Out of Site, Out of Mind

To take a slight detour from the rigidly chronological structure this blog has taken so far, I will explain a bit about why I haven't written in a long time. The main reason is that between the constant presence of visitors at my host family, teaching in school, as well as starting up four new community classes (bringing the total up to six) I have had precious little time to sit down and think about what I've been doing. Another factor is how much fun my weekends have been, and since Sunday is my only full day off, trips out to Matapalo, bike rides down to Puerto Jimenez, or even simply to the beach in my site have occupied most of my free time.
Lately there has been a different reason: IST. In-Service Training proved quite valuable to me. I was slapped in the face with the knowledge that I need to cut back how much I am working, we learned new teaching techniques and activities so that I can present the same information in radically different ways, and most importantly all of TICO 21 was able to be together. Unfortunately I spent all of my free time with other PCVs and was unable to write more.
Thats enough of a mea culpa, the most thrilling part of IST was that I finally figured out which soccer team to support in Costa Rica! I'm going to have to keep it a secret from my host family because I am neither a fan of 'La Liga' (Red and Black) or 'Saprissa' (Purple and White), the two powerhouse teams in Costa Rica; instead I have been converted into a fan of 'Brujas' (Hot Pink), a team which won the league two years ago, but a Bernie Madoff type financial scandal caused a player strike after pay was withheld for weeks. The team is struggling to stay afloat, its stadium is the 'Cuty' Monge in Desamparados (a city literally named Helpless) and the team name means 'Witches'. This is closest Costa Rican mainstream culture has gotten to the absurd, and I love it.
We went to the 'Liga' Stadium in Alajuela, saw 4 goals, and watched Brujas lose 4-1(we missed the first goal). From the outside the stadium was indistinguishable from a sweat-shop, or an empty lot sided by sheets of rusting corrugated metal. Inside, however, it was well maintained and the red and black decor gave me more respect for La Liga. My friend Ken and I were wearing pink button-up shirts and slacks, and received some verbal abuse from the crowd, but being the only Brujas fans we were cowed into silence. It was an exciting game though, because at least one of the goals was spectacular, and the Brujas goal was entirely unexpected. The two images that stick in my mind were La Liga's #14 walking around the entire stadium shaking hands through the fence, and the Ultras mesmerizingly twirling red and black umbrellas.
Also while we were in San Jose they opened the new 'Estadio Nacional' and played both China and Argentina to a draw! The stadium was just down the street from the hotel, so every night we were treated to a lackluster fireworks display, and thronging crowds of people from all over the country.

Here is my IST Limerick:
While in San José for some IST,
We stayed at the Corobici,
While in sessions for TEFL,
We all became fretful,
At least breakfast and lunches were free!

This picture is of one of my dwindling community classes, the one below is of a lesson in the Elementary School.