ENTRY FROM OLD BLOG (4 OF 4) 9-11-2009

GRANADA´S SELF DESTRUCTION AND A VISIT FROM VERMONT!

Granada´s Self Destruction

    I don´t know if it´s just me, but I believe that Granada is self destructing.  Last year I noticed a couple of construction sites starting.  One was supposed to be a 6 month project to build a skate park and expand the athletic complex near my old flat.  7 months later they are still a ways from finishing.  The larger project however, was to create a metro that should travel from the suburbs to Granada for easier commuting.  I think this is scheduled to take up to 4 years, which doesn´t seem too bad on its own.  But the problem is that the construction sites have effectively closed down a lot of the main roads in the city, and with it a lot of the businesses downtown have lost revenue or closed entirely.  Now I had thought that with such a large project going on they would hire all the construction workers to work on the same project to speed it along, and focus on 1 part of the lines first before moving on to the other lines.  For some reason I don´t understand they have done neither of these.  They are trying to build the entire metro system simultaneously, which is a very noteworthy goal, except that I can see some parts of the line are nearly completed in the suburbs, but in the urban areas (where all the lines are going to lead) they haven´t finished digging up the streets.  So I think it could be a few years before this part of downtown recovers economically (*NB The unemployment rate in Granada in February of 2009 was around 30%, I don’t know what it is today, but I don’t think it’s much lower than that).  On top of that many of the small streets in down town are being torn up and repaved.  I really like the way they are doing it, making the drains in the center of the street, and digging up the old pavement before laying more on, thus avoiding problems where the road becomes 6” (15cm) higher than the 

Bathroom issues

This past week we’ve had several issues with the cuarto baño (bathroom).  First the light went out, which meant a couple of days of darkness in the bathroom, since there isn´t a window there. That has been temporarily improved by putting a small red lamp in there.  It´s enough to shower and stuff by, but anything in the mirror is difficult.  Also, the hot water was not working for a couple of days, and now it´s the toilet that isn´t working so we have to ¨flush¨the toilet by dumping clean water into the toilet.  Not terribly effective but keeps moderately clean water on top.

Visit from a VTer! 

My friend Becky came to visit this weekend.  She is from Essex, VT and is teaching in Madrid.  We made pancakes for lunch for my roommates :)  We went out a little bit, but had a fairly relaxing weekend

ENTRY FROM OLD BLOG (3 OF 4) 23-10-2009

¿ESCANDALÚ? NO LO CREO, PERO TODAVÍA DIVERTIDO

Pepa left us on Tuesday morning to go to her town in Almería because she cannot see out of her left eye.  She is very calm about it, she told us that it has happened before, she just needs to see her doctor and she should be fine in a few weeks.  We think she will be back this weekend.  She seemed to be more concerned that it meant she couldn´t drink alcohol (due to her medication) for about 4 weeks.  

Wednesday night I went to an intercambio, where people go to practice languages.  I obviously went to practice my Spanish, and most of the people there were Spanish or Latin American and wanted to practice their English.  I went with my friend Jen from NC. The intercambio was a lot of fun for me, partially because almost everyone there was a native speaker of English.  Other than Jen and me there was a girl from Texas and another from Iceland.  I spoke with the Icelandic girl for a while about our respective countries because I happened to be wearing my jacket from the University there.

The intercambio was also a lot of fun because I got some compliments about how good my English was because everyone thought I was granadíno (from Granada)

-Thursday night was another very interesting night for me.  I went out to dinner with most of my co-workers from school.  Dinner, in Spanish fashion started around 1030pm.  We ate for a few hours.  It was a fun dynamic because I rarely see more than 2 or 3 of the other teachers at the same time.  Veronica, one of the English teachers is in her late 20s I believe and then there are 3 student teachers and me in our early 20s.  All of the other teachers are at least in their late 30s, but based on Thursday night you would think our ages were reversed.  Some of the older teachers kept joking all night that since we were the newbies in the school it was our turn to do a strip tease for the rest of the teachers, and that we had to pay the bill.  However, in the end they refused any money from me or the student teachers.  After dinner we went to the Plaza de Toros (Bull Ring) and went to a club.  Alvaro (a student teacher), Veronica and I left around 3am because aside from me all the other teachers had to work in the morning.  When we left, there were still about 6 teachers partying it up.

See you later aligators,

After while crocodiles,

Ciao cows!

ENTRY FROM OLD BLOG (2 of 4) 19-10-2009

¡Qué wapo e mi nuevo compañero de piso, Tokki el conejito!

Look how beautiful my new roommate Tokki the rabbit is!

