Culture Shock Has Hit...

I've been here exactly two and a half weeks now, and it's starting to feel more like home. This does not mean, however, that I am used to everything here. I sometimes wonder if the culture shock ever really goes away completely. I go though phases: most days I really like it here, but others....well, other days I need to stop and remember why I'm here and what it's all about. I know this is going to be really good for me, and God has already been working in my life in big ways. He has been teaching me about being a servant, and the suffering that goes along with that.

This week at school was good, but definitely challenging. They decided to give us new schedules on Thursday, with no warning, just as I was adjusting to the old schedule. And this one has me teaching an additional class when I was already teaching more than any teacher at the school. Two days a week I am teaching the entire day, and don't even have a lunch break. The absolute most frustrating thing about this culture is that, but US standards, it is extremely disorganized. You would all be shocked if I went into the numerous examples of this. Another thing about this culture, is that they are not interested in improving the system, and they are not open to suggestions, particularly from Americans, about how to do so. That is seen as trying to "Americanize" them, and they see that as us thinking that we are better and trying to make them like us. I have learned this by listening to the other American teachers that have been here awhile. I am trying to remember that I am not here to change the system, and that I just have to accept it and live it with it, but it is not easy.

This weekend has been really fun! Yesterday morning I got up early to go the farmers market with Raul and Xenia (host parents). I picked out lots of fresh produce for the nachos I would make later. Everything is so fresh here, especially when you buy it directly from the growers. The fruit is amazing! Xenia continually makes "juice" by throwing some fresh fruit in the blender. I know I will miss this when I go back!

Then we went home, and a few hours later, Tave and I walked to Auto Mercado, which is an American style grocery store where you can find a lot of American foods you can't find anywhere else. I bought the rest of the ingredients for the nachos along with some other things I needed, including (FINALLY) some American snacks I've been craving. I like the food here, but some of it gets old fast. Just imagine eating some form of beans and rice with every single meal. Anyway, we caught a cab back so we didn't have to carry all the groceries, and that's when I got myself into trouble by accidentally flirting with the cab driver. He asked me in Spanish if I liked Costa Rican men, and I didn't know what he said, so I just looked at him and smiled and nodded and said, "Si." Tave started laughing, and told me what I had just said. I was like, "No, no! I mean, I don't know. I mean..." Yeah, it was pretty embarrassing....he was laughing and was like, "Gracias, Gracias!"

I got to talk to Gabe for a while after that and then I made the Nachos. I wish I would have remembered to take pictures, cuz I'm not gonna lie, they were stinkin awesome! Raul (Jr.) and his girlfriend Carla, Elimelec and Krhis, Tave, and of course Raul and Xenia were all there, and they all said they were the best nachos they've ever had. It was fun to cook again since I haven't in a while.

This morning I went to the same church that I went to the camp with last weekend. It's a Nazarene church where my entire host family goes, including Elimelec and Krhis. (Elimilec is the dean of students at the school). I really like that church, and the people are really friendly, but I would really like to try out one of the international churches that either has services in English, or translated services. Elimilec sat next to me and whispered the translation though. Also, I kind of would rather go to a church that I agree with more doctrinally as I've already heard a couple of things preached that I don't really agree with. The church is walking distance from me, and since everyone that lives near me goes there, it's going to be difficult to go anywhere else. Besides, I don't want to offend them, so I don't know what I'll do about that...

After church, we went to lunch with Elimelec and Crhis at a Costa Rica seafood place. The food was not like American seafood, but good. After that we went to some place for ice cream, and there was a tour bus full of Americans stopped there too. That was the first time I've talked to any other Americans except for the teachers at the school. It was weird how I felt a sense of camaraderie with a bunch of people I don't even know. It turned out some of them were Christians, and were very interested in what I'm doing here. One of them was even a teacher and she gave Elimelec her information.

