First Blog... First day of school!

            I promised many people back home that I would write a blog throughout my year here in Costa Rica. Here it goes….

I have been here for a little over a month. I met the other volunteers in the Miami airport on January 6^th and we took off for San Jose, Costa Rica. For four weeks we had training to prepare us for a year in rural Costa Rica. We had Spanish classes in the morning and lots of charlas (talks) in the afternoon. The charalas covered all the information we would need to know about living in rural Costa Rica and teaching in rural escuelas (elementary schools). I am part of a great group of volunteers. I am excited to have such an amazing support system. As exciting as orientation was, I decided to wait to start blogging until today, my first day of teaching in the elementary school in Mollejones, Costa Rica.

Situated in the mountains outside of Turrialba, Mollejones is a small rural town. I live with a host family in the town three miles away, Pacayitas. Most of the people in Pacayitas are involved in the sugar cane business. I am not as familiar with Mollejones but I expect that most people there are also involved in the production of sugar cane and possibly coffee. 

So… Day 1...

I woke up this morning at 5:45. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am not a morning person. Luckily, I have the help of many alarm clocks to ensure I get up in time to get ready for school. Around five the roosters start their wake up calls. My house is constructed completely of wood and has an “open air” concept. The walls do not meet the ceilings so to say that nothing is sound proof is an understatement. For example, last night my host sister, Carol, kept me awake because I could hear her cell phone vibrating in the next room over. Anyway, if I happen to sleep through the roosters, I have the sound of the sugar cane trucks and tractors cranking up at around 5:30. If the noise doesn’t bother me, the smell of exhaust that floats up through the floor and through the walls is always successful in burning my nostrils. By the time my watch beeps at 5:45 signaling for me to wake up, I am wide-awake. Let the day begin! I could already hear my host mom bouncing around the kitchen preparing my breakfast, gallo pinto. Gallo pinto is the traditional Costa Rican breakfast. It is rice and beans mixed together in a frying pan with salsa lizano (the greatest sauce in the world), onions, cilantro, and sometimes peppers and tomatoes. After I finished my gallo pinto and café (coffee), I got dressed and packed my things for school. I looked down at my watch, 6:18; I had twelve minutes until I had to be at the director of the school’s house. I had taken this walk two days ago and it took me twenty minutes, but I was walking with Ticos (Costa Ricans) who are quite possibly the slowest walkers in the world. I figured the walk wouldn’t take me more than 10 minutes. I said goodbye to my host mom, who said a quick prayer over me and kissed me on the cheek. I waved goodbye to my host father outside who made a joke about hoping I survived the children and I was off. I arrived at my director’s house ten minutes later. My director’s name is Florinda, but like a typical Tica she has a nickname that I have no idea how to spell but it is pronounced like Georgie. When I arrived at her house I yelled out “Upe!” (oooopppay), which is the typical Costa Rican way of announcing your presence. No answer. Crap. I wondered if my terrible Spanish had failed me once again and if I had misunderstood what time I should be there. I creepily placed my ear against the door, hoping to hear something happening inside. I heard footsteps. Unlike most houses in Pacayitas, Georgie’s house is not open air. The walls actually meet the ceilings making it almost impossible to know what is going on inside. In my house, I am able to have conversations with people outside while I am sitting on my bed. It could be very possible that Georgie didn’t hear me announce myself. So I yelled out again, “Upe!” No answer. I knocked on the door… no response. However, I still heard people moving about in the house. Being creepy again, I peered through the window, but I couldn’t see anyone. I realized the footsteps I was hearing were coming from upstairs. It had been five minutes so I took a step out from underneath the balcony and looked up and announced myself one more time,  “UUUUPPPPEEEE!” Finally the door up on the balcony swung up and Georgie looked down at me. I was so relieved to know my Spanish hadn’t failed me and that I wasn’t late. She told me to put my things in the car and that she would be right down. Her husband came outside with her things and loaded them into the car. Five minutes later he was driving Georgie and I up the mountain to the next town. I was super excited to have a ride. I don’t mind walking the three miles home in the afternoon because it is mostly down hill, but I am not really up to a three-mile hike at 6:30 in the morning everyday. However, I was not expecting the ride I got. Georgie’s husband’s driving was terrifying. He drove his 1980 Isuzu Trooper as if it were a sports car, whipping it around corners. Sounds fun? It isn’t. Why? Because the roads here are unpaved, rocky, and line the side of the mountain. There are no shoulders around the corners nor are there any guard rails to keep the Isuzu Trooper from flying off the mountain. I have been in cars many times here, but I have never been in one going over 15 miles per hour. I looked over the seat to the speedometer; it read 30 miles per hour. Georgie’s husband must have caught a glimpse of the look of fear that I was surely sporting in the rear view mirror because he slowed down a bit for the last few minutes of the ride. 

We arrived safely at the school where the children were anxiously waiting to start their first day. Georgie introduced me to the students and parents. We had a flag ceremony, sang the Costa Rican national anthem, said a prayer, and then the parents left.I was told that we would only have a half-day today and tomorrow, to slowly get the students back into school mode. However, my nerves had kicked in. My heart was pounding. I never thought that 30 children could intimidate me so much. We walked into the classroom and Georgie had every student introduce themselves to me in Spanish and tell me their favorite sport. Afterwards, Georgie told me to take the children outside and play a game with them. First we stood in a big circle and passed a ball around introducing ourselves in English. Next we played an exciting game of duck, duck, goose, which turned into a really intense game of tag. Then we played a game where we couldn’t let the beach ball touch the ground. We ended the morning games with a fun game of “Red rover, red rover.”  Georgie called us back up to the classroom to have cake in celebration of a student’s birthday. While I was sitting eating my cake one of my first graders crawled into my lap and rested her head on my shoulder. My heart melted, the butterflies in my stomach disappeared, and I was the happiest I have been in a long time. After cake we took a tour of the town. On this tour I realized that I need more arms, as students fought over who got to hold my hand as we walked. Some students linked their fingers into my belt loops, others held onto my arms. We walked up the the Catholic church, students pointed out their houses, their grandparents’ houses, their aunt’s and uncle’s houses. They asked me if was married, if I had a boyfriend, if I lived in the United States, if I liked Costa Rica, if I had dogs, if I had brothers and sisters, if I would come to their house after school… I fielded one question after the other and when I couldn’t understand what they were asking I would just smile and admit, “no entiendo.” After the tour of the town, our half day was over and parents came to pick up their children. I received countless abrazos (hugs), and besitos (kisses on the cheek). Three students even decided they wanted to walk the three miles back to Pacayitas with me and then turn around and walk three miles back home. Clearly these students want A’s! The three mile walk back to Pacayitas was fun. My students stopped and picked fruits off trees for me. After my students turned around and left me to walk to the last ten minutes home alone, some cows got loose and ran in my direction. Thanks to my Southern Women’s Writing class last semester I was reminded of one of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories “Greenleaf” which has a main character conveniently named Mrs. May who gets impaled by a bull’s horns. Not the greatest image to have running through my mind as horned cows run in my direction. Luckily some men herded the cows back to their pin and I was not impaled by any horns. Today was amazing, I haven’t stopped smiling and I cannot wait until tomorrow!