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.