A day teaching English with Sonia Morant in Jaco, costa rica

My name is Sonia Morant.I am originally from Connecticutin the United States,and today I'm gonna be showing youaround where I live, what I do.I moved to Costa Rica5 1/2, six months ago. Hong Kong universities So as you can see, I'm just waking up.This is Sonia fresh out of the bed here.And that's because I work late at night.I teach late, I sing late,I have different jobs hereand they all require me to be up late.So I get to sleep in in theday, in the morning timebecause I don't reallyhave any commitments.So this is kind of likemy routine, my schedule.I just tend to wake uplate in the morningsbecause I'm up really late at night.These birds, though.They wake me up every day.I'm not exaggerating.They like, come andbang on my window, they,yes, I see you, yeah.So this is really my mornings.Away from this bird's face.Ay, there they go making noise.Do you see the noise I'm talking about?They hook on.(bird chirps)(laughs)Oh my gosh.This is every morning, I'm not kidding.All right so these are theleftovers I'm making right now.Yesterday I made a chickpeacurry with peas, potatoes,cauliflower, whole bunch of good stuff.It's really cheap to buy foodand groceries in Costa Ricaif it's natural vegetables andfruits and stuff like that.All right, hey guys.So I'm gonna do a quicklittle apartment tourreally, really quick.So, I live in a studio apartment.This is kind of what it looks like here.Here's the bathroom, got thelittle kitchen area over here.And when you leave theapartment, this is what you see.These are all my neighbors.This is my backyardarea, we've got the pool,laundry down this way,and my bike is down there.And as far as prices go.So my apartment is $400 a monthincluding everything, Wi-Fi.

All right, so this is my street,and here we have the apartmentbuildings and my bike.So, what I do is ride my bikebasically everywhere here.All right, so this is my gym that I go to.It's a one minute bike ride from my house.And this is the mainstrip of town actually,so everything that you would possibly needis just on this one streethere, and it's pretty easy.And I'm gonna answer everyone's questionsas soon as I leave thegym, I just got here.I do kind of a strictroutine with my workoutsand who I train with,so as soon as I'm doneand I leave here, I'mgoing to head to the beachand answer everyone's questions.(speaks in foreign language)This place is the best for smoothies.The best, best, best, best.Alright, here we go.The beach, like I said,very close to my home,to everything, to the main strip.Okay, now I'm really readyto answer some questions.I'm here at the beach, I gotmy smoothie, beautiful view.study in Hong Kong I'm ready to speak.So, I chose Costa Ricafor no particular reasonexcept for the factthat I wanted to be in aSpanish speaking countryto learn and perfect my Spanish.And also to be somewhere warm, beautiful.I mean, you hear Costa Ricanpeople are very relaxed,low-key; it's a very chill atmosphere,and I would have to agree with that.I have amazing friends here,and it's a beautiful place to be.And I just picked the place.And also to be somewhere warm, beautiful.I mean, you hear Costa Ricanpeople are very relaxed,low-key; it's a really chill atmosphere,and I would have to agree with that.I have amazing friends here,and it's a beautiful place to be.And I just picked the place.This question's interestingbecause I don't know the answerto this question.But also because I kind of moved herewith the intention of having other jobs,and not only havingEnglish teaching be my.Southern Connecticut State University.I ran track and field.I got my Bachelor's inMental Health Psychology,and I graduated this pastMay, and once I graduated,I packed my stuff upand moved to Costa Rica.This question's interestingbecause I don't know theanswer to this question.But also because I kind of moved herewith the intention of having other jobs,and not only havingEnglish teaching be my.It's too hot at the beach,so change of location.How nice is this?We're gonna be sitting here and chatting.I actually teach gymnasticsup here, up above,so, I also have anotherjob here where I coach.Okay, so what I was saying was,basically I moved to Costa Ricawith not plans really to have other jobs.I just wanted to get myteaching certificate.I got certified with ITACosta Rica in Heredia,and I highly recommend it.Luke and Melanie areamazing, amazing instructors.And once I was there, I tookthat month to figure outwhat I wanted to do,traveled around a little bit.I came to Jaco, and I fellin love with this place.And there's a really big music scene here.And for me, my full timejob in the States was music.I'm a singer, so I knewthat would be a great wayfor me to kind of get myway in to the scene here.And now, that's reallymy main source of incomebecause I'm singing almost every night.

