It's almost over??

What a view from the platform!

I cannot believe today is our last day in Costa Rica. I'm not ready to go home at all! I have learned so much here, experienced so many new things, and made a lot of great friends. Today we went zip-lining in the canopy, so that was AWESOME! It was so cool to be flying through the air and looking out over the beautiful forest. It was so clear, we could even see the water! Zip lining on 9 cables stretching a total of 2 miles was something I would have never imagined myself doing, but it was an incredible experience. One of the lines was even 456 feet high!

Casually zooming through the canopy at 45 miles per hour!

After that exciting adventure, we hung out in Santa Elena for the last time and had lunch. We had our last Spanish class today-- this week of classes has been good. Even though sometimes I think I have no idea what's going on in class, I really have learned a lot of Spanish. Our teacher this week did a really good job of keeping us interested by talking about topics we were interested in and using the grammar we were studying to relay information about Costa Rica. After completing 60 hours of class, I successfully graduated from Spanish Immersion School!

Jose presenting me with my Spanish Certificate

We had to say goodbye to all our instructors and the Missouri State girls today which was hard, they've all been so fun! I had dinner with my family tonight and gave them their gifts for hosting me. I gave the little girl and boy books about animals in English because they love animals. We played a game where they had to name all the animals in English and I had to name them in Spanish. We had so much fun and they were pretty proud of my Spanish (I did have to use my dictionary for rabbit and eagle).

My precious host brother and sisters

The kids all "helped" me pack and even went out to the store and got me a gift- a Costa Rican mug! I'm going to miss these sweet little kids!

Life Monteverde

Coffe fields at Life Monteverde

We spent this morning at Life Monteverde, a sustainable coffee farm. Felix, our guide took us for a tour of the coffee farm and we saw coffee plants in different stages. He explained that to pick a bushel of coffee in their cooperative of twelve farms, a workers earns a minimum of $235 as opposed to the national minimum wage for coffee picking, $1.50. This ensures that the coffee pickers take pride in the work and pick only the best beans. Most of the coffee pickers are migrant workers because Costa Ricans don't typically look for manual labor jobs. 95% of people in Monteverde are employed in some way by tourism, so locals picking coffee is rare. After our coffee talk, we went into one of the small forests in the fields to discuss the importance of forests in agriculture. Forests attract pollinators like birds birds and bats, provide shade breaks for workers, regulate the temperature, prevent erosion, act as wind breaks, provide nutrients to the soil, give wild animals something else to eat besides the crops, and keep the environment natural.

Coffee plants

After learning all that, we took a tour of the farm with all kinds of vegetables, corn, bananas, rosemary (as a natural insect repellant), zucchini, and much more. They had tilapia ponds, pigs for methane, goats, and chickens. We even got to hold a baby goat to "become connected with agriculture." We discussed the importance of integrating agriculture, sustainability, and the outdoors into our future classrooms and planted little baby trees in one of the coffee fields.

The baby goat

Planting my tree

Our group hanging out at Life Monteverde

New Spanish Classes

This morning we had class with Professor Powell and got to discuss a little bit of what we have learned so far on this trip. It's interesting to get to go around the room and hear about everyone''s individual experiences-- so much is going on! It's also interesting to compare our experiences as struggling learners with those of our students. I'm starting to realize why struggling learners do some of the things they do. It can be very frustrating to not understand the language or just not understand what's going on in general.

Reading comprehension at Los Llenos

I know I had a particularly trying day last week where I was ready to do anything but speak Spanish! In the morning we helped at Los Llenos with the lesson their teacher was doing- a reading comprehension assignment in Spanish- which was cool, but I didn't really feel that comfortable helping students with what I didn't understand fully. And a lot of the other girls know less Spanish than me, so I was trying to help them translate also. It was a really cool experience, and I really enjoyed getting to use the Spanish I've picked up on, but by the time we got to CPI for our 4 hours of Spanish class, I was beat. Our professor last week insisted that we only only only speak Spanish in class, so I found myself barely participating at all... my brain was fried. By the time break rolled around, I was ready to just be done! Sitting through the second half of class- the grammar portion felt almost like a form of torture, and I couldn't help but to think about the ESL kids who will sit in my future classroom feeling this way. As I was sitting there completely exhausted, in Spanish overload, and not understanding the grammar rules she was teaching at all, she called on me to answer a question which I apparently did completely wrong. It was so frustrating to sit there and try so hard to listen while not understanding a single word the teacher was saying, then get called on and lectured for doing what she was apparently saying not to do. I had absolutely no idea what was going on after that, so I pretty much tuned out-- and in that moment I completely understood why struggling learners space out or act up in class.
Thankfully today, we got our new Spanish instructor

Wild toucans outside CPI!

for the week who hasn't seen me struggle uncontrollably, and hopefully I can keep it that way! Our new instructor, Jose, was very interesting and shared a lot with us about Spanish in different regions of the world and answered our questions about why Costa Ricans don't use the informal tú form. He even showed us toucans out the window! Hopefully Spanish class will be a little better this week.

Arenal

Something I have gotten used to in Costa Rica is hearing a lot of crazy animal sounds at night. In both of my host homes there have been geckos-- and who knew, but those little things make some crazy noises! I have gotten pretty used to sleeping with geckos screeching at my window, what seems like all of the 900 different species of birds chirping, bugs buzzing everywhere, roosters crowing at all intervals of the early morning beginning around 3am, and plenty of neighborhood dogs barking up a storm. But last night, I had a different encounter, there was a cow at my window! Yes, a real live cow and I have no idea where it come from. We become quite good friends because he mooed at about 15 minute intervals starting at 4am... he was a real chatty guy! I guess you never know what to expect here in Costa Rica, but you can't make this stuff up! After that interesting experience, our group headed off to La Fortuna for the night. I hiked up the mountain with my overnight backpack (and now that I know I somehow made it up in

Wind turbines on the road to Arenal

 10 minutes, it seems just a little bit easier) and hopped into the van for the 4 hour ride back down and out of Monteverde. I am always amazed at how bumpy the dirt roads are and how awesome our bus driver is!
Once we arrived in La Fortuna, we explored around town for a little bit, got lunch, then went on the coolest hike. Our tour guide, Javier explained that the park we were going to had opened a new trail that he hadn't been on and we are always up for an adventure, so we decided to check it out. It was the coolest hike I've ever been on in my life! It was a steep trail, but we had the most amazing view of Arenal and right as we got to the peak of the trail, the clouds cleared up

Arenal peeking out from behind the clouds

and we could see the top of the volcano. It was so awesome! I think volcanoes are pretty much the coolest thing ever, but they are something I never even really think about much in the states. It's so interesting to be able to take how different the terrain of Costa Rica is from North Carolina. I know we don't have anything like Arenal back home! After the hike, we arrived at our hotel for the night. It was raining when we first got here, but it's starting to clear up a bit now so we are going to go check out the pool and hot springs before dinner. You can see Arenal from our room, but it is still blocked by clouds. Hopefully it will be clear in the morning!

Los Llenos

The playground before

While we were teaching at Los Llenos the past two days, we noticed that the area they use as the playground is quite run down and unsafe. There are nails, pieces of metal, and wood just lying around and they kids just lean a board up against the fence, climb up, and use it as a slide. It is incredibly resourceful, but it makes us quite nervous since we are used to so many more rules and so much more supervision in the USA. We asked the principal if he would mind us cleaning the playground up a bit and he was thrilled that we were willing to take on the project!

Working on removing all kinds of dangerous things-- including a kitchen sink!

The new (safer) obstacles

Today we loaded up the van with shovels, work gloves, a hammer, screwdrivers, and some plants and were off to Los Llenos for some playground beautification. First we cleared out the large rocks and boards that would be tripping hazards, then a few girls got to work clearing out all the random metal and wood in the field. Jenny, Holly, and I worked on weeding the three flower beds at the school. It was a little tricky to distinguish between Costa Rican plants and weeds, but we did the best we could given the limited gardening knowledge and one glove each that we had. We learned to be resourceful like the students we had been working with, and since the girls clearing the field were using the shovels, we used some makeshift boards as our own gardening shovels. By the time the kids came out for recess, we had cleared out at least three cans of trash, recycling, and organic materials, stacked all the boards and dangerous metal pieces behind the school, cleaned up the gardens, planted some new plants, and created a little obstacle course for the kids. They all seemed super excited with the improvements and ran around the obstacle course as fast as they could!

