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| The experts: Sully (6), Madeleine (12) and Henry (10) |
I sat down with our experts to discuss how they are feeling about living and going to school in Costa Rica. Enjoy! - Erica
H: No
E: Why not?
H: Because my Spanish is pretty good.
E: How do you explain how you are doing so well?
H: I study a lot.
E: Do you have to work harder here?
H: No, there is not very much homework.
E: What about studying for exams?
H: That is hard. It takes a while. But it is fun to take exams.
E: Why?
H: It is good to get them over with.
E: Do you get stressed out when you have to take exams?
H: A little bit.
M: Yes, because at first I was expecting to get really low grades because of the Spanish. But then I learned that the material was not too hard.
E: What about doing it all in Spanish?
M: It made it a little harder than in English, but there is not that much of a difference.
E: Are you surprised that doing school work in Spanish was not that much harder?
M: Not really.
H: No, some of it is the same material [that he had in the US].
E: Were you surprised that you could study and take tests in Spanish and do so well? H: No.
E: Do you think you are a more serious student than your classmates?
H: Maybe.
M: Definitely. Most girls study hard, but the boys don’t.
E: Do you think your past education helps you to do so well?
H: Yes, in math especially.
M: Yes, but having parents here to help us study helps a lot. Other kids here probably don’t get as much help from their parents, or their parents may not expect them to do so well.
E: What specifically in your school background has helped?
M: Math helps. I have done most of the material before in the US. Especially for Spanish class; the content we have done in English class in the US is the same (parts of sentence, punctuation, synonyms, antonyms, etc). Social studies and science are harder, because it is mostly memorizing things instead of doing things hands-on and writing about things we are learning.
E: Do you miss the writing? You did a ton at Laurelhurst [school in Portland].
M: At Laurelhurst I dreaded new writing projects, but now I realize that it is good that we did so much because it is an important skill.
E: Is there anything about school in the US that you miss?
H: Not really.
E: How is PE here?
H: OK, just harder.
E: Why, because it is in Spanish?
H: Yes, and there are not quite as many fun games as we played in the US.
E: What have you been doing in PE here?
H: Volleyball and soccer.
M: It’s pretty lame; we have to use tape balls for soccer and caution tape for a volleyball net. But the PE teacher takes it very seriously.
M: Yes, it does seem worthwhile, because for almost everything, you guys know more, and it feels like a good achievement to be better at something than you.
H: I don’t think my Spanish is better than yours yet.
E: I think you can understand Ticos better than me.
H: True, since I go to school every day.
E: Can you understand most of what your friends say?
H: Yes, mostly.
E: Your teacher?
H: Yep.
E: Can you remember what it was like when you first started school here?
H: I did not understand very much.
E: Do you feel you have come along way?
H: I guess.
E: Do your good grades convince you that you have come a long way?
H: Yeah, even though they are not very good.
E: Top 6 in your grade not very good?!?!
H: It’s ok.
E: You must have very high standards.
H: I don’t.
M: How everything is so laid back, and the teacher is so different from teachers in the US. Sometimes all she does is talk about non-school stuff, and everyone is yelling and being crazy, and she does not do anything about it.
H: The food at school is a lot better here.
E: What food do you like best?
H: Rice and beans and fried chicken, with crema to drink [E: very sweet creamy drink - I don’t know what’s in it, and probably don’t want to!]
M: It seemed like we spent a long time preparing for it, and it was just a parade, but it was fun. I felt special being part of it even though we are foreigners.
H: It was neat.
E: What about it?
H: They celebrated a lot!
E: Did you like the faroles [lanterns] parade the night before?
H: Yeah that was pretty cool.
M: It was kind of weird. We have not been part of the culture and grown up with the traditions, and it does not have as much meaning to us.
E: Did Independence Day here [Sept 15] seem different from our 4th of July?
H: There were no fireworks here. In the US it seemed like we did not celebrate as much.
M: Yes, it seemed different here. On our 4th of July we would get together with family and watch fireworks, but here the whole town got together and got involved.
E: Do you think that is because we live in a small town here?
