It seems like I have been here forever, and then again, like I only moved in yesterday. I remember looking at my school calendar and thinking, "Lord, we are never going to make it through this!" Well, we only have 3 more weeks from today until I board an airplane for the US, and say goodbye to fulltime language learning. I just got back from the Children's Museum in San Jose and it was excellent. Although the resources were not quite as advanced or up to date as Indy, the quantity of material covered was incredible. Imagine a place were you can learn about space travel, Costa Rican history (from the Mayas to the present), technology, be recorded on TV or in a sound booth, tour the inside of a train engine car, sitting car, and caboose, not to mention incredible detailed displays of all the parts of the human body! Incredible! We were there for about 3 hours, and didn't even get through all the exhibits. If you ever visit C.R. this is a must see.
Anyway, not I am online trying to get a few more purchases to be ready for packing when I get home. Airport Express, School House Rock special edition DVD (for my classroom), and maybe a few DVDs, although I probably will wait on the DVDs.
Right now mom and dad are in CA with Matthew and Melis. I can't wait to hear how they are enjoying themselves. I must admit, I am a little jealous about not being with them, but I will be so thankful to see the pics. I will def. be visiting Matthew and Mel someday, I just don't know when. :)
Life has gone pretty much the same as usual. We had a sub in grammar class this week, because Laura is in the US looking for a house with her hubby. He works with Procter & Gamble and is being transferred to the US for a few years. They both speak English very well, but it will be hard for Laura to leave her family and friends. Our Sub, Maritza, was INCREDIBLE! I loved her just as much as Laura. She is usually a regular teacher at ILE, but she was in a very serious accident right before term started. The doctor wanted her to take one more month to rest, but Maritza would have none of that!! Anyway, this woman is a grammar queen, and she pushes like you wouldn't believe. But she is so encouraging when she does it. I hope I develop that attitude with my students. Pushing hard, but always beside them, encouraging and helping. I am more afraid of being too easy of a teacher than too hard. :)
I miss hearing from all of you - send me an e-mail, why don'tcha? I will be back in the States the evening of Aug. 20, until Sept. 2. Give me a call, or if you will be in the Indiana area - let's get together!
July 30, 2005
July 28, 2005
Waking up on the beach!
Sigh, this last weekend was a long relaxing one. We were celebrating the annexation of Guanacaste on Monday, so there was no school. About 50 of us chose to celebrate by going over to the Carribean side of CR. It is gorgeous over here, even if it is hot and humid! The resort where we stayed was right off the beach. Make sure you check out my pictures on my homepage (under Tico Times). If they aren't up yet, they will be shortly. Anyway, we left from ILE on Saturday morning about 7, and rode for approx. 5 hours without A/C. This was a funny language issue, because we asked if he had "aire" and he said yes and turned it on. So we all rolled up the windows and waited for cool air to surround us. Only a puff was coming out of the vents, and this was in no way cool air. It was like having the windows cracked, or maybe worse. Turns out, he had "aire" it just wasn't "aire acondicionado." That's right, the mini bus just brought air in from the outside and gave it to us! Needless to say, we all elected for windows instead. :)
Anyway, all I did this weekend was swim in the ocean (the water is glorious!), lay on the beach (you should see my tan, Margarita calls me morena now), swim in the pool, and eat. Oh, and I played Euchre for the first time in at least a year!! It was excellent. The food was wonderful there as well and such a variety. We saw a crocodile (or alligator - the spanish use the same word for both) and I got some cool pics of it as well.
Anyway, I promised to do better and taking pictures, and I think I have. I got some beautiful sunrise pics (imagine me, purposefully getting up to see a sunrise, and I still got there about 30 minutes late!), as well as some photos of my friends. So, take advantage of the situation and check them out!
On the way home, Nicole and I chose to ride in the kids bus. We had PRIME seats, close to the front, with plenty of leg room. But one of the families came on last, and both of their kids are young and very prone to carsickness. By this time, the only seats left on the bus were the very front passenger seat, and the fold down front passenger/middle seat. So, guess who got to ride up front with the bus driver?! Thankfully, Nicole took the middle seat, they are horribly uncomfortable. But we had some excellent Spanish practice that day. Incidentally, the little girl of the family to whom we gave our seats still ended up throwing up, but it wasn't alot.
