End of week two

Wow I find it hard to believe that I have now been in Costa Rica for two full weeks now. I have been exposed to so much that I would have never dreamed about experiencing.

Unfortunately this week I have been feeling under the weather but I am feeling like I am on the mend. I have been using more and more Spanish with my tica family and I am feeling more confident when I speak and hopefully it's less broken Spanish and more complete sentences. All this week I have felt the homesick part of the trip. I think part of that has been actually being sick. But it has been so nice to come home to such a warm and inviting family. (Also the Disney movies don't hurt either, even if they are in Spanish.) I am learning so much from this experience about enduring and pushing through the hard parts. Every morning this week after eating breakfast with my mama tica, and sometimes my papa Tico, I get to hike, literally hike, up a huge hill to meet up with people and then we get to continue to hike together to get to our meeting point. I never really thought about the troubles of not having a car. On the first day, my papa Tico walked me up and was telling me about how he walks up that hill all the time. I didn't even want to think about doing it for another two weeks. It showed me what I chose to ignore, the fact that others are not always as privileged as I am, and all things considered, I am very privileged. This week has really pushed me to my limits more than last week. I keep pushing forward and reminding myself that I'm stressing over the little things and that it doesn't hurt to stop and breathe an enjoy the ride.

Until next time

xoxo

Mi Tico Family en Monteverde

I am now living in Monteverde for two weeks. I am really enjoying my family, they are so sweet and the little girls are adorable. I am not enjoying the massive hills everywhere.

This will definitely be a learning experience though. I don't usually think about how people travel without easy access to cars and such like we have in the states. It is really making me reflect and think about what I have and how sometimes I take it for granted.

My first morning with my family was so cute. The little girls had me color with them as we waited for breakfast. I am really going to enjoy working on communicating with children who don't speak English as their primary language. I really think that this host family experience will help me build confidence in talking with the children where my first host family allowed me to become more familiar with speaking with adults who don't understand English.

Hope to post again soon.

Xoxo

Fin de Semana Dos!

I went in the PACIFIC OCEAN today!! That was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life. The water was amazing and the sand was perfect. I could have stayed there forever.

The hike to the beach through Manuel Antonio National Park was beautiful as well. I saw a few monkeys and a sloth! Because it was raining a little in the morning before we got there, most of the animals were curled up to protect themselves from the rain. I have never seen so many amazing things all in one place.

The things that the locals make are all bright, colorful and so detailed. I wish I had just half of the talent that they have. I bought earrings that are made with butterfly wings! I feel so lucky and blessed to be having this experience. I can’t wait to see what the rest of today, and the rest of the trip brings me!

xoxo

Life in La Carpio

On Friday morning, we all went to this town called La Carpio. It reminded me much of the time I spent in Belize, working at the orphanage. After listening to Gail speak about how she got started working with this group of people, I chose to stay behind at the daycare and help out there and just give the children attention. I actually sat in the “nursery” area, where the smallest child was seven months old and the oldest was a toddler. These children reminded me much of the little ones I work with at home, full of energy and wanting to play, play, play. At first, I just enjoyed being the children but as I sat there for a while, I started to notice the toys and things that the children had to play with and how little room they had to spend their entire day in.

As a teacher, I just wanted to sit with each child for hours and hours and just give them any kind of knowledge that I could. I sat with one girl and as she pulled off different pieces of different puzzles, I would say the name of the object, be it an animal or a number, and she would repeat it. It was such an amazing experience seeing this little girl responding and learning from the few words that I was able to spit out in Spanish. I just wanted to stay there all day, all week, the whole trip. Those little child are wonderful little people who just have so much to give. I think that is SO important to remember as a teacher, no matter the background of your students, be it low low SES or high high SES, your students are all full of amazing gifts and talents and it is our job to nourish those gifts and talents. Those students may not have any other type of “nourishment” for their gifts so we need to give them all individually everything we have to allow them to grow into the wonderful big people that they are destined to be.

My Homestay

Wow. I am now in my homestay for a second night. The first night was a little chaotic. It started out with meeting my mama tica later than scheduled and there was a HUGE futbol game on. When I first got to where I will be staying for the rest of the week, I was surrounded by my mama tica's familia. I actually ate dinner at my mama tica's sister's house, or la casa de la hermana de me mama tica. I had a small dinner, which was perfect. Then I started to feel like I was shrinking into a smaller and smaller person. There was so much conversation going on around me yet I could understand none of it when they were speaking quickly, and maybe only 30% when they were speaking slowly. They mostly just spoke slowly when talking to me. I sat and ate with my mama tica and her sister but I was the only one eating. After I finished, we went through the back door to my mama tica's house. I have my own room but I have to share the bathroom and shower with my mama tica and her mother and her son. I didn't meet him last night. I believe he was at work, or possibly a party to watch the game.

