Day One

Day One

Well today was a long challenging day. I woke up to find that the water had in fact started working and I enjoyed a hot shower with great water pressure. Then I went to open my curtain to let in the sun, and the entire curtain rod promptly fell off the wall and onto the floor. When I tried to place it back into the hooks, it surprised me that the pole was too short to reach both hooks. I gave up and put on a royal blue dress. I applied sunblock to my face and shoulders and set out into the tropical weather. I arrived at the language center about half an hour before orientation and eagerly caught up with my boyfriend.
Orientation consisted of general tips for life in Costa Rica as well as guidelines for the progression of the course. There are about twenty of us in the class and we went around introducing ourselves. Most of the students recently graduated from college although a few are about ten years out. We played a game where every person in the room asks each person in the room a yes or no question, in order to learn about each other. There are two couples, one just got married and the other has been hitchhiking through central America. There is one young man from the UK who moved here to be with his Costa Rican girlfriend. One man is from Australia but other than those two the rest are American. It is an eclectic bunch of people about half of whom are planning to stay and teach English in Latin America.
After the in class orientation with the annoyingly peppy teacher, we went on a walking tour of the neighborhood. This was not a practical endeavor as twenty people cannot all hear the tour guide on a busy city street with cars and buses constantly going by. I used the time to chat with some of my new peers and found I liked some that I had not initially been interested in and that others who had seemed intriguing were in fact, dull. We ended the tour at the second Maximo Nivel office and bought our books for the course. We already had been assigned homework and the thought of stressing out over a one month class in central America was unappealing.
A group of eight of us decided to go for sushi for lunch. I would have preferred some local food but I figured it was practical to get to know some of my new classmates.
During lunch we learned more about each others previous travels or lack there of. We discussed the usefulness of the couch surfing network where travelers can stay for free with locals. The lunch was overall appealing and farely affordable. The fact that they do not bring the check until it is specifically asked for is indicative of the difference in lifestyle. Here it is expected for a group to leisurely chat after eating and there is no hurry to churn customers out of a restaurant.
After lunch a few of us went to exchange dollars into colones and then I went to the Maximo Nivel office one which is right near my apartment. I signed online and waited for certain people to sign on. My computer battery was losing charge and my charger was inconveniently not working. I grew more frustrated and nervous as it got dark outside around 5:30. I bought a phone card after overhearing a former TEFL student ask for one. I was feeling stressed out and overwhelmed by the new people the apparent cliques which were forming, the constant vigilance triggered by feeling like everyone is going to rob you and the lack of internet or cell phone. When I arrived home I realized that the phone did not work so my master plan of getting in touch through a phone card was dashed. My roommate also the pointed out that five dollars for twenty minutes of talk time was not a good deal.
Exasperated I decided to go out just to get my mind of the frustrations. I had a nice dinner with three of the guys from my program and then went to the local street where all of the bars are. We met up with numerous peers from both the current and earlier TEFL groups at Caccios Bar. Their specialty was Olaffos, a giant oversize mug of beer which can be turned green with food coloring for an extra price. I shared a few and had enough of a headache to call it a night. I hung out with Leon, the Australian, and chatted while getting some fresh air in front of the bar. He walked me home and I got in safely.