La Fortuna...Arenal Volcano

    

Learning with Javier.

It was a long bus ride from Monteverde to La Fortuna.  In order to get there, we had to drive around Lake Arenal.  Corey spotted the volcano long before we reached our destination and there was a tiny wisp of smoke that we could see off in the distance.  The drive around the lake was very beautiful and since the road is not paved, we had to drive more slowly which gave us an opportunity to see more of the local homes and even some wildlife.  At one point our driver (now Julio) had to come to a complete stop and navigate around a giant pot hole of mud that nearly covered the entire road.  I watched out the window as Julio carefully guided us around this obstacle and little did I know that we would all come to know why the local inhabitants have been pleading with their government to pave the roads between Monteverde and Arenal.
 

My wonderful lunch!

   After stopping in La Fortuna for an excellent lunch (I had a great pork casada meal) we all hopped back in the bus and headed to our hiking destination; Sendero Silencio.  Javier led us on a narrow path through the forest and once again pointed out its inhabitants (many of which would have otherwise gone unnoticed)!  I have to say again how much he impressed me and I was thinking about how lucky we were to have him as our tour guide.  Here in the forest, we saw several exotic birds and some monkeys as well.  As the path begin to wind around I noticed how our pathway had been very carefully constructed so as to prevent any erosion from travelers hiking here.  Ecology and sustainable resources were common theme on our entire trip and while this is something I actively study, I learned a great deal.  For many of our group these ideas were new and I'm confident when I say they were also impressed and will be thinking of how they can implement some of the strategies we learned once they get back home.  It was a little humid that day and one member of our group began to feel a little lightheaded, so Javier stopped for her and gave her a little bit of candy.  In about 5 minutes her blood sugar came back up and we were off...Javier to the rescue!  He would have made a good member of our boy scout group in Springfield as he was always prepared and knew just how to handle a sticky situation.  As our hike was nearing the end I was walking with Matt at the very back of the group and we saw some monkeys high up in a tree.  While we watched the monkey leaping from branch to branch I was impressed with how agile and powerful he was.  I told Matt that I thought it would be funny if the our driver; Julio had snuck around to the end of our hike only to spring out of the forest and surprise us all!  We snickered about this and much to our surprise Javier had hidden himself behind some trees.  As we rounded a corner (now way behind the front of the group) Javier laughed as he startled us by shaking some branches and making an animal sound.  Ha!  What a great time!

Our cabin!

     After our hike we headed to the Arenal Hot Springs resort that was the perfect ending for our long day.  There are several pools of differing temperatures and our cabin was excellent.  I especially liked our shower which had a skylight that gave it a feeling of being outdoors.

All of cabins were top-notch and the
buffet-style dinner and breakfast were absolutely fabulous!  I could not get enough of the Costa Rica coffee and I must have bought ten bags that I brought back home with me.  The waters of the pool provided us all with some relaxing down time and I spent the rest of the afternoon walking the grounds and admiring the gardens (there was even a greenhouse filled with vegetables used for the resort meals).  Julio took the opportunity to clean the mud off the bus and we spoke for several minutes.  He was very patient just like Andres and was happy to let me have the opportunity to practice my Spanish.  As the sun began to sink and the light was fading, it was time to meet for dinner.  I enjoyed more excellent native food and good conversation with our group members and some of the resort staff.

More Teaching

    

Working on English "family" vocabulary.

     Yesterday, we did an observation at a local elementary school and then worked some students.  The students were working on their English and studying vocabulary for family members.  It was a great lesson to watch as they came to the front of the class and wrote sentences in English.  One boy was very proud of his knowledge and showed off by writing sentences using; "mother-in-law, and father-in-law" yeah!

Recess!

     Most of us taught a lesson on body parts in English outside.  I enjoyed my student very much and he was very interested in the books that we had brought to school that day.  Later, during recess we interacted with the kids and Matt and Corey played a little soccer with the boys!  The lessons went well for all of us, but I was most impressed with some of the girls who sang a "body parts" song to the children!  "Head and shoulders knees and toes" is still rattling around in my brain which shows how effective a song can be.

My student.

Trapiche "Typical" Farm Tour

Our tour guide and comedian; Jairo!

