Wow...this is it...27 months, almost 800 days, and it all ends next a week from Thursday.  There are so many emotions going on in my head but I don't think it has completely registered yet that it is so close.  A couple fellow Tico 29ers went on our last beach trip together this last weekend and leaving them was just another "see you next time" but next time will be at our "gong out" ceremony on the 4th and not the next weekend trip or training session.  Everything in site is slowly coming to a close but I am still busy enough here for it to feel like I still have months to go.  I am closing out the grant, seeing construction close on the medical clinic, helping plan a community event for this Sunday, talking to the elementary school about a new project (STRESSS), but at the same time, buying tickets to Europe, discussing plans for after Peace Corps and searching for jobs.  All I keep trying to figure out is; where has the time gone and how did it go so fast.  Part of me is counting down the days, hours and seconds until i'm on a plane out of here but i'm also dreading the goodbyes and the feeling of knowing that its not just a weekend i'll be gone for be a couple years at least.  The good news is that I have been busy this past month and pretty much have the last 10 days mapped out to keep me busy and hopefully not stressing too much about the future and everything it has in store.  This past month, as mentioned, has seen everything from closing out the grant, helping with construction here in the community, helping with the construction of another Courts for Kids project in a buddy's community in the south, jobs searches and talking about future projects here in the community.

Courts for Kids Round 2

After a great(ish) first round with CFK, I decided that I would volunteer helping a buddy of mine down south to help with his court project.  The team consisted of a group of 22 high school students and 4 chaperones from the school and naturally was a lot different than the group of D-1 athletes that came down to help with my court.  Each day started around 6 with a drive to the construction site with the other 4 volunteers, a great breakfast, then construction starting around 730 in some shade and maybe 80 degrees.  The day would only get progressively worse from there; we would lose the shade, the temperature would hover around the mid-90s to high 90's, the sun would constantly be beating down on us, kids and chaperones would constantly fall out from heat exhaustion and to hydrate leaving us with fewer and fewer people who could help.  After 2 and a half days of construction, we were less than half way done with the pouring of the concrete and were getting a little worried about finishing on time.  However, surprisingly enough, the day 3 of the other volunteers left, we ended up making the most progress and left only a small portion to be done the final day of construction.  I was covered in cement burns all over my arms, absolutely exhausted on the final day and ready to get out of the sun and relax again after that experience.  One of the cooler experiences of the trip was a visit from the soon-to-be-retired US ambassador to Costa Rica on the third day of construction.  He gave a brief speech to the school we were working at, a quick photo-op "helping" mix the concrete and then a couple more photos of the group and the PCVs present and then headed off to the next stop.  The final day of the trip, Jon (the PCV organizing the construction), organized a 3-4 hour tour of the bay near where he lives where the group got to see dolphins, turtles, monkeys and all sorts of marine life.  Overall, it was a tough, tiring experience but good to get involved with CFK once again and get a different experience of the project.

Grant Update

Nothing is ever as quick as they promise here in Costa Rica.  After my last update, the committee has decided that rather than organizing free community labor to finish the project, they would somehow gather the money between them and pay for a contractor to finish the project on time.  After hearing this, I was a little disappointed we were yet again let down by community labor but hopeful the project would be finished on time and correctly.  However, the contractor (who we contracted for the fence as well) was busy working on 2-3 other projects at the same time and even though he agreed to have construction done by April 22nd, here we are on April 26th and the bathroom and storage closet have yet to be completed.  Luckily, I spoke with the grant coordinator in the office yesterday to explain the dilemma and he was completely supportive and told me to turn in the report as is, allow him to proofread it and then once it is revised, hopefully by that point, I can simply take pictures of the final product and turn in the report.  I am still a little hopeful the construction will be finished by next Wednesday but it feels good to at least know I won't have any trouble if it is not.  In any case, I can at least say that the grant is "complete" and the construction will eventually be finished (maybe not before I leave, but eventually).  The committee is planning an event for this Saturday and Sunday with the objective of raising the money to pay the contractor and maybe pay back some of the money the ADI has invested in the project so that they can use the money to invest in other community projects like the salon comunal or finally installing the fencing around the soccer field.

Final Group Weekend

This past weekend, we had the final "vactail" or as it is called now "Hail and Farewell" which welcomes the newest group of volunteers  (Tico 33) and says goodbye to our group (Tico 29).  During this celebration, I got to meet the volunteer taking over my position here in Linea Vieja and talk about my successes, challenges and failures and his anxieties.  Then, the following weekend was spent on the beach in Dominical for one final group trip with fellow Tico 29ers and largely spent discussing how quickly the time went by. 

This week will be spent getting ready for Europe, finalizing any outstanding tasks for COS, a "surprise party" the community is apparently planning for me tomorrow, a community event on Saturday and Sunday and then leaving for the "gong out" ceremony on Wednesday and finalizing my time in the Peace Corps on Thursday, May 4th!!!

Thanks for reading as always and keeping up with me during by 27 months in "La Pura Vida"!!!

-Conor

PS.  I apologize for the lack of photos on these last few updates... I have hit the limit on size and cannot upload any more photos without deleting other parts of the blog/website...