We finally made our trip to Playa Conchal (Shell Beach). It's an amazing, famous beach because instead of sand there are lots of tiny crushed shells. I brought some home, so remind me to show them to you sometime.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
¡San Carlos!
So my class and one of the other fifth grade classes had our 3-day nature field trip to San Carlos last week. It was honestly my favorite trip so far. We saw awesome animals like:
Monkeys
Toucans
and sloths!
First, we went into a butterfly habitat and learned about their life cycle, and then we went on a forest nature walk and saw some big fat bullet ants (4 bites from these could kill a guy), laid in twisty turny tree limbs that look like hammocks, ate termites that legitimately tasted like broccoli, and lots of other things. At the end of the tour we saw and fed some enormous crocodiles.
After lunch we went to a paper recycling place, where the kids learned about how to make recycled paper using ripped up pieces of paper, banana fiber, and water. They even got to practice sifting and drying the pulp. 
After that, we went to the dairy farm, which some kids had a little trouble getting through because it smelled so strongly of manure. One of my favorite little boys kept running to the front door to gasp a lungful of fresh air before returning to the group. He was trying to be discreet about it, but it was still one of the funniest and most adorable scenes on the trip.
That evening after dinner, most of us were waiting around for the last of the students to finish calling their families so I got a game of “Honey Do You Love Me?" going. It was a HUGE hit. From that point on, the camp counselor in me took over. I was absolutely thrilled to get to share a camp-like experience with my students. We played other games, too (Bungalow, 007, and Big Booty, if you were ever a camp kid) and basically got to play the part of "big sister" to the best 5th graders in the whole world. Yep, I'm blessed.
The next day was our day with the Malekus, an indigenous people group. We met Maleku students, hiked through the jungle, learned some words in Maleku, witnessed a ceremonial ritual, and even danced with them.
The best was that as we were all watching the ceremony, an iguana danced into the middle of the circle to celebrate with us!
That night, we did a night hike to prepare the soil and set out food to study animal tracks. Later that night after another round of "Honey Do You Love Me?" I taught the kids "Bungalow.” Really, it’s more of a song and dance, but it ended up being an even BIGGER hit. The kids all went to bed humming and singing the song, which made me smile and feel like I was back home again.
Our last day we made plaster molds of the prints we found and learned a little more about the need to recycle. We also learned about some specific plants in the forest before holding crocodiles and alligators. That was the highlight for the kids, for sure.
Then we got our graduation certificates, cheered, and went home. It really was an excellent trip. I even enjoyed being a supervisor on the boys’ side because I got to know them all so well. (Perhaps a little too well, in some cases…!) I feel like the experience really bonded our class together and brought out the more carefree, lighthearted side of the kids.
In closing, the biggest ants of your life:
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Arenal
My family mailed me a camera from home, so I can take pictures again!
A few of us did a daytrip to the volcano Arenal. Uncle Doug was actually in Costa Rica at Arenal a few days before us and warned that it was pouring rain, but we brought the good weather with us. We stopped in town at a little restaurant and had the infamous fruit smoothies that will probably never be beat.
Eventually we rolled in to this gorgeous resort with polished marble and wood everything and were escorted down to the hot spring pools. They were fantastic. They were different temperatures, one had a rock waterslide (that tore up its share of swimsuits), and one had a swim up bar. Yeah, that's right.
The only bummer was that we couldn't see the lava at night because the clouds were too low. Still, it was an excellent trip. Thank you, Kim Anderson.
A few of us did a daytrip to the volcano Arenal. Uncle Doug was actually in Costa Rica at Arenal a few days before us and warned that it was pouring rain, but we brought the good weather with us. We stopped in town at a little restaurant and had the infamous fruit smoothies that will probably never be beat.
Eventually we rolled in to this gorgeous resort with polished marble and wood everything and were escorted down to the hot spring pools. They were fantastic. They were different temperatures, one had a rock waterslide (that tore up its share of swimsuits), and one had a swim up bar. Yeah, that's right.
