Six Weeks In

It's been a pretty busy and intense past couple of weeks for me. As I am nearing the end of my 6th week here in Costa Rica, I'm happy to say that I'm adjusting pretty well.

Lets catch you up!

On September 15th, I - along with 16 others - graduated from the International TEFL Academy- Costa Rica course! What an AMAZING 4-week course and experience!

August 2017 ITA TEFL Class

The Tuesday prior to graduating, I had a second interview with a company called Idioma Internacional. They are a language institute that services large corporations and Colegios (High Schools) here in Costa Rica. I was offered a full-time position with them later that evening! Whoo hoo!!

Also that day, I went to view an apartment for me and Casey to hopefully move. The unit was a 5th floor condo, 2 bed/2 bath, fully furnished with a washer and dryer (very rare here). The rent was $800/mo. After showing my roommate the videos, we decided that we wanted it! We had keys in hand by Friday afternoon and were all moved in by Saturday evening!

Everything fell in place pretty quickly for us. I started training for my job last Thursday, Sept. 21st and finish today!

Unfortunately, I lost my phone in an Uber on Saturday morning. I tried all day to get in contact with the driver to no avail. I reached out to Uber and the driver multiple times and Uber finally stepped in. Just when I was about to give up hope for getting it back completely, the driver called me yesterday (Thursday- 6 days later) and returned my phone! PTL!

I'm excited to have finally received my official teaching schedule as well! I have 18 teaching hours/wk right now. That amounts to one 3hr class that meets once a week, one 2hr class that meets twice a week, one 1.5hr class that meets twice a week and two 4hr classes that meet once a week. My two 4hr classes are with high school aged students and all of my other classes are corporate classes.

I'm also training to become a BELT (Business English Level Test) Evaluator. This is a test that is administered by our company to test and assign English placement levels. Companies come to us to request testing for internal purposes, recruitment and for class placement. Individuals come to us as well for personal assessment. Once I finish the training, I'll add BELT shifts to my schedule.

Another thing I'm pretty excited about is the opportunity to do some social media and marketing work for Idioma. Thanks to my background, the Academic Director of the company wants to assign additional hours for me to work on special projects. I'm looking forward to being able to use my other skill sets as well as my newly gained skill sets.

Last, but certainly not least, I'm starting to focus on my personal business again. Looking forward to growing my company, Kelli Marie Consulting, LLC. I'm currently accepting work as a Virtual Assistant. If you or anyone you know needs assistance virtually, please email kellimarieconsulting@gmail.com.

I think that's all I have for this update! Hopefully, now that I've settled down, I'll be able to post a bit more regularly and about different topics regarding teaching, my experiences and the country of Costa Rica itself!

Until then, Travel and experience new things, Live for today and not tomorrow, and Be whoever you want to be! 

Love Always, 

Kelli Marie

The Dreadful Week 3!

Whew!!! Week 3 has officially come and gone and I am truly thankful to say "I made it thru!!!" They were not kidding when, in week one, the told us to be prepared because "week 3 is coming!" This week was a tough one. Classes were filled with lots of grammar points, evenings were filled with student teaching and lots of homework quizzes, tasks and lesson plans. On Thursday night, I almost cried because I was so stressed working on a lesson plan that was due at midnight. Top that all off with multiple interviews and you're in for one hell of a week. However, I ended the week on a high note with an A in my student teaching practicum on Friday evening and I got my homework submitted before the last minute, today and yesterday! If you know me and how much of a procrastinator I am, then you know that's a big deal for me!

Other than that, week 3 was pretty awesome as well! A large group of us hung out to watch Costa Rica vs Mexico on Tuesday night and on Wednesday night, a group when to the indoor soccer field to play. I didn't play but I had a blast sitting on the sidelines with my roommate, Casey. This weekend, I was glad to have practically nothing to do and be able to relax.

Week 4 starts tomorrow and on Friday, we will officially be certified TEFL Instructors! I'm looking forward to completing this course but I will definitely miss the friends that I've made throughout the month-long program. I'm hoping that we'll all end up staying here in CR and staying connected for the foreseeable future. Friendships that are made during experiences like these are invaluable and I'm glad to call this amazing group of adventurous souls, my friends! I'm also looking forward to getting some sleep that isn't interrupted by the chickens and turkeys hopefully soon!

Stay tuned for the graduation and job update at the end of the week!

Until then, Travel far, Live freely and Be amazing!

Love Always, 

Kelli Marie

Second Week

I am officially half way through the program and I'm getting more excited about being here daily! This week, I taught for the first time! Well first two times. I scored a B+ with my first class and an A with my second class. I'm feeling pretty good about it all!

I also started applying for jobs during week 2. I lined up 3 job interviews and have completed two of them. I'm excited to see what happens going forward! I will be applying for a bunch more jobs this week. My goal is to work and live in the San Jose area, close to San Pedro or Zapote. Hopefully, I'll have more information in the next few days.

I will officially be finished with my program in 2 weeks! We've been warned that week 3 can get pretty intense! Pray for my sanity! I will also, hopefully, be completely settled on my own in no more than 3 weeks. I'm really looking forward to truly starting this journey!

I'll be back to post more sometime this week!

Until then, Travel, Live, and just Be. 

Love Always, 

Kelli Marie