Nothing very exciting happened yesterday...except that plans may be made for semana santa to go to Panama. Very preliminary - but Floria said it would be well worth the money and trip. We'll see what happens.
But today is the big day! I'm very excited for my first weekend vacation and to get to the beach! I'm sure I'll have a long post and lots of pictures to put up on Monday morning.
Until then...
Hasta luego!
Friday, March 13, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
March 11
Well, I survived my first AND second tremors (mini-earthquakes) today! It was funny because I was sitting at my desk bouncing my leg, as I often do, and then realized that my desk was still moving after I had stopped bouncing my leg. It did not last for very long, maybe a minute – and by the time I realized what was happening it was already half over. That was at about 11 or 11:30. Then, in the teacher’s meeting after school – probably at about 3 – Floria turned to me and asked if I thought it was happening again. I hadn’t noticed until she said something, but when I put my hands on the desk I could feel a little bit of a shake. Not 30 seconds more and we could really feel it. It was short again, but the vertical blinds were swaying back and forth pretty well.
Apparently there was a big earthquake in Costa Rica in January and a whole town disappeared! There is wives’ tale here that whenever there are tremors, it means that the weather is going to change. March is usually Costa Rica’s hottest month and many people have been telling me that it has been uncharacteristically windy and chilly (it’s been very warm to me!) - so I guess we’ll see if it gets hotter over the next couple of days.
Not too much else happened today really. The weeks are going to go by fast here, it was hump day today and it didn’t even feel like it. Back home Wednesday was the day to get through; everything is just so relaxed and easy going here (sometimes too much so).
Anais told me tonight that tomorrow night’s dinner is a surprise and we’re going to see if I like it. Haha; I told her that there are very few foods I don’t like! Especially since I’ve even been able to eat a bit of fish recently…the salmon that Adam and Mike made was really good actually :-)
Life overall has been much better – I haven’t cried once since Monday. Being able to skype with Adam almost every day has really helped. Even though it’s only for like 15-20 minutes, it’s just what I needed to get myself over the hump. I’ve decided that my family needs to get high speed pronto so that I can skype with them too – I would love to see and talk to my mommy! :-)
Well, that’s it really – like I said, not much new since yesterday. Yesterday was just too big of a day, there’s really no way to follow that up!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
March 10
I'm doing pretty good at this whole journaling every day thing so far!
Today was a very good day :) Classes went well – we started the eighth graders on the Medieval Model project (which I helped put together!), but mostly it was a good day because a lot of exciting personal things happened! First of all, I got an email from Sunny – which definitely started me off on the right foot for the day! I listened to my own advice and once I was done doing everything I wanted to do online I took my world history book (the ONE that we use for 7th, 8th, and 9th grade – YESSS!) and I sat out in the courtyard to start my planning in the sunshine.
At lunch I talked to Beth, and plans are already in the works for the weekend. Apparently one of the other girls’ host parents own some cabins in Cahuita – on the Caribbean shore! So, a bunch of us are going to go there for a weekend and we are going to get to stay there for SUPER cheap – like, $7 a person! I’m so excited to go to the beach!
After school I was talking to Floria about some of the things that I wanted to do while I am here and I mentioned the fact that I need to buy Mama Naab a nativity scene. Apparently, near Floria’s house is a whole street market pretty much dedicated to souvenirs! And she said that she knows of another big market on the weekends in San Jose! So…next weekend I am going to stay with Floria Friday night and we are going to go market shopping and sightseeing in San Jose! Yayyy! I already have my next two weekends planned with fun things to do. :) And I’m sure I will have LOTS of pictures to post from both trips!
And, can you imagine?, the night got even better! Floria took me to a party/get-together for all of the 9th grade teachers, students and parents. The fact that the students at my school are upper-class really started to sink in when we came into this gated community and pulled up in front of a HUGE house.
It was honestly one of the most beautiful houses I’ve ever seen (why doesn’t my host family live there?! Lol). And, to top it off, in the courtyard of this gorgeous house was a priceless historic artifact! Much like the "great heads" of the Olmecs, whose building materials have yet to be found anywhere near their location, there was an ancient Costa Rican culture who left behind mysterious, large, perfectly spherical boulders. It was amazing.
