Funny Things Students Have Said Recently

Drawing a picture - "This is the brain of the truck." (I think referring to the cab)

In discussing life - "The life of the teenager is amazing... They're in the flour of the future."

Metaphor from Spanish? With misguidance from the English Teacher - I thought she was saying: Shove earth down my throat.  What she wanted to say: Earth, swallow me.

About a crush - "He moves my floor."  

On men catcalling in the street - "tssssss tssssss..... They're going to deflate."

Pronunciation issue - Student: "Today I eat penis."  Me: "Today I ate peanuts!" 
Another one - Student: "I f***."  Me: "Thought!! Th..... ought.  Th..... ought."
Another one - "I am humping."  Me: "I am Jumping. Humping is what dogs do to your leg."  HAHAHAHAHA!

More Cultural Differences - Pura Vida for All Life

One of the coolest parts of my job as a private English teacher is that I get to have a lot of conversations.  With students that are more advanced, I literally get paid to converse.  How much better can a job get?!  Oh yeah, and I do constantly analyze the student's language skills, correct them, write notes, and think of mini lessons to address their weaknesses - haha... but I can do all of that while talking about deep things.

I have a 16 year old student who is wise beyond her years.  I would want to talk with her even if she wasn't paying me.  I have learned so much from her over the past year and a half - about her view on culture, life, major issues in the country.  Yesterday, the topic of killing animals came up.  I told her that I had noticed that in general, Ticos would rather coax an insect out of their house than kill it. 

Just the other day, a wasp landed on a student's neck in my house and he flicked it off.  It landed on the floor and I squished it.  That wasn't like me and I wasn't proud of it.  I don't know why I did that.  The teenage boy's reaction was what shocked me.  "Awww.... why did you kill it?  Poor thing.  It was alive."  I repeat, a TEENAGE BOY.

When I was a kid, I was always the one getting mad at the other kids at the pool for squishing bees while I rescued them with my kick-board.

I told the girl this story and she said, "Yes. We take the insect out.  And I am afraid of snakes, but I only will kill one if it is in my house.  If it is in the street and I am driving the car... I will wait so that it will cross.  That is the home of the snake.  Not my home."

She proceeded to tell me about how her family would catch scorpions and put them outside.  I told her that my family did the same, but that it wasn't very common I thought.

This observation and conversation made me wonder.... why is animal life valued more highly in this country than in the US?  I mean, I don't want to over generalize, but I have seen a lot more personal examples of young people caring for wildlife... making sure to not step on a trail of leaf cutter ants who are working so hard to bring those leafs back to the nest.  I have seen kids in the US purposefully stomp on ants when the ants weren't even harming them at all. 

Why is this? Is it the closer connection to the outside?  Does the fact that houses aren't even inclosed, sealing humans off from the outside world, make people more connected to their environment?  Is it a value that hasn't been lost from the native people?  Is it because the country has so much biodiversity and eco-tourism is a huge focus of the economy?  Is it taught in schools or is it just passed on through modeling... not even noticed as a value?

I know that this care for all life is a value in say.... Hinduism, but I did not expect to see it in a heavily Catholic culture.

I continue to learn from my students every day and the lessons they teach me are often lessons I needed to be reminded of.  I guess I'll continue living in harmony with my cockroach and ant friends.

Pura Vida.  Pure Life.  For All Forms.   

My Little Buddy, The Fish

I went to paddle board yoga again today and afterwards I decided to swim by myself.  I swam about the cove, marveling at how I have succeeded in living in a place that is so incredibly beautiful.  I can walk to these locations in 20 minutes with no other form of transportation.... As I bob, alone, in the ocean - I soak it all in.  The clouds, the mountains, the waves, the birds flying overhead.  What an incredible world we live in. 

As I began my swim back in, I noticed this tiny yellow - black stripped fish that was near me. I noticed that he was following me.  Then, I realized that he wasn't just following me.... he was sticking so close to me that no matter where I went, he went too.  He swam by my legs, then he swam up near my hands.  As I kicked with my arms in front of me, the little yellow and black stripped fish glided along side my hand as if we were a school or as if I were the big fish he was going to live with in symbiosis.  I dove down, and he dove down.  I spun around and he joined me.  He was always there.  He stayed with me until the water was so shallow that I could stand.  Even then, he swam around my ankles. 

When I got so shallow that the waves were crashing against the rocks, we parted ways.  I wonder what he thought of me and why he wanted to stick by me so closely. Perhaps I'll never know, but it was pretty special to have a little fish friend for the day.  
 

El Cemeterio de los Libros Olvidados

This is another story that is a bit delayed.