The most noteworthy thing to happen to me this weekend was the arrival of Javi´s pet runny babbit Tokki.  Tokki came to live with us on Saturday so we are now 4 in the flat.  This is the first time my roommates have had a pet since freshman year when we had some 12 rats and a hamster, at least until the fire.  The name Tokki, según Javi, means Rabbit en Korean.

My other roommate, Pepa, aka María José went blind in her left eye this weekend.  She says it is not the first time it´s happened, and it should be better with some medication within a month and that it is somehow related to her illness.  She said that one time she was blind in both eyes for a while, but that after a while it got better.

Sunday the 3 of us, along with about 30 others went to a near by town (Huetor Vega) to plan a haunted house we will all be part of on Halloween night.  Javi and I will be playing the role of corpses and Pepa will be a Zombie I believe.

ENTRY FROM OLD BLOG (1 OF 4) 16-10-2009

Today I cam across an old blog that I tried starting last fall, but stopped after a month or so, because I realized I wasn´t writing that often.  I will shortly be adding the 3 other entries.  They chronicle 1 month of my time in Spain

VISIT FROM THE HOMELAND

My friend Jess at the Mirador de San Nicolas

The past week I got to play host to an amazing friend of mine, the one and only Jess Holmes.  Jess came to visit me on Wednesday the 7th and stayed for a very quick week.  I took her on a whirlwind tour of the beautiful city of Granada.  We visited all the major landmarks that I love like the Alhambra, the Mirador de San Nícolas, el CEIP Sancho Panza (my old school), mi piso (my flat).  I introduced Jess to the 8th and 9th wonders of the world (tapas and kebabs).  I belive she enjoyed these things almost as much as I do, although she was particularly fond of her new friend, the pastry.  She also got to know my roommates, and brought out a side in them that I had not yet seen (the ones that speak English).  

At the weekend we took a journey the far and foreign land of Gibraltar, UK.  There we saw monkeys, tourists and cigarettes galore.  It was a fun adventure, and Jess enjoyed the day of listening to her mother tongue and my favourite language Espanglish.  

Tuesday night we took a bus down to Málaga and stayed in a hostel called La Casa Mata which is run by very nice Italians.  The hostel is where I stayed with Lery Chavez for New Years 08-09.  It is a very interesting hostel with a confusing name.  La Casa Mata in Italian (according to the employees) means The Crazy House.  In Spanish it means The House Kills.  This night Jess and I stayed with 2 German tourists.  They were the first Germans I have ever met who did not speak English as well as I do.  

Upon Jess´s departure Wednesday morning I returned to Granada to muddle my way through Spanish bureaucracy.  I had been told I would receive my NIE or Residency Card and my Tarjeta Sanitaria or Insurance Card by 2 different departments of the Andalucian Government.  I waited in line in both offices and wound up with neither.  At both places I received papers stating that I am entitled to all the rights of someone with these documents as mine are being processed and should be received ¨soon¨ supposedly in the next 25 days.  I love Spain and the very laid back culture I´ve grown accustomed to here in the former Kingdom of Granada, but punctuality is not a trait I take for granted any more.  But as we say in Spain, NO PASA NA  

        This photo is one I really like because in it you can see Spain, UK and Morocco as well as the Straight of Gibraltar, the Atlantic and the Med.  

Noche de talentos Talent Night

Last Friday, the 3rd, we had our Noche de Talentos, or Talent Night.

Kinder (aka Pre-school) class singing the insect version of Head-Shoulders-Knees and Toes

 It was a night filled with songs and a skit performed by students, teachers and community members.  The Salón Parroquial was filled with audience members from parents, to students from other schools and even a few tourists who popped by to see what all the commotion was joined the crowd.

Two colegio students performing a song by Coldplay

The ESI (Spanish as a Second Language) students performing their play

The finale, the teacher dance, aka Baile de las gringas, a melody of songs from the 50s-2000s

But for me, the highlight of the night was the 5th graders singing the school song.  The song is always sung in English and Spanish, but my students added a signed interpretation to the performance

The CEC Song

Up on a hill, there´s a school I know

Where the bellbird calls and the strangler fig grows

The mist is falling from the clouds above

A place where I learn, a place that I love

So come on up to the C-E-C

We love to sing out and be free to be

Que dicha que puedo aprender así

Come have some fun and learn with me

Me gusta jugar con computadoras

O irme buscando guayabas o moras

En la huerta encontramos más comida

Frutas de mi labor son pura vida

Look all around, if you can´t find me

Then look up here, get me out of this tree!