     This morning we traveled to the El Trapiche farm tour.  Our guide was Jairo and he is a university student who is very intelligent in regard to the farm and local history.  Jairo also has an excellent sense of humor and kept us laughing the entire time we were with him.
     Our tour here was one of the best parts of our program as I learned a great deal about the farming of coffee, sugar cane and how coffee beans are dried, roasted and packed on the farm.  I also took advantage of Jairo's good nature to quiz him about the families of Costa Rica and how the children learn English in the schools.  My action research topic was greatly helped by my conversation with Jairo.

Learning with Jairo.

     Coffee plants are cut down to regrow every 5 years because the beans will not grow in the same place twice.  Also, the plants get to tall for the pickers to reach the beans.  The migrant workers from Nicaragua are the people who are responsible for most of the coffee bean harvesting.  A fast worker can make about $2 per hour during the harvest and while this might not sound like much, people in Nicaragua are lucky if they can make $5 per day back home.
     In the past, the school children used to pick the coffee beans and school vacations were scheduled for the harvest.  But as children spend more time learning English in schools and have less vacation, they no longer work on the farm much.  The individuals who learn English well very often work in the tourist industry which pays much more.

Our Second Host Family & Spanish School

     Last night we arrived in Monteverde and it was raining fairly hard.  We all piled out of the bus and met our host families.  My new family is a very modest one.  Chillo is a few years older than me and his wife; Maria is a few years younger than me.  Brandon (be sure to accent the last syllable) is 12 years old.  Chillo gave me a firm handshake and we jumped in the car while Brandon rode a scooter home.  With the rain coming down and the dirt road becoming very muddy by the minute, I could tell Chillo was a little worried as he kept an eye on Brandon in the car mirrors.
     Maria met me as we came in and showed me my room.  This stay would be much different than my first tico family, but I could already sense that Maria was warm and genuine.  She turned out to be a wonderful communicator and we talked nightly.  She was very patient with me as I practiced my Spanish and we shared a great deal even when neither of us knew the right words to use in English for her, Spanish for me.  I feel confident that I could do very well in a game a charades after my stay with the Costa Rica families.  Here, I would not have my own bathroom and the family enjoyed the television very much.  I learned some new words watching the movie; X-Men as well as several cartoons with Brandon.

Maria's daily breakfast

     Every morning Maria served me a meal of fresh fruit and a cup of coffee.  Pineapple, banana, apple and papaya was the standard breakfast for my stay with them.  Each night we would have rice and beans along with chicken or pork.  The house was smaller than Wagoner's and Maria would ask me about the upcoming morning every evening so we could plan out how we would share the shower.  It was different from my first host family stay, but we managed just fine.
     After breakfast, I had a brisk walk up the road to the dentist clinic where the group met every morning to catch our bus.  Andres, our driver has been a joy to know and he and I shake hands, fist pump or high five every time I see him!
     Today, was our first day at our new CPI Spanish school.  This too proved to be different than the first week and our new teacher; Cynthia does not speak any English during class.  She also expects all of us to speak only in Spanish during class.  This proved to be a challenge, but in some ways it helped me learn more Spanish.  I especially appreciated how she kept her class on topic and moved forward with our language learning daily.
     As a teacher, I saw how easily it is for language learners to become frustrated and once again, I was very glad for our daily 20 minute break (recess).  I think all school administrators who favor reducing recess time for children should experience something like this so that they could regain the perspective of the students.  Sometimes the lessons were rough and I learned how important it is for the teacher to keep the assessment ongoing in order to guide her teaching.  There were times that I really didn't understand the lesson until I got home and  read about what we were doing in a different textbook that I brought with me.  It forced me to use my translation dictionary and the software on my iphone much more in order to clarify what Cynthia was teaching us.
     This school is much busier than the one in Heredia as we have a large group of middle school children here.  There are so many people here with laptops and smartphones that we are having trouble getting on the school's wifi.  I think it would really help if everyone would disable their smartphone's wifi setting when they aren't needing to use the internet.  Today, we had another cooking lesson and everyone enjoyed making tortillas and preparing the vegetables.