Always check to make sure your alarm is set for AM, not PM

Today one of my biggest fears came true. If you read my blog from yesterday, you have a little bit of an idea of how much I cannot stand to be late. I am terrified by the thought of my alarm clock not going off and me oversleeping. Well this morning, I woke up bright and early to the sound of all the neighborhood roosters crowing as usual (yes, that's a thing here), but decided I would go back to sleep until my alarm went off. Bad decision. I woke up feeling strangely well-rested (something that just doesn't happen on this trip with how busy we stay and how early we meet in the mornings), so I knew something was wrong. I looked down at my watch to see that it was 6:30! I have to be dressed to teach, up the mountain, in the bus with lesson plans ready by 6:45!! Yesterday I discovered that the walk to our meeting place alone is 20 minutes, so I hit the ground running. I threw on the first teacher-appropriate outfit I could find and scurried into the living room to find some shoes. Instead I found my mama tica who was insisting that she make me breakfast. "No, no, I'm fine. I don't have time. It's okay. Lo siento, lo siento." (Wow, the language barrier is quite annoying in situations like this) I was really wishing I knew more phrases about having like 10 minutes to get to a destination 20 minutes away at this point. Eventually I convinced her that fruit would be just fine ,but as she got out a full pineapple to start slicing, I grabbed an apple for the road and sprinted out the door. At this point only 12 minutes and the hill of all hills stood between me and the bus stop. The only vision running through my head as (I tried) to jog up the mountain was me arriving at the meeting point one or two minutes after the van had already pulled away. And with no phone or wifi, I wasn't sure what I would do in that situation quite frankly, so I just kept booking it up the mountain. (Wow, I hope I don't miss any turns... I should have paid more attention yesterday!) I knew I would be cutting it close, so I tried to ignore how heavy my backpack was and how unadjusted my lungs were to the 5,000 ft elevation. Somehow I made it with about 2 minutes to spare! And I don't think I've ever felt that relieved in my whole life. (I wasn't going to have to wander aimlessly around Costa Rica all day looking for my group, or return home to a host family who I couldn't communicate with.) Once I sat down on the bus with my apple, I was quite proud of the fact that I got up, dressed, and up the mountain (all by myself with no directions) in 14 minutes flat. That was quite possibly the best apple I ever ate and my friend Holly gave me some crackers her mama tica sent her with for snack (she's such a doll.)

The 1st- 3rd grade classroom

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes!

After that adrenaline rush, I was more than ready to teach some kids English! We arrived for the first time at a one room school in Monteverde where we heard the students hadn't had any previous exposure to English yet, so we weren't quite sure what to expect. Thankfully, what we had heard wasn't quite true. Holly and I had a group of three little boys and they knew some very basic English, so we could work off of that. We worked on colors then transitioned into body parts by introducing the song Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. I had a really good experience teaching by just going with the flow. We went in with no specific expectations or detailed plans, but it all went really well! The students were used to having a lot of freedom without a lot of controlling supervision and rules, so we kind of let their knowledge and interests guide our lesson. 

We're in a cloud forest!

Just as a side note: Today is May 25th, but I'll have to post my blogs at a later time because I have safely arrived at my new host home, but I don't have wifi here. It's been a bit of an adjustment to not have internet access or be able to use good old Google translate to help me communicate with my family, but I'm surviving. 

The road to Monteverde

We arrived in Monteverde last night and my host family for the next two weeks picked me up. It wasn't quite as scary this time, because now I have a little more of an idea of what to expect living with a host family. I was still a little nervous though. After getting in the car with the mama, papa, and baby I realized that they don't speak any English. None. I really should have paid more attention in Spanish class last week. When we got home, I met the little boy and girl and got to enjoy watching Scooby Doo in Spanish with them. They asked me to play hide and seek with them like eight times before I finally understood what they were saying. (There's something new I can add to my Spanish vocabulary now!) Playing a game with them kind of broke the ice and got us all talking... too bad I only understood about half of what they said. After them trying to teach me some other games and me not really understanding, everyone went to bed. When I finally laid down in my (new) room, I kind of had a freak out moment. It hit me that I am living at the top of a mountain with complete strangers, they only speak Spanish, I speak English, and I don't have wifi, or a phone, or any means of communication or translation. Can I please just go back to my nice first host family where I am comfortable and they speak slowly so I can understand?

Walking up this hill is no joke!

