Planning and prepping. Important, but not that photo-worthy.

No, I don't think there will be many pictures in this week's blog - but it was a good week of work!
This week included a lot of the "bureaucracy" that goes into planning an event and working with several stakeholders.

I also am happy to say that I completed and turned in my Schreyer Honors thesis on Tuesday and am ALL DONE with honors college requirements! Wohoo! One step closer to graduation! That did take some of my work time this week, but I am thankful that it is completed.

Other than thesis work, I've been visiting the primary school and coordinating activities for Earth Day (11 days away!). I made flyers to hang around town, campus, and hand out to the kids.

Black and white flyer for Earth Day! Let me know if you want it translated to use for your next Earth Day event ;) 

I formally met with at least 10 different stakeholders and volunteers, and informally discussed aspects of the event with several others. I am realizing that event planning does take a lot of work and a lot of hands to bring it together... now I just hope it really comes together! I am hoping that this event really leaves an impact on the community in terms of environmental stewardship and that the students carry the knowledge ahead with them as they make daily decisions and become their community's leaders.

One other thing I am learning about planning events, especially in another country, is that people who aren't directly invested in the activity may not have that much enthusiasm for the event and, therefore, may not be as dedicated to its success. I am hoping to instill a high level of ownership into the various volunteers and stakeholders so that everything goes well. Timeliness has a completely different definition in Costa Rica than it does in the US and I am learning to be more patient and not freak out when people don't respond right away. Things work out here, even with Tico time being a little "atrasado" (delayed) - things may not be as efficient and effective, but they still work out. I am trying to live with this cultural truth and, at the same time, exert a bit more "timeliness" and "dedication" to something so that its success may be seen as a result of that dedicated and timely work. I get frustrated when I hear that previous extension events or "community" events had almost zero participation, yet nothing seems to have been done to change programming to improve attendance and success in the future. I don't know everything and I certainly was not present for all the planning of those events, so I may be ignorant to other factors, but I guess I am hoping that a successful Earth Day event can show the potential of strong planning and cooperation.

What else happened this week? I am thankful that I am getting along well with my roommate and fellow CR student teacher - she is the only other Global Gateway student teacher in CR from PSU and she just happens to live with the same host family as me! We got to spend some time and learn about each other and our teaching experiences this week and I've enjoyed having a regular friend to go to or see. I also was slightly jealous of her "lesson prep" of reading child books in Spanish - she is teaching a kindergarten class! Teachers unite!

Yesterday was a crazy meeting day, but I got to help out one of my favorite classes/groups by watching some 2nd year Animal Production students at UTN give final presentations for their animal feeding and nutrition course (the one I have been following along with/observing/touring with). The professor handed me a "presentation evaluation" for the second group I watched... so I graded some college student presentations! It was interesting to see their work on a project as simple as observing feed intake in goats, but recognizing how important it is to know these basics in order to maximize production.

Students giving a production about calf feed consumption

The evaluation rubric... power in my hands... 

This weekend I am visiting some friends at EARTH University (look at blogs from last summer for more info). I nonetheless am taking advantage of international relations and internet, as I got to give a "lesson" to a PA high school ag class this morning! While it may not have been as interactive of a lesson as I would have liked, I still got to speak to Jeanne Case's Leadership class about global hunger and what hunger looks like in the countries I've visited. Her class (follow tweets at #dlead4hunger) is learning about global and local hunger - they had a guest speaker from the food bank earlier this week. On the "global" side of things, I differentiated hunger and malnutrition, showed them pictures of agriculture and "hunger" in the countries I have visited (CR, Thailand, Cambodia), and contrasted the reasons for hunger in those countries. It's the first time I have spoken to high school ag students in English since I left PA 5 weeks ago... and it made me miss BEING there and SEEING my kids in Wellsboro!

I am attempting to enjoy every moment here and influence every life I can. I was happy to meet the mother of three kids that I normally ride the bus with in the morning - they take the public bus to the school I am working with and I often get off with them and sit with them. They are wonderful souls, and their mom was a sweet lady. I hope she can come to Earth day so I can make another connection with her. I will miss her children when I leave in two weeks.

TWO WEEKS! #crazy #liveitup #makeadifference #global