This is a Costa Rican saying I learned in class one day last week. It translates to “Practice makes the teacher,” and it came up in a conversation about how the best and most meaningful learning comes though practice and experience. This is something I have always believed in and hope to use as a driving force in my teaching in the future, but I’ve been realizing its truth here beyond academic settings more and more every day. A clear example would be how quickly I’m coming to be able to communicate with my family in Spanish; practicing all day every day definitely does the trick for learning a language! I’ve also learned that being with people is the main way I pass my time. It’s been strange here not having a stable group of friends, since people come to and go from CPI every week and the other CEC interns don’t arrive for another two weeks. I’ve been able to befriend people to go on hikes and things, but it’s odd to know how temporary it is. I’ve realized I’m not one to want to go exploring on my own, because the part of exploring that is fun for me is sharing it with other people.
Another not exactly direct example comes from a conversation I had last week with my afternoon Spanish teacher, José. We were talking about the importance of family in both of our lives and up came the topic of homesickness. He had a lot of really interesting things to say about it, and we ended up having a conversation that gave me a completely new perspective on this experience of being in a new place by myself. Basically: It is a beautiful thing to feel homesick because that feeling of missing is proof of how much you love your family and friends and how important they are to you. It proves to you your ties to the places and people that make you who you are, and it shows you the strength of these ties, pulling at you even from afar. I was walking home after this conversation and stopped to check out this Macrobiotics store, which sells some pottery (from an artist who is all about recycled materials and ceramics, and for whom I might be volunteering in the future…), natural medicines, and natural peanut butter (!!). Outside, there was a sign expressing “Tips for Beauty.” So applicable to my earlier conversation, the last tip read, translated, “For good posture, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.” So even though this experience of being away from home and most of what is familiar to me has been strange and uncomfortable at times (but overwhelmingly positive, exciting, and happy!), I feel like I’ve got a new perspective on any loneliness and homesickness I might feel. I’ve been missing you all terribly, and I’ve so appreciated all the Skype conversation and emails you’ve all sent to check up on me and let me know what’s going on in your lives. Keep them coming!
Now for some highlights from my past two weeks:
I hope all is well with everyone! And to those of you who are at Swat, I hope the first week back was fun!
Lots and lots of love <3
p.s. I promise in the future I’ll try not to write such novels! I’ve never really been one for concise writing…
Another not exactly direct example comes from a conversation I had last week with my afternoon Spanish teacher, José. We were talking about the importance of family in both of our lives and up came the topic of homesickness. He had a lot of really interesting things to say about it, and we ended up having a conversation that gave me a completely new perspective on this experience of being in a new place by myself. Basically: It is a beautiful thing to feel homesick because that feeling of missing is proof of how much you love your family and friends and how important they are to you. It proves to you your ties to the places and people that make you who you are, and it shows you the strength of these ties, pulling at you even from afar. I was walking home after this conversation and stopped to check out this Macrobiotics store, which sells some pottery (from an artist who is all about recycled materials and ceramics, and for whom I might be volunteering in the future…), natural medicines, and natural peanut butter (!!). Outside, there was a sign expressing “Tips for Beauty.” So applicable to my earlier conversation, the last tip read, translated, “For good posture, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.” So even though this experience of being away from home and most of what is familiar to me has been strange and uncomfortable at times (but overwhelmingly positive, exciting, and happy!), I feel like I’ve got a new perspective on any loneliness and homesickness I might feel. I’ve been missing you all terribly, and I’ve so appreciated all the Skype conversation and emails you’ve all sent to check up on me and let me know what’s going on in your lives. Keep them coming!
Now for some highlights from my past two weeks:
- I met Beverly, the teacher I’ll be working under at the CEC. The fact that I’ll be in a classroom teaching in just a few weeks is becoming more and more real (and nerve-racking) every day! It was so great to hear about the students, though, and some of the things we’ll be doing.
- My sisters started up school again, and now every night they ask for my help with their homework- fractions, writing, and vocabulary… I’m getting lots of good practice in! The benefits of being the “teacher” in the house? It’s also fun to be the big sister, a relationship I’ve always been on the other side of!
- Last weekend, I went into Monteverde with one of my classmates from CPI. We went to this place called CASEM, a cooperative that sells that artwork of local women; it’s an incredible place. We also went to the Monteverde Cheese Factory, which was established by the Quakers when they came to Monteverde in the 1950s (I’ll hopefully be writing a post about the history of the area in the future, because it’s really interesting!) It was fun to see where almost all of Costa Rica’s cheese is produced, and of course to taste it :)
- Last week, I introduced a new recipe to Dixia- “Tortas de Frijoles Negros con Vegetales” (black bean burgers). It was fun to teach her how to cook them, and they were a big hit with my family!! I’m hoping now to learn some of her recipes…
- Speaking of food, which I have surprisingly failed to talk much about until now and a topic to which I still will not do justice (Colonnese/Manteiga family and fellow fat kids, you know how important food is), it’s GREAT here. Dixia is an incredible cook; she is so creative with beans and veggies. Also the bananas are delicious.
- This past weekend, I went to La Catarata de San Luis with two friends from CPI. It was about a 14 km hike from Santa Elena and we had a perfect day for it. Along the way, we stopped at this guy’s art gallery, where he also had a huge collection of local miniature orchids, which were beautiful and incredibly small (we didn’t even realize they were in bloom until he started talking to us about them!). We had a picnic lunch on the rocks around the waterfall (pictures are coming) and then called a taxi to bring us back to Monteverde because we couldn’t hack a four-hour walk back up the mountain to town…
- I just had a great conversation about vegetarianism with my afternoon Spanish teacher. She is the first person here who hasn’t look at me like I’m insane for not eating meat- because she is a vegetarian too! The first one I’ve met here (they are few and far between). I have seriously been so lucky with all of my afternoon conversation teachers- we always seem to have so much in common, making conversations incredibly fun and interesting. It’s pretty much to the point where, instead of taking notes on Spanish words and grammar rules, I’m recording the ideas and theories and stories we’re sharing with each other!
I hope all is well with everyone! And to those of you who are at Swat, I hope the first week back was fun!
Lots and lots of love <3
p.s. I promise in the future I’ll try not to write such novels! I’ve never really been one for concise writing…
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