English Class at the Tutoring Center

My friend and co-worker Diego approached me several months back about the idea of teaching an English class for some of the guys from his soccer team.  I had gone to a few of their indoor games and on the beach trip with them over the summer, and apparently after that they shared with him that Tara is "tuanis" and "pura vida," which both, essentially, mean "a cool person."  And because they know I'm a teacher and work in Los Guido at the Tutoring Center, they wanted me to help them with English so they could better communicate with our teams from the States and also to just be able to actually use English rather than the little practice they get with it in their schooling.  I have never taught English to teenage boys before, but because I have a heart for Los Guido and the kids and youth that live there, and because I enjoy teaching English, I agreed!  

I am happy to say that I know have two weeks of English classes under my belt and it's been a lot of fun!  We meet in the tutoring center for a little over an hour on Tuesday afternoons after my tutoring students have gone home and the boys have gotten out of school.  The first week we did a few activities where they got to know me a little bit and I also got to know them.  I also had them do a little questionnaire for me to let me know what kinds of things they would like to talk about and learn about in our class.  Overwhelmingly they told me that want to talk about 80s music (and music in general), soccer, food and their families.  Easy enough.  However, if you know me very well, you probably know that 80s music is NOT my favorite decade to choose from.  I will admit that there are some good songs though, so I'm willing to give it a shot.  :)

This past week I went with an 80s artist that we all know and love, Jon Bon Jovi.  We first talked about rock stars and what kinds of things we thought that they ate, how they traveled, etc.  Then we learned a bit about Bon Jovi's daily routine by reading a passage about him.  Then we learned some vocabulary words from "Livin' on a Prayer" and sang it with the words afterwards.  Of course, we also had to watch the music video to the song too.  The guys seemed to be really excited to learn about a singer that they had heard before and liked, and it was a great way for me to get them to read, listen, talk about and learn in English.  We ended the class by reading Psalm 55:1 together and talking about praying to God about whatever is on our mind and hearts.  The homework for the week is to memorize this verse and be able to say it for me next week.  We'll see how it goes! :)

Here are some pics from our class this past week:

Asking my students to tell me what they think rock stars do.

Sentence frames for my students to say in English

Reading about Bon Jovi.  It is our dream to have a pull down screen to use with the projector in the Tutoring Center.  :)

Reading about Jon Bon Jovi

Filling in the missing lyrics to the song

English class week 2!

  

6 months later

Last week marked my 6 month in Costa Rica so I figured I'd write a list of things that are part of my life now that weren't 6 months ago:
There are 4-5 men I say hello to daily on my walk home, most of them my dad's age or older
I'm proficient at cutting both a fresh pineapple and fresh mangoes
I sometimes forget a word in English and can only think of it in Spanish
I've tried surfing and would consider trying it again in the future
Have not driven a car in over 6 months
Can give (simple) directions to a person in my neighborhood if it is asked of me
Know which grocery store to go to to buy Dr. Pepper
Carry tissues and hand sanitizer with me at all times because you just never know
Am no longer frightened by cockroaches and calmly get the Raid can whenever they show their nasty little faces
And I have never once gotten lost despite my fears and request for prayers regarding my (lack of) direction and spatial intelligence. Hopefully that won't change when I get a car!

We'll see what changes are ahead in the next 6 months!

The time my parents came to visit

This past week has been one of the most eventful weeks of my time here.  As most of you have probably heard, we had a pretty significant earthquake last Wednesday here in Costa Rica.  I was running a bit late that morning and so I left the house around 8:35am and soon saw the gates surrounding my neighbor's home shaking pretty violently.  At first I thought it was the children being silly and pulling on the gates, but I soon realized that the ground below me was shaking as well.  Not realizing that it was an earthquake, I continued walking for a few seconds and then got enough sense to STOP walking until it stopped.  I think the whole thing lasted about 40 seconds or so.  The rest of my walk to the bus stop was very interesting as I passed a school where all the children where outside in their duck and cover positions, and many a mom was running towards the school with concerned looks.  I had a few of my neighbors ask me if I was ok and I let one man know that "I'm from California so I've experienced an earthquake before."  When I got to work, Jose informed me that the epicenter was in the Guanacaste region, which is several hours away from us here in Desamparados area, but that there had been damage there and it had been a significant quake.  A very interesting day to start the morning and the students were talking about it all day long.

That evening, I took two buses from my home to the international airport to pick up my mom and dad!!  I was so very excited to see their smiling faces and to get big hugs from them.  We went to the rental car place and got their car for the week (along with a GPS) and made our way to my home.  After catching up a bit, we went to sleep to be ready for work in the morning.  

The classic long-arm shot in my kitchen when they first got here. 

Thursday morning mom and dad came to the tutoring center with me.  Even though they had rented a car, I wanted them to walk with me to the bus stop and ride the bus so they could experience a bit of what my everyday life looks like. 