It´s out in the meadow by the soccer field

come see the tree house together we built

Es importante el ambiente cuidar

Los animales y la gente no debemos dañar

Es lindo por fuera y linda por dentro

Vengan todos a ver el Centro

Monteverde brilla y apaga la luz. Monteverde brights up and then the lights go out

Last week we celebrated Monteverde Brilla (Monteverde Lights up).  It is an annual festival celebrated in various parts of the country (at least, that´s what I´m told).  The afternoon is filled with singers and other performers, but the main attraction is the parade.  The parade is consisted mainly of bands from schools from the province of Puntarenas, but a few from Guanacaste came as well, because we are practically on the boarder (some maps actually have us on the wrong side, and some students believe we live in Guanacaste).

I went downtown with my co-worker Jesse and his family and his wife Sandra was telling us where all the buses were from, and where about those towns were, because many of the names were new to me.

We went down and waited for the show to begin.  We wound up meeting with almost all the other gringos on the school staff except my roommates.  We had a great time, cracking up at most of the parade.  First we saw a green Santa who was throwing food at the audience, with overhand throws from about a foot away.  We decided he was an evil Santa.

Evil green Santa

Okay, so at this point I felt a little culturally insensitive, because I thought maybe here in CR they have a green Santa, so I asked the parents from the Parents Commission (basically the PTA).  They said that they´d never seen a green Santa before, and that here people believe it´s baby Jesús who brings presents to children on Christmas day.  Then they explained that the "green Santa" was probably just Peter Pan.  So we either had an evil green Santa or an old, fat, santa-wanna-be Peter Pan, either way it was funny.

Luckily the next Santa we saw was a little less confusing for us.  He was traveling in the back of a pick-up with a few children.  This time however, it was the children who confused us.  The first one was dressed up in a costume that we decided was either a marshmallow, a cloud, or a snow ball.  The second was a cloud, complete with the rainbow wig and the third some sort of lizard.  So we had a few jokes about the land of misfit toys.

Papa Noel con una nube, payasa y un lagartiga

After Red Santa and the kids we saw a band that really confused us.  It was lead by a girl dressed as a corpse.  Most of the band was dressed as nutcrackers from stories.  But among the nutcrackers and toy soldiers there was also a Tinkerbell, Jack Sparrow (from Pirates of the Carribean) and another corpse.  At this point we figured that Brilla was a Tico holiday that combined all the US holidays (fireworks, parades, costumes, Santa, candy).

Sadly we left after was saw the 2nd of who knows how many bands pass, as we had been there over an hour.  So we decided to walk home, where the sights were equally interesting.  On the way up the hill, we were following the parade as they walked casually, without music to the "mall" to be judged.  On the way there we saw one drummer boy peeing through the fence on the side of the street, which for some reason cracked us up.  Then we saw another drummer boy wearing his drum backwards so it looked like a tail, or an extended butt.  He was walking along side a woman who had apparently not been told that Monteverde is cold, and was in heels and shorts that did not cover the last three inches of her butt.  So we had a lot of laughs at the people who were clearly newer to Monteverde than we were.



When I got home, Amy and I started making food when the power went out.  So instead of continuing to cut onions and peppers, I grabbed my flashlight, held it between my chin and neck in order to trim the bottom of candles that I slid into our empty wine bottles and spread throughout the downstairs.  The power returned in the morning.

Old wine bottles function as candle holders when
the lights go out.

Thanksgiving

¡Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Even though it´s been five years since I was last in the US for Thanksgiving, I still like to honour the holiday by having a feast and giving thanks for all the people, places and things in my life.   I feel like this is a good place for me to put this so that everyone I mention can read it.

Most importantly I am thankful for my parents and the rest of my family for always supporting me and caring for me, even if I live far away.  Without all of you I would not be who I am today, and I certainly would not be where I am today.  For this I will always be grateful.

Secondly I am thankful for my education and all the opportunities it has brought me throughout my life.  Were I not fortunate enough to be able to go to school without incurring debts I would not have the liberty to work abroad over these last few years.  I am also thankful for everyone who has taught me over there years, whether formally or informally, especially those who taught me Spanish, because that was the biggest obstacle to achieving the life style that I have today.

As always I am thankful for my friends all around the world who are always there for me, even if I don´t know where they all live anymore.  I will always cherish the unique bonds I have with each of my friends.

I am also thankful for my job and the opportunity to come live here in Monteverde, because it is allowing me to work full-time and still explore a new country and a new culture.

