From Training to Liberia to a Little Dose of Culture Shock!!!

On Thursday morning, I arrived at the Aliarse office nervous for two reasons: I was presenting my first English lesson and I was leaving the comfort of San Jose and Kristi to go to my new home in Liberia.


My English lesson that morning actually went really well.  My students were energetic and seemed to have a good time, and I think I legitimately taught them something new.  That’s not to say I don’t have a lot of room to grow as a teacher!  Again, my hat is off to teachers in general!  It is WAY harder than it looks!  Not only are you just trying to impart information, you are also thinking about a million other things at the same time (like if/when you should be doing error correction, if your lesson is on time, if your students are speaking enough, etc., etc., etc.).  Muy dificíl, but still pretty fun!

After my lesson and after lunch, Esteban came to pick me up at the Aliarse office to take me to my casa in Liberia.  While I’m in Liberia, I will be teaching English lessons through the local Chamber of Tourism, and Esteban works for the Chamber.  His English is already very good, though he’s still at an intermediate/upper intermediate level.  But let’s put it in perspective: his English is way better than my Spanish!  And it turns out he will be one of my students this semester.  The car ride to the new house was about 3.5-4 hours long, but it went by pretty quickly since Costa Rica is so beautiful.  The time flies when you have lots of cool stuff to look at while on the road.  When we were about 15-20 minutes away from Liberia, the sky opened up and just poured rain on us.  It was a huge thunderstorm and the lightning was striking so close!  It was super crazy to drive in but super cool too!!!  A lot of the streets were kind of close to flooding and it was just nuts!!


When we finally found my house, I was welcomed with open arms!  The house is small but very cute and clean.  The family is comprised of Nieves (the mom, who just had her 60^th birthday last Sunday), Don Hernán (I learned that in Central American countries, it’s customary to refer to the man of the house as Don “so and so” as a sign of respect), their daughter Elba and her husband Luis Gerardo (who live in a little room/house in the backyard), and Elba and Luis’ son Luis ­­­Enrique.  Nieves' nephew, César, also lives with the family, and has been here for about three years (the whole family is actually from Nicaragua, but Nieves and Don Hernán have been in CR for like thirty years or so).  César is also pretty good at English, which turned out to be AMAZING!  It really helped to have someone who could do a little translating as we were all getting to know each other!


You all know I’ve been so so so excited for this trip, but I’m not going to lie, walking in to a new home, in a new country, and meeting a family full of people that are talking at you in a language you don’t really understand is, to be blunt, kind of terrifying.  It was like being inundated with language and culture all at once, and I can only liken it to literally jumping into a pool head first.  It was like drowning in foreign-ness, in all senses of the word.  That being said, the family is soooo incredibly nice and understanding.  I definitely think I’m going to enjoy my time here, but it’s definitely going to take some getting used to!


This morning (Friday/day #2 in Liberia), I wasn’t feeling all that well because of nerves or whatever, and Nievas was making this gigantic breakfast, and I wasn’t really feeling hungry (more like nauseous), and so in the end, I straight ended up crying a little bit at the breakfast table.  Yep, I’m that girl.  Again, those of you who know me know that when I feel extremely overwhelmed (or angry), I tend to cry, so yep, that’s what happened.  Fortunately, only Nieves and Elba were around and they totally got it.  I was “nervous and nostalgic” is the rough translation, which really more or less got to the heart of what I was feeling.


Fortunately the rest of the day went a lot better.  Nieves took me down to a local store to buy a cheapie little phone so I could put a “pay as you go” chip in it.  While that whole process was actually a little traumatizing, it all worked out well, and I feel better now that I’m “connected.”  I was able to call my family and talk to my mom for the first time since arriving in Liberia, which was a much needed conversation.  Now we can call each other whenever, which is so totally awesome…we are no longer constrained by whether or not I have internet access!  Woo Hoo!!!


The other big thing that happened today is that I met Martha who is my contact at the Chamber of Tourism.  She and Esteban picked me up to take me to the Chamber’s office and showed me my desk, etc. (Yea, I’m so legit, I have a desk!  Woot Woot!).  The best things about the office = free wifi and air conditioning!!!  Did I mention that Liberia is CRAZY FREAKING HOT!?!?!?!  That’s another thing I’m getting used to!  (They only have cold water in the shower here, but that’s freaking awesome.  I totes didn’t want to get out of the shower this morning it’s so hot here! Hahaha)!  So anyway, air conditioning is super amazeballs!


All in all, today was an adjustment day.  It started out a little rocky, but now that I have my phone (it’s like a safety net!) and I know what I’ll be doing here, I’m feeling a lot better.  I have a roster of about 55 students (including Martha, Esteban and some other ladies in the Chamber office!), and I know I’m starting “evaluation interviews” on Monday, so I’m feeling a lot better.  Esteban is coming to pick me up tomorrow at 9am to show me around Liberia, so I won’t get lost on my first day of work (I’m riding a bike, which is being provided for me-yay!).  Hopefully my next post will have more pictures and fewer words for you all!  xoxoxo