Sunday morning a group of us walked up the hill to find the school. On the way down we found a gym and checked it out. It looks like a lot of use are going to use it. We then checked out of the hostel and then walked around the city a bit. We ran into Dorothy and she joined us. At lunch, we met up with two more students that had just gotten into town. After lunch, we called our host families and then went our separate ways to meet them. My call to my family was bad for the mom does not speak spanish – luckily Angela was there and helped me out. I found out later that night that the school did not tell Meilady (the mom) that I was coming which explains why she was acting a little weird on the phone. When I showed up, Meilady and Rolindo were waiting outside and greeted me. I was sweating a lot due to the humidity and carrying all of my luggage. She joked that it was muy frio and this relaxed me a bit for she was laid back and joking.
Side note: I wrote an earlier post about my host family. A week before I left I was sent a note that that family was no longer available and was re-assigned to Meilady and Rolindo.
They have 3 rooms on top of their house and this is where I am staying. The other two rooms are filled with two other TEFL students, Judy and Blythe. After unpacking, I went downstairs and watched TV with Roy and Meilady. Meilady and I started talking, or tried to talk, and I used the translator a lot to help. Luckily I recognize some words or she uses hand gestures to provide additional meaning otherwise I would be completely screwed. I met Judy, from Boston, first after she came back from Manuel Antonio. She thought I was hispanic and so greeted me in spanish. She spoke so well that I did not let her know that I was also a student. Later I went upstairs and met her again and properly introduced myself. The other lady is Blythe from Canada and she is very fluent in spanish. Judy and I will be using her to translate for us when we do not understand and when we do not know how to say something to the family.
Dinner was great with beans, rice, salad and a veggie soup with carrots, cauliflower and something else – the broth was very tasty. It started to rain while I was writing this and the rain is now gone. I really need to get an umbrella.
I am feeling much more comfortable and feel like I can succeed with this new life.