Ahorita

In Costa Rica means “in a little while” or “in a bit”. Which—as we were taught in the 45 minutes of Tico (Costa Ricans are called “Ticos” or “Ticas”) Culture 101 that we received our first day of Orientation—can be any time up to 24 hours. Ahora means later (ie, within the next few days). It’s rather strange getting used to using these words this way when I’ve been taught that ahora means “now” and ahorita means “right now.” If you actually want something “right now,” you use ya (or ja, in some places). The problem is, ya also means “already,” “soon,” and “later.” You can also use it to form present progressive: ¡Ya voy!: I’m coming! I usually hear my students say this when they’re being called in from recreo (recess). They also use ya to mean “done.” As soon as they finish anything, they put their pencils (or gel pens—as one of our Field Staff put it, the gel pen business is alive and thriving in Costa Rica) down, they yell out to their teacher, “¡Ya, Don!” (for a male) or “¡Ya, Niña” (for a female).

I don’t quite understand the custom of referring to male teachers as “mister” but female teachers as “girl,” rather than Doña. Even outside of school (and by adults) the female teacher at our school, Shirley, is referred to as niña. I’m sure (assume) it must mean something different to them in that context, but the literal translation makes me feel a bit odd. I try to refer to her as Doña Shirley when I can. I hope that’s okay... I made sure to break my students of that habit when I first started teaching them. No Niña. No Muchacha. Only Teacher or Kyra. I hope they don’t think that “teacher” means “niña”… At any rate, now they say:

¡Ya, Teacher!

“Done, Teacher!” Is my next step.

Short Catching Up

I finally found someone in my town with internet. I have to keep this short because I've already been on for quite some time. I need to start writing these posts ahead of time so that it takes less time to post them. Espeically because all of the symbols are in the wrong spot and take quite some time to figure out.

Teaching has been going splendidly. All of my students are very excited to learn and I am very excited to teach them! They're all so cute and eager and are always asking me for extra English classes (the differences between American children and others....). It's precious. Hopefully I will eventually be able to get some pictures up on my facebook!

Living in such a tiny town is not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. Besides the fact that no one speaks English, it feels oddly normal to be here. My host parents keep telling everyone that my Spanish is good and that I understand everything. They probably got that idea because I nod so much when they are talking to me. Following does not necessarily mean understanding... My Spanish has gotten a lot better, though.

Another volunteer who lives one town over came to visit me yesterday. She brought tons of movies with her. It was nice to see something on a television that was in English. I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to completely understand something. I´m hoping that by the end of the summer I will be able to feel that way about the telenovelas that we watch at night. I have a feeling that Cafe Con Aroma de Mujer is much crazier/more intense than I can grasp right now.

Final Night in Orosi

Orientation is almost finished. We had a Charla about mental health today. Guided meditation is pretty cool. I feel much more prepared for the situations I may have to face. Now, I jsut hope I don't actually have to face them.


On a lighter note, I cooked dinner for my host family last night! I made chicken stir fry with lots of vegetables and it was pretty good if I do say so myself. My family said they liked it, but I know they'd say so even if they didn't. Tico Culture 101: They don't like confrontation. We had mango for dessert because I saw a big pile of them at the verdurería. I asked my host mom to help me cut it because I am useless at peeling things without a vegetable peeler (I didn't use so many words, of course), and she brought it out to the dinner table with the peels on and her and my host sister started going at it, skin and all (and with salt). They were very surprised when I told them that in America, we eat mangoes sin la cascara (without the skin). I tried it, of course (I have tried everything thus far), but I think I'll stick to eating my mangoes the American way. 


After dinner, we played some card games. My host sister, Mila, explained the rules of Rummy (which I've never played in English...), BURRO, and Tonto. Despite my complete lack of understanding (they don't really teach you the verbs necessary for playing card games in your typical high school Spanish class), I had a pretty good winning streak going. I tried teaching my host sister to play War (the only card game I know). I then had to explain that I don't play cards often because I always forget the rules.

One more day of Charlas, one day in San Jose, and then to Santa Marta, population 130 Ticos...

Siestas >> Cafecitos

At least, that what I'd assume. Too bad we only have the latter option here.

Anyway, tomorrow we are teaching our first class. This week is the census, so there aren't classes, technically, but some students are volunteering to come to school for the day to see us make fools of ourselves teach. I'm extremely nervous. I'm supposed to be teaching "new inventions" to 6th graders as if they don't already spend all of their time on facebook at the internet cafes that litter the streets of Orosi. Well, we shall see, won't we?

Day 1 Recap

Let me begin by saying that I ought to have been 10 minutes late to Charlas (our orientation classes), but instead I was 45 minutes early because my watch was set utterly incorrectly, as was my iPod which I use as an alarm. Thus said, I now have time to write this blog post. So much has happened, I already don't know where to begin. I suppose I will start with this:

Things I Have Learned Since Leaving Oklahoma

1. Miami International airport is very, poorly designed. Additionally, no one that works there actually knows where anything is. Probably because of it's poor design. If you leave you're terminal, YOU WILL HAVE TO GO BACK THROUGH SECURITY. But no one will tell you that.
2. Costa Rica does not use a 24-hour clock. Which is why I am here right now. I put my watch on a 24-hour cycle when I arrived. Realizing that they didn't use this system, I attempted to change it back without actually looking at a clock. Hence.
3. Cafecitos (coffee breaks) come just at the right time. Usually about an hour after your huge lunch has started making you drowsy, as it inevitably will.
4. Ticos believe that everything will make you sick. Not wearing shoes in the house, leaving the house less than 2 hours or washing your hands with cold water after you do the ironing, taking a shower at night (this might be a problem), going outside after you work out, etc. Usually if you ask why you can't do something, that will be the answer.
5. It's going to take quite a bit of practice for me to be comfortable speaking Spanish. The ratio between the things I can say and the things I can't is pretty frightening, but that between what I want to say and what I can say is even more dire. Sitting in the living room with my host family last night consisted of a lot of silences.
6. Choosing conversation topics is a very tricky task. I have to make sure that the question I ask (because right now all conversations consists of asking and answering questions) will lead to a conversation that I can uphold with my limited vocabulary. I must pre-conjugate all of my verbs and store up words I might need to use to keep the conversation moving at a steady pace. When all is said and done, this is probably the hardest.

And that was only one day. We'll see what today has to teach me.

Currently at the airport in Dallas.


I'm hoping that the only thing I'll regret this summer is over-packing.

Para Empezar (In Order to Begin)

It is currently 12:40 am. I am still in the process of packing, but I thought I'd take a break to start this blog.

In Order to Teach.

Never thought I'd ever be teaching. I still feel too young, I still feel too unqualified. But here I am anyway.


Costa Rica, here I come.









We'll see how long this new blog lasts... Surely, I can make 8 weeks, right?