5.30.2011

Soccer!

The good news: We finally had our first soccer game the other day and we won!
The bad news: I couldn’t be there to see it because I was in San Pablo.

I had pretty much given up on trying to organize a game for the high school because the rainy season had already started and every other time I tried I was always met with resistance. It was really frustrating because the kids in San Isidro are used to being promised stuff that never actually happens. The day before the game a bunch of kids came up to me saying that surely it would be cancelled because they never get to play for one reason or another. One kid bet me a sucker that the game would be suspended and I told him we would be even if we played and won both games, which we did!

The principal from Llano Bonito gave the team permission to miss the morning classes to play two games against us and my principal cancelled morning classes for the entire high school to watch and cheer for the home team! I wasn’t there, so I don’t know what it was really like, but with the two teams, all the students and teachers from San Isidro and whoever else was randomly watching, there must have been about 150 people there. That’s more than 10% of the population of the town haha. We won the first game 4-1 and the second one 2-1. We’re supposed to return the favor and travel to Llano Bonito for another game or two. As long as I’m free the day they go, I could even play with the team since it’s a friendly match!

Today there were four soccer games between San Isidro and San Pablo. The games corresponded to the “cycles” in the school system. The first cycle is 1st through 3rd, the second is 4th through 6th, then 7th through 9th and finally 10th through 12th. I thought we would get dominated since San Pablo is so much bigger and the kids always talk about how they want to play against other villages about the size of ours, but we held our own. We tied the first game, lost the next two 1-0 and 2-1, and won the final 4-3. Nobody really dominated in any of the four matches; they were all entertaining to watch. Apparently there’s no age limit on the fourth cycle so I can play next time if I want. 

5.23.2011

From Big Lick to Big Creek

I was reading the history of San Isidro the other day just for fun and found out that its original name was Quebrada Grande, or Big Creek. It was later named after San Isidro Labrador (Labrador means farmer) because the people wanted to pay homage to the patron saint of farming. For those of you that aren’t from Roanoke, or even if you are and never knew, Roanoke was called Big Lick for a while supposedly because there were a lot of sugar deposits that the deer would lick. It’s always fun to discover random connections like that!

I wanted to let you guys know about an opportunity that you could take advantage of to help support a new dance group this year in the elementary school in San Isidro. Five years ago, they formed a folkloric dance group comprised of students from 1st through 6th grades. They bought a dozen or so outfits and these outfits have been used year after year since the formation of the group. This year, they decided to start a popular dance group. It already has 33 members, has been practicing for over a month and just had its first performance today in the school arts festival. The only problem is that they don’t have any outfits for the group because there’s simply no money to buy them. I’ve been working with the school’s guidance counselor filling out a grant application for $500 from Kids to Kids, but even if we’re awarded the grant we’ll still be short a couple hundred bucks. That’s where you come in! I’m a little premature in writing about all of this because I don’t have the account I need quite yet to receive donations through the Peace Corps, but I thought I’d get the information out there while I was thinking about it and update you on the specifics later. Basically, I’ll provide you with a link to the Peace Corps website that allows you to donate money directly to me for my project and I will be sure to keep you all updated on its progress!

I was at the performance today taking pictures and videos of the group for the forms I had to fill out. Since they don’t have outfits yet, the boys wore white shirts with blue jeans and the girls white shirts with blue jean skirts. I thought that the popular dance group would be like breakdancing and stuff like that, but I think it’s just latin dancing that isn’t Costa Rican. It’s basically traditional dances that come from other countries instead of the truly Costa Rican traditional dancing that the folkloric group does. I took a video that I’m going to upload to YouTube. I’ll share the link in my next post. Chao!

5.10.2011

My first tico funeral

I was actually at the viewing of one of my students’ grandpa who had died earlier that day when we found out that the father of the elementary school principal had just passed away. They told me that the funeral would be the following day and there would be no school because of it (in Costa Rica, they don’t have all the chemicals we have to preserve the body, so when somebody passes away they have the viewing that same day and the funeral the following). I was a little confused about why school would be cancelled, as the father of the principal was not from San Isidro nor did he work for the school in the past, because the principal had missed a lot of days taking care of his dad and we never cancelled school. But I figured it was safer not to ask.

Today I went to the high school here in San Isidro since the elementary school was closed. I told the English teacher that I would only be there half the day since I was going to the funeral in San Pablo. She then told me that there were no classes in the afternoon anyway so that people could go to that very same funeral. I was a little surprised by the cancelling of classes in the elementary school but I was shocked that the high school was letting out early. Maybe it’s different in very rural areas of the States, but where I’m from maybe one or two kids don’t show up to school or leave early when a relative passes away or there’s a funeral, but we would never ever cancel school for that.