También les quiero agradecer a mis compañeras de casa, compañeras en la escuela y mis estudiantes porque sin vosotros no podría vivir tan lejos de mi familia.  Os quiero mucho y os agradezco muchísimo porque me apoyan.

Costa Rica vs. Spain en la vida de Fishy

I can´t believe how much my life has changed in the last year, or even the last few months.

A few months ago, I lived in Granada, Spain.  I taught English to 3 year olds - 6th grade as the assistant to the English teacher.  There were 25 kids in each of my 8 classes (5th grade was the only class I didn´t work with).  All of my co-workers spoke Spanish as their first language, and only a few could converse in English.  The ones that could were the English teachers, and wrote English very well, but had rarely had a chance to practice speaking.  Almost none of the students could converse in English when we started.  My school was named after an important woman in Spanish history.  Our school was directly controlled by the government.  They decided how many hours a week of each subject was taught, they prohibited differentiated lessons, gave the school options of 3 text books that could be used for each subject, chose the school´s budget AND how it was spent.  They even chose which teachers taught in which schools and which cities.  The school couldn´t even hire the people they wanted to!  I was contracted to work 12 hours a week, but opted to work 20 hours in the school and I taught about 5 hours a week of private lessons to earn me some extra cash to travel.  My co-workers were contracted full-time at 25 hours a week.  School was 9-2 M-F with a 30 min recess and 15 minute breakfast break for everyone.  And my commute to school was a mile walk to the bus, then a 30 minute bus to the school that was 3 towns away.  But at least I met another bunch of teachers from the other schools on that bus and we´d go out once a week for a drink and a tapa after school.

Outside of school, well I lived in a decent sized city.  Granada is home to about 250,000 people, plus 80,000 students, 10,000 of which are internationals, mostly from Europe and the US.  Granada had a busy nightlife, and my street was right in the middle of it.  I would go out for tapas (cheap drinks with free food) at least 4 times a week because it was almost as cheap as cooking for myself.  I would go to an intercambio to practice English and Spanish with other people. I would also eat Kebabs (aka Schwarmas) a couple times a week, and I think that they are my favourite food.  A night out with friends would usually consist of a kebab around 11 or 12, and or tapas from 9-12.  Then to a different bar for drinks until 2, then a club til they close at 6 (I often would go home before the club and call friends from the states thanks to the 6hr time difference).  After the club closed we´d get churros for breakfast and head to bed around 8am and I´d wake up by 1130.

I lived in a small flat with 2 roommates who were filthy and I didn´t get along with.  Rent was 200Euros a month, (about $260) which wasn´t bad, because we had internet and I was making about 1000E a month with my private classes added in. 

In Costa Rica...

I live in Monteverde, o mejor dicho, I live in the district of Cerro Plano, which is largley Tico.  I live in a nice house (I often compare it to a cabin) with 2 of my co-workers.  We get a long very well and all help clean and cook.  We each pay $100 a month for rent.  Our neighbors are our landlords and the parents of some of our students.  We rarely go out for dinner, and if we do it´s usually a pot luck at another co-worker´s house.  I regularly cook and bake for the 3 of us and bring the left over baked goods to friends. If we go out “late” I would still be in bed by midnight.  Sometimes I´ll babysit for our friends.  Their 6 year-old is one of our best friends here.  On the weekends I can sometimes sleep in until 730, but I am usually awake between 5 and 530.

At school, we are contracted to be there from 730-400 Monday - Friday.  Our students are in school from 8-250 on M-Th and 8-1220 on Friday.  I get paid 350,000 colones / month before taxes, so about 289,000 colones (about $600)  after Costa Rican taxes are paid.  This year I teach 5th graders reading, writing, spelling and math in English.  As well as 6th grade math.  Most of my co-workers are bilingual (English-Spanish).  One is bilingual (English-French) and some Hindi, Korean and Mandarin is also spoken.  The teachers who are not bilingual (or want to improve their 2nd language) receive free classes Mondays and Tuesdays after school either by the Spanish as a 2nd Language teacher or the 6th grade teacher.  The students receive most of their education in English from kinder (3-4 year olds) on, so by the time they get to 5th grade with me, the ones who have been here speak English well.  Our school is very different from any other school I´ve worked at or attended because of our unique situation.  We are a private school in the cloud forest of Costa Rica.  Our school was designed originally by parents   Our school has 2 official names and 1 name that everyone class it.  Officially we are the Cloud Forest School in English and the Centro de educación Creativa in Spanish.  That translates to the school of creative education.  And locally everyone calls it La Creativa. We don´t really use text books, except as occasional resources to see that we´re teaching everything the public schools get, and to give the students the vocabulary in Spanish.  The education we provide is aimed to be holistic and to teach the whole student, not just their academic needs.  Students receive Special Ed for emotional, behavioural and academic issues.  We also provide ESL (English as a 2nd Language) and ESI (Spanish as a 2nd Language) for any students who need it.  Our school is mostly tico, but has a couple gringos (international kids from the US and UK) in most classes.  And unlike last year we are not required to teach religion in school.