Then we came back home, and I took a nap. Oh, and you may have read on facebook about the bed bugs....yes, that is something you can be praying about. I told my host mom, and she changed the sheets for me. I didn't know how to tell her that based on everything I read online that would not be enough, so I decided to sleep another night and see what happened. In the morning I still had more bites, so I told her. She said she didn't think it was from my bed, but she would change the sheets again and spray bug spray in my room. I don't know what to do, because after that I still have more bites. I think she thinks I'm overreacting and that I am getting the bites from somewhere else, but I know that they aren't there when I go to sleep and they are when I wake up. Plus, I have found their feces. Please pray about this situation. I don't want to damage our relationship, but I also don't want to sleep in a bed with bedbugs. If you have any suggestions I am all ears.

Overall, things are going really well here. I love the people, and I feel like I'm forming some relationships. This Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I will be going to camp with the school. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity to get to know my students better and bond with them. It is so surreal and amazing to be able to open a Bible in the classroom and pray with them. I've already had two 7th grade girls come to me crying with different problems, and it was so neat to be able to pray with them and tell them what they really needed to hear. It is so foreign to me coming out of 4 years of public school.

Prayer requests:

• Camp is this week. Pray for God to soften the hearts of the students who don't know Him and they would give their lives to Him. Pray for the movement of The Spirit in the lives of believers and non-believers alike. Pray that I will get to know my students better and form positive relationships with them.
• Pray for patience with my students. As they have gotten more comfortable in their routine, behavior issues are coming out. I am having to be really strict until they get the message of what won't be tolerated. I don't like being strict, but I've found that if you aren't in the beginning, you regret it all year long.
• The love of Christ to be evident in me. Let me see my students with His eyes.
• Continual adjustment to the culture. This is harder that I even anticipated, and I knew it would be hard.
• PRAISE! The school finally came through with the check to reimburse me for my airfare, so I now have enough money to get me through to when I get paid.
• That I will be able to get a bank account in time to be paid. This is a long story, but the short of it is that nothing is ever simple here, and it still has not happened.
• That I will be get registered with the insurance and everything will come through with my work permit. I have been getting the run around on this too, and it is very hard to do when you don't know the culture or speak the language fluently.
• Please continue to pray for my Spanish development. I think it is getting better, but I still have so far to go!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support! God is answering them, and I cannot tell you how grateful I am for each of you!

First Week of School, Open House, and Church Camp

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have been really busy, and I was also locked out of my gmail account for awhile too, and since that is the email account this is registered with, I was unable to log in until Friday.

Anyway, the first week of school went really well. I am teaching 6 classes, grades 7th, 8th, and 9th, and I have each grade twice. The schedule is going to take some getting used to for me as it is very different from anything I've taught or even seen at high schools in the US. It's more like a college schedule because you don't have class every day. I teach mostly 90 minute periods, with one or two 45 minute classes. I only have a full prep period two days a week, so that is going to be a challenge. The nice thing is that they are 90 minute prep period so I should be able to get a lot done with a chunck like that.

The students are very racially mixed. There are a lot of Asians, of course lots of Ticos, and a handful of Americans or "greengos" as they call us. (It's not really derogitory here like it is in Mexico). Their behavior is pretty good, although I did have to take a kid out in the hall for a little conference a couple of times. I think 7th grade is going to be the biggest challenge, and one of my 7th grade classes in particular. I'm not sure how supportive the administration is going to be with discipline issuses, so I'm really hoping I don't have many.  A couple of my 7th grade girls made a card for me and brought it to me on the second day. It had a little pop up basketball on the front since I had told them the day before that I like basketball. They wrote that they thought my class sounded like fun and they were glad I am their teacher. It really encouraged me and really made me feel welcome. Here are a couple of pics from the first week of school:

We had open house for the Jr. High on Thursday, and it went great! I had probably around 30 parents, and they were very supportive and encouraging. It was so nice to hear parents tell me that they would be praying for me! They seemed very pleased with me, and one parent told me so. Another one told me she thought my class sounded ideal. It was nice to have that kind of support especially when I have been feeling a little insecure about this year. It is so different in so many ways from anything I've ever done before. Sometimes feel like I don't really know what I'm doing and am really just winging it. I don't know if everybody feels that way or if it's just me.