And the cherry on top was the fact that I was with adults, speaking Spanish, and I felt comfortable, and they could understand me – even when I had to introduce myself to the whole group!
It was a GREAT day!
Haha…and funny story because I said I would put it in here. Earlier today I was telling Floria about how one of my first observations in this country was how horrible and crazy the driving is – which they all seem perfectly aware of, and yet…
Anyway, as we are leaving the party tonight, Floria completely blew a stop sign – it was so funny and so ironic I yelled out “Aggh, you typical Costa Rican and your ‘No Rules’ driving!”
You probably had to be there, but we both about died laughing.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
March 9
I wish it was possible to sleep in peacefully here! Maybe I will eventually get used to the noise…but man oh man is it a drag on the sleep department. I was supposed to wake up at 6 today, and instead was woken up at 5. I kept trying to go back to sleep, but I was inevitably jolted by some sort of street noise about every 10 minutes. So I ended up getting up at about quarter to I think.
The bus never came…abandoned again! Lol, just kidding. Jo, an elementary teacher who is a family friend and apparently lives nearby came with a taxi. Jo and I will be riding the school bus together every morning – that is, as long as it decides to come! Supposedly there was a new driver this morning or something.
My CT neglected to tell me that during the hours that we don’t have classes, our room is occupied by another teacher with other classes. Haha, I about made a fool out of myself this morning by almost walking straight into the class without looking. So, at this point I had no idea where to go or where my CT was. Abandoned again…lol
Anyway, she did eventually show up and I basically found out that we hang out in the teachers’ lounge all morning on Mondays Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This gave me the opportunity to take care of my emails and start both of my blogs
Today was especially good because during this time I was also able to cam chat with Adam multiple times! It was sooo good to see him and hear his voice! I think that seeing how things are going to go for the next two months made me feel a lot more settled and optimistic.
I also met Yanet today – the woman who was responsible for my being stranded at the airport. Yea…I still don’t like her. She barely apologized, and talked about how our communication was “mismatched” towards the end. In my head I couldn’t help but scream “no no NO lady, our communication was never mismatched, yours was just nonexistent! We do not share the blame here, it was entirely your fault and you admitting that would make it a lot better!” But did she?...no.
I’m a pretty big fan of my new CT – she’s funny, personable, matter-of-fact, and she bought my ice cream; what’s not to love!?!? She also told me that we need to plan a trip to the beach soon, yay! I can already tell that she has a great relationship with her students – they all joke around with each other, they talk to her about unrelated life happenings, and it seems like they would do practically anything for one of her “love stickers.”
I started p90x today. I'm so glad I brought it! I'm going to have so much extra time on my hands with not having to do as much work teaching that I need something to keep me busy. Not to mention the fact that I'm never going to lose any weight here with the way that my host parents keep wanting me to eat more! lol I'm going to try to sit outside in the sunshine more too so that I can start working on my tan!
I went out with Maria, her best friend and her cousin for about a hour or so last night to a nearby restaurant/bar. It was nice, but at the same time disappointing. I realized that when they are talking at full speed, I probably only understand about 1/3 of what they say lol. My Spanish has a long way to go I guess. Part of it too is that I’m sure they were using a lot more slang words than what I know, and they were talking about people I don’t know, so I just kind of tuned out from time to time. It can be exhausting sometimes to try to keep up with the conversations. I have to put so much effort into listening to make sure I understand things that I don’t really end up talking very much. People here probably think I’m too quiet. Haha, which we all know I’m not! I’m sure it will get better with time…
The bus never came…abandoned again! Lol, just kidding. Jo, an elementary teacher who is a family friend and apparently lives nearby came with a taxi. Jo and I will be riding the school bus together every morning – that is, as long as it decides to come! Supposedly there was a new driver this morning or something.
My CT neglected to tell me that during the hours that we don’t have classes, our room is occupied by another teacher with other classes. Haha, I about made a fool out of myself this morning by almost walking straight into the class without looking. So, at this point I had no idea where to go or where my CT was. Abandoned again…lol
Anyway, she did eventually show up and I basically found out that we hang out in the teachers’ lounge all morning on Mondays Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This gave me the opportunity to take care of my emails and start both of my blogs
Today was especially good because during this time I was also able to cam chat with Adam multiple times! It was sooo good to see him and hear his voice! I think that seeing how things are going to go for the next two months made me feel a lot more settled and optimistic.