The best part about the school is that we are right in the cloud forest.  One important part of campus is the fact that we are spread out with most buildings only having 2 classes in them and the primary and secondary schools being separated by the meadow where kids play basketball and fútbol.  But our campus is much more than the classrooms, offices and recess areas.  We also have a composting building, 2 green houses, an organic garden, 2 kiosks, and miles of trails through the forest.  We can see a lot of wild life on the campus, enough so that people pay to take tours on campus at night.  I often see hummingbirds outside my class window, coatis outside the office.  One of the trails is called the Monkey Palace because you can usually find monkeys all over.  But the only time I´ve been I only saw my monkey students.

--- one addition I forgot to put in, thanks to Chelsea for reminding me, ---
My commute this year is also significantly shorter, only a 10 minute walk straight up hill this year.

Trip to Puntarenas

Puntarenas FC "Sharks" Stadium

On Sunday the 6th of November I took the 6am bus to Puntarenas so that I could watch the last match of the season.  Once I got there I learned that the games had all been postponed due to landslides throughout the country, so I was not able to watch the game, but I got to walk around Puntarenas.

Catedral de Puntarenas

Puntarenas is a port city on the Gulf of Nicoya (Western Side of Costa Rica). Puntarenas is the capital of the province of the same name, which is the province in which I live.  It is one of the 2 cities where I´m told I shouldn´t drink the water, but has some unique things about it.  It is surrounded by towns known for their beautiful beaches, but Puntarenas´s beaches aren´t that impressive because they are in the city. 

But Puntarenas is only a 3hr bus ride away.  And it only costs 1235 colones (about $2.40) each way.  The bus comes back around 2pm, so you can spend about 5hrs on the beach for under $5!

Also, Puntarenas is known for a dessert called a churchill, named after Winston Churchill.  A Churchill is a snow cone with powered milk, fruit and condensed milk on top.  My co-workers say you haven´t been to Puntarenas if you haven´t had a churchill.  The story is that Winston Churchill came to Puntarenas and was providing support and aid for the area.  He ordered a dessert and so the community decided to name it after him.

A fun weekend

I finally hung my hammock in front of the house.  

Paulina is modeling the hammock

Diego climbing the strangler fig, from the inside

Our Saturday started off rather slowly.  For the first time ever none of us went to the feria (farmer´s market) so later on in the weekend Paulina and I had to go to the Mega Super and get our groceries.  It was nice because it´s much closer to home, but the market offers about the same prices and more organic food and a chance to see people from town including the parents of out students, but this weekend we opted out.

So later on Saturday I went to the Friends School (the Quaker school in the zone) to play frisbee.

After frisbee, around 2pm I went to Cybil and Soraya´s new house, which is named, "the villa" which is beautiful and has been compared to drug lord´s housing in Colombia.  They have a beautiful view with statues, ponds and two fire places, one inside, one out.  It was nice to finally see their new house, and nice to celebrate Cybil´s birthday.

From there we all went to Maté Caña, one of the four bars in town, to listen to Jesse, the 6th grade teacher play on his guitar.

On Sunday our friend Diego came over and we hiked the strangler fig tree by school.  The tree I´m guessing is about 100 feet high and we climbed up from the inside.  The way strangler fig trees grow is that they attach to another tree, somewhere above the ground and they start growing vines up and down and eventually invade and take over the original tree.  After a while the other tree is eroded, or something of that sort, leaving a hollow opening in the middle.  Sometimes, like with this tree you are able to climb.


In the evening we decided to make tres leches, which is one of my favourite Costa Rican dishes.

Nicaragua Part III: Granada

Now, finally the last leg of our tour of Nicaragua was to the city of Granada.  I was most excited about going to a place named after my beloved Granada.  It was a nice small city that used to fight for control of the country with León.  

Catedral de Granada

Paulina and I went a day earlier than the rest of the crew because we preferred to see more cultural sites than relaxing at a lagoon.  Our friend Michelle came along too because she wasn´t feeling well and needed to see a doctor.  

Once in Granada we settled in and took our own tour of the city.  We went to the Poets´ Park and the old train station, then we went off to explore the old hospital, the military fort that we couldn´t enter and the churches and other cultural parts of the city.  

