Weeks of Adjusting

   

     As I write this post, I am about 4 weeks into my experience. I would definitely call these past couple weeks the "weeks of transition". Although every week could be considered just that, I feel as though I am becoming more accustomed to what is around me. The fear of just getting out of my house and interacting with others/walking around town has greatly diminished. If there is ever a feeling of homesickness, I can simply go to a huge and wonderful shopping center called "Multi-Plaza" and drink Starbucks until my cravings are satisfied as well as walk around a very fancy mall. Did I also mention that is was wonderful? Also, the fear of managing a classroom is decreasing little by little. The more I get to know the students, the more that I become comfortable with what I do every monday through friday (or thursday if we are lucky and have a day off). There are still 300 student's names to learn, but I will get there. It also helps when your students are already saying that you are "the best teacher and Ms. Leon, too". *Sidenote* Since the students are still learning their english, some do not understand the difference between Mr. and Ms. and since there are probably more women than men on staff, some just call everyone Ms.. There are still some struggles that I have to overcome as far as classroom management and being the assertive teacher, but I will get there : ) .
     There has also been another student teacher (Sonam) that arrived last wednesday, and she has sort of turned into my adventure buddy. When I first introduced her around the town, telling her where everything is and how everything works, it was crazy to think I was in her exact same position three weeks ago! During her first week here, we have already gotten lost in the center of San Jose trying to look for the bus station, we have attempted running for exercise (which both of us are not the most enthused to be doing) and even got lost during our first run. We seem to have a knack for getting lost......
     Now, let me tell you a little bit about my adventure getting lost in the center of San Jose. Since some fellow student teachers/staff and I are going to Manuel Antonio this weekend, it is important to get the bus tickets early in order to ensure that one has a seat on the bus. If you don't....well then you have to stand for 3 or 4 hours, which I don't want to do. So Sonam and I decided to go and get the tickets. Firstly, we had to take a bus from Santa Ana to San Jose (in which we did not ask anyone which stop to get off of) so we asked the bus driver. When we asked him, he said this was the stop, so we got off and we were already on our fun journey to the bus station since we had gotten off at the wrong stop. We did ask many people for directions, but they were pretty vague and included measurements in "meters". At the end of our journey we did learn from someone that 100 meters is kind of like a block in our terms, but we did not know that at the time. We finally met a wonderful doctor who was heading that way, so he helped us find the station. Then, there was the complication of finding which of the two bus stations sold the tickets for Manuel Antonio....etc, etc. Nevertheless, we have the tickets now and that is all that matters. : ) It was also a great opportunity to practice my spanish.
     For anyone that ever travels to Costa Rica and travels by bus, know which station you get off of before getting on the bus! It definitely helps a lot. Now I can cross off "getting lost in a foreign city" to my to do list.
     Sorry for no pictures this time. I didn't bring my camera around anywhere this week. But, come next week, I will have beautiful pictures to show you of Manuel Antonio! Can't wait!

Hasta Luego!