I also met Yanet today – the woman who was responsible for my being stranded at the airport. Yea…I still don’t like her. She barely apologized, and talked about how our communication was “mismatched” towards the end. In my head I couldn’t help but scream “no no NO lady, our communication was never mismatched, yours was just nonexistent! We do not share the blame here, it was entirely your fault and you admitting that would make it a lot better!” But did she?...no.
I’m a pretty big fan of my new CT – she’s funny, personable, matter-of-fact, and she bought my ice cream; what’s not to love!?!? She also told me that we need to plan a trip to the beach soon, yay! I can already tell that she has a great relationship with her students – they all joke around with each other, they talk to her about unrelated life happenings, and it seems like they would do practically anything for one of her “love stickers.”
I started p90x today. I'm so glad I brought it! I'm going to have so much extra time on my hands with not having to do as much work teaching that I need something to keep me busy. Not to mention the fact that I'm never going to lose any weight here with the way that my host parents keep wanting me to eat more! lol I'm going to try to sit outside in the sunshine more too so that I can start working on my tan!
I went out with Maria, her best friend and her cousin for about a hour or so last night to a nearby restaurant/bar. It was nice, but at the same time disappointing. I realized that when they are talking at full speed, I probably only understand about 1/3 of what they say lol. My Spanish has a long way to go I guess. Part of it too is that I’m sure they were using a lot more slang words than what I know, and they were talking about people I don’t know, so I just kind of tuned out from time to time. It can be exhausting sometimes to try to keep up with the conversations. I have to put so much effort into listening to make sure I understand things that I don’t really end up talking very much. People here probably think I’m too quiet. Haha, which we all know I’m not! I’m sure it will get better with time…
Monday, March 9, 2009
March 8
I think I slept for almost 12 hours last night. I fell asleep with my Spanish dictionary open and the lights on, woke up at about 2:30am and brushed my teeth…and then didn’t wake up until 10! I think I am caught up on sleep now Well, I better be anyway because tomorrow I have to get back into the groove of getting up at 6am
We had “tacos ticos” for lunch – sooo good , although, everytime we eat I start to wonder if they are fattening me up so they can eat me or something because they are always yelling at me to eat more! Lol I’m definitely going to have to start exercising again if I plan to lose any weight while I am here. I am also going to have to put thought into going out if I want a tan, people here are surprisingly not that dark.
Maria and I made the blueberry and corn muffins that I brought after lunch – I’m excited to see if Anais and Chico like them.
Maria is going to be a godmother. We took her to sign her papers and while we waited for her Anais, Llendre (I have no idea if that’s actually how you spell her name, the older daughter of the family) and I went a got some ice cream. Maria and Llendre are working on making scarves, but they are not knitting or crocheting, it’s a different technique that uses a board with nails on it. It is very easy, but I think I like knitting better.
People drive CRAZY here. Like, absolutely crazy. Most intersections don’t have stop signs, so it’s always a game of chicken. Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way, so you have to be really careful when you cross the street – I guess Myla, one of the other international student teachers, got hit by a car about a week ago, she has a hairline fracture in her arm.
Tomorrow is the big day! Is it sad that I am most excited to be able to get online and reconnect with everyone back home?
We had “tacos ticos” for lunch – sooo good , although, everytime we eat I start to wonder if they are fattening me up so they can eat me or something because they are always yelling at me to eat more! Lol I’m definitely going to have to start exercising again if I plan to lose any weight while I am here. I am also going to have to put thought into going out if I want a tan, people here are surprisingly not that dark.
Maria and I made the blueberry and corn muffins that I brought after lunch – I’m excited to see if Anais and Chico like them.
Maria is going to be a godmother. We took her to sign her papers and while we waited for her Anais, Llendre (I have no idea if that’s actually how you spell her name, the older daughter of the family) and I went a got some ice cream. Maria and Llendre are working on making scarves, but they are not knitting or crocheting, it’s a different technique that uses a board with nails on it. It is very easy, but I think I like knitting better.
People drive CRAZY here. Like, absolutely crazy. Most intersections don’t have stop signs, so it’s always a game of chicken. Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way, so you have to be really careful when you cross the street – I guess Myla, one of the other international student teachers, got hit by a car about a week ago, she has a hairline fracture in her arm.
