Feeling defeated, by Jodi
So, we're about to hit our 3 month mark and I had it in my head that my Spanish would totally be great by this point and that the kids would be pretty far along. I am definitely feeling today like I'm not even close to great with my Spanish and the kids still hardly know any. I realize I'm probably being overly dramatic, but I'm still frustrated.
Church is a crazy house with all these gringos. The majority of them have no idea what's going on, so instead, they entertain themselves by playing together through all of primary. Now, I realize that they did that a lot in primary in the U.S., but I feel like our responsibility to be a good example for all these new converts is much greater than it was back home. I just don't know how to help my kids when they really don't understand almost any of it.
They start school in 2 weeks, which is another huge source of anxiety. I'm super worried that getting them to go is going to be a complete nightmare and we'll end up completely giving up. They had an incredible school in Utah and we dropped out back in October to start on this adventure. We've gone through major ups and downs with home school, all to give them an opportunity to go to public school and really learn the language. But, as we get closer and closer, I get more and more worried that it's going to be a huge flop. Plus, I've got to go spend a bunch of money getting them uniforms before they can start, so that may end up being a huge waste as well.
Then there's my Spanish, which I feel like hasn't gotten any better in the last month. I keep practicing on my own with flash cards and I'm trying to watch TV in Spanish, but that's a joke because they talk way too fast. We keep trying to connect with Neida for lessons, but since her Christmas break from work ended, she's been really busy. I'm trying to hire another sister in the ward that I really like to come and practice with the kids and I, but she's hard to nail down a schedule with, as well. Tico's just aren't really motivated by money like Americans. So, they work, or they don't. They have some money, or they don't. Pura Vida. So, it's hard sometimes to get people to work for you.
Then, there's the big, fat ticket we got on the way home. It was inevitable, because the Police here can pretty much find a reason to ticket you, no matter what. They can ticket you for any kid under the age of 12 who isn't in a booster, which is all 4 of our kids. Tessa, has one, but the other's don't. We had just left the church and Tessa had forgotten to get in her booster. So, when the cop came over to talk to us, we showed him the booster and had her get buckled in it. But, he said it doesn't matter and pointed at Jack and said he needed one, too. So, $400 later, we're officially paying our first big Costa Rican tax to get to live here. The frustrating part was, we'd just come from church and we'd used all our cash to pay our tithing. If' we'd had $40 still in our wallet, we could have gotten out of the ticket. But, we were completely drained. So, as soon as it was clear to the cop that we had no money, he wrote us the ticket.
Church is a crazy house with all these gringos. The majority of them have no idea what's going on, so instead, they entertain themselves by playing together through all of primary. Now, I realize that they did that a lot in primary in the U.S., but I feel like our responsibility to be a good example for all these new converts is much greater than it was back home. I just don't know how to help my kids when they really don't understand almost any of it.
They start school in 2 weeks, which is another huge source of anxiety. I'm super worried that getting them to go is going to be a complete nightmare and we'll end up completely giving up. They had an incredible school in Utah and we dropped out back in October to start on this adventure. We've gone through major ups and downs with home school, all to give them an opportunity to go to public school and really learn the language. But, as we get closer and closer, I get more and more worried that it's going to be a huge flop. Plus, I've got to go spend a bunch of money getting them uniforms before they can start, so that may end up being a huge waste as well.
Then there's my Spanish, which I feel like hasn't gotten any better in the last month. I keep practicing on my own with flash cards and I'm trying to watch TV in Spanish, but that's a joke because they talk way too fast. We keep trying to connect with Neida for lessons, but since her Christmas break from work ended, she's been really busy. I'm trying to hire another sister in the ward that I really like to come and practice with the kids and I, but she's hard to nail down a schedule with, as well. Tico's just aren't really motivated by money like Americans. So, they work, or they don't. They have some money, or they don't. Pura Vida. So, it's hard sometimes to get people to work for you.
Then, there's the big, fat ticket we got on the way home. It was inevitable, because the Police here can pretty much find a reason to ticket you, no matter what. They can ticket you for any kid under the age of 12 who isn't in a booster, which is all 4 of our kids. Tessa, has one, but the other's don't. We had just left the church and Tessa had forgotten to get in her booster. So, when the cop came over to talk to us, we showed him the booster and had her get buckled in it. But, he said it doesn't matter and pointed at Jack and said he needed one, too. So, $400 later, we're officially paying our first big Costa Rican tax to get to live here. The frustrating part was, we'd just come from church and we'd used all our cash to pay our tithing. If' we'd had $40 still in our wallet, we could have gotten out of the ticket. But, we were completely drained. So, as soon as it was clear to the cop that we had no money, he wrote us the ticket.
It surely takes a bit of time to learn another language. It took me a year of ESL to learn a bit and 3 months of being submerged in complete English to be fluent. I was 8 yrs old. The kiddos going to school in Spanish will really boost the process. It will take you a bit longer but just don't give up ; )
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