Old Hospital

The following day we finished our tour and saw the last few sights we hadn´t seen the day before and then took a boat tour of the Isletas de Granada (small islands near Granada in the Lake of Nicaragua).  It was a fun hour long tour that included seeing isletas that had houses, bars and one isleta that was only inhabited by monkeys that a vet had brought there years before.  There were the white faced capuchín monkeys and spider monkeys.  When our tour ended we returned to the shore as the next group got on.  This group contained 2 strangers, one of my 6th graders, his brother in 2nd grade and their parents.

Isletas

After the boat tour we met up with the rest of the group, took an official tour of the city, had dinner and in the morning we returned to Monteverde!

Xateva and La Maria Churches

Nicaragua Part II: Laguna de Apoyo and Masaya

Laguna de Apoyo

The second leg of our trip was to the Laguna de Apoyo and Masaya.  The Laguna was a beautiful, quiet place to relax and swim.  I was glad to swim in a natural body of fresh water.  Since I grew up going to the Otsego Lake every weekend during the summers, I have always preferred natural bodies of water to pools and fresh water over salt water.  At the small resort we were able to relax because aside from us and a handful of other visitors at the same hotel there was no one within sight.  This meant we could take the kayaks and row around the laguna, swim and enjoy the sun and water.

Mercado de Masaya, Masaya Market

On our second day at the laguna we took a day trip to the town of Masaya where we went to the two biggest flea markets in Nicaragua (or so I´m told at least).  They had a lot of wood and leather products, but mostly touristy and rather kitsch-y.  But it was fun.  We also go to see the national baseball stadium, named for Roberto Clemente as he was on his way to bring aid to Nicaragua when his flight went down.  We learned that in Nicaragua, baseball is more popular than fútbol (soccer).  On the day trip we also went to a hammock factory where most of us bought hammocks.  Most of them cost 400 córdobas (about $20)!  We also got to try out nice swing hammocks that we call chairocks (chair and hammock, a word coined by our friend / 1st grader- Logan) that stretched out to be long enough that I could lay down and have the hammock wrap around my feet past the toes and still support my head!

We then went to a lookout on the other side of the Laguna de Apoyo and Laguna de Masaya, from which we could see the city of Granada, Nicaragua from a distance.  It was beautiful, and I am still waiting on the pictures from that I took with a friends camera.

Nicaragua Part I: León

On Saturday morning we took a journey to the Costa Rica - Nicaragua boarder, crossed the boarder on foot with our bags and took another van to León, Nicaragua.  León was beautiful.  It had most of the things I think every city should have, including kebabs!  

León is a beautiful despite all turmoil they have seen over the last few decades.  It was a lot of fun to walk around León because we could see a lot of their history in their statues and churches.

Cathedral in León

The cathedral was a lot of fun because there were a series a paintings depicting Jesus´ struggles, death and resurrection.  When we went on a city tour we got to go to the top of the cathedral, climb around and see the entire city.

View from our hike of volcanic ash and the lowlands between volcanoes

In and around León and the rest of Nicaragua there are over twenty volcanoes (and I thought Costa Rica had a lot!).  As a group we took a journey to one of the youngest volcanoes and went "volcano boarding" which is similar to sledding on a toboggan on volcanic ash instead of snow.  We went, along with some people from The Netherlands and Australia.  We took nearly an hour hike up the volcano, put on orange jumpsuits (but I got a blue one for some reason).  2 by 2 we took off and down we went.  It was fun, much faster that I felt I needed to go, and we got a lot of rocks thrown into our faces, but I would recommend it to anyone.  Below is a picture of someone from our group going down at about 30km/hr (18mph)

Beautiful Friday at School

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY AT THE  CREATIVA

After more than 2 weeks of almost non-stop rain here in Monteverde we finally got a sunny day again on Friday.  I had spent all afternoon Thursday making plans for something to do with the 5th and 6th grade classes for inside recess and inside PE class with very limited space, and we get up the hill and this is what we see!  The mountains of Costa Rica (from here we´re almost a mile high) straight to the the Gulf of Nicoya and the Nicoya Peninsula.  (If you look at a map of CR it´s the big peninsula on the Northwestern part).  It was a beautiful day and a pleasure to get to see our view once again.  So I went inside and started to get ready for the first part of the day... SCHOOL SING!  

