May 17th Essay

Here's an essay that I wrote on May 17th, 2010 about my experience in Costa Rica up to that point:

When I arrived in Palo Verde to begin my year as a WorldTeach volunteer, several conflicting emotions ran through me—excitement, fear, anxiety, determination, uncertainty. I had visited for one night a week earlier during orientation to drop off a bag and to get my mind wrapped around where exactly I will be living for the next year. As before, I catch the only bus in Cartago that goes to my town and sit anxiously for the next 30 minutes or so, until the bus turns off the highway and makes its way, very slowly, down the mountainside. I again feel as though the bus is going to slide right off the mountain, but the driver competently maneuvers the vehicle down the winding road until we stop at Palo Verde. I awkwardly carry my excessive amounts of luggage off the bus and carefully make my way down the steep dirt road that leads to my house. I pass two other houses on the way, several cows that stare at me suspiciously, and quickly acquire a small parade of dogs behind me. As I walk up to the front of the house, my host mom, 9-year-old brother, and 5-year-old sister are anxiously waiting for me. I greet them all with a kiss on the cheek and then they show me to my room to unload my luggage. I glance around me at my new house. It’s very small and simple, but so much better than I had originally imagined. My house is well-built and clean. There are three bedrooms, a kitchen, a small living space, and one bathroom with warm water. From my windows, a seemingly endless expanse of mountainside stretches out before me with more green than I have ever seen.

My first few weeks in Palo Verde seemed to pass quickly. I took advantage of the first couple of days to get to know my new family and town and prepare for the first week of school. My first week of teaching went surprisingly well. Although I had been told that schools in Costa Rica often begin slowly and then trickle out towards the end of the year, I began teaching 80-minute classes the second day. I wake up at 5:00 every morning to shower before the rest of my family, as five of us share one bathroom, and arrive at school around 6:45 to begin teaching at 7:00. I teach the five 3rd- and 4th-graders from 7:00 - 8:20, at which time we then have a morning snack. From 8:40 – 10:00, I teach the six 5th- and 6th-graders, and from 10:00 – 11:00, I teach the three Kindergarteners. At 11:00 we eat lunch, and then I teach my last class of the day, my five 1st-graders, from 11:40 – 1:00 p.m. Especially during those first few weeks, I left the school around 2:30 everyday absolutely exhausted. However, as my mind and my body began to adjust to my new environment and the new language surrounding me, I became less and less tired and able to use my afternoons to take long walks up and down the mountainside and enjoy the beautiful scenery around me.

Palo Verde is a small town of about 100 people in the province of Cartago. It is literally on the side of a mountain and overlooks the valleys below and the mountains in the distance. There is a river that runs past the bottom of the mountain that I often walk to in the afternoons. I can walk down the dirt road that runs past Palo Verde and arrive in about 45 minutes at the neighboring town, where there is a small internet café, a little supermarket to buy basic food items, and a pulpería. At the center of Palo Verde, as in all Costa Rican towns, there is a soccer field and a Catholic church. The weather is often cool in the mornings and at night, but it can get quite warm in the early afternoons. It rains often, sometimes for a week or more at a time.

The most amazing thing I have learned about Costa Rica thus far is how generous and friendly the people are here. It no longer surprises me when I meet someone for the first time and within minutes they are giving me their phone number and telling me that “their house is my house.” The other day I was sitting on the bus waiting to go back to Palo Verde, when I started talking to a woman from a nearby town who I had just met. She excused herself and ran off the bus, to arrive a few minutes later with an ice cream cone for me. My neighbor recently took me to her mother’s house in a nearby city, and immediately they told me I was more than welcome to come stay at their house whenever I wanted to. People I just meet are often going out of their way to help me. Although teaching in Costa Rica has been difficult at times, it is the generosity and kindness of Costa Ricans that often make it worthwhile. I work everyday to give back to the Costa Ricans in my town even a fraction of what they have taught me in these past few months.