In this interview, we hear from Jack Singelstad. Jack was working as a Peace Corps Education volunteer in Costa Rica. What Jack shares gives us a better understanding of the work volunteers do. We learn about the challenges, rewards, and personal growth that happens from volunteering in a new place. Jack talks about living in a different country, working with local people, and dealing with surprise situations. Join us as we learn about Jack’s journey and see how volunteering with Peace Corps can change lives.
Table of Contents
- Volunteer Experience and Motivation
- Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
- Surprises and Challenges
- Advice and Support
- Practical Tips and Language Learning
- Final Thoughts
Volunteer Experience and Motivation
1. Can you tell us more about serving as an Education volunteer in Costa Rica?
My cohort was the first English Education cohort since Covid, so we were guinea pigs in many ways. Those of us in secondary education were all sent to vocational/technical high schools, where we collaborated with teachers to enhance the English curriculum for dozens of specialties. Beginning in 10th grade students usually spend half the day in their specialty and the other half in typical subjects like math, science, social studies, etc. The school day is long – 7 am to 4:20 pm – so we had to get creative to hold kids’ attention, especially on hot or rainy days.
I’d never been around a high school like this before, but I wish I had because students graduated with demonstrated, employable skills in their specialty, which functioned similarly to college majors. My school taught Tourism, Accounting, Agriculture, and Agro-Industry. As the English “experts,” we provided speaking practice and context for technical words in English, but I feel that I learned just as much from my students. With years of experience, they were the “experts” in their fields. I was able to learn a lot about the tourism, business, and agriculture industries in Costa Rica while I taught English. It was mutually beneficial.
2. What motivated you to join the Peace Corps and choose Costa Rica?
A few things.
I felt too comfortable in my life in the U.S. I wanted to challenge myself by getting uncomfortable, while having the chance to help people and see the impact of my work in person. I’ve always been curious about people who seem different from me and what I could do to bridge those differences. Since the end of my sophomore year of college, I’d decided that I wanted to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer, but wasn’t sure where.
I also wanted to become fluent in Spanish. I took Spanish in high school and kept up in college through Duolingo for almost 2 years. But for all the grammar practice in the world, I wasn’t good enough to have free-flowing conversations. I felt that immersing myself in a Spanish-speaking country would force me to listen to how a wide range of people speak the language – from cities, small towns, and the campo. I thought I’d get comfortable speaking as I got comfortable with the people. It wasn’t easy, but immersing myself was how I finally got fluent in Spanish.
I ultimately applied to “serve where needed most,” with a preference for Latin America. I applied in Fall 2020, my last year of college, and heard I was being considered for Costa Rica a month before graduation. While I waited for the next step in the process, I worked in tech for a year and a half before finally hearing the news in June 2022 that I’d been accepted pending clearance. I remember reading the email over a few times to confirm I’d read it right. It was such a relief. But for all that waiting, what I received was worth it – the experience of a lifetime.
Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
3. Tell us more about your home situation
I served in Sabalito, Costa Rica, a fairly small town by national standards (3,000 + residents), but the 2nd largest town in the canton (county) of Coto Brus. Sabalito is a 10-minute drive from the Panama border, so many people have some mixed Panamanian-Costa Rican heritage. There’s also a significant indigenous population; tens of thousands near the border belong to the Ngäbe (pronounced “No-Bay”) and Buglé ethnic groups. It’s quite a diverse area, and my school reflected that. The tension of pre-service training (PST) is in not knowing where you’ll end up for 2 years. Luckily, our program managers had a good feel about where each of us would fit best – for me, it was Sabalito.
Living with a host family
I lived with a host family for my entire service. About half of our cohort did the same. In Costa Rica, we have a requirement to spend 3 months during PST with a local family, and another 6 months at site. Though I thought of moving out a few times, I was too close with my host family to seriously consider it.
There are pros and cons to living on your own versus with a family. Independence is a big factor – we spend our entire days around people at school, much of which involves hearing and speaking Spanish. It’s tiring. Sometimes all you want is to go home and rest. But that would mean missing out on the family experience, which for me was vital to my integration into my community.