School Sing is a tradition at the Cloud Forest School (yes, we call it the Cloud Forest School, but the Creativa in Spanish.  The name´s don´t translate, but it´s fun that way.  The legal names do translate and include both names, so don´t worry it´s not too confusing once you´re down here).  Every Friday morning the classes from Kinder ( 3, 4 and 5 year olds) all the way up to 6th grade get together to sing a few songs.  Usually we sing the school song and one class leads us in that and about 5 other songs.  This week was the 5th grade´s turn.  So that meant that my crazy kids who struggle with English more than some of the younger classes, who are all very stage shy got to sing the school song, The Littlest Worm, a song from the World Cup, Primavera (by Carlos Santana, which they signed the chorus to!) and The Duck Song (from youtube, thanks to my friend AnnA Monkey)  They were amazing and adorable.  I was very thrilled with their performance because we´ve come such a long way as far as behaviour and because I was the first of the new teachers to go.

Oh yeah, and we enlisted our friends in kinder to be the ducks in our duck song performance.  The lil ducklings are right here... 

So after school sing, I was thinking, we haven´t seen the sun in ages, the kids haven´t played outside in almost a week, let´s go on a hike!  What a muddy hike, since it had rained for weeks, but hey, we´re in Costa Rica, we practically live in the mud.  So the kids lead me (because I had never been there before) past the spring, up to the Monkey Palace.  We didn´t see any monkeys this time, but that didn´t stop us from acting like monkeys the entire trip!

The monkey palace is one of the students´ favourites places because it´s very difficult to climb up the side as you can (possibly) see below

Coming down is another story, it´s not just difficult it´s almost impossible.  The students have done it several times and failed to maintain control all the way down.  I on the other hand just sat in my urban surfing pose and slid down like you´re inching down a ski slope in your skis, but faster.  After this we went to snack, PE which was a fun game of 5th vs 6th grade kickball!  GO 5TH GRADE, WIN 5-4, (although I was hoping for a tie or a 6th grade win because my kids tend to be good about defeat).  Then the kids ran off to their Spanish class and we cleaned up, they went home for the weekend and I went to my staff meeting.

The weekend started off well with a beautiful morning for the feria, and then we went to play frisbee in the mud at the Friends (Quaker) school up the road.  As much fun as it was, I should have taken the day off because it set off a 102´F fever that made me stay home on Monday.  I went the the Dr who said I had a bad sinus infection, gave me meds and I got a shot at the pharmacy, my temp dropped below 93´F and somehow Tuesday it was more stable so I went to school, still not feeling great but went because today, Thursday was round 1 of the parent-teacher conferences (my first ever).  Part 2 is tomorrow and the first quarter will be done!  Then off to Nicaragua on Saturday for a week journey!

Montezuma

Peace and Love Costa Rican flag out in front of the hotel

View from the Hotel Luna Llena

In honor of Costa Rican Independence Day we got Friday September 17th off.  So, 14 of the teachers from the school took off to Montezuma for the weekend.  Six of us stayed at Luna Llena (Full Moon) which is owned by the mother of one of the 11th graders.  It was a beautiful weekend.  It didn´t really rain at all, which was a change from what we are used to in Monteverde, where it rains daily, and lately it has rained almost non-stop.  Some of the highlights of our trip was the animals we go to see.  I got some great pictures of the white faced monkeys when they came to visit us at our hotel.

White faced Monkey

We also were visited by an iguana who was sun bathing on the roof outside our hotel room one morning

Sunbathing

But, without a doubt the best part of the weekend was the hiking.  We found some rivers, springs and waterfalls that were absolutely beautiful.  One of the interns and I hiked up to a spring we had been told about.  It was a very fun hike up stream through a few small waterfalls and lots of rocks.  We hiked up and back without a problem.  Then we started to walk back along the beach towards our hotel when we ran into a couple of our co-workers.

The Montezuma Coast

We decided to show them where we went because we knew that they would enjoy it.  We hid our belongings under a bush by the beach and hiked back up.  Again we trekked through the terrain without problem.  Then however, when we came back as we reached the beach I fell.  Beverly, the 2nd grade teacher was apparently convinced that I had died, until I jumped back up and ran into the water to wash myself off.  The 3 of them wanted to take pictures because I bruised immediately and as they thought that "my kidney was going to jump out of my body," and handed me the box of wine to ease the pain.  I walked back, bought some bandages and had a friend bandage me up.  Then I laid down because I was feeling lightheaded and started to black out.  But once I had a few minutes rest I was better.

The following morning a group of us went hiking up to a waterfall.  It was beautiful.  There were several layers of waterfalls.  From the first one Steve (the 6th grade intern) and I jumped from some of the larger rocks and then went behind the waterfall.  We later climbed up higher to see another 2 levels of waterfalls.  We also ran into a group of german students we had met a few weeks earlier at the volcano.  All in all, it was a great weekend and I would repeat it even if I knew I´d fall and get hurt again.