Walking in my neighborhood

Waiting for the bus

Dad and mom were super helpful with labeling books, putting pictures from the summer in frames to be displayed, cutting things apart, and helping with both English and math with the students.  It was fun to see them interact with my students, and I got a lot of "you look like each other" comments from my kiddos.  

At lunch time I wanted mom and dad to see a bit of my neighborhood, so we went for a walk.  Come to find out when we returned that I had brought my home keys instead of the tutoring keys with me, and Jose had also left his keys inside because I had told him I had keys.  :(  Almost 2 hours later, Jose was able to track down some co-workers who had keys to the Center and we came back in for a few hours of tutoring and art in the afternoon.  We had a great time of practicing math facts, English, and just talking while we were "stranded" outside.

Playing games together out on the sidewalk

Practicing English

One of my kiddos in her school uniform

Beautiful day in Los Guido

Friday morning we came back to the tutoring center and Mom helped me with Girls' Club while Dad helped two of my co-workers with a repair in the tutoring center.  We left at lunch time to do some exploring of San Jose before the soccer game in the evening.

Frappuccinos en Plaza de la Cultura

In front of the National Theatre

Cailah joined us for the soccer game between Mexico and Costa Rica.  Our team lost but we sure had a great time!

Saturday morning we headed out for Monteverde for the next few days and had a fabulous time.  Rather than describe everything in great detail, I will post a selection of our adventures together and write a brief description of each.  :)

Even though I look kind of grumpy, I loved the beautiful scenery outside our hotel balcony.

Ready for our "night hike" in the rain

Going zip lining!

My adventurous parents

So relaxed in the middle of the cloud forest

Walking through the forest on the hanging bridges

The hanging bridges were a fabulous way to take in the gorgeous cloud forest

Exploring Monteverde Biological Reserve with our guide, Giovanni

Sweet little waterfall named "Tobacco Spit" in Spanish.  Too pretty for that name in my opinion

So beautiful it's almost unreal

Checking out the coffee plantation at the Don Juan coffee farm

Beautiful sunset over the cloud forest

We got back to my home on Tuesday afternoon and my parents were so sweet by helping me clean around my house and out in our garden area.  Then they headed out to go to a hotel for the night before taking an early flight on Wednesday morning.  What a blessing to have them here with me for a week, both to get to experience my life as an SI staff member in Desamparados and also to enjoy some of the most beautiful places the country has to offer.  Can't wait for them to come back in the future.  :)

Club de Muchachas

Yesterday was the first day that I didn't have any team members of Intern Rebekah or fellow staff member Tracey with me at girls' club.  To be honest, I was a bit nervous because I'm still very much a learner of the Spanish language and get a bit flustered trying to communicate at times.  When I sat down to really think about what I wanted to do with the girls, I realized that I hadn't ever shared with them much at me- my heart from my family, friends, Spanish, for them, God, etc.  We spend each week talking about them and for sure I've shared some things here and there about myself, but not so much from my heart. 

I decided to talk to them about deciding to come here and how I'm content and happy to be here working with them and building relationships with them, but that at times, it is difficult and I miss all the people I love back in the States.  We talked about John 14 where Jesus is telling the disciples he is going to leave soon but that he will leave a helper, the Holy Spirit, to be with them at all times.  I shared with the girls that it's ok and even good to miss people that we love, and I know they can relate to this because they get to know team members and staff members who come and go, and that's hard on their hearts at times.  Some of the girls also have experienced having family members leave for a multitude of different reasons.  They didn't share very much about what they were thinking on this topic, but I could tell they were really listening and there were some tears that I saw slip down their cheeks as well.  I hope that as I am able to open up and be honest with them about my heart and what the Lord is teaching me, we can continue to build on our relationships and they will open up to me too.

We continued the theme of the morning by making homemade cards for people we love.  I absolutely LOVE being creative in this way and it was really fun sitting and laughing and giving ideas to these young ladies as they made their cards.  Lots of glue, ribbon, scrapbook paper, buttons  and lace were everywhere, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  :)

Kristtel and Wendy, two of my special girls

"Te quiero mucho" is what it is supposed to say, so sweet :)

Yuriely's "Barbie-like" drawing of me

Lately

I've been here over 5 months now and sometimes it feels like longer and sometimes like it has been only a brief time.  I try to make this blog about my journey and the adventure that God has me on, and I would be lying to say that every day is full of excitement and sunshine.  Sometimes it resembles more closely the rain that is literally falling from the sky as I type this.  I guess in order to keep it real, I thought I would name some of the things and people that I have been missing lately.