My confusion grew when I heard that all of the teachers from the high school and the elementary school would be attending and we were bringing our school banners to place behind the altar. Admittedly, I haven’t been to many funerals in my life because I have such a small family, so maybe I’m not a good judge of what is typical in American society, but I found everything up to this point to be rather strange. At this point I went ahead and asked if the señor that died had worked in the school system. Chuckling a bit, they told me no and realizing my confusion they began to explain that to them the principal of the elementary school is a colleague even though they work in the high school. And in Costa Rica, it’s customary to support your colleagues in whatever way you can; in this case, the principals and teachers attending the funeral and bringing their banners. I understood what they were saying, but as it was something foreign to me that I had yet to experience, I didn’t fully comprehend it until I got to the church and saw it for myself.

In total, there were four institutions represented by their banners in the church: the elementary school and technical high school in San Pablo and the elementary school and high school in San Isidro. I thought maybe the schools in San Pablo had just sent their banners with a few representatives or something but no, they actually cancelled afternoon classes there too. And that’s no small feat because the technical high school has 800 kids from all over the region, so to communicate a change in the schedule and coordinate transportation for all of them is nothing short of amazing on that short notice. But just imagine classes being cancelled for 1000+ students for a funeral… As I looked around the sanctuary, I saw students, teachers and principals from all four schools, as well as the former high school principal in San Isidro who now works about an hour away. I also recognized a ton of people from a bunch of different places: San Pablo, San Isidro, Llano Bonito, San Marcos, Santa María and even as far as Frailes. The sanctuary was so full that people were crowding around the three entrances to watch the funeral.

Since it was my first tico funeral, I tried to pay as close attention as I could to the service, but it seemed like a typical mass and I got lost rather quickly. Not for lack of understanding because I’ve gotten to the point to where I can understand 75% minimum, but even when I’m listening to a sermon in English I zone out. How many times have you been to church and not been able to remember what the sermon was about a half hour later? It was the typical standing up and sitting down a million times, kneeling on the knee rail thing, holy water splashing all over and the holy smoke – or is it just incense? Never once was it mentioned who it was that had died or who his relatives were, what he did during his lifetime, etc. I guess just about everyone there already knew all that stuff anyway. This was another difference that struck me, because for me that’s what the funeral is about (I feel like I learned more about my dad’s dad during the funeral and reception from what friends and family members had to say than I knew up to that point). However, at the end of the service, the principal got up in front of everyone and began thanking us for coming and how his dad would have been happy to have seen how many people came to his funeral. He also talked about how grateful he was for his dad and how proud he was to be his son and how his dad did the will of God throughout his life. It was super emotional because he got choked up toward the end and almost everyone was crying by the time he finished. I choked back my tears for the time being, but I ended up crying in the second funeral when I saw my student crying. I don’t know why but I can’t watch other people cry without tearing up myself.

When the service is over, they carry the casket to the entrance and set it down there so as people file out they can see the deceased one last time. That part is really emotional also because family members are weeping and practically throwing themselves onto the casket (there’s a pane so they can’t touch the body) saying their goodbyes… it’s hard to watch. Once everyone has left the church, they load it into the hearse and proceed to the cemetery, but slow enough for people walking behind to keep up. There’s the hearse, a crowd of people walking and then a procession of cars. I didn’t see the burial in San Pablo because I left with some people from San Isidro to go to the other funeral, so I’ll describe the burial in San Isidro.

We walked from the church to the cemetery, which isn’t that far but it’s straight uphill so I was surprised by some of the old women that did it. Then they unloaded the casket onto a big concrete slab in a little outdoor pavilion where once again you could view the body. Someone from the church said a prayer and they took the casket to the grave to be buried. I’m not sure why, but they make a concrete container above ground that the casket fits into instead of burying it. The end is open and they slide the casket inside and then some guys with concrete and cinder blocks close it up. Then everyone goes home and the family does rosaries every night for nine days. The ninth day is called the novenario and a ton of people go to the house to pray with the family. I don’t really understand the significance of the rosary in the first place, much less why they do it nine days in a row, but that’s what they do.

I guess what I learned through this experience is what I already knew about Costa Ricans: that they’re more community- and people-oriented than we are in the States. I don’t know if that’s a product of their culture or simply the rural area that we live in, but it’s evident in every social gathering I’ve been to. Later this week, I’ll be attending a wedding for the first time in Costa Rica and I’m sure I’ll see more of the same. More on that later!