The happiest dog alive...

...is Nala. Well, she is at least the happiest and most spoiled dog in Costa Rica.
The longer I have her, the more sorry I feel for all the other dogs in Costa Rica. Most dogs here only get table scraps and have never seen dog food. Nala gets special chewing bones and toys (which I hold for her so that they won't slip away when she chews them), little treats for dogs, cookies that are good for her breath and teeth.... I sometimes even brush her teeth.
I am the only one in Las Juntas that regularly takes her dog for walks. All the other dogs are either only in their backyard or have to go for walks alone. Lately lots of people asked me if Nala bites. And I now found out why. The only reason why you would have a dog on a leage in Costa Rica is if the dog bites. However, I have Nala on the leage when I walk close to a street because I am afraid she could run onto the street and be hit by a car. And I see enough dead smashed dogs along the big street just outside of Las Juntas.
Of course, there is no other dog in Costa Rica that is allowed to sleep in the owner's bed or sit on the sofa. Nearly all the dogs are not even allowed to go inside the house. Here in Costa Rica dogs sleep outside.
What I have also realized is that Nala is the cleanest dog in Costa Rica. Since she is mostly inside and sleeps in our bed, I try to keep her really clean. When she is dusty from outside, then I brush her fur and when she is very stinky than I give her a bath. Our neighbor's dog looks grey because he is so dirty. But his original color is black. Furthermore, compared to other dogs, Nala's fur looks unnaturally shiny. But that shinyness is a sign of a healthy and happy dog.
I hope Nala knows how lucky she was that we bought her. I bet all her brothers and sisters have a much simpler life than she does. I now feel obliged to get many more dogs to save them from their terrible fate in Costa Rican families and I might also start feeding our neighbor's dog; he's so skinny!

PS. My favorite nickname for Nala is "Püppi" which is German and means "doll".

Always the first in bed...and the last!

Looking cute.

Being lazy. (It looks like she is wearing lipstick!)

Püppi is giving Cristian a hug.

Playing ball at the beach.

Her hunting position.

Running like a crazy girl.

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs...

Well, at New Hope I was promised that the discipline is really good in the classes. Right now I am wondering what they meant with that: In the 11th grade the students leave the class room without asking to talk to friends from other classes during my class, the continously talk although I ask them every 2 minutes to be quiet, they don't take the exercises seriously.... In my 8th grade I even get resistance when I ask them to open the book to page 10, they absolutely NEVER pay attention, they also talk continously, yell at each other, run around in class.... However, I only do very little teaching of classes because most of my schedule has reserved spots for private tutoring for students who need extra help. But so far I haven't done any of that.
Since I had so much success finding several teaching jobs, I continued applying for my adult teaching positions. And within a week I had two more jobs. After Easter I will start teaching German (and later on English) at a private language institut in San José City and in June I will start teaching German at the Goethe Centro. Goethe exists worldwide and is one of the best institutions for teaching German. And they pay so well that I immediately agreed to also work Saturdays.
I think at the end of this school year (which is in Decemmber in Costa Rica) I will look into working more hours at Goethe and other private institutes for adult education and will completely stop teaching kids. Teaching adults is so much more relaxing and I won't lose my voice due to yelling at those students.

Wanted!