Manuel Antonio National Park & Beach

     Today, papa walked me to the church where we meet for our bus rides and it was a somber walk.  Last night was rough as the neighbors had an argument and woke us all up.  My tico parents got involved and took the neighbor's teenage son to our home and he stayed the night.  This kept everyone up much later than normal and when I got up the next morning, I told papa that I would walk to the church--he didn't need to drive me.  However, he insisted on walking with me while helping me with my luggage.  I really hated to leave that day, I had come to feel like a part of their family and I felt that whatever lay ahead of me would struggle in comparison with my time with Wagoner and his family.  I was already missing mama and her wonderful coffee, but later, as I was on the bus, I would discover she had come into my room while I was in the shower and put some breakfast food in my backpack...I could not have asked for a better tico mama!

Our last walk together

     It was a long bus ride to Manuel Antonio, and I used that time to write extensively in my journal.  I thought about my tico family in Heredia and wondered how my next family stay would turn out.  That week passed so fast, and yet here I was heading to a new adventure with so little time to think about what had just transpired!
     We arrived at the park in the afternoon and Javier was in perfect form as he led us on our tour through the park.  He is so knowledgeable about the local fauna and flora.  Often, it takes us an hour to travel a half-mile because he imparts so much information to us regarding our walk!  This has caused us all to look more closely at nature as we attempt to discover new things to share with our guide.  I'm beginning to develop a closer relationship with Javier and I really like him as a person.  On our walk, we found crabs, butterflies, monkeys and many other new wonders.

     Finally we arrived at the beach!  What a wonder, it is so beautiful!  I put my backpack down by Corey's stuff (because I planned to walk along the beach and talk to my wife), I figured it was the safest place.  It was a good thing too, because he was the only person to recognize that the tide was low and would eventually move up to where we all had left our belongings!  Kudos to Corey for moving all our stuff away from high tide and preventing it all from being soaked!

    The beach was wonderful and I saw an iguana while sitting on a log.  The water was perfect, not too cold and not too warm--just perfect for jumping in or wading!  The entire area was so peaceful and beautiful!  I sent a lot of time talking with my family back home as well as speaking with Dr. Aram as we watched the waves roll in.  It was so very nice to relax and soak up the sun as we shared our thoughts about our Costa Rica experience so far.

My First Week In Heredia

     It's been one week now and our schedule has proved to be very industrious for me!  I've begun going to bed earlier so that I won't be so tired in the morning.  Keeping up with the Spanish homework is a big challenge because I am spending so much time with my tico family.  Mama is a stay-at-home mother who watches her grandchildren every day, so when I come home from school all her grandchildren are here at the house and then within the next half hour or so all the parents start filtering in to pick them up.  We always end up talking for an hour because they want to see how much Spanish I've learned and what I did that day with our group.  Family time is very important here at this house and everyone encourages Fabian to help me out with his knowledge of English.  He's a little shy but we've become friends and I try to play soccer and other games with him and Sebastian.  Sometimes, I bring them treats that I pick up from the grocery store on my walk home.

My typical fruit breakfast!

     Every morning, I get up between 5:30-6:00 depending on what our group was doing that day.  I would take a cold shower and then shave with cold water.  It's something I had to learn on my trip to Guatemala, and it reminds me of how much easier life is back home.  I get dressed and head into the dining room where mama always has my breakfast ready as she's making coffee with what looks like as sock full of grounds that she pours hot water into. She varies my breakfast just as she does dinner and always tries to get me to eat more!  The coffee here is wonderful and mama always asks me:  "?una mas?" or "one more?"  We hug before I go back to my room and get my backpack to head out for either the meeting point or onto CPI (our Spanish school).  I always enjoy my walk to school and back home as it gives me time to reflect and occasionally I get to talk to the local people who I meet at the stores or on the street.
     The climate here is very damp at this time of year because it's the rainy season.  I developed some cold like symptoms and started having a cough.  Papa says it's the "clima" and he has the same problem because he suffers from asthma.  Earlier in the week I stopped by the "farmacia" and told them I had a "toser" and the pharmacist asked me in Spanish if I had phloem.  I said yes and she sold me a bottle of medicine that I brought home and showed to mama.  She told me it was good for my cough and my nurse friend back home told me it was a common cold medicine.  In a couple of days, my cough cleared up and I felt a lot better.  Although, I think my main issue was not sleeping the night before we left on the trip and letting my body get run down.  The medicine made me feel "foggy" mentally during school and I struggled at times--this made me think a lot about how children who might be hungry or sick could be feeling as they too struggled in our U.S. schools while learning English. It's hard to tackle a difficult task when you aren't feeling well and sometimes other people may not understand this and mistake it for laziness or even as being less intelligent.
     I've already discovered that there are times where I get really frustrated during the Spanish classes and I'm so thankful for our 20 minute break!  This has made me think how important the recess time is for children!  Our teacher; Pilar actually calls our break "recess" and that has emphasized my empathy with children who may also be hitting that "wall" and have begun to feel frustrated.  After 4 hours of Spanish, I see how important it is every day to have a little time to speak to my friends here in English!  It feels so good to express complex ideas that I'm unable to do at this point in Spanish and I wonder how some of the children make it through the day when they do not have that opportunity?  I feel like it would be very beneficial if they could have only just a few minutes to speak their native language at school each day.

