A year as a volunteer in Costa Rica

For ten months Anna, a German volunteer, has been supporting the staff at our Centre for Technical Education in San José | Costa Rica. She helps with administrative tasks and also assists the teacher in English lessons, helping the students to improve their vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation.

Anna describes her experiences as a volunteer at our Centre for Technical Education in Costa Rica very pleasantly:

"When I make my way to classroom no. 4 for English lessons in the morning, I look into 30 familiar faces of the students who are trained in Administrative Assistance. They spend 21 hours a week in English lessons, which means I know them best of all the students. I immediately hear a cheerful "Hi Anna!" 30 times. I wave briefly and smile as I sit down in the chair next to the English teacher. Today, the students have to write and perform a role play. They push the tables together and start exchanging ideas. I sit down with one group and give them tips on how to formulate the sentences better. Behind me, I hear my name and go to another group who ask me how to pronounce "comprehensive". When the group has finished, I am asked what Germany is like and whether I like Costa Rica. In return, I learn about the students' hobbies and favourite places. The hospitality and warmth of the people were the biggest "culture shocks" - in a positive sense - when I arrived here. Both colleagues and students welcomed me immediately, wanted to find out more about my life and overlooked my Spanish language skills (which were really in need of improvement at the time).

Volunteering gives me the opportunity to meet young people my age and learn more about their culture, their lives, and their language. This gives me a very special insight into the country from different perspectives. Outside of my work at the foundation, I love traveling around the country with friends and discovering the cultural differences and way of life in the different regions. With all the memories and encounters over the months of my stay, I can feel Costa Rica slowly but surely becoming a second home for me."

We wish Anna many more wonderful experiences during her remaining time in Costa Rica and thank her warmly for her support!