Thursday night was uneventful, but Friday after subbing I met up with Heidi to go see Inception. There's a movie theater near the San Jose Politecnico campus that is doing Oscar week this week, showing a bunch of the movies nominated, and it only costs 1900 colones (less than $4) - it's one of the cheapest things to do in this country. Inception was crazy. I definitely enjoyed it and am glad I got to see it on a big screen. I particularly loved watching Joseph Gordon-Levitt float around the hallways of the hotel. Very cool. Friday night after I got home I went out to eat some Mexican food with Saray, Laura, Jose Mario & Felix. Good food, good people, good day.
Saturday night Saray, Laura, Kerensa and I went to Gary's apartment to celebrate Saray's birthday with Jose Mario, Felix, Walter and Alvaro (the latter two I met for the first time). It was great. Laura had to wake up to get to work at 5:00am Sunday morning so she and Saray left early, but Kerensa and I stayed and hung out with the boys for a while longer, and had a really wonderful time. I adore these people. My roommate and her friends are simply fantastic. I am so lucky.
Sunday morning(ish) Saray and I got up and went to the pool for a little while. I'm thinking of making it a habit. Maybe gym Sunday morning then pool. We'll see.
Yesterday I found out I got a raise! It's only another $0.50/hour, but still. Every little bit counts. Also, I get money for transportation for working nights in San Jose now. Things are starting to look good, as far as money goes.
We move this week/weekend. :) I'm super excited. Ready to be settled already.
Off to write some exams... miss and love you all.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
This Last Week
So aside from the new apartment, there hasn't been too much going on recently. I have been going to the gym a good amount, so that's good... Kerensa joined today, so now I have someone to go with when our schedules allow, which won't be too often, but I'm excited nonetheless.
Tomorrow is my roommate's birthday, I have no idea what, if anything, we are doing. I would assume she has plans with her girlfriend, but who knows, she may want to have some friends over after.
On Friday (Feb. 12) Saray and I stayed in, but her friend Gary came over to have dinner and hang out for a while. He's lovely. Though I don't get to see all that much of them, Saray does know some really great people. Gary is working on getting a visa so he can go visit a friend in the US. It's pretty crappy, actually. In order for Costa Ricans to just travel to the US, they have to pay $100 just to schedule an appointment to try and get a tourist visa that they have to pay another $200+ for. Just to apply for a standard 90 day visa that you get when they stamp your passport at immigration in the airport. Aaaaaand you aren't even guaranteed to get the visa when you go in for the appointment. None of this includes the plane ticket with taxes and fees and such. I, on the other hand, can just pick up and go whenever I want. Ridic.
Saturday night Saray and I went to meet Kerensa after we had dinner to go to this bar/restaurant up in the mountain. The bar itself is awesome. It's off the main road so that as you're going there you are almost convinced that the taxi driver is taking you somewhere to kill you (thank goodness Kerensa had been there before to ease our nerves), but instead come to an awesome building. The bottom floor has a bar and the kitchen and a nice view, but the second/top floor has a bunch of tables and an even nicer view of the valley below. They were having Valentine's Day specials, so we took advantage of the low-priced drinks and sat together and enjoyed the view. We went home pretty early - it gets pretty cold up there, especially when it's about to start pouring again. I'm looking forward to going up there again with a camera.
Other than that, there hasn't been too much going on. Supposedly the Bank of America classes are starting in the next week or so. I'm not really looking forward to the actual work part of it, but I am pretty happy to be getting the hours for money purposes. We have a staff meeting tomorrow, so I assume those details will be discussed then...
I picked up a couple extra classes subbing this week, which will help with some of the new apartment expenses. Though, I have to say the class I'm subbing for is one of the worst behaved classes I've ever experienced. Somewhat surprising for college kids, honestly. Glad they aren't mine full time.
Tutorials started last week, and are both awful and fantastic. I have two hours on Monday mornings which are tough. The couple students that come to those hours (so far, at least) have some kind of learning disability/are special needs kids but none of us at Politecnico have the faintest idea what those needs may be. They are really nice kids, but very little sticks with them. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum are my 3-hour Tuesday night tutorials, which is actually "Conversation Club." Meaning, I have upper level students who come just to talk. So, the last couple weeks I spent almost the entire time asking them about Costa Rica. They explained the health care system, education system and much much more to me. I love it. I am learning so much from them. One of the students that came last night works for VolCafe coffee company and is going to bring me coffee next week. Rough life, right? ;)
Last night when I got home from work (after riding the bus with my old students who I love), there was a little gecko above my roommate's bedroom door. Pretty cute. He was gone by the time I got up for subbing this morning. [Blogger just doesn't want me to post pictures on here - any advice from those of you who've done so successfully?]
Okay. I'm exhausted, I'm going to bed. Miss and love you all.
Tomorrow is my roommate's birthday, I have no idea what, if anything, we are doing. I would assume she has plans with her girlfriend, but who knows, she may want to have some friends over after.
On Friday (Feb. 12) Saray and I stayed in, but her friend Gary came over to have dinner and hang out for a while. He's lovely. Though I don't get to see all that much of them, Saray does know some really great people. Gary is working on getting a visa so he can go visit a friend in the US. It's pretty crappy, actually. In order for Costa Ricans to just travel to the US, they have to pay $100 just to schedule an appointment to try and get a tourist visa that they have to pay another $200+ for. Just to apply for a standard 90 day visa that you get when they stamp your passport at immigration in the airport. Aaaaaand you aren't even guaranteed to get the visa when you go in for the appointment. None of this includes the plane ticket with taxes and fees and such. I, on the other hand, can just pick up and go whenever I want. Ridic.
