A blur!

Well the days since my last post have literally been a blur! We have visited a private school, a coffee plantation, and zip-lined!

I'll start with the private school, it's called "Creativa" by the locals. This school is simply amazing! The school itself is on 106 acres and has about 180 students. The population is about 90% ticos and 10% international. There are about 16-20 students per class (similar to the private school I went to, Hobgood).  This school's mission is to foster students who are environmentally conscience and bilingual. They take classes in all their subjects in English and also have a Spanish class. They give the students a lot of freedom to explore and walk around the forest and foster hands on learning opportunities in that way. They also have a garden (in which each student is responsible to find seeds, plant them, care for them and then they get to take them home to eat with their families), they also plant trees in a reforestation effort, and have a compost program that they use for their plants. I really enjoyed getting to see this refreshing attitude about learning and exploration.

Yesterday we went to Cafe Monteverde Coffee Plantation. We began with Don Guierrmo (1/10 of the owners of the company and 1/6 family members who are owners) talking to us about their ideaology, processes, and how the fair trade system works. We then started walking and he asked us to find some seeds that had fallen from one of the trees. We collected them and then planted them. Next we all grabbed some trees that were ready to be planted and headed out to a pasture they are going to convert to cropland and planted the trees in a line that will be used to block wind, protect the soil from erosion, and attract natural wildlife. I got to plant an avocado tree so I now have an avocado tree in Costa Rica!

Yesterday morning our whole group went zip lining at Sky Trek! It was awesome! There were 9 zip-lines that each had an awesome view! I got to go on one with the guide and I got to video tape as he turned me around to get the best views!

This morning I got to go with my Tio (uncle) Ronald to the Original Canopy Tour! It was awesome. Because both of my parents here work there I got to go for free! It was just me and 2 other people from Georgia. This tour was a lot more natural and had more options! I got to do a giant Tarzan Swing, climb up through a Strangler Fig tree, repel straight down 40 meters and zip line! It was incredible!

Arenal Volcano and Hot springs

 This is absolutely the best thing thing we have done on this trip thus far! As I said in my previous blog...I was burnt out! Tired of Spanish, class, not know what is going on around me, and just mentally exhausted! But this weekend we have been at Arenal Volcano! I never knew how majestic and beautiful a volcano could be until we got here! We traveled for a good part of yesterday and got to this immaculate hotel and had some down time by the pool (which is heated by the volcano). After some pool time we made our way to the Eco Thermales Hot Springs! I didn't really know what to expect, but it was so nice. We got to spend a couple hours lounging in the springs and going back and forth between the coolest and hottest springs. These pools are heated by the volcano as well! It was so nice to be able to sit back and relax for a little while and not have to think about anything! We have been going so hard since right before finals, then we all had finals, packed, came here, and have had everyday planned to the max. So one day to sit back and rest was what we all needed. I feel so refreshed and ready to tackle another week!
                                                                        

This morning we woke up and opened our curtains to see the volcano clear and beautiful! Then we had a buffet style breakfast at the hotel and went on a hike in El Silencio, a trail near the volcano. It was beautiful. This was one of the most natural trails we have been on so far. We saw a lot of insects (of course), birds, and my favorite howler monkeys! These guys are incredibly loud and sound intensely scary. I zoomed in really far with my camera and was able to get a few good pictures.  Isn't he cute?

I am getting over that homesickness and frustration I was feeling and am ready to start a new week full of new and exciting adventures! I can't believe we only have a few days left!

Monteverde Week one!

Wednesday morning we went on a tour of El Trapiche, a local coffee and sugar cane farm. It is a family owned farm and they do tours to keep it all running! I was really interesting to see how the coffee is grown, peeled, dried, shelled, sorted and roasted! I never thought about how difficult a process producing coffee could be! We also got to see how sugar cane is processed and turned into liquor, candy and the sugar block. We got to make some candy with chocolate, coconut, and peanuts in it! It was delicious!

