Puerto Viejo de Talamanca

Being sick last week certainly did not stop me from enjoying life this weekend :). We have today (Monday) off and so we went to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca on the Carribbean coast. Words can not describe the beauty of the beaches and rainforest here in Costa Rica. Photos also don't quite capture the intertwined blues and greens of nature.


I had read somewhere that it was very dangerous to take cameras to Puerto Viejo because lots of muggings happen there... the other girls took their cameras, and I didn't. I will admit I was a little depressed about that all weekend, so I tried to be more observant with my own eye rather than letting my camera capture it for me. So I'll try to describe a couple scenes in my mind from this weekend.


We rented bikes both days and rode down to Punta Uva (a wealthier neighborhood) and Playa Chiquita (with coral for snorkling :))... The road was so bumpy and trucks and cars and bicycles were all competing for space. Even though the bumps were painful at times, I am thankful we had the bikes because we wouldn't have been able to walk as quickly. The sun sets fairly early, so Trish, Kim L., and I start the ride back to Puerto Viejo about 4pm... We're riding into the sun, and I am following the other two. Trees reach to the sky on either side of the road as vines hang down, almost touching the tops of our heads. Hibiscus bushes offer cheerful red flowers to cheer us over the potholes, and the sun peeks through the branches to illuminate my fellow travelers. Beautiful.


Another picture. I sit on top of a cliff, overlooking the ocean, 20kilometers north of Panama's border. Straight down in front of me, waves crash onto the layers of limestone, and I am in terror and awe at the same time. Hermit crabs scurry past me, and the endless trail of leaf cutter ants are persevering in their endeavors. I turn back around to the rainforest to climb down the dirt path offering tree roots and vines to keep me from slipping. Tiny yellow crabs peek out at me from their comfortable crevices, but none have the courage to approach me. I reach the rainforest floor, thankful to be on solid, flat ground again.


Alright, so I also have photos from the other girls, so I'll show you some visuals :). We teachers have to offer both auditory and visual options. :)






Trish and me with our rented bikes. This was a trail through the forest that led to a beach.
Kim L. and I looking ridiculous with snorkel gear. We saw different kinds of fish swimming in schools and sea urchins! The coral looked like twisted rope coiled into rocks.
Trish and I going out to sea, ha, again with sweet headgear for breathing.
The view from the end of the cliff I described earlier.
My spot on the cliff. I like this photo a lot :).
Beautiful clouds on Playa Cocles
More beautifulness.
The sunrise this morning. We got up at 5 for special viewing from the dock!
We stayed at Cabinas Jacaranda, and there were mosaics all over. Here's only one of many.
Puerto Viejo is a colorful town, that's for sure!

Nausea + Teaching = No Can Do 3 Days In A Row

I'm home sick for the first time ever during a teaching job. I didn't take any sick days during student teaching (I understood that it wasn't an option) and this school year, this is my first day stuck at home. It's pouring rain and I'm toasting flour tortillas in the oven... I'm going to try eating. You know when you have the flu and you're not sure if it's safe to eat yet? That's my dilemma.

I'm going to eat my tortillas and go to bed. Quite the plan at 9am.

Alright, that's plenty of rambling in my current state of mind. Pray for my students that they will survive today with the sub... Or maybe you should just pray for the sub that she will survive the day with my students. Ha.

Nausea + Teaching = Probably Not Very Healthy

I had a good day, believe it or not. Despite waves of nausea, my students were relatively well-behaved and I remembered everything I needed to do... I think. Here's some events out of the strange day...

My student Diego is quite the character. This morning in Chapel, Miss Loosa asked the question, "What man were we talking about on Monday that had a baby?" (She meant to say "What man had a son"... but it came out weird. The answer she was looking for was Abraham had a son named Isaac... Ha, I've said things the wrong way before too.) Diego fixated on the fact that she said a man could have a baby and asked me about it for five minutes straight. His mind just wouldn't go anywhere else!!

Then later, Diego is laying on his back on the cement floor. I had told him repeatedly to sit up, and finally, I decided I really meant it. I started counting down for him to sit up and he stuck his arms and legs in the air and begins to sway his body back and forth... "Look, Miss Siscoe! I'm a turtle and I can't get off my shell!!" Great, Diego, please sit up.

Then there's Gabriela. She reminds me of myself so much because she is always drawing or thinking outside the box. Her answers to oral questions are usually right on target, but she says it in such a different way. Today, during the read aloud (We are reading the book "Chocolate Fever" about a boy who has chicken pox of sorts but oozes chocolate...) , she was doodling and drew a great picture of the main character with chocolate spots all over him... oozing chocolate into the shapes of candy bars. Perhaps she thought this boy could start a business with the candy bars? Who knows!

Esteban was on a roll today. He had his hand raised for every question and was in the zone with his English. Way to go!

