I went on a mountain run today and thought of three things...

1) some cows are so cute, and others and super unfortunate looking

2) Dr OZ is as big as Oprah here, they worship him

and 3) I forgot to blog about my San Jose adventures.... so here I go....

School was canceled on Friday so I decided to take advantage of this, brave the craziness of Costa Rican transportation, and travel to San Jose for a day of sightseeing.  I was super nervous to travel by myself but it ended up going much smoother than I thought. I hitched a ride to Puriscal with my host mom's sister in law, where I hopped on the bus to San Jose. It was about a 2 hour bus ride, so I feel asleep watching the beautiful hills roll by. In San Jose I got off the bus, and began to walk around aimlessly. I was surrounded by random shop fronts and markets. It reminded me of a mix between China Town and Pike Place in San Francisco, anything and everything was for sale. The first thing I bought was a chocolate iced doughnut, delicious. Then I took a cab to Plaza de Central. First, let me just brag a little bit and say that i carried on a decent (yet elementary level) conversation with the cab driver! I was so proud. Once at the plaza, I wandered around, but just like my guide book said most of it was "architecturally unremarkable." However, compared to trees and leaves and dirt I have been surrounded with for the last 4 weeks, I loved it! I decided to visit the Museo de Oro Precolombino, but when I got there I found out that only 1 of the 3 exhibits were open to the public. But, I paid anyways and made my way around some ancient pieces of gold, an exhibit about Costa Rican birds (one my mom would have LOVED) and a hands on build your own sculpture area. I even signed the guest book before I left (in half English/half Spanish). I ate lunch at the Burger King across the street. I couldn't figure out how to order my normal picky meal, so I went with the "numero uno, con queso por favor."   I ate that whopper so fast I thought I might be sick. Best Meal Ever. However, even with my burger, fries, and coke, it was weird sitting in a restaurant by myself. I was surrounded by people, but alone nonetheless. I wanted my mom to see the bird exhibit, I wanted Sekou to see my barely there remnants of my whopper meal.

Next I ventured to the Mercado de Central.  This is supposedly a super touristy spot in the city. I agree. It was corny and alot of the souvenirs were corny, and more importantly "made in China," sorry in advance for those of you who were expecting cool Costa Rican presents, but I'll do my best to find something better! I wandered around insanely lost for the next few hours, when I finally found the bus to Escauz. I figure this is the city of rice people. The mall was huge and reminded me of the malls in Orlando! I bought a ticket to see Hangover 2 (or in Spanish  "Que Paso Ayer Parte Dos"for 4 dollars!!! and popcorn for 2 dollars!  When you buy a ticket in Costa Rican movie theaters you have to choose an assigned seat, I thought this was weird, but I guess it makes sense! The movie was hilarious, but the best part was it was in English with Spanish subtitles.  After it ended, I took a cab to a hostel in the city. I got my own room and a queen size bed. I showered and fell asleep within minutes knowing that I would not be awakened by any rat friends!!

The theater

h

me in the museo de oro

my lunch- so delicious

this girl was letting all these pigeons land on her, they were everywhere!

the market

Iglesia in San Jose

the post office

The Color Song, finally mastered by my kindergartners, they are just so quiet! A proud moment though! I love them.

This morning I woke up at 4 am, it was still dark out. I heard a rustling, so I thought "ewwww," grabbed my can of bug spray and my flip flop and turned on the light to face my cockroach enemy I assumed was awaiting my strike. I heard the noise again, and came to the quick realization that was NOT a cockroach, maybe a lizard I hoped, as I heard more movement from behind the dresser. Then- the BIGGEST RAT I have ever seen in MY LIFE ran from the dresser, across my bed, up the wall, and out the space in between the wall and the tin roof. I couldn't even really scream, just cry. It was at least 8 inches long. One time I saw a mouse in the Kappa kitchen, in the cereal cabinet. That stupid mouse didn't even compare, and I swore off cereal the whole rest of the semester! And to think- I was scared of cockroaches......

escuela de luis monge madrigal

The daily schedule in my Costa Rican school is typical of most here- insane! It changes everyday, and after a little over two weeks here, I can't seem to find one pattern. One thing I know for sure is, there is definitely NO schedule whatsoever on Fridays. Haha. I have managed to adapt and have acutally started to appreciate the fludity of it all. I know it will be a big shock to me when I start my graduate internship, in a school with bells to signal class times, and rules, and schedules.

