"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." -Neale Donald Walsch
Leaving my comfort zone has happened once again, while my three American friends who were student teaching with me all left to go back to the states. They have helped me to adjust to the culture, food, and school. So the next two weeks will be very different from my previous weeks here! Although I already miss my new friends that I got to spend my first four weeks here with, I am excited for the challenge of being the only native English speaker in my house!
I've had so many new experiences in the past week that I had to write them all down in my phone so I wouldn't forget to write about them here. Below I have split it up by day so that I know that I mention everything I wanted to.
sábado de veintiocho de abril de 2018
Last Saturday, I was sitting on the back patio area that is shared with the house right next door, where the daughter and grandchildren of my host parents live. I was sketching a church that I took a picture of in the center of Atenas and my host parent's grandson, Luis, brought out his own sketchbook and sat next to me. He said that I inspired him to draw! This is something that I love about the world: no matter the cultural differences, no matter the language barrier, things like art, music, sports, can bring people together. We even worked together to create a picture! We weren't able to talk a lot because I can only use some Spanish and he only knows a few words in English, but we were able to communicate and bond through art, rather than language.
After dinner, Belinda, the English teacher at Colina Azul from England, took Lauren and I to her house where she has a view of Atenas unlike I've ever seen! I've included some pictures and videos of her view because it is simply breathtaking. The pictures and videos don't do it justice. When I first got there, the skies were clear and the starts were waking up. This is one of my favorite parts about our world: when the stars emerge out of the darkness and project themselves in patterns like a puzzle for us to piece together. Every time I look up in the sky at the stars and distant planets, I think of "The Most Astounding Fact" video on Youtube by Neil deGrasse Tyson. I've linked it here because I can't explain it's life changing effect, you just need to watch it: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D05ej8u-gU ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D05ej8u-gU*)
*I got to enjoy the scenery and the stars above me while sipping wine in a hot tub. It doesn't get more relaxing and reflective than that.
"So when I look up at the night sky, and I know that yes we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up,and many people feel small because they're small and the universe is big, but I feel BIG because my atoms came from those stars." -Neil deGrasse Tyson
domingo de veintinueve de abril de 2018
The next morning we woke up early to go to Belinda's daughter's fútbol game! It was so entertaining watching a massive group of five year olds follow the ball like a magnet flailing their limbs everywhere trying to make contact. It brought back some awesome memories from when I played soccer! It made me miss it!
After that, we visited the Botanical Gardens in Atenas. They had a café, birds in cages to be rehabilitated, nature paths to walk on, and of course, several hundred orchids growing in a nursery. I instantly thought of my grandma because she loves orchids! The weather was perfect for a day like this!
jueves de tres de mayo de 2018
After a few long days at the school this week, and a day at the beach on our day off on Tuesday, Thursday evening Lauren and I met another student teacher who lives in Atenas, but farther away, Michelle. She is a secondary education teacher so she is not teaching at our school, but teaches adults English! She introduced us to some of her students who taught us some interesting Costa Rican slang, played volleyball with us while we spoke in both English and Spanish so everyone could practice their second language, and ate empanadas (I got a potato one and now I want to eat nothing else) at a café while we talked about our aspirations, goals, and various aspects of languages. I'm so happy to have met some Ticos and got to have conversations with locals my own age!
viernes de cuatro de mayo de 2018
Today, the same day as my beautiful mom's birthday, was Lauren's last full day in Costa Rica. She is someone who I met through this program, but started communicating with her before we both left for Costa Rica. She helped me SO much both before I got here and while I was here with what to bring, what not to bring, what the school is like, and what to expect from the family. She spared me a lot of stress during my first few weeks here that's for sure! The family got a pizza from their son's Pizza y Pollo Restaurante in front of their house to celebrate Lauren's last dinner here with us. While waiting for the pizza to be done, Lauren, Luis, and I passed around his soccer ball in the patio and yard area. I really miss playing!
After we got home from the school, I was sitting on the back patio (where else would I be?) and my host dad sat down next to me. I am SOOO proud (and also shocked) of myself because we had about a 20 minute conversation IN SPANISH AND I UNDERSTOOD WHAT HE WAS SAYING AND WAS (more or less) ABLE TO RESPOND TO HIM IT'S A MIRACLE EVERYONE YA GIRL IS FINALLY ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THE LANGUAGE SHE'S BEEN STUDYING FOR LIKE FOUR YEARS TIME TO CELEBRATE.
sábado de cinco de mayo de 2018
I ate my first meal by myself (and no one to give my meat to so I hope we stop having meat with our meals and yes I know I should've mentioned that I don't like to eat meat but I also felt rude doing so and didn't want to put the family out since she serves me whatever she makes for dinner and isn't going to make me something else just because I'm being stubborn and won't eat meat even though I don't actually eat it but whatever let's move on) since Lauren had left earlier in the day. Lauren and I would usually secretly trade food when we both got something we didn't want. That way our plates were always empty when Marielos came in the kitchen. After lunch I began to practice reading and translating a short children's book that I borrowed from the school. The kindergarten students always bring me books to read to them at the end of each school day while they wait for their bus or their parent to pick them up. However, they are always in Spanish. I can stumble through reading it aloud and kind of get an understanding of what it means, but it's not as good as I want it to be. So, I borrowed a book from the school to practice reading aloud at home, so I can accurately read it to my students once I feel confident enough.
Later in the day, Belinda took me to the pharmacy because EL SOL ESTA MATANDO MIS LABIOS and I needed something stronger than my chapstick. She then invited me to her house while she packed for the turtle tour (yes, she is going to see the turtles as well and I can't wait to hear about how amazing it was for her!). We then met up with some other friends and went to a dance party in Atenas with the band, Flashback. We got some drinks and danced the night away! It was really fun not caring about what other people thought and just getting to dance in any crazy way you wanted to. We were definitely the youngest ones there by at least a decade or three so that was also really fun!
domingo de seis de mayo de 2018 (hoy!)
This morning I took advantage of sleeping in on Sunday. I was able to talk a lot with my host parents. I feel like recently I've gotten really close to my host parents. My host mom even read the children's book I've been practicing and translating to me and helped me understand the words and the meanings behind them, as there is a lot of figurative language I never really learned in school. She took time out of her own day to help me learn more Spanish and I felt overjoyed she wanted to help me so much.
My plan for the rest of the day is to prepare some materials for the school week, begin planning my lessons for my last week (wow, it's seriously coming up so fast I hate it), go for a walk around Atenas and buy some fruit for this week's lunches at school, try to find the nearby pool where I might go this Tuesday (since we don't have school again on that day), and see what else I feel like finding! I've been hoping it will cool down, but it doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon. It was 82 degrees when I woke up and it's now almost 90 degrees. It's supposed to torrential downpour (gotta love the rainy season) in about 45 minutes, so I better stop and get on my way!
como siempre, ¡pura vida!