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