So today is February 9th. And on Friday, February 12th, I will be on a plane at 7:30am from San José to Mexico City. After 5 hours in Mexico, I fly for Chicago and will arrive around 8pm.
Saturday, February 13th, I will be in a testing center before 1:30pm for the Illinois Spanish Proficiency Exam 0056, hoping to earn my Type 29 certificate for teaching in a bilingual classroom. When I am done with the test, I will be meeting my parents and siblings for dinner at GIORDANOS :) I'm not excited about that part of my weekend or anything :)
And then Sunday. Back at O'Hare by 12pm. Fly to Mexico City. 5 more hours. Fly to San José. Arrive around 12am, go through customs, arrive home 1amish.
That's right. 1am. Then back to work Monday morning, 7:15am. Eeeeeh.
I have mixed feelings about this upcoming weekend. Please pray that God gives me peace as I take the exam on Saturday.
2.09.2010
The New Costa Rican President!
Left to right: Oscar Arias (current president) and Laura Chinchilla (president elect)History was made Sunday as Laura was voted the first female president of Costa Rica. She takes office the 8th of May.
2.08.2010
Playa Esterillos
Fuimos a la playa este fin de semana, y nos divertimos muchisímo!
We went to the beach this weekend, and we had lots of fun! :)
2.03.2010
Student Writing
I thought I would treat you again to a few student thoughts... Here's straight from their writing notebooks.
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life without trees
Hi my name is James and my topick is life without trees. With out trees would be bad becuse if we did not have trees ther would be no climing, no homes for anaminals, no tree houses, no fun, and most of all there would not be life on our planet. We would all die becuse we would not have oxygen. did you know that trees give off oxgyen. If you did isent that cool. yes or no? pleas anser the qestion. I am dune with that topick.
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I really like fieldtrips. I also like the olipicks. they come on when I'm twelve and then when I'm sixteen. they come on every four year I've been waiting for them to come on last year Micheal Phelps was Americas heroe hes a great swimme he beat France by a fimger! it was great! I'm proud of him. he was awsome. I couldn't believe my eyes it was the greatest thing ever!
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Imedeatly he drew his sword so did Link. They both received a few cuts, before the man knocked Link down with one solid punch. Link got up and asked, ''Who are you?'' ''My name is Ike,'' he replied ''How did you get here,'' Link asked, ''I don't really know, '' Ike said. ''I was in the middle of battling a dark knight, when that portle appeared right in front of me . . . . . the next thing I knew I was right here'' Ike finished. ''So you came here without knowing'' Link said.
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(Teacher Note-- This is about the student's mentally handicapped brother)
If sam wasn't here I woudn't be here because sam has saved me 2 times and sometimes I just get mad at myself because I treat him bad or ignore him. When he is trying to tell me something or make me happy. and I feel the same for my other brother henry only I chose to talke about sam because I never talk about him and I think he deserves to be talked about also.
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(Teacher Note-- The purpose of this entry was to confuse the reader with homophones... Good luck!)
Who knew that my new book was going to be green. The other kind of flour was the color of the flower. was fair when i went to the fair the fareman wasn't fair i confused myself. miss siscoe said she will get a new nose but she didn't knew that she will get a new nose and her sister knoew she would get a new nose but that they cut her other one so they said they couldn't put the other one on because it was bleeding so she became the girl with no nose. One week she was very weak and so she said to the tail to stare at the stairs. but then she changed her mind and said go up the stairs, see the sea, and stare at the sea. Dear deer, you are very healing heel heal heel. Hares heals will heal very fast. i don't know just write.
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life without trees
Hi my name is James and my topick is life without trees. With out trees would be bad becuse if we did not have trees ther would be no climing, no homes for anaminals, no tree houses, no fun, and most of all there would not be life on our planet. We would all die becuse we would not have oxygen. did you know that trees give off oxgyen. If you did isent that cool. yes or no? pleas anser the qestion. I am dune with that topick.
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I really like fieldtrips. I also like the olipicks. they come on when I'm twelve and then when I'm sixteen. they come on every four year I've been waiting for them to come on last year Micheal Phelps was Americas heroe hes a great swimme he beat France by a fimger! it was great! I'm proud of him. he was awsome. I couldn't believe my eyes it was the greatest thing ever!