I was so glad for the time of rest and relaxation, but after 5 more hours in the bus (closer to six because we ended up eating lunch on the road), I was soooo ready to get back to San Jose.
July 20, 2005
White Water Rafting
Thankfully I didn't fall in the water (although 3 others in our raft did). This was a level 2 or maybe 3 (very tame) and reminded of what we did when I was younger. But the views and nature information was incredible. Our guide, Oscar, knew so much about Costa Rican wildlife and he could spot everything in the trees. This was a great experience, but a very long day. My calves hurt so badly the day after because I used those muscles to keep myself in the raft!
Adventures & Airports
Santa Vaca, do I have a story for you! Last night I went with my friend Nancy to pick up her parents at the airport. They are visiting until Monday. Usually when we go to the airport (I have only been once, aside from when I was being picked up), we hire a driver and van to take us there and back.
BUT, this month some students were able to rent a Jeep Cherokee from another missionary who is in the States right now. Let me give you a few clues about this Jeep - to roll down the windows, you push the electronic lever UP, the spare tire is flat, and you never know how long it will take for the engine to turn over. Sometimes it helps to put the jeep in nuetral, and then it SHOULD start, but every time is an adventure. Also, the shock system is nonexistant. OK, got an image? So, we get into the jeep (which for the first time in my experience, starts up on the first try), we have our verbal directions from a missionary couple, our seatbelts are buckled, doors locked, and we are READY!! The only concern we really had was the four major rotundas that we would need to navigate.
Well, thankfully the rotundas were not a problem. HOWEVER, we ended up back-tracking twice on one road trying to get to an exit, driving around the airport twice trying to enter the parking garage, and then the party really started. We found her parents just fine, they had only been waiting about 20 minutes. As we start home, we drove for about 20 minutes, and suddenly had no idea where we were. NO IDEA. Nothing looked familiar to Nancy or myself (of course nothing looked familiar to her parents either). We drove a little longer and hit the toll road back to the airport (without turning around at all! How does that happen?) So, the lady in the booth directed us back to San Jose, but somehow we ended up downtown (about 9:30 - not a good time to be out). Every once in awhile we would see a familiar landmark from our many bus rides, but everything is different when you are driving. We all kept praying, Nancy's dad kept trying to make helpful suggestions (one which I appreciated was to occasionally remind Nancy to slow down).
Finally, somehow God led us to San Pedro (an area that Nancy is very familiar with, and I am becoming so), and we were both so happy!! We made it back to San Francisco de Dos Rios and she dropped me off in front of my house. I have never been so happy to be there in my whole 3 months!! So, good story, good experience, and I praise the Lord nothing bad happened!
BUT, this month some students were able to rent a Jeep Cherokee from another missionary who is in the States right now. Let me give you a few clues about this Jeep - to roll down the windows, you push the electronic lever UP, the spare tire is flat, and you never know how long it will take for the engine to turn over. Sometimes it helps to put the jeep in nuetral, and then it SHOULD start, but every time is an adventure. Also, the shock system is nonexistant. OK, got an image? So, we get into the jeep (which for the first time in my experience, starts up on the first try), we have our verbal directions from a missionary couple, our seatbelts are buckled, doors locked, and we are READY!! The only concern we really had was the four major rotundas that we would need to navigate.
Well, thankfully the rotundas were not a problem. HOWEVER, we ended up back-tracking twice on one road trying to get to an exit, driving around the airport twice trying to enter the parking garage, and then the party really started. We found her parents just fine, they had only been waiting about 20 minutes. As we start home, we drove for about 20 minutes, and suddenly had no idea where we were. NO IDEA. Nothing looked familiar to Nancy or myself (of course nothing looked familiar to her parents either). We drove a little longer and hit the toll road back to the airport (without turning around at all! How does that happen?) So, the lady in the booth directed us back to San Jose, but somehow we ended up downtown (about 9:30 - not a good time to be out). Every once in awhile we would see a familiar landmark from our many bus rides, but everything is different when you are driving. We all kept praying, Nancy's dad kept trying to make helpful suggestions (one which I appreciated was to occasionally remind Nancy to slow down).
