I'm a teacher!

I can’t help feeling a sense of accomplishment and relief now that I have finished my first week of teaching at LPDV. I didn’t sleep very well before my first day of teaching because I was nervous and excited and I went home every day this week exhausted. Thursday night my eyes started getting heavy at 8:45. This morning it felt so great to sleep in until 8:00! (an extra 3 hours!)

Anyway, here are a few things that help sum up my first week of teaching.

1. I am a softy when it comes to little Spanish speaking students with big brown eyes.

2. I love hearing my kids call “teacher teacher!” or “profe, please you help me?”

3. I love walking into the room and starting the morning with this dialogue.

Me: “Hola clase!” (hello class)

Students all togther: “Hola teacher!”

Me: “Como están?” (How are you?)

Students all together: “Bien, gracias. Y usted?” (fine thank you, and how are you?)

4. I love walking through the hallways during recess or at the end of the day and hearing so many of my students say “hello teacher!” or “good bye teacher!”

5. I love hearing some of the parents of my students say how grateful they are to have me here so their children can learn English from a native English speaker.

6. I didn’t think I would get much practice using Spanish at school because I am teaching in English, but already I’ve found out that that is not true. Most of my students ask me questions in Spanish all the time. I also have to use Spanish when talking with any of the other teachers, administrators or parents.

7. I thought that my students here would be more quiet and respectful than my students during student teaching. However, although they are respectful they are used to being allowed to talk whenever they want during class so things can get pretty chaotic. And, although several of the other teachers and myself are working with them on this, the students are not used to raising their hand before talking. If I ask a question most often 5 or 6 of them will blurt out the answer at the same time.

So those are just some of the highlights of the week. This weekend has been fun too. Besides spending lots of time working on lesson plans and the exams that I have to have turn in this week, I got to spend most of yesterday hanging out with the young adults group from the church I’m attending. A group of 35 of us went out to a ranch outside of the city of Escazu where we had a devotional time then rode horses on a trail that wove through the hills. The scenery was beautiful! It was sunny but not super hot and it was really cool to ride our horses through the beautiful trees and vines and through little streams. After our ride everyone hopped in cars and drove down the road a ways to a little restaurant where we all enjoyed some comida tipica. Everyone was running on tican time so not only were we an hour late leaving for the ranch but we more than 3 hours late getting back so we barely had enough time to run home and change before heading to church at 5:30. At church we met up with some friends of Leslie who teach at a school in Escazu. They had just gotten back from being in the states for their summer break. Leslie wanted to catch up with them we all went out to a little restaurant and ended up talking until about 10. It was really fun to get to know some other teachers who are kind of in the same boat as us. We talked about the differences between classes here and in the U.S. and about our stories of how we got connected with the schools down here. It was really fun. We are hoping to go hiking with them on Tuesday because we have the day off because of a national holiday. Well, I need to get back to writing exams. Right now, our coffee table, kitchen table, and both my and Leslie’s desks are covered in books and teaching materials. I guess this is a good representation of the life of a teacher.

Getting down to business

So, my play time is pretty much up. Time to dive into school. I have finished my lesson plans for the first week of school and have roughly mapped out the schedule for the next three weeks. Phew! I know that they will need revisions but it feels nice to have that part done.

We spent the last Thursday and Friday in staff training at the school from 8 to 3. It was really good to get to meet and talk a little bit with the other teachers, but I must say it was a very humbling experience as well. Seven hours of training in Spanish is more than my brain can handle right now. I left the school on Thursday feeling pretty much brain dead. Some of the speakers were pretty easy for me to understand but a few others spoke very quickly making me feel completely lost. After spending time speaking Spanish with people in Jaco I was excited about being able to participate in conversations in Spanish here with the other teachers but these days of training have made me feel like I have so far to go to be at the same level as the other teachers. Not only am I the youngest teacher and the newest teacher, but I am by far the worst at speaking Spanish. I am just praying that they will be gracious in helping me improve my Spanish.

It has been really nice to have a three day weekend between training and the beginning of school. I’ve gotten to sleep a lot, read, cook, do laundry, and hang out with Leslie and Alisa. Saturday night we went to church which was great. I am so excited to get to know more people at that church. After church our friend Jessie brought us home and joined us for dinner and an intense game of hearts.

Yesterday I took some time to get some lesson planning done, did laundry, and read my book for a while. Last night Leslie and Alisa and I had a movie night in our “movie room.” (the spare bedroom with several extra mattresses in it) Today I am working on making the final changes to my lessons and trying not to be too nervous about tomorrow. J

Pictures from Playa Jaco

First week down!

Wow! So much has happened in the last few days. I haven’t updated my blog for a while because I took a trip to the beach (Playa Jaco) with my housemate and her sister. But let me back up even further. Friday I spent the day doing some more unpacking and then went walking around Belen with Leslie and her sister Alisa. Leslie helped me get oriented on which way the streets go, where the busses stop, etc. We also tagged along on a trip to the grocery store with the Befuses (the couple who are directors at the school and live across the lawn from us). The grocery shopping experience wasn’t quite like I had imagined it. For one thing it was raining harder than I’d ever seen before and the parking lots were flooded and we would get splashed by cars driving by. The other thing was that the store we went to was called Price Mart and was almost exactly like Costco (down to the samples and everything) but aside from that I couldn’t believe the prices! Food is so expensive down here! So much for living on a cheaper budget.

