end of august

well... I guess I am really settling into my routine in Costa Rica. I have been here 6 weeks but it feels like I have been living here so much longer! It must be because I am so busy with work each day and thoroughly enjoying my weekends. The people who I have become close friends with are great and it is starting to feel like I have known them forever! weird. :)

These past few weeks have been jam packed with fun, so I will fill you in on some of the adventure!

San Jose weekends: One of the best parts about staying in San Jose for the weekend is being able to go to the feria organica! It is the cutest little hippie farmer's market and I have found tons of great gems (thanks Elle!) It is nice to stock up of fresh fruits and veggies, but I also enjoy the pesto, sun-dried tomato pesto, chocolate banana bread and variety of goat cheese I have brought home. Haven't been disappointed in a purchase yet! The hard part is getting up and being out the door by 7:15 to get the good stuff. I am so not a morning person...


Elle doing some shopping

Sean doing some browsing

Last weekend my roommate, Elle, and I hosted the "Old gringo/new gringo" party and also celebrated our friend Meghan's birthday! It was a wonderful time and it was nice to get to know some of the other teachers who have been teaching here awhile. We had a great time and I am happy we were able to bring so many people together! The gringos gotta stick together!

Meghan, Elle y yo :)

Language Acquisition: My Spanish is coming along s l o w l y... but it is coming! Every Monday I take Spanish after school and while it is only an hour a week, it is still helpful. We have been working on regular verbs in the present tense... now I just need to memorize what they all mean since I know how to conjugate them! Soon enough.
I did my first yoga class in Spanish! I do yoga at school every Wednesday and every other week she does English/Spanish... I was a little nervous I would be lost, but I did better than I thought! Turns out knowing silla means chair, perro means dog, derecho means right and izquierda means left helped a lot! I enjoyed the class more than I thought!

That about sums up what I do on a weekly basis... work, Spanish class, work, yoga... work... get caught in the afternoon rain, oh and drink copious amounts of wine but nothing has changed there...

thanks for reading :) pura vida!

i've been here a month, really?!

(Oops! Had some computer trouble, now this is a week late! Owell!)

It is hard to believe it has been a month already! Time is flying by, but we are so busy down here! Really a month is nothing when you have 2 years! Everyone keeps telling me the first year will be over in no time and I will soon be deciding if I want to renew a contract! I don't believe them... a year can't go by that fast!

Anyway, another great week under my belt. I am still happy, loving it, enjoying making new friends...some say it's the "honeymoon stage"... I am hoping it lasts a long time!

As far as work goes, it is busy and the schedule is crazy and I am trying to learn new curriculum (which I don't really love that much, because it is SO different from what I know and so one size fits all) Anyway... I am going to try to work around it and teach what I believe in while working in the required curriculum... wish me luck!

The students are pretty adorable- but SUPER chatty. Cultural, I know... but really they never stop talking! However, their schedule is super hectic and we are constantly transitioning... so I feel like that plays into it too... it may take me awhile, but I am determined to whip them into shape!

On the social side, I am having tons of fun meeting all of the new people! Loving my roomie, Elle and my new sobrino, Billy Moo! This Thursday we did not have school for Mother's Day in Costa Rica! Feliz dia de madre, Costa Rica! I went to the beach! We had a caravan of 4 cars and about 20 people at the beach and it was SO fun!! Turns out there were just a few bad apples on my first beach trip who managed to really spoil it for everyone, and they weren't on this beach trip and all was well!! I handled this group of 20 just fine! We had a great time and it was fun to get to know some of the other people I hadn't met yet! It is really nice to have a community of gringos here to relate to and spend time with... it's like instant friends!


The photos below are the gringo group and the Crocodile Bridge on the way to the beach! You can stop and see all of the crocodiles under the bridge! 


Gringo Group!

Crocodile Love!

first week of school

Once again another week has gone by and I have barely had time to breathe! This past Monday the entire staff, veteran and new teachers, came together to prepare for the school year. There are so many teachers at Lincoln, I am not sure I will ever meet them all! With the school being PreK-12 grade, it is a large group! However, I did get to meet most of the elementary staff and have already found some people I really enjoy spending time with! It was a relief after my weekend in Manuel Antonio with the other new teachers! I was happy to find some people I can relate to a little better!

Monday-Wednesday were filled with meetings... we barely had any time to work in our classrooms which was pretty stressful! However, the kids came Thursday I a jumped right into teacher mode and had a great day! These kids (so far) are pretty great! They are very sweet, respectful and bright. Coming from a class that was 75% below grade-level in reading, this group seems to be very on top of things! When I ask them to do something, say, writer's work shop, they all cheered and started writing almost immediately! It was nice. I know I will need to work on a few things, because culturally they talk a lot... but we will get there :)

As for my social life, meeting the entire staff has been wonderful, but kept me busy! My roommate, Elle, is great! She knows the ropes around here and is very helpful! Every night this week I was invited to join people for dinners, birthdays, beach trips... and I just can't say no so I kept busy! I had a great week though! Like I said, I have found some nice people in the veteran group and I wanted to make the effort to get to know them! Yesterday, I headed off to the beach  for the day with a few people from school. It was beautiful!! We went to a beach outside of Jaco and it was empty and wonderful! The sun was shining, the water was warm and the company was great!

