It was nearly 10:00PM. I woke up slowly to the sound of Hustlers hitting its three-quarter mark as we began to descend. I packed the unopened bag of complimentary Cheez-its in my backpack for a rainy day as I got my things together. I floated through baggage claim and customs in a disoriented blur. The Uber pulled up and helped pile my bags into the trunk and in a few moments were speeding down the empty highway to my new-old life.

“Estás aquí de paseo?” the driver asked.

Not quite. Just coming back home.

In December 2019, thanks to incredible support from friends, family, my program team (endless thanks to J.M., Jose, and Erik) and the staff at Peace Corps Costa Rica (PCCR), I was given the opportunity to extend my service in Costa Rica for a third year as a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader.

Peace Corps Volunteer Leaders (PCVL) can be found in most Peace Corps posts and are typically volunteers in their 3rd+ year of service who are assigned specialized duties. In Costa Rica, they traditionally take the form of a Regional Leader, which is a volunteer who oversees and supports volunteers in different regions of the country. My role as a PCVL, however, is new to PCCR and involves a work plan that was designed to support the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) program. This, coupled with a period marked by massive program growth and transition in PCCR, has created an engaging and active scope of work. In a nutshell, my new role can be packed into two categories:

1. TEFL Programming and Training

A large portion of my role is to support the TEFL team with programming, facilitating, and training. This takes the form of designing and facilitating training sessions for incoming and current volunteers, updating training manuals, and uploading resources to our online platforms. While you will frequently see me behind a desk or participating in training sessions, this role also allows me opportunity to get out in the field! I am excited to explore more of the country from a new perspective as I assist the team during the site I.D. process and by providing technical support to volunteers in their sites.

2. JumpStart for Teachers

In addition to continuing to support traditional JumpStart, which is a hallmark of the TEFL program and a project that is near and dear to my heart, I will work alongside local partners to design an initiative for a sister project called JumpStart for Teachers. For this project, I will collaborate with local teachers, Regional English Advisors, and National English Advisors from the Costa Rican Ministry of Public Education to create a curriculum for this exciting professional development opportunity for Costa Rican educators.

While the transition from living on one chilly mountain to another hasn’t proven too difficult to acostumbrarme to, the shift from teaching high school in a rural community to sitting in an office 9:00-5:00 in the capital has been both a stark and welcome change. While adjusting to a new work-life balance, I have spent most of my free time so far exploring local ferías, wandering the streets and mountains that surround my new home, showing up to all of the free community classes that will have me, and sitting in the park to read at every chance I get.

Overall, I feel invigorated by the change of scenery and am incredibly fortunate for the opportunity to continue working in a field and for an organization that I am passionate about in a place that has become a second home to me. I am very grateful to all of those who have helped make this transition so seamless and enjoyable, and look forward to the new experiences that my now 820+ days of pura vida have to bring.