My host family taught me so much, from explaining local history to popular (or dated) Costa Rican idioms. I got called a “tío” once or twice for sharing a new Spanish phrase I’d learned with kids who’d apparently only heard their uncles or grandfathers say it before me. I can thank my host family for too many lessons and laughs to count.
The Costa Rican diet
The Costa Rican diet has a few staples – rice and beans come with most meals, and fresh fruit and vegetables are generally available. Other popular foods are sweet plantains (‘platano maduro’) and dried plantains (‘patacones’), and fried pork skin (‘chicharrones’).
Costa Ricans love their sweets too – tres leches cake and arroz con leche are very popular, and there are so many brands of processed foods that you’ll find yourself arguing with students and other volunteers about which is best (Chiky cookies for me – they’re like Keebler chocolate cookies which I hadn’t seen in the U.S. in years).
4. Any memorable experiences or interactions you’ve had?
My service in Costa Rica has been full of experiences I’ll remember for a long time: awesome, hilarious, and eye-opening experiences. I’ll share a few.
Basketball slam dunk
In my last month at site, I served as a translator for Courts For Kids, an NGO that enlists volunteers from the U.S. to build multi-use courts in communities where kids have limited access to recreational spaces. It’s hard work – 5 days of shoveling gravel, mixing cement, and hauling wheelbarrows – but it provides the best that cultural exchange can offer. Our group happened to be the University of Miami Hurricanes football team. As a big college sports fan, I loved getting to know the players and coaches. Still, my students were left even more starstruck.
Out of many, the best moment for me was that, before a crowd of 200 students, one of the players took the ball, jumped a few feet in the air, and finished with a windmill slam. In two years on that court, it was the first dunk I’d seen.
I guess I am a cowboy now
Here’s a funny one. I was on a run one morning when I approached a herd of cows blocking the road. There must have been fifty of them that had escaped from their corral, which bordered the road. Needing proof to show my host family later, I took a video.
After I finished recording, the farmer appeared in his pickup truck and asked me for help with wrangling the cows. I said yes, and asked what he’d like me to do. He gestured at a blade of grass, just thick and heavy enough to, I assumed, act as a herding device. Then, unexpectedly, he drove off, leaving me, a newcomer to this type of situation, in charge. I had success at first – I even got 10 or so cows to re-enter the corral – but there were simply too many of them for one person to handle. I soon had 3 groups of cows heading in different directions, some towards the center of town, and a traffic jam of cars forming.
Luckily, the first car happened to be my school’s French teacher. I explained the situation, and we got in his truck to cut the cows off. By the time the owner returned 10 minutes later, we had a group of cars working together to pen them in. It was another hour until every last cow was secured, and one more hour before I was finally able to wash that sweet cow smell off in the shower.
Unplugged – NOT!
Lastly, more than a few times, the Peace Corps drastically shifted my perspective. Like many PCVs, I was looking forward to unplugging from my phone, social media, and the outside world while at site. As we took off from Miami in March 2023, I gazed at the Keys blowing by with an image in my head of being off the grid for two years. Boy, was I wrong.
When my cohort visited a school in San José in our first few weeks as trainees, the number one cause of in-class distractions, without a doubt, was kids scrolling TikTok or Instagram. I thought, maybe, that things would be different in my small, rural town. Not at all. In the last 15 years, southern Costa Rica especially has been transformed by widely available Internet and WiFi. Any spare moment that kids get from teachers goes to talking with friends or scrolling on their phones.
Ok, I thought, I need to really get away. I needed to go to my co-teacher’s parents’ finca (“farm”), ride horses the whole afternoon, and eat a country stew with ingredients sourced right from the farm. I’d go to bed without once checking Instagram or Twitter.
I’d try my best, but while I’m taking a pre-dinner nap on the porch, the one song I least expect to hear, “Levels,” by Avicii, blasts out of Don Edel’s phone as he comes across the first of many Facebook Reels that will satisfy him for the next hour until food is on the table. Don Edel, a man who hadn’t watched TV until he was a young man, and I would end up debating religion for two hours afterward. In that moment, I might have believed anything he said, since everything that once seemed impossible to believe somehow existed somewhere on Earth.
