August 6: Nathan's perspective

Some of you might be wondering how the rest of the family is coping and adjusting.  Today we'll let Nathan give his perspective.  If you have any questions for any of us please leave a comment below or email me (jvanderbeek@hollandchristian.org) and we will answer them in a future blog post.

Nathan, what are your initial impressions of Costa Rica?  
 It’s really cool.  There’s a lot of animals that you don’t see in Michigan like parrots, crabs, monkeys and butterflies.   The culture is different.   It’s really hot here and the houses are smaller.  Playing soccer on the street is a challenge because of the flowing ditches on the side for runoff water and there is no nice yard to play in.

This shot is taken from our front gate and shows the wet ditches on both sides of our narrow street.

What has been hard for you?    
Adjusting to the way school is here.   The homework takes more time and it is due the very next day.   You can tell the school is for elementary grades and they are strict about rules.  Not what I am used to.  Also we don’t have a car here so we do a lot of walking and sweating.

What has been the highlight so far? 
Manuel Antonio National Park was cool because we saw a lot of really interesting and unique animals including sloths, toucans, tarantulas, monkeys, bats, frogs, raccoons and a ton of lizards.

What is a typical school day like for you?
     I wake up around 6:30am and have cereal or oatmeal for breakfast.  After Mom and the girls leave at 6:55 I help dad with dishes or laundry (very manly business).  Some days I stay home and do math online with dad or we go to school and do the same. I also need to do science but I haven’t started that yet with dad.

If it’s a Tuesday or Thursday I have a reading group in the morning with my dad and Bradley, a 6th grader.  Our first book is Wadget Eye, which is about an ancient Egyptian boy.

There isn't classroom space available so I work out in the hall for math and it's very HOT.

      
At lunch I play soccer or four square.  In the afternoon I go to Spanish and social studies which is not my favorite at all.
    I get home around 3pm and do homework. Sometimes we go to the nearby soccer field to play soccer and we tend to attract a lot of attention from kids who want to play.
Right now, I watch a lot of Olympics.

What are you looking forward to about this year?                                                                                 
Making new friends and going on a lot of cool adventures like hiking and ziplining.

How would you describe the city of Quepos in a few words?
  It’s small and touristy.  There’s a lot of nice people.