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Imedeatly he drew his sword so did Link. They both received a few cuts, before the man knocked Link down with one solid punch. Link got up and asked, ''Who are you?'' ''My name is Ike,'' he replied ''How did you get here,'' Link asked, ''I don't really know, '' Ike said. ''I was in the middle of battling a dark knight, when that portle appeared right in front of me . . . . . the next thing I knew I was right here'' Ike finished. ''So you came here without knowing'' Link said.
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(Teacher Note-- This is about the student's mentally handicapped brother)
If sam wasn't here I woudn't be here because sam has saved me 2 times and sometimes I just get mad at myself because I treat him bad or ignore him. When he is trying to tell me something or make me happy. and I feel the same for my other brother henry only I chose to talke about sam because I never talk about him and I think he deserves to be talked about also.
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(Teacher Note-- The purpose of this entry was to confuse the reader with homophones... Good luck!)
Who knew that my new book was going to be green. The other kind of flour was the color of the flower. was fair when i went to the fair the fareman wasn't fair i confused myself. miss siscoe said she will get a new nose but she didn't knew that she will get a new nose and her sister knoew she would get a new nose but that they cut her other one so they said they couldn't put the other one on because it was bleeding so she became the girl with no nose. One week she was very weak and so she said to the tail to stare at the stairs. but then she changed her mind and said go up the stairs, see the sea, and stare at the sea. Dear deer, you are very healing heel heal heel. Hares heals will heal very fast. i don't know just write.
1.27.2010
A Touchy Subject...
WARNING!!!! I might step on some toes with this post because it is going to be my strong opinions based on my experiences here in Central America as well as my observations and current outsider's view of the United States. My intention is not to offend, just to sort through my own thoughts and challenge others to engage in these thoughts with me.
Ready? Okay, here goes.
Being a minority is hard. Yes, I am a minority here as I am a pale-skinned, blue-eyed, native English speaker, not to mention North American. I am whistled at, stared at, called names (do they think I don't understand? probably not...), pushed by ladies in the grocery line, etc. Some people tell me I speak Spanish super-bien, others question my abilities to my face. I don't understand all the cultural cues, I offend people unintentionally, I am doing the best I can but in some situations people aren't very gracious with my obvious lack of cultural cue knowledge. I sometimes feel inadequate or clueless about how to act in social situations.
Thus, I have a need for authentic learning. I am in these real life situations every day and I want to learn how I am supposed to act or what I am supposed to say in the daily encounters I have with Costa Rican natives. BUT in order for me to learn, I first have to be willing to ask questions, to admit that I won't get it right the first time, to admit that my college degree in English really does nothing for me in Spanish. AND the people around me that I am engaging with are hopefully in a place where they can answer my questions, give me grace even if I don't get it right the first second third time I try, and encourage me when I do it right.
So I am here, I am learning, I am hoping that someday I will speak well enough to communicate effectively no matter if I am at the grocery store, the bank, or the auto place, no matter what level of conversation I am having (think small talk vs. vocabulary specific vs. a heart-to-heart). And what is my purpose in learning? To become a better teacher, and ultimately, a bilingual teacher.
Okay, are you ready for me to get to the point?
I say all this from my own experience because I sense tension in the United States about minorities. Yes, there are migrants pouring in, legal and illegal. Yes, the government is working to filter out the illegals, but the attitude I generally hear from North Americans is that they are not open to having new migrants (but how our own families even part of the United States.... our grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents migrated!). It is said migrants are ignorant of our ways and do not want to learn English, therefore shouldn't be part of our country(But what did our ancestors speak when they came? Probably not English...). Stereotypes about migrants abound, but I won't go too deeply into that because I don't want to present my thoughts as if they are the only right way to think.
Am I a legal migrant to Costa Rica? Yes.
Am I trying my best to learn the language? Yes.
Am I asking questions of the people around me, observing them to learn their ways? Yes.
Do I have goals for the future after this hard work of learning? Yes. (But I won't be done learning!)
I guess my plea is to examine your thoughts next time you interact with someone who might be a migrant, whether they are Mexican, Polish, Indian, whatever. (I mention those because they are the first growing populations that come to my mind in the Chicago area... but it might be different in your area) Cut them some slack. Ask them if they need help, even if it's something simple like helping count change at the grocery store or teaching a new word. Give grace because trust me, if you were learning a new language and desperately trying to figure out cultural cues, you would need grace too, just like me.