Dad and Mom, Peter Toni and Baby Kate, and Aaron

My grandparents, especially Grandpa Roger who is with Jesus

Visalia and all the friends that are there

Neighborhood Church, especially the youth group students

California in general and friends spread out from San Diego up to Manteca

Target, WinCo, Healthy Japan and Chipotle

My Mazda

Malaga School and my "family" there

I knew coming here that I was leaving all of these special people and places behind, and I am so thankful for the Internet as a way to keep in communication quite easily most days, but that doesn't mean that I don't wish some days I had my girlfriends to go to dinner with or could go over and hold my niece.  I'd ask that you'd pray for me in this, that I would continue to feel the Lord's peace and contentment on a daily basis.  And also that I would continue to grow and strenghten the relationships that I'm building here, with my fellow SI teammates and with the kids that I work with in Los Guido.  I also pray that God would bring new friends into my life that I could spend time with and invest in as well.

On the flipside, we had an SI family dinner at my house last night and had a great time together!  I am thankful for what a fun and godly group of people they are.  Here are a few pictures from our "stripes" themed party.

The Least of These

Today was a difficult day for me emotionally.  Some days it hits me more than others, and today was one of those days.  I would like to share my journal entry from the morning and some of the other related thoughts I had today.

 

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40

This verse comes to mind as I sit up here on my window sill and watch a man digging through trash and bags of clothes that my neighbors have discarded on this trash pick up day.  What has happened in his life that brought him to this place, to be a trash digger?  It makes me sad, and yet I am reminded that he is your child as much as I am your child.  My kids at the tutoring center may or may not come from similar homes- I've seen where some of them live and it is hard to take in- but they are your children just like me.  I wonder if this mans feels valued by you, knows your love for him?  What could I do for him that wouldn't be something that would just make me feel better?  I don't have an answer for that.  

I am grateful for my chance to be here for this chapter of my life, to invest in some of the children that the world may overlook or forget about.  Desamparados, the city where I live, literally means "the forgotten ones" in Spanish.  That is not true though, they are not forgotten, and you, Lord, know that more than anyone else.  Jesus, give me your eyes to see your children as you do and to know you love them just as you love me.

I was further reminded of this as I saw a mom with an infant on the bus today.  No fancy baby toys or stroller or anything at all really, but just the love she had for her newborn child.  The man that I saw with the prosthetic leg as I got off the bus.  I could easily look at him and feel bad for him, but he was smiling and appeared to be loving the sun shining and talking with his friends.  And then there's my friend from Los Guido who is 15 and in 5th grade for the third time.  What do I have in common with this young woman and how can I show her that she is valued and precious?  I'm thankful that I am going to be here for the next few years so that I will have time to invest in her and continue to remind her every time I see her that God loves her and I do too.  

It is not easy seeing people who seem to be "forgotten" by society or social norms or what have you, but Jesus loves them so very much.  I'm thankful that he showed me a little glimpse of that today.

Two worlds collide

Since I moved here in March, everyone (with the exception of two of our summer interns) have been new friends and co-workers to get to know.  That means having to start from the beginning when it comes to sharing about myself and learning about them.  I've been able to keep in touch okay with friends and family from home, but it's just not the same as having loved ones here in the same place with me.

This past short term team that was here was the high schoolers from my home church, Neighborhood Church, in Visalia, along with three of my dear friends as leaders of the team.  What a crazy feeling to see all these familiar faces at the airport when I went to meet them!  The team was made up of 29 of them, with 11 of the students being my senior girls that I've known, loved, mentored, and lived life with since they were seventh graders.  Needless to say, it was a very special time to have them here with me for two weeks.

One of the highlights for me was to have co-leader and dear friend Jessica and our senior girls over to my house here in Desamparados for dinner and games.  I have missed spending time with them and hearing about their lives, and so I cherished the laughs we shared that evening.  I tried to make the most of walks to the bus stop, riding on the bus, lunch breaks, trip to the beach, etc. to connect with my girls as well as with the other students from Neighborhood.  To be honest, at times it was difficult for me emotionally because I really wanted to have special, meaningful time with all of them, and this was hard amidst the business of working and after work responsibilities.  But, at the end of the day, I am so thankful that they were here and got to be a part of my new life in Costa Rica.  It was really hard to say goodbye (for the second time) but this time I know that it will be Christmas vacation in a few short months and I'll be able to see them again.

Here are some highlights of my time spent with loved ones from Visalia:

Stephanie, who wasn't on the Costa Rica team, but was on the Peru team, so I got to see her while she had a layover in Costa Rica! :)

Dear friends Jessica and Noel who got to work with me everyday in the Tutoring Center.

My two senior girls Alisha and Alexis who were with me at the tutoring center.

Trying coffee at culture night

The Tutoring Center crew taking a walk around Los Guido

Loving the tres leches cake with Britley and Arianna

I loved seeing my sweet little blond friend Cecelia Grace Haynes again!

Senior girls dinner at my house

Some of my girls and I enjoying the beach together

The girls in the morning before we headed out to ministry sites

The entire Neighborhood Church team and Students International staff