Mid Service Training

Sixteen months down, eleven to go! As our half-way point in our service (excluding the 3 month training period) came and went, we volunteers were called in from our Costa Rican diaspora to the Central Valley for a Mid Service Training (MST). It was a week-long retreat and seminar focused on reflection, rest, planning and motivation. It was exactly what we needed.

The first four days of the week were held at a retreat center in the mountains high above San Jose in Tres Rios. This place is sacred for all volunteers; it is the first place we were taken after we first got off the plane all those months ago. The air is cool and clean, a stark difference from most Peace Corps Costa Rica sites. Surrounded on all sides by coffee fields, I was relieved of the tuna plant stink that I have become used to in Puntarenas. There were no car horns to wake me up at night. We all felt a collective calm when we arrived, and it lasted all through the week.

In a speech given by my program manager, Dan, he told us that MST was like halftime in a football game. A time to evaluate what happened in the first half, address any weaknesses and strengths, and give any necessary congratulations. We were also told that it was a time to rest. Take a breath, enjoy the grounds. Finally, we were to plan the second half of the game, and get motivated. That is exactly what we did.

The first day of the training was reserved for the rest that we so desperately needed. The forty-seven of us Tico 18ers threw our bags on our rustic bunks, and took to the sports fields for ultimate frisbee, basketball, and schmoozing. Many of us hadn’t seen each other in several months, and enjoyed catching up. We shared our successes and challenges faced in our sites. We exchanged books. We broke bread on the fine cuisine of the fantastic dining hall. It was a moment of general comfort.

The next day, our staff arrived and began the packed schedule of meetings, workshops and presentations. All of Tico 18 was split into its specific project groups, mine being Children, Youth and Families (CYF). My specific group was asked in advance to prepare a fifteen minute speech regarding one specific project that had worked in our sites to share with the group. I found this to be the most important part of the entire training.

It was amazing to see how successful my colleagues had been in their sites. The pride on each volunteer’s face as he or she described the details of their work was quite moving. I learned about children’s rights workshops in the north, Boy and Girl Scouts programs in the south, life skills trainings in the east, recycling programs in the west, art therapy classes in the center, and Chicas Poderosas programs all over. It was very important for me to learn about such programs, as I am in the process of planning my second year of service. I got good ideas exactly at the right time.

I proudly presented my Albergue Poetry Workshop to my colleagues. I shared with them the Poetry Collection that we had created; it was a big hit. I explained the method, the skills the children learned, and how other PCVs can use the workshop in their sites. Afterward, I had several PCVs ask me to make a manual for the implementation of the workshop. So now, I am working on such a manual so that my workshop can help children throughout the country, and maybe in other Peace Corps countries.

The other sessions of the training were just as inspirational. A representative from the Fuerza Publica (Costa Rican Police Force) spoke to us about setting up D.A.R.E. programs in our schools. Our assistant country director spoke to us about starting to plan our post-Peace Corps lives, and Dan informed us about existing resources in Costa Rica that could help in our development work. All gave me good ideas that I know will be useful in the year to come.

We also received a full medical battery. I can’t tell you how many jokes were made in the three day course of our stool sample collection. While we got a kick out of it, it was important for the medical staff to know if anything was living in any of our digestive systems. After a physical and dental appointment, we were cleared for a second year of service.

On the last day of MST, Dan gave us our “Aspiration Statements” that we wrote prior to our arrival in Costa Rica. They contained our hopes, goals, expectations, predictions and thoughts about our upcoming service. As I read mine, I felt proud that I had fulfilled most of my hopes and goals. We were then instructed to write a second aspiration statement for the second half of our service. This letter was meant to contain goals that we wanted to have accomplished before our Close of Service Conference in eight months. I wrote in mine that I needed to spend more time with Ticos in a social setting. Yes, I spend all of my days working with Ticos, but rarely have I kicked back and had a beer with any of them. Needless to say, I found it incredibly fulfilling when I accomplished that goal the next night. I met a certain beautiful Tica with my friends in San Jose. I never knew that following my Peace Corps game plan could be such a pleasant experience.

It was important for me to take a moment and step back from the madness that is my life as a PCV. I made several good insights into the meaning of my service. Mostly, I learned that I am doing a good job. My projects are successful, the people in my site like me, and I am growing as a result of my work. My hope for my second year is that I can continue to be productive, grow further on a personal level, and expand my positive influence on the children with whom I work.

I know from experience that one week in the Peace Corps can be paramount, while others can be profoundly difficult. Hopefully I can effectively implement what I learned over the past week. If I do, eventually the good weeks will outnumber the bad, making my service even more meaningful than it has been over the past year. ¡Si Dios Quiere!