I feel like our time here is going by so fast! I am beginning to feel at home here....Ricardo and his family have truly been wonderful. Each Friday Ricardo and his family go out to dinner. We always go to restaurants that serve traditional Costa Rican food. Last Friday we went to La Fulana Cosa. It was a beautiful, open restaurant that had a variety of food ranging from traditional Costa Rican to Italian. I tried calamari with rice. It was of course amazing. The food here is incredible. I´ve yet to try a dish that I haven´t enjoyed. Ricardo says that he likes taking me places because I have such a good appetite! I don´t think I´ve stopped eating since I have arrived here...good thing it is sweater weather in Boone!
Last Saturday I went to Samara Beach with Rossy, Gabriela and Valeria´s nanny. She took two friends along with her, María, and Gabriela. Gabriela has a two year old daughter named Jimena who also came. She was very cute! She called me Yaya. Only Gabriela could speak English, so for the majority of Saturday and Sunday I was able to practice my Spanish. I find that I can understand what is being said in a conversation, but it is difficult for me to join in. I am glad I went, I feel like I learned a lot of Spanish vocabulary. The beach we went to was beautiful. There were no seashells, just rocks and sand. The water was like bath water.
I have been teaching third and sixth grade. Third grade has been a challenge! There are 29 children in the class, and for the first few days, they tested me. This past Wednesday they were the best they have ever been. It was a wonderful feeling....they listened quietly and understood the lesson I taught on antonyms. I have really enjoyed teaching sixth grade. There are 15 students in the class, and they are very curious about American culture. They ask a lot of questions about my life, what do I like to do for fun, do I have a boyfriend, what is it like to live in the mountains, etc. I have found that the children here are very giving and appreciative of us being there. Last week a little girl from 5th grade gave me a necklace! It made my day! I am sad that next week is our last week at school....I´m going to miss these children.
There is a chicken pox epidemic going on in 5th grade. Six people have it, including the teacher! One of the little girls that has it was in class yesterday. I asked the English teacher if the little girl was going to be sent home and she said not unless the girl was feeling bad. The U.S. is so strict when it comes to illnesses! She would have been sent home immediately.
We have been having a little trouble with a boy who is in fourth grade. He throws temper tantrums anytime he does not get what he wants. When I asked the English teacher about this, I learned that four months ago his father was run over by a car and killed. The little boy was with his father at the time, they were on a motorcycle and the father lost his hat. He jumped off of the bike to retrieve it and was run over. The little boy saw everything. I cannot imagine seeing something so horrible at such a young age! No wonder this boy has so much anger. I feel so bad for him...I wish there was something I could do to help. I hope that he is able to talk everything out with his mother each night. Right now, it seems that he has a lot of bottled up anger. Who can blame him.
This has been such a worthwhile experience. We have only been in the classroom for about a week and a half, but I feel like I have learned so much about the students here. It´s hard to believe that next week is our last week of teaching!
Samara Beach
Jimena
Teaching the 6th Grade
An intense game of Connect Four!