Longest Blog Entry Ever!

I started typing this longest blog entry ever, and then Bethany, the Academic Director came and I had to stop right here. But here we go:


The tail end of our vacation in paradise (Santa Teresa) was a good sign that we were ready to go back to San Jose and have an income. That´s not to say that it was bad - New Year´s Eve was really fun, snorkeling at Cabo Blanco National Park was great, and surfing and hanging out were still really fun. But within two days of our amazing fake family Christmas, when there were only four tents in the whole campsite, we were sharing our little slice of heaven with over a hundred other people. Pretty much a couple hundred high, drunk, loud techno fans. So much techno music. So much.


Snorkeling was a great day - we wound up being good friends with Manuel, a 26 year old German guy who has been living in Switzerland and building tee boxes and greens for golf courses. We normally spoke German, but he and Megan could carry on a conversation in English. So one day he met us at the campsite and we found a spot to rent snorkeling equipment and bikes. A dusty but pretty 5k bike ride later we were at the entrance to Reserva Absoluto Cabo Blanco, the first national park in Costa Rica's extensive and impressive system. We walked our bikes through a tiny opening in tall boulders to a nice beach with only about twenty people. We timed it so that we were there at low tide, and while the water wasn't as clear as in the Caribbean, and there weren't massive schools of fish, there were some cool things to see. We probably saw about 15 different kinds of fish, some kinds even had different colors for each fish, and starfish and sea cucumbers. Manuel spotted a lobster and I think I got a pretty good picture of it (haven't gotten that disposable developed yet). We jumped back on our bikes and depsite the sunburns were pretty happy with our day. A couple days later we grabbed sushi with Manuel, and walking on the beach back to our campsite from the main strip at Mal Pais, we saw baby sea turtles scurrying down the beach from the treeline and into the water. We picked a pretty fast one and watched the little guy (or girl, a la Stephanie Colburtle the turtle) make it out into the water. That was awesome. Their shells were about the size formed by touching your index finger to your thumb. We'll get some of Manuel's pictures.

Megan kept getting better at surfing, and one day we even went out with Gabe and Andrew, two of the guys from Washington, to surf the big kids' waves. Turns out we're still out of their league, but I had the boogie board ride of my life on my longboard. Nope, didn't even bother trying to stand up. That group from Christmas just kept getting tighter and tighter, and at the end of our time there, everyone came to see us off at the bus stop.

Ok, New Year's: I wasn't feeling well leading up to New Year's Eve. I had a headache, both of us were sunburned (pretty much a fresh one everyday), and we hadn't slept all night from the club-style rave that took place the night before in our campsite. I won't tell that story right now, but lemme tell you, it's a good one. (Megan went crazy). We went to Casa Zen, the nearest hostel and a Thai restaurant, and we ate a really peaceful, tasty dinner together. We skipped out on playing "Edward Literhands," like we swore we were going to play with the Washingtonians, and thank heaven we didn't. The huge party was at Luz de Vida, the same resort where we had seen the baby turtles. We wanted nothing to do with that rave or its $10 cover charge, so we and our crew went the other way on the beach to a Brazilian bar/restaurant/resort for a huge bonfire and a good time. At midnight there was no champagne, but we sang Auld Lang Syne, waltzed, and enjoyed a good long kiss. Our parents read this, but that's ok because we're in love.


Next morning - neither as romantic nor as enjoyable to write about. I was sick. Stomachally unwell. Out both ends. I haven't been that sick since Monodiet in Minnesota 2006. Megan blamed the booze. I blamed the bonfire (when it collapsed after midnight the smoke blew right towards us and we breathed in a lot of it). But realistically it was probably just a 24-hour bug. We had planned on leaving that day, but we thought I was just too sick to handle the 7-hour trip. After spending the entire morning beginning at 5:30 in a bathroom or asleep on the ground, Megan and I decided to suck it up and get out of Dodge. We packed up, said goodbye to our friends and Lola, and hiked the mile or so to the bus stop. We made it there almost three hours before the bus left for San Jose, but still we were something like the 40th people in line. It didn't help that it was one of the hottest days we had experienced in Santa Teresa, and I was dizzy and afraid that I wouldn't make it through the trip without some kind of health disaster. Riding with Gabriel (the Italian) and Werner (the German) behind us, we managed to get through the bus-ferry-bus trip, even though it lasted every second of the expected 7 hours. We spent the night in the hostel where we had stashed our stuff, and I woke up feeling somewhat better.


