Normal Week?? What's That?

I'm not quite sure where to start with this blog - my week seems so boring after my last entry! Ha but then again, most things might seem pale to that comparison.....

Last week went well academically. The older kids and I are getting into a routine, and they seem to remain interested in our lessons. We reviewed our extra clases (study giudes) for this week's exams, and they finished their animal projects. These projects will replace their Science Exams for the quarter, so they were very important. Needless to say, when I showed up Friday, ready to be wowed by their finished project presentations, I only had half of the class show up. The rest were..."sick." I know a couple actually were sick, but it's just a weird coincidence, if I do say so myself. However, the kids who have presented so far, have all made A's - grades that they truly EARNED! Yay! I was so proud! They had truly thrown themselves into this one, and I had high expectations, so I'm so happy that they did well. This week, we will begin studying the human body with a few lessons on bones! I think they kids are excited, so hopefully this science unit will go as well as the last. :) The older kids continue to chug along in math - I am throwing a lot at them as we try to get ready for this next exam, but I think they are handling it well. Ask me again after their math exam today! HA! In English, we continue our "Between Us" activity, and I am learning so much about my students. Most days, I am chuckling the entire time I'm reading! I'm also providing them with creative writing opportunities that they think they are no good at until they are done. It's like they all have writer's block that eventually yields great works. I hope to keep pulling on those creative strings more and more as we progress.

My little girls continue to entertain me. I was wary going into such a young classroom, but I've learned so much already. Even though we are in a routine, they surprise me everyday and keep it interesting. I'm learning how to understand their Spanish, so I can actually answer their questions (in English!)....However, the phrase "Ella esta peliando" haunts me in my dreams. I have heard that phrase probably 50+ times JUST TODAY. That being said, they are getting used to me more I think, and I'm proud of their progress with phonemic awareness! They are a able to participate and understand and remember more and more things each day. They learn so fast! I'll admit I've done a poor job of taking pictures of their art, but we've made Elephant masks, stuffed Fish, self portraits of our Faces, and we've counted Door, Eyes, and Fingers in our counting activities. I'll try to take more pictures soon!

Outside of school, I've been kind of laying low. I've been a little homesick this last week or so, but I have been very thankful to have the support of family and friends. My mom sent a little "rainy day" envelope, and I had to open one of them last week. The envelope contained little tag messages from friends that contained words of encouragement and love - JUST what I needed! So if you wrote me a little tag note at my graduation party, THANKS! It meant a lot. For real. I've carried them with me to school and read them anytime I felt down. :)

This weekend was a good escape though....Amber, one of the volunteers, left on Sunday, so we all spent Saturday  at Playa Preciosa (the one I've been to like three times now). It's still just as beautiful as the first day I went. That was a nice relaxing day, and then we ventured "out on the town" Saturday night. We had heard there was salsa dancing, so we wanted to go where all the people went. We started the night playing pool (at a bar that's owned by one of my students' parents haha). There, we ran into some people we knew, and the Frontier volunteer group from the jungle camp was even there! After pool, we went over to Aqua Luna, where the salsa was supposed to be happening, and it was slammed. I didn't even know there were that many people in town. Ha! The funny part is.....I've been here almost a month, right. It's so small, and I go on the same routes every day, that I'm getting confused as to whether I have actually met people who look familiar or if I've just seen them around town enough that they look familiar! HAHA! I have a hard enough time remembering who I've met in Auburn, much less somewhere small where I feel like I've seen everyone at the grocery store!

Anyway, Saturday - it was nice to get out of the house but be able to relax. Zahra, the volunteer that's still here, and I were supposed to go kayaking Sunday, but we ended up planning to chill down by the bay instead. THEN we ran into Nela and Maria there, and they invited us to a pool/dinner party - like a grill out in the South. So, we went! Why not? It turned out to be just the thing Zahra and I needed to relax, eat some AWESOME homemade food, hang out with good people, and even meet our neighbors and some new friends. All in all, a good, spontaneous evening.

