So What Am I Doing These Days?

A little over 2 weeks in site and I’d have to say, todo bien (minus the fam still).  I’ve fallen into a schedule, which is great and am certainly starting to feel more and more apart of the community little by little.  It’s a little difficult to explain to people that I’m not actually doing anything until September, but after being here, I completely understand why PC says it’s best to wait since I certainly have my hands full trying to integrate, befriend my co-teachers, and study a bit more Spanish.

So, what AM I doing in this small, Costa Rican community everyday? Well, on Mondays I head to the escuela in the town next to mine.  To get there, it is just one dirt road that passes through my town as well for about 8km and that is the only way in or out.  Therefore, I just stand at the edge of my street around 6:30am every Monday and wait for a teacher to drive by and give me a ride.  I’m clearly the only gringo around, so I’m pretty easy to spot.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are spent at the escuela in my community and while I was pretty skeptical how I would actually like it (considering I generally don’t like teaching…or kids…) I actually love it. Each grade has roughly 5-8 students and there are 2 English teachers (since they are only there 2 days a week), the director of the school who also teachers, one other general teacher, a janitor, and a cook.  Talk about small but I love it and totally feel like a part of the staff already and could not appreciate more how welcoming they all are.  I am also basically a 5 year old when it comes to sports and games and love playing soccer, tag, kickball, and hide n go seek with kids during all their breaks (which are often).  They generally have an hour and a half of class and then a half hour break…I certainly would have liked that schedule when I was in elementary school!

So while I'm not actually teaching, I'm at the schools observing all the classes, getting to know the students, becoming better friends with the teachers, and sometimes I help with pronunciation.  After September I'l hopefully start co-planning and co-teaching the lessons. After school, I generally don't do much in the afternoons since it is just too hot to function.  When it starts getting cooler around 5pm though I usually head out on my bike and say "Adios!" to anyone I see.  Sometimes I run into students and they introduce me to their parents and other times I just smile to the people I pass.  It's my current integration strategy and I think it's working pretty well for now.  I'm just waiting to start getting stopped by these people I say hi to everyday when they finally get curious enough to ask what in the world I'm doing here...

 There may be tons of bugs but at least it's a pretty view on my daily bike rides