WELCOME BACK

Well, I´m back in Costa Rica!  Actually I got back about 2 weeks ago, but we´ve had very little internet access in the last couple of weeks.  It is great to be back, the rainy season is officially over, so it´s warm weather, clear skies and sun burns from here on out.  I´ve been very happy to be back, and I was very excited about the little things.  I was even looking forward to garbage day.

My aunt and uncle picked me up at the airport in Alajuela (just outside of San José).  The next day we drove down to Monteverde and my friend Sarah and I took them to the famous strangler fig tree by our school.

Common Cup

The first week of school was nice because it was a little bit more laid back than other weeks because we had two days of staff development before the students came back (por dicha).  Also, the best coffee house in town (not just because it´s run by my student´s family) started their longer hours, so now Paulina and I try to go at least once a week to enjoy the hot chocolate,  internet and we play pass the pigs or card games.

Pues, there´s not much else to share right now, because we have just been getting back into the routine of things, but I´ve very glad to be back.

-Hasta luego

First week in Monteverde

So I´ve been in Monteverde for about a week now and I am exhausted.  I am thoroughly enjoying my time here, but I´m beat.  Every morning we hike up the steep incline to school before 8, and on Wednesday we´ll have to start getting there by 730.  But luckily waking up isn´t an issue as sunrise seems to be some time around 6am, so we wake up then without alarms.  We´ve been staying at school until about 4pm everyday and then we walk home in the rain.  We come home make and eat dinner and I hang out with my roommates (Paulina teaches 1st grade and Amy teaches Environmental Ed) and then we work a little bit more and fall asleep.  

On our first night here we were visited by a sloth, so in my first week in Costa Rica I saw a sloth and some monkeys, the two animals I most wanted to see here in Costa Rica!  Wednesday morning we woke up bright and early and went to school.  We took a self-guided tour of the campus in pairs.  The campus is beautiful.  I constantly feel as though I am at summer camp here.  At the school´s kiosk I saw this beautiful butterfly.Wednesday afternoon we took a tour of the town, and yes it does make Cobleskill and Winooski look like major metropolises.  On Friday night many of our co-workers came here after dinner.  Saturday mornings from 6 - noon there is a farmers market that has the best produce in town, or at least that´s what I´m told.  We didn´t get out of the house in time so we went the the grocery store in the early afternoon and then went to Beverly´s (the 2nd grade teacher) house for dinner before seeing the community production of Oliver at an outdoor theatre.  

Sunday early afternoon our friends Tera (the kinder or pre-school teacher), Jesse (Tera´s partner), Logan (their monkey child) and Sarah (the 3rd grade teacher) came to visit and ask if we wanted to go hiking in the river, so Paulina and I threw on our outside clothes and went on a little adventure.  In the evening I got to go to dinner with some people who are here for a couple of weeks with their class from a college in NYC.  Today was rather uneventful, we just went to work at 8, came home at 4 and ate dinner and I´m about to fall asleep at 730pm.  School starts Wednesday and I´m feeling excited and overwhelmed.

                                        Paulina, Sarah, Tera, Logan and Jesse

Sorry there is not any Spanish or ASL in this post,  I´ve been so exhausted.  Espero que os vaya bien!