Do it like the Drags

Hola amigos,

It’s been a while. I feel like so much has happened yet 50% of it is just part of my daily routine now. I have to say that it definitely feels like I have settled in completely. You know how? Because I started complaining about how tired I am. But when am I not tired though? So.. what’s been going on lately?

During the week Charlotte and I go to work together, and we also teach together. Since I don’t speak that much spanish it is really necessary that she explains the tasks to the students, because they wouldn’t understand it in german. For now I do as much as I can to help. I write on the board and try to interact with the students and help them with their problems. It’s not easy and I gotta say I’ve had my moments as well. You know when everyone starts laughing about some joke but you really didn’t understand anything at all? Or students ask you questions and you just look at them and say “Lo siento.. yo no sé..” . I am the teacher, so I am supposed to be able to help them right?! Regardless of those moments, I know that it’s totally okay.         I have been here for 7 weeks and I just started learning spanish for the first time. “Tranquilo Olivia..”  I know that it will get better with time and that learning a language takes continous practice and really lots of time.    I mean I spent 6 years learning french in high school and I’m not nearly as good as one might think knowing that I have been studying it for such a long time! So I constantly try to remind myself that I’m doing okay and   I think I am starting to work on my patience. I wouldn’t call myself an impatient person but I like to do lots of things at the same time and if they don’t work out I get pretty frustrated.. I guess there are still many things you have to confess to yourself and be able to take a step back and say “Hey! This is the way I am. I’m struggling with this! But that’s okay!” . What a sentimental blog post huh?

Anyways.. other than working, Charlotte and I have signed up in our local gym. It’s really nice to have something to do in this little town because there really isn’t much else.. we try to go 3x a week. Last wednesday we had the day off – some sort of holiday – and Lina, Charlotte and I went to San José for the day. There was a free festival going on for about 2 weeks and there were different types of performances everyday like music, theatre, dance and photo exhibitions as well. Most of them were free and held in public places. We watched a puppet play about myths of the indigenous tribes of Costa Rica, which was really interesting. Afterwards we strolled around in the art quarter of San José, where we happened to pass by some people who were doing acrobatics on aerial silks. I was so excited to see that because I used to do it in the children’s circus when I was little. They kindly asked us if we wanted to try and of course we did! They invited us to their practice which is every saturday. We definitely couldn’t resist that offer so we met up again with them on saturday. The whole thing turned out to be some sort of  christian youth group organisation that exists all over Latinamerica. It was really an awesome day and I personally was overwhelmed by the kindness of the people there. The group offers many different programs such as hip hop, aerial silks, breakdance, singing, theatre and more! The aerial silks group was pretty big and it got divided into different levels, our “teacher” showed us different figures and how to handle the silks properly. During the break there was a little preach and  they offered some food. Then we would practice a little bit more and the program was over. It is every saturday from 3-6:30pm and I’m so excited to go back! Hopefully I can upload some photos of that soon. Last weekend I slept over at Lina’s house in Heredia and we did some bar hopping with her roommates which was really fun. The other night we went to a Club where we saw a professional Drag show which was mind blowing. There was Drag Queen called “Laganja Estranja” and she actually participated in RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2014! (If you want to know more about her https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laganja_Estranja) But how are they so flawless and dance so well?! Honestly their energy was just so inspiring.. That weekend included lots of drinks but very little sleep which is probably why I have been kind of tired all week..but it was worth it. Yesterday Charlotte and I had some drinks in a bar with Marco and Isaac, our fellow german teachers that we assist. Okay this really sounds like I drink a lot but I promise it’s not like that! Also if you want to see more photos of the places I travel and the beauty of Costa Rica, make sure to follow my Instagram account @oceansandemotions (the link is in the right corner of my website).

So I guess you could say life on the other side is pretty good right now.

//Olivia

¿Qué paso?

Hola amigos,

It’s been a while. I feel like so much has happened yet 50% of it is just part of my daily routine now. I have to say that it definitely feels like I have settled in completely. You know how? Because I started complaining about how tired I am. But when am I not tired though? So.. what’s been going on lately?

