Tica Time

The weekend before last weekend, Sarah and I were surprised by a visit from Xiomara and Marlon, our “primos” (cousins). Saturday we thought we were going to have a lazy day, but they brought us to a mountain to go hiking, which was SO much fun. We made it to a waterfall eventually and it was absolutely gorgeous. Marlon used his machete to cut through a lot of stuff…so we took the road less traveled this go 'round! They are so much fun to be around and as Mami and Papi said, very "Pura Vida". 

On Sunday they picked us up early and brought us to a restaurant called “El Primo” (How ironic, right?) where we tried our very first café con leche in Costa Rica. They aren’t kidding about the coffee here—it’s amazing! We adventured all around the province of Limón throughout the day from the indigenous reservation all the way to the beach in Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean. We were even in Panama for a spell and Central Limón where we got to see the island that good ol' Christopher Columbus stumbled upon back in the day! Needless to say we had a fantastic day and finally made it into the water! I don’t even have words for how beautiful it was! So blue and so clean and so salty!

Last weekend, Sarah and I ventured into San Jose and had a great day! We stumbled upon a used book store and I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was! It was the first store with books we've seen since coming here. Sunday we had a surprise birthday party for Shirley, Papi’s sister. She had no idea!! I don’t think I have ever been in a room filled with so much love in my life. You could actually feel it in the room. Papi was telling stories about her life and one of her other brothers was singing her songs. Of course there was singing and dancing cause it wouldn’t be a party in Costa Rica without that (or the piñata). You have to watch the video of Papi cause he still has some pretty nifty moves! I'll have to try uploading it again soon.

Shirley being greeted as she walked in! :)

It felt so good to finally teach! I’ve been teaching math here and there and the kids love it, because I’ve been using games a lot more than the chalkboard. I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from my teacher, too, which makes me feel better because I have been using a totally different method than what the school uses. Teaching in Spanish and having a conversation in Spanish are definitely two completely different things, so one of my goals for this week is to become more confident in front of the classroom by preparing what I'm going to say and practicing. There are so many words that are unique to a Spanish speaking country, but my teacher and the kids have been extremely patient and aren't afraid to teach me the words that they use for things, so I'm thankful for that. One of the parents last week told Sarah and I we could pass for Ticas (Costa Ricans), which is a great compliment! We must be doing something right! :)  

These are a few of my kids at recess.
They love drawing and this basically sums up their personalities!

Week 1

After waiting for what seemed like a lifetime, Sarah and I FINALLY got to go to school this week! This is the view from our house when we leave in the morning. :)

I am in fourth grade at La Escuela de Excelencia los Geranios where I almost instantly fell in love with 22 children in such a short time. Each of my students already has a special place in my heart. Sarah hit it spot on when she said this is closest we'll ever be to famous. The second I step out of my room there is a circle around me of children of all ages. I love their curiosity, but sometimes they ask questions at the same time and they're super excited, so I have to remind them that I'm still learning so they have to talk one at a time and S-L-O-W-L-Y! haha "What's the United States like?" Well the United States is a really big country, so every state is different. There is a lot of snow where I live, though. "WHOA! What's snow like? Is it really cold?" Snow is amazing AND so much fun to play in (yes, I miss snow) and it's under zero degrees sometimes! "WHOA! What kind of stuff do you play? Is it pretty? Have you ever been to Nueva York (New York)? Have you ever been to Miami? Do you have kids? Are you married? Are you 26? (That one cracked me up. Such a random number!) Why aren't you married? Do you have a boyfriend? Is he in the United States?..." I could fill this whole page up with their questions, but you get the picture. It's adorable. 

We needed a "First Day of School" picture! Sarah and I were so nervous going in, because we knew that a lot of things would be different and we didn't know where anything was besides our classroom. I hadn't even met my teacher yet! Like I said, the kids are phenomenal. They are so caring along with their curiosity. We are constantly being given stickers, cookies, and even a rice tortilla thing one time. My teacher is really nice, too. I haven't gotten to talk to her too much yet, though, because she is sick with dengue fever (that's honestly my biggest fear here, because I'm covered in mosquito bites). How the school day goes is totally different from what we're used to, but it is a different culture so I knew it would be. I just feel so bad for the kids because there isn't very much interaction.

On a normal school day, the teachers arrive ten minutes before school and leave shortly after the children leave. The school must not have access to resources, because my walls are bare in my classroom. In the corner by the window there is a map of Costa Rica and some plants, but that's about it. What really breaks my heart is that I have yet to see a book that isn't the teacher's edition of some textbook. They don't teach reading or writing until high school from what I understand.That really 

surprised me, because that's 

what we focus on at home. 