After the game finished, the younger members of the family, the nieces and nephews of my mama tica and the family friends who live near by came and sat with me at the table. We played Spoons, but with clothespins. This was one of the only ways that I was able to communicate with them because I knew how to play the game and I was able to interact this way. Whenever anyone started talking, I would simply watch the conversation bounce around, similar to at a tennis match, but I had no idea what was going on, also similar to a tennis match.

This overwhelming feeling of confusion stuck with me for most of the night and into the morning. I was trying my hardest to follow along and to understand and it just made me feel so sympathetic to all of the ELL students that I have had in the past. I can't believe the sense of confusion and minuteness that I felt simply because I couldn't understand what was being said around me.

Tonight when I got home from spanish class, which was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, I ate dinner with Luis, my mama tica's son and we talked a little about what he likes to do and how far along in school he is. We were able to communicate a little better than I had done last night, and I feel that my spanish class helped me build my confidence to make mistakes while trying to get my point across. After a while, I sat down to do my spanish homework and to blog about the past few days now that I have found out I have wifi at my mama tica's house.

I am about to pass out from all the walking from the past few days. I'll try to blog tomorrow but no promises. xoxo, much love to the states

Fin de Semena Una

Today I had my first clase de espanol. That was quite an experience, but before I talk about that, I need to talk about the past few days. First off, they have been AMAZINGG! Costa Rica is such a wonderful place that is booming with culture!

First, on Saturday we went to La Paz. Words cannot do this place justice.

There were so many animals and plants that just took my breath away. You can clearly see this while I'm holding a TOUCAN!! I never thought I would be able to say those words. The butterflies were amazing and the cats were stunning. I have never seen an animal as large and close up as I did with a jaguar. There were three waterfalls that we saw and each one was more spectacular than the one before. Everything is so green here. I can't stop just staring at everything. 

On Sunday, we packed up all of our stuff and hopped into a bus to drive to Poas Volcano. As you can see, we hiked up to 2574 meters above sea level. Then we hiked even higher. I have never felt so winded. The altitude really gets to you while simply walking and we saw a few people who had bikes. I had never really smelt pure sulfur before, and I really don't want to again.

xoxo

Dia Uno

Wow! So many things happened yesterday. I woke up in Myrtle Beach and crashed into bed in Costa Rica. We were able to experience so much yesterday that I have never experienced anywhere else. I have flown many times before but for some reason flying to another country made me feel very anxious. Luckily, my friend Carolyn happened to be seated next to me on the plane. Once in Costa Rica, I already felt the struggles of not knowing the primary language. When going through customs, I kept having to ask for questions to be repeated and felt very embarrassed. We got through customs and then met our WONDERFUL guide, Justin, who took us to eat at this place called Super Snacks. To be honest, I thought it was going to be like a little convenience store or something but it was a really, really good restaurant and I had the most delicious pineapple drink. I am slowly remembering more and more Spanish, which is awesome.

After lunch, we went to the bank to exchange our money for colones. I have never felt so awkward. This bank has a very different procedure than any of ours in the states. There are a whole lot more security measures. We went to this little market after the bank and I ate the most delicious fruit! I cannot believe how fresh the fruit is here, and the fact that there was watermelon, starfruit, melons, strawberries and more, or sandía, carambola, melón, fresas y mucho más in one location. I tried this one fruit that was called anona and it was nothing like I've ever had before. It had the texture of a banana, the taste of a coconut, the seeds of a watermelon and the peel of an orange. It was so so good.

After the market, we went back to check into our hotel for the next two nights, well one night now. I have two roommates and our room has an AMAZING view. There is this amazing garden that is right outside our window. My roommates and I felt the struggles of being in a new place trying to find the way out to the garden. We had to ask at least 3 people and on the last try, we finally got the right answer but it was time to meet with the group for dinner. Now, it is time to get ready for our excursion to La Paz! I'll post more pictures tonight with the waterfall!

xoxo

Counting the Days!!

Wow, I can't believe that in 14 days I will be on a plane to Costa Rica. I really hope that this experience opens up my insecurities about being long distance from those that I am constantly in touch with. I am still a little nervous about living with another family and not being able to talk to my fiance as much as I do when I am here.

I am also hoping that this experience helps me better understand how to work with students who have a language barrier or some other kind of barrier in my future classrooms. I am looking forward to being immersed in another culture's education system to see how I can make my future classrooms the best that I can.

xoxo