We have just completed our third week of student teaching down here in Costa Rica. This third week was filled with excitement. We had a holiday from school on Monday, Dr. Angel and Dr. Frye arrived in Nicoya, Kendall’s birthday, Karla’s graduation, and Dr. Frye’s presentation at the university.
To start the week off, we had a relaxing day on Monday because Costa Rica was celebrating the Battle of Rivas. This is kind of like an independence day for Costa Rica. They were celebrating the fact that they fought off the invasion of William Walker, who was from Tennessee.
On Tuesday, Dr. Angel and Dr. Frye arrived in Nicoya. We went out to eat at a Nicaraguan restaurant. It was delicious. While we were at dinner, we met two American teachers from San Diego. They had taken a semester off from teaching to travel around Central America. One was a first grade teacher and the other was an eighth grade history teacher. It was exciting to meet other American teachers down in Costa Rica. They shared lots of interesting stories.
Wednesday was filled with excitement! Kendall turned 23! We had a regular day at school. By the end of the day, I think that all the students, in the school, had sung to Kendall! During our fourth grade class, Kendall walked in to talk to Karla. While she was talking to Karla, Torrey told them that it was Kendall´s birthday and to sing on the count of three. The look on Kendall´s face was priceless and the students loved to sing.
After school, Torrey and I went to town to find a piñata. Piñatas are very popular for birthdays in Costa Rica. For dinner, Karla made a delicious dinner with rice, beans, salsa, and pork! Rosy and Lauren´s mom, Ana, made two incredible cakes, too. I’m glad we were able to celebrate Kendall’s birthday with her in Costa Rica.
Thursday was another fun-filled day! In our fifth grade class, we had the students bring in pictures of a vacation they had been on or would like to go on. With these pictures, they made a “vacation poster” and wrote about their trips. They seemed to really enjoy this activity. They love to cut and paste things. They also did a wonderful job on writing complete sentences about their trip.
After school, Ricardo picked us up and took us to the university for KARLA´S GRADUATION! It was very exciting for two reasons. One, KARLA GRADUATED! And two, it was interesting to see how other universities and cultures celebrate graduations! After graduation, we went to a delicious café (Café de Melon).
TGIF! Friday ran very smoothly. During our break, I had to run into town to get some medicine. I think I came down with a little sinus infection or something, but, oh well. Dr. Angel and Dr. Frye came in to observe us during our last class. It was our fifth grade class. We were having them draw or cut out pictures of clothing and write about what they took on their vacation. One of the boys, Emanuel, had a L.L. Bean catalog to get pictures from. He was having a ball looking through it! On his sheet, he pasted pictures of tents, kayaks, water bottles, and water mocs to show that he went to the beach and camped.
After school, we all went back up to the university to listen to Dr. Frye’s lecture. She was giving a lecture on Cinderella. She spoke about how this story has 3000 different versions across the world. She discussed how the different versions portray the different cultures views and values. I had the chance to have Dr. Frye as a teacher a couple of years ago and absolutely loved her. She loves what she does and you can see this through everything she does. I am very glad that I had the chance to hear her speak again!
I can’t wait to see what next week brings! But now, Dr. Angel and Dr. Frye have just arrived and we are headed to Playa Samara for a day at the beach!
