I am soooo nervous!!

My stomach is in knots! I´m teaching my first class in English tomorrow, and I can´t even begin to explain how nervous I am. I´m not at my ¨summer teaching site¨ yet...this is just a practicum at the local high school in Orosi. The students take Spanish for 120 minutes!! Can you believe it?! Me and two other people have been working on the lesson plan together and we´ve divided it up in 40 minute blocks. I´m going first and laying the foundation for the entire 120 minutes...NO PRESSURE! We´re teaching ¨simple present tense¨ to 9th graders using ¨daily routine¨vocabulary. It sounds simple enough, but until I started lesson planning, I had NO IDEA how complicated English could be to teach as a second language. We have sooo many exceptions to EVERY rule!

Earlier today I had my final Spanish class at Otiac. It´s amazing how much Spanish I´ve learned in the last few days. My listening skills are definitely improving and so is my vocabulary. I´m still struggling with speaking Spanish, but I know it will come with more practice. I just have to make myself speak it all the time...even if I mess up constantly!

For our ¨field trip¨today, we went to the oldest functioning church in all of Costa Rica and it´s right here in Orosi! It was amazing to take a tour and learn about the history of the church.

I have to say, sometimes I´ll be walking down the street and it´ll just hit me, that I´m walking around in Costa Rica. It´s just amazing. The people here are so friendly. The mountains are soooo green and beautiful, and the weather is just perfect! I´m so glad I´m here.

I definitely miss everyone back home. It feels like I haven´t seen my friends and family in months and it´s only been 5 days! I can´t believe it. It´s especially hard because I can´t call and talk to people. It costs $1.99-per minute to use my phone internationally, and in these last 5 days, I´ve probably already spent $100. A 10 minute phone call home costs $20. I can use phone cards to call home, but the public phone is near the soccer field and I usually don´t have free time until after dark. I really don´t like the idea of standing by a pay phone in the middle of the town after dark. I don´t really go anywhere by myself....even during the day.

Tonight we´re going to a local bar to watch the USA vs. Costa Rica soccer match. It starts tonight at 8! They´re playing in Costa Rica! What are the odds I´d be here for that?! I don´t really like soccer and I´ve never watched it on TV, but I can´t wait to see what the atmosphere is like tonight! Everyone in the country will be watching. I think it´ll be awesome! GO USA!