Well, I already told you that I had pretty much given up finding a job without my residencia. But I had found a niche in the job market where I canwork without it: private schools and private organisations for teaching adults. And that's why last week I could have had 3 full-time jobs.
So, here the full story. But pay attention; it will get confusing!
I figured that the Christian Liberty Academy (I will call it LCA for short.) will not be my favorite place to work at. First of all, I was not able to teach all the courses I was supposed to because at the interview the director had not told me about the two advanced math courses. Secondly, the director only wanted to pay me a part-time salary, but gave me a schedule where I had to be in school 4 days a week. Thirdly, religion and its projects seemed to be more important for that school than the actual teaching. Teachers have to come to school 45 minutes before classes start to discuss chapters of the bible and pray. (I'm sorry, but my sleep is more important than reading the Bible at 7.15 am. That's why I was always late. I always came in at exactly at 8 am when classes started.) And last, but not least, that school had big problems with discipline. Well, at a public school I wouldn't be surprised about it, but at a private school I expect better teaching conditions. However, that school was so small and doing pretty badly with its student numbers that they took absolutely every student without considering the behaviour problems. Because of all those reasons, I continued applying for other schools.
On the internet there is a nice wepbage with nearly all of the private schools in Costa Rica and even when they were not looking for any new teachers, I would send them an e-mail. And one of those schools called me the next day. It's called New Hope and it's one of the best and most prestigious schools in Costa Rica. (However, when I applied for it I didn't know about that.) It's located in Heredia, a neighboring city of San José. By bus it took me 2 hours to get to the school, but by car (which I have) it will only take my 30 minutes. Already at the interview the director told me that I would be her first choice, but that she will go on interviewing other people to give them a chance. I think that I am so wanted here because of my Master degree. Lots of people here in Costa Rica go to university, but they only get a Bachelor degree. Having a Mater degree here really helps.
So, the interview for New Hope was on Wednesday. On Tuesday I had already been to a failry challenging English exam to apply for a job at Berlitz. (Berlitz is an institute that exists worldwide and offers very expensive language courses in lots of different languages, including English and Spanish.) Berlitz did call me on Wednesdayto set up an interview because I had passed the exam. So, on Thursday I dressed all pretty and met the director of Berlitz, the type of women I absolutely hate. Everything on her was perfect; there was no space for creativity or relaxedness. She asked me a bunch of prepared questions and told me how much I would be earning. That was the most disappointing thing: Berlitz pays less for a full-time job than LCA would have. But if you have a full-time job at Berlitz you have to be available all day during the week and Saturday Meaning, you might have a course at 7 am till 9 am in the morning, then another one at about noon and the last course at around 7 pm. That does not leave you any time for yourself because you spend all the rest of the time travelling back and worth or waiting for the next course to start. Plus Berlitz is so posh that you have to come to work in business attire, you are constantly observed and I think I simply can't work like that. However, since I had not had an answer from New Hope at that time, I agreed to come to the training course which you have to take to be able to teach at Berlitz.
And now it gets confusing: When I came to LCA on Thursday, a teacher there told me that they probably now need a English and World History teacher and I got all excited because that is something I would prefer a thousand times to teaching maths. What happened was: The English teacher had said a few not-so-nice things to that undisciplined 7th grade and when they parents of that grade had a meeting with him, he got very frustrated and threatened to quit. And then, on Thursday he simply didn't show up without calling in or sending an e-mail. So, on Thursday and Friday the director had me substitute for all the English and World History classes. However, although the director didn't want this old English teacher back and although he hadn't showed up for two days in a row without giving any notice, she could not fire him because in Costa Rica you have to abondan work for 3 days to be fired. And the third day would have been Monday. Now I was really in trouble. LCA is much closer than New Hope to Cristian's parents' house and would therefore save me money and time on travelling. However, New Hope had promised me a schedule of only 4 days a week from 9.20 am to 2.20 pm with a full-time salary (in LCA I would have to work 5 days from 7.15 am to 3 pm for the same money). Plus, I was told (and I also believe that) that at New Hope the discipline is much better. Furthermore, it's such a well-known school that in the future I could apply at any other school and would have very high chances that they take me. So, when at 11 am New Hope called me and offered me the job, I immediately said yes. I sent Berlitz an e-mail that I won't come to their training and told LCA that although the English position might be available, that I will not come back to teach for them.
So, now it's Sunday and since on Friday I did not have the time to go to New Hope to talk to them, I have absolutely no idea what I will be teaching tomorrow. Their actual English teacher is very sick and can't be contacted. So, tomorrow I will have a bunch of improvising to do. If I at least knew which grades I will be teaching....

Sometimes I really think San José doesn't like me...

