Volunteer Voice - Expect The Unexpected
Written by Emma Burton from Australia - GVI Manuel Antonio Community Volunteer
When
I decided that I wanted to spend some time this year volunteering in
Costa Rica I really had no idea what to expect. I signed up for a six
week program, knowing very little about the country and speaking
absolutely no Spanish. After spending a month working on the project and
living in Manual Antonio my advice to anyone who is in the same
position as me would be: expect the unexpected.
To give you a taste of
what I have experienced in these past four weeks; I have walked
alongside a sloth on my way to the beach and I have been a suspect for
the murder of a teddy bear at our fantastic murder mystery night. I have
been offered a slice if cheesecake from the pocket of a child; I have
had an egg cracked on my egg
because apparently that's a birthday tradition here (although it was
not my birthday). I have watched a classroom be transformed into a hair
salon for the afternoon and watched the locals (and volunteers) stop by
for a free haircut. I have spent a Sunday night dancing
around the house to a Spanish children's song, which I then performed
in front of the whole school whilst dressed in a ridiculous costume. I
have gone to the local shop in the pouring rain dressed in a toga and I
have watched monkeys jump through the trees with bananas just in front
of our balcony. And tomorrow I'm painting a seascape mural on a large
fishing boat for the Independence Day parade.
I can't wait to see what
weird and wonderful things the next two weeks bring!
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