This morning I was kind of stressed about my family walking me to our group's meeting spot because everyone went to bed pretty abruptly last night and we don't speak the same language so I had no idea what time we were supposed to leave (it seemed like the car ride home last night was eternal, so the walk must be really far). I woke up at 4:30 to get ready and by 5:30, there were still no signs of anyone else being awake. Were they going to walk me? Was I going to be late? Would the bus leave me? Should I wake somebody up?
Eventually everyone got up and showered (I think we're going to be late). Then they started cooking breakfast (the gallo pinto was delicious, but now I just KNOW we are going to be late). Oh, and the baby is sick (at this point, I assume we are driving, but I think we will still be late). Finally we got out the door and as I started to veer off towards the car, I realized that we are totally walking (I'm freaking out because we are going to be SO late... can you tell I hate being late?). After breaking into a sweat during a 20 minute trek up the side of a mountain, I realized that we were almost to the meeting point-- and what do you know-- we're right on time (thank goodness). All that panicking was for nothing... I learning to be a little more laid back on this trip, but it's taking time.
We went on a hike in the cloud forest this morning and saw a tarantula,

A tarantula!

 millipedes, centipedes, stick bugs, and a squeaky door bird. Then we took the van to Santa Elena (the town here) and ate fried chicken at Super Pollo-- I just really needed a little taste of home and fried chicken is my favorite! We got assigned a new Spanish teacher at the CPI in Monteverde and she won't let us speak any English at all. I really miss speaking English!

There's nothing quite like fried chicken

Somehow I found the way back to my house all by myself in the rain (I really have no idea how), so I was quite proud... but then I couldn't get the key to work. The locks are different here. After my mama tica let me in, my sister Daniella helped me with my Spanish homework and I helped her with her English homework. It was a nice tradeoff in my opinion. I'm starting to like this family now. Dinner was quiet, but afterwards Daniella and my mama tica proofread my Spanish homework, a 1 page essay about my favorite family vacation. They helped me fix a few errors with conjugation and I was able to ask them about some vocabulary that I didn't know, so I'm getting closer with them.

Goodbyes, Hellos, and Howler Monkeys

This morning I had to say goodbye to my fabulous host family in Heredia.

My awesome tico family! Love them!

They have been so good to me by spoiling me with delicious food, introducing me to so much Costa Rican culture, driving me all around town to show me things, taking me to a band concert, and hosting a family fiesta so I could meet their extended family. I was not ready to leave at all, but sadly the van came to get me and my things. We said our goodbyes, I thanked them for everything, and they told me to come back and visit (they are too sweet)! And I must admit that as the van pulled away and they waved tome from the sidewalk, I cried (sorry mom and dad-- I didn't cry when I left home) because they were so welcoming and loving to me as a complete stranger in their home. One night at dinner, I asked them how many students they had hosted expecting the number to be quite large because they seemed so good at what they did, and they told me that I was THE FIRST! I almost fell out of my chair I was so shocked.  I had such an awesome experience staying with them.
It was bittersweet saying goodbye, but then we were beach bound! We are spending the weekend in Manuel Antonio. During the drive we made some 'surprise' stops and saw scarlet macaws flying and a ton of crocodiles!
We also learned that there are 291 volcanoes in Costa Rica! After a stop a the supermercado, we headed straight off to Manuel Antonio National Park for a hike to the beach. Within the first 2 minutes of our hike we saw at least 10 wild white faced monkeys-- it was so surreal! It felt like we surely must be in a zoo. It was sooo hot and humid on our hike, but we saw squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys, white faced monkeys, sloths, a deer, a snake, a crab, and raccoons, so it was absolutely worth it. It started to thunder while we were on the trail, so we were a little reluctant to head on to the beach, but it was so cool to hear all the monkeys start howling and see all the wildlife running to take shelter. We must have see 100 monkeys running around!
It took us forever to get to the beach, because we kept stopping to look at all the wildlife. The pacific beach was gorgeous when we got there, and the storm blew over so we didn't even have any rain. We got to enjoy a couple of hours of swimming and exploring the beach before the hike back for lunch.

It's nice to be staying in a hotel with all the girls tonight and have some time to catch up and share stories. We've had some funny experiences! (Oh, and the hot shower was quite nice.) Tonight is the national soccer championship and soccer is a HUGE deal here, so we are watching the game as I write this. Heredia, the province we were just staying in is playing. A really cool storm just popped up too (I guess we are in the rainforest), so we are trying to divide our attention between watching the game, watching the storm, and blogging. Bye for now!