BUT, this week, it's back to the grind. I worked super hard last night, and I was able to plan and gather/make resources for the next two weeks of Science. I also have Materno mostly planned for two weeks. Now, I just have to make it through exams this week, do report cards this weekend, and gear up/get organized for (GULP) parent conferences next Tuesday and Wednesday. It's gonna be a crazy week or two academically, and I think I'm gonna introduce Zahra to the wonderfulness that is Matapalo this weekend. :) There is no place like off the grid to get your mind together and ready for what's next.

Back to school I go! More in another few days!

Adventura en la Selva

I can't believe that I am already starting my third week of teaching! Last week went well, and I am hoping the weeks continue to get better and better.

In Materno, we made the cutest crafts for B and C, including BumbleB's and Caterpillar Chains. The girls (I had 5 last week) loved the projects! The were sassy in their homemade necklaces....

Counting the Chocolate Chip in Cookies for C

Having fun

Also, Thursday was Mother's Day here in Costa Rica, so we got Thursday off. You can see the beautiful bouquets of flowers we made for the moms above. :) We also had a celebration at the school Wednesday night, and that must have been one of the most bizarre celebrations I've ever attended other than last year's Carnival in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Let's just say there was this game that entailed musical balloons, sitting on the balloon to pop it, and answering the (somewhat inappropriate) questions inside...Karaoke, whole-pineapples-with-marshmallows-on-toothpicks centerpieces, (great) food, and a mom/teacher dressed in a short skirt and (unflattering) corset top. AT SCHOOL. In front of children. Nuff said. 

The older kids continue to work on their animal projects, and they are eating up every second of science. Like I've mentioned, they went from 40 minutes of science a week to having about 40 minutes almost every day. and they are so excited. It's their favorite time of the day! They will be doing their presentations on Friday, so I look forward to seeing their finished products. :)

BUT the real fun starts with my weekend adventure into the jungle!!!!I know that words will not be able to describe how a felt about all of it, but I will do my best. 

Alyssa (my Materno volunteer) and I decided that we wanted to head to Matapalo, a small surf town at the tip of the peninsula, for the weekend. We were planning to just head down there, find a hostel, eat out, and enjoy the beach. Maybe we'd even go to the bars one night. 

WELL. THANK GOODNESS we talked to Nela, our school's secretary and my new friend. Her boyfriend lives in Matapalo, so she gave us the local ins and outs that we were missing. Turns out, there's no such thing as a STORE or even a single restaurant in Matapalo, so we needed to bring all of our own food (and beer, since obviously there was no bar) and supplies. She told us it was camping. SWEET I thought, I love camping. 

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA YEAH.....RIGHT. Don't get me wrong, I DID LOVE it! But let's start with the beginning. We talked to Nela Friday, and she said that she was leaving after school to go to Matapalo too, so we could just ride with her and split gas. Long story short, Alyssa was iffy about going since she needed to save money, but we worked out a deal and made it happen. We rushed home after school to pack our supplies, food, and clothes, and Nela picked us up at our humble abode. Of course, no roads are paved here, so we headed out of town on one of the less bumpy roads, or "highways" as the locals refer to it. At best, it's a packed gravel road with less potholes than the rest. 

After a thirty minute drive through pouring rain and endless cow fields, we reached the jungle just in time for the fall of darkness. This is where I began to doubt my sanity in planning such a spur of the moment "camping" trip. Slowly but surely, the roads were becoming so rocky and slick that an all-terrain vehicle would have suited us better than any decent vehicle. The rain was causing the roads to trickle like small, lengthy waterfalls, and the rivers that we had to cross seemed to be rushing with new rain. Nela took us to our hostel, a place owned by some of her American friends, at the literal end of the road. The upside is that we were beach front, so beggars can't be choosers. Not a soul seemed to occupy this jungle "retreat," and it was so dark that I couldn't see more than a foot in front of me. Snakes I had heard were our biggest danger, but not in my mind. What about poachers, drug smugglers, men-in-the-night, woolly beasts, wild untamed animals?!?! Anything was a possibility in my poor mind. I don't mind the dark, and I like being outside, but sometimes the two together, especially in an unfamiliar, remote jungle, may just give me the creeps. Nela showed us the kitchen and hang out space for the hostel, and she attempted to show us our "platform" despite the deep darkness. Can I remind you that the entire town runs off of solar power, and therefore uses NO lights after dark, only candles?! Thankfully we had headlamps, but STILL. Darkness like this is serious. 

