COSI: A true melting pot

The company I work for- Ingles Empresarial- shares the building with a Spanish school named COSI (Costa Rica Spanish Institute). So there are often new students coming in and out who are taking Spanish lessons. Anyway there was a new batch of students today that were there while I was lesson planning and I couldn't help but laugh out loud just a little bit. Most of the students are college kids from the United States, but this time there was a Japanese student and a girl from Switzerland trying to communicate and it was pretty funny because the Japanese guy didn't speak any English. So the Japanese guy is trying to ask this girl in his beginner Spanish why his internet isn't working and why hers is, and why his keyboard is screwed up. The girl is trying to explain back to him in Spanish, and her Spanish is even worse, so she has no idea how to say things like keybord or your computer is frozen and she is flayling her arms and trying to speak with arm actions and I am just dying. It was the guy's first day and he is so frustrated because he was trying to send this long letter in Japanese, but the internet is messed up like it always is at COSI. Anyone I felt a little bad laughing, but it was hilarious. And the best part was the guy was trying to teach her some words in Japanese when they were talking like "en Japones decimos blah blah" and the look on the girl's face was priceless because of course she had no idea what he was saying and wasn't trying to learn Japanese.

I picked up another class today. It is with a group of advanced student's in La Uruca, 15 minutes from downtown San Jose. I was getting a little bored with only two classes for about a month, but now I will have three again, so I am looking forward to it.

One hour until game one. GO RAYS.

Latin Idol Madness

I know Costa Rica is a very small country, similar in size to West Virginia. But I never really gave it much thought until every single person in the Country was glued to the TV to watch the Tica singer compete in the finals a few nights ago. I am a softee and one of my students really wanted to watch the finals, so even though we had a half an hour of class left, I let them turn on the tv during class. It was pretty amazing at the bus stop on the way home to see everyone huddled around a small tv on a street corner to watch. The Tica lost, but I'm sure she will get to sign a record contract somewhere. I think someone even said Oscar Arias, the president of Costa Rica, bought her a car. Pretty crazy, but you gotta love it.

Mejorando

I am not even close to fluent, but I feel like my Spanish has improved a lot since I moved. One of the teachers I am living with is dating a Tico and one of my roommates is from Costa Rica, so when we are all together we only speak in Spanish even though it is four gringos and two costariccenses. Finally some practice! I have also stopped being lazy and started reading the newspaper in Spanish every day to try and pick up some new vocabulary. Although half of the words in the articles are circled, (because I don't know them) I think there is still some hope. Since my Tuesday-Thursday morning one-on-one student often has to reschedule for Monday, Wednesday or Friday morning classes, my teaching schedule is pretty sporadic so I don't really have time to take a Spanish class. I think after a month Christmas break I am going to take a month off of teaching and travel to another country to take Spanish lessons and live with a host family. I have heard pretty good things about Guatemala schools and also a school in Grenada, Nicaragua. Let me know what you all think.

Faith

It was sad to see on the news the other day that the heavy rainfall and winds completely destroyed some of the houses just outside the Central Valley. Although the houses were not too far away from the San Jose area, they belonged to some of the poorer families and could not withstand much resistance. Many of the people said they would have to try and rebuild because they had no other place to go or stay. But the message that each person continued to give was gracias a dios, because their families were safe and no one was injured. Although most of the people lost everything they owned, it was uplifting to see they still kept their faith during hard times.

Arenal/Pital

I have to give a big shoutout to my parents for the last two weekends. It was nice to get out of the city and see the real beautiful part of Costa Rica. It was also nice to sip drinks poolside and eat great food for the past two weekends.

We also got a chance to go out to Pital again and see some old friends at the church we work with. All in all, it was a great experience and I my parents got to see where and what me and Amanda are doing.

Jaco round 3

I went to Jaco for the third time this weekend, but it had a little different feel this time around. The family and I roughed it for two nights at the Los Suenos Hotel Resort(The top resort in Costa Rica). It was pretty amazing and a little different from the Hostel Amanda and I stayed at last month(Although the Hostel was a lot of fun as well). Dad and I got two rounds of golf in at one of the most beautiful courses (located right next to the hotel) I have ever played at, although we didn't get to see the famous wildlife that was advertised. Amanda and mom even joined us for the first round, although Amandacita just putted.

I even got to practice a little Spanish which I didn't think was going to happen. Although I should be much better after four months all the employees at the hotel thought I was pretty good mainly because all the other gringo tourists didn't speak a word of Spanish. I bugged Amanda with question after question as well because she never corrects me when I make mistakes :).

I got back today and moved into the apartment in Curridabat. It feels good to be a little closer to the city. Amanda, mom and dad flew to Nicaragua and will be staying there for the week. Next weekend should be a good one as well when mom, dad and I head to Pital.

I'm moving... again

I am moving once again. It will be my third apartment in four months, but this one is pretty baller, so don't hate. Four Bedrooms, three bathrooms, laundry, high speed internet and cable. I didn't think it would be possible here, but it is pretty sweet. And for only 250 dollars it month it was a steal. I will be living with three English teachers and a Costa Rican social worker. They are all really nice and graduated from college in 07, so I think it will go well.

Ciudad Colon was great for a few months, but it was just insanely far from the city and all my classes. I will definately miss living out in the cow pastures of Ciudad Colon, but the location of the new apartment is great. It is far enough outside the city where you don't get that nasty and dirty feeling when you are walking, but close enough (15 minutes) where you don't have to plan your whole day according to bus rides.

On a side note, Costa Rica celebrated it's Independence Day a few days. I thought it would be a crazy all day long party since the people here are very patriotic and proud, but suprisingly it was pretty short and consisted of kids banging on drums and dancing for a few hours. Maybe it wasn't so crazy because they spread out the parades in a bunch of different cities, but I was expecting a lot more.

We are having another family reunion this weekend, so I can't wait for that. My mom, dad and sister are coming. Can't wait to see you guys.