Just a few pictures first. To help entice you to read the rest!
Shown above aren't pictures of a typical day for me, but more like an amazing trip I got to take to Panama!
I don’t typically blog about just a normal old day in Costa Rica. So, I will change things up a little bit and tell you about my morning so you can get a feel for just a typical old day here. My alarm went off at 5:30am, and just like usual I snoozed it until 6. Then, I jumped in my shower that has about the same pressure as a water fountain. I danced around in the luke warm water for about 10 minutes trying to warm up, and wake up. I got ready in about five minutes and then ran downstairs for breakfast. My host mother makes me breakfast every morning, and a cup of coffee. I shoved down my breakfast fast, because of course I was running late and headed for the bus. As I was hiking up the hill to my bus stop I watched my bus speed by. I waited impatiently for the next bus, and to my surprise when the next bus came I was actually able to get a seat. This is not typical! Thankfully, I had a seat because the bus got stuck in traffic for a significant amount of time. When my stop came I tried to press the button, but it didn’t work. I worked my way through the crowded isles on the bus, trying different buttons. Of course, none of the other passengers bothered to press one for me. While walking into school one of favorite student’s parents stopped and told me (in Spanish) that school was canceled, because off all the rain Costa Rica has been getting. I was thankfully that at least someone tried to communicate this to me, because of course I hadn’t heard from my teachers. I decided to just go see what was happening in the classrooms. As I got closer to the classrooms I could see that there was mad chaos. There were teachers, parents, and students running in every direction. I finally found my teacher and she told me that school was canceled, and she needed to go to a meeting. At this point I was getting really confused, because I knew class was canceled but there were still about five students in my classroom. I was given no directions to stay, but I wasn’t just going to leave the students alone. So, after about 15 minutes my teacher came back and explained that they didn’t have school but the students that came on the bus needed to stay at school, because they were not allowed to call their parents and let them know the situation. I don’t know if you are picking up on the vibe, but in my experiences I have discovered that Costa Ricans are terrible communicators. It is extremely frustrating for me! First, why doesn’t the school have an effective way to communicate to the parents that classes are canceled? Second, if my teacher’s knew we didn't have class why didn’t they bother to tell me? Third, why was it such a terrible thing to call the parents of the children who came on the bus and communicate the situation to them? So, I stuck around a couple hours in the morning and worked one on one with some of the students in English, which was nice because usually I have thirty of them to deal with. Then, I worked on getting some activities ready for tomorrow. I left the classroom for a minute, and when I came back all the students and teachers were gone. Again, no one bothered to communicate what was happening to me. So, I waited around for awhile and then I was finally told I didn’t have to be there.
I have been thinking a lot about it lately, and I feel that all of my most frustrating experiences in Costa Rica are because of communication problems. I don’t mean to generalize, but Costa Rican’s just don’t seem to understand effective communication. I went to a Day of the Dead celebration this week, and had the opportunity to have a refreshing conversation with a Costa Rican couple that opened my eyes to a lot of things. We talked about how great it is that Costa Rica has had such a peaceful history, but how this has influenced their inability to come together and work through major problems. They often just ignore problems, because they have never been forced to confront and deal with them. I grew up in a family and community where this was never the case. My whole life I have been taught to reflect and think about the world around me. Why are things the way they are? How can I make things better? How can I collaborate with people to solve problems? How are people feeling, and more importantly why do they feel that way? So, I think you get the point. Costa Rica and I are not on the same communication level. Don’t get me wrong I am starting to really enjoy my time here, and I am thankfully for even the most challenging experiences I have gone through because they are only helping me to grow and discover and learn. However, in the end I decided Costa Rica was not the right place for me to commit another 5 months to. I did not accept the nanny job I was offered and will be coming home January 8th!
Okay, now onto the good stuff… weekend trip! Because I am in Costa Rica for more than 90 days, I HAD to leave the country to extend my visa. The girls and I decided to go to Bocas del Toro in Panama! It was a great decision! Kelly and Brianna left Wednesday, but Amber, Sarah, and I didn’t leave until Thursday. We took an early 6 hour bus ride to the border. It went pretty fast, but it was a little uncomfortable because a group of guys in front of us spent a majority of the time turned around in their seats looking at us. Of course, when we got to the border no one really told us what to do. We were herded off the bus pretty quickly, and told to leave our bags on the bus. This was rather nerve racking! We then had to walk across an old railroad track across a river to get to Panama. I will post a picture of this, because that is really the only way to explain it. After we crossed the border, we took a taxi, then a water taxi, then another water taxi and finally arrived at our destination 11 hours later! It was well worth it though! Bocas del Toro was beautiful, and heavenly! We spent the next three days bobbing in the waves, roasting in the sun, meeting people from around the world, playing in the sand, taking a boat tour around remote parts of the islands, visiting a pueblo, eating great food, drinking wine in hammocks, swinging on swings out over the ocean, snorkeling, and having fun!!! Needless to say at the end of it all we wanted to miss our bus and stay longer! True to the natural ways of karma, we did end up missing our bus. We actually just got confused about where we needed to leave from, and ended up having to buy another $12 bus tickets. Oh well, worse things have happened. We met a pretty cool German on the way home, and that helped the time pass quicker.
These pictures are not from Panama, but I thought I would add them anyway. There were 7 student teachers here in Costa Rica total. However, two of them have already left. Amber and Linsey left, and we already miss them dearly. They only had 10 weeks placements. Sadly, I have not had the opportunity to make that powerful of connections with the locals here, but I am very thankful to have made connections with the wonderful student teachers here!
Linsey is a Spanish teacher, and often helped me with my Spanish!
All seven of the student teachers in Tres Rios!
