Diosito Santo

For those of you (taxpayers) who are wondering whether or not I am working or, if so, how so, here’s the story…

Last week I gave my first English class to my extended family- an aunt, uncle, and four cousins. Ages ranged from 7 to 40. José Antonio, the 7 year old, cannot read or write in Spanish, but is currently learning numbers and colors in school. Olga, the mother of José Antonio, was skeptical about returning to English class after a bad experience with the verb “to be.” Tatiana, daughter of Olga and sister of José Antonio, was eager to begin class, as her boyfriend, Alan, speaks nearly perfect English. Alan has lived in Philadelphia and spent significant time working in the hotel business in the Cayman Islands.

Anyway, after individual conversations with my prospective students, I decided it would be appropriate to teach the first class on greetings, goodbyes, and emotions (“How are you?” “I am sad, tired, scared, nervous, happy, sick, etc.”). I got home on Wednesday fifteen minutes before my class was to begin and was surprised to find a full house; although, it was unclear as to whether or not the montón de gente had arrived for my class or for cafecito. I was told that Katia and Cynthia, aunts on whose attendance I was counting, had forgotten about the class, and ran down the path behind my house to recogerles. Luckily, when six o’clock struck, I had my required five attendees and my peer evaluator, a fellow PC trainee.

We started the class with an ice breaker- “what makes you nervous about learning English?” “what do you want to learn?” “why do you want to learn English?” This was a great way to start- among other things, I learned that Olga wanted to learn so as to be able to keep up with her son, José Antonio. Spelling and speaking were expressed as common concerns. I had drawn pictures to accompany each word or phrase, so we went down the list one by one, emphasizing pronunciation and meaning. When we finished each group of words, we did several practice exercises as a group, i.e. “Your best friend forgot your birthday yesterday. How do you feel? I feel sad.” Finally, we used the associated pictures to play a game of memory, which was a huge hit. Every time a person picked up a card, they had to give the associated word or phrase before trying to make a match. Occasionally, I would ask them for the Spanish equivalent to make sure that they understood the definition as well as the pronunciation. Afterward, I asked my new students to assess the class and suggest material and activities for next class. I received great feedback and will plan to teach vocabulary to order food in a restaurant and to ask for directions next class. Bingo was the number one request for a practice activity.

In addition to teaching three English classes, we have to attend a meeting of the integrated development association in our town, plan and implement a service learning activity, invite community members to an asset-based approach event and facilitate a discussion on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to the development of the town, present on an institution of Costa Rica (mine is the Ministry of Agriculture and Farming), complete weekly reading assignments, facilitate a presentation on a week’s reading assignments, and conduct a mini community analysis task, which requires interviewing community members about population, transportation, health, socio-economic activities, resources, projects, etc.
Needless to say, there are not enough hours in the day to complete the required assignments, integrate with our families and communities, develop relationships with PC trainees, appreciate the indescribable sunsets, explore the many hidden paths that weave through the coffee plantations, and keep up on the noticias and latest drama un el Último Matrimonio Feliz. Now that I know the beauty that is a Costa Rican sunset or a Costa Rican night sky, I will gladly give up an hour or two of restless sleep- between the night allergies, the full stomach, and my eight-legged comrades, I am lucky if I can keep my ojos cerrados until 531.

Luckily, I have gone from zero to sixty and look forward to my two cups of black coffee every day. So as to continue growing upward as I say (as opposed to growing outward), I have decided to forego the powdered milk and sugar. After trying several different techniques to comer menos and with less grease, i.e. “I love salad,” “I don’t like throwing food away, so please serve me a little and I will ask for more if I am still hungry,” “I eat all the food you serve me because I like the food, but it makes me sick to eat so much,” I have come to the conclusion that my host mother is deliberately sabotaging me. No, just kidding, I know she takes pride in feeding me to the brim, but picture this scene: Last night I said to Vilma, “that’s fine, thank you,” when she was serving me dinner and, not only did she continue dishing out white rice, but she put my plate down, dumped a bag of cheetos on top, and said “coma, coma (eat, eat)” with a wide grin. Diosito Santo…