An example of a situation in which a North American was not sensitive to a Costa Rican... I was at the airport in December, in line for my Houston flight. A tico needed to pass through the line, and so he said ''Excuse me, lady'' to the well-dressed woman in front of me. Now, I know that in English, we do not say ''lady'' unless we are saying it with attitude... like a snap-your-fingers, don't-treat-me-like-that kind of way. BUT in Spanish, ''Con permiso, muchacha'' is perfectly acceptable. In fact, it's considered very polite to say it that way. So this tico thought he was being very polite, and the well-dressed woman turns to her well-dressed husband and says ''That was soooo rude. I can't believe he just called me 'lady'.'' Now me having gone through similar experiences has taught me that to be called ''muchacha'' (lady) in Spanish is the very polite form, but this woman didn't.
I have become more conscious of situations when I need to give grace to others, even when I don't understand where they are coming from, and my challenge is that you will examine your own attitudes and actions when you don't understand someone else, namely minorities.
Thanks for reading my jumbled thoughts!
Ready? Okay, here goes.
Being a minority is hard. Yes, I am a minority here as I am a pale-skinned, blue-eyed, native English speaker, not to mention North American. I am whistled at, stared at, called names (do they think I don't understand? probably not...), pushed by ladies in the grocery line, etc. Some people tell me I speak Spanish super-bien, others question my abilities to my face. I don't understand all the cultural cues, I offend people unintentionally, I am doing the best I can but in some situations people aren't very gracious with my obvious lack of cultural cue knowledge. I sometimes feel inadequate or clueless about how to act in social situations.
Thus, I have a need for authentic learning. I am in these real life situations every day and I want to learn how I am supposed to act or what I am supposed to say in the daily encounters I have with Costa Rican natives. BUT in order for me to learn, I first have to be willing to ask questions, to admit that I won't get it right the first time, to admit that my college degree in English really does nothing for me in Spanish. AND the people around me that I am engaging with are hopefully in a place where they can answer my questions, give me grace even if I don't get it right the first second third time I try, and encourage me when I do it right.
So I am here, I am learning, I am hoping that someday I will speak well enough to communicate effectively no matter if I am at the grocery store, the bank, or the auto place, no matter what level of conversation I am having (think small talk vs. vocabulary specific vs. a heart-to-heart). And what is my purpose in learning? To become a better teacher, and ultimately, a bilingual teacher.
Okay, are you ready for me to get to the point?
I say all this from my own experience because I sense tension in the United States about minorities. Yes, there are migrants pouring in, legal and illegal. Yes, the government is working to filter out the illegals, but the attitude I generally hear from North Americans is that they are not open to having new migrants (but how our own families even part of the United States.... our grandparents, great-grandparents, great-great-grandparents migrated!). It is said migrants are ignorant of our ways and do not want to learn English, therefore shouldn't be part of our country(But what did our ancestors speak when they came? Probably not English...). Stereotypes about migrants abound, but I won't go too deeply into that because I don't want to present my thoughts as if they are the only right way to think.
Am I a legal migrant to Costa Rica? Yes.
Am I trying my best to learn the language? Yes.
Am I asking questions of the people around me, observing them to learn their ways? Yes.
Do I have goals for the future after this hard work of learning? Yes. (But I won't be done learning!)
I guess my plea is to examine your thoughts next time you interact with someone who might be a migrant, whether they are Mexican, Polish, Indian, whatever. (I mention those because they are the first growing populations that come to my mind in the Chicago area... but it might be different in your area) Cut them some slack. Ask them if they need help, even if it's something simple like helping count change at the grocery store or teaching a new word. Give grace because trust me, if you were learning a new language and desperately trying to figure out cultural cues, you would need grace too, just like me.
An example of a situation in which a North American was not sensitive to a Costa Rican... I was at the airport in December, in line for my Houston flight. A tico needed to pass through the line, and so he said ''Excuse me, lady'' to the well-dressed woman in front of me. Now, I know that in English, we do not say ''lady'' unless we are saying it with attitude... like a snap-your-fingers, don't-treat-me-like-that kind of way. BUT in Spanish, ''Con permiso, muchacha'' is perfectly acceptable. In fact, it's considered very polite to say it that way. So this tico thought he was being very polite, and the well-dressed woman turns to her well-dressed husband and says ''That was soooo rude. I can't believe he just called me 'lady'.'' Now me having gone through similar experiences has taught me that to be called ''muchacha'' (lady) in Spanish is the very polite form, but this woman didn't.
