Mi Primer Día de Clases

My first day of school :)

Saint Clare is such a welcoming, fun and supportive school. I will be teaching third grade English and will have approximately 65 students. 

There are three third grade sections; 3A, 3B, and 3C. 3A is my 'homeroom' class. I will be in charge of teaching grammar/writing, listening/speaking, reading, spelling and phonics. 

Instead of the students rotating classrooms, the teachers are the ones that switch rooms. The three sections have their own classroom with their 'homeroom' teacher. The teacher will teach three 'lessons' and then rotate to the next section. The scheduling is very different than the United States. 

Each day is a different schedule. On Monday and Wednesdays, my teacher does not start until 8:40am, but on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday she begins classes at 7:30am. There are different times when we do not have class and we use that as 'prep-time'. In Costa Rica they call them 'free lessons'. It will be hard to get used to the schedule because it is different everyday. 

The school is completely outdoors; except for the actual classrooms. The students are able to run and play in the open areas during their recess times. There are three different times in the day when the students have 10-15 minutes to play. 

During recess I am able to communicate with them in both Spanish and English. While they are in the English classroom, they are only allowed to speak in English. We encourage them to use it at all times during class. I use recess and after school to practice my Spanish with them. A few other teachers speak English, but mostly all speak Spanish. They are extremely helpful and work with me to understand. The students learn every other subject in Spanish, the only class they must use English is in the English class. 

The students are so excited to be learning and have such high energy levels. Their willingness to learn is inspiring and they are very eager to use their English skills. The students enjoy talking with eachother and asking questions. They were extremely curious about me and my life in the United States. I cannot wait to share more with them and learn more about their culture in Costa Rica :)

Cartago Soccer

I had a very eventful weekend! I was able to experience the bus system and get comfortable with it becuase that is the main form of transportation here. It is extremely cheap and only 300 collones to ride; which is less than an dollar! On Saturday we made a trip to Walmart and purchased things that we needed. The McDonalds here sells DOUBLE BigMacs. It is a BigMac with 4 patties!! Absolutely insane.

Today we went to a Cartago soccer game and it was amazing! It was so much fun and the stadium was packed. The fans are crazy and chanted/yelled/sang/banged on drums/blew air horns the entire game.

During the intermission, there was a helicopter that flew right over our heads and landed in the middle of the field! We were so confused about why and it ended up happening three times.



On the third time when it flew over, a gentleman next to us yelled up at it and called out "Estados Unidos!!!" (a.k.a. United States) and put his arm around us. He also did this when the photographer came by and made her take a picture of us.....we were pretty much celebirties at the game ;)
The game was very action packed and anything goes. The police were dressed in armor like uniforms that was really different than how cops dress in the U.S.
I have never been a soccer fan but in Costa Rica, futbol is the main sporting event to attend and it was a lot of fun. I am so happy we decided to go and scalp tickets!! It was only $20 and totally worth it. We did leave the game early so we could catch to bus back into Tres Rios before it got too dark outside.  It was a great weekenda and I am excited to start my first full week :)

Arrival

I am finally here and it feels great to get settled in! It was pouring rain when my plane landed and I am going to take that as a sign of good luck :) It feels amazing to be in 80 degree weather again and I cannot wait to feel the sun on my face. I have my own bedroom in a smaller guest house that is connected to Emelia's main house. I am sharing the house with two other roommates and they are awesome. They have both already been living here for about a month and are able to answer questions that I have......which are A LOT. They can also help me with communicating in Spanish; if we all work together we should be able to learn the language pretty well ;) I need to brush up on my vocabulary!

The traffic on my way into Tres Rios from San Jose was absolutely insane! They have certain rules about what cars can drive on certain streets each day of the week based on the liscense plate numbers.....I found that completely bazaar. (I could have misunderstood her explaining that since it was in Spanish...I will have to find out further details!) If you thought driving downtown was bad, you have not seen anything until you cruise the streets of San Jose on a busy afternoon! I didn't mind that we took the long way because there is so much to see. The trees and flowers are gorgeous and are found everywhere.

I am getting settled in tonight, unpacking and planning on visiting the school tomorrow morning to meet my cooperating teacher and the third grade class I will be teaching. I was extremely nervous but now that I'm here I am overly excited to get started!

The guest house where my roommates and I are staying. We each have our own room and share the bathroom and shower. There is a door right in between that leads out onto the balcony :). We also have a backyard that gets sun for majority of the day!

One Week!

I leave for Costa Rica one week from today! :) YAY!

The time to prepare for this has gone by way too fast. Not only do I need to prepare for leaving the country for about 3 months but I must also pack up my house to move while I'm abroad. It has been a very daunting task! I am powering through it and checking one thing off at a time! I purchased new luggage....in the hopes that I will be able to fit everything I need for three months but I just dont think that is possible. I over pack no matter where I go, but overpacking is not really an option for this trip because checking an overweight bag is just NOT in the budget. I am rolling my clothes, so I will be able to fit more into the suitcase. I have a large tote that I will use for a purse, so that will allow me to have one more carry-on bag (possibly my backpack?). I plan to wear my big, chunky clothes and shoes to the airport and on the plane to save luggage room.

I am a shopaholic so I plan to leave room in the suitcase. I know I will make many, many, MANY purchases during my trip so I will plan ahead for that. I am also unsure of the dress code in Costa Rica-especially at my private school. Even thought it is 70-80 degress down there, teachers might be required to wear pants, and pants only. Definitely something to look into and consider my options.

Any packing suggestions that you have, please share! I have never traveled outside the United States before so any advice is good advice :)

The official countdown has started!!!!!

Crazy mess of packing has begun!

Blog Creation

I have officially created my blog! My trip is fast approaching and I am starting to get extremely anxious......only 17 more days until my adventure in Tres Rios, Costa Rica begins! I have created this blog in the hopes that I will be able to post about my experience abroad. I will be teaching third grade with Rebeca Batista at Sistema Educativo Saint Clare. It is a private school in Tres Rios and you can find out more information visiting the website; it is all in Spanish so you might have to use google translate to get some of the basic information.  I hope that you will follow along with my posts and I will be able to share my journey! My goal is to blog every few days, or at least keep it updated with new events :)  Please feel free to comment or  ask questions about things! 

I have absolutely loved my placement teaching 8th grade English (which I NEVER thought I would say) and as much as I am sad to leave my amazing students........ I am looking forward to this experience and cannot wait for it to start all over again in a brand new place.   Especially COSTA RICA!!!