There is a lot to report in this entry.  These past 2 weeks have been extremely busy but productive and I think (hope really) all is well with the court and the community relationships.  A lot of the problems boiled down to this indirect culture and the tendency for person A to talk about their issues with person B to talk with a third party, who then might tell someone else and eventually, gets back to the person B.  Then the process repeats with person B and it eventually gets back to person A...all the while, the void between them grows, the relationships strain even more and the other person talking about them behind their back serves only to reinforce their original issue.  I have tried to suggest direct communication, to tell me when there is an issue with something I have done or will do but it just is not the culture and regardless of how I may see it as the key to strengthening the community, it is not something I am here to "change".

This past week has been mainly focused around Courts for Kids, solving the issues that came up with the contractor, finalizing the food, trying to plan events for the week and coordinating materials and work schedules.  I also went to the final class in Limon with the organization Junior Achievement (I will definitely miss those trips) and some recycling meetings.  

Courts for Kids

The biggest news from this past week is that construction finally started yesterday!  The money was transferred by CFK two weeks ago and last Friday, the ADI president went to purchase the materials.  The first material arrived Monday but I wasn't around to help out.  However, work quickly began early Tuesday morning; Jorge, myself and another community member measured the court, Jorge took measurements to identify which areas need to be raised or lowered and then we quickly go started digging the trenches where the concrete block will go.  On a cool day it would be hard work, but add in the fact we are in a drought currently (rain should have started 2 weeks ago, still none!) and the sun is absolutely brutal, it made the work yesterday absolutely awful.  I was drenched in sweat by 8 in the morning.  Then around 9, the next material shipment arrived: 70 bags of cement (110lbs each), 150 concrete blocks, shovels, wheelbarrows, gloves, metal tubes, metal for the backboards, etc.  I wasn't too tired yet so I tired to keep up with the other 3 guys helping unload the material who were literally running with the bags of cement.  I last maybe 6 trips and then just gave out..."no estoy hecho para hacer construcción" (I'm not made to do construction...) I told them.  After a small break I kept going but at a much slower pace and we managed to unload then entire truck within 15 minutes and get back to digging the trenches.  Today started the same, finishing the trenches and then cutting some of the wire for the cement.  The gravel and sand was supposed to come today but got held up somewhere and should come either tomorrow or Friday.  Once we have that material, we will start pouring the cement into the trenches and putting the block around the edges.  Then we fill in the middle of the block form with rock and sand to make a level base, construct wood frames on top of that and get ready for the team to arrive (2 weeks from today!!!!).

We also managed to smooth things over with the contractor last week and got the contract in place so that he felt more at ease with the payment.  The food is also finally figured out but I am still trying to figure out what we can do for the inauguration event and how best to fit in a night of food sharing where the gringo team cooks something (BBQ chicken I believe) and the local police force cooks rice and chicken, a local specialty here.  So really, it's small things left that I still have to finalize but I don't think anything that will make or break the CFK experience for the team.  We have some pretty cool events planned for the team and the Tortuguero trip will also be a really cool experience for me and the team.  

Recycling

Not much of an update here but the bike pump is still in the works...we decided to buy a new motor but Jorge still needs another piece that we don't have in order to get it working and now that the courts construction has started, he is really busy with that.  I feel bad pestering him because I know how much physical labor is involved with the court and he usually has other jobs he has to do after the court (jobs that actually pay him for his labor).  Yesterday we finally got the recycling committee together, did a small training and then split into 3 groups to go house to house explaining the project and how the community can support us.  I had a group of 2 colegio students and one escuela student but the idea was for them to do the majority of the talking and explanation.  For the first 4 or 5 houses, they explained a little but then turned to me to do the rest mainly because they were nervous but after those few houses at the beginning it was cool to see how confident they became explaining and asking for the community to support their project.  Sometimes when I explain a project to people here I feel like I come off as superior to them or like I am talking down to them about something.  It was nice for to have the students grasp the subject and speech so quickly and be able to stand behind them and only step in when necessary.

Limon Classes

As I said, this past weekend was the last weekend of my trips to Limon with the organization Junior Achievement (JA).  JA offers training to PCVs that want to use their materials to teach business classes with youth in their communities and always has a pretty large amount of PCVs take advantage to their services.  I first got to see JA in action when I went to Tech Week this time last year and when you have a good group of motivated kids, JA can be really beneficial and great for the kids.  However, when you have a group of kids that are in the class because they are obligated to be or because their parents send them, the class is just another opportunity for the students to goof off.  Something that surprised me here is how little "punishments" the teachers use; to hear a teacher even tell a student to sit down is rare.  This particular JA class had 3 separate groups of about 25 each.  The program, Carsi, was a program that gives students scholarships each year but requires them to participate in programs like JA and English classes with the US embassy.  The majority (not all) were there to complete the attendance requirements which was really the only way they could fail the class.  There were no grades, no punishments for sleeping through a class, nothing to stop them from listening to music the entire class, etc.  While I am glad the actual class portion is over, I will miss the fully paid for weekends out of site with AC, hot showers, great food (I had ribs over the weekend!!) and beach front hotels.   I am really happy I got to experience JA and hopefully my speeches about taking full advantage of the opportunities got through to at least one or two students.

I am about the leave for meeting with the police to finalize the details for the lunch they are planning for the team.  I am sore all over but excited that construction has started and the 2 week count down has begun!  Thanks for reading!

-Conor