*Coming home to a note and a flower in my room from my tica mom
*Getting a phone call from my parents & best friend
*A hug and smile from my students when they see me
*Hot Costa Rican coffee after school
All little things, little details that make life beautiful <3
Tomorrow two of the other student teachers here are leaving, which is bitter sweet... bitter because they're the people I've been talking to and hanging out with the most, but sweet because I'm so happy to have had the chance to meet these girls. They are both about six years older than me and very sweet. Jess and I hung out a lot because she lived close, so we would have coffee with Flor, have Latino dance lessons, or go on little get-aways within Costa Rica together. Rachel was teaching at the same school with me so we talked a lot there and shared all of our classroom/teaching stories. They both gave me some teaching materials and some books that they don't want to take back with them, which I am overwhelmingly gracious for!
One of the books was from Jess, and it's one of the best children's books ever: The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. All of these little mishaps through out this kid's day make him so upset and grumpy that he keeps wishing he was in Australia. It's adorable. Some days when I'm teaching here I feel a little like this poor kid - I think, poor me because I just want to be able to teach how I'm used to, but it's not the way these kids learn.
Today was a pretty good day, though. I only taught one lesson and it was extra difficult to keep the kids on task because they were constantly taking turns leaving the room to try on their outfits for their talent show this weekend (I secretly can't wait for this talent show to just be over with already!). The trick to it is keeping a positive attitude, being firm with out of control students, and giving extra attention to the well-behaving students. It's such a challenge for my students to be motivated reading in their expensive, beautiful and colorful reading books - why? because it's in English. So I stop every now and then and try to explain what's going on in very simple terms and lots of actions. I think they think I'm a little crazy.
As mean as I feel like I'm being to them, especially when I give them pages to work on in their workbooks (yes, written in English) during class, I keep reminding myself: this is how they're used to learning... and at least I smile at my students and still try to make learning fun for them, which is more than I personally think some of the other teachers can say. I don't want to be friends with my students, and it's not the end of the world if they don't like me for disciplining them, but I do want them to know I care about them. At the end of the day, students aren't going over in their heads everything they learned at school, instead, they're thinking of all the things that made them happy through out the day - and years later they aren't going to necessarily remember everything they learned in fourth or fifth grade, but hopefully they will have good memories with me as their teacher.
Other things I've been up to lately: I went to a dance club where there was a live Latino band; I sometimes get to have Latino dance classes in our living room because there is a guy who lives in my house who is a dance teacher!; go on weekend and even day trips to the beach (Jess and I went to playa hermosa a few weeks ago and last Sunday we went to playa herradura for the day); going to a really nice pool in Orosi where the water comes from the springs of a volcano; going to the ferria, it's a long street full of stands with all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables sold really cheap; learning how to cook some delicious CR meals a la Flor, such as ceviche (YUM); going to a cool movie theatre where the movies are in English with Spanish subtitles and where you can drink things like beer or coffee or you can eat caramel corn; walking two and a half hours to the Basilica in Cartago for the remembrance of the African American angel "La Negrita"; lots of girls nights where we drink wine, dance, do our nails, and yesterday Jess even gave me a little haircut; celebrating Flor's birthday about three times and mother's day...it was cute because all of the students' moms came to school for some fun activities and then they left school early; going on little trips to the capital, San Jose, to go to the Central Market (it's insane there with all the different things they sell) and going to my new favorite little coffee place here called Cafe Latino with new kinds of artwork displayed every week.
I'm excited because my dad is visiting me next week! How awesome that I get a chance to travel this country with him. Hmm, I wonder if he'll recognize me... for the first time since my birthday in March, I finally feel like I'm actually 22. Partly because I feel like an actual teacher, partly because I'm pretty much on my own in a different country, and also partly because I've already learned a lot here about myself and the way I want to live. I've taken a lot for granted back home, and being away from home, you realize things that are so incredibly important - detalles that are hard to miss, even though they were huge and right in front of your face all along.
I know I'm already off on my biggest adventure yet, but I can't help but plan even more adventures.... except these will be with mi mejor amiga y hermana a corazon (my best friend and sister at heart), Sarah. The details for this will be determined later but they have to do with backpacking in Europe and seeing what California is all about.
Anyway, right now I need to figure out how to make this movie with my students about their role models - I dream big, what can I say?...
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