Just finished dinner decided to write about my typical day. I started the day off with a bus ride at around 5:15 this morning, I took the bus into San Jose for 155 colones. After getting dropped off on the east side of San Jose, I walked to the center of the city to the Coca Cola bus terminal. This terminal is called Coca Cola because Coke use to have a factory where there is now small shops and most of the bus terminals. The walk is around 1 kilometer and usually takes 10-15 minutes. I walk along the central avenida. Umm, I love the smell of fresh fish, fried chicken and the diesel in the morning.
When arriving at Coca Cola I hop on a bus that takes me out to Santa Anna, a western suburb of San Jose. This bus usually costs around 230 colones. These bus stops are very busy when I get their a little after 5, and the bus drivers believe it is their duty to try to break records for cramming pasengers on a bus. This is about a 25 minute bus ride where I get to enjoy being jabbed in the ribs by strangers and inhaling the pungent smell of cheap cologne. It seems every time I get on a bus no one wants to open the windows and someone close by is always wearing some cheap cologne. This really got to me today on my bus ride because I was especially tired this morning and I think this time it was the guy sitting right next to me, on top of that he had a watch alarm going off that he didn't feel the need to turn off.
After teaching at the Santa Anna Forum for an hour and a half, I took the bus back to San Jose which usually costs around 270 colones. I usually get back to my apartment around 9:30/10:00. So including the commute I put around 4 hours into my morning class. I make $7 dollars an hour and teach an hour and a half. I spend about 810 colnes ($1.50) on bus rides.
After class today I had to prepare for my new class at 6-8 and my Friday morning class in Santa Anna. I spent from around 11 o'clock to 3 o'clock planning the lessons for the 6-8 evening and my Friday morning class. I went to my employer's office to print up some hand outs and a 15 minute chore turned into an hour and a half trying to print my handouts up, talking to my boss and than using a copy machine that gets jammed on 2 out of 3 copies you make.
After going to the office I took a shower and headed over to my new class in La Sabana a Western part of San Jose. My class started at 6 but I had to leave at around 4:30. Because when you take a bus during rush hour I recommend you bring a good book. So I took the 155 colones bus into San Jose and transferred to the La Sabana bus for 95 colones. I got over to the school around 5:30 and was informed the students were unable to come to class. So I talked to my boss for a bit and he assigned me a new class at the same time. I ended up getting home around 7. If I were to teach the class I would have made 14 dollars because it was a 2 hour class and made 7 dollars an hour. Minus the bus fare that would have been around $12.50 from 4:30 to 9:00. So teaching English here seems mainly like volunteer work.
Below I listed a break down of the money and time I spend each day
After teaching at the Santa Anna Forum for an hour and a half, I took the bus back to San Jose which usually costs around 270 colones. I usually get back to my apartment around 9:30/10:00. So including the commute I put around 4 hours into my morning class. I make $7 dollars an hour and teach an hour and a half. I spend about 810 colnes ($1.50) on bus rides.
After class today I had to prepare for my new class at 6-8 and my Friday morning class in Santa Anna. I spent from around 11 o'clock to 3 o'clock planning the lessons for the 6-8 evening and my Friday morning class. I went to my employer's office to print up some hand outs and a 15 minute chore turned into an hour and a half trying to print my handouts up, talking to my boss and than using a copy machine that gets jammed on 2 out of 3 copies you make.
After going to the office I took a shower and headed over to my new class in La Sabana a Western part of San Jose. My class started at 6 but I had to leave at around 4:30. Because when you take a bus during rush hour I recommend you bring a good book. So I took the 155 colones bus into San Jose and transferred to the La Sabana bus for 95 colones. I got over to the school around 5:30 and was informed the students were unable to come to class. So I talked to my boss for a bit and he assigned me a new class at the same time. I ended up getting home around 7. If I were to teach the class I would have made 14 dollars because it was a 2 hour class and made 7 dollars an hour. Minus the bus fare that would have been around $12.50 from 4:30 to 9:00. So teaching English here seems mainly like volunteer work.
Below I listed a break down of the money and time I spend each day
daily bus fare avg (dbfa): 1450 colones /520 = $2.80 us *bus fares increase going into San Jose
daily income: $24us
daily time spent on bus (dtsob): 5 hrs
time teaching (tt): 3.5 hrs
planning/paperwork (p&p): 3.5 hrs
I need to move to the West side of town. When I first started looking for a job their were a couple places in San Pedro however I like the people I work with more at my other jobs. If I could move over to the west side of town I can probably cut down the travel time in half. San Jose is not a big city but it is a P.I.A. to commute through during the rush hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment