this is the way we go to the library…

I think that unless you are in the capital or in of the big “suburbs” of the capital here in Costa Rica having a library is not the norm. Which was something I was worried about when moving here. We are a family of readers; from my husband to little Shae. About 6 months ago Abby started reading chapter books; and was going through them at an alarming rate. I soon realized that my stash that I was planning on shoving into one of my suitcases was not going to last long at all. I figured out how to download library books onto my Google Nexus but the selection isn’t stellar. She completes a chapter book in a day so thinking of spending $8 for a Kindle download wasn’t appealing either.

So I was pretty thrilled when I found out there was a library here. It is not even a year old; and was put together by an American. Everyone that volunteers there is completely selfless and cares so much about the local children. It is truly amazing what they have accomplished. Sadly, the city is not very supportive, and so I wonder how long the library will be around. The city signed a contract agreeing to pay for the rent of the building—and have to date not paid a dime. A bar was allowed to be built right next door, which was against zoning laws, because they paid the city off. The bar is busy and full of older American men. Who blow smoke right in every kid’s face who walks by. One day I will live out of my fantasy of decking one of them. They don’t even try to stay inside the OPEN bar or move away from the children. Ahh the daydreams I have of giving them a good smack-a-roo. One day, one day. Even though I know the laws in the US don’t get followed all of the time on where you can smoke near building. Feel lucky you have them, my second hand smoke inhalation makes me so angry but there isn’t anything I can do about it.

Sorry, back to the books! They have a small library full of books. I would say 3/4 of them are in English and 1/4 in Spanish. Abby checks out a large stack of chapter books and breezes through them. Cameron has been reading for 6 months and finally is feeling strong enough to read on her own. So she goes through a stack of level 2 or 3 books during the week as well.

When meeting the librarian and seeing the sweet kids in the library I wanted to help. So I do their art group every week; it doesn’t take up too much time and I would actually like to do more. But it is fun, helps me to use my Spanish,and it helps the girls to get out of the comfort zone and make new friends.

Let me show you the library; it is in this little “strip mall” downstairs:

I rarely carry my camera around and on the day that I did art group was a small group of kids. But still, here are their beautiful faces!

Comments are closed.