Shock Mode

If you poke or scare many of the beetles here, they curl up and freeze, Rob and I call this "shock mode." Sometimes I joke that seeing too many spiders and scorpions causes me to go into shock mode, but our Spanish teacher (we had our first class yesterday!) brought up an excellent point: We spent the first part of the class learning the names for insects in Spanish, since that is clearly what we are obsessed with these days (and to think, 2 short weeks ago I never, ever thought about scorpions). Then, towards the end of class, Rob and I started sharing with Marcielos how much we are enjoying the incredible fruit here. And, it's true that every time I bite into a mango literally overflowing with flavor, or a banana that has layers of taste unheard of in the states, I think of my mom's one snobby comment of her life, "I just can't eat melon at home after having eaten it on the Nile." Anyway, our teacher made a wonderful point about life in the tropics, "You can't have the marvelous fruit without the crazy insects." And crazy insects continue to abound. This morning our front door had a truly reptilian bug, about five inches long, poking its dinosaur legs at passing moths.

On a totally different note, I taught me first Philosophy class to the 7th/8th graders today and it was quite an exercise in self-awareness. The students were wonderful, and just as my TBS students did, they shared poignant insights and probing questions. However, I became immediately aware that I was suddenly teaching in a country that I know almost nothing about. In the US when I'm teaching, I can rattle off side facts to my students about laws, history, and culture- the normal accumulation of information of being educated and living in the US. Here, in CR, I don't even know when women got the right to vote! Clearly, I need to do some serious reading on CR history, but more than that it is delightfully awkward to realize that my students and I have completely different cultural backgrounds and references. I can't assume anything! It is a little scary and totally incredible, because I have to be mindful of everything I say and do. I definitely feel like my yoga practice is spilling over into my "real" life here.....

Final note, it is awesome how truly bilingual MFS is. Every message in Meeting, every announcement at faculty meetings, is translated into whichever language it was not originally delivered in. The students prattle on, effortlessly switching from one language to another, and Ticos are so open to my fumbling attempts to learn Spanish.

My next post will definitely be on community.