La Carpio

Today was our first service project! We went to La Carpio, a Nicaraguan refugee neighborhood to work with the Humanitarian Foundation. Before we left, many of our host families warned us that La Carpio is very poor and dangerous. They told us to dress conservatively and not bring any valuables. When we arrived, it was apparent that it was a poorer area than where we were staying in San Joaquin just by looking at the buildings. First we played with the kids at the Humanitarian Foundation daycare. They were so sweet! They fed us at their play kitchen, made us tea, and "read" books to us.
Then Gail, the coordinator called us all together to tell us a little about La Carpio and what the Humanitarian Foundation does. She brought Frederico, a 16 year old La Carpio resident to share with us. He told us that he fled Nicaragua with his dad and two siblings when he was very young because it wasn't safe there. He attended school for a little while in La Carpio, but dropped out right after finishing second grade. Gail explained that she had gotten Frederico to share his story with us in exchange for food to take home to his family. She had also given him a pair of shoes which he held tightly while speaking to us. He told us that he works at the trash dump jumping on the back of trucks to salvage things and jumping back off as the trucks as they pull away. He told us he can make up to $6 in a day, which is just enough to feed one person for that day.
Gail asked him to describe his life to us and after staring at the shoes clenched tightly in his lap for a moment, his response was simply "difficult." His story was eye-opening. He had so little, but was content with the things he had and was willing to do anything to support his family. After hearing just one of the many many stories of people in La Carpio, we were ready to get to work and do something to help.

The service project we were given was to help organize the library and set up for an after-school event. After walking a few blocks down to the library, we set up some tents, brought books and games out onto the sidewalk and waited for the kids

to get out of school. On their way to and from school, kids stopped by to play games, read with us, do puzzles, and color. It was cool to interact with the kids, but the language barrier got in the way a little bit. There were phrases I wanted to say to them, but I just didn't know how to translate them, so we used a lot of gestures and non-verbal communication.
After all the kids went home, we packed up our makeshift sidewalk after school care, organized the library a little bit, then went back to the Humanitarian Foundation to learn a little bit about the craft projects women do there and enjoy a delicious lunch they prepared for us. It felt weird to accept food from women who had so little, but they were kind enough to prepare it for us, so we were grateful.

I really enjoyed our time at La Carpio and think I could have spent a whole week there volunteering and soaking up the culture. What was incredibly interesting to me is that what we experienced was nothing like the harsh warnings that we had been given by Costa Ricans. It was a poor area, but I never felt unsafe there. All the people we met were friendly, and after all they are just people. It was interesting to see how different their perceptions of poverty were from the reality of it. I'm starting to realize even though I am in a different country with a different culture, deep down we all really are the same.

Calle Hernandez Day Two

Day 6: 

Today we went back to Calle Hernandez knowing a little more what to expect, but still had to be flexible as we were working with 3rd grade again, and 5th graders for the first time. We had no idea what to expect out of our 5th graders because some have been at Calle Hernandez for years learning English and some have just moved in. Sam and Kirstan started off the class with a whole group activity as a warm up.

Calle Hernandez

The 5th graders moved around the classroom with a checklist and had to find classmates who fit specific criteria to sign off on each spot. It was interesting to get to see the class up moving around, speaking in English, and working together. After this whole group activity, we broke up into small groups of 4 students. Tess and I started off co-teaching our group about the parts of a letter: date, greeting, body, salutation, and signature, but even in a small group of just four students, it seemed that they were at very different levels. Deena came by and told us that two of our students were brand new to Costa Rica and had never had any prior English instruction, so we decided to further subdivide the group. Tess kept the students who were excelling, and I took the new students into the courtyard to work with them. This was definitely a challenge! I was trying to explain to students who spoke very little English a concept that they have never heard of-- writing a letter (houses in Costa Rica don't have addresses and mailboxes, who knew?!). I found myself writing a lot of examples, and using some quite elaborate gestures to get the idea across, but finally they got it. I was so proud of them when they finally understood that these letters would be delivered to students in the USA who would want to know their name, where they live, who is in their family, and what they like to do. Their letters turned out to be awesome! After we had written about every person in their families, their pets, and their favorite foods, I was able to get them to (shyly) read their letters out loud to me and I was really impressed. Sadly, I overestimated the time this would take so we finished about 10 minutes early. Thankfully I was able to think on my feet like a true educator and decided we could draw a map to show them that we would be taking their letters all the way from Costa Rica to Wilmington, NC. They were amazed by how far away I lived and this opened up a discussion about where they were from. The little boy was from Columbia and the girl was from Venezuela. They both told me that they moved to Costa Rica because they weren't safe where they had lived before. I asked them if they like it in Costa Rica and they said they miss their home countries, but like Costa Rica more because they are safe here. They were the sweetest, most appreciative kids I have ever worked with and I was so honored that they opened up to me. I didn't want to leave them at all, but it was time to teach 3rd grade.

