It's only Tuesday. But today on our way to Gatitos we ended up going at the same time as 2 new volunteers. I'm not sure it was a good or bad thing to add 4 adults into the mix of things, seeing as today there was something like 62 kids present. Which led to a lot more fights and disagreements among them. Natalie, Mayela's daughter, wanted a picture of Mom and I with all of the kids. So we had to get allllll of them together and try to get a picture. It was...interesting haha. We told the children ahead of time that we were only going to be there for 2 weeks and they knew that other volunteers would come after us. There were a few that made sure that we were coming back again tomorrow.
Mom mentioned that one of the boys was singing the "Princess Pat" without any help. I guess singing really does work. The 2 new volunteers are Kerry and Andrew. Kerry teaches 2nd grade and Andrew is a junior at Boston College. It's fun to watch the kids interact with them and the different attributes they bring to the place as well. Kerry really wants to learn some of the songs that we do. Hopefully we'll be able to write more of the lyrics down.
Last night I had an interesting conversation with Bernal, the father of the host family we are staying at. He started off the conversation with me being a teacher and asking if there are a lot of latinos in Utah. I mentioned how there were more Mexicans really than any place else, but there are a few from other countries. And then he was off. We covered everything from Immigration here in Costa Rica, to the issue with Nicaraguans coming in and not paying for social security, to the socialized health care system they have set up here, to the corruption, to how people get around hiring undocumented people, to education, to the issues in Nicaragua that sends the people to Costa Rica, to how the rest of Central American countries are doing...and on and on and on. It was pretty long and full. It reminded me a lot of the arguments and situation with immigration in the United States, except that in Costa Rica they don't have a limit of the number of people that are allowed in the country or allowed to become citizens. I wonder if we took our quotas away in the states, what would happen with immigration. One of the biggest complaints here is with the health care. Those undocumented don't pay social security and don't contribute to the health care stuff. BUT if they get sick, they definitely reap the advantages of it. Because the state is not allowed to turn people away just because they are not citizens.
Something else that has been pointed out numerous times by many people is the welfare program here. In Costa Rica they don't give handouts. You go, they set you up with a job, and then if that job doesn't pay enough for your family to survive on ONLY then do they cover the difference. But you've got to work for it and do your part.
Like I said, a very interesting conversation. And hopefully I'll be able to remember the important points when it comes time to teach about Latin America the coming school year.
Also Chris (the guy from Austria) told me his list of top places in Europe...That may or may not have to be the next adventure. We'll see how it goes.
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