During the week Charlotte and I go to work together, and we also teach together. Since I don’t speak that much spanish it is really necessary that she explains the tasks to the students, because they wouldn’t understand it in german. For now I do as much as I can to help. I write on the board and try to interact with the students and help them with their problems. It’s not easy and I gotta say I’ve had my moments as well. You know when everyone starts laughing about some joke but you really didn’t understand anything at all? Or students ask you questions and you just look at them and say “Lo siento.. yo no sé..” . I am the teacher, so I am supposed to be able to help them right?! Regardless of those moments, I know that it’s totally okay. I have been here for 7 weeks and I just started learning spanish for the first time. “Tranquilo Olivia..”  I know that it will get better with time and that learning a language takes continous practice and really lots of time.    I mean I spent 6 years learning french in high school and I’m not nearly as good as one might think knowing that I have been studying it for such a long time! So I constantly try to remind myself that I’m doing okay and   I think I am starting to work on my patience. I wouldn’t call myself an impatient person but I like to do lots of things at the same time and if they don’t work out I get pretty frustrated.. I guess there are still many things you have to confess to yourself and be able to take a step back and say “Hey! This is the way I am. I’m struggling with this! But that’s okay!” . What a sentimental blog post huh?

Anyways.. other than working, Charlotte and I have signed up in our local gym. It’s really nice to have something to do in this little town because there really isn’t much else.. we try to go 3x a week. Last wednesday we had the day off – some sort of holiday – and Lina, Charlotte and I went to San José for the day. There was a festival going on for about 2 weeks and there were different types of performances everyday like music, theatre, dance and photo exhibitions as well. Most of them were free and held in public places. We watched a puppet play about myths of the indigenous tribes of Costa Rica, which was really interesting. Afterwards we strolled around in the art quarter of San José, where we happened to pass by some people who were doing acrobatics on aerial silks. I was so excited to see that because I used to do it in the children’s circus when I was little. They kindly asked us if we wanted to try and of course we did! They invited us to their practice which is every saturday. We definitely couldn’t resist that offer so we met up again with them on saturday. The whole thing turned out to be some sort of  christian youth group organisation that exists all over Latinamerica. It was really an awesome day and I personally was overwhelmed by the kindness of the people there. The group offers many different programs such as hip hop, aerial silks, breakdance, singing, theatre and more! The aerial silks group was pretty big and it got divided into different levels, our “teacher” showed us different figures and how to handle the silks properly. During the break there was a little preach and  they offered some food. Then we would practice a little bit more and the program was over. It is every saturday from 3-6:30pm and I’m so excited to go back! Hopefully I can upload some photos of that soon. Last weekend I slept over at Lina’s house in Heredia and we did some bar hopping with her roommates which was really fun. The other night we went to a Club where we saw a professional Drag show which was mind blowing. There was a Drag Queen called “Laganja Estranja” and she actually participated in RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2014! (If you want to know more about her https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laganja_Estranja) But how are they so flawless and dance so well?! Honestly their energy was just so inspiring.. That weekend included lots of drinks but very little sleep which is probably why I have been kind of tired all week..but it was worth it. Yesterday Charlotte and I had some drinks in a bar with Marco and Isaac, our fellow german teachers that we assist. Okay this really sounds like I drink a lot but I promise it’s not like that! Also if you would like to see more photos you should follow my Instagram account @oceansandemotions. I post photos of all my travels on there (the link is in the right corner of my website).

I guess you could say life on the other side is pretty good right now.

