Reflections

Well, the time has come. I am just a few short hours away from leaving Costa Rica behind. I will be boarding a plane bound for Antigua, Guatemala for 2 months before eventually returning back to MN to teach 3rd grade. So I leave CR with some random memories and great experiences that will last a lifetime:

1) Meeting my ladies at the airport in Huston before we all boarded the plane bound for CR. Little did we know what the next two years held in store for us. I love you girls.
2) Trying to make our first home cooked meal with Molly. It all turned out white and tasted just as bad as it looked. Maybe that's why Papa Johns became such a staple for us!
3) Tracking down some random wood dude to make us a TV stand and myself a shelf for my room.
4) Making it from Escazu to San Jose in all of 10 minutes to catch our bus to the beach for Liz's birthday. (We may have overslept a little...)
5) Having a local bar, Arenas, open early for us every Friday for happy hour.
6) Traveling all around Costa Rica and seeing all the beautiful sites.
7) Heading to Nicaragua for a long weekend with Steph and climbing that damn volcano...couldn't walk  for a week.
8) Going to Panama with Molly and deciding to head to San Blas because I read about it online. Neither of us knew where we were headed when we got in some man's truck early one morning. Took us a few hours to figure which ocean we had ended up on as well!


9) Driving to Rio Celeste with Kelly and Al in our little sedan...an SUV was highly recommended. After  pushing the car and bottoming out a few times, we fully understood why!
10) Holding monkeys and seeing the baby sloths with Jess...the cracked windshield is something I'd rather forget though.
11) Seeing the baby sea turtles hatch in Tortuguero...so cute!
12) Hiking Diamante Falls with my brother and sleeping in a cave behind a waterfall. That, complete with cliff jumping and repelling down a waterfall...priceless

The list could go on and on...all in all, it has been a wonderful two years. I can only hope my next two months in Guatemala will be half as amazing.

Oh How Time Flies!

Our staff party

Fear not, I am still here! It's been a crazy past few months but luckily it is all coming together and slowing down a bit. Within the past two months I decided not to return to my school, I went on a crazy job hunting spree, got a job, found a new roommate, and we found a place to live! Oh, and in-between there I did some  enhancing of young children's' minds.

Well, this is it. I'm in my last month of teaching abroad. Honestly, I have such an amazing summer coming up, I can't wait for the year to be over! Plus, the kiddos get a little squirrly at this point in the year..as do the teachers. For example, last week one student was playing around at lunch and he "accidentally stepped" on the faucet outside my room where a water fountain used to be. Luckily for me, the pipe connected to said faucet was inside my closet. Thankfully I happened to be in my room at the time and hear a nice "Wshhhhhh-ing" sound. As I get up to investigate, I am greeted with water...a lot of water, inching across my room. After the water managed to get 3/4 the way across my room, we got it turned off. Now...the boy who stomped...oops, I mean accidentally stepped....on the faucet got the lovely task of mopping up the mess. Enter the clown show. These kids have never held a broom before let alone actually mopped something up! It was HILARIOUS to watch. We had water spraying this way and that, kids getting sloshed on, ceilings getting whacked as they rung out their mop. Needless to say, I could barely breathe as I sat and watched them clean. I tried to upload a video but it didn't want to work. (It's also not letting me upload pics.) Sadly, I wasn't filming when the boy got a great idea to slide across the floor on his knees...only to slam face first into the tile... oh boys!

The Ladies

Speaking of water, as I type this our kitchen is being pulled apart. Apparently our dishwasher separated from the hook up thingy and therefore was continually leaking water all over our kitchen for a day. Well, this got under the tiles and such so they are currently pulling up the tiles to our kitchen. (As he left, he told me to tell the guards ASAP next time so they can call him and he'll come right over. OOPPPSS!)

So on Wednesday I am about to embark our the last class trip of the middle school...the 8th graders. These lovely students are the ones who supply about 99% of my kids quotes...this should be interesting. We are going to Manuel Antonio; it should be a great trip. I agreed to take a slew of the shall I say, less mature, kids in my group. By the way, less mature is a nice way of saying crazy. This should be an experience!

The Ladies and I have also planned a couple of fun getaways. So, my weekends are all full until August when I shall return, for good?, to the US!

