GRRRRR

Okay, it seems the link to my pics was not that great, so here we go agian. There should be pics from the Volcano, Boruca and my first days in Acosta. More to come...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36935590@N03/

So, this week I am doing a week of technical training and let´s just say I`m putting up with it, but I´m not really that fond of it. Imagine that you go to a random town, live with a family that you don´t know for a week, you don´t have half of you things because it took you 8 hours to get there and you wanted to pack light. Then, you have a ton of projects to do that you´re not really all that into. I mean, right now, I´m preparing to give a talk to elementary school kids on pollution and I´m so not into it... Okay, that´s my mini vent for the day. Lot´s of really cool things have happened in this week too, I´ll make sure to write about that too. Right now, I´m just really not feeling the pollution talk in Spanish.

English Class

For the last 2 weeks on Tuesday I have been giving english classes and for the most part they are going well. For the first english class I had the students (I think there were six) choose a song and we listened to it and translated it and talked about what the song meant. Much to my dismay they were in love with the Katy Perry song Hot and Cold. This song is horrible, or maybe not horrible, but at least it`s way over played and when I was leaving the states I was not sad to leave that song behind. But anyway, we listened to the song about 10 times and we all learned a lot. I hope. It´s good practice since they will be able to learn all of the words and will be able to recognize them when they hear them. In Costa Rica there is a pretty big problem with the students being able to read and write english, but not able to understand or speak it at all. I plan to focus on these two aspects in my classes in the future. For my second class I had my student learn a section of a Friends episode. He had a lot of fun.

Okay, I have some news, I have a new host family and I´m really enjoying my new family. I really really love my new host mom and feel really good about my new family.

More news: For the next week I´ll be in Guanacaste doing technical training. I´ll try and blog throughout the week, I´ve already got some really funny stories, but I´ll share them later....

Okay apparently I need to clarify my comment about the toilet paper. I have toilet paper, gracias a Dios, but I'm not allowed to throw the toilet paper that I use into the toilet, you throw it in a trashcan in the bathroom. The only thing allowed in the toilet is, well, lets say 100% organic... Hope that clears things up a little, my bad!

Things this week are going great. My month crisis has passed and I'm finding my flow. I found an awesome gym and have going as often as is possible. It is a great way for me to feel a little bit of normal in my life and you all know how much I love to hang out at the gym.

Tonight I'm teaching an English class and tomorrow I'm working with a group to help them with their organization. This is a practice run for the business advising that we will be doing during our service. My Acosta group (aka. Team America, I'll write more on this later) will be doing a swot analysis for the group that will hopefully help them to reorganize a little. Thank you MSU-Billings for making me write a hundred swot analysis throughout my years there!

Check out some pics. More to come soon

http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=sets

These are my pics from my trip to Boruca. Hope you enjoy them!

The month crisis

When I studied abroad in Spain they had what they called the month crisis. After just about a month of being away from home, but still staring a year or so in the face, students would have a mini meltdown. For some it was more dramatic than it was for others. I think I was just a little grumpy and tried to call home and write a lot. That being said, I've now been in CR for a full month and I think I've hit yet another month crisis. Nothing big or unexpected, I think mostly it's getting adjusted and realizing that I have only been here for a month, but at times it feels like a century. Our days are so packed and we have so much to take care of that it really feels like we live two days each day. But, I know that really long journeys get easier as you go. When you're getting ready to walk 1,000 miles, it must seem like you haven't even made a dent in the journey for the first 100. Anyway, that's a little insight into my current world, next week could be the best one yet. I'm really just trying to keep it all in perspective.

So, a little tid bit about Costa Rica. As and American, I have adapted easily to the no toilet paper in the toilet, to the cold shower, to the constant rice and beans, but one thing that is really hard for me is the adapting to the walking pace of the Tico. You have never seen anything like it in your life and it's a sure fire way to drive a gringa crazy. Ticos don't really walk, they kind on randomly meander. A walk that I could do in 15 min will take a minimum of 30. We have to stroll and stop to rest a lot and then we have to stop to talk and then we have to stop to just stop. Oh man. It is so hard for me to deal with, you have no idea! Today I was walking with these 4 girls and it almost killed me. I have to laugh about it though, what a great lesson in patience. They just are not in a hurry and they really don't like to exercise. That's it, it's just a different way of doing things. On Saturday we are heading to a volcano for a day trip... Pics to come.

Laura