Let's see how far we've come

Six weeks ago, I threw my life in a suitcase and headed south. I had no expectations of what I was getting into. I literally boarded a plane with a brand new passport and random sets of directions from Dian and Julia. Six weeks later, I feel like I am in a totally different frame of mind. I’m so relieved that I traveled here with an open mind because a lot of crazy things have come my way. I have been more independent, more culturally sensitive, and more extroverted than I ever imagined. I have never been away from home for so long, and I was terribly homesick at times. However, I knew that I had a family here to help me out. I sucked it up and used whatever Spanish I could to get some comfort from them. In terms of my independence, I learned how to navigate the regional bus system on my own. Heck, I learned how to flag down a bus and demand to get on or else (ask Marjorie and me about that sometime). I learned how to travel around a country and not spazz out that I’m about to get murdered everywhere I go. I learned to appreciate the quirky cultural norms that seem so different from my own- the clothes, the food, the lack of time management, the oddity that I am not married or pregnant by 23.

I learned how to roll with the punches and step out of my comfort zone in numerous aspects of my life. Look at my placement. A complete circus all the time. My carefully scripted lesson plans didn’t mesh with Dog Day, Sesame Street Day, Sports Week. I found out how I could adapt to meet the unique style of this particular school. I adapted in a similar way with my home life. Not understanding the language means that you have to develop a flexible schedule. Oh, we’re going away for the whole weekend? Missed that. Okay.

This experience has allowed me to become a much stronger teacher. I had to reflect daily on the individual needs of my students, as they are all in very different places in terms of second language acquisition. I tried to take their perspective with the texts and find overlying themes that would be relevant to their lives. This was entirely different from my American placements, where many of the students grew up with background similar to my own. I really had to look at Costa Rican laws, cultural norms, social movements, and the education system as a whole to develop my instruction. Although I will not be dealing with classes of eight students in the US, I hope that I will be able to continue to evaluate the needs of particular classes on an individualized basis in order to differentiate instruction.

In retrospect, there are things I could have done differently. The big one would be to take any sort of Spanish class/study on my own before my arrival. I don’t know where I would have fit that one in, but I should have taken the time to refresh on vocabulary. There are so many words that I know in Spanish, but just can’t remember off the top of my head. Even after I return, I think a Spanish class could allow me to advance my skills to a much greater degree.

Ultimately, the biggest thing to come out of this experience is my new love of travel. I have always been interested in Latin American and African cultures (see my degree), but now I want to go EVERYWHERE. It’s not hard to figure out where to go and what to do in a foreign country if you listen to people. And usually they are much friendlier than Americans, so that’s a perk! I want to go to South Africa. I want to travel the Middle East. I wouldn’t mind Greece or Spain. The beauty of being a teacher is that you get two months off every year for whatever. Hopefully, I can get another trip planned for next year!

I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE EVERYONE!!! SEE YOU SO SOON!!!!!!!!