Saturday night Saray and I went to meet Kerensa after we had dinner to go to this bar/restaurant up in the mountain. The bar itself is awesome. It's off the main road so that as you're going there you are almost convinced that the taxi driver is taking you somewhere to kill you (thank goodness Kerensa had been there before to ease our nerves), but instead come to an awesome building. The bottom floor has a bar and the kitchen and a nice view, but the second/top floor has a bunch of tables and an even nicer view of the valley below. They were having Valentine's Day specials, so we took advantage of the low-priced drinks and sat together and enjoyed the view. We went home pretty early - it gets pretty cold up there, especially when it's about to start pouring again. I'm looking forward to going up there again with a camera.
Other than that, there hasn't been too much going on. Supposedly the Bank of America classes are starting in the next week or so. I'm not really looking forward to the actual work part of it, but I am pretty happy to be getting the hours for money purposes. We have a staff meeting tomorrow, so I assume those details will be discussed then...
I picked up a couple extra classes subbing this week, which will help with some of the new apartment expenses. Though, I have to say the class I'm subbing for is one of the worst behaved classes I've ever experienced. Somewhat surprising for college kids, honestly. Glad they aren't mine full time.
Tutorials started last week, and are both awful and fantastic. I have two hours on Monday mornings which are tough. The couple students that come to those hours (so far, at least) have some kind of learning disability/are special needs kids but none of us at Politecnico have the faintest idea what those needs may be. They are really nice kids, but very little sticks with them. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum are my 3-hour Tuesday night tutorials, which is actually "Conversation Club." Meaning, I have upper level students who come just to talk. So, the last couple weeks I spent almost the entire time asking them about Costa Rica. They explained the health care system, education system and much much more to me. I love it. I am learning so much from them. One of the students that came last night works for VolCafe coffee company and is going to bring me coffee next week. Rough life, right? ;)
Last night when I got home from work (after riding the bus with my old students who I love), there was a little gecko above my roommate's bedroom door. Pretty cute. He was gone by the time I got up for subbing this morning. [Blogger just doesn't want me to post pictures on here - any advice from those of you who've done so successfully?]
Okay. I'm exhausted, I'm going to bed. Miss and love you all.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
!!
So Tuesday night after tutoring, Saray and I went to see 2 apartments, both in Mercedes Sur. The second one was not so nice and too expensive, but the first one we saw was awesome. We move in two weeks! It's a bit more expensive than where we are now, but it's bigger, cleaner, and most importantly, safer.
The place is pretty stellar, to be honest, and I'm super excited about it. It has two fairly big bedrooms, a nice size kitchen/living room area, a small backyard and a "garage" with room for two cars, complete with an electronic opener. I love it. It's a brand new house, built less than a year ago, so it's in perfect condition. It's in Mercedes Sur, which is a little bit further away from school so it will be a slightly longer commute, but the neighborhood is super safe and the bus stop is a block and a half from my new home.
Furthermore, it is close to where Saray's best friends Jose Mario and Felix live (these gentlemen also volunteered to help us move because they are that fantastic). We are both reallllllly excited and can't wait to move. I think it's going to be great. The people who are there now are moving out on the 20th, so we can move in on the 21st. However, given our work schedules, Saray and I won't be able to move until Friday the 25th.
The only downside is that we paid rent for the place we are at right now on the 1st, we paid the deposit for our new place yesterday, and we will be paying rent on the 21st, so our bank accounts are a little strained right now, but hopefully we will be able to settle in without a problem.
It's going to be an exciting rest of the month, I think, and I'm feeling better about it already.
Hope you are all staying warm. xoxo
The place is pretty stellar, to be honest, and I'm super excited about it. It has two fairly big bedrooms, a nice size kitchen/living room area, a small backyard and a "garage" with room for two cars, complete with an electronic opener. I love it. It's a brand new house, built less than a year ago, so it's in perfect condition. It's in Mercedes Sur, which is a little bit further away from school so it will be a slightly longer commute, but the neighborhood is super safe and the bus stop is a block and a half from my new home.
Furthermore, it is close to where Saray's best friends Jose Mario and Felix live (these gentlemen also volunteered to help us move because they are that fantastic). We are both reallllllly excited and can't wait to move. I think it's going to be great. The people who are there now are moving out on the 20th, so we can move in on the 21st. However, given our work schedules, Saray and I won't be able to move until Friday the 25th.
The only downside is that we paid rent for the place we are at right now on the 1st, we paid the deposit for our new place yesterday, and we will be paying rent on the 21st, so our bank accounts are a little strained right now, but hopefully we will be able to settle in without a problem.
It's going to be an exciting rest of the month, I think, and I'm feeling better about it already.
Hope you are all staying warm. xoxo
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Superbowl, etc.
I have no idea if I mentioned this before, but on Christmas day, my grandpa told me I needed to update my blog more often. What Grandpa says, goes. :)
The rest of Saturday was uneventful, apart from my downstairs neighbors holding a prayer session. That was interesting. There were a lot of Christmas carols sung.