Thursday morning we went on a hike through the Santa Elena Reserve with a bilingual guide. We mainly saw a bunch of different plants, insects, and heard a bunch of birds! It was a beautiful hike; the guide told us that it is the most diverse forest in the area with over 300 species of plants! I took a lot of pictures of the greenery.

Munchin' on some sugar cane!

Group shot in front of the coffee fields!

Friday morning we went back to the Elementary school here! It was great! We got to observe two English classes (taught to 1^st and 2^nd grades). The teacher was teaching the names for the members of the family. After she drew the members and had the students repeat them back to her multiple times, we got to work one on one with students pronouncing the different names and talking to them about their own families and our own. I got to work with the cutest little boy, he did a great job of drawing and pronouncing all the words, when I asked him about his family he got really excited and started telling all about his 2 older sisters and younger brother and his pet cow! He couldn't believe that I didn't have any pets!

It was interesting to me that this teacher was strictly teaching vocabulary, not connecting it for the students to have it make more sense. All she did was draw a picture of each family member and have the students repeat back the names. This made me realize that as a teacher, everything should be connected to help give students a reference point and meaning. Students should also have more role and ownership in their learning instead of strictly repetition. After two classes of essentially the same thing we went to the fourth grade class and did a letter writing lesson with small groups. Ashley and I worked together with a group of 4 girls and they did a great job! We kept going back and forth between English and Spanish and between the two of us we were on the ball! The wonderful cafeteria ladies there gave us each a plate full of fruit and then we headed back to CPI. We had some free time so I talked to my family and Lee and really realized just how much I miss home. I think we are all really frustrated and tired and tired of being out of our comfort zone. When I went to Spanish class we were covering the different forms of to be and many of us started to really shut down. There was a point where I had my head on my desk and couldn’t think about the differences anymore. That was the first time that I have really shut down, I didn’t want to think or speak in Spanish anymore…I just wanted to speak in English and move on to a different topic. This made me think back to Pine Valley (where I did my mini-internship). We had a lot of ESL students in our class and I can remember them at times getting really frustrated and putting their heads down, now I know a little bit about how they feel. Our teacher couldn't speak to us in English to help make the explanations easier and their teacher at Pine Valley couldn't speak in Spanish to help them. This makes me want to keep up some of my Spanish so that if I have students who are feeling frustrated I can speak to them some in Spanish and hopefully be able to turn them around.
 

On the way home a few of us got dropped off in town and got some ice cream and on the walk back to our houses we saw a sloth hanging in a tree right off the road eating some leaves! We got so excited! I had my small camera with me, but I took a few pictures and headed to my house and grabbed my big camera and went back! I took a few more pictures and then the sloth curled up and went to sleep. I was walking with Katie and Ashley and my papa tico stopped by and picked me up on his way home from work. My mama tica is gone for the weekend so the two of us ate pasta takeout and watched Two and a Half Men and Pursuit of Happiness in English, a pretty American Friday night!I guess this is in a way what ESL students feel like when they get home from school.

Manuel Antonio and Monteverde

This weekend we traveled to Manuel Antonio, the beach! We got up early Saturday morning and set out for the beach! On our way we stopped and walked across the bridge over Tarcoles River and looked down and saw over 20 crocodiles! It was awesome to see them all so close together in the river. We got back on the bus and Javier (our guide) said ok, we are going straight to Manuel Antonio and as soon as he got the words out of his mouth, the bus driver (Roy) turned to the right down an unpaved road! We rode for a while before we saw a sign that said Crocodile Boat Tours! We all got extremely excited (especially me and Katie P). We got on the boat and the boat driver (Manuel) drove us to an area where he got out (a croc was close by) and he got some fish out of the cooler and started slapping the water with it! The crocodile started coming in closer and closer and Manuel led her out of the water onto the shore and fed her one piece of the fish. Then he put a piece in his mouth and led the croc over and fed the croc the fish from his mouth! We had to be quiet throughout this whole process, but as soon as he dropped that last piece of fish we all cried out in excitement/amazement! It was quite possibly the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!  He continued to ride us around and we saw more crocodiles, birds, crabs, etc. Then we got back on the bus and headed to Manuel Antonio! When we got there we all got checked into our rooms and headed for the beach! I stayed in the water for the first hour and then walked with Katie P and Ashley for the rest of the time. We got some ice cream and then got ready for dinner. 