Crocodiles on the way to the beach!

 Playa Esterillos- all to ourselves!

It was a busy, but wonderful week! I am looking forward to a quiet Sunday to catch up on work and relax a little before work tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

manuel antonio

Hola!
Well here I am at the end of week two! I realize it has only been two weeks, but it seems like time is flying by! This school week was full of meetings and on Thursday night some of the other new teachers and I headed to Manuel Antonio for a long weekend.

friday:
We woke up EARLY and headed into Manuel Antonio because we wanted to go to the National Park. It was a rough start because we had a few beers the night before... but we couldn't waste time, we had to get to the beach! We ate breakfast at hostel lindo (I think) and it was 2 mil for an entire typico Costa Rican breakfast! Eggs, beans and rice, fruit, pancake, coffee... YUM!
Next, we bought our tickets and headed into the national park. It was AMAZING in there. We had about a 15 minute walk to the beach and it was through the rain forest! On our way in we saw a huge snake (maybe a boa), spiders and a sloth! When we got to the beach we found a place to spend the day and went swimming! The water was calm and warm, I could have spent all day swimming! While we were at the beach we saw monkeys, lizards, another sloth, and amazing views. It was great!

We left the beach at about 3pm, exhausted, sun-burned and starving! On our way home we ran into some of the other teachers and made plans to meet them for dinner later. Our evening consisted of dinner, a few drinks and an early night!

                             

  

saturday:
Once again we got up pretty early as we had to head into town to buy our bus tickets to leave the next morning. After that, we headed back down to Manuel Antonio to grab breakfast and hit the beach. We spent the day with our crew of ten on the beach. The public beach is different from the beach in the park. There are many locals trying to sell you things like tours, food, drinks, cigars, drugs...you get the idea. However, I was able to rent a surf board and try it out again. It was not as easy for me this time as I have tried it 3 years ago when I came to Costa Rica. The waves were big and I am not as strong as I once was! After nearly drowning and only getting up 3 times I decided to call it a day. It certainly was not as easy as I remember, but I will try it again some day soon. Saturday was also a pretty low-key evening. After 2 days at the beach most everyone was exhausted. The sun sure takes it out of you! After dinner and a few drinks, we called it a night, and boy was I ready to come "home".

lesson:
I learned a lot about myself and others on this little weekend trip. One, maybe I shouldn't travel with large groups because I really don't like taking care of adults on trips. Many people were unhappy with the living situation (it was 20 bucks a night, it was by no means fancy!) and some had issues with eachother. I learned that I need to choose friends carefully here, but it is hard when the school community are your friends! So much to learn.... 

my first week

What a whirlwind! This has been the busiest week! After a few days at the fancy hotel, I moved into my apartment and have been settling in and exploring my new city! Here is a peek at my day to day life so far! 

the apartment: 

I live in Apartemtos de Llorente and it is pretty nice. I am centrally located, near friends, grocery stores, bars and restaurants. Most everything is within a 10 minute walk, but you have to be careful walking here... especially after dark. I have my own bedroom and bathroom and share this apartment with my roommate, Elle, who I have not met yet! She will arrive in a few days! It is pretty spacious, so I am sure it will be great!

my room

transportation: 

Since it is difficult to walk, I have been using a lot of buses and taxis to get around. So, I already have a language barrier and they don't use addresses here... so getting around by taxi, while convenient, can be difficult. So, when I go to my friends nearby I say, Salon La Pista, una mas cuadra, then I tell them a la derecha and izquierda and then point to their house. HA! So I tell them to go to a bar, then one block more, then turn right and then left. It is weird. Getting home is easier because I live near a University, so I can just tell them to take me there. 

I have also used the buses a few times to get to San Jose. It is pretty cheap, about 50 cents, to get downtown and there is a bus station right by my apartment, so I may end up taking the bus around once I learn exactly what bus I need to take to get around! 

walking: 

Thankfully during the day it is safe to walk around, so I have been walking around with friends learning my way around. Yesterday I walked by myself a bit and wow, it sure is interesting! The Ticos are not shy, so they whistle and yell out the window at the ladies on the street. I guess they mean it as a compliment. It is pretty different, especially since this climate makes my hair look horrible and I am breaking out like a teenager! I can't possible look beautiful! But when they yell lindo or maybe it's linda out the window, I think that's what it means! HAHA! When I come home and no one yells you're beautiful out their car window my ego will be squashed! 

Today I decided to walk to the grocery store nearby. As I was leaving it started to sprinkle and within minutes it was pouring!! I decided to continue on, it actually felt kind of nice and I had a rain jacket on. Needless to say, I was soaked within minutes but at that point I wasn't far from the market! I did my shopping planning to get a taxi on the way home... it turns out getting a taxi while it is raining is much more difficult! So I walked home, good thing my groceries were all covered in plastic bags and stayed pretty dry!!

friends: 

So far, I have been hanging with the gringos! The other teachers at the school are all so great! It is so nice to have a community of people to spend time with right off the bat. I have spent most of my time with Ruth and Sean, who happen to be Michganders, I always manage to find them! They have been great though, so thanks for taking me in Ruth and Sean! I appreciate it! They have helped me learn my way around and always invite me to explore and grab a meal with them, so it is super nice! 