Sunday I procrastinated the morning away and didn't make it to the gym as planned, but oh well. I met up with Kerensa, William and Mecia and we hopped the bus to our coworker Heidi's place to watch the Superbowl. Heidi lives in a great place in San Pedro. It was lots of fun, but it's a trek from Heredia. It was a fun night, despite the fact that they don't show the commercials down here. Good food, good people, decent game, all around good night.
Yesterday I taught and tutored in the morning, went to the gym and then taught at night. I taught two classes in one (my coworker Delie was having a rough couple of days to say the least, so we combined our classes to give her a break for the night). The class went fine, it was nice to have more than 5 students for a change haha
Found out today that the Bank of America classes will be starting in a couple weeks - they are going to have 36 hours/week for us, which is both exciting and intimidating. I will for sure be getting some of those hours, though they haven't exactly figured out how they are dividing it up among all of us. We are meeting next week to figure all that out. Pressure will be on for these classes. If they aren't happy with us, we'll lose them, and probably our jobs. Hopefully I will get this whole planning ahead of time thing down by then!
I have to run and get to school for tutoring, but Saray, Laura and I are going to look at an apartment after work tonight that would be ready for us to move in on the 21st. Here's hoping we like it/can afford it!
Hope everyone is doing well!
The rest of Saturday was uneventful, apart from my downstairs neighbors holding a prayer session. That was interesting. There were a lot of Christmas carols sung.
Sunday I procrastinated the morning away and didn't make it to the gym as planned, but oh well. I met up with Kerensa, William and Mecia and we hopped the bus to our coworker Heidi's place to watch the Superbowl. Heidi lives in a great place in San Pedro. It was lots of fun, but it's a trek from Heredia. It was a fun night, despite the fact that they don't show the commercials down here. Good food, good people, decent game, all around good night.
Yesterday I taught and tutored in the morning, went to the gym and then taught at night. I taught two classes in one (my coworker Delie was having a rough couple of days to say the least, so we combined our classes to give her a break for the night). The class went fine, it was nice to have more than 5 students for a change haha
Found out today that the Bank of America classes will be starting in a couple weeks - they are going to have 36 hours/week for us, which is both exciting and intimidating. I will for sure be getting some of those hours, though they haven't exactly figured out how they are dividing it up among all of us. We are meeting next week to figure all that out. Pressure will be on for these classes. If they aren't happy with us, we'll lose them, and probably our jobs. Hopefully I will get this whole planning ahead of time thing down by then!
I have to run and get to school for tutoring, but Saray, Laura and I are going to look at an apartment after work tonight that would be ready for us to move in on the 21st. Here's hoping we like it/can afford it!
Hope everyone is doing well!
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Random
My roommate is awesome.
This afternoon she made traditional Costa Rican empanadas. The dough is made with super ripe plantains and is filled with cheese. YUM.
She is currently making bread with the rest of the dough. Have I mentioned how great she is? Because she's super.
Last night I went to meet Kerensa and her roommate to celebrate Jackie's birthday at Cardero, the bar Kerensa and I went to on Tuesday. I arrived a little later than I meant to, but am glad I motivated myself to get there at all.
It was a great night, filled with loads of friendly people with one exception: the woman that lives across the street. She called the cops with a noise complaint. She lives across the street from a bar. What do you expect? It wasn't even noisy. She's just a cranky b-word.
Anyway, the cops came, and instead of shutting down the bar like the woman wanted, they gave parking tickets. I don't drive so I was completely unaware that these even existed here, as there is literally not one sign in this country (that I have seen) designating parking regulations. Turns out, parking tickets are either: a) 250,000 colones = $500 or b) 280,000 colones + they take your license plate = way more than $560. CRAZY. $500 is outrageous. NO one in this country makes that much money. This resulted in tears and most people walking out on their tab. In spite of everything, most people managed to keep positive attitudes and they continued the night at another bar. Kerensa and I, on the other hand, decided to be responsible and called it an early night because we both had to work at 8m this morning.
Happy Saturday!
This afternoon she made traditional Costa Rican empanadas. The dough is made with super ripe plantains and is filled with cheese. YUM.
She is currently making bread with the rest of the dough. Have I mentioned how great she is? Because she's super.
Last night I went to meet Kerensa and her roommate to celebrate Jackie's birthday at Cardero, the bar Kerensa and I went to on Tuesday. I arrived a little later than I meant to, but am glad I motivated myself to get there at all.
It was a great night, filled with loads of friendly people with one exception: the woman that lives across the street. She called the cops with a noise complaint. She lives across the street from a bar. What do you expect? It wasn't even noisy. She's just a cranky b-word.
Anyway, the cops came, and instead of shutting down the bar like the woman wanted, they gave parking tickets. I don't drive so I was completely unaware that these even existed here, as there is literally not one sign in this country (that I have seen) designating parking regulations. Turns out, parking tickets are either: a) 250,000 colones = $500 or b) 280,000 colones + they take your license plate = way more than $560. CRAZY. $500 is outrageous. NO one in this country makes that much money. This resulted in tears and most people walking out on their tab. In spite of everything, most people managed to keep positive attitudes and they continued the night at another bar. Kerensa and I, on the other hand, decided to be responsible and called it an early night because we both had to work at 8m this morning.
Happy Saturday!