Finally we made our way to our "platform" which I had been also doubting the whole time. She said camping - I knew we had beds, but would we have walls? A door? Anything over than a roof and a platform? Luckily, from what I could see, we had a porch and a canvas tent with two real beds!!

Macho (that's literally the guy's name), a shirtless Tico with some teeth and a huge mustache, came and gave us sheets and a candle, and in my mind, he knew that it was only us two girls staying there, alone, in the middle of the jungle. (Thanks Mom, for making me paranoid about people in hotels who know which room in yours. I blame you for that part of my fear.)

Sidenote: Nela had invited us to dinner at her boyfriend's house, but there was no way were were going to walk anywhere in this darkness and rain. We knew that if we left here, we were bound to be lost in the jungles forever. 

Once settled, we knew that tomorrow, we'd wake up, wondering why we were so scared of the untouched forest around us. We KNEW it'd be beautiful and overflowing with life.  I did lie in bed, wondering why I could see through my "wall" for part of the evening, but overall, the beds were more comfortable than ours at the house, so we slept well, despite our initial terror. 

WE WERE RIGHT THANK GOODNESS. We woke up to howler monkies and macaws in the trees, and we were even able to barely see another house or two on the property. What a relief. We walked down to the kitchen, made some breakfast, and continued down to one of the most beautiful beaches I have seen in all my travels. Seriously. Turquoise waters lined with dark rocks on points to my left and right. Sand that was soft even though it was an unusual mix of the tiniest, crushed and polished pebbles. Coconut palms and other vibrant greens lined the beach, and surfers attempted to surf on the "flat" (AKA 6-8ft) waves! Ahhhhhh.....Not too shabby. :)

After a nice day, we went to say bye to Nela at her boyfriend's house. There was no ATM in town, and we had only brought enough cash to scrape by for one night. HOWEVER, they knew the owners, and he said he would just get the money from us in town so that we could stay another night. SWEET. We hung out with Nela and Drew (the bf) all afternoon, and we even threw together a nice little fish taco dinner made with a fresh Pargo Drew's friend had caught a few days ago. This time, we weren't so afraid to walk back to our cozy platform, and we enjoyed listening to the frogs as we fell asleep. 

Sunday brought another beautiful day for weather, and we just relaxed and tanned our little hearts out. Nela came by to hang out, and we chilled with some of the surfers on their breaks at high tide. I could get used to this REAL fast. I have never been so off the grid (even my electronics ran out of battery), and I must say, I enjoyed good old-fashioned conversations with real people from all different walks of life. Do I HAVE to go back to school?! Or can I just run away here forever? 

The afternoon brought torrential rain (as usual) but luckily, Alyssa and I had made it to the collectivo stop at the top of town just in time. A collectivo is like a shared taxi, and when I rode one in Panama last time, it was simple a 15-passenger van, crammed full of strangers who also needed a cheap ride. Turns out, this collectivo was a liiiitttttllleee different. I do not exaggerate when I say this was a utility truck, like a flat bed, with fashioned seats and a tarp over the sides and top. The front and back was open though, and of course there was standing room only for Alyssa and I. I know this is bad, but I felt like I was being smuggled illegally over some sketchy border riding in this thing. Thank goodness it had stopped raining too, or we all would have been soaked, and Alyssa and I would have been pelted in the face for our 30 minute stand up ride.

We made it back safe though, with NO money in our pockets, so we had to talk the driver into letting us run to the ATM in town. Then, we headed to the best pizza place in town (it's run by Italians!) and then off to bed after a busy weekend. 