Friday was Sr. High open house, and I was supposed to go since I teach 9th grade too. Elimelec Jaunta, the dean of students, was taking me home from open house on Thursday and asked me if I was going to go to the youth group camp with my host family's were he leads music that I had visited last Sunday. I told him I wanted to but I couldn't because of the open house, so he talked to Mr. Tabor, the high school principal and got me out of it. I put some syllabi in the box by my door so parents could take one.

Right after school on Friday I went with Mrs. Ferre to the bank to open an account. I have to have one at a certain bank in order to be paid by the school. Even though I brought everything the school told me to have, I wasn't able to open account. They said I also had to have two reccomendation letters from Costa Rican citizens and a statement from the person I rent a room from stating that I rent at that address. It is so frustrating in this country to try to take care of business stuff because things are so disorganized. It seems that everybody has a different idea of what I need to do and I have no idea who to listen to.

Anyway, I caught the bus home after we got back to the school and I found out that I had been given permission to go the camp. It was pouring down rain, and I mean POURING! It was like the whole sky was a giant waterfall. Despite having an unbrella, I has drenched to the bone. I literally wrang water out of socks and it looked like I had gone for a swim. I was really worried about my laptop (which I am still toting back and forth as no one has delievered on the promised computer), but it was ok.

I rushed to get packed for camp and ended up forgetting some things (like socks). Just before we left for the church, Melissa (the cousin that has been staying with us) got home from the hospital with her new baby boy. Isn't he Adorable!? She named him Jose Fabian.

It was still pouring when Tave, Daniel (Tave's boyfriend) and I left for church, so we were going to take a Taxi, but we couldn't get one to stop for some reason. The camp was only about a half hour drive away. I had a good time, but I got really sunburned on Saturday when we did a bunch of relay activities in our bathing suits for three hours. I forgot sunscreen, and I didn't know how to ask for it because I didn't know how to say sunscreen in Spanish, so I just did without. I very mistakenly thought that I would be fine since they didn't seem to be putting any on. So I am sitting her lathered in something called Zopal, which smells like Listerine. Oh well, with any luck it will turn to tan, although I'm not sure how likely that is because it is blistered and I think it will peal. Let me know if anyone has any good sunburn remedies. I'm unbelievably white compared to these Ticos.

And here are some other pics from camp:

After relays we played in the pool.

Me with Tave, my Tica Sista

Playing Uno with the girls in my cabin.

Getting ready to start the relays.

Elimilec leading us in camp songs as the bonfire

I went as Judas for Biblical characters night.

Prayer requests:

• Finances! I don't get paid until the 31st, and I have very little left to last me. I haven't been able to access my money in my US account yet, so pray that I will be able to get to that in time before I run out of money.
• Language! I think my Spanish is improving already, but sometimes it gets really frustrating not being able to understand so much. It can really make me feel stupid sometimes. Pray that it will come quickly!
• Pray that I won't be homesick or lonely. I have had some of that already, and I can only expect it to get harder in the next few weeks.
• My classes to go well and for my students to be engaged and learn a lot. Pray especially for me to find the best ways to keep my 7th grade class motivated and disciplined.

First Day Out and About

I slept in until 9 this morning which was nice! After a shower and breakfast Teva (21 year old Costa Rica girl I'm staying with) and I took the bus into the center of San Jose. We got off one bus to stop and exchange money. The first bank was closed, so we walked down the road to another bank. They only allow one person in to the back at a time, so it was scary cuz they let me in without Teva. He told me in Spanish to open my bag and he checked it. Then he let Teva in. You have to take a number and wait like at the DMV. We watied about 15 minutes and then I gave them $100 in twenties. They wouldn't take one of the twenties because it had a very small tear. A few of the bigger stores take American money so I'm going to try to use it there.

Once I had some colones (Costa Rican money) we got on another bus. This was was really full, and oh my.....what an expereince! I thought I was going to die! There were no seats and it was PACKED for standing up. We were crammed at the very front of the bus and they drive with the door open. They drive so crazy here, and I was holding on for dear life! When we finally got off my hands and arms were sore from holding on so tight.