On Sunday we woke up to mas lluvia (rain) and ate breakfast at the hotel before going to the National Park for a hike (yes, in the rain). Despite the weather we saw a few sloths, monkeys, iguanas, birds, and a poisonous frog! At the end of the hike was the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen, where we spent a couple hours walking, swimming, and relaxing! Then we got packed up and headed out for our long trip to Monteverde! We stopped for lunch and then later for Churchills in Puntareanas and to drop off our guide and pick up Meggie (our chaperone). A Churchill is a desert local to that city that has shaved ice, powdered milk, and a bubblegum flavored juice…it was ok…not my favorite desert. We eventually reached a point on the road to Monteverde where the road turned into gravel. We started up the mountain on a gravel road bumping and trying not to lose it when we got near the cliff with each turn! After about an hour of this we made it to our neighborhood! My new papa tico picked me up! He grabbed my bag and led me to the van and he drove me to my new house! My new mama tica met me at the door and led me to my room! We sat down for arroz con polo and got to know each other a little bit! They are much younger than my first family (less than half their ages) and they don’t have any children, just dogs, so the family dynamic is extremely different! They are extremely nice and they both speak some English! I helped mama tica clean up, we watched Stuart Little en Espanol and then we went to bed early. 

Monday we started by meeting at the Dentist Office in our neighborhood (our new meeting point) and walking the 40 minute hike to school. Along the way our chaperones pointed out the different places we may want to eat, visit, shop, etc. Once at school we had our UNCW class, then we cooked chalupas for lunch, and then had clase de espanol con new profesors. Our profesoras name is Guadalupe! She is very nice, but the stuff we were learning was harder and she was not as funny/interesting as Henry (our teacher in Heredia). We got a ride back to our meeting place and walked home from there! I ate fish, mashed potatoes, rice, and beans with my familia and then worked on homework and studied all the Spanish verbos. 

Today we got up early and went to a local elementary school. We taught one lesson in fourth grade and got to observe a first grade English class!  It was great to get to observe a class! We got to see the strategies that the teacher was using and how she was teaching the numbers and one to one correspondence by singing the monkeys on the bed song and drawing on the board the number and then that number of pictures. It was so awesome to see her teach them in English and have them repeat it all back to her!  I'll add pictures soon!

La Carpio and Leaving Heredia

Today we went to La Corpio, a small immigrant village of Nicaraguans that sits right outside of San Jose. We visited the Montessori school there and played/worked with some of the students. There were babies and kids up to 10 years old all in the same room. We sat down and sang songs with the students and then partnered up with a child and played with them for a while! I had an eight year old boy named Deidric who was so excited to show me everything he knew and to teach me as well! He was so smart and well behaved, but when he talked to me I couldn't understand much of what he was saying...because of my lack of Spanish! After a while of playing, we took a tour of some of the areas that Gail (the Peace Corps lady from NY has been working through donations to get up and running for the community) including another school, a clinic, and a workshop where volunteers help make bunk beds for families who need them! This was the most poverty that I have ever seen...in comparison to other countries I've seen on TV it was not the worst of the worst. There was trash sitting out in the streets, the houses were small with tin roofs, there were children playing on the roof of one house, and we had to be sure to lock up everywhere we went in because of crime issues. We went back to the Montessori School and the women there fixed us lunch: rice with a sort of lentil soup with fresh watermelon and pineapple. It was actually really good! After lunch Gail told us the history of the Nicaraguan people and why they left Nicaragua, which is absolutely heartbreaking.  Many of the women are single mom's and work in a co-op to produce artisans to sell for profit!