Wow, what a weekend, is all I can say. I think the tally for wildlife included 4 types of monkeys (howler, squirrel, capuchin, and spider), countless macaws, agouti (big rodent), skunk, iguanas, sea turtles, and a black hawk. I'm hoping to go back to Matapalo in two weeks for a surf lesson with one of the surfers we met. Maybe this time though, I'll be a little more prepared. :)

The way TO our pathway....CAN YOU IMAGINE THIS IN THE DARK!???!!!

 The path from which we came, leads to the kitchen 

Finally our little pathway

Our platform. Turned out to be just what we needed :)

My bed there on the left, next to the screen wall. 

The beach!

We attempted to hike to the waterfalls, but they were dry.

 

Paradise!

Jungle stream meets the ocean!

I SURVIVED!!

I have successfully completed my first week of teaching in my very own classroom. Sooooo much has happened in such a short amount of time that it will be impossible for me to describe it all, but I'll try.

Tuesday was by far the worst. I showed up Tuesday morning with the expectations that I would have volunteers that had been working in my classroom help me ease the transition and show me around the lessons, school, classroom supplies, and resources. I was also expecting to have the Materno kids (ages 3-4) from 8am-10am. WRONG. I stepped on campus and was informed that not only was my Materno volunteer was going to be sent out of the classroom due to the fact that one of the students is terrified of him, but I also was scheduled to have the little ones from 8am-11:15am!!!! That mean more than an hour extra and that much time taken off my lunch break, leaving me with a meager 45 minutes to book it home, eat, and power-walk back to school. I DID have one volunteer helping in Materno, but go figure it happened to be her first day too. In a scramble, I tried to pull up the schedule the old teacher had sent me, but of course, it only went until 10am. NOT TO MENTION the parents were all coming in trying to meet me while I was scrambling. Naturally, they only spoke Spanish and I was so rattled I couldn't even remember the basics! Thankfully, Alyssa was able to squeak out some sentences, and one of the parents was from Virginia. Still, due to this chaos AND the fact that NEITHER of us knew what to do with kids so young (Alyssa was a former secondary ed major), we borderline panicked. What in the WORLD do we do with only Spanish speaking little children who can barely count to 20??!! This was not my forte. Alyssa and I tag teamed calendar, counting, art, blocks, and free play activities, and despite our doubts, we made it through what felt like an 8 hour morning.

Exhausted and crunched for time, I managed to eat the planned leftovers I had made the night before. I knew today would be crazy but not this much! After a quick break, we were back to school to work with 3rd-6th.

THANKFULLY, the rest of the day was about 150 degrees different. I say that because there was still SOME chaos, but it was much, much more doable. I DID have volunteers in there that helped, and we were even able to start my "Between Us" activity. I stole the name and the idea from two separate teachers, but I think it has been the best thing I've done all week. In "Between Us," students are free to write WHATEVER they want in their journals. Literally anything. I read these entries, and reply each night, they reply the next day, and so on so that it becomes a daily letter back and forth. Because I am the only one who reads these journals, the kids have freedom and security to say what they want. I have already been told one secret, and on day two I even got told that I was a fun teacher! Yay already! This is the first thing kids do when they come in the classroom, and so far, they are coming in hot and ready to write. Amazing! And I can actually handle writing to them each night since I only have 7. It's a great way for us to get to know each other, and a safe place for us to talk about important, and not so important, things.

The afternoon flew by! It felt like only 1.5 hours instead of three, contrary to that 8 hour morning I had that was also only 3 real life hours long.

Wednesday, the kids get out at 2 so that teachers can have meetings and/or planning periods. I was informed TODAY around noon that this week's meeting was going to be with ALL of the parents in the school so that I could be introduced and the numerous changes happening at the school could be addressed by the new director. Fine I thought, no big deal, just a little meeting. Again, WRONG. Two hours later, and my brain swimming with incomprehensible Spanish, I was dismissed.

However, Wednesday was 900 times better than Tuesday. I actually made a plan for both classes, so the day flew by, pretty smoothing, other than the meeting. If every day got exponentially better like this one, I would be so set by the end of the week.

