My past few weeks have been pretty interesting and filled with a lot of job searching and apartment searching. Here’s what’s been happening:
- Part-time: I got the part time job at Intercultura: I am working on Saturdays from 9:00-12:00 and on Monday and Wednesdays 6:00pm-7:30 pm. I have taught my Monday and Wednesday and they have both gone well. It is difficult getting into the structure of a language institute because there is a lot that I need to learn. For example, I have to give an oral and written quiz next week and I have no idea how to do that yet. I have to learn how to lesson plan more effectively, right now it takes me about 2 hours to plan for a 1.5 hour lesson and even longer for a 3 hour lesson.
- Living situation: I left the hostel and have been living with somebody I met on couchsurfing.com. Couchsurfing.com is a website where people sign up as surfers(me) and are looking for a place to stay, while other people sign up to host (the guy I’m staying with). It is free. I lucked out with the dude I am staying with because he is extremely nice, has not been in any hurry to kick me out and he has not killed me yet. He has introduced me to a lot of his friends, shown me around San Jose(the capital) and he continues to answer any questions I may have. He is a great friend to have for my time in Heredia.
- Future living situation: I found a place to stay with two of the other teachers at Intercultura. It’s and awesome place down the road form where I am living now and about a 5 minute walk from a Walmart. It is also right next to a house where three other teachers are living. It is a two story place, with three bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a kitchen/living area a garage and a small grassy area next to the house. It also comes fully furnished with all the utilities included and a weekly maid service for $250 a month.
- Job searching: I have been doing a lot of job searching since I have been here. I scour Craigslist everyday and look around on other online sites. My search has now come down to two pretty much guarantees. They are English2Go and Apex Corporate English. They are companies that specialize in teaching business English to the employees of businesses. They are also not the most ideal companies to work for because they include a lot of traveling, traveling to and from the various businesses. This will be difficult because I have not yet figured out the bus system. They are however relatively easy to get a job because of the high turnover. I am probably going to be working for Apex, however I have no idea what my schedule will be. Tomorrow morning I am going to be sitting in on a class that I may take over. It is Tuesday through Friday at 7:00 am.
- Manuel Antonio: I visited Manuel Antonio last weekend with a few of the teachers. It was beautiful. We left on Saturday at 10:30 am and arrived there at around 2;45. We hung out at the beach, watched a colorful sunset, ate dinner and went out. On Sunday we went into the Manuel Antonio national park. Trekked to a pretty secluded Beach call Playa Gemelias(twins). Unfortunately, I did not see a sloth! We left at around 3:30 and arrived into Heredia at around 8:00. There was a lot of traffic coming back and the roads here suck (for the most part). Anyway it was still awesome to get away from Heredia and spend time by the beach.