During the school day, there are four 80 minute blocks with a break in between each. They eat lunch in ten minutes and aren't able to talk during that time, which I thought was very interesting. In class, the teacher copies things from the textbook onto the chalkboard and the students copy it. Some is information and some of it is questions to answer. This breaks my heart. They are in 4th grade and they are learning like I did when I was in high school.

I have been helping one of my girls with writing things from the board, because her right arm is broken. She couldn't figure out how to subtact 8 from 17 without writing 17 marks and subtracting 8, so I tried to show her the 9 thing, but that didn't work, so I showed her how to count up. The look on her face reminded me why I'm here. I want to be a teacher and I can't wait, all because of that light bulb look. What broke my heart is how serious she was when she 

thanked me for explaining 

how to do it, because 

no one took the 

time to before. 

Now I am going to leave you all with a little song that I like to call "A Tooty Ta". For those of you who don't know it, it's super fun to do in preschool, but I think it's even more fun to do in fourth grade. My kids are OBSESSED with it and it's so cute when they say the words in English, because none of them know more than the basic hello, goodbye, my name is...kind of thing. Yesterday, they started doing the dance with me, too. It's been in my head for two days now, so I apologize if you join me! Until next time, hasta luego amigos!

La Iglesia ~ The Church

We went to church for the first time today and it was very different, but a great experience. I knew that there would be a few differences because La Iglesia Fuente de Vida (The Church Source of Life) is an Evangelical church and I have never been to that type of church before (and I’m kind of in Costa Rica, too, so I figured that may make it a little different…language barrier, traditions, and stuff like that you know).  I honestly don’t even know how to describe the passion that filled the little church we were in. The only service of the day was at 9am and began with a long prayer thanking God for all of the blessings he has given us. There was usually music playing in the background during prayers throughout the service, too. In between parts of the prayer, we sang some songs, which I really enjoyed because the words were on a screen and lit up like at karaoke, so I knew what to do and understood everything! J The pictures they showed on the screen during that time were incredible. There was this one of Jesus holding out his hands to the world with a lot of little people—gave me Goosebumps! People were literally jumping up and down and clapping, shouting and cheering for Jesus. I had never seen anything like it before; it was extremely moving. When I think of church it’s usually a pretty strict, quiet setting. This was like a combination of a bible study and church service in a way.

After the prayers and singing were done, the pastor came up and did a greeting. He had all the people with birthdays in the end of January and beginning of February come up front, so naturally I sunk down a little bit in my chair until I was told to go up front. It was pretty special because he said a prayer/blessing for all of the people. For the offering, two adults and a little girl stood up front. The adults had treasure chests and the little girl had a basket. Everyone went up at once and the children put their offerings in the little girl’s basket, while everyone else brought their offering to the treasure chests. I thought that was pretty cool, and definitely different than what my church does. Afterwards, the Sunday school teacher came up with the children that were 6 or under (they start kindergarten at 7 here) and they showed the video below and sang the song with actions (absolutely adorable)! It was time for them to go to Sunday school and the pastor to do the sermon, which was a little difficult to follow for me, but I still think I got a lot out of it.

For communion, everyone went up to the front of the church and stood around a table that had the bread and wine, which was then passed out. The bread was not unleavened and I think the wine was grape juice, so that was a little different. When the children got back, the pastor had everyone come up who is going to be in school starting tomorrow (the beginning of their school year), so Sarah and I were summoned of course. The prayer was very personal and special, though. When everyone sat down, the pastor said a long prayer to end the service. People began by sitting, some stood up, some kneeled down, and many ended up going to the front of the church. There were so many tears and so much love and emotion in the room, I can’t even describe it. The people in that congregation have so much love for each other and passion about life and God. A large portion of the service was prayer, but you could tell they were truly coming from the heart of whomever was speaking. It was really refreshing, but got to be a little long because the service didn’t end until a little after noon.      

Just Keep Swimming

After being here for two weeks, Sarah and I have yet to do what we came here for. We simply just want to teach!! We have been volunteering by helping schools and a day care get ready for the new school year (school begins the first week in February for children in Costa Rica). Throughout the last couple weeks, it has been crucial to keep thinking positively, but it hasn't always been easy! I have been looking to this picture as a reminder, because it is very true. Even though we haven't been in a school yet, my Spanish has definitely improved and Sarah and I have learned a lot about the culture.

 

Just so you have an idea of the type of home I'm in, this is Mami playing with our dinner! :) She has such a free, loving spirit (great cook, too!).

This is our beautiful home! All of the houses here are so unique! You can see a volcano and the mountains from the terrace and it's absolutely gorgeous.

                     

This is the Caribbean side of Costa Rica in Puerto Viejo. It is absolutely beautiful, but unfortunately kind of far from where we are! The sand is even black at la Playa Negra!