Productivity

Saturday night I met up with some people from work to celebrate on of our coworkers, Delie, leaving. Though I am sad to see her go - she is a wonderful person and teacher, full of great ideas and always willing to share - I am excited for her. She will definitely be missed. We met at a bar named Kbana in Heredia and had a few drinks and watched some amazing music videos from the 80s and early 90s - hilarious. It was a great night, complete with a ride home from my roommate and Jose Mario.

Sunday I was supposed to go to Cartago with Kerensa and her new boyfriend, but I overslept, tired from Saturday night. Instead I spent the day walking around, cleaning the apartment and grocery shopping. It's probably a good thing I didn't go. I was fairly productive and still have yet to catch that cold that everyone has here. Sleeping in does a body good.

Monday was back to business as usual, class in the morning, gym in the afternoon and class in San Jose at night. I have a new group for my SJO class. I'm reteaching the same lessons, which is awesome, but I have a big group (13-15 students) who seem like they are going to be a good group. I've definitely got some talkers and most of them seem to have a good base, which is a good sign. We also got money for cab fare from the SJO campus to our bus stops, which will save us some time/anxiety walking late at night.

Yesterday I had class in the morning, which started off slow, but it ended up alright after I had some coffee during the break. I love my Diplomado (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday morning group) class - they are really laid back and don't seem to care much when I'm not totally on top of my game. They bring a really good energy to the classroom and are generally good students. I decided not to go to the gym during my break in between class and tutoring at night in order to get some much needed grading and planning done. It was definitely a good decision as far as my classes go, but I feel like I'm a lazy bum when I don't work out. I'll get back to a normal work out schedule soon.

Last night was a bit of a mess at school. A bunch of new Instituto classes were starting, so I didn't have a room to have tutoring, and there were placement tests going on in the conference room which is the fall back location. Luckily, no one came for tutoring, but if this keeps happening they are going to cancel the session and I will be short 3 hours. Yikes. Here's hoping people show up next week!

Tonight I have class in San Jose again, and tomorrow afternoon (after my morning Diplomado class) we are heading to Bank of America to work out the details for the classes that are starting next week. They will be 6 hour classes, which is going to be brutal, but there is a possibility that we will break them up into two 3 hour blocks a couple days a week. We'll see.

My dad is coming to visit a week from today! I managed to find someone to cover my Saturday class (even though we are super understaffed) so he and I can actually do something outside of the city while he's here. Yay!

Furthermore, they are officially making me full time! The request has been put in, so I should be working full time within about a week.

I booked a flight home for my brother Dave's wedding in June. I somehow managed to find a flight for $380. Amazing. So far it's been a good day.

Moving and Skype and Such

We are all moved in!

The apartment is great, I'm super happy here already. It's so much nicer than the old place.

Thursday night I went and met up with Zach L. from work. He had a friend visiting for the week/end. After hanging out at their apartment for a little while, after getting the run down on why Zach is in love with Snookie from the Jersey Shore and Hugh Grant (because why wouldn't you be?), we went over to the Bulevar bar in downtown Heredia. Zach manages to make friends, meaning that he strikes up conversations with perfect strangers, everywhere he goes. While it isn't exactly the best way to remain anonymous as foreigners, it certainly makes for an entertaining evening.

Friday I accomplished almost nothing, aside from going to the gym and packing up the majority of my things. Okay, I guess that's slightly more productive than I thought, but it certainly didn't feel like it at the time.

Saturday morning I taught, and after class I ran home to help move. Saray, Laura, two movers and I moved everything from our apartment on the third floor in a relatively short amount of time. We got to the apartment and Jose Mario, Felix, Gary and Alvaro came to help move everything in to the new place, set it all up and help us clean. Seriously, have I mentioned how great these people are? Because they are just wonderful. Because of their help, the move was pretty easy considering how much stuff we have. Thankfully the rain held off until we had all of our stuff inside. We all hung out for a while and got all the big things situated. Saturday night I unpacked and worked on getting the apartment slightly more settled and crashed early.

Since then, life has been relatively uneventful. Sunday I ran some errands, most importantly figuring out the bus by my house (every 15 minutes until 10:30pm - awesome: no more taxis after class!). Monday I bought a bookcase in between my classes, Tuesday I renewed my gym membership, and Wednesday Kerensa and I went mattress shopping before I had to be at class for final oral exams. We found reasonably priced mattresses in downtown Heredia and then wandered around San Jose for a while. It was a great afternoon with one of my favorites. Our schedules are such that we haven't as much time to hang out recently, so it was great to spend Wednesday hang out with her.

Wednesday night after class I came home and got to skype with my mom [happy birthday Mom!]. This afternoon, after class and the gym, I came home and hung out with the dog (who so far is a sweetheart and super well-behaved), skyped with my dad who is coming to visit (!!!) and then my brother/Kelly/Lily. All in all a great couple of days.

I will take some pictures of the new place tomorrow and post them on Facebook, since I still can't seem to get the picture feature to work on the blog.

Happy Thursday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc9xq-TVyHI

Quick Update

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.

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.

!!

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

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!

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!