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Hello my dear friends, I'm sorry I'm so bad at updating. I always tell myself "Natalie be more consistent with the blog updates" but sadly it never happens (lolz)
Things in Costa Rica have been very eventful, we are so busy. Between school, studying, and trying to figure out life here, we're all very tired by the time Friday hits.
Here are a few things that we've been up too:
I signed up to be my classes Student Council representative thinking it would be fun. And I won the election!! It is very exciting. It pushes me to become more of the person that I strive to be.
We are five, almost six weeks and two major tests into our year. The test are very stressful, but we usually come out swinging, which is exciting. It's very cool to see how much progress we've made in such a short amount of time.
I'm making tons of new friends! I have a group of girls who were in my classes and they are all gems. They are all so kind and inviting. I am enjoying the time we get to spend together; getting to bond over the struggles of learning this complex language has brought us all close.
I starting teach ESL (English as a second language). It is so amazing. Getting to know the people in this new community has been so much fun. They are all pretty good at their English, so I'm getting to start relationships with them and learn more about them. It is such an amazing opportunity that the school brought to my attention. To think I almost didn't do it is scary. Scary because I love it so much and I'm getting just as much out of it as my students are.
We are just living life now. We have gotten over the initial "Oh my gosh, we're new here, let's go everywhere!!" and now we're rolling with it. We are doing our best to live like the people here. We eat their food. We walk on the same roads as them. We are doing everything we can to emerse ourself into this culture.
Culture shock is a real thing. I don't know if i can explain how I'm feeling through this short post, but it's hard. As much as I love it, I miss little bits of the life I left behind. I know that is normal, also it's only been a month so I am still in the grieving process. Grieving the loss of friendships and the familiarity of the place I grew up in.
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Please keep my family and I in your prayers as we continue to dive headfirst into this new language. We are all happy and content knowing this is where God wants us at this point and time, but there are still times of sadness and insecurity.
Thank you for reading!!!!
(Also when I mention 'we' in my blog posts I am typically talking about my family and I)