Hi everybody!
Its taken me a really long time to finally make this, but I promise I'll keep it updated from now on...or at least try my best.

The district I'm in is called San Carlos and the City is Ciudad Quesada. I'm living in a house with 20 other people, mostly 18-22, but Becky and I share a room to ourselves (our group name is #75 which is the opposite of 57 if Fischy or Arielle are reading this). We get three delicious meals a day, all of which include rice, beans, and fruit. There's also two bakeries on either side of the house, which is starting to become a serious issue for most of us. At this point we've all become good friends and usually spend our afternoons together hanging out or walking around the town. Oh, and we have to throw the toilet paper in the garbage instead of the toilet paper because the plumbing is so bad.



During the week there are various optional activities for us to participate in. Twice a week I go to Spanish classes, but I'm having a hard time learning much because I keep confusing it with Hebrew. Every Thursday there is some sort of day trip, which I'll go into more detail about later. We also have different kinds of cultural activities. Things like a lecture from a historian, dance lessons, cooking lessons, discussions about current social issues, etc. I like going to some of them and I take notes because I do miss school...a little.

My placement is at an elementary school called Juan Santamaria, teaching English to 1st through 6th grade. Most of the children are Nicuraguan (we're about an hour from the border) and their fathers all work at the sugarcane factory right next to the school. Elementary School in Costa Rica is free and mandatory but the government has been cutting funding for education so the teachers have very few resources and supplies. I work with a teacher named Vielka who is twenty-two couldn't be sweeter. She studies at night and doesn't know English very well. The kids are all adorable and give me lots of hugs and kisses, they usually call me Teacher or "Ra-shel".

The hardest part of my day at school is the language barrier. Vielka wants me to do most of the teaching but she helps explain directions to the younger kids. There's a vague set of topics and words that should be covered but otherwise the curriculum has no real structure or formula. During breaks at school or in the evenings I make lesson plans and activities (i.e. handouts and teaching tools.) Its strange and difficult to suddenly have the responsibility of teaching English to 100 kids from a different country, but I like the challenge and I'm finding that I really enjoy teaching. Anyways, that's enough for now, I'll try not to make my next posts as long and boring.

I'm happier here then I ever thought I would be. Every time I do something new I get genuinely excited and I'm just really appreciative that I get to have such great experiences. Hopefully my next posts won't be cheesy either. I miss you all but not enough to come home.

-Rachel