Colegio by Genevieve (A Pilgrim)
This afternoon has been my favorte activity by far. We went to visit the local high school, or ¨colegio/liceo,¨ in the town of Nicoya in Guanacaste. At first we were all extremely apprehensive about the visit. We were supposed to teach kids our age how to speak English- some of us don´t even speak proper English! As we walked into the courtyard, dozens of eyes were glued to our blonde hair and blue eyes. In short, we stuck out like a sore thumb. After braving the long walk through the courtyard, we clustered into the safety of an empty, un-airconditioned class room. As we crammed into the graffitied desks, a few brave students trickled in and eventually a whole class full of Costa Rican students surrounded us. After a brief orientation, we were each assigned two students who wouldlead us around their school campus. Once we were with the kids, they were welcoming towards us, but the language barrier certainly made breaking the ice exponentially more difficult. In my group I found it extremelybeneficial to risk sounding slightly stupid by speaking Spanish. They really appreaciated the extra effort and we were able to laugh about it later. They quickly wamred up to usand took us to visit many classes, such as home ec., cooking, workshop, and even mechanics. Along the way I found that as Americans we were treated like celebrities. One sweet boy even gave me an embroidered apron. Upon returning to the classroom after our tour, we gave simple presentations to the assembled class about our home town, American sports, and food (of course).
After just and hour or two with these kids, no one wanted to leave. I´m sure I can speak on behalf of everyone in saying that this type of cultural interaction is what makes our pilgrimage worthwhile. On the bus ride back to the base I was contemplating God´s role in this encounter. I realized that as teenagers we all have common ground, in both interests and personalities alike. This is most certainly God´s doing- we are all his children and we are all created equally. It´s both comforting and awe-inspiring to know that teenagers across the world are all gifts from God. In short, God´s love reaches to even the farthest corners of the Earh and wherever you may go, God travels with you.