My favorite part of teaching is the freedom. A lot of what I do each day is repetition. At first, this frustrated me, but now I love to watch the learning finally click. After a week of learning how to say "Hello, my name is..." and "Good Morning Teacher." My students greet me with these phrases every day when I get to school and it gives me the BIGGEST smile each time. According to my work visa here, I do not have to teach Kindergarten. In Costa Rica, "kinder" is almost like preschool. The students come to play, and they are not expected to learn how to read or write until they get to first grade. I decided to teach kinder for my communtiy project here in Picagres, because I think it will only help them more on their path to learning English (that is a goverment mandated standard here, and actually the only one I have seen enforced haha, ironic.) Teaching those six five year olds is the highlight of my day, everyday. They love English! They laugh, they hug me, they yell HELLO TEACHER from their doors and windows when I walk by their houses after school. They impress me everyday with their ability to learn songs and games in English. It is very fun and a huge challenge at the same time, probably why I like it so much! They barely know details in their own language and here I am trying to introduce a whole new one!

I took a video of them singing their favorite color song-I will post it soon!

This past week flew by, which seems not to happen quite often here in Costa Rica.  I had a minor problem with my laptop that, at the time, seemed not so minor. I was listening to all the people around me saying "tranquila muchacha" which basically means "chillout." It was then that I realized, there isnt much to stress out about in Costa Rica. Every day is as peaceful as the last, and for me, each day I spend in Picagres, the more I realize how lucky I am to be in such a beautiful place. I keep telling people, my camera does not do the scenery justice. I try and take a walk around town each day, if the rain holds up, and each day I see something even more beautiful or exotic than the day before, take a picture, look at the picture, and think what a shame this camera can't capture it more accurately.

School is a blast, the children are so eager to learn! I am taking advantage of this because in the United States, students are never quite this excited to learn English, or any subject for that matter. I taught my older students different types of foods this week and we made a menu and practiced ordering foods at "our resturant", they got a kick out of it. We also played WAR and GO FISH with cards. On Tuesday, my day was interrupted. I was bummed until I realized it was because the women in the town were holding a surprise baby shower for the kindergarten teacher at the school. They invited me to play all the baby games with them. Not only was this my first baby shower, but I had no idea what any of them were saying! It was still so much fun, and there was a lot of food. We played baby bingo, baby word search, and some pop the balloon game. Then, the best part, presents. Baby clothes are adorable in any language, that is for sure. 

Picagres is home to about 300 people, I thought that was alot, until I realized that each family consists of no less than six people, and practically everyone is related to someone else! Anyways, they are all aware that I am from the United States, and I knew that would come with some stereotypes, but I did not expect to be asked if I knew Paris Hilton, and, what would I do if I were her for a day. Great I thought, out of all the great people the USA has produced, the one person they know is her, gross. Someone also asked me if I could buy them a car when I get home and ship it to them in Costa Rica, since they heard cars are so much cheaper in the states. I giggled.

I am getting used to the ever-present rice and beans, all day long. However, it was a nice surprise when my host mom took me for pizza this week in town. We rode the bus and ran some errands and then sat down and ate pizza. I ate 4 pieces, and "ate" is probably an understatement, I more like inhaled 4 pieces! It was delicious!!

Pura Vida!

bingo

Last night, the city had a BIG party- Bingo. Sekou asked me if it was at a nursing home when I told him those were my Saturday night plans, nope, no old people here, just good old fashioned Bingo. Costa Ricans love it. We played with corn kernels for markers! I was excited to play a game I was familiar with, until I realized the highest number I know in spanish is like 22 or 23. I was so lost! Thank goodness for the 6 and 7 year olds running around that tried to help me. I did win once- I won a set of tupperware containers. My host mom kept calling them "so beautiful, beautiful beautiful" or in spanish "QUE LINDA!!" so, I gave them to her. This morning she showed me how she put rice in one, cheese in another, and I think, jello in the third.


I also decided that Saturday was a good day to venture on my own into the city. I had to make some photo copies for school. After my failed attempt at asking the bus driver where the bus would pick me back up, I got off the bus even more worried about getting stranded there. Then I heard this voice ask me if I needed help- IN ENGLISH! I swear I probably freaked this girl out because I started crying! She helped me find where I needed to go, but she probably thinks I'm the weirdest person ever. I was just so happy to hear and understand a question!

1) today I think I saw the geico gecko at the river, no lie

2) if you are one of the people that always tells me I walk slow, you should come to Costa Rica. Here I am a speedster

3) today a monkey threw a mango at me, really.

"comeita"

So, good news. The noises I have been hearing at night are actually not huge mutant man-eating cockroaches I have been envisioning. It turns out the noises I have been hearing are the cows that live next door when their tails whip my wall, and the hens that like to run around on the tin roof. That is a relief!

In America it is pretty typical for people to be obsessed with their looks, we read fitness magazines and buy into fad diets all the time. I think this is kind of catching on in Costa Rica, kind of. One thing I noticed is that no bathrooms have mirrors, very not vein, although frustrating when I usually end up leaving with toothpaste on my face. Anyways, I was talking with my host mom, Martha, about food the other night, telling her my favorites, fruit and stuff. She said to me “I am to fat to eat watermelon, I only eat bread.” I had to laugh. I am still trying to figure out how to help her out in Spanish.