Fingerprint ants :)

^^BEST IDEA ALL WEEK!!

Luckily, each day did get much and much better, just maybe only minimally exponentially. Thursday, Materno continued to improve, likely because I only had 2 of the 6 students. 2 were sick, 1 had Dengue ( I still haven't met her), and 1 was still terrified to come to school. So out ratio was 2:2. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy. In the afternoon, we studied the moon, and the kids are so hungry for any science that they loved it. Previously, they only had 20 minutes, 2 times a week. Now though, we will have it everyday but Wednesday (the kids get out at 2:00 remember?). I still think the kids are in shock about this, in a good way.

The highlight of Thursday though, was going to Gustavo's palm oil farm. Gustavo is one of my students, the only 6th grader, and he is an absolute charmer. He's actually the one on the school video with the dark curly hair. The other volunteers went yesterday, but the meeting hung me up. However, it rained so they had to come right back. We rode bikes about 30 minutes out of town, and I'm not joking when I say these bikes were so rickety that I was surprised they made it. (Actually one didn't...the entire front wheel blew ha). It was a beautiful ride on the only paved road for who knows how long, through lush forests of palm trees. These palm oil trees are HUGE and planted in rows, just like our harvest timber pines at home. We pulled up to Gustavo's farm house, and it was no more than wooden walls and a roof with some holes for windows. Chickens and dogs and cows roamed around, and we took a huge bamboo pole to knock mamones (lychees) out of the tree so we could eat them under the palms. Gustavo, who by the way is a wonderful tour guide, led us farther out into the palm forest to a muddy river. A dark storm was looming in the distance, framing the jungle trees and vibrant birds nicely. Once there, planning to hand fish, we realized SOMEONE had forgotten the bait! Bruno (a volunteer is who also Gustavo's close friend these days) and Gustavo went back to look, but could not find it. Once back, Bruno caught a grasshopper and put it on my hook for me. Not kidding, I caught a fish with it, first cast! The fish was only about 10 inches long, but a fish by handfishing nonetheless! Then, it began to rain, so we rode back through the palm forest until we hit the paved road. The rain felt nice compared to the intense heat of the day, and the shadows in the forest were cool and relaxing. I haven't been on such a nice bike ride in a while. :)

Today, another good day. Materno was a little cranky, but the older kids loved to begin research on their animal projects. I was able to stay at school until 5 and was incredibly productive. I've planned about half of next week, and have all materials prepared for Materno until Wednesday.

Tomorrow we are off for a weekend at the beach, and I could not be happier. I am ready for a break, and I feel like it will be a well deserved one.

The farm house

Mamones

Gustavo 

Complete Chaos

Whirlwind is an understatement to describe this past weekend!!! Granted, this whole experience has been a whirlwind of one but this weekend takes the cake. Let's begin with Thursday....

Thursday I spoke with Kristen, the teacher whose place I am taking. She informed me, via Skype, that my principal had walked out earlier that day. Yes, just up an walked out. Great. Not only was I walking into another teacher's classroom that had been filled with inconsistent volunteers for over a month, but now my school was leaderless. Thankfully though, after an hour and a half of chatting with Kristen, I felt much more informed and prepared to take on the task ahead of me. She helped me understand that the school's "curriculum" is really what I make of it (I have almost total freedom), that I will be writing/administering "extra clase" and country mandated standardized tests during August, and she helped me get a feel for the academic and language levels of my students. I also learned that all supplied come from donations. We do not get mail here though, so any donations have to coordinated and sent to a volunteer domestically so that they can physically bring supplies to us. That being said, ANYONE who can help with ANYTHING, it will be greatly appreciated!!! The older kids have a very limited access to books, especially classroom sets, and any journals/art supplies/manipulatives. I am about to get creative with the manipulatives though, so I think I got that under control - thank you Pintrest! Teachers, as you are either cleaning out supplies from last year or overloading with ones this year, anything extra you have lying around would be helpful, so please let me know.