Friday, February 4, 2011
January, pt. 2
So, Monday the 17th (eek I'm behind) started all of the 14 week classes - students who are working toward degrees of some sort so some level of English fluency is a requirement. (The classes that started the week before - Institute classes - are mostly adults who are taking English classes because they want to. Usually, these students are more motivated, but don't learn quite as quickly for whatever reason.) I was originally supposed to be starting 2 classes that week, but it turns out there weren't enough people enrolling in the night class that I was supposed to teach (as well as a few others) so the class was dropped. Translation: I am short 8 hours. Frustration.
Anyway, Monday started my Level 1 Diplomado class (students who are working toward the CR equivalent of an Associate's Degree). This 8-hr class meets 3 days a week: 2 hours on Monday and Thursday mornings and 4 hours on Tuesday mornings. Depending on the traffic, it sometimes sucks coming in to work for only two hours, but I do enjoy the length of the class, and think it's good for the students to have English three days a week rather than just two. Besides, planning for a two hour class is so much nicer than planning four hours. This group, so far, has been pretty great. They have a good positive energy to them despite the class being at 8am. I like teaching the beginner levels because you can play a lot more vocabulary games, but at the same time, I don't like it because I have to talk a lot more than I do with the more advanced levels.
The rest of the week went fine, I picked up some extra hours on Friday administering proficiency exams, where students try to take really ridiculously hard and impractical standardized tests to get out of taking certain level classes. Needless to say, only a few students pass these tests. It was a long, but super easy day.
Saturday (Jan. 22) night I met up with Kerensa and Jenny Sunshine (the fabulous hostess of the Rubik's Cube themed birthday party in December) for a couple drinks downtown San Jose. Thankfully, all three of us were utterly exhausted from the week's events, and Sunshine had to wake up bright and early to teach a yoga class the next morning, so after a couple drinks we called it a night pretty early. These two women are, simply put, just lovely. Such good company.
The next morning I woke up late, had brunch, and made my way over to Zach's apartment to watch the Bears game. After the first half, we relocated to a (fairly American) bar down the street to watch the rest of the Bears and then the Jets/Steelers game with a few other friends. What was originally going to be a fairly small group turned into a huge modge-podge of coworkers, roommates, significant others, random acquaintances, friends and family members. There ended up being close to 15 of us, and I had only met 3 or 4 before that day. Despite the Bears loss dashing an end to our Superbowl dreams (not to mention having to watch a Superbowl where I want both teams to lose), it was a great night. Good times, good company.
Monday got off to a rough start. After my class ended at 10am, I spent two hours creating a PowerPoint for my night class on a work computer. Just as I plugged my USB drive into the computer, it turned itself off. If this had been any other computer, it would have been fine. But since it was one from school, it automatically erases everything. I lost everything. I rushed home to re-make the thing only to have it not work when I was in class. It was brutal. I felt completely defeated... by PowerPoint of all things. I have always hated PowerPoint. I hate it even more now, but unfortunately have to use it for just about everything, especially since we are no longer allowed to make copies for our students. Yeah. Teachers can't make copies anymore, because we made too many the first two weeks of school. Instead, we have to have our students pay to pick up copies from the copier ("book store") at school. Apparently, this is just how it's done in CR. As a student you pay for your own copies. Makes sense, but I also think it makes more sense to budget copies in to their tuition in the first place. Like airlines with baggage. You'd think that would be covered in the initial cost, but nooooooo. Sorry, I'm done.
Anywayyyyy, the rest of the week went fine and I even got to sub for some extra hours (thank you Kerensa!) Thursday night (the 27th). On Friday, the 28th, I finally got off my lazy butt and started running again. I ran around my neighborhood on Friday and stumbled upon a track where I ran on Saturday as well. Saturday night was low-key: Kerensa and I got together at her place and watched a movie and went to bed pathetically, but blissfully, early. Sunday was a disaster, as you well know. Though a couple positives did come of it. It turns out that Saray and I both have been wanting to move for a little while now, but figured the other wouldn't be up for it. Sunday's debacle prompted a much needed conversation about moving to a safer area. We were hoping to get out of here right away, but since we just paid rent, we will be here for the rest of the month. Hopefully we will be able to find something and be out of here soon enough.
The other positive is that Monday (Jan. 31) after my morning class and before my evening class I broke down and joined a gym. While it is a little pricey with my current salary, it is well worth it for my safety and sanity. Among the numerous things I love about having a gym membership for the first time in my life: since I'm paying for it I'm way more motivated to work out; I'm not going to get jumped while running on a treadmill; and I don't get sexually harassed there, meaning that while I certainly get looked at, the guys at the gym keep their nasty comments to themselves. I'm hoping this is something I can keep doing.
What happened Sunday is certainly affecting me more than I would like. I am angry and generally more paranoid and scared all the time. I take taxis home in broad daylight because I am terrified of strange men, teenage boys in particular. This is an expensive habit. Especially since a number of the taxis I have taken in the past couple days have been less than honest in charging me. Not to mention the effect all this anxiety is having on my body. I'm exhausted. It will pass soon enough, I know. But I think I'm allowed to be a Negative Nancy for a couple days given the week I've had.