Finally, somehow God led us to San Pedro (an area that Nancy is very familiar with, and I am becoming so), and we were both so happy!! We made it back to San Francisco de Dos Rios and she dropped me off in front of my house. I have never been so happy to be there in my whole 3 months!! So, good story, good experience, and I praise the Lord nothing bad happened!
July 16, 2005
4th of July
I promise to be better from now on at taking pictures. I just get so excited about experiencing stuff here, that I don't take photos of it. And when I do take pics, they are usually of other people. Sorry, kids. I'm heading off to the Caribbean side again this weekend. I will try to do better!
This picture was the only one with me in it from the weekend. I am sitting with Nancy and Jen, and Matt and Nelia (look down beside Matt and see an exhausted Austin - poor fella). The weekend was awesome and so relaxing! I'll try to give you a better idea of the Caribbean side after this weekend.
This picture was the only one with me in it from the weekend. I am sitting with Nancy and Jen, and Matt and Nelia (look down beside Matt and see an exhausted Austin - poor fella). The weekend was awesome and so relaxing! I'll try to give you a better idea of the Caribbean side after this weekend.
You say Cabra, I say Cobra
Actually, it does make quite a bit of difference - read on.
For instance, last Thursday in my conversation class, we talked about various topics, some serious, like a comparison between the young adults of the 70s and young adults today. I was very pleased with how I managed to make my thoughts understood, and even conjugated verbs correctly! Then we turned to a lighter topic of typical foods and strange foods. We talked about some of the Costa Ricans eating armadillo and iguana on a daily basis, and how in the States we can try frog legs, crocodile, etc. Then we started talking about "cabras" and how there weren't many of them here, but some farmers raised them and used their milk (combined with cow milk) to make milks and cheeses. I asked how on earth cabras were milked and my profesora responded that it was very similar to the way cows are milked. We talked more about this and my amazement grew. Finally I asked, "Isn't it dangerous?" My profesora was confused and then she said, "Dangerous? For who, the cabras?" I said, "No, for the farmers. Aren't cabras venomous?" At this point my classmate looked at me and I said (in english), "Cobras are venomous right?" Kathy burst out laughing and said, "Emily, CABRAS are GOATS!" We then explained my misunderstanding to our profesora and we all laughed hysterically until the end of class. Some of you may be familiar with the term "milking a cobra," which refers to extracting the venom from a cobra. For some reason, that phrase stuck in my mind, but not the explanation. So to me it seemed perfectly logical that somehow, someone had managed to get milk out of a cobra here in Costa Rica!
For instance, last Thursday in my conversation class, we talked about various topics, some serious, like a comparison between the young adults of the 70s and young adults today. I was very pleased with how I managed to make my thoughts understood, and even conjugated verbs correctly! Then we turned to a lighter topic of typical foods and strange foods. We talked about some of the Costa Ricans eating armadillo and iguana on a daily basis, and how in the States we can try frog legs, crocodile, etc. Then we started talking about "cabras" and how there weren't many of them here, but some farmers raised them and used their milk (combined with cow milk) to make milks and cheeses. I asked how on earth cabras were milked and my profesora responded that it was very similar to the way cows are milked. We talked more about this and my amazement grew. Finally I asked, "Isn't it dangerous?" My profesora was confused and then she said, "Dangerous? For who, the cabras?" I said, "No, for the farmers. Aren't cabras venomous?" At this point my classmate looked at me and I said (in english), "Cobras are venomous right?" Kathy burst out laughing and said, "Emily, CABRAS are GOATS!" We then explained my misunderstanding to our profesora and we all laughed hysterically until the end of class. Some of you may be familiar with the term "milking a cobra," which refers to extracting the venom from a cobra. For some reason, that phrase stuck in my mind, but not the explanation. So to me it seemed perfectly logical that somehow, someone had managed to get milk out of a cobra here in Costa Rica!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)