It’s 7:30PM and I just got back from my first day of class at the Center For Teacher Development. What an experience. Everything here is so new, foreign, confusing, and unaccommodating. The school, however, is very nice. Since it was the cheapest program I found anywhere, I expected it to be terrible. Incredibly, it's as nice as I could have imagined. Furthermore, the other participants I spoke to had nothing but wonderful things to say about schooling, employment, and "life support" from the school.
Marcela is a wonderful, Wake Forest educated, over obliging, and very amiable mother of three. The school that she runs is a recent outgrowth of La Escuela Tecnica, created due to a demand for TESOL certified teachers. My instructor is also delightful. She has a masters in language (not sure which focus, specifically, though I believe something to do with language acquisition). The two were both present at the start and end of classes.
We started at 9AM and finished at 4PM, with a one hour break for lunch. My other classmates (that I’ve met so far) are Sam, a UVA grad who has been teaching English in Costa Rica for nearly a year, and Allison, a woman who moved here three weeks ago (I believe) to follow a Tico boyfriend and to embrace and observe the social and political statements of Costa Rica. Allison has a masters in Teaching communication to students with special needs (if I remember correctly). She worked for a number of years in the Prince Georges County school system, of all places.
Though the security and reception at the HSBC building (where the CFTD office is) are completely useless (none of them knew where the CTFD office was, or showed any signs of life when I asked them about a TESOL school, one tried to hail me a cab), the building is beautiful inside. Classes are engaging, practical, and well-run. The instructors are qualified, the building and classroom are both very nice, and there is even snacks and coffee available via intercom. Very classy.
Now for the horrors of my day:
My classmates and instructor proceeded to scare the hell out of me about everything in San Jose: pick pockets, thieves on the raised walkways, robberies at knifepoint, grand schemes to get you alone, violence for a cell phone, etc. All of this before I head back home alone, on a two hour commute, half of which was in the dark. I got lost.
The single, worst thing about San Jose is transportation. It takes about an hour and a half to get to school, and two hours to get home. I am scared to nap, read, or do nearly anything because I may miss my stop. The traffic is horrible. Every street looks identical in the surrounding area. It’s dangerous to ask for directions because you’re demonstrating that you are 1) A gringo 2) Lost, and 3) Stupid.
I wish I had photos to show you of the buses, the sketchy alleyways, the guys who look like dirty pirates, and the total lack of order on the road ways. I was too busy concentrating on not getting mugged to pull out my sweet camera that was in my backpack with my laptop and wallet.
Don't get me wrong, there are a ton of nice, clean, well-lit places in Costa Rica and around San Jose. Moreover most gringos and wealthy ticos can entirely avoid the bad areas. Still, many parts of San Jose are worse than Baltimore.
There are no street addresses or road names in Costa Rica. I’m serious. You have to buy something like a P.O. box to receive mail. How a modern country has managed without road names is beyond me. There are addresses on some of the houses in our neighborhood here, but they are simply decorative; I’m going to lose my mind.
Hopefully I will get my daily commute time down to under four hours, and I will get comfortable enough to read while on the bus. I’ve started reading Mount Misery, the discovering of an elixir by the main character of House of God. I’m so engaged, I may just read for a few minutes before passing out tonight. Also, I should be able to read on my way in to class tomorrow; the first bus ride (approx. 45 minutes) is to the central interchange in San Jose, so I can’t miss my stop. Maybe after the first week or two I’ll be able to read on my way home.
12 frantic hours in San Jose and I’m sufficiently exhausted. I plan to write a more complete evaluation of my TESOL course with CFTD once I complete my licensing. I also plan on doing some research on the bus system/urban planning/postal system of Costa Rica when I’m not already so disappointed by the region. My Kingdom for one capable civil engineer!
Pura Vida, though the return trip today was scary (even for an egoist like me with tons of travel experience),
Z
No comments:
Post a Comment