(upbeat music)
- Good morning everyone, my name is Courtney
and I'm taking over ITA's Instagram today.
I'm coming from Potrero, Costa Rica,
which is where I have been living
since January of this year
with my partner Mike and my dog Titan.
He's eating some grass, it looks like.
And, also, our cat Rex.
See I'm from Denver, Colorado originally.
But I lived in Washington, D.C. for about two years
before we decided to move here.
And my boyfriend Mike and I decided to get certified
to teach English the summer of 2018.
So, finally in January, after quitting our
nine to five jobs, we moved to Costa Rica.
(birds chirping)
This is our house, right here.
We're gonna go inside.
And I'm probably gonna have to be whispering
a little bit because Mike is
currently teaching with VIP Kid
and I don't want to disturb his classes.
Let's go inside and see how it's going.
(cat meowing)
All right, here's Mike's VIP Kid classroom,
but it looks like his kid was a no-show.
How does that make you feel?
- What's up, everyone?
Just teaching.
I had five classes today, so it looks like
the last one is a no-show, though.
Which is okay on VIP Kid because you still get paid
for no-shows so it's all good.
- All right, I got my iced coffee and my top knot
because it's already really hot out.
And, I think I will give you a tour of our casita
now that Mike's finishing up with teaching.
So, as you can see behind me,
there's Titan and our little family room.
And our little dining area, just for us two.
And I'm standing in the kitchen.
Now, behind me, we have this awesome
little screened in porch.
Which is not something you
actually really see around here.
But we have cute little seating area.
And, also, a little washer back there.
And, then that is our backyard
with some awesome tropical plants.
It's like a little tropical oasis.
As you can see, there's our cat, Rex.
(kissing noise)
(cat meowing)
Hi, buddy.
We have a bonus cat right now.
This is Princess Kelly.
We have been feeding her.
She's a stray cat that was living at our old house.
And we occasionally check up on our favorite
little gatos callejeros.
And,this little girl needed to get spayed,
so that she would no longer be having kittens
and contributing to the ever-growing cat population.
(cat meowing)
So, we're really happy we were able to do that for her.
And, now, we're hoping to find a loving home for her.
So, I think right now's a really good time to
point out how uncommon it is to see
that on ITA's Instagram takeovers
somebody with so many pets.
Especially ones that they brought
with them from the States.
So, if anyone has particular questions
about moving internationally
with your dog or your cat,
feel free to send me those questions.
It's something that I've written about
on my own blog that I've started
because I think that that is something
that people always have questions about.
And I personally feel like an expert
after the logistical nightmare I went through
to make this move possible.
And, needless to say,
although it can be very overwhelming to figure out
how to import an animal to a new country,
I will say that if you start planning ahead
far in advance, and you are not going to let
the paperwork or the logistics get in the way
of you pursuing your dream, it is so, so worth it.
I put off moving internationally for so long.
And I always said it was because, well, I have pets
and it's my duty to stay here with them
and to not disrupt their life.
And of course I can't leave them with anyone else.
And that, I think is a very relatable situation
to be in for most animal lovers and pet owners.
And one day I just kinda decided
maybe I'm also kind of using this
as an excuse to hold myself back from doing
what it is that I really want to be doing.
Okay, so there's your inspirational
pep-talk for the day.
And so, I encourage you to think about
what might you be using to hold yourself back?
And, moral of the story is, don't let the things
that you love prevent you from living out
a dream that you have.
Instead, you take them with you.
So, without further ado, I will show you a
(dog barking) breakdown of our expenses.
I've shared what our expenses are monthly
on things like rent and utilities and groceries.
And something I think that's really important
to emphasize here is that Costa Rica is not cheap.
I think sometimes there's a misconception
that because it's Central America,
that it should be cheaper to rent here
or even buy property or even buy groceries.
And that is not true.
It's equivalent to many places in the United States.
Coming from Washington, D.C., I would say that
rent is definitely more affordable.
But then there will be other things
that are much more expensive.
And so, then it basically ends up equaling out,
if not costing much more.
So, I typically don't teach until the afternoons,
which means in the morning I'm able do other things.
So, that means right now I have time to lesson plan
and also work on my blog.
I'm currently writing about all the ways
to make an income, to sustain an income
while living in Costa Rica,
or really anywhere abroad.
And then, I also spend this time working
on my Etsy store, which is something
that I launched this year.
And I enjoy photography and creating wall art.
So, I also sell that on Etsy as,
hopefully in the future,
a way to make an extra income.
So, we're both getting ready for our online classes.
We teach with Verbling, which is another online platform.
It works kind of like VIP Kid, but this one's
a little different because it's mostly adults.
And you can work all throughout the day.
And, also, on this platform, you set your own rates.
So, Mike's VIP Kid classroom is now
his Verbling classroom.
Titan likes to hang out in here while he teaches.
And then I teach here, just on our dining table.
I don't need much, just a plain background
and a set of headphones and my computer.
So I just finished teaching one of my lessons.
On Verbling, each lesson is an hour long.
But we had a slight hiccup because the power
decided to go out about 45 minutes into the lesson.
And this can happen frequently in Costa Rica.
In our house, it hasn't happened
in a really long time.
But it's something to be aware of.
So, we are in the center of the town of Potrero.
And this right here is the classroom
for a non-profit organization called Abriendo Mentes.
Abriendo Mentes is the organization that we
first started teaching with in Costa Rica.
And it actually is what brought us
to this particular part of the country.
Both an invitation to lead their adult English program.
So, I teach intermediate English to adults
and Mike teaches the beginner level.
And we've since then formed a team
of two other teachers, so we have an advanced level now
and also a class specifically for high school students.
So, one other important thing to mention
is that Abriendo Mentes is hiring.
We're looking for a part-time youth
English teacher in the Brasilito community.
And it is a good position for anyone
who is proficient in Spanish.
So if that's something you're interested in,
feel free to send me a direct message.
And I can send you more information about the job.
(gravel crunching)
(upbeat music)