Volunteer Voice - Praying for time to go by slowly!

Written by Beatriz Nordstrom - GVI Quepos Teaching Volunteer

Its weird how something that lasts for such a short period of time can mean so much. 

I have now been here for two and a half months and it feels like home. It feels relaxing and safe to go down to the beach, I can easily find my way around Quepos and I'm not longer going "to the house", I'm going home. And 3 months felt like forever. I remember that I used to count the weeks until I would be back home in Sweden, but now I'm praying for the time to go by slowly, slowly. Most of the people that I have been living with since I got here left a week ago, some to go home to loved ones, some for visa-runs and some to travel to other places and experiences. And I cried, a lot! We became a weird little international family and to see all of them leave was so hard. It's pretty amazing how close we have grown to be. Close enough to share all kinds of story's, (Too much, toooo much!!), close enough to know that these people always going to be there when you need it, close enough to cry until you laugh, and defiantly close enough to laugh until you cry! My new found sister and soulmate Baba left me a beautiful scrapbook  which ended with the words "you have made my time in Costa Rica perfect" and thank you all, for doing the same for me. 

So this week I have been working a lot with a guy in first grade, trying to come up with creative, fun and new ways for him to learn the alphabet and  how to form words. He's my little pellisoso (sloth) that often drifts away to another world, but he's charming! I made a work sheet for the fourth graders where they had to describe a picture of a surfer with at least 5 sentences. To read there story's made my entire week!! You've got to give them credit for creativity, even though the spelling was far from perfect.

Right now, I'm sitting on a bus to Puerto Viejo with Tuuli and Sara. My last weekend, and the start of my last week here in Costa Rica. I will miss it all. The beach, the kids, the nature, the heat, the other volunteers, the fresh fruits and all the local people that have invited us to there country with open arms and huge smiles. I'm leaving with a million memories and experiences, a new family and sooo many new friends that I will have in my life forever.

But I'm not really ready to go yet, so now I'm going to stop writing and enjoy the view. 

Thank you Costa Rica, you're pretty darn magic. 

Beatriz

Volunteer Voice - Praying for time to go by slowly!