Where one road ends, another begins

Or should I say another two roads begin?
To start, last Friday was my last day at Kid's World Montessori. Which means, I am half way done student teaching! It is crazy how fast time flies! The kids, of course, threw me a little going away party. We had snacks, listened to music, danced, and Gaby had them go around in a circle and tell what their favorite part about me being there was. Most of them said they liked me helping them with numbers and English, but one little girl told me she liked my blond hair to play with =) It was very adorable. They also each colored a picture of themselves with me and put them together into a little book for me to take back to the States with me. It is SO cute, and pretty much all of them gave me a lot of yellow hair. haha
It was definitely a sad day saying good bye, but I was ready for a new school. In Costa Rica, and especially at the Montessori, they spend a lot of time on extra curricular activities and practicing for the numerous programs or holiday events that they have going on here. At my time there, they were already practicing for their Christmas Program and it took up a big portion of a lot of days, so I felt like I wasn't doing much besides just sitting there and watching.
My next placement was called Las Huellitas (The Footprints). However, when I got there on Monday, I realized it was more of a daycare.
OKAY so in the United States for my licensure (birth-6 grade) it is possible to do a preschool student teaching, as long as it is a split placement with an older level. When I had originally gotten my placements, I thought it was going to be fine because I was in the Kinder at the Montessori and Pre Kinder at Las Huellitas. Little did I know that in Costa Rica the grade levels go: Pre Kinder, Kinder, Prepatory, and then 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades and so on. I got a little worried towards the end of my placement at the Montessori because the teachers were all telling me that Las Huellitas was more of a daycare. I decided to just go and see what it was all about before making an decision. Turns out, it is definitely just a daycare, and the kids were younger than the ones I was working with at the Montessori. I decided that I didn't want to risk finishing my placement there and coming back to the States just to be told that I didn't do the right placements and had to do more student teaching. (How not fun would that have been?!) So I quickly contacted my adviser and we switched my schools right away.
So new road number one was very short traveled, I just spent Monday and Tuesday there, but still a good experience. None of the teachers spoke English to me and I realized how much better my Spanish actually has gotten and the children were adorable! If it was up to me, I would have stayed there because I just absolutely love the little ones =)
New road number two began today! The school I am going to be teaching at for my last 6 and a half weeks is Virgen del Pilar. It is a bilingual school about a 25 minute walk from my house. (There is a bus, too, but the walk goes right through the center of my town and is very nice!) I walked there today with Emilia to meet the teachers and see the school. They aren't sure yet, but I will probably be working with 1st and 2nd grades! I am very excited, because I do really enjoy those grades! The school is very cute and they actually do all subjects in both English and Spanish. The students have half of their day in English and the other half in Spanish. It will be a great experience for me and hopefully I will be able to implement a lot of my own ideas when teaching and what not! I would be starting tomorrow..
BUUT .. Josh just called and they are HEREE!! just waiting to get their rental car!! They are coming to pick me up and then it is off to Manuel Antonio until Sunday!! I am very excited to spend some time with some of my family.. and I guess being on the beach will be nice too!
Love and miss you all!!
I will be sure to blog with PLENTY of pictures when I get home on Sunday! =)