...but I really like San Josè, except for its streets.
So, since the teaching job at that small Christian school is only part-time, I am still job-hunting. But whenever I step into a bus, the nightmare begins.
First of all, ALL the streets in San José look exactly alike and I am not the only one that says that. Second, there is no main bus station for the local busses or the over-land busses. So, if you want to go south to the Caribbeans, you have to go to another bus station then when you want to go to north to the beaches at the Pacific. For Germans that is very hard to understand because we have one huge central train station in the big cities and that is where all the trains are leaving from and will arrive. That makes changing trains so much easier! But the worst thing is that different local busses stop at different streets although the bus stop has the same name. Today I spent nearly an hour in a bus riding around San José (not knowing where I was) because the bus did not stop at the bus stop of Teatro Nacional that I already knew. But it stopped somewhere on a really busy street a bit away of Teatro Nacional. That is soooooo confusing for foreigners!!! I know, I'm spoiled. In Germany, the local buses, trams, and underground trains have nice little maps inside them and at every stop a speaker calls out the name of the stop and it is written in bright red letters on a display. I don't necessarily like Germany, but sometimes I have to admit that its infrastructure is simply amazing!
There is another point one can mention: San José's bus drivers are always in a bad mood and I know why. I can't imagine that anybody would like to be a bus driver there. The streets are always packed with cars and 50% of the drivers don't know that a red light means stop. (Of course, the streets of Berlin or Munich are also busy, but somehow it seems to be so much more organized.) I mostly feel pity for the bus driver. And soon I will feel sorry for me because my car is in San José right now and I have to drive it out of it...somehow...preferably alive...and the car being in one piece. Well, wish me luck!
Cristian said I complain too much about Costa Rica. Hmm...maybe that is right, but it doesn't mean that I don't like it. It's just that things are soooooo different here and it's easier to see the bad things than the good things. But I can point out some good things, e.g. getting a new passport here only takes 3 weeks instead of 6 weeks in Germany. It's easier to find a job than in Germany right now (if you have a working permit). And of course, it has all the incredible nature, empty white beaches and views you would never be able to find in Germany. Everytime I come to San José at night and you can see all those lights in the valley, it almost makes me cry; that's how pretty it is. (By the way, by daylight San Josè is, unfortunately, not so pretty anymore. I think I am having a dejavu...or have I written that exact same sentence before?)
Although I complain so much, I do want to stay in Costa Rica and I definitely want to move to San José or ... well, maybe the mountains of Heredia (more peace, more nature, lower temperatures)!

PS. Do you think I should send the Ministry of Transportation a little letter and suggest building an underground system for San José? Because that's the thing hat is missing!

Maths!?

Although I had pretty much given up hope to ever finding a job without having my residencia (which is a little card that permits you to live and work in Costa Rica), I continued applying for jobs.
I had applied for a job as a bilingual secretary at a small private Christian school. But when the director called me to come for an interview, she had asked me if I also would be willing to teach Maths and Science. I was totally surprised because I don't have a teaching degree. But I had already been looking into the possibility of teaching and was therefore very happy about this possibility.
So, I went to the interview. But I didn't really think that I would get the job because I don't only not have a teaching degree, but I also never studied maths. Yes, I did study Business Studies which includes maths, but that is definitely not the same.
However, during the interview the director seemed to really like me and offered me the job as a part-time Maths teacher although I have never been baptised and I am not regularly attending a church here. (Those two factors are usually very important for Christian schools.)
Now one week of observing is over and I got to know all my students and the books. The 7th grade consists of 8 hyperactive students who also have learning abilities. That is going to be the toughest class to teach. But they are not mean or anything like that; just loud! The 8th grade consists of 2 nice and friendly students. The 9th grade only has one girl who mostly works on her own. The 10th grade consists of 2 nice girls who are not great at maths, but have very cute personalities. And the 11th grade consists of one boy. However, he is the hardest to teach because I cannot understand the Bachillerato book he is using. (The Bachillerato is taken at the end of high school.) Although the maths in it is not that complicated, I find it very hard to figure out what the book is trying to tell me. Plus it is in Spanish. Although I can usually understand conversations and newspaper articles in Spanish, it's much more difficult to understand a maths book.
However, all the other courses I will be teaching in English which makes it so much easier for me. From now on I will have to spend lots of time preparing my classes every week. And since the school is in San Josè and Cristian lives in Guanacaste, I will also have to travel back and worth every 3-4 days. During my days in San José I'll be living with Cristian's family. I am not so happy about the fact that I will now be without Cristian and Nala for 3 or 4 days a week, but I hope that the experience that I will gain there, will help me to find a full-time teaching job in the future.
There is just one probleme left: I had talked to the director about my problem of having to travel back and forth and although she said that she understands and that she will only have me at the school for 3 days, the schedule is still not in the way I would want it. And since she is only paying me half a salary, I expect her to make a schedule for me that allows me to spend 4 days with Cristian and Nala. But the last schedule she had for me would require me to stay in San José for 4 days. Some of you now might think that there is no way to do it differently because other courses might be involved. BUT that is not true because I myself worked out a version of a schedule where I would only be working three days. But she wasn't really interested in looking at it. Let's see what she can figure out during the next few days.