I have had some great kids quotes these past months, I hope you enjoy:

"Ms. K, is it true you aren't coming back next year?"
"Yeah."
"Why, is it because you can have red hair in the US?"

"Ms. K, you look feisty today."

I was teaching my tutoring boy how Helen Keller learned to read by finger spelling and then holding an object:
He sits and thinks a moment..."So, when she learned the word for poop...?"

"Ms. K, I messed up when picking my roommates for the class trip. I forgot to put you on my list!" (this coming from a boy)
"No comment."

"Ms. K, I just wanted to give you a hug and tell you how beautiful you look today." (He was about to take a test.)

"Erin, you don't just look down at your crotch and smile." Ummm....

"Luis, please let me go."
"No Ms. K, I will not stop hugging you until you hug me back! A nice hug!"

"Listen up kids, I have some exciting news!"
"You're getting married!"
"No."
"You're pregnant!"
"Umm, NO! Maybe it's just best if I told you."

Travels..with kiddos

Before I get into my lovely 7th grade field trip to Tortugero, I must take you back to a wonderful day called Dia del Gallo Pinto. The Day of Gallo Pinto. For those of you who don't know, gallo pinto is a typical dish here in Costa Rica. (Costa Rica and Nicaragua actually argue about where the dish originated.) It's a rice and beans dish that is served at every typical Costa Rican breakfast. Some families also eat it during most meals. Well, Jen, Liz and I went to San Jose to see what it was all about. There was Gallo Pinto everywhere! Oddly enough, we didn't eat any that day...the lines were too long and/or we were too impatient. We did get some amazing masks though!


Well, I just returned from a 3 day trip to Tortuguero with the 7th graders. All in all, it was a good time. We did have some interesting times. My group was the first to go kayaking. Well, 3 minutes into it, one of my girls has gone overboard! We were in a canal before getting to the bigger canals full of caimans and other creepy creatures. I looked at one of the guides and asked, "If I get in, will I be eaten?" She said no so I jumped in to help my student. Her and I were just laughing away. After we both got settled again, we had a great time. Then, my second group got to go. There were about 5 of us who had gotten to the end of the first little canal and attempted to turn left. (The kids were still learning how to maneuver their kayaks so this created a lot of crashes.) As luck would have it, a boat was coming our way. I had to get 5 kids to back into the canal we came from so the boat could pass. A girl was stuck right behind me so I stupidly turned over my shoulder to try and push her and FLIP, over I went! The kids sure loved this part! I assured them I had seen a cool animal and was just trying to get  a closer look...That evening Erin and I get a knock on our door. It's Scott and Miguel, the other teachers who were on room checks..."We can't find a student." Super. So, we embark on a journey to find a missing 13 year old girl. Luckily, when I went to one room another girl had heard her say she was going to sit in a hammock. So, flashlight in hand, I went  up to each and every hammock hoping to find her. I was worried I was going to flash a light into some un-expecting traveler. As luck would have it, I found her passed out in the very last hammock. Another comical part was watching the monkeys poop all over my students on our boat tour. They didn't find it that funny, but Erin and I sure did!

That following Saturday morning, a few friends and I had book a day trip to Isla Tortuga. It's just a beautiful island about an hour and a half from Punta Arenas. We sailed on a catamaran through the Pacific before getting to the island. It was an amazingly beautiful day. We all got plenty of sun! Towards the end of the stay on the island, the crewman set up a game of soccer. With a little pushing from Jen, I got the nerve to join them. I had to represent for my fellow females. It is hard to tell from a still picture, but I was clearly the MVP. I mean, I did score the winning goal for my team.  We returned home exhausted, and a little pink. But it was a great day trip.

I shall leave you with the weirdest quote heard upon the 7th grade trip. This is also another reason I will never understand adolescent boys and why I am scared to have a boy myself.
The boys were in their room, but all could be heard next door.
Boy 1: "Guys, come here, I want to show you something!"
Boy 2: "What? Are you going to masturbate?"
Boy 1: "What?! No?!!"