I was so proud of their finished letters!

With the 3rd graders, Kim and I opened up with a whole group game of Simon says with prepositions in the classroom. The kids loved it! Then we broke up into the same groups we had yesterday and got right back to work where we left off. Tess and I taught the English words for common pieces of furniture using a powerpoint, then had our students place furniture on index cards in a house we had drawn on a poster. The students were able to use prepositions to describe to us where they were putting the furniture. It was incredible to see how much they learned and how far they had come in just two days! As I myself have been experiencing language immersion in my Spanish class, I know it is not easy, but the kids seem to pick things up pretty quickly. I also think they really enjoyed having new people in the classroom and were more motivated to listen to us because we were different and exciting.

Leaving Calle Hernandez was hard because the kids were so well behaved and eager to learn. I just want to take all of them home with me! I know they are in good hands for the rest of the school year with Deena as their English teacher though.

Working with the 5th graders

Calle Hernandez

Day 5:

I'm starting to feel a little bit at home here. My host family is so welcoming and fantastic. This morning I even braided my little tica sister's hair before school-- so I am pretty much officially a part of the family now! 

Yesterday we collaborated with the Missouri State girls to create 1st and 3rd grade English lesson plans for today's lesson at Calle Hernandez Primary School. As we were planning we had a copy of their teacher's objectives, but we didn't really know what to expect and what level they would be at so it was pretty challenging. Most of us would really like concrete plans with specific activities, but we are learning that sometimes you just have to be flexible. That has been a little hard for me because the idea of being in a new school and teaching a lesson on my own for pretty much the first time was intimidating. And the idea of just having to "wing it" if they are on a different level than we expect was even more intimidating, but when we got to Calle Hernandez and met the students I felt a lot more comfortable. All the students were so excited to see us and fascinated by the idea of 10 new teachers being in their classroom. We broke the 3rd graders up into small groups and Tess and I co-taught our group of three students. We introduced them to the English words for family members by presenting pictures of our families then asking them to illustrate their families. After they had the family members down and were able to introduce the group to their family, we moved on to the rooms of the house by illustrating our own homes and asking them to draw and label their's. These modeling activities proved to be pretty successful since we were supposed to demonstrate vocabulary rather than translate it to Spanish to get them to understand. There was one little girl with a limited understanding of English who would just copy down exactly what we drew and wrote rather than illustrating her own family or home. It was really difficult to try to explain the activity to her in different ways without just translating it. When I saw her getting frustrated, I finally broke down and just translated the assignment to Spanish so she would understand. At the time, I didn't really see the big deal with translating it for her, but after talking to Deena, the English teacher, I realized that when you translate, then the student stops trying to think in English. Deena also added that some students will get lazy and just ask for a translation because it is much easier than thinking through the description in English. After these two activities, we still had a little bit of time left so we started working with prepositions. Tess and I acted out different prepositions by getting under, behind, in front of, and on top of different things and after each of our demonstrations, we asked the student to do the same. We played a game of preposition Simon says and they picked up really quickly on some of the phrases like: on, off, in front, and behind, but struggled a lot with beside and under. I think it is because those were a little more difficult to demonstrate. When it was time for the third graders to go we said our goodbyes then regrouped before 1st grade arrived. Overall, everyone seemed to have very positive experiences and we were all able to go with the flow and think on our feet during our first lesson. I was a little more confident going into the first grade lesson after having such a good experience. With first grade, Tess and I taught the nuclear family members by showing pictures of our families and introducing them like we did in third grade. After, we asked our students to draw a quick picture of their family and explain who everyone was to us. Once we had an ides of who was in each students' family, we gave them an index card for each of their family members and asked them to draw each family member on a separate card.  When they were done, we labeled the cards with the English vocabulary for them and played a game where we named a family member and they held up the corresponding card. Our students really seemed to enjoy this interactive activity and once they got the hang of it, we were able to introduce the family song. 

Visiting Calle Hernandez was an awesome experience because the school is so open and different from any campus I have visited in the USA. The students are able to spend free time outside between classes with their friends. The "hallways" are all outdoors, so students get some time to play and just be kids during class changes. The school seems to be very laid back, some students play soccer in the field, some are on their phones, some come say hello to us, and there is even a dog roaming around the school! After we divided up into groups in the classroom, all of our small groups just picked a place to have class outside in an informal setting. The students seem to be used to having this freedom and know when it is and isn't okay to be social. Since they have short breaks to play and just be kids, when they get to class they seem ready to focus on learning. The campus has a very open and welcoming vibe in my opinion which is something I think we need to strive for in all of our schools.

