Volunteer Work + Spanish Course
Children's Home / Costa Rica
August 2019
(cortesy translation from German)
Six month away from home, alone in another country, whose language you don’t speak and with people you don’t know. All this sounds exciting and maybe also a little scary. But after doing the first step, this time will be unforgettable and amazing.
I started my time in Costa Rica with a 4 weeks Spanish course at the language school in Tamarindo. There I was living with other pupils in a student home and we had either in the morning or in the afternoon Spanish lessons. The rest of the day and the weekends we spent together on the near beautiful beaches.
I didn’t have any Spanish skills in advance, but after one month I was able to talk basically. It was necessary as I started my voluntary in San Jose. In San Jose I was living in a local host family. It was a lovely family who were helping me as much as they could. In the first week my host mother took me with her all the time, so I wasn’t alone at home. At the first month in San Jose I was working at a Day Care Center and cared for children between 8-10 years old before or after their school lessons. My school class consisted of 25 children, but mostly just half of them where with me as the others had school lessons.
My supervisor and I supported the pupils in doing their homework and playing with them. All have been really nice to me, but actually I didn’t have that much to do and therefore after one month I changed into an orphanage and cared for toddlers. The youngest was just 8 month and the oldest six years old. There were just 9 children and they locked in my heart really fast. The “tias”, the woman who were living with the children, were really nice and gave me a lot of responsibility. A lot of times, I went to a playground, tinkered or painted with the children. For lunch we were sitting all together and sometimes accompanied them to go to therapy. Sometimes other volunteers supported the same orphanage. With them, I had a lot of fun. On the weekends, I went out with the volunteers or pupils from the language school. Related to this I have seen a lot from this small country in Latin America. It has an amazing nature and the people are so lovely.
My time in Costa Rica was unforgettable and I made amazing experiences. I made friends from all over the world and learned so much about this country and the culture. I would definitely recommend an experience like this to anyone.
Thank you so much to South America Inside for organizing this amazing trip and for the support during my preparation and also during my stay!