Mi Cumple y Mas

Well folks, the time has finally arrived. I have hit my, gulp, late 20's. Now that I am 27, I have a much more refined outlook on life. Por ejemplo, my birthday celebration. It all began with the usual, "What do you want to do for your birthday?" talk. Well, I decided I'd like to just get away for a nice beach weekend. Sit at the pool/on the beach, take in the ocean, and relax....then my birthday got closer. I realized, "Heck, my mid 20's are about to pass me by! I need to celebrate!" Enter: the dinner extravaganza. The new birthday plan had us going to dinner Friday night and then heading to the beach Saturday morning. Dinner was fabuloso! The food was good, but the company was great. After the 5 of us ladies finished our 4th bottle of wine we decided we should move onward with our celebrations.  Although one of returned home that night one cell phone and one red jacket less than what she came with, she somehow had an extra maraca...

Needless to say, a few of us weren't all the chipper the next morning for our drive to Esterillos. However, we sucked it up like the true champs we are and quickly recovered. The place we stayed at was great. It had a nice pool with a view of the ocean. I napped in a hammock while listening to the sound of the waves, laid on the beach, and then went to the pool when I could no longer take the heat of the sand. To top it all off, Katie brought a pinata for me! Strawberry Shortcake to be exact! We had a great time beating the crap out of that thing! Don't worry, I saved Strawberry before the beating began. So, to sum it up, I had one of the best birthday weekends I have ever had. It was also made amazing by the awesome package my MN Ladies sent me. The Kit Kats didn't last long though!

One of the nice things about the newbies this year is that they love to play soccer. We managed to reserve our school's field each Saturday to play. It's odd to think it took me a year and a half to finally play soccer here! I thought I'd be playing all the time!

At the time I'm faced with deciding what to do next year. I'm torn between a few things. Do I stay, do I return to the US, or do I go somewhere new and unknown? I have loved my time here in Costa Rica, no doubt. This is an amazingly beautiful place to live. However, part of what has made it so amazing, is the people I'm here with. That being said, most of them are leaving next year. And my students...they are umm, charming? I do adore them and I would miss them greatly. Teaching abroad is a complete 180 compared to when I taught in St. Paul. Here, I am able to be the type of teacher I want to be. I can have fun with my kids, joke around, but also get our work done. In the US, I had to stay much more formal and strict with my students in order to get our work done. However, those kids in the US needed me. The students I teach now will be successful regardless. (Ok, so this paragraph was mainly for my own benefit. I am done rambling.)

Today I am about to head to the new soccer stadium that China built for Costa Rica. Why would China build Costa Rica a soccer stadium you may ask? Well, I'm not really sure. Taiwan built CR a Friendship Bridge awhile back and apparently China wanted to be on their good side too, so they one upped Taiwan with a stadium. Others say it 's because China and CR now have an unwritten agreement to let China hunt sharks off the coasts of CR. As much as sharks scare the willies out of me, I hope this isn't true. But, one of my friends in running the race and there is supposed to be other events set up, so we're going to check it all out.

I have to, I mean get to, go on the 7th grade class trip next week to Tortuguero. Now, Tortuguero has been one of my favorite places to visit in CR so far. However, I was with great friends and I got to see adorable little turtles. This time I get to go with a great amount of 13 year olds and there is nothing adorable about that. HOWEVER, the following weekend is a 3 day and we are heading to Bocas del Toro in Panama and the following week is Semana Santa!!! That means I'll be spending a week in the Dominican Republic at an all inclusive with my mom and brother!!! AND, for my birthday, I GET TO SWIM WITH THE DOLPHINS! I get so excited about this, I almost pee myself each time I think about it! (Was that an overshare?)

I shall leave you with some amusing happenings:
One morning in the cab:
Katie asks the driver: "Como naciste?"
Paige is like, "Did you just ask him how he was born? Isn't that personal/really weird?"
Katie: "No, I asked him how he woke up. (How is your morning the non-literal translation.)
Paige: "Umm, nope, pretty sure you asked him how he was born. Como amaneciste is how did you wake up."
-If you say these two words aloud, they sound very similar.

After I got a haircut, so therefore my hair was straight:
"So, the graph is an upward opening parabola. Questions?"
"Your hair is different! You planchared it!" (Planchar=to iron or straightened)
"Um, yes I did. Any questions though?"
"It looks so different!"
"Ok, can we talk about my hair later please and focus on our lesson instead?"