The rest of the group is great as well! We all went on a school field trip to La Paz and got to see some of the wildlife and beauty of Costa Rica together. 

I guess that is it for this week! We start work tomorrow, so I am sure I will have plenty more to add soon! 

i made it!

I can't believe the time has finally come. I am sitting in my hotel room (Hotel Bougainvillea) in Heredia, Costa Rica! I arrived this morning at about 5am. The last 24 hours were stressful and emotional, but all a part of the decision to come to Costa Rica.

Yesterday, I finished up in my house with the help of great friends, Lori and Sarah, had pizza and beer with more friends, enter Cari and Lisa, spent time with my dog, Bentley (saying goodbye to him was the hardest!), and headed to the airport... completely full of nerves! I had six bags/boxes to check... yes six, I am moving for 2 years!!! Each box or bag needed to be under 50 pounds and boy was I close! Most of the items were exactly 50 pounds and one was 51 pounds! Luckily it was a suitcase and I was able to quickly grab my nude pumps and pack them into my carry on, bringing me down to 50 pounds! Phew! Once all of my bags were checked, I was able to take a huge sigh of relief... but the stress wasn't over yet!

The 5 hour flight was easy, of course I couldn't sleep a wink, but I certainly tried. We arrived at 5 am and it did not take long to get through immigration and on to baggage claim (the most dreaded part of this adventure was how I was going to manage 6 massive checked items in San Jose!!) Luckily, in true Tico form, the airport was full of people ready to help! A nice man loaded up all of my items and wheeled my huge cart right to customs where another man took over and loaded up all my items onto the conveyor belt Before I knew it they were all loaded up on the cart and we were off to find my taxi! Customs with 6 checked bags and 2 carry on... CHECK!

The man driving me to the hotel was waiting with a sign with my name on it, so it wasn't long before I was on my way to the hotel! The nice man talked to me all about Costa Rica on the way to the hotel and even pulled over to show me where coffee was being grown and gave me an explanation of how it all works (in English!). In about 20 minutes, I was at my hotel getting all checked in to my "Mountain View with a balcony- King sized bed" hotel room. Not too shabby!

After checking in I took a nice nap for a few hours and then headed down to the hotel lobby for breakfast. My first meal was a typical Costa Rican breakfast: eggs, rice and beans (gallo pinto!) fresh fruit, fried plantains, orange juice and coffee! IT WAS SO GOOD! I had forgotten just how amazing the food is here... I think I could have eaten an entire pineapple!

 

After stuffing my face I thought it would be a good idea to put on my bikini and find the pool! Even though it was probably around 75-80 degrees, I was the only one there. So peaceful. Next I headed in for a massage, which was just what I needed after the stress of the past month or so. Who can pass up a massage from a tico? :) 

My afternoon was filled with a visit to a host family (Reiner & Lily) I reconnected with before coming down. Reiner invited me over for a visit (or at least I think he did, it was all in Spanish). I had the hotel help me with getting a taxi because directions are difficult here. Thankfully, ticos are amazing and very friendly and the taxi driver called Lily at the house for directions!! Nothing like my previous experience of getting kicked out of a cab in Denver for living too far away! Anyway, I arrived at Lily's house and she welcomed me in with open arms! I spent the evening trying to understand and speak Spanish while spending time with Lily and her family. There were also 2 students from the states staying there as well. Lily was able to help me with a cab ride home. Her nephew drives a taxi so it was nice to get a safe and trustworthy ride home on my first night in Costa Rica. I even scored his digits for future rides! He said he will go anywhere... may be hiring him for a beach vacation soon! 

Needless to say, this has been a fantastic day. The food was fabulous, the people are wonderful and laying in my king-sized bed writing this isn't so bad either... if you made it this far, thanks for reading :) 

buenas noches 

the big decision

A week ago today I was tossing and turning in a hotel room in Atlanta, Georgia... I knew within 24 hours I would be deciding what country I would be moving to next year. I attended the AASSA (Association of American Schools in South America) job fair in search of my next adventure. Many people may be wondering why I am doing such a thing... leaving my secure job in the states, my friends, my dog, my comfortable life in Denver...? I think the answer is because I am searching for more. I do have it pretty good here in Denver, but there is an enitre world out there and I am itching to experience it. I want to experience culture, learn a second language, add stamps to my passport and continue to learn and grow as a person.

At about 11:30 am on Friday, November 30th I was offered a position to teach second grade in Costa Rica. At that point I was contemplating two positions in Venezuela, and hoping to hear back from a school in Paraguay. I had until 2:00 to make a decision... a big decision to make in such a short time, but I guess you go into these job fairs with no idea what will happen and leave them with a job! After a few hours of stress, phone calls, google searches and no word from Paraguay, I knew Costa Rica was the fit for my future.

I will pack up and leave Denver in July. Stay tuned if you'd like to follow my adventure!

chelsea