Tomorrow is the big day! Is it sad that I am most excited to be able to get online and reconnect with everyone back home?
March 7
It was loud this morning; I woke up a few different times before getting up at about 9 I think. Maria made breakfast for me and we talked a lot about Michigan and my family, again I had a couple of urges to cry over my eggs, banana and coffee. After breakfast we ran some errands around town, which let me get to know it a little better. There is a pharmacy, a general store, a market, a couple of shoe and boutique stores, a couple of restaurants and sodas (snack shops), one main bar, a big Catholic church, and a sports field (which more often than not has a soccer game going on).
When we came home we had lunch – basically spaghetti with homemade sauce (no meat) and some vegetables. My host parents kept telling me that I needed to eat more; lunch is the big meal in Costa Rica. While the rest of the family took their siestas, I finally unpacked. Getting things organized helps me feel a little more at ease…but is also a little scary because I began to realize that I’m not just here for a week or two. There is a reason my luggage was so heavy, and it’s because I am here for the next 10 weeks.
I had to call Adam. Hearing his voice really helped me calm down a bit. I cried a little bit again, got it out of my system, finished unpacking…and now here I am. That pretty much covers everything that has happened so far.
There are moments when I am really excited to be here – especially when I think about working at the school, I think it is going to be so much fun; but there are also times when I get really discouraged and I don’t know if I can do it. I’ve never been one to quit anything, and I know I won’t quit this, but there have been moments already where I really want to just say screw it and go home.
I’m hoping that once I get into the groove of my schedule here time will go by fast. The last two months in Grand Rapids went by really fast…so I guess I’m hoping that happens again, only with a lot less stress from my job. I think I can definitely count on the second part.
Maria and I ended up going to a “concierto gratis” at about 7. There were two groups performing, a group of students from the public school and a group of women from Guatemala. Don’t worry, I took pictures and a couple of videos The Guatemalan group was a marimba band, they can play so fast! But my favorite part was probably the flute – not a flute you would see in a marching band back home, but more of an indigenous flute.
Going to the concert lifted my spirits a bit – it reminded me of all of the cool things I have the opportunity to do while I am here. Being able to hang out with Maria has also helped because she does know a little English, so she has been able to help me a bit with some of the words that have been giving me trouble. She also told me not to worry about my Spanish because they have had students come to live with them before who didn’t speak it at all when they first came; so I also have some more hope of actually improving my Spanish while I’m here.
When we came home we had lunch – basically spaghetti with homemade sauce (no meat) and some vegetables. My host parents kept telling me that I needed to eat more; lunch is the big meal in Costa Rica. While the rest of the family took their siestas, I finally unpacked. Getting things organized helps me feel a little more at ease…but is also a little scary because I began to realize that I’m not just here for a week or two. There is a reason my luggage was so heavy, and it’s because I am here for the next 10 weeks.
I had to call Adam. Hearing his voice really helped me calm down a bit. I cried a little bit again, got it out of my system, finished unpacking…and now here I am. That pretty much covers everything that has happened so far.
There are moments when I am really excited to be here – especially when I think about working at the school, I think it is going to be so much fun; but there are also times when I get really discouraged and I don’t know if I can do it. I’ve never been one to quit anything, and I know I won’t quit this, but there have been moments already where I really want to just say screw it and go home.
I’m hoping that once I get into the groove of my schedule here time will go by fast. The last two months in Grand Rapids went by really fast…so I guess I’m hoping that happens again, only with a lot less stress from my job. I think I can definitely count on the second part.
Maria and I ended up going to a “concierto gratis” at about 7. There were two groups performing, a group of students from the public school and a group of women from Guatemala. Don’t worry, I took pictures and a couple of videos The Guatemalan group was a marimba band, they can play so fast! But my favorite part was probably the flute – not a flute you would see in a marching band back home, but more of an indigenous flute.
Going to the concert lifted my spirits a bit – it reminded me of all of the cool things I have the opportunity to do while I am here. Being able to hang out with Maria has also helped because she does know a little English, so she has been able to help me a bit with some of the words that have been giving me trouble. She also told me not to worry about my Spanish because they have had students come to live with them before who didn’t speak it at all when they first came; so I also have some more hope of actually improving my Spanish while I’m here.
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