Tony Hawk and Children

            So, for those who don’t know, the month of April is the month I volunteer in Costa Rica.  The first three months were school stuff and now it’s volunteer stuff.  When I first signed up to study abroad, I noted that I wanted to help with a soccer program when I volunteered.  However, when I arrived in Costa Rica, the director of the volunteer programs said that soccer wasn’t an option since it had already started and only volunteering for a month wouldn’t work (not sure if she really tried but whatever).  Since soccer was a no go, I had planned on volunteering in the zoo, working with the animals, cleaning up poo, and possibly leading tours.  The director said the zoo would be fine. 

I found out this past Tuesday, the day before we started our volunteer work, that the zoo too wasn’t an option now.  Thanks for telling me in advance, right?  Anyways, the director said I could volunteer in Santa Ana at a nature preserve but that I would be working with plants, doing botany stuff.  I politely said no thank you because I wouldn’t get much interaction with people while looking at leaves, plus it would cost me $10 in travel expenses each day and I’m cheap.  So, I asked what else I could do instead of Santa Ana.  The director suggested a school.

Turns out, there’s a school near my house within walking distance that I could volunteer at and help out the physical education teacher, playing games and soccer with the kids all day.  Duh, why wouldn’t the director have suggested this in the first place?  Anyways, the director wasn’t sure if I could get ‘in’ since there was already three other volunteers at that school.  However, that same Tuesday, the director took the other three volunteers to look around the school and said I should tag along so she could ask the principal if it was okay for me to volunteer there too.  The principal said yes!

My first day of full volunteering was Wednesday, two days ago.  The school is ages 1^st-6^th grade and is a public school.  Let’s just say all the kids loved the volunteers.  The kids want to show us everything, tell us everything, learn what we like to do in the US, who we know in the US, what it is like in the US, how old we are, what are names are, etc.  I was bombarded with questions and did my best to answer them in Spanish.  Not many kids speak English at all and those that do can really only say things like ‘Hello’ and ‘What’s your name?’

I accidentally made the mistake of telling some kids I know Tony Hawk.  I thought they were asking if I knew of Tony Hawk so naturally I said yes.  Little did I know that I had just told them I was friends with Tony Hawk which quickly spread around the school like fire.  Later that day and all day yesterday, Thursday, I had kids coming up to me and asking me if Tony Hawk was my best friend and if I would sign their notebook since I was a friend of Tony Hawk.  I guess in their eyes being a friend of Tony Hawk makes me famous too.  Oh well, I feel like I’ve dug myself too deep to tell them the truth.  I guess Tony Hawk and I really are friends now.

Well, these past two days have been a blast with the kids.  I’m remembering their names, building relationships, and practicing Spanish.  I have basically been playing soccer with these kids all day long or being a monkey with them on the swing set.  But let me tell you, 4 hours a day with 300 kids really tires one out…Whew.  But in all, I think God filled the zoo with volunteers for a reason.  I think He wanted me at this school with these kids.  And so far I’m glad that I am here, with these kids, being their friend, learning and growing from them while also teaching them the things I know.