Also, the science teacher showed the 7th graders the video of my operation last week. They got to see Gil up close and personal. One kid enjoyed it so much, he wanted a copy of the video!

The Wonders of Traveling...

Well, thanks to our lovely Presidents, I had a three day weekend! Translation: beach time! Some of the girls had family in town so Jen and I decided to head to Nosara, a beach town on the Nicoya Peninsula. I was excited because, with the exception of my trip last year with the kiddos, I had never been to the Nicoya. Since this was a 5 hours excursion, we decided to leave right from school on Friday. We got held up slightly at the car rental place because neither of us had brought a credit card, only a debit. (They put a $1000 hold on your card, so it's much better to have a credit card.) As we are pulling out of the rental lot, Jen asks, "Did you tell the hotel that we'd be getting in late?" "Oh. Nope." And we were off.

10:00pm rolls around and we pull up to the Nosara B&B. It is dark. Really dark. Except for this little lamp left on in the main room. "Look Jen, I can see our two little towels sitting on the table, waiting for us!" Problem, there was no one there to give us said towels. After about 30 minutes of honking, yelling, and looking at each other, we decided to head out and find another place to stay. Now, Nosara isn't really set up with a row of hotels so we took a lot of random turns down the crazy dirt road looking for hotels. Each one we found was dark. At one point, one of us said, "These roads are actually pretty creepy. I hope the car doesn't break down."

We had no other choice...back to the hotel. Jen had been calling the place nonstop since we left, but there was still no one there. So, we kicked back our seats and settled into the car to sleep! "So Jen, it's going to get pretty hot in here. Do you think it's ok to leave the air on?" We eventually decided to start with the car on and to turn it off sporadically. After we finally stopped laughing at our crazy predicament, we "went to sleep." I awoke to this, "AHHHHHAHAAAAAAHAHAHAHHHHHH" Oh how I wish you could hear this noise as I did! I, of course, started screaming in response. I thought a possum or something had gotten into the car. Then, I turn my head to the left and notice a man with a flashlight standing next to the car. Luckily, I did not have to go to the bathroom at this time, or I probably would have soiled myself. I slowly open the door and was like, "Hi! Umm, we have reservations." So, we got into our room sometime after 1am. The next morning we had a lovely time at the beach, doing nothing.

We went to sign in like they asked us to and the woman changed the date from Friday to Saturday. "Oh, how nice, she's giving us last night for free," we both thought. We come back to pay and the man is there. "You guys owe for three nights, not two." "Well, she changed the dates and had us sign the form for two nights." After a bit of arguing, he went to go get the lady. She comes up. "So sorry, it was a mistake. You only owe for two nights." So we pay and start our way back to the beach. "Have a nice journey," she says.

"Ummm, Jen, I think she thinks we're leaving today. She just told us to 'Have a nice journey.'" We just shrugged it off and headed to the beach. We decided it made more sense for us to drive home on Sunday, today, instead of the next day so, at 11:30, we went back to the room to pack up. We were meet with the owner woman putting our stuff into bags. "Umm, girls, check out was 11:00." "Yeah, but we have this room for 3 nights."

After about 15 minutes of mass confusion, the lady finally got it straight in her head. "Oh my goodness! I want to give you girls a free night! Please, let me give you a free night!" "Actually, we're leaving. Maybe if we ever come back..."

So we quickly packed up, showered, and hit the road. We had to get gas, so we pulled into a station. The attendant guys comes up and says, "You ladies have something stuck in your wheel." Of course we do. Turns out, I ran over a rather large nail and it lodged itself into our wheel. An hour later, our wheel was patched and we were back on the road! We managed to make it home in one piece, with a great story to tell!

Now, some wise words from the boy I tutor:
"Ms. K, I get up at 5am each morning."
"Why do you get up so early?"
"To milk my goat!"
"You honestly expect me to believe you get up at 5am to milk your goat?"
"It's true. My grandpa comes and gets me on his moto and we go to my farm. I eat my cereal with the milk I get."

"Oh my gosh, I have a beard, right?!?!"
"Ummm, yeah....I see one hair."
"YEAH, this is awesome! It must be because my birthday was yesterday and I'm so manly now."
5 minutes later:
"Stop trying to see your "beard" in the reflection of your computer and get back to work!"

