Back To School

First Day of School

Rosebud working on her Spanish homework in our backyard

The phrase “back to school” has loaded meaning for our whole family this year. Not only are the kids starting a new school year, but Ted and I are heading back as well—for the first time in over a decade! On top of that, the younger two kids have their very own classes during mommy and daddy’s school time. This is the first time ever for any of the kids to be in a classroom since we have homeschooled up to now. That is a big change not only for them, but also for me as I am adjusting to not knowing all about their curriculum and what they are learning on a daily basis.

That said, the first week went pretty well. By the end of the week, Rosebud was going to class without crying—though she was sometime still upset at pickup time if all the other parents got there before we did. Chimp really enjoyed his PreK class which is all in Spanish. He hasn’t used much at home yet, but they said give him a month or so and he may be our translator!  Cub is doing well and loving school despite my concerns about his ability to focus for long periods, and Daisy is relishing in the structure and lack of sibling distractions. Ted and I were both placed in an Intermediate level class to start and are doing well. We have four hours of class each day, split into three different classes: Grammar, Phonetics, and Language (mostly oral practice).

Walking to School

Walking by the park across the street from our house

Our adjustment to Costa Rica is still very much a work in progress. One of the biggest changes is transportation. With no vehicle of our own, we are doing a lot of walking. We have used the bus a couple times and we usually take a taxi home from stores when we buy a lot of groceries, etc., but other than that, we walk. To the park, to school, to friends’ houses, to the market, to the corner store, to church, to the bank, to the panaderia (bakery, yum!)… It is probably similar to city living in the U.S., but coming from a very rural area, it is an adjustment for us. I think the stroller we brought has more miles on it in the two weeks we’ve been here than any of our other strollers in their entire lifetimes. 🙂

The other big adjustment has been security. Partly city-living and partly as North Americans (whom they perceive as being rich), we do have to be watchful. Not only do we have to keep an eye on our children at all times, but we also need to be conscious of making ourselves as inconspicuous as possible. Since the current targets seem to be smartphones and passports, we purchased a “dumb phone” for me to use (instead of the smartphone I already own) and we have had wallet size copies of our passports made so we don’t need to carry them with us (needed as ID whenever we make a purchase with a credit/debit card). Unfortunately, there has been at least one student held up each trimester at the school. I don’t think anyone has ever been seriously injured, but we still want to minimize our risk. We would appreciate ongoing prayers for our safety in this area.

Daisy and her friend, Anatina

Playing futbol (soccer) at the park

On a positive note, the kids have really enjoyed the increased opportunities to spend time with friends. Not only during school time, but we often meet other families at the park or go to their houses for a bit on the way home from school. There is another family here, also from EMM, that has children similar ages as all three of our older kids!  Ted has also made some great relationships as well. He enjoys working on his Spanish with locals whenever he can and already has several people he chats with on a regular basis. We have also connected with several other missionaries at the school who are also planning to work with coffee production/sales in some way or another. Even though we are eager to get to Guatemala and begin working with the K’ekchi’, it is obvious that God is using our time here in a great way too. Thank you to everyone who is making this possible.