Diving Into The Current - A Three Month Review

I have come such a long way since I left Tucson almost 3 months ago.

I.....

left my job of 4 years, took the GRE, sold my car, moved out of my house, said bye to my family and friends, parted with the communities I had been involved in for a long time, and moved myself to Heredia to get my TEFL certification! 

Then, once I finished that... I had a choice to make: stay in the Central Valley and work for a language school or take a risk and move out to the coast with no real plan.  Well, what did I have to loose - I thought.  I had already taken many risks coming this far... why play it safe now?

So, I headed out to the Pacific Coast to a little quirky beach town where I had some connections.  Some familiar people to call a family.  My old host family from last summer took me in and made me feel like I had never left.  I went back to the Spanish school I had attended last summer and they also made me feel welcome.  I even got to teach the teachers there for three weeks while I got myself situated.

I waited and waited for opportunities to appear.  Sometimes it felt like I would be waiting forever and that the uncertainty would swallow me whole.  Nothing was happening, or so it seemed...

I had walked into the TEFL school one day during the second week I was here and gave the receptionist my resume.  She told me that the boss was out of the country with Mono and that I should e-mail her.  I did and she said she would meet with me around the 20th of August.  Well, the 20th came and went... and I did not meet her.  She had, however, forwarded my email to the elementary school that she worked at.  They needed a sub for her position while she was in the US.

One rainy afternoon, I was sitting in the Spanish school listening to Adele (a reggae remix) - because everyone here listens to reggae in the rain... of course... when I opened my email and saw this job offer for the elementary school.  I showed my Spanish-teacher-friend right away and had no idea how this person knew of me.  I was so excited to see this because I had been praying for the opportunity to work with kids.  People here generally work with adults, as public schools don't hire foreigners. 

I met with the girl who was holding down the fort at the elementary school on a Saturday morning to talk about the subbing position.  She told me that if I didn't run for the hills after observing that coming week, I could start subbing as soon as the director visited from San Jose.  Like everything here, that visit didn't happen for a while.  The director got caught up in something in San Jose and didn't come that week.

I went to observe, however, and my first instinct was to never go back.  That day, the girl was the only teacher there and she was covering the pre-k, and 1st through 5th grades.  It was total insanity.  There was so much yelling and chaos and thankfully I didn't have any other opportunities, because I decided to give it a shot.  I mean, it was just a subbing position - right?  Thankfully, like breaking a glass at a Jewish wedding... it has never been  that chaotic again. In fact, it is great fun :]

I even ended up teaching a few classes before the director came.  Once she observed me, I had already gotten used to the class!  Haha... while a bit backwards... that's, again, how things seem to work here.

Well, time passed and the subbing job turned into a permanent position.  I'm still not sure exactly how that happened, but it did.  I guess I was meant to be at this little bilingual elementary school, teaching English to 1st - 5th graders in the mornings.

I knew that one and a half hours a day of teaching was not going to fill my days, so I still needed to be creative in making other things happen.

The director of the elementary school really wanted to help me stay around, so she referred me to a friend of her's that wanted someone to help home school her 17 year old daughter.  They are a family that is from the US, but moved here 11 years ago... so the kids are basically Ticos.  Fitting in with the uncertainty of it all, this woman continually did not respond or get back to me for several weeks while she finished her Nursing degree.  I had given up on this possibility of work - which pushed me to do the scariest thing, yet....

Hang up fliers!!!!!

Yes, it was terrifying.  It sounds silly now, but it felt like a huge stretch outside of my comfort zone.  What if people actually called, what would I do?  What would I teach them?  What would I charge?  How would I set it up?  What if they didn't call?  What if creepy people called?  What if the whole town had my cell phone number and wouldn't stop calling?  The thoughts went on and on. 

Slowly, a few people did call.  At first, they asked the price and then said "thanks" and hung up.  I began do get discouraged.  The barrage of phone calls I had worried about was not happening.  As I walked around town, surveying my fliers, I could see that numbers had been ripped off.... why was nobody calling?  What were they doing with the numbers.... eating them?  Ripping them off for fun?  Even announcing myself at my friend's Zumba class seemed fruitless. 

My Spanish-teacher-friend knew I was getting discouraged and talked to some of her friends - trying to drum up some business for me.  None of her friends called, but somehow....

I got a call from a woman who was looking for classes for her 16 year old daughter.  Her daughter had been taking classes at a local place but got discouraged when new students were added that were way below her level.  She had quit the class earlier that week.

 I didn't know how this woman found me, until I talked to my friend the next day.  I was so excited that I got a student, that I told her.  She asked the name of the woman and we realized that it was because of her that I got this student!  She had told her taxi driver friend that I was teaching classes.  Then, when this girl quit her class, her mom asked the taxi driver (who is the woman's brother) if he knew of anything - which, still to this day, does not make sense to me... but there you go.  I had my first student.

Man, was I nervous.  I didn't know how to prepare, because when people say their kid is good at English it can mean anything from they don't even know the alphabet to they can have a conversation.  I'm serious.  So, I put together a sketchy list of ideas, got picked up by the taxi-brother on that Saturday morning, and hoped for the best. 

I survived.  Not only did I survive, but it was fun!  It went well!  I was able to use my skills and knowledge and creativity to make an on-the-spot English lesson that helped assess what she needed and we went from there.  She is still my favorite student - we're practicing past tense and having a lot of conversations.

Whew... once that was over, I got another student.  This woman saw my flier at the local elementary school and called me; she wanted to meet me out front when she picked up her daughter.  She is eight and is suuuuper beginner.  We're still working on colors and how to say things like "I don't understand."  She has, however, almost mastered the alphabet and is able to do a lot of commands that I give her... (I was thankful for thinking of using the TPR approach to language learning that I had a brief interaction with when working at my old middle school in Tucson).  This is the student who's mom assured me that she was very good at English.  I guess being good at English means that she gets 100% in her class at school where they copy what the teacher writes on the board.  :[

Anyways, I was beginning to build my schedule.  I had gone from volunteer teaching at the Spanish school, wondering if anything would ever happen, to having a permanent position at the elementary school and having two private students!  I kept thinking the students would cancel or not be there like the previous student I taught once - from the ice cream shop.  But, they didn't.  They have been reliable and have paid me every time.

Then, something finally happened with the home school family.  Now I have a job, three regular students, one 17 year old to whom I am teaching art history and AP lit test prep... (I won't even go into how random that is right now), and I am making just enough to pay my rent. 

All of this was set into motion by giving my resume to the TEFL school that I don't even work at.  Now, that is a story. 
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“Making a decision was only the beginning of things. When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
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Here I am, about to go on my first Visa run to Panama... signifying that I have hit the marker of my first three months. 

The past two days, I had been feeling down... unsure of my choices...questioning what I am doing.

After writing all of this, however, I am able to see just how much I have to be proud of.