new beginnings

Listen. Grow. Learn. 
Second trimester classes began May 4.  I take 2 hours of grammar and I am with most of the students that were in my class before. Our teacher Jonesí started right where we left off last semester. Jonesí is challenging our class, since this will be the last semester for many of us.  We have already had one quiz and a test (oral and written).


For the language requirement I chose to try the FARO program, which involves going out into the community to speak with locals about specific topics. I am required to speak to 10 different people each week about a theme that I choose and then write a report about it. I meet with the facilitator for the program three times a week. During one of the meetings it is just Dixianna and me.  We go over my report and work on correcting specific errors. I am enjoying this program tremendously because it gets me out of the classroom and practicing.  I have found that those who are willing to talk with me enjoy the fact that I ask their opinion.  

ESLLast week I began teaching an ESL (English as a Second Language) class as part of a local ministry of LAM.  The classes are incredibly cheap ($4.00 for 12 classes). I am co-teaching a class of Beginner 2. We had 25 students last week so the class is going to be split so we can effectively help the students.  The students ranged in age from 8 - 55.  The classes are from 6 -8 and we have a 30 minute break. During the break fellow LAM missionaries lead a time of singing and a bible study. 

"Winter" - full of rumbles

Winter here in Costa Rica is nothing like winter in the Mid-West part of the States. In San José, the temperature is still 80 degrees everyday. It is now sunny in the mornings, but then storms late afternoon for a couple of hours. Everything is starting to turn green, which is also a difference from the winter's I have grown up with.  Today (Saturday) the storm was so strong that we were without power for 3 hours. 

Earthquakes are another type of rumbling that sometimes occurs during rainy season. On Friday, I was sitting in the living room talking with my mamá tica ( host mom ). I felt a small vibration that felt like a rumbling of a truck on the road. I looked at my mamá tica and asked her what is happening. She calmly said it was an earthquake. It began slowly and then built in intensity... the doors rattled, wires were swaying, and the floor was rolling. We just stayed where we were a waited for it to stop. 

When it finished we turned on the news to discover the earthquake was 6.0 on the rector scale. The center of the earthquake was about 20 miles from where I live. We have had 4 earthquakes since I arrived, but they were all further away from where I lived. Some of my fellow students felt the previous ones, however I didn't feel any of them. No one could ignore this one. Unfortunately, reports later showed that there was a mudslide and 13 people died.

This has been an eventful new beginning :)