Service Day

Last Thursday, every student and most teachers in UWCCR participated in what is called 'Service Day'. This is a day where we choose out of one of the many volunteering options that we have, to volunteer at a specific location somewhat near the community where we live.
As I mentioned before, my service CAS is working in La Carpio, the poorest part of Costa Rica.  In this CAS, we help to educate young teenagers living there, to make healthy life decisions.  For example, when I visited La Carpio last week with some students, we educated them about the challenges of parenthood. There are many teenage pregnancies in La Carpio, where the father abandons his duty of being a father, and leaves the teenage girl to deal with parenthood all on her own. We hoped to educate the teenage boys on what it means to be a parent-  plenty of love, costs and commitment.  I hope that it has made them more aware of the reality of parenthood, and has delayed their age of becoming a father.

As I am very committed to La Carpio, I decided to volunteer at La Carpio again- this time, painting houses.
Sixteen other students chose to do this option also!
We arrived at La Carpio at around 8:30am, and immediately began painting the tinned houses with all sorts of bright and cheerful colours.  I was assigned to the colour yellow, along with my second year friends, Alice, Lino and Robin.
We painted up until around 2pm, where we were then served a lunch of 'Gallo Pinto' - ( beans and rice).   The lady in charge of the whole La Carpio project- Gale, took us who wanted to go, to the poorest part of La Carpio.  This was such a memorable/haunting experience.  It was so hard to believe that people lived in those so called 'homes'.  The houses were made of scraps of tin, and the walkways to their houses were rotten wooden plants across the garbage-filled sewage river.
I clearly remember the image of an infant crouching in a dirt-stained light pink dress, with garbage all around her.  She stared up at us, her eyes were as lifeless as the two dolls that laid beside her.  At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to take her to a safe, comfortable home, far away from the garbage-lined back alley that she 'played' on.
This is experience was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.  All of the hard work that I put in was so worthwhile, seeing the smiles spread at the La Carpio communities faces!  We completely transformed the place!  In the near future, I would love to do much more volunteer work in La Carpio.

                     

 

San Jose

Last weekend, I went to Costa Rica's capital in order to do some early Christmas shopping for my friends and family in Wales and the U.S.  We visited the art market, which was filled with souvenirs- perfect for Christmas presents!  I went a little overboard with shopping, and managed to buy myself a hammock to hang up around campus (which has not yet happened, after a failed attempt resulting in me and my Finnish friend Peppi lying in a heap on the floor!)

Christmas

Christmas is coming soon!  Meaning that we have a month's break, where I will travel to Michigan to visit my family!  I haven't seen them in just short of two years!  So I'm very excited to see them again in exactly 3 weeks today!  It will be nice to be out of campus for a while.  It can sometimes seem like you're trapped in a UWCCR bubble being here- oblivious to everything that's happening outside!

SkyJump

At the moment, this place is the place to be in UWCCR!  Skyjump is a GIANT warehouse, lined with trampolines!  It contains everything you need to have an incredible night out with your friends!  From basketball hoops to a sponge pit.  I have been there five times already, and I'm still not tired of it! 

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Dilly x