Adios, CPI

The other day I realized that this is my fourth season working at the school. It doesn't seem like it has been that long, but I sure have grown up a lot since first coming back in 2008 as a student and starting to work with groups in 2009.
My first trip to Costa Rica with my university will forever and always be an important and life changing experience, when I fell in love with this country and the Spanish language even more.
I will always remember fondly my training week with Gerry, Jessica and Maria as we travelled between the schools and locations preparing for the upcoming season. Although it seems that no matter what you do to help prepare someone for a job or task, there are always unexpected details and situations that you are challenged with...! I know there are many more things I learned along the way, rather than learning during training week.
The time I have spent here and conversations I have had have made all the difference in my language skills. Truly I am an example of the powers of an immersion experience, after living here and picking up Spanish in a way not possible in the USA (hmm, if I lived in an area with more of a Latino population that might be a different story). But I have been immersed in Tico culture, and while I am still learning I am confident in saying that I have most of the ins and outs down.

I have met so many people here...students, co-workers, chofers, taxistas, Familias Ticas, hotel and restaurant staff, tour guides, pharmacists, professors, etc. The opportunities I have had to travel and meet people just really amaze me, looking back and thinking of all the places I have been. So much of the country and so many tours I have gone on have been through CPI and part of my job...! What a cool job!

These last few weeks and helping to train new chaperones has really made me realize how much I know, how much I can do and handle. I think CPI is starting to realize it as well, how much they will miss me...
Right now I am not sure when I will return to Costa Rica after this trip back to the USA, but I know without a doubt that I will be back.

I never ever could have imagined the path my life has taken, after graduating and moving down here for a year. In a short amount of time so much has changed, my life took an unexpected turn. I fell in love, married, applied for residency, settled in. Never did I think things would work out this way...! But I cannot say that I am unhappy, or bored. My life is fulfilling in so many ways that I never could have imagined.

Included here is a picture of Jessica and Muni and myself, the only three who are still here from four seasons ago when I first began.

Going to miss these girls! Going to miss Costa Rica, and going to miss CPI...but I can't honestly say that I will miss the insanity of high season!

Pura Vida

last day of school!

My Daytonions are all sitting in their last Spanish class, and I am all set for graduation later with my slideshow and certificates.
It has been a great group on the whole, and this afternoon we are celebrating with a snorkel cruise out of Tamarindo...! It is one of the more fun and beautiful tours to do here in Playa Flamingo, and I know they are all looking forward to it.

Yesterday I DID go to the beach after all! While I was lunching two of my girls came up to me and excitedly shared that they had spoken with my boss, that it was ok for me to go.When I asked them who they had spoken with, it turns out they had asked the Assistant Manager of the school...who is not my boss! My boss is in Monteverde, I told them. They left with determined faces...moments later I got a phone call from the Groups Office in Monteverde, with a co-worker asking why she was getting calls from CPI Flamingo about me going to the beach, and who is this student from my group on the other line, why is she calling?? And then I was told to go, just go!
So I went to the beach. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and lots of my girls were laying out tanning, and everyone was in and out of the water, hoping over waves and getting their feet wet to cool off. I came back to the office a littel early, just to wrap up a few details for today, and then went home. Last night I treated my homestay family to gelato, how delicious...I have actually gone to get gelato every evening this week. Thinking next week I will have to go on a diet, haha! Or my shorts won't fit the same the rest of the summer.

In half an hour I finish up my week here at CPI Flamingo...ADIOS!


Pura Vida

sunshine on the window...

As the days go by, I am more and more excited to finish up working.

Today the sun is shining outside, it is a beautful bright day at the beach, and I am indoors. The last few days my group has been asking me to go with them to the beach, asking why I don't go with them. After all, my job is to go with the group, right? Nothing doing! I am not permitted to go to the beach with my group, instead I stay in the groups office and wait to for them to send me tasks to do...! It is really frustrating, on top of having to deal with the staff here. I have not had the best of interactions with them, and I am just excited to get away!

They have asked me to stay until Tuesday the 19th, to help train a few more chaperones... I have agreed. Once I am gone, I think they will have a hard time replacing me and I get the impression that they are starting to realize that...!

I wish I could go soak up the sun outside. Soon enough, soon enough!

Pura Vida!

last week!

UD has just one more week of class here at CPI Flamingo. I am excited to be here at the beach, but being inside most of the day I do not have much of an opportunity to bronze...! Oh how I envy my students, as they have a lot more free time and have the chance to go and enjoy the beach and hear the waves, the whole beautiful Guanacaste experience.
Today I am not in the best of moods, as I was kicked out of the groups office so my professor could work there. I understand that he needs a workspace, but being told that I have to vacate my space without so much as an if-you-please really bugs the crap out of me. Again I am reminded of why CPI Flamingo remains my least favorite campus...! And it is not because of the location.

I will finish working on June 18th, and on that day I am pretty sure I will be in Heredia. It is sad but also a relief to know I will be leaving. The last two weeks being in Monteverde and being in close contact with the Groups office, I think they are starting to realize how much will change when I go. This last weekend I played mini-mission control for my new co-workers, as they called to talk with me about getting a chofer's cell phone number and how a airport drop-off will typically go. Who will they call when I am gone??

But there are other things that make me excited to leave...right now I am observing a conversation of a young girl on the phone with her father in the USA, and it seems that she is desperately home-sick. That is not something I will miss having to deal with. Nor the one, outrageous and annoying personality in my group right  now, the one girl I cannot stand being around. The other day I realized that this is my 4th season working, and I have seen a lot of things happen and met a lot of people and seen a lot of this amazing country.
I live in a paradise, but work is not always a breeze...

Still looking very much forward to flying back to good old Ohio, and having my esposo with me.


Pura Vida!

Adios, May...Hola, June.

How is it already June 6th? It seems like the entire month of May just tiptoed behind my back for 31 days and dissapeared...! June marks the start of summer in the USA and of winter here in CR, and I am excited to go back to the USA and experience a nice hot summer, vacation with my family and work on my tan.

This is my 3rd week with the UD group and it has been a great experience. All of the students are good solid UD kids, in the sense that they remind me of how much fun my college years were and chatting with them brings back all kinds of good memories, as well as boosting my mood. Yesterday they offered to go get me lunch..! And over the weekend they went on a trip to the beach and told me that it wasn't the same without me. Just such a genuinely nice bunch! Of course there are always a few bumps along the way with any group, and not everyone's personalities mesh 100% of the time. But on the whole it has been a lot, a LOT of fun with UD!

Next week I am unsure of what I will be doing. There are some new chaperones that I may have to train, but I know the professor of the UD group won't like that I am leaving...just be flexible. Hopefully I will know before we leave Saturday for the weekend tour!

Already thinking of what I need to pack to go back to the USA. Things for summer season, work clothes, maybe even fall/winter things? Still not sure of how long we will stay...just know I am glad to make the trip.

Pura Vida!