First Field Trip

Thermo Mania - Guanacaste

Monday we went on our first field trip! I woke up not feeling well so it could have been better, but we still managed to have a good time. We went to Thermo Mania about 2 hours away. It is a place in the mountains that have pools that are heated by the dormant volcano. The kids loved it! We are doing an unit on ecosystems, and this was a good chance for students to observe a Costa Rican ecosystem (rainforest).

We were going to stop and hike to a waterfall, but it started raining and it wouldn't have been nice getting all muddy. So we went to the movie theater instead! Incorporate Spanish in our lesson. (The movie was completely in Spanish with out subtitles.) So I sat next to Tom so he could translate it for me. It was something called ... Last Wind Bender or something like that. LAME really. Too SciFi for me.

After movie, we went to McDonalds (AutoMac)! It was everything and more!!! I wish I had a picture of me eating my first french fry! They tasted the same! (THANK GOD!) That was the first fast food I had in 2 months, and I probably won't have anymore for another 2 months.

Slow Sunday

I have been battling stomach aches all day today, as well as a scratchy throat. These are the days I miss the comforts of home.
Ashley and I did get out of the house today to hit up Playa Grande. It was our first time, and it really was beautiful. (Minus the gloomy clouds and misty rain.) I was looking out at the water praying to see a whale emerge from the blue, but NOTHING.
When I game back home Kim was out (she's the marine biology teacher here at CDS and she and her husband have been living here for 7 years or so) and I asked her if I was correct or not about whales. I thought I recalled seeing on Discovery Channel about how whales migrate during winter. She said "CORRECT!" The Humpback whale actually is migrating now. The pregnant mothers are here now having babies, then the males will come shortly after, then the teenage whales not yet sexually mature to mate. Then by March they all go back up north to Alaskaian waters.
Cross your fingers that I will see a whale in the distance one of these days. They have already been spotted at Playa Flamingo (and I go there quite often).

Happy Independence Day Costa Rica!

Today was our Costa Rican Independence Day celebration at CDSG. It was really soooo much fun. It was wicked hot, but I had much more fun that I thought I would have. We had to create a booth/game of some sort for our student to play, and I was going to do tug-of-war, but last night I had an awesome idea to do arm wrestling instead. It was really a hit! My class got into it, and so did the students from another school. We even had a few teacher battles. It was awesome!

I will say, I pulled it off. I beat my strongest student AND Ms. Kristin! I underestimated my own strength. I wanted to verse Ashley, but she wouldn't go for it.

We have Wednesday off of school, so I think Ashley and I are going to go across the street to a wicked nice place where one of her nice parents lives and sit by the pool to enjoy the day off. Thursday/Friday are observation days .. wish us luck!

Dinner Party

My awesome student Camryn and her family threw a dinner party for the teachers tonight. (Seeing that we don't have a car, Tom came to pick Tony and I up.) Camryn and her family are from Georgia so I had high hopes that it was going to have great food!
Was I ever so right!!!!! Camryn's mom is an amazing cook to say the least! For starters we had some appetizers that were so good. Some awesome guacamole and olives. For the main course we had chicken wings and ribs! The ribs were basted in none other than Dreamland BBQ sauce! Gotta love Southerners! I think I ate my body weight in food tonight! (Did I mention that Camryn's mom made me Asian co slaw special order just for me!?) It was defiantly a little slice of home.

All in all it was a great evening. Good food, good people, good places!

Pura Vida Costa Rica!

Bike Ride Mania

So, Sam left today. He didn't have any takers for his bike so I bought it for a very sweet deal. It was sad to say goodbye to him, but it was his choice in the end.

After spending the morning and early afternoon in Tamarindo with Mike, Kelsey and Sam we headed home to take a bike ride with my new wheels. Mike and Kelsey bike the 20+ min ride to Flamingo quite often, so they said they would coach me through it. It was not bad at all ... until...... we decided to take the adventure road and see where it leads. Where did it take us you ask? Well.... straight up a mountain and then some! I literally did not think I could make it. Mr. and Mrs. Physical activity got up with some sweat dripping, but me ... that was another story; I was on verge of passing out! (I will say, the view from the top was amazing!)

Once we had our photo op, we headed DOWN the mountain's other side. I prayed to all the Heavens that I wouldn't slip and fall, since it had just previously rained. After what felt like a long time, we were finally on the dirt road by Flamingo. A nice jump in the pool made it all worth it!

Hmmmm.....what else can I tell you about today. (Thinking.....) OOO Omaha was happy to see me this morning and wagged that nice big tail of hers and knocked a glass off the table and totally cut my pinky toe open. It's all good...nice battle scar! (It really is not big, but it stung. I looked down and was like OMG my toe is bleeding.)