M: The school was the center of the celebrations. The teachers organized the marcha [honor roll members who marched in a special group] and the whole parade.
M: Yes, pretty much.
H: Yeah.
E: Do you feel like an outsider/ foreigner around them?
M: No, especially when I am with my friends They don’t do anything differently around me.
H: Yeah kind of. I can’t tell if that is a good feeling or not.
M: Yes, but then I will have to start the next year [February] while they are still in school.
H: Yeah, it is weird.
E: Do you feel disoriented about what time of year it is? [I do!]
M: Sort of, because the school year is so different, and there are not really seasons here. In Portland, we were used to Fall being when trees changed colors and lost leaves, and in spring there are wildflowers and rain. Here we don’t have that much change.
H: Yeah, it seems like it is always one season here.
M: Yes, because school is so different here, and when we go back to the US, people will talk about things they have done, but I will not have been there for it.
H: Yeah kind of, but it does not really bother me.
E: Do you feel you are missing out on your old life in the US?
H: No, not really.
M: Yes, a little bit.
E: What specifically?
M: I don’t know.
E: Kind of a vague feeling of missing out, but nothing specific?
M: Yeah.
H: I like it. It is not quite as busy.
M: It is nice, because we don’t have the pressure of going to things like activities/ sports games, but at times it is boring. Sometimes we sit around too much. In the US, I sometimes felt I did not have enough time to hang out with my friends, but now I feel like I have too much time, with not enough to do.
M: They are good, but it can be boring when I don’t understand what they are saying. I can’t jump into their conversations with other people because I can’t understand very well. But talking one on one is easier.
H: They are nice, maybe nicer than some kids in the US.
H: The food and that it is not so busy, but the food is my favorite thing.
E: You are not sick of rice and beans?
H: No, I like them. They still taste good.
S: It is good.
E: It is getting easier as you learn more Spanish?
S: Yeah
E: How do you think your Spanish is?
S: Pretty good I guess.
E: Are you able to talk to your friends as much as you’d like?
S: Yeah
E: Can you understand most of what they are saying?
S: Yeah
E: Do you like your teacher?
S: Yeah
E: What do you like about her?
S: She lets us have candy.
E: Is she patient?
S: Yeah
E: Have you learned most of your Spanish from her?
S: Yeah. She knows a lot of English too.
E: Does she speak much English to you?
S: Sometime when I don’t know what she is saying in Spanish [E: she never speaks English to me!]
E: Who is your best friend?
S: Marcos
E: What do you like best about him?
S: Most times he is pretty funny. I just don’t like that he can’t play soccer because he had a surgery.
S: Pretty fun, especially the drinks we got.
E: Did you like dressing up for the parade?
S: Yeah it was pretty fun.
S: Pretty different.
E: How?
S: The color of their eyes and hair and skin. Not really any other differences.
E: Do you feel different or like you stand out here?
S: Pretty different.
E: How?
S: Because the other people are different, and because it is just kind of embarrassing because everyone in the school is different.
E: Do you feel uncomfortable?
S: Just embarrassed.
E: All the time?
S: Just sometimes.
E: Do you get too much attention?
S: Not really.
E: Does it feel strange to be different?
S: Pretty strange.
E: Are you getting more used to it?
S: Yes
S: I am not really sure.
E: Any friends who would like it here?
S: Maybe Beck or Chase
E: Why?
S: I bet they would want a new scene.
E: So you like having a new scene?
S: Yes
E: What do you like best?
S: Because it is really sunny, more than it would be in Portland. It is also kind of fun when it is dumping down rain.
E: Are you getting used to the thunder storms?
S: Yeah.
E: Do you like them?
S: Yeah
E: Anything else interesting your friends in the US would want to know about Costa Rica?
S: Probably just that the houses are different. Some are bigger and some are smaller.
E: How does our neighborhood here compare to our ‘hood in Portland?
S: The size. It is a smaller neighborhood here.
E: How about the things you do here?
S: Here if I wanted to I could probably run around the block by myself or with my friends. It is pretty fun because I can just walk over to peoples’ houses.
E: What do you like best about living in Costa Rica right now?
S: All the friends who [whose houses] I can walk to.
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