Despite my negativity, this week has been fine, and gone by rather quickly. Tuesday night Kerensa and I decided to go out after work to a bar a little north of the center of Heredia. Great place with a nice outdoor space. I started an extra five hours of tutorials this week, which is helping the paycheck situation. I am still waiting for more hours to come. Apparently Politecnico is getting a contract with Bank of America to teach their employees English, and this girl is supposed to be getting a class. Hooray. BoA came to Politecnico today and it looks like they are looking to start in the next couple weeks. I also was able to sub this morning for one of my coworkers who is off on her visa run. It was a nice, quick 2 hour class followed by some free lunch. Yay for money and free food.
On an interesting note: I have a deaf student in my Monday/Tuesday/Thursday morning class. I have never had a student with something as severe as a hearing-impairment, so it has been an interesting change for me as a teacher. He started last week. He doesn't get any sign support or anything like that and I clearly don't know how to sign a thing (though I would like to learn at some point...). Instead, he reads lips. Rather well, actually. He seems to be one of my better students, and so far it seems as though he is following along just fine. I think it helps that since I am a visual learner myself, I tend to use a lot of visual aids in my class. I go through white board markers like crazy. Anyway, so far it has been fine, and I am looking forward to see what kind of progress he makes throughout the term.
Yesterday I went to the gym after class and came home to Laura and Jose Mario hanging out in my apartment. Saray was still at work. Honestly, I could not have been more happy to have other people around. Then my downstairs neighbor and a couple of her friends from school decided they needed to practice their instruments (drums and a xylophone type thing) for a couple hours. SO obnoxious. My kids are never playing instruments. The rest of the night I spent baking chocolate chip cookies and hanging out with Saray, Laura, Jose Mario and Felix.
For those of you who don't know, my parents are amazing. Seriously. I have the best parents ever. Special thanks to them and everyone else who has sent me love in response to Sunday's events. You are all wonderful, and I could not be more grateful to have you in my life.
On a random note: At the gym today there was a guy with a skull tattoo on his leg. Inside of the skull where the brain would be was a fetus. Its umbilical cord was attached to the eye. Figure that one out.
Anyway, Monday started my Level 1 Diplomado class (students who are working toward the CR equivalent of an Associate's Degree). This 8-hr class meets 3 days a week: 2 hours on Monday and Thursday mornings and 4 hours on Tuesday mornings. Depending on the traffic, it sometimes sucks coming in to work for only two hours, but I do enjoy the length of the class, and think it's good for the students to have English three days a week rather than just two. Besides, planning for a two hour class is so much nicer than planning four hours. This group, so far, has been pretty great. They have a good positive energy to them despite the class being at 8am. I like teaching the beginner levels because you can play a lot more vocabulary games, but at the same time, I don't like it because I have to talk a lot more than I do with the more advanced levels.
The rest of the week went fine, I picked up some extra hours on Friday administering proficiency exams, where students try to take really ridiculously hard and impractical standardized tests to get out of taking certain level classes. Needless to say, only a few students pass these tests. It was a long, but super easy day.
Saturday (Jan. 22) night I met up with Kerensa and Jenny Sunshine (the fabulous hostess of the Rubik's Cube themed birthday party in December) for a couple drinks downtown San Jose. Thankfully, all three of us were utterly exhausted from the week's events, and Sunshine had to wake up bright and early to teach a yoga class the next morning, so after a couple drinks we called it a night pretty early. These two women are, simply put, just lovely. Such good company.
The next morning I woke up late, had brunch, and made my way over to Zach's apartment to watch the Bears game. After the first half, we relocated to a (fairly American) bar down the street to watch the rest of the Bears and then the Jets/Steelers game with a few other friends. What was originally going to be a fairly small group turned into a huge modge-podge of coworkers, roommates, significant others, random acquaintances, friends and family members. There ended up being close to 15 of us, and I had only met 3 or 4 before that day. Despite the Bears loss dashing an end to our Superbowl dreams (not to mention having to watch a Superbowl where I want both teams to lose), it was a great night. Good times, good company.
Monday got off to a rough start. After my class ended at 10am, I spent two hours creating a PowerPoint for my night class on a work computer. Just as I plugged my USB drive into the computer, it turned itself off. If this had been any other computer, it would have been fine. But since it was one from school, it automatically erases everything. I lost everything. I rushed home to re-make the thing only to have it not work when I was in class. It was brutal. I felt completely defeated... by PowerPoint of all things. I have always hated PowerPoint. I hate it even more now, but unfortunately have to use it for just about everything, especially since we are no longer allowed to make copies for our students. Yeah. Teachers can't make copies anymore, because we made too many the first two weeks of school. Instead, we have to have our students pay to pick up copies from the copier ("book store") at school. Apparently, this is just how it's done in CR. As a student you pay for your own copies. Makes sense, but I also think it makes more sense to budget copies in to their tuition in the first place. Like airlines with baggage. You'd think that would be covered in the initial cost, but nooooooo. Sorry, I'm done.
Anywayyyyy, the rest of the week went fine and I even got to sub for some extra hours (thank you Kerensa!) Thursday night (the 27th). On Friday, the 28th, I finally got off my lazy butt and started running again. I ran around my neighborhood on Friday and stumbled upon a track where I ran on Saturday as well. Saturday night was low-key: Kerensa and I got together at her place and watched a movie and went to bed pathetically, but blissfully, early. Sunday was a disaster, as you well know. Though a couple positives did come of it. It turns out that Saray and I both have been wanting to move for a little while now, but figured the other wouldn't be up for it. Sunday's debacle prompted a much needed conversation about moving to a safer area. We were hoping to get out of here right away, but since we just paid rent, we will be here for the rest of the month. Hopefully we will be able to find something and be out of here soon enough.