The Bird is the Word...

Ok peps, time to get serious. I am being driven insane...by a bird. It all began around the first week of school, so a month ago. Molly, my roommate, mentioned this annoying sound coming from outside. Low and behold, I am awoken to this mystery sound the next day...at 4:30 AM people! Then it stopped, until 5:30. The preciseness of this "bird" led me to believe that perhaps someone received the most annoying alarm clock possible for Christmas. It is also suck a strange sound, we couldn't place it. Well, after many investigations (Molly has actually gone out to the pool at 4:30 to track down the sound, twice.) we have come to the conclusion that it is, in fact, a bird. This is the most annoying bird I have never seen. I have also been wondering: If I shoot a BB gun randomly into the unknown, it wouldn't actually cause too serious of harm to whatever it hit, would it?

On top of the crazy bird, we also have our bathroom fan. Now, this fan has been running since we moved in. It doesn't seem to be attached to any switch and it just always makes noise. Day by day, I noticed it had been getting louder. In my room, it sounded like a washing machine off track. Then, one night I wake to what sounds like a Mac truck about to plow through my bedroom door. The fan is out of control. When I get up for the day Molly goes, "I almost woke you up. I thought we were going to have to evacuate before our place blew up." We talked to Tio, our handyman, and he "fixed" it...it has been getting louder each day...

Sorry, I have no pics for you, just a nice venting session! I shall leave you with my wise words from the classroom:

(We have been graphing quadratic equations-they are parabolas with vertexes.)
"Ms. K, I think I graphed this quadratic wrong. I can't seem to find the climax."
"Yeah, that happens sometimes."

One boy, who has broken English, was drawing on my board while his friends kept trying to erase it:
"HEY, don't touch my thing!"
Took about 5 minutes for my boys to stop laughing...

The Joy of Visitors!!!

Well, my vacation Stateside was a short one this year due to the fact my ladies had booked a flight to come visit!!! I had given Kelly and Al strict instructions about finding the legit orange airport cabs and how to get to my place (in both Spanish and English.) So 10:30 roles around and my cell rings...it's the cabbie calling because he's lost. After many instructions, the girls finally pull up...in an unmarked blue van. Go figure. Some rando on the plane told them to find a pirata taxi (the illegals) cause they're a better deal. So, instead of listening to their wise friend, they took the rando's advice! But, they finally arrived and were in one piece! Apparently Kelly was too nervous to let them know she didn't speak Spanish, so instead she pretended to be deaf...(insert head shake here.)

Repelling

So the next morning we headed to pick up our car and embark on our journey. First stop: La Fortuna to see Volcan Arenal. The arrival went smoothly and we set off to see the waterfall. The next morning we had signed up to go Canyoning. This consisted of repelling down 5 waterfalls; the highest being 220 feet.  Our guides were charming and cute and I'm sure they appreciated us three ladies and all of our inappropriateness we brought with us! For example, one the guides taught me a new slang word for 'dude.' When Kelly was getting detached from a harness I was quietly telling her to use the new word with him. Somehow she interpreted "Say mop" as "Slap his ass." The guide next to me found this quite entertaining!

Pushing Bessie

The next morning we set off to find Rio Celeste. Now, if you are an avid blog reader, you may already know I attempted to see this celestial blue river last year. However, due to the torrential downpour, the river was a beautiful brown. This time, I was sure we'd see it blue! One fact I was aware of but chose to keep from my passengers was that an SUV is recommended. When we got to the "Unpaved Road" as our GPS told us, I said, "Alright ladies, if at any time any of you think we should turn around, say so!" And we set off! About 10 minutes into our journey, we are stopped by a giant truck just chillin in the road. So we sat and watched the guy on the side of the road finish his apple before he finally got into his truck. We drove for about one minute and then got to the contraction site with even bigger trucks blocking the road! 5 minutes later we were on the road again! What do we encounter this time? A tree in the road...complete with a machete man! He finally chopped and moved the pieces and we were free again! This time, we the only obstacles we encountered were steep hills, boulders that came out of nowhere, and mud. We only got stuck two times! Luckily Kelly and Al are amazing pushers and we got up those beasty hills! After each terrifying scraping sound, Kelly would look behind us and say, "Nothing fell off!" I had Al hyperventilating in the front seat and Kelly choking back laughter in the back, but,  we FINALLY got to the river station thingy and looked around. The parking lot was full of SUVs, and our sedan! A man came out and immediately said, "Did you have to push?" "Oh, just a few times!" We hiked to the river and it was blue!!!

