SITE PLACEMENT finally here!

Dear readers:

I JUST GOT MY SITE PLACEMENT for my upcoming year volunteering in Costa Rica! This is Super Exciting news.

I will be living in the 2,000-person town of Boruca, Costa Rica, home to the indigenous Boruca tribe. Here is a video with images from the region:



Boruca is located in the Talamanca mountains in the southwestern Puntarenas province of Costa Rica.

Some more things I just learned about my site:
-My soon-to-be host family includes a father, Oscar, who teaches the Borucan (Brunka) language; a mother, Yaneth; a 15-year-old named Isha; a 7-year-old named Nashaly; a weiner dog named Rosie; and a stray cat named Bigotes (Beards.)
-There are fresh coconut, mango, palm, cacao and lemon trees all around (to name a few!)
-I will be teaching every grade level and will have more than 100 students
-School days start at 7(!!) AM and last til after 3 (albeit with a 2-hour lunch break.) Meaning: I will be working my BUTT off.
-there are 3 waterfalls located a short walk from Boruca (not to mention a variety of rivers, cliffs, hills, mountains, and fantastic types of foliage.)

...ANYway, it's time for me to sleep. I just wanted to share my update with y'all. 'Cause in a few short weeks, my home will look like this:

(Boruca image courtesy Travelpod.)

:D!

Besos,
Rachel

Plane Ticket: Purchased!!

It's official: I just booked my flight from DC to Miami for January 8, 2012!! From there I will meet up with other Worldteach volunteers and fly to Costa Rica.

That means: 58 days til I leave for Costa Rica!!!!

The countdown begins.

(As always, THANK YOU for visiting this blog! If you are willing and able to make a contribution in support of my time volunteering in Costa Rica with Worldteach, please see my donation page.)

WOOOOHOOO!!

Dear Costa Rachel Readers,

I have excellent news: As of last Friday, Nov. 11, I have raised $4,474 towards my goal of $7,000 by the end of December 2011. This is incredible and would not have been possible without you!

This means that:
$7,000
-$4,474
---------
$2,526 left to raise!

If you or anyone you know might be interested in helping me meet my fundraising goal, please contact me at rachel.a.simmons@gmail.com and see my donation page for instructions. THANK YOU!!)

As many of you know, I love to play guitar... And sometime in mid or late Deceber, I am planning to host a concert for all those who contributed to my efforts. :) It will be wonderful to see everyone and thank you all in person!

I am the dorkiest dork who ever dorked.

(As always: THANK YOU for reading my blog about my experiences preparing for a year volunteering in Costa Rica! If you are interested in contributing to my fundraising effort, please see my donation page for instructions. THANK YOU!!)

So yeah, I happen to be a huge, huge language dork. There's nothing in the world that makes me happy quite like communicating with someone who I wouldn't be able to speak with if I only spoke English. Fun words and accents and dialects give me a rush, and part of the reason why I'm so excited to be going to Costa Rica is because I'll finally get an immersion environment and be able to improve my Spanish.

I've invested years and years into language learning. I studied German and Linguistics at William and Mary, took several classes in Dutch while studying abroad in Germany, learned the Vorarlbergerisch Dialekt of German while teaching in Austria, and have been teaching myself Spanish for the last three years. Languages are my hobby, my passion, and my career thus far, and Spanish fluency is my current linguistic goal.

The first time I remember wishing I could speak Spanish was when I was in middle school and one of my art class comrades wrote the following in my yearbook:

Rachel:
Eres loca! :)

Now, I'm far enough along in my studies to understand just how right he was.

Instead of practicing Spanish by reading old yearbook entries, though, I thought I'd try another approach: watching TV shows in Spanish. For a month or two I'd been watching The Big Bang Theory with Spanish subtitles, but being able to talk about particulos subatomicos probably isn't going to help me much in Costa Rica. So, I switched to Friends (or Colegas), dubbed into español.