The other positive is that Monday (Jan. 31) after my morning class and before my evening class I broke down and joined a gym. While it is a little pricey with my current salary, it is well worth it for my safety and sanity. Among the numerous things I love about having a gym membership for the first time in my life: since I'm paying for it I'm way more motivated to work out; I'm not going to get jumped while running on a treadmill; and I don't get sexually harassed there, meaning that while I certainly get looked at, the guys at the gym keep their nasty comments to themselves. I'm hoping this is something I can keep doing.
What happened Sunday is certainly affecting me more than I would like. I am angry and generally more paranoid and scared all the time. I take taxis home in broad daylight because I am terrified of strange men, teenage boys in particular. This is an expensive habit. Especially since a number of the taxis I have taken in the past couple days have been less than honest in charging me. Not to mention the effect all this anxiety is having on my body. I'm exhausted. It will pass soon enough, I know. But I think I'm allowed to be a Negative Nancy for a couple days given the week I've had.
Despite my negativity, this week has been fine, and gone by rather quickly. Tuesday night Kerensa and I decided to go out after work to a bar a little north of the center of Heredia. Great place with a nice outdoor space. I started an extra five hours of tutorials this week, which is helping the paycheck situation. I am still waiting for more hours to come. Apparently Politecnico is getting a contract with Bank of America to teach their employees English, and this girl is supposed to be getting a class. Hooray. BoA came to Politecnico today and it looks like they are looking to start in the next couple weeks. I also was able to sub this morning for one of my coworkers who is off on her visa run. It was a nice, quick 2 hour class followed by some free lunch. Yay for money and free food.
On an interesting note: I have a deaf student in my Monday/Tuesday/Thursday morning class. I have never had a student with something as severe as a hearing-impairment, so it has been an interesting change for me as a teacher. He started last week. He doesn't get any sign support or anything like that and I clearly don't know how to sign a thing (though I would like to learn at some point...). Instead, he reads lips. Rather well, actually. He seems to be one of my better students, and so far it seems as though he is following along just fine. I think it helps that since I am a visual learner myself, I tend to use a lot of visual aids in my class. I go through white board markers like crazy. Anyway, so far it has been fine, and I am looking forward to see what kind of progress he makes throughout the term.
Yesterday I went to the gym after class and came home to Laura and Jose Mario hanging out in my apartment. Saray was still at work. Honestly, I could not have been more happy to have other people around. Then my downstairs neighbor and a couple of her friends from school decided they needed to practice their instruments (drums and a xylophone type thing) for a couple hours. SO obnoxious. My kids are never playing instruments. The rest of the night I spent baking chocolate chip cookies and hanging out with Saray, Laura, Jose Mario and Felix.
For those of you who don't know, my parents are amazing. Seriously. I have the best parents ever. Special thanks to them and everyone else who has sent me love in response to Sunday's events. You are all wonderful, and I could not be more grateful to have you in my life.
On a random note: At the gym today there was a guy with a skull tattoo on his leg. Inside of the skull where the brain would be was a fetus. Its umbilical cord was attached to the eye. Figure that one out.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
January, part 1
Going home for the holidays was wonderful. I'm so glad I got to spend time with those of you that I did. And for those of you I still haven't seen in a while, let's fix that please.
I returned to CR Sunday January 9 around 10pm. My roommate, Saray, and her best friend Jose Mario came to get me from the airport. They are so great. I definitely hit the jackpot in the roommate situation.
Classes started right back up on Monday evening for me... in San Jose. Politecnico has a campus in downtown San Jose that focuses on curriculum in culinary arts, where I am teaching Monday and Wednesday nights from 6-9pm for at least 8 weeks. The "campus" is a beautiful renovated house with a few small classrooms and a lovely restaurant attached. Teachers get to eat for free at the restaurant, and it's delicious, though I have yet to take real advantage of it given that I mostly work in Heredia. Along with the food, there are a number of pros for working at the San Jose campus: I can take the train there, so my commute is super fast (30 minutes) getting there; the people I work with there are great (both the Politecnico staff and my fellow teachers); and my classes are tiny (I only have 7 people in this class).
The cons: I don't get out til 9pm, and San Jose is dangerous at that time of night; I don't always have access to technology and/or copies; it takes at least an hour to get home between walking to the bus, the bus ride itself and the taxi from downtown Heredia to my apartment; and my class is tiiiiiiiiiiny and super quiet.
Thankfully there are three of us who leave the SJO campus at the same time so that we all walk together for the majority of the walk. It tends to take about 15-20 minutes to walk from Politecnico to the closest bus to Heredia. I walk with Heidi and Delie for most of it, but I have to walk the last 4-5 blocks by myself. Thankfully we walk down the busiest street (pedestrian walkway) so there are lots of people, and often policemen, around to make the walk safe. Regardless, I'm not a big fan and am hoping that any future classes I teach in San Jose are during daylight hours only.
