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)
No comments:
Post a Comment