For example:



... finally, an excuse to watch hours and hours of TV :) Plus, I'm learning to say important things like:

-ewww, no voy a probarlo! es la leche materna! (eww, I'm not going to try it! it's breast milk!)
-NOS ESTABAMOS TOCANDO UN DESCANSO (WE WERE ON A BREAK!)
-estaba de compras. no hay suficientes tiendas en Nueva York. (I was shopping. there aren't enough stores in New York.)

See? Now that I know how to say all this, I must be ready to go to Central America! Right? Right?

Bueller?

Dear fantastical friends, stupendous supporters, and radiant relatives!

As of today, October 19, I have successfully raised $2,075.50 towards my goal of $7,000 by the end of December 2011!

This is awesome news. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU so very much to everyone for your kinds words as well as your monetary support. I'm incredibly excited to be going to Costa Rica and can't wait to start my work as a volunteer teacher there.

This means:

$7,000.00
- $2,075.50
-------------
$4,924.50 left to raise!

Please tell any friends and family about my trip who you think might be interested in contributing to my fundraising effort. Please see my donation page for instructions on how to donate. THANK YOU!!)


THANK YOU AGAIN!! You people are awesome.
<3
R

Goats, cows, and chickens-- OH MY!

Hola otra vez, personas queridas!
(Hello again, dear people!)

I thought you might be interested in checking out Worldteach Costa Rica's Youtube channel.  There are a bunch of great videos on there, especially the "What is 'rural' in Costa Rica?" video.  It shows the kind of place I'm likely to be living next year-- full of goats, cows, horses, hills, a few people, and not much else! Check it out:



I'm excited to go live and volunteer in Costa Rica, and one of the things I'm looking forward to most is living far away from a big city in a town that might only have a few hundred people.  It'll be a big change from DC, no matter where I am!

Also, as always: THANK YOU for reading my blog about my experiences preparing for a year volunteering in Costa Rica! If you are interested in contributing to my fundraising effort, please see my donation page for instructions. THANK YOU!!

Welcome, Dear Reader!

Hola!

So.  Somehow, you've landed on this little spot of Internet that just so happens to be my Costa Rica blog.  First of all, THANK YOU for your interest in my time volunteering in Costa Rica!  It helps me to know that I'm not alone as I go gallivanting off to try and save the world (or at least try to make a little bit of a difference.)  Second of all, please let me know if you have any questions or comments-- either respond here or send me an email at rachel.a.simmons@gmail.com.  I'd love to hear from you.

So, without further ado....

Who am I?
Hi!  My name is Rachel.

Don't I look like myself?

I'm a  24-year-old wanderlust-driven linguistics dork who has known ever since I was a little girl that I wasn't cut out to live in the suburbs of DC (where I spent most of my pre-adult life.) I enjoy playing guitar, learning new languages, reading fantasy novels, and making funny faces with my 4-year-old niece:

Too bad we decided to keep straight faces for this picture.

Two and a half years ago, I graduated from the College of William and Mary with a double major in German Studies and Linguistics, and since then I've spent my time teaching English to secondary school students in Feldkirch, a small town in Vorarlberg, Austria with the Fulbright program.

US citizens in Austria have to wear traditional dirndls and carry around badly drawn American flags all the time.  And make peace signs, of course. 

I had a fantastic time in Austria (especially learning the Vorarlbergerisch Dialekt spoken where I lived!) but I kept feeling the pull to go somewhere new.  This is where WorldTeach Costa Rica 2012 comes in!

What is Worldteach?
Worldteach is a small, non-profit NGO which places volunteer teachers in developing countries around the world.  Volunteers provide instruction in English and other subjects to students who otherwise would not have access to qualified teachers.  It's a pretty awesome organization-- check out the website!  Click on Costa Rica Year on the left to learn more about my specific program.  I'll leave in early January 2012 and will stay in Costa Rica until December. 

Why Costa Rica?
I chose to apply to volunteer in Costa Rica for several reasons.  First of all, Costa Rica is a beautiful, peaceful country with a rich history and laid-back pura vida lifestyle.  Unlike other countries in the region, Costa Rica has no standing military and invests a significant portion of its national budget into its youth and the environment.  