Today, few things are truly unfamiliar or unimaginable. The world has changed so much since we all got connected. Ideas spread in minutes, friendships are maintained across thousands of miles, and knowledge is open and infinite. While borders and resources still influence people’s options in life, anyone can momentarily escape to some corner of the world and see how others live there. It’s a strange, wonderful feeling to know that no matter where you are, the world is at your fingertips, ready to be explored.
Surprises and Challenges
5. What has surprised you most about challenges in Costa Rica?
Even before landing in Costa Rica, I’d heard about Ticos and “Tico Time.” Costa Ricans go by Tico (men or boys) or Tica (women or girls) because of their way of softening words by ending them with -tico or -tica. It’s a way to be polite or indirect. For example, the Spanish word “rato” means “a while.” In Costa Rica, that often gets converted to “ratico” – “a little while.” Whether that’s 30 minutes or 2 hours isn’t important. Example:
| Wife: ‘Mor, quiere acompañarme al centro? Ocupo comprar una vestida para la fiesta mañana. | Wife: Honey, do you want to go with me downtown? I need to buy a dress for the party tomorrow. |
| Husband: Diay, no sé. Tengo mucho trabajo. | Husband: Eh, I don’t know. I’ve got a lot of work to do. |
| Wife: No se preocupe. Solo vamos a durar un ratico. | Wife: Don’t worry. We’ll only be gone a little while. |
Tico Time
“Tico Time” is a nickname given to the cultural norm of easing into any activity. Showing up to a community event five to fifteen minutes late is typical, and even later arrivals are somewhat common. Delays aren’t stressed over; people have an attitude of letting their day unfold. So, if they get a call from a family member on the way to work, they might spend a few extra minutes with them. If a neighbor stops to chat, and the conversation is enjoyable, the same could happen. Costa Rican culture values time with community and family more than we do in the U.S. There is less pressure to always be busy, and more emphasis is placed on being happy. That’s what the very “Tico” phrase “Pura Vida” means to me: a mantra for living a good life.
I more or less knew all this before, but there’s a difference between knowledge and experience. As the months went by – and especially in my second year – I embraced the chance to “let my day unfold.” I’d say hi to everyone on long walks, have longer “cafécitos,” and just enjoy myself more. As I did, I found the work became easier, too. I realized that taking the time to talk to anyone led to stronger relationships and, gradually, a stronger sense of belonging to my community.
Knowing colleagues, students, and neighbors on a personal level made me more comfortable finding projects where I could help and more enthusiastic to lend a hand to anyone at any time. Helping out is ingrained in the culture. There’s a phrase for it – “Busque que hay que hacer,” or “Look for what needs to be done.” All this is behind the philosophy of a happy life in Costa Rica. When you’re constantly active in support of not just yourself, but your friends and neighbors, too, all the chemicals in your brain can’t help but light up in a positive way.
6. What challenges did you face while working on Education projects?
There were many – unexpected class cancellations, maintaining the attention of students while speaking exclusively in English which some didn’t want to hear because they didn’t understand it, the afternoon downpour during the rainy season which, with metal roofs, made hearing even the person next to, let alone an entire classroom, near impossible every day for 5 months.
All these were part of my routine in Costa Rica. I more or less got used to them and found them amusing, even. Like, what can you do if the rain won’t stop for the next two hours? You still have to teach the kids something.
My main challenge, however, was that I came in with many ideas and wanted to implement them all. I overcame my “get things done” mentality by following the lead of the Costa Ricans around me. Have passion, but be realistic, and go with the flow.
English Conversation Club
One of my first big ideas was to launch an English Conversation Club. I carefully built the curriculum, recruited members, and handled logistics. I was eager to share my vision with others, and things started off well—enthusiasm was high, and there was genuine interest in the project.
But I quickly found that my vision was more complicated than I had anticipated. The range of English proficiency among the participants was wider than I expected; teachers were too busy to meet regularly, and without regular repetition, it was difficult to help the teachers build their language skills. The momentum I hoped for fizzled out, and I had to face the reality that not every idea would work out as planned.