A mural on the one of the walls in La Corpio!

Me and Deidric!

A picture of the city from a second story window!

Working with these students really opened my eyes to see that you don't need a lot of materials to foster student learning! These kids don't have very many resources, but they still are learning and engaged in what is going on! When we visited the other classroom our tour guide told us that they have up to 50 students in that one room and the teachers only get paid $100 a week and they have to pay out of pocket some for snacks and materials for the kids. And yet we complain! This experience really showed me that you don't have to have a lot to teach/learn and that money is just money...it doesn't have anything to do with your personality, ability to learn, motivation, or intelligence!

 I just finished packing to move out of my first house! I  leave at 7:00 am to go to Manuel Antonio (the beach!). I was talking to my padres de tica and they told me that they have loved having and that I will always have a family in Costa Rica! This made me feel so good, but it also made me sad! I gave them each a little gift to say thank you and I took a picture of them so you all can see my wonderful familia tica and so that I can remember their kindness/openness always!

Mi mama y papa Tica. Alfonso (67 yesterday) and Patricia (57). 
They have been so great taking care of me, making me comfortable, and being patient with me as I learn Spanish! I will miss these guys!

Papa Tica sporting that UNCW pride! We had to google image a seahawk so he knew what I was talking about! haha He loved this hat!

Playing catch-up!

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a couple of days since I've posted anything, but I have been so busy! I apologize if this comes out in Spanglish, I'm having a hard time going back and forth so most of the time whether with my familia tica or with the rest of the groupo it typically comes out a mixture of both!

On Tuesday we had class a little bit later so me and Bri went and explored town a little bit. We were trying to go shopping, but we ended up just walking around and stopping in a few shops. It was really interesting. There is a lot more American influence here than I thought there was. Nosotras went in a couple boutiques and saw clothes similar to those sold in the US. We had class and the normal schedule.

Wednesday was the first day that we went to the local Elementary escuela. We had planned two lessons, one on letter writing and another on leaves. We got to the school and Emmanuel, the man who came and spoke on Monday,  told us that instead of being in the upper grades English classes and 1st grade we would be in Kindergarten and in the special needs class. This threw us off...but I went into the special needs class and it made me realize even more how hard is was for me to communicate. I read to a little boy in Espanol y English. He had a hard time hearing me and he was speaking really low...about halfway through me reading/trying to talk to him he put in his hearing aids...that was the problem! lol Sierra (one of our chaperones from CPI) sat with me and helped me talk to him in Spanish. It was a good experience, but it was extremely difficult.  After the elementary school we went to Spanish class and then there were a couple members of a local indigenous tribe called the Baruka who gave us a little presentation on their community and explained to us that they live on a reservation and artisan work is one of their main forms of income. They were selling bags, coinpurses, masks, drums, etc. Last night we went via public bus to the mall in Heredia. That was another intersante experience. The bus was extremely full (standing room only). When we got to the mall we headed straight to the food court. There was a Pizza Hut, Mcdonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Quiznos, and a few other places I didn't recognize. I got pizza and lemonade...my first "American" meal in a week! We shopped around the mall for a while...we got followed around in each store we went into. I have never had this happen to me before so I felt really uncomfortable. I don't know if they thought we would steal because A) we are Americans, B) we are young, C) because our backpacks or D) all of the above! I bought a couple gifts and we headed back (on an even fuller bus) back to San Juaquin and some of my friends walked me home on there way!

 A group of the special needs class at snack time!

The little boy I worked with!

Some of the masks the Baruka were selling! 

