Kids Will Be Kids!

My new adventure of the week was beginning my internship in a local school.  This kept me very busy throughout the week and on the weekend; I travelled to the Poas Volcano and La Paz Waterfall. The following events are more specifics on my week in review (11/4-11/10):

Monday: Today I had a free morning to relax after a very fun but at the same time busy trip to Nicaragua. I didn’t have anything for my internship today as that doesn’t start until tomorrow. I spent the morning relaxing and getting caught up on emails. In the afternoon, our group was scheduled to go on a walking tour of San Pedro (the town in which our school is located) and San José (the capital of Costa Rica). On this walking tour I saw multiple buildings, theatres, museums, and restaurants that I want to visit before I leave Costa Rica.

Tuesday: I had orientation for my internship today. This orientation included a general session discussing expectations and guidelines for an internship at Maximo Nivel. For the second part of the orientation, an employee of the school that I attend took me along with my professor from NCC to the school where I would be interning for the next 6 weeks. Upon arriving at Centro Educativo Josefita Jurado de Avarado, I was introduced to the principals and administrators of the school along with Natalia, the English teacher at the school. For the next 6 weeks I will be working with Natalia to aid in teaching the students English in this specific school in Costa Rica. I am really looking forward to this experience, as all of the teachers seem extremely welcoming and willing to help me to improve my Spanish while at the same time helping the students to learn English.

Wednesday: Today was my first day at work by myself. Everything went smoothly as far as commuting to work and arriving on time. I worked with the English teacher, Natalia, for a little bit in the classroom before having a breakfast break. The lunch ladies at the school feed the teachers and all of the students. This morning they served gallo pinto, eggs, and watermelon. Additionally, they fed me lunch today. I then “shadowed” the English teacher at the school for the remainder of the day until I went home at 1pm. I felt so welcomed throughout the day. All of the teachers are very kind and I can’t wait to get to know them better as time continues. I feel like an employee of the school while I am there. The teachers treat me as an adult and I eat in the teachers lounge with them. Natalia would leave the classroom and I would have the opportunity to teach the kids on my own from reading stories to telling time to teaching the days of the week. Natalia (or teacher in the eyes of the students – they call her “teacher” when they want her attention) has worked as a teacher for 16 years and has spent 7 years teaching at this particular school. She studied in Iowa for a year to practice her English. She is very appreciative of my help in the classroom and I think she finds it very interesting and helpful for the kids to be able to hear a native English speaker. Each classroom has a desk in the front for the teacher, small desks and chairs for the students, a storage closet, a whiteboard, and windows. The classes do not have a computer or clock. After my first successful day at work, I took the bus back to San Pedro to spend the remainder of the day relaxing after a busy first day at my internship.

Thursday: Today was my second day at work and I can already tell that my Spanish is rapidly getting better and better! It was once again easy to arrive at work. However, the bus was extremely packed today. At one point, the bus driver had to get out of his seat at one stop and tell the people standing in the aisle to move as far to the back of the bus as possible to make sure that the people getting on the bus could squeeze on. I worked with the English teacher again once I arrived at work. I preformed similar tasks as yesterday and was left to do many things on my own. The students asked me many questions, as they are all very interested as to what life in the United States is like. Many of the students really want to travel to the U.S. Even though it has only been two days, I know I am really going to miss working at this school. I only worked until noon today as the English teacher only stays for half a day on Thursdays. As with everyday in a school working with children everyday is different and there is always some story to tell. The following are a few stories I encountered in the classroom today:

• ·      I received a lot of attention for my hair color and eye color today in the school. The girls particularly were fascinated with the “machita” or “blondie”. They kept saying “que linda” meaning how beautiful when talking about my hair and many of them would come and touch my hair. It was eye opening to experience what being of a minority in a school setting felt like.
• ·      After discussing multiple topics about the culture in the U.S. the topic that the students seemed most interested in was the fact that in Wisconsin we have four different seasons. Many students said that they wanted to experience this, specifically snow.
• ·      The “hellos” and “goodbyes” from the students and teachers are very affectionate. It is customary in Costa Rica to hug and kiss someone on the cheek (put your faces next to each other and make the kissing noise). In the school setting this is very common.
• The main similarity that I saw in the school was the fact that kids will be kids. They will always be curious, want to learn, and explore the world around them. 