Carbs and Coffee: la Comida de Costa Rica

One huge cultural difference I have noticed between The US and Costa Rica is the food. The first day I arrived in Costa Rica, I was inundated with countless unfamiliar fruits and vegetables at the market. We tried many and they were all delicious, but certainly not anything I was used to. After moving in with my host family, the unfamiliar foods continued to appear on my plate. But there is one thing that never seems to change: rice and beans. I feel like I have eaten more rice and beans this week than I have in the entire span of my life! For breakfast I eat gallo pinto (rice and beans), for lunch casado (rice and beans with chicken), and for dinner usually chicken or fish with none other than rice and beans.

I think I have eaten rice with every meal this week wether at the hotel, at a restaurant, or in my host home. It has become a running joke among our group that we will have serious rice withdrawals when we get back home. It's just a little strange to us that pasta, rice, and potatoes can all be served on the same plate, because it is different from what we are used to, but different isn't necessarily good or bad... it's just different.

A typical casado

I can honestly say that I have liked everything I have eaten here (which is kind of surprising because I'm a little picky), but at the same time I do miss ranch dressing (nobody uses dressing on salads here) and pizza.

Coffee is also a huge staple in Costa Rica as it is the main export. Many different types of coffee are grown in CR: all different roasts and even types unique to the country. I am not much of a coffee drinker at home, but with as little time as we have to sleep and as much coffee as I am offered throughout the day, it is nearly impossible to avoid. My host family has assured me that the coffee here is better than any coffee in the states! Our group actually had the opportunity to briefly visit a coffee farm where we learned that coffee is grown on steep drop offs to prevent erosion. The roots of the coffee plant hold dirt to prevent landslides during the rainy season. 

The roots of coffee plants prevent erosion 

Meeting mi familia

I was incredibly nervous to meet my host family. Thousands of worries were running through my head when we went outside CPI to meet our families:

What if I couldn't communicate with them? What if they eat strange foods? Would they like me? What if they didn't understand anything I said? Would I get lost trying to find my home? Would they speak any English? Would I remember how to speak any Spanish or just got into some crazy culture-shock and forget how to speak all together? Would they have any pets who I could hang out with to avoid having to speak Spanish?

CPI

Thankfully, my name was called first of the whole group, so I didn't have time to have a nervous breakdown. My mamá, papá, and hermana tica were anxiously waiting for me. We all smiled at each other and the translator from CPI asked if there was anything I wanted her to tell them before I got in their car. I simply said, "Can you tell them I don't like mayonnaise?" Really?! I blew my one shot on having something translated on a topic as trivial as mayo?! I had just arrived in a foreign country and was about to get into a car full of strangers who I didn't know how to communicate with and all I mentioned my disdain for a popular condiment. That just goes to show how nervous I really was. I came into this without many expectations. Staying with a host family was a concept so foreign to me that I didn't know what to expect at all, but I had no idea how nervous I would be when the time came to meet them. As they loaded up my bags and I got into the backseat of their car, I was wondering how I got myself into this. As the car pulled away from the safety of CPI and my family was speaking amongst themselves in Spanish, I felt almost certain that I was in way over my head. Luckily for me, my tico family overlooked what I know must have been the most terrified look on my face and my ridiculous mayo exclamation, and began to ask me a few simple questions about myself in Spanish. After answering how old I am and where I am from, I felt a little more confident in my ability to communicate.

My hermana tica Brendolyn

Much like an English Language Learner in America, I was overwhelmed with tons of new information: a new country, a language I'm not familiar with, new people, and phrases I've never heard, but when I was able to understand what they were asking and formulate a response, I was proud of myself and felt a little more comfortable. Sadly, this didn't last long because the questions got harder and all the words began to run together as we drove down the long dirt road home. This was probably the first time I was able to truly empathize with an English Language Learner. 

First Impressions

We arrived safely in San Jose, Costa Rica yesterday morning! 

At the Myrtle Beach airport ready to be Costa Rica bound!