September 15th and Semana Cívica

Traditional ox cart

La Semana Cívica or Civic week is a very important week in Costa Rica.  This week represents the patriotism and unity of this small socialist nation.  Before Semana Cívica my school celebrated for a week.  Each morning started with an all-school assembly where we each presented un acto cívico.  Un acto cívico includes the greeting of the national pabellón (flag with crest) and school flag.  Then the school sang a few patriotic anthems (El himno de Costa Rica, Himno a la bandera, Himno al 15 de septiembre, ¡Oh Costa Rica! and the Himno patriotica).  After a few of these songs were sung we then saw presentations by the students on the history of the flag, history of Costa Rica, National symbols and heritage.  

Then during the actual Semana Cívica on Tuesday the 14th at 6pm people gather in the town halls in each of the towns in Costa Rica to sing the national anthem.  In theory the entire country is singing at that moment.  It was really fun to be a part of this because most people in the staff learned the words to the various anthems from our month of practicing with the students.  Some of us even realized we know more Costa Rican songs than we do for the US!  (I commented on how I sing the Andalucian anthem and the Costa Rican anthem much more often than I would sing the Star Spangled Banner)

After the anthem was sung there was a parade of lanterns in honour of the light that was brought to announce their independence from Spain 189 years ago.  Every year a torch is run (much like the Olympic torch) through Central America to re-enact the independence from Spain.  Most of the students in town as well as some of the teachers made their own lanterns out of patriotic symbols and paraded them around the main triangle in downtown (also known as the only block downtown, but more on that at a later date)

Patriotic lantern for the Sept 14th parade

Then on the morning of Wednesday the 15th (Independence Day) the whole town (well, more or less) gathered back in the gymnasium to celebrate independence day.  We witnessed another Acto Cívico which included the presentation by our 1st,2nd and 11th graders.  It was a fun, bilingual presentation.   The village was also visited by a representative of the MEP (Ministry of Education) as well as a few other speakers from town.

Crowd for the Acto Cívico on September 15th

After the Acto Cívico on Wednesday there was a parade of school bands and bastoneras (baton twirlers) that took a large loop around most of the town.

Parade on September 15th.  Featuring students from the Creativa

A normal week in Monteverde...

I see beautiful plants like the Ave de Paraíso, Strangler Figs and many others whose names I don´t yet know

Birds of Paradise

I see lots of animals including birds (motmots, hummingbirds...) mammals (sloth, coati, my students) and lots of bugs, but mostly dragonflies, mosquitos and spiders.

A wolf spider on our kitchen cabinet

5th and 6th grade building and hummingbird garden

On a typical school week...Monday thru Thursday are normal school days for us, so we wake up around 6, get ready for school and hike up the hill to La Creativa by 730.  Classes start at 8 and the monkey children go home around 3 o´clock on the bus.  On Monday´s the beginners English and Spanish classes meet after school for teachers.  On Tuesday´s it´s the upper level class.  So Tuesday afternoon I convert back into a student!  Wednesday afternoon we have staff meetings and on Thursdays I teach a Sign Language class to my colleagues.  Fridays are an interesting day for us because the students go home at 1230 every Friday and usually we put celebrations on Friday.  We´ve already celebrated Family Day and Día del Niño y Joven.  But even on a normal Friday the students schedule is different.  We have a school sing presentation from one of the primary classes every Friday morning.  Then my students and I do a brief activity outside or for community building.  Then the kids have snack and PE with the 6th grade teacher and me.  PE so far this year has been the students´ choice between a hike with a teacher and ultimate frisbee.  Then the kids go to Spanish class and finally we do a community building activity with our 3-5 year old friends in the Kinder classroom.

5th and 6th grade building

One night a week is quickly becoming a staff yoga lessons at Rio Shanti, where 2 of my co-workers give massages.  On the weekends we have been hosting pot lucks a lot with my co-workers and a couple of the students.  

Saturdays though, are my favourite days of the week.  I sleep in and wake up around 7am.  Then when my roommates are awake we walk downtown to the Feria (Farmer´s market) and we buy most of our groceries.  After the farmers market we check out the 2 grocery stores for anything we´re missing and return home.  There is a yoga class at ten on Saturdays, but I have not been yet. And shortly after noon we go to play frisbee at the Friends School with people from the community.

Sundays are usually our days for hikes, relaxing, movies and planning the next week´s lesson plans.

Saturday Hike with my Creativa Familia