This
week I continued my internship at the school, which once again kept me very
busy. Additionally, my weekend adventure consisted of travelling to the Arenal
Volcano and the Baldi Hot Springs. The following are more specifics on the
happenings of the last week (11/1-11/17):
Monday: Today I didn’t have to
work at the school because the students and teachers didn’t have school due to
a protest occurring at the capitol. It was interesting to hear on Friday that
the teachers already knew that there wouldn’t be school today. Therefore, today
was “un día libre” (a free day) for me. I decided to come to Maximo Nivel, the
school that I am attending here in order to catch up on a number of small tasks
that I have been meaning to complete. Also, Kayla, Tara, and I all talked to
someone from our school today about switching houses because the house that we
were in watch very dirty and the family had dogs that barked frequently and at
times that were very inconvenient. After further discussion with our school, we
had established that it would be best if we moved houses and found a different
place to stay.
Tuesday: Things at school were back
to the normal today. I showed up to school and worked with Luigina for a couple
of hours helping out with choir classes. We worked to perfect the songs for the
Christmas Concert coming up soon. After choir, I went back to working with
Nathalia in the English classes. It is so rewarding to see the students learn
and remember so much English in such a short period of time. After work,
Professora Cook, Kayla, Tara, and I all met for moving day. Just before dinner
we were picked up from our house in Zapote and moved to our new house in
Cedros. Just by walking in the house, I could tell that our new host mom kept
things very clean and that we were going to like our new home in Cedros! We
settled into the house and then our mom brought us to the restaurant that both
her and her husband own. There, we met her husband. They are such a nice couple
and I can’t wait for the weeks to come living in their house. They also have two
children, Alonso (11) and Valeria (6).
Wednesday: At
school, I worked with Lui to help the students with their Christmas songs
again. After I was done with this, I went back with Natalia to work in the
English class. It was a little stressful today because I was left in the
classroom alone without the English teacher. Natalia was helping solve a
problem that was occurring in the principal’s office. One of the teachers in
the school decided to self-medicate a problem that she was having and in the
middle of class she couldn’t walk or talk. It was very scary and she ended up
going home for the day. Natalia and I talked about how many Ticos offer advice
to one another about illnesses and how this is a major problem in Costa Rica.
During the time that Natalia was in the office, I was left to manage the
classroom on my own for about 45 minutes. I LOVE that she trusts me enough to
leave me alone in the classroom with the kids, but with this responsibility
comes a lot of pressure and stress. Today I was left to teach a group of
students about duties and activities within the classroom along with knowing
how to say what time it is in English. For the most part the students listened
but of course there were times where the students talked over me and it was
difficult to get their attention. The one difference that I see between control
of the teacher in the classroom between schools here in Costa Rica and schools
in the U.S. is the fact that teachers in the U.S. are viewed as authority
figures and are given proper respect whereas here in Costa Rica the teachers
are more of friends to the students than authority figures. It is a bit
difficult adjusting to this cultural aspect. The remainder of the afternoon
Kayla and I spent exploring the town of Cedros. We went to the local grocery
store and bakery.
Thursday: Today
at school I helped with music class again and helped the students to improve
their pronunciation of the English song (Jingle Bell Rock) that the students
are singing for their Christmas Concert this year. After this I went back to
helping with English class. The kids were getting a little bit out of hand
today for some reason…just kids being kids I suppose! I pulled out the American
flag stickers that I brought to Costa Rica with me to motivate the kids to
concentrate and get their work done. One thing that I found interesting in the
school that I noticed today was the fact that the teachers have their cell
phones with them at all times and if their phone rings during class they don’t
hesitate and answer their cell phone in the middle of class. ¡Pura Vida! After
work, I went to Maximo Nivel for class this afternoon and then headed home to
enjoy a relaxing night.
Friday: Today I
didn’t do a whole lot. I didn’t have to work today because the students have
exams next week and they had the day off to study. I slept in, ate breakfast
with Tara, and went to Maximo to work on emails and other odds and ends that I
needed to catch up on since we don’t have Internet at our house yet. At around
2:15 this afternoon, I left with Profesora Cook and a group of students to go
to the Arenal Volcano and the Baldi Hot Springs. We all loaded in a van from
Maximo Nivel provided by TransLeo and arrived at the bus station. We then
bought our tickets to ride the bus from San José to Ciudad Quesada where we
have to switch buses and get on the next bus to La Frontera where we would be
staying for the weekend. The first bus cost 1800 colones and lasted for about 3
hours. Once we arrived at Ciudad Quesada we realized that the next bus didn’t
come for another hour and a half so we spent some time in the cafeteria and ate
dinner. Our bus arrived around 7:30 that night. We stood in line for a little
bit of time to get on the next bus to La Frontera, which is very close to
Arenal. This bus lasted around 2 hours. We arrived at the last stop in La
Frontera and got off the bus. We then had to take two taxis in order to fit all
of us from the bus stop to Hotel Sierra where we were all staying. We arrived
at the hotel room where the six girls that came along for the trip would be
staying in one hotel room for the weekend. We dropped all of our stuff off at
the hotel and went to enjoy explore what the area around our hotel had to
offer.
Saturday: Today
the group of us that went to Arenal/Baldi woke up and went to a cute little
café nearby the hotel to eat breakfast. I had the Costa Rican breakfast at the café,
which consisted of gallo pinto (very flavorful, moist, and just about the best
I have ever tasted), avocado, goat cheese, bread, and eggs. It was delicious!
We then took a cab from the restaurant to Baldi where we spend the rest of our
day relaxing. Baldi consisted of multiple hot spring pool heated by the volcano
itself. Some of the pools were so hot that I could not even go in them because
my heat throbbed and stung from the heat of the water. We stayed at Baldi from
noon to 10pm. It was a very relaxing day in all. We all ate a buffet at Baldi
with delicious food. It was all you could eat and we paid $20 a person. This
was a little pricy, but it was well worth it and there weren’t many restaurants
around the resort to eat at. On a clear day one would be able to see the
volcano from Baldi. However, we could not see anything because it was very
cloudy and rainy the day that we went. After spending plenty of time in the hot
pools, the water slides, and the sauna, we called a cab to go back to the hotel
to shower and go to bed.
 |
| A view of what the Arenal Volcano looks like on a clear day! |
Sunday: Today
was another day of travel in order to get back to Cedros with my host family.
We at breakfast at the same café as yesterday and I had the Costa Rican
breakfast once again. We packed up our things, paid for the hotel ($30 per
person for two nights), and walked to the bus station. Our direct bus for San
José left at 12:45pm and only made once stop in Ciudad Quesada. We arrived back
in San José around 4:15 this afternoon. We all decided to walk to take the
buses home instead of taking a cab. This walk was a little bit sketchy though
because there were multiple homeless people along the street for a part of the
walk (this was really sad to see). We safely arrived at the bus and Kayla and I
arrived back at our house in Cedros safely around 5:15pm. The remainder of the
night we ate dinner and hung out. I went to bed somewhat early because I had
another early morning of work tomorrow.
This
past week Thursday marked the one-month mark for my time left in Costa Rica. It
is still crazy to me how fast the time here is flying by. Although I know that
I am going to miss Costa Rica when I return to the States, I am getting ready
to be back at home. I can’t wait to see my family and friends! Thank you all
for reading.
~Kailey