//Olivia

Off we go…

So the scenario is this: I have been in Costa Rica for about a week now. Easter holidays are coming up. What am I doing? .. Where am I going? – Since Semana Santa (holy week during easter) is a one week holiday, Charlotte, Lina and I decided to go on a little adventure. Lina is also a volunteer through the Goethe-Institute but she works in a private american school, which is about an hour away from us. Charlotte had to leave the country – let me just say this: the Visa for Costa Rica was a lot of work. And it doesn’t stop when you get here. You have to leave the country every 90 days, not necessarily for a long time but you have to leave and then you can come back and stay for another 90 days. Until you have to leave again. The authorities take too long (maybe intentionally) to give you a 1 year visa. By too long I mean 2 years. Anyway there is no way around it for us as volunteers but that’s just something we gotta deal with. So we girls decided to make a small vacation out of it and go to Bocas del Toro, Panama. The islands are on the Carribean Coast north west of Panama and are a popular travel spot. The 3 of us spent friday night in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica, because we had to leave early in the morning to get to the border. We bought the tickets at the bus station but we only got seats for the 8am bus instead of the 6am one that we were planning on taking. We weren’t sure wether or not we would be able to arrive in time on the islands because the last water taxi was leaving at 6pm. We just said ‘tranquilo’ ..which translates to slowly, chill – and it’s already one of my favorite spanish words. We were stuck in traffic for quite a while as we were definitely not the only ones driving towards the coast, but we eventually made it to the border in Sixaola, CR.  We had to pay about 15$ to enter Panama, then cross a rustic bridge with our backpacks and fill out some papers. It was pretty easy. From the other side of the border we took a cab towards the dock and from there we took the last  water taxi to Isla Colon, Bocas del Toro. The following days were filled with a lot of good food, too much sun, extreme relaxation, adventure and good talks. On one day we took a tour where we were supposed to watch dolphins first but sadly we didn’t see any, then we went off to see some starfish – which we saw, afterwards we had a short snorkeling session and then we drove to this phenomenal island, with a beach that looked like it was photoshopped out of a travel catalog. For me personally that was one of the highlights on this trip. The islands was uninhabited, there were only a few other tourists and the ocean had a beautiful shimmery turquoise color. A few sunburns and beers later we we’re already on our way back. We spent 4 nights in Bocas and after crossing the border again we stopped in Puerto Viejo, CR – a small hip beachtown,  for 1 night. We wanted to stay longer but unfortunately everything was booked out! We ended our trip with a satisfying beachwalk during sunrise. I personally love sunrise walks – it’s like the calm before the storm. No lights, barely any people and the sounds of nature. We saw some vultures looking for food in the trash and heard the roar of the monkeys from the nearby jungle while walking back to our hostel. When we were in the bus going back to San Jose I started talking to the guy next to me. He kindly offered us a free uber ride to our next bus station because the last bus stop would be in the Coca Cola district of San Jose, which can be a dangerous area at night. We took up his offer and were grateful for his kindness. The 3 of us then seperated as Charlotte was going back to our home in Poás and Lina and I were going back to her place in Heredia. I spent 2 more nights at her house and we just hung out and enjoyed the last days of our break. On Sunday I finally got back home. Muchas gracias Panamá!

& thank you for reading!

Welcome!

  • Hi everyone,
  • Welcome to my blog. Or atleast ‘my attempt to write a blog’ – blog. So.. a little about this thing here.. My name is Olivia and I am currently living in Costa Rica. I am here working as a volunteer for the german Goethe-Institute. You’ve never heard of the Goethe-Institute? Well that’s okay  (I do hope you have heard of Goethe though). The GI is a non-profit German cultural association that promotes the study of German abroad and encourages international cultural exchange and relations. Totally just copied that from Wikipedia. BUT it’s a very good and general presentation of what the GI is..so why not. My volunteer position is assistant teacher, so I work at a Costa Rican school and teach german/assist the german teachers in their classes. My school is the only public school in Costa Rica that teaches German. I am working together with Charlotte who is a volunteer through the GI as well, and she has been here for half a year already. I’ve been in Costa Rica for almost a month now and I am enjoying my time here so much. I’m very thankful for Charlotte who has helped me settle into my new life and answered all my annoying questions. So you might wonder why I am doing this – or maybe you’re not, but I’m gonna tell you anyway. Anybody who knows me personally knows that I love traveling. To me it’s not a hobby, it’s a lifestyle. I want to get to know different countries, their people, their cultures, their food, their history and future. Everything. I have always wondered what life is like on the other side of the world. Be it Thailand, South Africa or Costa Rica – every single second people are living their lives in so many different ways. I have always craved adventure, the unknown lands and something inside me just tells me: go, go, go! Another reason would be my huge interest in learning languages. In high school I really enjoyed studying English and French, and I was kind of bumped that my school didn’t offer Spanish. So that’s what I’m doing here – learning spanish and teaching german. For me it’s a “Geben und Nehmen” as we would say in german, which just translates to ‘Giving and Taking’. Also I just had no idea what I wanted to study and I didn’t feel any urge to study right away.. I feel like we get out of high school and just get thrown away into this wild Jungle and while some try to find a way out, others get to know their environment first. I am taking my time in this world. I am looking around. I don’t want to rush anything, just flow through life.
  • Okay, I think this introduction has given you a glance of me as a person and what I am up to in Costa Rica. I will keep updating this blog until I forget to. Or until I don’t want to anymore.

Thank you for reading!

//Olivia