I have become more conscious of situations when I need to give grace to others, even when I don't understand where they are coming from, and my challenge is that you will examine your own attitudes and actions when you don't understand someone else, namely minorities.
Thanks for reading my jumbled thoughts!
1.26.2010
The Medical System... From A Gringa's Viewpoint
When I first came down to CR, I bought traveler´s medical insurance. I went to a private clinic for the couple times I was sick enough to go. I paid for my health care costs, and then the US insurance company reimbursed me for my expenses. It was somewhat costly to invest in this plan, but it had some nice benefits... like if I were in critical condition, the insurance company would reimburse me for a plane ticket back to the States. Or I had 15 days of medical coverage every US visit. Or a small life insurance package.
But now :). Through our school, we are finally part of what is called ''The Caja'', which in short is CR's medical system. Socialist in theory, all persons pay a percentage of their income to the Caja and in turn receive free medical care. ''Free.'' I mean, we are paying for it from our paychecks. I now have my Caja insurance card and my monthly paper saying I still work at the Insitute, and the medical doors are wide open.
Lol. Wide open means that you have to follow the system. The closest Caja clinic near me opens at 7am; however, the line starts forming around 6am. There is a sign on the clinic door that says "Line forms here," and all the people line up down the street, around the corner, as far as necessary. In order to get an appointment, you must stand in this line. You cannot call to schedule an appointment. You also must take your passport (for a US citizen), your insurance card, and your monthly insurance paper.
At about 7:05am (7am tico time), a doctor comes out and hands out numbers. The senior citizens and pregnant women get the first numbers, and then the rest of us get numbers. You are lucky if your number is less than 40. That means you probably will be able to see a doctor that day.
So then wait #2 begins as you wait for your number to be called. This could take anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes, depending on the needs of the people before you. When your number is finally called, the receptionist asks what time you would like your appointment. I always say after 3pm because that is when I am out of school, but it is not always available because they close at 4pm. They print another paper saying what time your appointment.
So you come back for your appointment later in the day, bringing all 4 things with you again (passport, insurance card, insurance paper, appointment paper). If any are missing, they may turn you down for the appointment. (This is where I try not to be a nervous worrywart that I forgot something but it doesn't work very often... especially since everything is in my second language!) You do not "check-in" like you do in the States, instead, you simply walk down the hall and place your appointment paper in a box outside the door that says "Enfermeria." (But seriously, how are you supposed to know this?) You shouldn't be scared by the next door that says "Cirugia Menor" (Minor Surgery). LOL. Then you go back down the hall to the waiting area, and sit down until they call your name. My name sounds something like "kot-reen sees-ko" so I have to listen really close because they never quite get it right. So finally, you talk to someone about your current ailment, and they take your temperature, weigh you, measure how tall you are (The last time the girl couldn't reach above my head so I had to measure myself, lol), and take your blood pressure. OH, and (if you are a woman) you might be asked when the last time you had a pap smear was and if you would like to have one today. (awkward) THEN you are sent out into the hallway again to wait outside the doctor's door.
The doctor calls you in (again "kot-reen sees-ko" has to be ready to listen), and you again explain your current ailment. She (or he) checks your ears and throat, listens to your lungs and heart, ask you questions using words like "hinchada" "apretado" "fiebre" (swollen, tight, fever) so you better be having a good Spanish day. Then she sits at her computer and types away, prints yet ANOTHER paper(s) that tell you what drugs you will be prescribed.
Then you are back out in the hallway, walking toward the reception desk again. Wait in line at the prescription counter, and give them your paper(s) again. If you are lucky, they will send you back to the enfermeria room for your injection(s), usually in the tush. When I have asked why the tico system relies so much on shots to the tush, I have been told that it quickens the circulation of the drug throughout your body. Makes sense, I guess. If you are unlucky, they tell you to come back the next day to pick up your medicine.
Yup, you got it right, then the next day you come back with your passport, insurance card, and insurance paper to wait in that same line to be called "kot-reen sees-ko" again, and then to pick up your drugs.
