First week of school and first EARTHQUAKE!

School is off to an excellent start, though I forgot how exhausting it is. I’m really enjoying being self-contained as opposed to team teaching as I have for the last two years. It takes more planning, but it is much more conducive to creating a strong classroom culture and getting to know the kids and their families well.

My favorite part though has to be the diversity. I have students from across the globe including all over Central and South America, Europe, the USA, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. This presents some challenges, like language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, and even some stereotyping, but it also makes for a very dynamic learning environment. We were talking about role-models and doing a KWL chart before I read aloud a book about Cesar Chavez. A boy from Venezuela said that he was pretty sure that Chavez was the president of his country and that the US didn’t like him. Then a girl from Iran shared her connection that she was pretty sure the US didn’t like Iran’s government either. Then a boy from South Korea added a little bit about the difference between his country and North Korea. It is definitely going to help me to grow in culturally sensitivity and brushed up on world happenings!

On another note, I experienced my first earthquake. Ok, so it was more like a tremor, but it freaked me out nonetheless! It was about 5:30 in the morning and I was only half asleep because I had already hit the snooze button a couple times. Then it felt like something jumped on my bed and that one corner of the bed was wobbling and vibrating from it. So my initial thought was, “Eeek, there’s an animal in my room!!” By the time I realized what was going on and could even think about getting to the doorway the tremor had already stopped. Later a student asked, “If there’s an earthquake on Mars would they call it a marsquake?” Lol, makes sense to me!

We didn’t have power on Tuesday and there was talk of calling off school because of hygiene concerns. There is a little bit of a hypersensitivity about swine flu here because Costa Rica’s President came down with it. So, in many ways I have had to learn how to take things as they come so far.Rainy season
My classroom

Where The Streets Have No Name.... literally!

For being in CR for less than a week, things are going quite well. I'm getting excited about starting school (next Monday). What a change it's going to be! For example, my principal Mr. Large was telling us that he wants each class to take AT LEAST four field trips and have one service outreach project that we can integrate with our social studies and science thematic units. Science field trips in Costa Rica, is this for real!?

One thing that has been a huge adjustment and source of frustration is that there are no street names or numbers. Seriously. So instead, people use landmarks and meters in cardinal directions. My official house address is "600 meters east of Mundo del Pan, the house in front of Condominio Baru." The official address to the school is "200 meters west and 200 meters south of the National Bank in Escazu." I'm not great at directions in the first place. Add to that my trouble with cardinal direction, lack of knowledge of the local landmarks, and unfamiliarity with meters and you are beginning to see the magnitude of my problem.


It's about a 20 minute walk from my school to my house, so on Thursday I thought I would try to make it back on my own after school in-service. I had vaguely used my own landmarks to help (cross three streams, turn right at the beer sign, etc). The abridged version is that after walking a long time, asking for directions many times, two taxi rides, some tears and three hours later I never did make it home. I ended up back at school where right beside it the School Director was hosting a dinner for the new hires that night anyway. So she comforted me with a glass of wine. In Escazu centro I now know my cardinal direction and many of the local landmarks so hopefully that does not happen again!

My roommate, Nina, has already lived here for a year and has been a HUGE help. Even a life safer. Without her showing me it would probably take me several days to figure out basic things like how to heat up the water for the shower, how to open the bazillion locks on our gate and door, etc. And one thing that cannot be overemphasized is that she saved me a cell phone from someone she knew that moved back to the states. Seems like a simple thing. Not in CR. Apparently it's the only country in the world you cannot just go out and get one. You have to be a resident, then you have to pay around $500 to buy into the co-op, then you have to get on a waiting list to get a number. So, I have one now and it's ready to go so I'll be awaiting your calls! :)
Mi casita
Living room
Dining room