Thursday and Friday Kerensa and I decided to take advantage of the little time we had before the rest of our classes began the next week and get out of the city for the night. We took the 6am bus to Puerto Viejo on Thursday morning and got in at 10:30am. Yes, we took a 4.5 hour bus ride for just one night. It was long, but otherwise fine. Sadly the sun was hiding behind some clouds for the majority of the daylight we had while in Puerto Viejo, so we didn't really get to enjoy the beautiful beach as well as we would have liked, but it was lovely nonetheless. It started raining late in the afternoon while we were taking advantage of the hammocks at Rockin J's, where we stayed. Unfortunately it didn't really stop raining until after we left the next day, but it was alright.
We spent most of Thursday walking around, eating delicious food, and reading in the hammocks. The evening consisted of dinner and drinks at Rocking J's - they actually have pretty good food - and handing around with other travelers. We met a couple hilarious Canadians with whom we swapped stories until we passed out early in our tent. Kerensa and I woke up to catch the 9am bus back to San Jose/Heredia so Kerensa could go to work at 6pm that night. It was still raining when we got up on Friday, so there wasn't much incentive to staying much longer anyway. Rocking J's was pretty fabulous though, I would like to go back there again some time. The entire place is covered with mosaic artwork. Stellar. It was nice to get out of the city before all the other classes started on Monday.
We got back on Friday in time for Kerensa to make it to work (barely) that night. The next morning started my 8-week Saturday class. My Saturday class is the only class I am teaching (so far) that I have actually taught before, so I get to use a lot of my old lesson plans, thankfully. However, this class is absolutely huge. It turns out that Politecnico has so many people signed up for Saturday classes that we don't have enough space (or teachers) to accommodate them, so the class sizes for the Sat. classes are twice the size they are supposed to be. I have 21 students in this class. Now, in comparison to the 30-student classes I taught at OPRF, 21 is a great number. However, teaching 21 students who are used to having only 10 people in their class and who are at completely different proficiency levels is rough. For the most part they are a good group, but there are some students who are clearly struggling, and since I only have one four hour class with them, I can't do as much as I would like to be able to... This week is the midterm, however, so that should give me a better idea of what students are really in need of extra help.
Saturday after class, I met Kerensa and her roommate Jackie downtown San Jose to hop a bus to Palmares. Palmares is (1) a small town to the northwest of SJO, and (2) a 10 day long festival of music and general belligerence. Jackie, Kerensa and I arrived late afternoon on Saturday, and dropped our stuff off at the place we were staying. During the festival, the locals rent out their extra rooms and/or couches for ridiculously high prices, and we ended up at one of Jackie's coworker's cousin's places (I think) for $10/night. Kerensa and I shared a tiny single bed while Jackie slept on the world's smallest cot. Though, considering our alternative (taking the last bus back to San Jose and then sharing an expensive taxi to get back to Heredia) it was well worth it, even with the rooster crowing all night long.
Saturday night was the Calle 13 concert. They are a fabulous band from Puerto Rico. It was free. Beers were $2. Pretty awesome. There were, however, a ridiculous amount of people there. It was insane. At first we tried going in to the actual enclosed concert space - it took about twenty minutes to get just inside the barrier. There were so many people you could barely breathe, let alone move around. After less than five minutes, we decided we had had enough and managed to find a spot next to a tower with some breathing room. Much better. Apparently the three of us were really lucky because basically every other person we knew who went was robbed/pickpocketed. The three of us managed to hold on to everything we came with.
The concert was great, and afterward we ran into a few friends. First we saw Emerson (who I've hung out with before) & the group he was there with, and then we ran into our coworker Zach. Hilarious. The rest of the night we wandered around the festival and saw what there was to see, ate some churros and rode some rides. There is one, la Tagada, that is just ridiculous. I highly recommend looking up a video of it. It spins really fast and then bounces a whole bunch and you are guaranteed to walk away with bruises. I am still confused as to why we went on it. We also went through the haunted house, which was another hilarious adventure. Basically it is just a pitch-black maze where random people jump out at you with weapons they bang against the wall. It was a fun night.
The next day we woke up late, grabbed breakfast and headed back to the fairgrounds for some more music. The concert we went for on Sunday was Luis Enrique, who was pretty good. There were a lot less people though, so it was a bit more enjoyable in that regard. Lots of dancing and day drinking. Elvis Crespo came on later, but we had left by then since all three of us had to work the next morning. So, after the Luis Enrique concert, we grabbed our stuff and hopped the bus back to SJO & Heredia. All in all it was a great way to spend the first week back in Costa Rica. Good people and good fun, despite the bad sunburn. :)
I returned to CR Sunday January 9 around 10pm. My roommate, Saray, and her best friend Jose Mario came to get me from the airport. They are so great. I definitely hit the jackpot in the roommate situation.
Classes started right back up on Monday evening for me... in San Jose. Politecnico has a campus in downtown San Jose that focuses on curriculum in culinary arts, where I am teaching Monday and Wednesday nights from 6-9pm for at least 8 weeks. The "campus" is a beautiful renovated house with a few small classrooms and a lovely restaurant attached. Teachers get to eat for free at the restaurant, and it's delicious, though I have yet to take real advantage of it given that I mostly work in Heredia. Along with the food, there are a number of pros for working at the San Jose campus: I can take the train there, so my commute is super fast (30 minutes) getting there; the people I work with there are great (both the Politecnico staff and my fellow teachers); and my classes are tiny (I only have 7 people in this class).
