Exit Survey

Exit Survey
Thanks to Kelly Glenn, I am using this survey (with a few of my own revisions) to help me process the last 3.5 weeks I spent teaching English in La Virgen (as it was an experience much more profound than sitting in the classroom in San Jose). Again, thanks Kelly! This survey really helped me personally reflect on and sum up my time in La Virgen

Name: McKenzie DeBow

Site: La Virgen de Sarapiqui, Costa Rica

Nicknames: “Niña” (this is what the kids call a teacher), “profe”, “teacher”, “gringa”, and my favorite was“McKenzie, la trailera”

Biggest accomplishment: keeping classrooms of 30+ first through third graders entertained in a language they don’t even speak for 3.5 weeks

Biggest disappointment: the Saturdays we spent watching movies all day instead of getting out and doing something

Biggest regret: I don’t like regrets; I just like to think I learn from my mistakes

Biggest fear: That I would get hit by a truck on my way home from school (there was only one skinny main road in town and trucks zoomed through town inches away from pedestrians)

Defining moment: Of course there were many defining moments, but to mention one, my mom, Maria, looked at me and said “I truly feel like you’re my daughter. I feel like I’ve known you your whole life” in the sweetest most sincere way ever

Things you will miss most: all the kids at school, being greeted at school by swarms of girls ready to give me kisses and hugs, being crazy with my family (dancing, singing and just being silly), deep conversations with Maria, knowing everyone in town, listening to Maria sing while she cleans, being able to have conversations in bed due to ceiling-less rooms

Things you will miss least: eating when I’m not hungry but to be polite, watching massive amounts of TV, walking up with itchy bug bites

Biggest Irony: we locked the front door, but hung the key on a nail right next to the door (so much for a “hide-a-key”)

Worst illness: I didn’t get sick, just occasional bouts of the squirts

Biggest freak-out: There were no major freak-outs, but I was always on edge during recess because the kids would run wild (no such thing as recess duties) and I was convinced I was doomed to see a broken bones or a kid run through the glass window of the library. Thank God somehow none of this managed to happen!

Most useful things I brought: camera, computer, umbrella, and knowledge of how to bake cookies and cakes

Least useful thing I brought: sweat pants (it’s freakin’ hot and humid!),

Favorite activity when bored: solving the hardest puzzles in the Sudoku book my sister gave me

Weirdest thing I did when bored: used the macro setting on my camera to take close-up pictures of anything and everything including my eyeball

Favorite Costa Rican slang: ¡Que toque! and “juey pucha”

Greatest lie I told at my site: I convinced some snobby tourists that I was a Tica who simply learned English in school. They even believed me when I told them that Licho and Maria where my real parents even with my blonde hair and blue eyes (which I told them came from my grandma). My whole family thought it was hysterical!

Favorite Costa Rican inquiry: "How did you learn English?”

Best Costa Rican gesture: puckering and pointing with the lips instead of the finger when you want to point to something or someone

Favorite CD/song during my service project: “Marinero” and Maria’s mariachi music

Song I would be content to never hear again: crappy North American pop music kids listen to

Favorite book(s) during my service project: Unexpected News (I had to read it as homework, but it was good)

Favorite Costa Rican fashion: actually I loved the fact that in the country people care way less about fashion than in comparison to San Jose. I could wear whatever and just be comfortable (and barefoot!)

Best drive: The amazing family road trip to Volcan Poas (the views the entire road trip were indescribable)

Worst bus ride: The bus ride back to San Jose on my last day (I hate goodbyes)

Favorite food: Maria’s banana pancakes (even though she fed them to me all the time) sweet bread she made the very first day I was there, and fresh pineapple from Licho’s pineapple farm

Worst thing I ate: flan and rotten papaya

Worst thing I smelled: farm animal manure

Stupidest thing I did: I forgot a book I need to read for class in San Jose and had to go all the way back to San Jose to retrieve it

Untrue fact told to you as undeniable truth:

You know you’ve been in La Virgen too long when…: you know everyone in town, untamed classrooms seem normal and you assume bathrooms won’t have toilet paper

I never thought I would…: be able to feel so at home and part of a family in 3.5 weeks

When I grow up I want to be…: someone who loves God and loves people

If I had to do it all over again I…: would have planned better daily lessons for each class session

Favorite Ropa Americana T-shirt: A little boy wearing a shirt that said “Don’t you wish I was your girlfriend?”

Favorite animal story: One day, I was in the kitchen baking with Maria when suddenly a gecko fell on my head. I felt like Meredith in the Parent Trap if you know what I mean.

Best habit acquired: Being flexible and going with the flow, learning to be “tranquila” about everything, eating everything I was served with a smile

Worst habit acquired: going to the internet café on my breaks

Thing you missed most from San Jose: my San Jose family and my friends from LASP

Thing you missed least from San Jose: wasting hours on the bus, the loudness and chaos of the city, and always guarding my stuff as if I’m about to be mobbed

Favorite location in La Virgen: the property behind our house along the river

Things you’d wish you had known before you came: When schedules change no one will advise you about the change (one of the moms told me this, unfortunately it was the last day I was there. If only she would’ve told me on the first day and not the last!

Best advice for others coming to La Virgen: It’s all about being “tranquilo” and “pura vida”. You’ll have to come to figure out what that means