La Vida:)

It’s hard to believe we are starting week 4 of teaching tomorrow!  Time is going fast!!  I'm still amazed how God had this whole experience perfectly planned out for Kristin and me.  The job, house, helpful people, the experience.  It's great!  We are adjusting here in Costa Rica.  I'm still trying to figure out school, but it's definitely getting better:)  I wish I had some lessons, games, and activities from my college profs’ wisdom…my notes/books are somewhere in storage!  I know they would come in handy!

Teaching math, science, and language arts in English to fourth graders is great!  I’m working on talking slower…the kiddos are learning all of this in their second language after all!  The kids are very hard workers!  School is busy: teaching all day, turning in lesson plans, writing tests, creating visuals, buying materials for science experiments (which are harder to find in another country), creating games and hands on activities, and of course, grading.  We had our first parent meeting last week... Mine could have gone better, but I got through it.  

I also have a girl who just moved here from Brazil.  She only speaks Portuguese and a little Spanish.  I think she was very lost the first couple of weeks!  I teach only in English, and their specials classes are only in Spanish...The kids also take a French class, so this little girl must have so many languages in her head now!  Spanish is coming to the little Brazilian pretty quickly though.  Teaching her English is a challenge, because my classes are the only time she hears English!  But it will come….I know it!  

Along with being a busy first year teacher, learning a new culture and school system, we have had other small challenges.  For example, some people here, (our landlords included), take cold showers.  One cold shower was enough for Kristin and I, so we were on a mission to buy a ‘ducha’ to make showers warm!  Going into a hardware store to look for the parts of a ducha, and then coming home to try and put it together was rather funny.  It wasn’t the easiest task…so we did get some help from the landlord man) luckily!  And now, we have hot showers!  

Laundry is a bit more of a task.  We have a ‘pila’ (an outside sink to wash clothes) on the side of our house.  But just the other day, we got a washing machine and oven from a very nice couple who happened to have these items laying around.  However we’re a little unsure about the washing machine, because it is the LOUDEST machine you’ve ever heard.  And our house is extremely close to our landlord’s house.  Whenever the laundry started pounding, we ran outside to stop it!  It sounded like we were washing bricks, and the entire machine moves…So we’ll have to figure that one out:)  We hang our clothes to dry out back on clothes lines, which works well now…we are just wondering how fast they will dry outside during rainy season (May-November).  We shall see…The oven completes our kitchen and works very well.  We weren’t sure how Kristin would have gone a year without baking..so this is perfect!

Our little house:)

My room and cloth, zip-up closet.

Oh laundry.

 
                         We feel very safe!


                                 La casita!


                  The 5th and 4th grade teachers:)














The BEST avocados are at the Saturday market!

Our little landlord lady is very nice and brings us fresh food she makes!  She is so cute and little.  She gave us fresh tortillas, which were delicious!  We went to church this morning.  I am surprised how much Spanish I did understand, so that’s great!  I’m understanding more all the time,  I just need to keep practicing!  It is still very difficult...

It's about time we see more of Costa Rica.  Where to start?  Beaches, jungles, mountains... There is so much!  We don't have much time during the week to leave Escazu, so we've decided we must go on an adventure every weekend!  We are in Costa Rica after all.

Week One of Costa Rica!

Well, here I am!  In Costa Rica…sigh.  It is quite amazing!  Many of you reading this know the whirlwind it has been in order to get here!  Since it is such a story, I should start at the beginning though.  So much has happened and it only began about a week ago!

Here is the basic timeline:  

-Thursday 2/3: I received an email from Kristin, my friend who arrived in Costa Rica 2 weeks prior, saying a job was available and to contact the principal (just in case).  

-Friday 2/4: sure enough I got a call and interviewed via Skype that night.  

-Saturday 2/5: morning I got the job!  (What a great birthday gift…a job in Costa Rica!)  

-2 and 1/2 days to get ready before school!  Although I didn't get much done Saturday, I was still in complete shock.

-Monday 2/7: I took a redeye flight to make it to school on Tuesday morning!

It was meant to be, it all worked out too perfectly!  I have amazing family and friends that helped me get as much done on the forever long ‘To Do’ list as possible in those couple of days…thank you again:)  There is a lot to do when packing up life in the states for 10 months.  It was great that everything on the Costa Rican end was being taken care of!  (Kristin found a little house right next to the school for us to live in.)

Alas, I made it on the flight…Departure: Denver 12:30 am.  Finally a feeling of relief, if I forgot something, there was nothing to do now.  Arrival: San Jose 6:30 am.  Leaving a blizzard for a green, summer day was not bad!  A taxi driver, myself, and 2 large bags were on our way to Arandu Elementary to meet my 4^th graders!  We sat the morning rush hour traffic and the kids did make it to school before me.  I have a tendency to be late sometimes, so this was fitting I was late on the first day of school…but, I'm surprised I actually did make it!  Luckily there was a school assembly when I arrived.  Finally, I saw my little classroom.  Books, supplies, blank walls.  It was ready for me.  One thing was missing from the classroom…lesson plans!  I didn’t even have a schedule of the day.  My ‘get to know you’ games were not lasting as long as I’d hoped!  I didn’t even know what time lunch was!  All I knew was that I was teaching language arts, math, and science to a very polite class of 4^th graders. 

However, I did find out that Kristin was almost as lost as I was…somehow we did both make it through the first day and week!  I would tell you more about the first day of school, but I think I was in a fog the whole day.  Exhaustion, shock, hunger, a mixture of everything! After school, I took a taxi to a cute bed and breakfast, which was my home for the next 4 days..until Saturday.  We were waiting for our brand new 'casita' to be finished being built!

People seem to be extremely nice and helpful here!  But one challenge is directions.  There are no signs and no addresses.  But somehow after going to a delicious market with tons of fruits and vegetables...we made it and moved into our new..cute house:).  It's brand new and right next to the school!  It's perfect!  The familia that owns the house are so nice!  They have even given us a bit of furniture to help us out.  But Saturday was the day we decided to take a trip to Hipermas (the only WalMart type place around).  That in itself was quite the experience!  I have NEVER seen so many people in one store!  It was huge!  With thousands of things to buy.  I was completely overwhelmed when trying to buy toothpaste!  And everyone in the store had a cart that was full!  Myself included.  It is difficult to start from scratch and live in another country.  We needed things from food to cleaning supplies to dishes...and of course, a coffee pot.  Luckily the 1,000 colones for toothpaste...only meant 2.00...so that was a relief!  (I apologize...I'm still adjusting).  After our 4 hour trip to Hipermas, we could not have been happier to get out!  But we are now able to live and eat, so that's great!

Lesson planning is my next large task!  As well as planning field trips for the kiddos??  Maybe Lonely Planet can help with that one?  The school is great...but I'll have to get used to the lack of organization...and practice my Spanish so I can understand more in the next staff meeting:)

Well, this was quite long for a first post.  I hope somewhat entertaining!  There's so much more to say...at a later date!  I'm making through week 2.  But I'll keep ya posted:)