That day we met the owner of our company, Brian. We were waiting for him outside our company's office when he drove up in his little SUV (which is generally speaking the vehicle of choice here). When he got out I noticed two things: wow, this guy's young, and he's tall. He's probably about 6'3" or maybe 6'4", but here that's like a giant. Also, he's 31 and looks it. He picked us up at the office and drove us to our apartment complex. Well, that's kind f a misnomer because it's really just a row of four apartments. Anyways, it's a really nice living situation, and we're nearby other teachers and in a relatively quiet, nice area. It's a 7 or 8 minute walk from our office, and a supermarket is about the same distance in the other direction. Oh, and the landlords, Flor and Gonzalo, are really nice.


We had the next couple of days to settle in and get over our illnesses. Megan came down with the same thing I had on New Year's Day, and took us both lots of rest and saltines to get over it. Training started on the Saturday before work started. Brian talked (kind of shouted) for 6 hours about the company. It was exhausting and by the end we were really hungry. The next day we met up with Bethany, our new Academic Director, and she went over the day-to-day stuff, like, well, how to teach English class. We got folders and books for our classes and spent the rest of the day doing lesson plans and feeling nervous. Monday morning Megan and I were up and getting ready by 5:30. Luckily, my first class Monday and Wednesday morning is really nearby, and I walked there with another teacher. I was taking the class over for another teacher. Because the company is hiring four new teachers (Megan, the guy we trained with, me, and one other guy who's coming this next weekend), classes are getting shuffled around. Plus, many classes have just started at Intel, and a couple of companies are starting classes at the beginning of February. I showed up really early where I was supposed to meet Molly, the other teacher who was going to show me where my classroom was, and waited for her. She's going to be my teaching mentor, too. She's really funny, and we'll probably write more about the other teachers in another post. Even though I was nervous, my first class went pretty well. I did some last-minute review, administered a written quiz, and gave and graded individual oral quizzes. Taca was a strong class, and they did pretty well. Plus, they're really, really nice and made me feel less nervous about my lack of experience and being so young.

I had some time off in the middle of the day, so I went into the office and tried grading the quizzes and preparing myself as much as possible for the Equifax class in the afternoon. Bill, the outgoing Academic Director who hired us, dropped me off and set me up with this class. There are four guys in the class, but only three showed up, and since they all showed up half an hour late, I was sitting there nervously wondering if I was in the wrong place, or maybe that the class was cancelled. That night, Megan and I went with Bethany, the new Academic Director, to observe her teach at Scotiabank. That was pretty funny, since a 60-year-old Tico hit on Megan while I was there. haha, not really hit on her, but he did say that she had beautiful eyes.

The rest of the week was crazy. We observed classes, taught almost our full schedules, and had multiple other training sessions having to do with company policy; how to turn in attendance, grades, and payroll; and grammar on Friday night. But when we were finally done Friday night at 7:00, we were so relieved and I honestly felt triumphant. Megan and I went to the local bar and restaurant and got cheap dinners and a few beers. Besides Labat, the other new teacher from Atlanta, we were joined by Shayne, a scruffy-looking, really nice guy from Milwaukee. Around 9:30 or so we decided to go to a bar in Rohrmoser, a nice neighborhood a short taxi ride away. The bar was hilarious -there were about a dozen screens where they played ridiculous music videos (stuff from the 80s, national pop hits, I don't know, everything). We hung out there and had a good time - beer and booze is relatively cheap here - and went to bed exhausted. Phew, so nice to be done with our first weeks on the job.

This past weekend I went to La Sabana, the biggest park in the city, to play basketball with Shayne, Labat, and some guy named Jason who's kind of a tool. But he gave us a ride so that part was nice. We played a few games, schooling some Ticos for a while and then we got really tired and lost 13-11. Labat is black, so he's really good, and Shayne isn't that tall but compared to the average Tico he's like Chris Bosh. I looked like John Stockton out there. Old white guy that can ball.

Ok, this post is long enough. I have more to say but I'll save it for a later date.