Friday was spent on graduation pictures around campus, packing my life away, and attending a wonderful grad party thrown by my mom, or rather, the hostess with the mostest. Big thanks to everyone who came, I hope you enjoyed the food and company as much as I did.

Saturday was when the chaos really started....Lunch with Dad's side of the fam at 11, straight to the Arena after, graduation from 2-3:30 (YAY I DID IT, despite my hard doubts earlier this summer...), and then I was able to squeeze in a little last packing before going out with friends. I felt like I hadn't sat down since Thursday!

Then, a traveler's worse nightmare happened - I slept through my alarm....BY AN HOUR. Mom called me at 5:00AM when we were supposed to LEAVE and woke me up....OOPS. I rushed and rushed and threw last minute things in my bags, forgetting to weigh them of course, but I was relatively prepared, so this (thankfully) ended up not being a crisis situation. I got to see my family at the airport, in addition to one of my old teachers from 2nd grade (Mom says it's a good sign), and arrived at my gate just as they were calling my plane to start boarding. Whew. Emotionally and physically, it had been a rough day before 9am.

Nonstop flight to San Jose, CR went well...No crying babies, storms, bad seat mates, and Delta even gave me a real life sandwich snack. Dry, but beggars can't be choosers. Smooth landing, and free shuttle (in English!) to my hotel (Wyndham). No one prepared me for what was to come next. MY HOTEL WAS ACTUALLY A SWEET RESORT. (Ha gotcha there, you thought it was something bad.) I settled in, and then went to sit by one of the top 10 coolest pools I've ever been to, complete with honeycomb hot tub (think about it), multilevel pool with waterfalls and canals, swim up bar with tables, and even an island with a real palm tree! Ahhhh...finally some peace.Dinner was nice and fancy, and I even played in the casino for a while just to hear the sounds and see the lights. The most wonderful part though, was a luxurious king bed and hot water....one last hoorah I figured.

I underestimated that last hoorah...............This morning I left San Jose in a puddle jumper to Golfito connecting to Puerto Jimenez. Golfito's airport was (not exaggerating) in the middle of the jungle.

Then to Puerto Jimenez (PJ). Clare, the volunteer coordinator and my new housemate, met me at the airport. I knew I should only pack what I could carry, but that didn't make carrying 112 lbs for 15 minutes on a gravel road any easier. Talk about sweating bullets....Also, the only paved road is the main road and it's only paved halfway down. After what seemed like AGES, we arrived at my new home! Simple little place. Three houses live behind the gate with the pool, and my house is the volunteer house. I have never been so happy to have my own room though so I can actually settle and not be stressed about who, went, and how neat my next roommate may be. Even though I have my own room, I have an extra bed, so come visit! 

The pool got filled up today, and I did not hesitate to take advantage. Other than my lotion in the fridge, it's the only cool thing around. I was in it three seperate times today, and I will continue to do so until it fills with algae by the weekend. 

We also share a yard (they call it gardens) with the houses....I have already seen cats, dogs, beautiful hummingbirds, lizards, iguanas, more than 10 different kinds of butterflies, mosquitos (ugh), and a racoon! Haha I even heard the Macaws flying over! So they weren't kidding about the wildlife. That's just in my backyard. Also, YES, it is as humid as it is hot. AND it rained four separate times today, but I was told the morning shower right after I arrived was a freak thing. Being the weather geek that I am, I didn't mind the lightening and thunderstorm though. I found it relaxing (and cooling!).

I also met the kids today briefly, but I will save that info for later's entry. For now, this is probably enough. Plus I have to be at school by 7:30am tomorrow, so it's time for this gypsy to go to bed. (P.S.) I an on Mountain Time now for those of you wondering.)

Below are some new pics of my new home. 

my "closet" with shelves and my dresses on nails in the wall

my room, minus mosquito net over my bed there on the left

living room and front door

laundry space out the front door to the right

gardens and the hidden pool

What kind of flower is this?!

The pool AKA concrete bowl with cool hose water in it :)

my street

school (more to come)