This was a challenging few months for me at site – I was having issues with my host family and dealing with a loss in my family back home.
But I stayed in the game. I prioritized my language skills, said yes to projects I knew nothing about beforehand, and kept track of small wins in my journal, along with daily moments and stories that I couldn’t have experienced back home:
“Convinced a student to take an online English class.”
“The whole teacher’s lounge laughed at the joke I told in Spanish.”
“Harvested mangos from a tree branch 30 feet in the air.”
Building bridges and time to grow
These moments, however small, grounded me in the community and in my work as a volunteer. It is all about building bridges and introducing new ideas that take time to grow.
My pivotal moment at site occurred on the 1st day of school in February 2024. As I walked around the hallways, waved to old and new faces, and learned about everyone’s summer stories, I felt like I really belonged. The more I felt this way, the more work came my way, and the greater difference I felt I was making. When I abandoned my expectations and found joy in the days when no progress came, the path towards understanding my place and my purpose revealed itself to me.
7. Could you share some of the secondary projects you have been involved?
I started a theater club with the guidance counselor and the librarian from my school. It was the first theater club at the school and only the second club connected to the arts. We were small – between 10 and 15 members, depending on the day – but we had a good time while putting on three plays (two original productions) in front of the school and competing in the regional arts festival.
It all began when the guidance counselor and I performed an original, choreographed dance to “Mambo No. 5” at the Christmas Festival in December. We got such an enthusiastic reaction that she suggested we have a club dedicated to bringing that same energy, with students involved.
Finding scholarships
Around this time, I was researching scholarships for some of my students who wanted to do what I was doing, but in the U.S. It was a pain. There were exchange opportunities, but they were scattered and unorganized. To fix this, I created a spreadsheet list of programs as I found them, focusing on those that required little to no financial commitment. I began to share the list around the school and created a group chat with interested students to share programs ahead of their deadlines. We already had momentum, but when I found out another volunteer was working on a similar project, we joined forces.
We spent an initial 6 months contacting sponsors to confirm program details and exploring partnership opportunities with government agencies, including Costa Rica’s Ministry of Exterior Relations and EducationUSA. Then, we spread the word among our own volunteers through school and community visits, and virtual info sessions. So far, we’ve had success – multiple students have since earned full-ride scholarships to attend U.S. universities – and we are planning for the possibility of a new volunteer role dedicated to scholarships and exchanges.
Advice and Support
8. What advice would you give to someone considering serving as an Education volunteer in Costa Rica?
Even in a small country like Costa Rica, everyone’s experience is different. Don’t let expectations influence your decision to serve, or to continue serving once you’re here. If you think you want to do it, then go for it. Life is an adventure, and often that means taking risks, sometimes big ones. You never know what might happen unless you see for yourself. And if it turns out that it’s not for you, that’s okay—you can leave at any time. People won’t judge you for it. There are countless reasons why someone might decide to leave—whether it’s due to medical issues, something happening back home, or the desire to pursue another opportunity.
What’s important is that you tried. It’s better to have stepped out of your comfort zone and said, “This isn’t for me” than to never have tried at all.
9. How has the Peace Corps training helped you during your service?
PST provided invaluable lessons that served as a solid foundation throughout my service. One of the keys was the emphasis on pushing yourself to practice the local language. The more comfortable I became with speaking Spanish, the more at home I felt in my community. Everywhere I’ve traveled, I’ve found that people appreciate and feel proud when a foreigner genuinely tries to communicate in their language. It opens doors for deeper connections and mutual respect.
It wasn’t always easy – I had days when all I wanted to do was sleep when I got home from 8 hours of Spanish lessons – but the training instilled in me the confidence to keep trying after every sentence spoken correctly and the faith to embrace my mistakes as steps towards fluency.
I also valued exploring my community. As much as I loved my training site in Escazú, I realized that the 3 months there would fly by, and future opportunities to return would be limited. I ended up returning to Escazú (our training community) maybe 5 times for a total of a week in 2 years. That’s how attached I became to Sabalito.