Over the past several months, I have been a part of a touring children's theatre show with Teatro Copaza. Theatro Copaza is an organization whose mission is to promote prevention, safety, and peace in the canton of Aguirre. 
 

Our goal is to inspire students to read.  Reading is not a habit in this culture, although the literacy rate is high. The play is about the importance of reading.  I play a character who has traveled long and far to find the "villa de las metaforas" where stories are abundant, but instead I stumble upon a graveyard where the last books are being buried as they are no longer being read.  

We travel to various schools and hold workshops about reading and the importance of stories.  This performance took place at a school so rural that there is only one teacher and all of the grades learn in one room together.  

It filled me with pride when one of the parents told me that this was the first piece of theatre they all had ever seen. I still remember the first plays I saw at that mall in Tucson and how seeing those plays sparked my interest in the dramatic arts.

It was so interesting because since the kids had never seen anything like this, they didn't know what to expect.  They sat there in awe, not really interacting or laughing at first.  I think they just thought we were going to come out and talk to them or something.  They warmed up, though and we had a great time eating lunch with them and passing out Christmas gifts that the theatre had collected.  

Yoga - Land, Air, Water

I had thought of how yoga could help one connect to the elements of earth, air, and water... but before I moved to Costa Rica I had never dreamed of doing yoga amidst earth, air, and water.

I've talked about how much I love aerial yoga.

Today, I added one more element to the list of my yoga practice - Water.

Let's just say that when your "mat" moves... you need to find a lot more balance within yourself. Kind of like when the circumstances of life feel unstable, you can still use your same skills you always practice to balance.  And... if you fall off - that's part of the fun :] You just hop back on and you're even a little bit cooler. 

Also, I think this is probably the most beautiful place I have ever done yoga.

Thanks to Paddle 9 for giving locals an opportunity to take this awesome class at an affordable price.  

*Photo credit - Paddle 9 Facebook Page

Thanksgiving - a multicultural exchange

This story is a little bit "atrasado" (late) but November and December were super busy months.

For Thanksgiving, I decided to host a dinner in the laundry room front porch that I have.  For five of the guests it was their first Thanksgiving. 

5 estadounidenses, 1 canadiense, 1 irlandés, 1 nicaragüense, y 3 ticos = The most multicultural thanksgiving I've ever had... in my laundry room jaja. Gracias amigos Los quiero mucho.

The best parts were that after I explained the story of Thanksgiving, we went around the table and said what we were each thankful for.  Some in English, some in Spanish, and some in Spanglish.  For the most part, everyone understood :]

They baked the pie in a toaster oven!!!! (One is from CR and one from Ireland)

Then, we proceeded to try to do this finger slapping hand gesture thing that Ticos do to add dramatic flair to their stories.  It seems they are all born to do this gesture and none of the foreigners can do it.  We are all practicing, though.  One day....   Mine can now make a little bit of a sound.

My Favorite Pictures from the HS

These ladies are always inventing things from recycled materials

Independence Parade

Just a normal day in class.... Don't I look thrilled that a student grabbed my phone?

Watching the Sele play in the World Cup

Thanksgiving Breakfast - Gallo Pinto Style

Recycled Art

Love the Giant Fish...

Bingooooo!!!!

They invented a way for hotels to recycle water... visionaries of the future

One Complete Year in Costa Rica

January 4th is my one year anniversary of being in CR for a consecutive period of time without being home to the US. The entire year of 2014, I was not in the US.

It also means I've been living in CR a little over a year and a half.

This is a huge deal as before coming here, I could have never imagined being away from home for a whole year.  But, just like many other things I've done (and continue to do) that I couldn't have imagined - I did this, too.

It's weird being outside of your home country for a whole year.  There are many things that you miss, like weddings or not having heard any of the top songs of the year. Yet for all the things missed, there are invaluable things that I have gained.  That's the cost and reward of this lifestyle. 

As I ride on a motorcycle today with my friend's aunt and her little cousin, waves of emotion and joy flood over me.  I watch the palms flash by as the wind splashes my face and the dust becomes a canvas for the rays of light shooting through the palms. 

It soaks in, how far I have come in becoming a part of the community... and letting the community become a part of me.  I have been invited to places that other North Americans don't go. I have sat on front porches and watched ATV tours filled with tourists drive by - marveling at the fact that I am on the other side... remembering all of the times I have peered out bus windows as we rode by people's houses... wondering what was happening on those elusive front porches.

 I have eaten "leche agria"  and liked it. I've been tentatively given "sopa de leche" by the sweetest old women and I've proven that North Americans can like this type of food, even despite all of the woman's "verguenza."