All this for "free." Spanish medical terms practice. Medicine. Pap Smear. The confusion of which line to be in. Experiencing cultural cues first-hand.
"Kot-reen Sees-ko, venga para la Enfermeria." Oh, that's me they're calling! Gotta go!!!
But now :). Through our school, we are finally part of what is called ''The Caja'', which in short is CR's medical system. Socialist in theory, all persons pay a percentage of their income to the Caja and in turn receive free medical care. ''Free.'' I mean, we are paying for it from our paychecks. I now have my Caja insurance card and my monthly paper saying I still work at the Insitute, and the medical doors are wide open.
Lol. Wide open means that you have to follow the system. The closest Caja clinic near me opens at 7am; however, the line starts forming around 6am. There is a sign on the clinic door that says "Line forms here," and all the people line up down the street, around the corner, as far as necessary. In order to get an appointment, you must stand in this line. You cannot call to schedule an appointment. You also must take your passport (for a US citizen), your insurance card, and your monthly insurance paper.
At about 7:05am (7am tico time), a doctor comes out and hands out numbers. The senior citizens and pregnant women get the first numbers, and then the rest of us get numbers. You are lucky if your number is less than 40. That means you probably will be able to see a doctor that day.
So then wait #2 begins as you wait for your number to be called. This could take anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes, depending on the needs of the people before you. When your number is finally called, the receptionist asks what time you would like your appointment. I always say after 3pm because that is when I am out of school, but it is not always available because they close at 4pm. They print another paper saying what time your appointment.
So you come back for your appointment later in the day, bringing all 4 things with you again (passport, insurance card, insurance paper, appointment paper). If any are missing, they may turn you down for the appointment. (This is where I try not to be a nervous worrywart that I forgot something but it doesn't work very often... especially since everything is in my second language!) You do not "check-in" like you do in the States, instead, you simply walk down the hall and place your appointment paper in a box outside the door that says "Enfermeria." (But seriously, how are you supposed to know this?) You shouldn't be scared by the next door that says "Cirugia Menor" (Minor Surgery). LOL. Then you go back down the hall to the waiting area, and sit down until they call your name. My name sounds something like "kot-reen sees-ko" so I have to listen really close because they never quite get it right. So finally, you talk to someone about your current ailment, and they take your temperature, weigh you, measure how tall you are (The last time the girl couldn't reach above my head so I had to measure myself, lol), and take your blood pressure. OH, and (if you are a woman) you might be asked when the last time you had a pap smear was and if you would like to have one today. (awkward) THEN you are sent out into the hallway again to wait outside the doctor's door.
The doctor calls you in (again "kot-reen sees-ko" has to be ready to listen), and you again explain your current ailment. She (or he) checks your ears and throat, listens to your lungs and heart, ask you questions using words like "hinchada" "apretado" "fiebre" (swollen, tight, fever) so you better be having a good Spanish day. Then she sits at her computer and types away, prints yet ANOTHER paper(s) that tell you what drugs you will be prescribed.
Then you are back out in the hallway, walking toward the reception desk again. Wait in line at the prescription counter, and give them your paper(s) again. If you are lucky, they will send you back to the enfermeria room for your injection(s), usually in the tush. When I have asked why the tico system relies so much on shots to the tush, I have been told that it quickens the circulation of the drug throughout your body. Makes sense, I guess. If you are unlucky, they tell you to come back the next day to pick up your medicine.
Yup, you got it right, then the next day you come back with your passport, insurance card, and insurance paper to wait in that same line to be called "kot-reen sees-ko" again, and then to pick up your drugs.
All this for "free." Spanish medical terms practice. Medicine. Pap Smear. The confusion of which line to be in. Experiencing cultural cues first-hand.
"Kot-reen Sees-ko, venga para la Enfermeria." Oh, that's me they're calling! Gotta go!!!
1.24.2010
From the Plane Window
When I went home for Christmas, I had a window seat. Thanks, Continental Airlines, for giving me such a great view for taking photos of San José and of volcanoes in Nicaragua. Thought I would share the photos!
super faint thanks to aerial perspective. pacific coast, nicaragua.
san josé disappearing
nicaragua.
san josé barrios
super faint thanks to aerial perspective. pacific coast, nicaragua.
san josé disappearing
nicaragua.
san josé barrios
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