Throughout my service, I also found that it was essential to cherish the time spent with my cohort. Every time we met up, we had months of stories to catch up on, which meant that there was always something left unsaid. But the in-service conferences were especially valuable—they gave us a structured environment to reflect on our experiences, share lessons learned, and discuss our projects. The camaraderie we shared was essential to staying grounded during the highs and lows of service.
Practical Tips and Language Learning
10. Anything that you packed or didn’t pack that you’d like to tell future Costa Rica volunteers?
When it comes to packing, don’t stress too much about fitting everything in. If you’re strapped for space, leave behind the basics—extra toiletries, white t-shirts, and jeans. You’ll be able to find almost anything you need once you’re here in Costa Rica at convenience stores (pulperias/minisupers), supermarkets (supers), and thrift stores (ropa americanas).
That said, getting mail delivered can be a bit of a hassle. So, if there’s something special to you that you want to have with you, make sure to pack it in your suitcase. Personal items, like photos, mementos, or gifts, should make the trip with you, because you might not see them for 2 years otherwise.
This might be a little ahead of the game, but if you have the chance to go home during your service—especially in the final year—take advantage of it. Bring an extra suitcase back with you. I did this, and it saved me a headache. Without it, I would have had to leave behind a lot of cherished possessions that I had either bought or received as gifts during my time in Costa Rica.
Final Thoughts
11. Any last comments you’d like to pass on to future Costa Rica volunteers?
I think it’s helpful to keep in mind the Peace Corps’ three stated goals:
- To help the countries interested in meeting their need for trained people.
- To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
- To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.
The weight of the work is not on your shoulders. Your role isn’t to change everything—it’s about meeting people and communities where they are, letting go of expectations, and doing what you can. Sometimes, that means something as simple as getting to know your neighbors, befriending people at school, or chatting with those you pass in town. The impact you have doesn’t always look like a big project or a major shift in outcomes.
Make personal connections
For example, when I heard my neighbors talk about previous Peace Corps Volunteers in Sabalito or nearby towns, the projects or changes those Volunteers had worked on rarely came up. Instead, they’d say things like, “Oh, she was a sweet person,” or “Yeah, he was such a great guy.” It became clear to me that it starts and ends with the personal connections you make and the way you carry yourself around town. The Peace Corps’ 1st Goal is sector dependent – you’ll be tasked with improving education or health outcomes, or introducing new farming or environmental practices. Success in those areas varies and is never completely in your control.
But the 2nd Goal, that you can control. You can work toward this by simply being a friend to everyone, by showing people what an American is really like. Especially by letting them know that there’s no such thing as a single “American”—we’re all unique, and we all carry multiple identities and can tell different stories.
Appreciate Costa Rica’s diversity
Before coming to Costa Rica, I didn’t fully appreciate its diversity. I didn’t know what I’d share with people back home, aside from photos of pretty beaches or jungles and my language journey. Now, I know so much more. I know there are 8 indigenous tribes that maintain their heritage and traditions. I know in the case of one, the Ngäbe, that they were not even Costa Rican citizens 35 years ago. I can say I know immigrants – from Venezuela and Nicaragua – and dozens of dual Panamanian-Costa Rican nationals. I know kids who cross the border to come to school every day in Sabalito, and I know laborers who do the same to earn a higher wage. I also know those who’ve left – who’ve gone away to the U.S., or México, to support their family back in Costa Rica. I understand why they left, and why they might be in my home country now, because they too want to support their family and to work hard towards that goal.
This is my greatest takeaway from my Peace Corps service: day after day, month after month, I became more empathetic to all kinds of experiences. I didn’t always agree with everyone, but I came to understand them. And more importantly, we came to understand each other. That knowledge is what the Peace Corps meant to me, and it will continue to mean that to me for years to come.
What are you waiting for? Opportunities like this don’t come often. If you have a passion for service and an adventurous spirit like Jack’s, apply to the Peace Corps today. Expand your horizons, push your limits, and create positive impact as a volunteer. You never know how serving as a Peace Corps volunteer could change your life.
The content of this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or Costa Rica Government.
