begin working on the packet of worksheets.

10:23 Upon the teacher's inquiry into why they aren't working on the worksheets, the students explain that because they were told they had the presentation to attend, they didn't bring their materials.

10:24-11:10 The teacher engages in a discussion/argument with the students about some of the Ministry of Public Education regulations regarding attendance, uniforms, behavior, exams, and a few other topics. You can bet dollars to doughnuts that the group of three students stopped working on the worksheets. I chat with a group of students in the corner, where I've been seated.

11:10 Class is dismissed.

11:20 Class is officially over. The only English spoken in the past two hours was by yours truly and the three students I was chatting with. The only English written or read were the notes I am now copying to write this blog.

Poetry analysis

This and the next blog post are going to offer two distinctly different accounts of my job. The words help and support are can be pretty widely interpreted, and thus, my job has plenty of variety, which is great. Now, usually, people want to hear the bad news first, but as my last blog post was borderline querulous about my schools, I’m going to start with the good news.

Although it started out with a very typically for a meeting in Costa Rica-postponed twice without too much notice, Jonathan, a teacher at the night school came over to my house and picked me up-well actually Yendry, his girlfriend/common-law wife-he’s been chilling on getting his driver’s license. We got to their very nice house and Jonathan and I went into the TV room for me to help him with his homework. Jonathan, like about half of my teachers, isn’t done with college yet, so he takes classes on the weekends at a university branch in Guapiles, the nearest city. Due to an imbalance in supply/demand for teachers, although the Ministry of Education would ideally like all high school teachers to have graduated from college, in rural areas like Sarapiqui (my canton) that’s not the case.

I’m using Jonathan’s name because I doubt he’d mind, and he’s a great guy. He’s always happy to have me in class, and often will invite me to co-teach with him when I’m in class helping him. Some other teachers have instead tried to get me to just teach an hour or half-hour of their classes-which might be better for the students-but isn’t really developing their skills at all. But Jonathan is great about asking me to explain some point he doesn’t understand, or to have me explain the pronunciation-and then he’ll explain meaning or usage in Spanish. He has a lot of interest in English and has actually (although rarely) taken me up on my incessant offers to look over his tests or handouts (and before he prints the tests-something some other teachers haven’t seem to caught on to). So, I was more than happy to help him with his homework, because although it doesn’t really directly benefit his students-it certainly will improve his English abilities-which will make him a more confident and competent teacher. (Yes, I am well aware that being good at something doesn’t make one a good teacher-don’t even think about commenting.)

Our first challenge was figuring out what the assignment was. The syllabus and paper title said he was to write a reaction paper to Robert Frost’s poem “The Pasture”. Except that the rest of the assignment instructions and everything that the professor had been telling them in class were instructions for writing a poem analysis. So, we went with that. It seemed to me that his professor wanted all the students to just expound upon his interpretation of the poem (which reminded me of how literature analysis classes worked at good old JSTU). After Jonathan told me a few times about how the professor said that this meant that, I had to roughly tell him a Paul McCartney quote, "We write songs. We know what we mean by them. But in a week someone else says something about it, and you can't deny it. ... You put your own meaning at your own level to our songs.” Which perfectly sums up what I feel about people ‘knowing’ what a poem, song, or book means. So eventually I was able to help him out, by having him answer prompt questions I would give to elicit some analysis of the various elements in the poem. Along with some help from the Internet, I was able to put him on really good footing to write the paper. I also was able to help contextualize and explain words from the poem, and other words related to the assignment.

After looking at the syllabus, I’m especially excited about getting the call for help when they get to Shakespeare’s sonnets. Also included in the evening was a delightful dinner and conversation with Jonathan and Yendry. His girlfriend works as a regional assessor for the public pre school programs, and we mostly talked about some of Jonathan’s problem students-it was considerably more invigorating conversation than I normally have during meals here, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I could certainly get used to this getting picked up, dropped off, and fed dinner (fresh pineapple juice included!) in exchange for helping with some English homework. On one hand I’d hope Jonathan gets better at writing papers on his own, but mostly I’m hoping he keeps asking for help.