hace calor

I'm sure those of you reading this don't want to hear about how hot it is here...but it's really hot here! We sit around laughing at each other while sweat drips down everywhere. Last weekend we had a scorcher and resorted to laying on the "cold" tile floor and covering ourselves with ice cubes. 

 Rudy and Julia with ice

On to school news...

I suppose drama and lack of organization is a package deal with a new school. This week felt like madness. A child bit me, tire swings are creating disasters, a teacher quit, more students are enrolling, and we ran out of rice.

In spite of the madness, my agriculture class is moving at a pace much faster than expected! Recycling program is underway, the compost bin is almost complete, and we got new baby chicks. The students are so involved and seem to look forward to taking care of our new projects and begin even more.

The students have yet to find out about the chicken coop behind the schoolyard. I'm not quite sure how to introduce our new friends, because our new friends are future food. I took a couple third grade girls back to the coop to play. As they hustled around the coop trying to keep the chicks out of the sunlight, I asked "why do you have to keep them out of the sunlight?" They replied, "They will get too hot!" Laughingly I said, "We don't want to cook them yet!" Surprisingly they agreed and told me we had to wait a couple months. I suppose we can have the circle of life talk Monday!

 Kara and Fiona with the chicks

 Kara and her new favorite

the start of our compost bin

I'm excited the students are so eager. I'm also excited for this weekend away from loud children!

rojo y amarillo, negro y blanco

Week one check! Easiest first week teaching ever. Tico (Costa Rican) time is the perfect combination of African and American time. Laid back and relaxing, yet you can still get stuff done when you need to. The first day of school was overload as usual, but for different reasons. Everywhere I looked there seemed to be a different color kid speaking a different language. Escuala Futuro Verde is an international green school. The student body is a small combination of kids from all over the world, whose hippie parents moved them to Costa Rica. I find the school to be extremely exciting.

 

school office

Students at the school study academics before lunch, then after the homemade organic lunch they have extra curricular types of activities: art, music, theatre, P.E., agriculture, yoga, and so on. I teach agriculture and organic gardening twice a week as well as assisting with all other afternoon activities. I plan to have the children build a compost bin next week, plant an herb garden, and start a recycling program.

 1st grade lunch

yoga

The roommates and I have a weekend of sun, swimming, beach, and drinks planned to celebrate the first week!

pura vida!

 My life is starting to feel like a long game of the Amazing Race. Not that I'm complaining, this is the life! Now that I'm in Costa Rica and have been blogging for what seems like ages I was hesitant to start a new one. Read it or not, I'm just going to try and stay organized with all of my travel blogs.

After only 3 full days in Costa Rica, I feel like I've been here for months. Life is so slow here on the Nicoya Peninsula. Wake up when the sun comes up (otherwise you slowly roast like a turkey), take a shower, or not? Pour another cup of coffee, or no? Sit outside and watch crazy people for longer? Go to the beach? Go to school? Sound boring? I love it! It's like looking into what life will be like in 50 years, I just have the pleasure of doing it now!

Anyway, I arrived in San Jose at 2am, slept and showered at a hostel there. Then my bus left at 2pm for Cobano-my new home. The journey would take 2 hours on the bus, then 2 hours on a ferry, then another 2 hours on a bus. Well, I had 3 hours to kill before the bus left. What to do with my huge backpack? Sit at the bar near the bus stop of course! I decided to have a couple beers before the journey...duh-umb! After only 30 minutes of sitting on the bus I had a painful urge to release the contents of my bladder. An hour and a half to go! I was seriously ready to go in a bag, but that would be embarrassing, I still have 5 hours on this bus with the same people! To avoid embarrassment, I decided to hold it till we stop, run off the bus toward el bano, but I was interrupted mid jog with premature urination-I was wearing a skirt for a complete display. Costa Rica is known for beautiful waterfalls, I just didn't think I would be one while running down the sidewalk. Most embarrassing moment of my life!

 view from the ferry

I live in a beautiful house with amazing roommates. Julia and Rudy are a couple my age from Chicago, we get along great! My other roommate is Heske from Amsterdam, super cute and energetic! I think we will have a lot of fun in the house! My first day here Julia, Rudy, and I went to the beach. I could get used to this lifestyle real quick! The beach town is amazing. Basically a hippie town on the coast, people selling homemade jewelery everywhere, and organic food stores.

 front porch

Rudy, Julia, and I exploring the beach

The school I am working for is adorable. There are 4 classrooms, grades 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, and 3 high school students. I will be teaching agriculture and organic farming, as well as helping with P.E., and painting a mural. There are only 26 students in grades 1-9. I am really excited to start school tomorrow and meet the students. I feel privileged to work with a small school where I agree with the vision, curriculum, and ethics of the school system.

It's about that time to head to the beach...