After our less than relaxing drive to Rio Celeste, we headed to Tamarindo, the beach. We enjoyed laying on the beach, taking it a little sun, and taking in even more cervezas! Luckily, Kelly had regained her ability to speak and was no longer deaf so we made lots of new friends! On our trip back to Escazu, I had noticed Bessie, our car, was being a little louder then our trip up. Worried that she may have punctured something, though I couldn't imagine how, we pulled into our rental place in Liberia. As soon as the maintenance man got in to try it out, she was quite again! Go figure! I think Bessie just wanted to feel respected and cared for and getting her checked out was just what she needed to buck up! We got back to Escazu in great time, thanks slightly to my lead foot. I think it's safe to say that we all had an amazing time!

Home For the Holidays!

Well Winter Break came before I knew it and my girls and I were off to Drake Bay. It's in the southern part of Costa Rica and is supposed to hold a whole lot of wildlife and such. Well the start was a little, shall we say, shaky...we arrived at the airport and all was good. We checked in and then the dude made ME step on the scale! You know you're riding in a small plane when they also have to weigh the passengers! So we go to actually get on the plane and they recheck our passports and such and then we're put into the "waiting area." Well, three of us got through fine and then I noticed the fourth wasn't coming. "Maybe she went to the bathroom???" So I peaked my head out of the area and looked around. Nadie. Then, my phone rings. I pick up to hear nothing but hysterics...I go back out to the main room and immediately this large dude goes, "You need to go get on the plane. I will not have it wait any longer." And I'm like, "Chill out dude, no one has even boarded yet. By the way, nice to meet you too." Through a lot screaming and tears, I finally realize that they are saying she is in the country illegally. You are only allowed to be in CR for 3 months and then you need to leave. I have a work Visa so I'm fine. My friend is new this year and had yet to receive her Visa...I try to explain what's going on when the man takes my passport and tries to find something wrong with it. He finds and old stamp and I hear him say something along the lines of, "She's illegal too." To which I, slightly snottily, respond, "Yeah, but if you look at my VISA, you'll see I'm legal!" So, long story short, they assured me my friend would be able to get on the 11:00 flight and I HAD to get on the plane. Me and the other 2 girls arrive in Drake Bay and I check my phone. I received texts such as: "I hate this Fing country. I wish they would have just deported me." And "I almost got arrested." Apparently being snotty to the immigration people isn't the best idea...BUT, she arrived and we were reunited once again!

We took a day tour snorkeling and Joanne went scuba diving. I got to snorkel with sharks! There were two white tips chillin at the bottom of the ocean right above us. Twas very cool...not as scary as I thought it would be. The next day we were planning on going to Corcovado National Park. We awoke to rain, lots of rain. "Do we still go?" "Ummm, why not!?" So we got into the boat and set off. It was an amazing hour long boat ride filled with giant rain drops pelting us in our faces. So the hike was, shall we say, slightly muddy and very wet. We did get to see a tapir though! I was about 3 feet away from her while she was taking a nap. She woke up and looked at me. Then I thought, "Hmm, if she gets up and charges, I'm toast." Luckily, the rain let up and our boat ride back was much more tranquilo.

After our lovely vacay, it was time to pack up for the States. For once, my trip home went as planned and I arrived in NoDak at the butt crack of dawn on Christmas Eve. I got to chill with the fam for Christmas and then head to MN to see my friends for New Years. Now,  it wouldn't be a true trip back for me without any problems. I was planning on driving back to ND on New Years Day to catch my flight the following day...enter the snow. The highway was closed. Go figure. After many, many calls and trying to figure out all my possibilities, I ended up book and emergency flight to Bismarck. Meaning, my mother's car was left in Minneapolis. Nothing like adding a little extra adventure to an otherwise smooth vacation! Luckily, in the end, it all worked out! Pura Vida!!!