Yena has been part of our class now for 3 weeks. Today, I asked her to erase the board, and she was so determined to erase the WHOLE board that she jumped and bounced and flailed until she had the out-of-reach areas erased. Ha, I was cracking up just watching her have so much energy for such a simple task. Yena has a smirk that she gets on her face when she's thinking something funny, and I almost always have to call on her when I see the smirk. Last week, we were creating a plan for writing a story, and the title was "Volcano in My Backyard!" The class decided that the main character was home alone and was going to the fridge to eat a snack. Through the kitchen window, he catches a glance of red lava shooting up into the sky. I ask, "What is the first thing our main character should do in response to the volcano?" Yena had the smirk, and I called on her. She says, "He should roast marshmellows until his parents come home!" Ha, the whole class was cracking up.

And that's only 1/4 of my students.

The Funniest Day Ever

Oh man, good thing I'm still laughing.

Synopsis: Wake up this morning to our random Italian radio station. Bed breaks as usual (one of the legs repeatedly falls off). Shower, half awake. Stumble to the fridge to find breakfast. . . the freezer door falls off. Realize we have to defrost the freezer at 6am. Begin boiling water to put in freezer. Eat an orange while staring at the pot of water, still in a tired daze. Water boils, place pot in freezer. River begins flooding kitchen floor from defrosting ice... Call my mom so she can witness the chaos... She laughs. I tell her I am domestically unsatisfied; She has no pity.

Go to school at 7:10... students arrive at 7:15... the craziness begins.

Kind of a crazy morning, I won't go into the details... Then after lunch, I begin to feel the stomach flu coming on, if you know what I mean. And that is my current status. Blah and laughing gently.

Mas Fotos de Dia de Cultura

The Chinese 4th graders visited Hungary and had our photo taken :).

Entering Madagascar. . . 6th grade had decorated the room like a rainforest. It was beautiful.
Visiting Mrs. Sanders in "Russia." She told each student what his/her name would be if they lived in Russia.

Kim V.'s class were dressed as Muslims from Iraq.
Homemade fortune cookies in China. Yum! :) I have a good recipe if anyone wants to know how! :)

We had an assembly at the end of the day to celebrate the nations of the world. Here's some performances:

The 6th graders performed an interpretive dance to the song "Go Light Your World." I had goosebumps the whole time as they each had their faces painted with a nation's flag... this picture doesn't capture the beauty of their faces.

My Korean student, Yena, performed with her brother YeJae and friend Miel and Elim. They sang a song in Korean... Yena is the one with the long red skirt.

My students performing our memorization of "The American's Creed." I'm kneeling on the floor :).

The art teacher, Miss Mau, worked so hard on this! I thought it was an amazing backdrop to our stage!

Culture Day!

Yesterday was a day of excitement for the students and craziness for the teachers. :) If you've ever chaperoned a field trip or "fun day" at school, you know what I mean. My students worked so hard, and many parents and teachers commented to me how great our room looked. We had truly tranformed our room into a Chinese experience :). I was so proud of them! Here's some photos from the fun!

Welcome to our China Exhibit!
Perfect decorations for the door from a student.
My roomie busting out the Bible costumes with her kindergartners.
My student Gaby in her Chinese garb. She's beautiful!
First graders visiting China. :)

Convenient Misspellings and Combinations Make For Good Laughs

My student wrote "workshit" in her assignment notebook again today. . . So I told her that the "i" is actually a "double e". Thank goodness she is not up on English cuss words, so she has no clue what I laugh about when I read her assignments.

Cuss words seem to be a theme this week in 4th grade... I need to give you some background information before I tell you what else was said today:

Two girls were working on their Chinese Writing exhibit, and one wrote "Sing Your Name"... switching the "g" and "n" around. I went over to their table and sang "Miss Siscoe!" They looked at me funny, and I pointed to their sign. One girl turns to the other and says "I told you so!" So the girl who spelled it wrong begins to sing her name in different styles... First, she says "Miss Siscoe, this is opera style!" "Miss Siscoe, this is rock and roll style!" Then a boy joins in the conversation and demonstrates his style before telling us what the style is. He made farting noises for each letter of his name... what else do boys do afterall? Then he declares (for the whole class and hallway to hear) "It's faulk style!" (It's hard to spell what he said... It reminds me of the pronunciation of "Meet the Faulkers".... you know what word it plays on.) I looked at him, eyebrows raised. His eyebrows raised pretty fast also when he realized what he had said... And then he says "Uh... Faulk is a combination of Fart and Rock!" Greeeeeat....

Oh, and our school is being painted this week -- WHILE SCHOOL IS IN SESSION. As soon as the students leave at 2:30, so do the painters. I have already built a rather frustrating relationship with these men trying to explain why my door needs to stay locked when I am not there... and these conversations have often ended in tears for me and exasperated looks from them. (Ha, they probably think I'm crazy.) SO, today at 2:15, one painter decides it would be a great time to paint both doors and surrounding woodwork... Now, picture 15 minutes later, students leaving, backpacks and projects in tow, and me trying to babysit these wet doors. I had paint on my clothes, my elbows, and a few students had paint on their backpacks. As a tico student left, he tells the painter (now down the hallway, missing all the wet paint action) that I have paint all over me. This poor painter comes running down the hall, turpentine rag in hand, and he hands the rag to me to clean off my elbows. He was very concerned about my clothes, but I just said "Esta bien! No preocupados!" I didn't know what else to say because our communication is already so ... frustrating. Whatever, it's just a dress and a funny frustration story.