Plus, if Google Images is to be believed, all of Costa Rica looks like this.

Second, living in the immersion environment of a rural town in Costa Rica will give me the perfect chance to improve my Spanish skills.  Third, I've never been to a developing country, and I think that the experience will inform my worldview in a way that North America and Europe haven't been able to.  Last, I'm excited to have the opportunity to be a full-time teacher.  Up til now, I've been an assistant (and I've loved it!), but I want to try my hand being in charge of a classroom, and I'm looking forward to the challenge.  Volunteering with Worldteach in Costa Rica will allow me to combine my passions for teaching, volunteering, languages, and travel all into one!

So, there you have it! 

Now, I'm off to watch some Big Bang Theory with my father, drink tea, and plan a multi-pronged fundraising scheme....'cause, you know, it's fun to say the word "pronged". And oh, by the way, I have to raise a couple thousand bucks by January. ....speaking of which!

PLEASE HELP ME MEET MY FUNDRAISING GOAL!
Because Worldteach is a non-profit which sends volunteers to developing countries, a significant chunk of its funds come from volunteer fundraising.  That means that I have to raise $7,000 by January 2012.  This is a daunting task, but with help of people like YOU, my goal can be met.  The money will go towards my airfare, training, and health insurance in Costa Rica as well as helping to buy supplies for the school where I'll be working at.

If you are willing and able to donate ANY amount, please:
1) go to http://www.worldteach.org
2) click on DONATE NOW in the upper right-hand corner.
3) fill out the form, and be sure to type RACHEL SIMMONS COSTA RICA 2012 in the "Gift Designated For" field.  Note: this is extremely important and ensures that your donation will go towards my program! Not filling out this field will mean that your donation benefits Worldteach as a whole, but will not help me towards my fundraising commitment.   
4) After you submit your donation info, save and print the receipt from Worldteach.  Your donation is tax deductible!
5) Let me know that you've donated so that I can send you a personalized Thank You note -- I want you to know how much I appreciate your help! 

Again, THANK YOU and let me know if you have any questions!

<3!
Rachel

How To Donate

THANK YOU for helping me reach my fundraising goal! Your donations are essential to making my service in Costa Rica possible and are tax deductible.

There are three ways to donate.

First, you can donate ONLINE:
1) go to http://www.worldteach.org
2) click on DONATE NOW in the upper right-hand corner.
3) fill out the form, and be sure to type RACHEL SIMMONS COSTA RICA 2012 in the "Gift Designated For" field. Note: this is extremely important and ensures that your donation will go towards my program! Not filling out this field will mean that your donation benefits Worldteach as a whole, but will not help me towards my fundraising commitment.
4) After you submit your donation info, save and print the receipt from Worldteach. Your donation is tax deductible!
5) Let me know that you've donated so that I can send you a personalized Thank You note -- I want you to know how much I appreciate your help!

Or, you can donate directly to WorldTeach by CHECK:
1) Make out a check to WORLDTEACH with RACHEL SIMMONS COSTA RICA 2012 in the Memo line.
2)Mail the check to: Worldteach c/o Center for International Development, Harvard University 79 John F. Kennedy St. Box 122 Cambridge, MA 02138
3) Tell me you've donated so that you can get a Thank You letter!

Or, you can donate by sending ME a check*:
1) Make out a check to me, Rachel Simmons, and either give it to me directly or mail it to me (email me at rachel.a.simmons@gmail.com for my mailing address.)

*Approximately $1,000 of the money I'm raising is to help me pay for medical exams before I leave and part of my airfare to Costa Rica, and thus shouldn't be sent to Worldteach. If you send the money directly to me, it's not tax-deductible. However, if you were not intending to list your Worldteach donation on your taxes, this is the preferable option for me, as most people prefer to donate through Worldteach and I have not yet raised the money for my medical expenses.

Again, THANK YOU for donating any amount! Please email me if you have any questions.