So, I definitely thinkif you have other talentsor things that you're good at,don't think that you're not gonna be ableto do them in a foreign countrybecause you can't speak the language.Everything in person.I came to Jaco for thesecond weekend to explorebecause I knew I wanted to live here.I found my apartmentthat day,top universities in hong kong it was so easy.I saw three places, and thelast place was the place for me.Same thing with my teachingjob, I just went in person,and got the job.I feel extremely safebeing away from home.I love Jaco, and thefriends I've made hereare all local people, likeI don't have any friendswho are from the States here,and it's just incredible.I mean, it's such an amazing place.The school I teach at isa private school calledIPAI Language School, and my class,I had no preference really,I truly didn't care.So it's not really grade levels.These are adults who Iteach or people my age.I'm 22 years old, so anywhere from.Yes, but that has nothingto do with my teaching necessarily.Like I said, I chose to teach part timebecause I have other things here that I doas far as singing every night,I teach gymnastics up herebecause I did gymnastics for 16 years,I do social media marketing.And to touch on that a little more,there are so many people here who I've metwho don't speak Spanish,but they're bartenders,they work in restaurants,there's so many other waysthat you can make moneyin addition to teachingif you're concerned.And to touch on that a little more,there are so many people here who I've metwho don't speak Spanish,but they're bartenders,they work in restaurants,there's so many other waysthat you can make moneyin addition to teachingif you're concernedabout not being ableto save enough a monthafter teaching here.But you can definitely, it's so doableto work full time as ateacher and save money.I know many people who do that.I just don't know what,how much the incomewould be for that because I don't do that,but it's, you can do it.I mean you can do anything, really.If you wanna live here, if you wanna livein a foreign country, you canmake money and you can do it.You just have to be proactive,and really go out and look forwhat you want and find a way.I say try either one, honestly,but definitely in person.If you walk into anyof these schools here,and you're a native English speaker,you're most likely gonnaget hired on the spot.It's, I mean, there's been, and even,people ask me for privatelessons all the time.Work at with IPAI I getpaid 4,000 colones an hour,which is almost $7 an hour.This is pretty low, I meanit's good for where I live.For the price range of living here.But like I said, I chose that.It's a conversational class,very easy side money for me.(speaking in foreign language)(laughs)The scene is great.I'm actually gonna bring you guys tonight.I have to sing and performin greenroom tonight,and it's a local spot, theyhave live music every night.Everyone goes, it's super fun.I mean, all the restaurantshere have live music,so it's truly, truly, truly amazingand that's why I moved to Jaco.♪ Let me tell you one more time ♪♪ If you love me won't you say something ♪♪ If you love me won'tyou say something to me ♪♪ If you love me won't you ♪♪ If you love me won't you say something ♪♪ Say that thing to me ♪♪ If you love me won't you say something ♪♪ If you love me won'tyou say something to me ♪♪ If you love me won't you ♪♪ If you love me won't you say ♪♪ Say something to me ♪♪ Ooh ♪♪ You're the greatest part ♪♪ Won't you say that thing ♪♪ Say that thing to me ♪I wanna go to Thailand,think that's the next place.Thailand, Thailand, Thailand.And they have a prettygood music scene there too,and I think I'd be ableto do and make moneywith my music in Thailandas well, so that's the plan.None.Everything here is like word of mouth,and when I got to Jaco I just.I mean, even during the interview,they didn't even ask me for my resume,they didn't ask me for anything.He was just like, you're hired.That's it.There was nothing required prior.Moved here, my Spanishwas not good like at all.Couldn't hold a conversation.Been here six months,it's improved so much.I don't think you need it really.To teach, you don't need it at all.Not at all.Oh I was teaching eight hours a week.Now I'm only teaching once a weekbecause I am so busy with my other jobs.So it's only like two hours,but that's again through choice, not.(speaking in foreign language)I'd love to say Jaco has,it's like a big city, small town feel.Like I already know everyone in the town,it's just so amazing.And it's not too touristy, but it's notnot touristy at all.There's definitely a lotof English speakers herebecause there's so much.

This was so, don't hit me.This is an example of whatthe center of town looks like.I go grocery shopping here,gymnastics over there.I sing up here, I sing over there.And they have so much amazing food.And then, literally,every street to your leftis where the beach is.So it's less than 200 metersof a walk to the beach.And yeah, there's just so much to do.So I'm going back to the beach'cause I answered everyone's questions.Thing called Artify Jaco,so almost all the walls herehave amazing paint artworkthat artists have done,and the whole point is totry to make the entire city,or town, it's not reallya city, town colorful.First of all, thank you somuch, that's so, so nice of you.I'm back at the beach, sorry.So yeah, you can come here no problemfor two months, definitely.You just can't be here for morethan three months at a time.I have to leave thecountry every three monthsfor like a day, two days or something.Okay, I'm going to get food.Into the mountains and the horizon here.We have really awesome jungles10 minutes from here.(upbeat music)(speaking in foreign language)Ooh.Wow.No, I'm not vegan.However, I prefer vegan, vegetarian dishesand I'll eat meat maybe once aweek or once every two weeks.It's just not a main part of my diet.We're heading back into town.Gonna sing tonight.This is my view.Always out on the bike,and it's super safe.♪ They tryin' us ♪♪ Playin' games and you try to tell me ♪♪ You gotta put me on hold ♪♪ Ooh oh ♪♪ Honey came in and shecaught my red handed ♪♪ Creeping with the girl next door ♪♪ Picture this we were both butt naked ♪♪ Banging on the bathroom floor ♪♪ How could I forget that Ihad given her an extra key ♪♪ All this time she was standing there ♪♪ She never took her eyes off me ♪♪ Makes you know say thatshe really no right for vex ♪♪ Never you she see yamake the gigolo flex ♪♪ Smaddy else a favoryou inna di complex ♪♪ Seeing is believing, so you better ♪I am signing off, everybody.Thank you so much forwatching, I hope you enjoyed.It's actually an earlynight for me, surprisingly.So, thank you guys again.I'm riding my bike home.Almost to my apartment.Thank you guys so much.(upbeat music)

Sources of article:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VREWV3FAkJo