After our internships Kayla, Tara, and I met at Maximo. We then went with Professor Cook to a Chinese restaurant right next to school. The food was delicious and they give you plenty of food. I was stuffed afterwards. We found out that our house was getting inspected once again to see if anything had changed or improved. We will see what happens. I spent the rest of the night watching TV and went to bed early so that I would be ready for another busy day at my internship tomorrow.

Friday:  

Work today was a little slower paced. I arrived at school during the breakfast break. The teachers asked me if I wanted any breakfast, but I said that I normally am not hungry for breakfast because I eat at my host house before I arrive. After this break, I helped Luigina, the principal, with music classes today. She asked me if I could look up Christmas songs online that have both English and Spanish lyrics.  I gladly agreed to helping her out with this so that she can have more options of songs to sing at the Christmas concerts in years to come. After practicing two songs and taking 30-45 minutes to take a picture of the kids for the newspaper with their Santa hats on, classes were over. I spent a period of time talking to Luigina’s son before eating lunch. After lunch, I tried a new dessert called “miel de papaya”. It was almost like caramelized papaya that you eat with ice cream. It was very tasty. I then left my internship and headed for San Pedro. The remainder of the afternoon and night Kayla, Tara, and I hung out at our house as tomorrow we have to be up somewhat early for a day at the Poas Volcano and La Paz Waterfall and Gardens.

Saturday: I woke up early this morning to go to the Poas Volcano and La Paz Waterfall and Gardens. We drove about an hour and a half to get to the volcano. The roads were filled with lots of cars and it was stop and go for a little bit because there was a lot of traffic. The roads in Costa Rica are not meant for the amount of cars that they carry. They are more so meant for las carretas (the oxen drawn carts that were used many years ago). Upon arriving at the volcano, we walked a short distance in order to arrive at the main crater of the volcano. When we arrived to this crater, the air was full of sulfur and we could feel that it was very hard to breathe and our eyes stung. We weren’t able to see anything but the edge of the crater and even then it was very difficult to make out what we were looking at.

The foggy view of the crater

 The one thing that I was able to see was a spray of condensed gases coming out of the ground right next to the crater. After this, we walked through the woods on a cement path to another lake filled with rainwater. It was much clearer here and we were able to see across the entire lake. We took many pictures and enjoyed the beautiful view before we went to see the waterfall and gardens.

NCC Group at the Poas Volcano

Before we went to see the waterfall and gardens we ate an enormous and extremely delicious lunch. It was a buffet style with salad, rice, beans, many different kinds of pasta, chicken, pork, rolls, arroz con leche, and juices. Although the volcano was kind of a bust and we didn’t see much, the waterfall and the gardens were a major success and it was super cool! First we walked through the gardens where there was an abundance of animals native to Costa Rica. We saw various birds, butterflies, cats, and snakes. The highlight of the gardens for me was being able to have a toucan on my arm in the bird exhibit.

Toucan Sam and I :)

 We then walked many steps both up and down to see two different waterfalls at La Paz. It was very cool to see the waterfalls so close to the volcano!

La Paz Waterfall

 Once we were all tired of taking pictures and exploring, we hopped back in the mini bus to travel back to San Pedro and rest for the afternoon.

Sunday: Today, Tara and I decided to go to San José to explore and get more acquainted with the city. However, once we got to the city it started to rain really hard so we decided to sit down have some churros and shakes for lunch. What could be better, right? Once it was done raining, we decided to catch the bus back to Zapote. However, we weren’t sure where the bus dropped us off because it was the first time that we were taking this bus. We drove for a while in the bus and we both didn’t recognize where we were. Suddenly, I noticed a Subway that I had went to one day for lunch and so we got off the bus and had to walk a little ways home but it was not a bad walk at all. Once we got home we chilled in Tara and Kayla’s room until dinner and after dinner as well. 

~Kailey