At orientation and training, we were told that Ticos (Costa Ricans) usually come up with nicknames for “Gringos” like me. And usually they are blunt. Of course, I was thinking, NOT ME. But, I have been given one, I am not sure if they know that I know they call me that- but- comeita, it means little eater. I guess my pickyness follows me! I told my host mom I like to eat quesadillas, and now she makes them for me 3 times a day! I guess I will have to watch what I say!

All of the people here also touch my skin and call me” bronzado!” I am even tanner than some of the Costa Ricans! I am not sure how long this will last since laying out isn’t really popular here and it rains like clockwork.

More funny stories to come I am sure....

my school & some of my students!

my school- 2 classrooms and one kitchen!

one of the only rules I need, the kids are soooo well behaved

the "kinders"

Karla

Stebany

Katarine

Well my first day was what I expected, yet I was still left overwhelmed and exhausted.  After traveling from San Jose to my host family, I think it finally hit me what I was getting myself into. I had an intense bout of extreme homesickness and doubt. However, I know this is what I want to be doing, so I know I will get through it all.

 

My host family in Picagres (my home for the next 2 months) is nice and accommodating. Martha is a single mom with three children, Jimmy is 18, Damian is 16, and Meilin is 13. Meilin is definitely a teenager! And she will probably end up being my best friend here. After ten minutes of being at my new house, she already wanted to braid my hair and gave me her bracelets as presents. During my orientation week, WorldTeach had a “baile” or a dance. It was so fun because Latino music actually has “a way” to dance. Then, when I asked Meilin about dancing, she informed me that salsa and meringue were just okay, but reggatone was where it is at. And proceeded to play Sean Paul “Rompe” and 50 cent’s “Candy Shop” from her cellphone and shake her hips like crazy! Haha! I guess I will be just as bad at dancing here in Costa Rica. The most different thing about my new house is the house itself.  They leave all the doors and windows open, always.  The tin roof looks like it was placed on top of the house, so there is about a 4 inch gap between the roof and the walls too. It feels nice but that means whatever is outside can get inside too. This freaked me out at first, my mom told me to look at it like camping, but still, there are TONS of geckos, cockroaches, mosquitoes, and wasps.

My first day at of teaching was complicated, as I also expected. The students come to school at ALL different times, some in the morning and some in the afternoon, but the schedule changes each day. Even the director didn’t seem to know who was supposed to be where. Needless to say, I did not get much accomplished. But the students were so patient with me and although they ignored my “No Spanish” rule completely, I have a good feeling about these next two months. 

So far, I will be honest to anyone reading this- traveling in such a different place, with a different language, different food, different customs, and different people is hard and not much fun at first. I am extremely thankful for my immense support system at home in the United States though! This summer will be a great experience, if I can get over these nerves. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers, I feel them!

life in orosi

My first week in Costa Rica was spent at an orientation, learning Spanish and more teaching skills. That was the hard part, where I learned that what little Spanish I THOUGHT I knew, was different here. The host family I am staying with speaks no English at all.  The whole first night, I nodded and laughed when they talked to me, untillll I realized that they were asking me questions. Oops.  Needless to say, I have resorted to intense versions of charades.

So there is literally nothing to do in these small towns, but the small bars that are here are really fun. I nod there too. The first day they warned us that even the cleanest houses have cockroaches, so just dont keep food in your room. nbd. Until I woke up at 3 am to a HUGE cockroach (la cucaracha) on my FOREHEAD. I freakedout and sat up with the light on until morning. The spiders here are also crazy big as well as the frogs.  There are also stray dogs everywhere that follow you!

On Thursday, the volcano closest to Orosi (there are 4 in Costa Rica, all active) erupted, kind of! No lava, only smoke, but still sooo cool. Thursday afternoon, we practiced teaching English to the local elementary school. One word-insane. Costa Rican escuelas are crazy loud, kids just get up and run around, spit water at each other, and have coffee breaks! But it went well and at the end a little girl came up to me and tapped my shoulder and whispered "Donde estas los Estados Unidos?" - aka - "are you from the United States of America?" I told her yes and she gave me a big huge, hug- so cute. I can't wait for more adventures with my real host family.  The town I am headed to is so small that  all of the taxi drivers know everyones names, and the mailman won't deliver any mail I might get unless I introduce myself to him.

Also, they were NOT lying when they said rice and beans all day everyday, literally Costa Ricans eat rice and beans in different forms for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I am still not used to it :) I have yet to find chicken fingers, unfortunately.

LAST THING- in Costa Rica, goodbye is NOT adios, it is ciao. hahaha

so... ciao! hasta luego