Saturday morning I met with Lisa Befus to go down to the Elementary building to look at the classrooms, the materials, and the instructions left for me by Dafne, my new boss. We spent 2 ½ hours looking through the curriculum and trying to figure out where I was supposed to start planning and where each of the classes are at in the curriculum. I was kind of freaking out about how detailed I needed to make the plans and how little time I had to do them so I spent the rest of the day working on them. By about 5, Leslie convinced me to put everything away and take a break. So we grabbed some food and headed to church. The church we went to is an awesome church called La Viña (the vine). The music was great and so was the sermon. I was very excited about being able to understand all but a little bit of the sermon. J After church we went to a party at one of Leslie’s friend’s houses. She was celebrating her birthday so we hung out there for a while enjoying food, drinks, dancing, and fun conversations with some of her friends who were working on their English.

Sunday morning we packed up and took off for the beach. It took two busses, and two taxis, and some hanging out at a sketchy bus station in San Jose but about 5 hours later we arrived in Jaco. We found a cheap little place to stay, dumped our stuff, changed clothes, and headed to the beach. There is something about being on a sandy beach with palm trees and actually being able to swim in the water without freezing. So nice! J We spent that afternoon and evening and the whole next day lounging out on the beach reading, napping, playing card, playing Frisbee. (I am however, sad to say that my Whitworth frisbee was lost at sea when Leslie and I were tossing it around along the shore.) Anyway it was a great couple of days relaxing, enjoying sunshine, meeting new people, visiting some friends of Leslie’s, and I got many opportunities to practice my Spanish.

We got back yesterday afternoon and after a much needed shower I went to work on lesson plans some more. I did take a break and go to church and a concert last night but got right back to work on lesson planning today. I spent way too many hours in front of my computer screen but made good progress. I also did some arranging in my room when the Befuses surprised me with a different bed (softer and nicer than the previous one) and a book shelf so I could clear my desk of all the school books. They also brought down a big wardrobe that will eventually go in my room. They are hoping to take out the shelves in my closet and replace it with the wardrobe which I am really looking forward to because all the shelves (and hopefully not the walls) are infested with termites that leave piles of dust all over my clothing if I put it on the shelves. I’m hoping that that will take care of the problem.

I know this is a super long post and hopefully it won’t bore you to death. I will try and keep the next one from being so lengthy. Well, it’s off to bed for me. Tomorrow is our first day of training and I will need a good night’s sleep to pay attention to 7 hours of training in Spanish. I am excited to meet the other teachers though. Hopefully they will be gracious and not make fun of my Spanish. J

(I wrote this yesterday, July 20, but my internet wasn’t working so I couldn’t post it. My internet is still in and out and right now I’m only able to get it out here on our front porch where I am being attacked by mosquitoes. Got to love technical difficulties)

Here at Last!

I'm finally here! What's weird is that it hasn't really sunk in yet that this is really happening. I'm not sure how long it's going to take me to realize that this is home for the next 5 months at least. I really like our house though. It is so cute and I hope to spend some time tomorrow unpacking and decorating my room to make it look a little more homey.

Right now I am sitting out on our front porch because until I get connected to the school's internet I am borrowing internet from our neighbors. My flights went pretty well. I didn't get much sleep but managed to run without sleep for a while. I arrived here at about 1:00 this afternoon and was so glad to be picked up by friendly faces instead of having to take a taxi or a bus. I made it until about 3:30 this afternoon then I took a 2 hour nap which felt great. I also got to spend some time looking around the campus seeing the gym, the soccer field, the cafeteria, the high school and the elementary school as well as getting to know my housemate Leslie and her sister Alisa. Oh yes, and our kitten, Luna. I have lots more to say, but I'm gonna call it a night pretty soon. Thanks for all your prayers!

2 days!

I got home last night from the best 10 day vacation I could ask for. Spending time at the cabin on Hood Canal was the perfect way to enjoy summer a little bit more before leaving. I must admit I returned very sore from my 8 ski runs and my attempt at barefooting but it was definitely worth it. I got to sleep in, lay in the sun, read books, take naps, visit with cousins, aunts, and uncles, watch fireworks, enjoy campfires, hang out with friends from Whitworth, swim, run, boat, and waterski. It doesn't get much better. All I can say is I am SO blessed!

But now it's crunch time. In about 48 hours I will be leaving for the airport. Yikes! My room is a disaster because I've been packing and doing laundry all day. My car is down in Chehalis because it decided not to start this afternoon when I was about to head home after visiting some friends. My emotions are kind of all over the place as I'm wishing I had more time to spend with family and friends but at the same time getting super excited to meet my new housemate, my students, and the other teachers at LPDV. Just this morning I skyped with Leslie, my new housemate, and we made plans to go to the beach this weekend. So excited! Even with the interruption of my car dying in Chehalis, I did make some headway packing today. One suitcase down and one to go. Things are going to be a little crazy once I get to Costa Rica, but I hope to post again after I've been down there for a few days.