The only bummer was that we couldn't see the lava at night because the clouds were too low. Still, it was an excellent trip. Thank you, Kim Anderson.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Terremotitos
In my 17 years of school, today was my first ever not-a-drill evacuation procedure. The kids were transitioning between subjects when I got the feeling our building was swaying a little bit. I looked over at Mitzi and told her I thought we were having an earthquake. The kids looked back and forth between the two of us, and as soon as she started to tell the kids to get under their desks the earthquake alarm went off. The kids ducked and covered pretty quickly, and I reminded them to put their hands over the backs of their necks like we'd practiced. I felt that slight swaying another couple times and my heart pick up a little. Mitzi poked her head out into the hallway to see if we were evacuating, and then we got the kids in line and went down to the field. One of our boys looked pretty pale and one of the girls told me she was scared. I patted her back as we walked down together and assured her it was just a little baby tremor.
Really they were very minor tremors we felt, though at its epicenter 100 miles away the earthquake was a 5.7. However, on January 8 of this year, 20 miles away from us Costa Ricans experienced a 6.1 earthquake which took 34 lives, left 91 injured and 56 missing. Though many of my students were out of town on vacations, they were all very affected by the tragedy. Strangely, earlier today we were talking about the Westmont fire, as it relates to a story we are reading as a class. All of this stuff has generated some fantastic discussions in our class about what really matters most.
Really they were very minor tremors we felt, though at its epicenter 100 miles away the earthquake was a 5.7. However, on January 8 of this year, 20 miles away from us Costa Ricans experienced a 6.1 earthquake which took 34 lives, left 91 injured and 56 missing. Though many of my students were out of town on vacations, they were all very affected by the tragedy. Strangely, earlier today we were talking about the Westmont fire, as it relates to a story we are reading as a class. All of this stuff has generated some fantastic discussions in our class about what really matters most.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monteverde and Oasis de Esperanza
Monteverde
Wow, sorry I'm a bum and haven't written for so long. Part of my excuse is that our internet hasn't been working at home. The rest of my excuse is that my camera broke mid-February. I am thus less inspired to blog sans pictures. Also, these pictures I'm posting are not my own.
Two weekends ago we went ziplining in Monteverde. I adore the zipline at Redwood and still think it trumps every other camp zipline ever, but this stuff was definitely the original. Essentially, we flew for 2 and a half hours through clouds and jungles.
You know, I wish I could remember the stats as far as how long the cables were and how high up we were. But I don't. :o) Here's something, though: on the bus going to Monteverde our group witnessed a robbery. This guy was getting off the bus when a girl yelled out that he had her backpack. So this other guy chased him down and yanked him out of his taxi. Then he was arrested. Of course, I was asleep for most of it. But I saw him get cuffed. Then I went back to sleep.
Oasis de Esperanza
I've also been going to a local church, which has been incredible. It's actually a Costa Rican megachurch. The service is also entirely in Spanish. That's definitely a challenge, but I think a good one. The worship is unbelievable, too. Very powerful and charismatic. We actually sang Hillsong's "Take It All" ("Tomálo") and "How Great Thou Art" ("Cuan Grande Es Dios") this week. I'm really encouraged to see and feel the passionate love for Jesus in our brothers and sisters here. There is such authentic gratitude and peace in them, and such rich, deep praise. Words cannot express it.
Wow, sorry I'm a bum and haven't written for so long. Part of my excuse is that our internet hasn't been working at home. The rest of my excuse is that my camera broke mid-February. I am thus less inspired to blog sans pictures. Also, these pictures I'm posting are not my own.
Two weekends ago we went ziplining in Monteverde. I adore the zipline at Redwood and still think it trumps every other camp zipline ever, but this stuff was definitely the original. Essentially, we flew for 2 and a half hours through clouds and jungles.
You know, I wish I could remember the stats as far as how long the cables were and how high up we were. But I don't. :o) Here's something, though: on the bus going to Monteverde our group witnessed a robbery. This guy was getting off the bus when a girl yelled out that he had her backpack. So this other guy chased him down and yanked him out of his taxi. Then he was arrested. Of course, I was asleep for most of it. But I saw him get cuffed. Then I went back to sleep.
Oasis de Esperanza
I've also been going to a local church, which has been incredible. It's actually a Costa Rican megachurch. The service is also entirely in Spanish. That's definitely a challenge, but I think a good one. The worship is unbelievable, too. Very powerful and charismatic. We actually sang Hillsong's "Take It All" ("Tomálo") and "How Great Thou Art" ("Cuan Grande Es Dios") this week. I'm really encouraged to see and feel the passionate love for Jesus in our brothers and sisters here. There is such authentic gratitude and peace in them, and such rich, deep praise. Words cannot express it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