Even though I had to wake up at 2:30 for the flight, I couldn't have been more excited. It is completely surreal to actually be in Costa Rica after all the planning and preparation. It finally hit me on the plane yesterday morning that I would be in a foreign country experiencing culture shock when the customs declaration forms they handed out were in Spanish! Thankfully they were translated into broken English, or I wouldn't have had a clue what was going on. It was interesting to be on a flight where announcements and forms were made in Spanish and then translated into English rather than the other way around that I am used to. It made me realize that I will be in the minority while in Costa Rica as an English-speaking gringo. After arriving, we went to the bank to exchange our US dollars for colones. The bank here is very different than the banks I am accustomed to. We were required to stand in a single file line and walk through a metal detector. The bank was stark, but the teller was friendly and understanding of my broken Spanish. Everyone here has been very friendly and welcoming so far. Later on, our group visited the farmers market which was awesome. We tried so many new fruits like passion fruit, guava, pejibaye, and many more. Being surrounded by so many unfamiliar foods and people who I can barely communicate with to ask about them was a little intimidating, so I'm glad our tour guides were there to explain. Today we visited a coffee farm and La Paz Waterfalls. Costa Rica is so beautiful! On our way up the mountain, there were what seemed to be endless coffee fields.

A coffee field 

Coffee is grown on steep inclines because the roots of the plant hold on to dirt to prevent erosion. Coffee is a major export to Canada, Europe, and the US because there are types of coffee specific to Costa Rica. At La Paz, we were able to see the native flora and fauna. Our tour guide, Javier, has extensive knowledge about Costa Rica's plants and animals. He showed us ferns, orchids, birds, frogs, snakes, monkeys, big cats, and even the poor man's umbrella... all of which are indigenous to the region.

Javier pointing out some birds.

really enjoyed learning about the country's wildlife, culture, and biodiversity even if it did rain on us. (I guess we really are in a rainforest!) I am having a great time so far, but it does still feel like we are in 'vacation mode.' The TV and radio are in Spanish and everywhere we go we are surrounded by Ticos speaking Spanish, but it doesn't feel quite real that we are about to be completely immersed into their culture. Since we are all still staying together as a group at the hotel, it is easy to feel a sense of security by sticking together, speaking in our native language, and discussing things that we are used to. This has helped me understand a little bit about how students close themselves off and only associate with people who are 'like them.' It is comfortable to stick with people who have a lot in common with you culturally and are going through the same things.

There are so many cultural differences between Costa Rica and the US. Sometimes you even need a buddy to help you turn on the sink!

I am excited to spend the next three weeks here and gain so many new experiences, but I am definitely nervous about meeting my host family Sunday night. When I am living with them I will not have the safety net of the group and will have to adapt to the lifestyle of the family. This will be an invaluable cultural experience, but I am very anxious about it. 

Ready or Not, Here I Come!

     In a few short hours I will be embarking on the journey of a lifetime, a study abroad experience in Costa Rica! It is a faculty led program through The Watson College of Education that focuses on the experiences and struggles of English Language Learners. I think the opportunities this trip will present me with will challenge me both academically and personally. The academic goals I have set for myself include learning how to become an affective teacher for students coming from all different backgrounds and developing a deeper passion for learning and exploring that I can share with my future students. On a more personal level, I hope to be able to see the world from a different perspective, become more adventurous, and enjoy my time abroad. By spending three weeks immersed in a different culture and language, I think I will be able to more clearly empathize with English Language Learners and students coming from different cultural backgrounds than my own.
     I am incredibly excited for this opportunity, but I can't help but to be nervous about traveling to a country that I've never been to when I do not speak the language fluently. I am anxious to live with a host family who will most likely have very different lifestyle than I am used to. I am not quite sure what to expect, but I know that the language barrier between my host family and I will be a challenge. I am also concerned about the cultural differences I will need to adapt to. In Costa Rica there are different expectations for greetings, timeliness, social interactions, and I'm sure many other things that I have not even considered yet. I think it will be a big adjustment trying to transition from the mindset of a UNCW student to the mindset of a Tico.
     I anticipate that I will make a lot of mistakes, probably translate plenty of things incorrectly, and embarrass myself a few times, but I hope that I will be able to grow from these experiences to become a more well-rounded educator. I hope that through my experiences as a struggling learner, I will be able to relate to my students who struggle and use strategies that I found to be effective for me. I think this opportunity to be fully immersed in a different culture will teach me to be more flexible in my daily life, adaptable to new situations, and understanding of other cultures and perspectives.

My cat Texas is ready to see me off to Costa Rica! He tried to get into my backpack and come along.