Sunshine has been MIA while it has been raining for the past week straight. It turns out the sun just wanted to use its "raincheck"...
(that pun goes out to my ladies of 324 Marsh St.!)
Even in all this rain, Costa Rica remains top of my list as far as beautiful life experiences thus far. Every day Kayla and I wake up (a little too late sometimes), give each other "that look" like 2 seconds passed from the time we fell asleep, and wait for the "Muchachasssssss" call from Mamí to come to the kitchen table for desayuno (breakfast). Then it's quickly brush the teeth and cruise to school to be greeted by our happy, smiley children :)
I get the same uncontrollable happiness when I first see one of my students running down the corridor to greet me with a big hug every morning. Usually it is my little skinny Antonio with a big grin on his face, popping out from nowhere to hang on my side the whole walk to class. In all honestly, learning about and teaching in school here has been challenging in many ways, but when I look at my students I am reminded completely that they are who I'm here for. No matter how many times I feel disheartened or discouraged, there's nothing I want to do more than to encourage them, laugh with them, and see them thrive.
The more I learn about who my students are as individuals, the more I am attached to them. In some of my students' cases family life is inevitably not enriching and it breaks my heart what I've learned while being here with them. Out of respect I will not detail the hard and trivial experiences some of these students live with, but will rather focus on who they are despite not being given what they deserve and need.
For a few examples...
-Seeing the squeal and wide grin from my little José Alberto, the quietest student in class, when he basically "schooled" every one of his classmates in an around the world game of math problems
-My sweet Gerson, who begs to be given extra math problems with a big smile on his face once he is done with other work.
-Then there's my oldest student, Ricardo, who I catch him always sharing his small amount of colored pencils with other students or cleaning things up.
-Nissi, who loves everyone, I mean everyone...and has the demeanor of a mature adult.
-Yeudy, who insists his name is spelt "Yeudi" even after conversing long and hard with Profesora Saira about how his formal documents say otherwise (I can't help but chuckle about this), is a pro puzzle builder. He is the first one I see at recess coming up to me yelling, "Profe!!!? Rompecabeza!?"
-Kener and Josmiar, my suave dancers.
-Sebastian, who will someday I swear, be a fúbolista (soccer player) just like he dreams of. When walking home from school he is always waiting in his soccer gear to say hi.
Needless to say, there's a lot to each of my 28 students and I don't know how I am going to say goodbye to them in just a few short weeks.
I got the great experience of observing some of the special education teachers today, which was really great. I love the special education teachers, they are very friendly and I can see how a lot of the students thrive under their direction. Also, I believe that every child needs that individual attention.
Once the school day ends, Kayla and I make the walk home, reflecting on the way. Before we make it too far we run into a lot of our students in their homes since they live so close. It's a beautiful thing.
In other news...this past weekend was really relaxing. On Saturday Kayla and I went to the home of one of my students to help with some English home and on Sunday we had a family visit (Kevin, Sandra, Sandra's father, and their daughter Kiyanni) complete with famous Rice and Bean, and fort-making with the little ones :)
The weekend best this last, Kayla and I went on another adventure with Xiomara to a rainforest near Guácimo. It was absolutely breath-taking.
Hasta Luego, Amigos!
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