San Jose was very bustling with vendors and people everywhere. Tomorrow is Mother's Day here, so there were people selling all kinds of things. I wanted to just  go in all the shops and just look around, but we were in kind of a hurry because Teva had to be back for a church activity. I got an alarm clock finally....I've been sleeping in a room with no clock and that drives me crazy. And yesterday Teva was supposed to wake me up at 6 and she forgot until 7 when we were supposed to leave. Anyway, I have an alarm clock now and I'm very happy about that. It was ridicuoulsy priced though...it's just a battery powered little clock and it was almost $30 US. I also bought some flowers for Cenia (the mom of the family) because of Mother's Day being tomorrow, and a Spanish/English Dictionary. I saw a vendor selling fresh produce, so Teva and I bought some avacodos for the family. They are soooo good here!

Then we caught the bus home. This one wasn't as full so we got to sit down the whole way. When we got home we ate lunch. I've had a little down time, and I'm about to leave to go back dowtown with Raul and his girlfriend. He is the son/brother and they family but he has his own house and car. He and his girlfriend have to go downtown anyway, so they are taking me so I can buy a cell phone. Apprently you have to go to one place to get a phone, and then another to buy a phone line. The phone line places are closed today, so that will have to wait until I can get someone to take me next week.

I'm hearing thunder as I'm writing this. I don't see any rain yet, but it's gotten really couldy. It sounds like it's going to storm. When it rains here, IT RAINS!

Well, Raul is here so I better go. More to come.

Safe, Sound, and Getting Settled

Well, I'm here. Thanks for taking the time to read my frist blog post. Here's a little run down of the last 24 hours or so:

I made it in and the principal and dean picked me up at the airport. They told me that the family that will be hosting me is actually the in-laws of the dean, and he just leaves a few blocks away from them. It was about a half an hour drive and we were there.

I was welcomed with Costa Rican warmth and the cultural hug and kiss on the cheek. The family I'm staying with is so nice and they seem geniunely glad to have me. They speak very little English, so my Spanish is definitley going to improve. Mostly I just walk around not knowing what people are saying because it takes to much effort to try to decode it. I've actually been pleasantly surprised at how much I am able to communicate though.

Anyway, my "new mom" as they put it, made me a some rice and beef that I ate before Skyping with Gabe and going to bed. I got to bed shortly after 11:30 here, but I was wide awake as that was only 9:30 PST. Morning came REALLY early because I had to be up at 6, or 4 the time I was used to. The tiredness lasted all day, and when I got home I took a three hour nap.

I got up in the morning and went to work with their daughter that lives here. She is a teachers aide in the pre-kinder classroom, so she had to be at work at the same time. We walked for probably 1.5 miles to a bus stop that another teacher picked us up at.

They had breakfast for us at the school, so after we got there we ate, and Mike (the principal) introduced me to Mrs. Ferrias, the English Department head, who I spend most of the day with after that. I think she will be a immense resouce and blessing to me this year!

After breakfast we met for 4 hours. I was surprised that it was all in Spanish. I suppose that because this is an international school in which all instruction is supposed to be in Enlish, I thought the meetings, devotions, etc. would be as well. I sat next to a lady who translated some of it for me and another man who wasn't fluent in Spanish either. It seemed to go on forever, and to be honest I had a hard time staying awake for some of it. I'm not a one for lectures and sitting for more than a couple hours when I DO understand the language. Anyway, I have the same thing to look forward to for tomorrow morning as well.

After work we came back to the house. I had a snack and then took what I thought would be about an hour nap....I woke up three hours later, which was just in time for dinner. It was something kind of like pork fried rice, (except I think it was chicken that was in the rice) cabbage, tomato, cilantro salad, and some carrot purre stuff. It was pretty good! All the food so far has been.

Anyway, now I'm in my room about to read over some stuff they asked us to for tomorrow. I have so much to do to get ready for school to start next Wednesday! I am feeling a little overwhelmed and behind.

Things you can pray about:

• Reimbursement of my airfare: They said this would happen today, but it didn't. Pray they would do it tomorrow.
• I will be able to get what I need for my classroom. It has no computer, no projector, no overhead...nothing but desks really. The English Department head said I might be able to get some of that. Otherwise I may be transporting my laptop back and forth...
• That I would quickly pick up the language
• That I would be able to get everything done that I need to in order to be ready for school to start on Wednesday.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support!

Kristin