                                                      
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
Today we went back to the school and did as planned! I taught the leaf lesson to 2 small groups, which was very interesting. We were in the 6th grade English class and were supposed to be teaching the students in English, but the girls in my first group didn't know very much English at all and my lack of Espanol didn't make things any easier. We got through it and I think they learned something! The second group I taught the leaf lesson to knew a lot more English and by that point I knew some of the words in Spanish because I had already taught the lesson once! This was a great experience! It was awesome to see how receptive these students were to us because we were from the US and to see how excited they were to speak English to us and learn words in English! I also helped teach a lesson on letter writing in a 3rd grade class which was my favorite! Dr. Powell had some letters written by students in Estados Unidos and we read those aloud to the students and then had them write a letter back. There were five of us teaching this lesson and it was a good thing! Between all of our Spanish we got the ideas across and we put some sentence starters on the board and walked around and helped the students individually! I loved this! For one thing it was in English and since we were teaching and English lesson I knew a lot more Spanish words that were helpful. The science lesson was more difficult because of the vocabulary used. The students wrote some great letters! We then had snack provided by the school and met the principal. We went back to CPI had UNCW class, Spanish classes, and then went by the supermarcado and came on and spent some time talking to my papa tico in Spanish, today is his 67th birthday! When he told me that all I could say is wow and they all thought it was hilarious!

 A group of boys who loved having their picture taken!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

My small group for the second leaf lesson!

My small group for the first leaf lesson!

 

Some of the 3rd graders we taught the letter lesson to!

Tomorrow we head to a small village full of immigrants from Nicaragua. We will be helping out in a Montessori school (started by an American woman who was in the Peace Corps.) and visiting a few places around that area. It is a very impoverished area and I am really anxious to see what it will be like. I have never been exposed to anything like that so I know it will be an awesome experience! Hasta Luego!

Raquel Vargas

Yesterday we went to Poas Volcano and a Lagoon that was made by the volcano...which was really cool. But the highlight of yesterday was moving in with my new family for the week! We were waiting at CPI (our school here) for all the families to come pick us up...when Katie P., Megan and I were told that we were going to get dropped off at our homes. We got in the van and the coordinator told the driver the order: Megan first, then Katie, then Rachel. We got off in that order but the driver kept getting us confused.

Poas Volcano

 CPI (our school) 

I got to my house, walked through the gate and was greeted by Patricia. She told me that we were having a fiesta for her daughter's 28th birthday! I walked in the house put my stuff down. Patricia showed me my room and my bathroom. I knew that the name Patricia was not the name of the mom I had been told and when she introduced me to her husband I knew I was in the wrong place! My family was supposed to have a single mom and 3 kids and this family had a married couple and 2 kids.

I was completely overwhelmed! There were a few people there at the beginning of the fiesta who spoke both English and Spanish so I talked to them and they helped me with my Spanish a little bit. But as more and more people arrived it got more and more overwhelming! I got to the point were I was so frustrated that I couldn't communicate that I shut down completely and got upset. There I was in the wrong house with a family I could barely communicate with! Thank goodness that a man named William from CA was there who was bilingual and I told him about being in the wrong house and he kindly explained to my family what had happened! They told me "tenemos suerte" "we are lucky" to have me and that I was now part of their family! This made me feel much better and I started to get more comfortable. I talked to a few other people in spanglish, but for the most part just listened and observed. They began warming up to me even more and had me take a few whacks of the pinata! After everyone left I helped them clean up and put everything away, which they greatly appreciated. Me and my mama tica tried to set up the internet on my English computer with me trying to translate some of the issues, needless to say that was not successful! So my tica name is now Raquel Vargas!

A la fiesta! 

There were a lot of people speaking spanish all around me...I have never felt so out of place in my life!

 My room!

Today was a great day! I went to school and met with my UNCW class and we had a guest speaker from a elementary school here. He told us some of the inside scoop and what to expect when we get there on Wednesday. After that we met to talk about Cambourne's conditions of learning and some other info about the class. For lunch we went down to a little cantina about a block away from the school. This was extremely interesting, it was our first time in a restaurant without a translator. The waitress was very nice, but we (including her) had a hard time. We got lunch and headed back to meet our Spanish teachers. Katie P., Krista, Megan, and I are all in the same class with profesor Henry! El es fantastico! He was so funny and easy to get along with. He started us off with the basics and worked our way up to verbos! There are only 4 of us in the class so we each have to speak a lot which is good. It makes me more comfortable talking con mi familia tico. We also played verb jenga which was a lot of fun! It is definitely a game I can implement in my future class with many different variations.