I have been taken in by a group of children in a river who shrugged in acceptance after I answered their question of who's family member I was by saying I was just a friend.  I've taught some of those same children how to float on their backs and do front flips in the water as they clung onto me as if they had known me for years. 

I have caught falling oranges in a sack contraption and picked culantro that was growing like weeds and I've ridden on the bar of a bike as my friend precariously peddled us to  another cousin's house along the same dirt road. 

I've spent an entire week speaking only in Spanish.... day and night.  I've played, laughed, cooked, cleaned, and above all... I've been accepted into a family. 

I've been told I am different, that I am open and willing to try anything without judgments.  But more than that.... I feel that I have been given trust and have learned to trust more than ever before.  I have learned to be open and vulnerable... to be myself and be confident that that self can be loved.  I have learned from people who take life in stride.  I have learned from people who's laughter rings through difficult times, so loud that sometimes the neighbors can't sleep at night and give thanks to God when the family disperses back to their respective homes.

"Si Dios quiere" and "Si pasa bien, y si no... tambien" are phrases I am slowly soaking into my life philosophy. 

I have seen that people with very little give to people with even less.  I have witnessed that a Christmas gift can be as grand as buying more groceries for the family and that the celebration can be eating the result of those delicious groceries and playing ridiculous games on the floor of the front porch.

I've slept in a pile of five "primas hermanas" on two mattresses and  I've been woken up in the early morning by fireworks in the living room.  I've laughed hysterically as we all  lifted up our plates in a wave so that a cockroach could run across the table without getting on our nachos.

I've been a part of bathroom humor, toilets overflowing, and waiting in line to use that toilet.  I've learned slang and been told to say funny things without knowing what they were.  I've been the recipient of many pranks and felt like I had sisters.

I've taken friends to the hospital, and stayed with them through difficult times.  I've used Spanish in contexts of doctors, police, and many more than I can remember right now.

I've started and run an improv troupe completely in Spanish.  I've started a drama program in a school with extremely low resources.  I've toured with a children's play to a school so rural that it only had one teacher and all of the grades learned in one classroom. I've performed in a full length play in SPANISH!  I've taught a full year at a HS.  I've taught English at a pharmacy and at a fishery. I've seen two private students progress over a year and a half!  I've been a blog writer and a receptionist. I even taught two weeks of Spanish camp to teenagers from Texas.  

As I write this, the memories keep pouring out until this page is overflowing with events of the past year.

This year was a year that has shaped me and held experiences that I know will stay with me always, affecting the way I walk through life.

Here's to the coming year being another one of trust, growth, and laughter - always remembering to choose love and not to let fear turn me against my playful heart. 

Weirdness of the Year - Holiday Differences

This is a photo of Quepos in the 50's

Here, fireworks start in the end of November and continue until new years.

Last year I found this odd and annoying, but this year I have embraced it and even decided to join the extremely long firework movement.

It all started when my friend began distracting me and then placing "bombetas" behind me or under my chair.  It was funny and after a few times, I got so used to it that I just lifted up my feet and just laughed.  The best was when she woke up the entire house by throwing a bombeta on the living room floor where we were all sleeping.  That's one way to get everyone up to start making tamales - a process that takes about 12 hours!

There are many weird things I noticed about fireworks and the holidays here.

1.  Small children can light off professional like fireworks from the streets in front of their houses.

2.  Christmas is a holiday that includes fireworks at midnight. 

3.  New years includes fireworks at midnight.  - now I can't even remember what holidays in the US include fireworks.  Just the 4th of July, right?

4.  Fireworks can be lit in houses.  I guess because the floors are concrete.

5.  As one could predict with "Tico Time" - the new years fireworks started at 12:02... and there was no countdown.  Nobody really knew when the new year arrived.  JAJAJAJAJA! Everyone was looking at their phone clocks and looking at each other and asking if it was the new year yet.  Typical event organization.  I would have expected nothing different.  :]

6.   New Years Eve is a family holiday where people bring even their babies and small children to ring in the new year at midnight.  I was trying to imagine people bringing their babies out for New Years in the states..... I couldn't.

7.  The disco (dance club) is open until 8am on January 1st.  I only stayed until 3am.  Then, I went to the beach. 

8.  The menu of Christmas week is:
Breakfast - Tamales
Lunch - Tamales
Coffee - Tamales
Dinner - Tamales
2nd Dinner - Tamales

Christmas gifts = tamales

mmmmmm.....

 8. My friend and I are taking bets about how long the Christmas tree in the center of town will be there.  She thinks until February 2nd.  I wouldn't be shocked if she were right.

Happy New Year!