Break time (recess) with cafe con leche!

CPI grounds

     I'm enjoying our classes here and I've noticed that our teachers know their content really well in the sense that they know grammar and of course speak their language very well.  However, they are not all well trained educators and that shows (some more than others)  I'm hearing my peers talk about their experience in class and I'm thinking more about what is working well and what is not working so well so that I can apply it my own classroom in the future. I feel fortunate that we have Pilar as she is making an effort to meet each of us (there is four in our class) at our level and she differentiates here lessons so that she touches upon multiple learning styles (she even creates worksheets that use sentences with each of our names)! I have had two non-credit language classes at the university back home and I noticed that there were students in both courses who attempted to divert the instruction by telling personal stories that consumed a lot of classroom time.  I see that happening here with one of the students in our group, and I assume it is a tactic that is designed to reduce the amount of time that this particular student must face uncertainty and uncomfortableness. I will keep this in mind as I teach ELL student in my own classroom.

Pilar's classroom!

    

What I've Learned So Far

     In the short time that I've been here in Costa Rica, I've already learned a great deal.  I want to share this with others in the hopes that they too will find it significant and relative to their daily lives.

     The people that I've met here very much enjoy sharing their language, culture and perspective.  For these people, it is a great compliment when we share their food, music, heritage and especially their language!  Nothing makes my new friends happier than to hear me speak my "cave man" Spanish!  They are so eager to help me learn more.  Everyone is my teacher wherever I go and perhaps the ones that want to help me the most are those who speak little or no English.  Those that I've met who do speak English very much appreciate my attempts with their language, but are slower to correct me and are more patient with me as they wait for me to finish a sentence before telling me about my mistakes and mispronunciations.  I can feel a different kinship with these people and perhaps it's because they know what it is like to learn a new language and can empathize with me (something that I most certainly will use with ESL students in the future).

  Coming together with another culture has forced us all to deeply consider our own culture and value system in the U.S. and we've already had some interesting discussion regarding this.  What we value at home vs what the people of Costa Rica value is "muy" different to say the least.  This has provided much impetus for change among our group and I can already see an "evolution" of sorts among us all.  I feel that too many of us have lived our entire lives within a very narrow/small cultural walls in which we focus on such a tiny piece of life.  For me, I'm so happy to spend the entire day without having to hear the constant marketing noise of the television!  My family here in Heredia rarely watches t.v. except for the occasional news, preferring to come together as a family every evening and discuss the events of the day.  I feel blessed to have this host family and even more so as they make an attempt to include me in their family dialogue!  I hope that the rest of our group will continue to question the value system that exists in many parts of the U.S. and more closely inspect their own as they experience life on "Tico-Time."
     We've all noticed how well mannered the C.R. people are and how they say; "thank you" and "please" so much.  In fact, their national phrase:  "Pura Vida" (the pure life), has come to mean so much more.  When I say to papa or mama that I'm sorry, they always very quickly reply; "oh, pura vida!"  It means so much more than the literal sense as it replaces phrases such as; "don't worry about it," "that's fine," "I understand," or even "it's all good!"   Earlier today, my partner Matt mentioned that children here may have different time management skills as they approach their school life by living on this "Tico-Time."   That will be an important consideration as I engage future students from other cultures.