They say a picture's worth 1,000 words!

Today we went to La Paz Waterfall Garden! It was amazing! They had birds, butterflies, frogs, jungle cats, flowers and waterfalls! I figured instead of telling you about all these wonderful things, I would show you!

Me and a centipede!

 Toucan Sam!

 Little birdies scarfing down some fruit and veggies!

 One of the beautiful parrots!

 Hummingbird!!

 Me and Ashley in front of the waterfall!

Group photo!

Beautiful butterfly!

So far so good...tomorrow we're off to the volcano and meeting our first set of host families!

Day 1

It has been a long day! Lee and I got up this morning at 4:00 am to drive to the Myrtle Beach airport. We said a quick goodbye (to try to avoid getting upset) and I joined the group inside. We got through security fine and finally made it to the airplane and on to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We had some delay in FL, but we all made it to Costa Rica! Our first stop was the Banco Nacional (the bank) where we got our money exchanged. We stood out like a sore thumb 13 Americans trying to exchange money knowing minimal Spanish was an interesting feat. When I actually got the colones (Costa Rican money) in my hands I was completely overwhelmed. The bills I received were all different colors and sizes that came in $10,000, $5,000, and $1,000 with 2 $500 coins. Now I can see the confusion for ESL students; all our money looks pretty much the same and the numbers on our bills are much smaller. 

Next we went to lunch and each ordered in Spanish (kind of) I got the most amazing drink; piña y agua which is pretty much pineapple, water, ice, and sugar…but it was phenomenal! I also got Quesadillas Palbronos which were simply put make your own quesadillas. I scarfed it down and we went to the local farmers market and I was in heaven! There were fruits and veggies of every kind imaginable (and then some) , herbs, spices, meats, cheeses, eggs, flowers, etc. It was awesome! Mangoes are in season right now, so I had to buy one! It took me, Katie, and Ashley talking to one guy to get our mangoes and try to function with the lack of Spanish and the exchange rate! When he told me $450 I almost freaked out…until I thought about it and realized that that’s less than a US dollar. We walked around the city and learned the 4 staples of Costa Rican culture: Church/Religion, School, Bars, and Soccer (which all happen to be in the center of pretty much every city. A tico man stopped us and told us to all be happy and enjoy Costa Rica while we are here. He told us the two major problems Costa Rica is having: the wealthy forget about the poor and drugs. He told us not to worry about it and be happy! He was great, he said all this in almost perfect English grinning from ear to ear! 

Things I learned today:

• 3 Americans are better than one (especially when all speaking broken Spanish)
• Spanish speaking people will try to help you, don’t get offended if they laugh first
• Exchange rates are viciously confusing
• Never Drive in Costa Rica (people drive crazy on tiny roads in big buses and they are not afraid to honk)
• Try local foods…so far so good!

1 week until Costa Rica!

One week from now I will be in Costa Rica and I can't wait! I am starting to get really nervous! We are going to be living with Costa Rican families, taking Spanish classes, doing some service projects and visiting the schools there! I do not know very much Spanish, so this trip should be extremely challenging for me. I have never really had to be outside my comfort zone so I think this will be a good experience to help push me and help put things into perspective.

The purpose of this trip is to put us into the shoes of English Language Learners and show us just how difficult it can be to be thrown into a new country, culture, and language. I think this will help make me for sensitive and understanding of ESL students that will come into my classroom. I will not know exactly what they are going through, but I will have a better idea of what they are facing.

I am extremely excited! Keep checking back to see what I am experiencing as we become immersed into Costa Rican culture!