So with my friend appropriately farewelled on the morning of Saturday 22 January, here I was in Costa Rica by myself. Hmm how did that happen! What now!
Some of you know my intention was to spend February doing an intensive Teaching English as a Second Language course (TESOL). I had arranged with them to commence my stay at the school a week earlier as accommodation was cheap and er well, I didn’t really have anywhere else to go...:)!
We had dropped my bags off before I farewelled my friend and despite him feeling very positive about the place, the vibe was not the same for me. It was a largish building with a communal kitchen/living space, two classrooms, 3 – 4 bedrooms, landlords residence and rooftop area, that admittedly was pretty good for yoga. It was in a less desirable location than I had imagined by the description, the room was ordinary but my expectations weren’t too high given the cost and the look of the place just got me wondering. I was prepared to keep an open mind and I had a week to sus the place out.
The school was located on the opposite side of Quepos than I had imagined, just outside of the town up a dirt track. The description in my mind had put the place between Manuel Antonio and Quepos (so the other side of town) along the road to the beach and the national park. I discovered after I left that the school had recently moved location but still described the old location on the website so my imagination was quite as bad as I thought!We had spent a little time in Quepos getting a rental car, having a meal, going to tour offices. I explored Quepos further, but didnt feel overly enthused about the place. I bought some food and prepared to settle into a more normal life than being on vacation. Being a dog lover I thought nothing of the two dogs that resided at the premises.
That night the dogs barked most of the night, not in a protective way, but in an annoying aggressive way. Apparently this happened most nights. Chatting to the students, the hours for the course were long...10am until 7pm with plenty of work outside of these hours. Most were happy but there was some discontent with the materials provided, support from the teachers and facilities to deliver expected outcomes (eg photocopier, computers etc). Students were having to pay to have things printed, computers constantly not working etc. So I spent the week observing and chatting to the current students. I also caught the bus to the beach most days and spent time thinking about the vibe I was getting, what things I really wanted to be doing and how serious was I about the outcomes of this course for me.
I had a situation one night when I was the only person at the school, which noone had told me about. The dogs were barking as usual but even more aggressively this night. I thought I heard someone prowling around but thought I was being paranoid. I found out the next day that the place had been robbed so I wasnt as paranoid as I thought. I didnt feel safe any longer and didnt know if there would be anyone arriving Friday or Saturday so I stayed in a hotel for the next three nights in Manuel Antonio. I felt so much better being in this area, not just from a safety perspective but because I was close to the beach. Another sign I didnt want to stay out at the school. I did consider moving elsewhere but continuing on with the course but was still uncomfortable about the time commitment required.
So the safety issue didnt help improve my feeling about the place. It was becoming more apparent that things like yoga, beach time and turtle conservation were more important to me and that I didn’t really want to commit that much time to a course with limited priority to me when the weather was beautiful outside. We were advised in our pre-course start information that the hours would now be 12-7pm but I had already made up my mind by then that any significant time commitment was not on my agenda.
What were my options? They have an online version of the course (okay so I don’t have to given up altogether – positive number 1. Ive done two degrees online so how hard can it be. Besides it was a third of the cost - positive number 2. It frees me up to do all the things I want to do but still with the same outcome - positive number 3. Decision made, email sent to the course administrator, await response! Things not considered...hmmm where will I live now...oops..:)!
I have no photos to add for this post as this was the time I was in between drowning the camera I had brought with me and buying a new one for a reasonable price. It seems that most items like cameras are double the price they should be. I ended up with a not bad cheapish camera but probably paid too much for it...but hey, you have to have photos right.
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