The cons: I don't get out til 9pm, and San Jose is dangerous at that time of night; I don't always have access to technology and/or copies; it takes at least an hour to get home between walking to the bus, the bus ride itself and the taxi from downtown Heredia to my apartment; and my class is tiiiiiiiiiiny and super quiet.
Thankfully there are three of us who leave the SJO campus at the same time so that we all walk together for the majority of the walk. It tends to take about 15-20 minutes to walk from Politecnico to the closest bus to Heredia. I walk with Heidi and Delie for most of it, but I have to walk the last 4-5 blocks by myself. Thankfully we walk down the busiest street (pedestrian walkway) so there are lots of people, and often policemen, around to make the walk safe. Regardless, I'm not a big fan and am hoping that any future classes I teach in San Jose are during daylight hours only.
Thursday and Friday Kerensa and I decided to take advantage of the little time we had before the rest of our classes began the next week and get out of the city for the night. We took the 6am bus to Puerto Viejo on Thursday morning and got in at 10:30am. Yes, we took a 4.5 hour bus ride for just one night. It was long, but otherwise fine. Sadly the sun was hiding behind some clouds for the majority of the daylight we had while in Puerto Viejo, so we didn't really get to enjoy the beautiful beach as well as we would have liked, but it was lovely nonetheless. It started raining late in the afternoon while we were taking advantage of the hammocks at Rockin J's, where we stayed. Unfortunately it didn't really stop raining until after we left the next day, but it was alright.
We spent most of Thursday walking around, eating delicious food, and reading in the hammocks. The evening consisted of dinner and drinks at Rocking J's - they actually have pretty good food - and handing around with other travelers. We met a couple hilarious Canadians with whom we swapped stories until we passed out early in our tent. Kerensa and I woke up to catch the 9am bus back to San Jose/Heredia so Kerensa could go to work at 6pm that night. It was still raining when we got up on Friday, so there wasn't much incentive to staying much longer anyway. Rocking J's was pretty fabulous though, I would like to go back there again some time. The entire place is covered with mosaic artwork. Stellar. It was nice to get out of the city before all the other classes started on Monday.
We got back on Friday in time for Kerensa to make it to work (barely) that night. The next morning started my 8-week Saturday class. My Saturday class is the only class I am teaching (so far) that I have actually taught before, so I get to use a lot of my old lesson plans, thankfully. However, this class is absolutely huge. It turns out that Politecnico has so many people signed up for Saturday classes that we don't have enough space (or teachers) to accommodate them, so the class sizes for the Sat. classes are twice the size they are supposed to be. I have 21 students in this class. Now, in comparison to the 30-student classes I taught at OPRF, 21 is a great number. However, teaching 21 students who are used to having only 10 people in their class and who are at completely different proficiency levels is rough. For the most part they are a good group, but there are some students who are clearly struggling, and since I only have one four hour class with them, I can't do as much as I would like to be able to... This week is the midterm, however, so that should give me a better idea of what students are really in need of extra help.
Saturday after class, I met Kerensa and her roommate Jackie downtown San Jose to hop a bus to Palmares. Palmares is (1) a small town to the northwest of SJO, and (2) a 10 day long festival of music and general belligerence. Jackie, Kerensa and I arrived late afternoon on Saturday, and dropped our stuff off at the place we were staying. During the festival, the locals rent out their extra rooms and/or couches for ridiculously high prices, and we ended up at one of Jackie's coworker's cousin's places (I think) for $10/night. Kerensa and I shared a tiny single bed while Jackie slept on the world's smallest cot. Though, considering our alternative (taking the last bus back to San Jose and then sharing an expensive taxi to get back to Heredia) it was well worth it, even with the rooster crowing all night long.
Saturday night was the Calle 13 concert. They are a fabulous band from Puerto Rico. It was free. Beers were $2. Pretty awesome. There were, however, a ridiculous amount of people there. It was insane. At first we tried going in to the actual enclosed concert space - it took about twenty minutes to get just inside the barrier. There were so many people you could barely breathe, let alone move around. After less than five minutes, we decided we had had enough and managed to find a spot next to a tower with some breathing room. Much better. Apparently the three of us were really lucky because basically every other person we knew who went was robbed/pickpocketed. The three of us managed to hold on to everything we came with.
The concert was great, and afterward we ran into a few friends. First we saw Emerson (who I've hung out with before) & the group he was there with, and then we ran into our coworker Zach. Hilarious. The rest of the night we wandered around the festival and saw what there was to see, ate some churros and rode some rides. There is one, la Tagada, that is just ridiculous. I highly recommend looking up a video of it. It spins really fast and then bounces a whole bunch and you are guaranteed to walk away with bruises. I am still confused as to why we went on it. We also went through the haunted house, which was another hilarious adventure. Basically it is just a pitch-black maze where random people jump out at you with weapons they bang against the wall. It was a fun night.
The next day we woke up late, grabbed breakfast and headed back to the fairgrounds for some more music. The concert we went for on Sunday was Luis Enrique, who was pretty good. There were a lot less people though, so it was a bit more enjoyable in that regard. Lots of dancing and day drinking. Elvis Crespo came on later, but we had left by then since all three of us had to work the next morning. So, after the Luis Enrique concert, we grabbed our stuff and hopped the bus back to SJO & Heredia. All in all it was a great way to spend the first week back in Costa Rica. Good people and good fun, despite the bad sunburn. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)