On Friday I was able to help the school complete the inventory for the English books that they have. I went through and wrote down the title and author of each book onto a sheet of paper. It was really time consuming, but I could tell that the school really appreciated my help.
I also enjoyed talking with the English teachers about the program that they use to teach English here. They were explaining that they try to teach English that is connected to the topics the students are learning in their normal classes. Visual aids and songs are also really helpful to help the students learn faster. We discussed how being here will help us understand how to help students who don´t speak English in our future classrooms.
Right now seems to be the party season for Nicoya and surrounding areas in Costa Rica. Everyday I hear about some event that the town is having. This last week has been really busy with a lot of different things.
We began to start to travel and see different parts of Costa Rica. We took a trip and went to see Arenal which is a volcano that is still active. It was so amazing to look up and see this huge volcano with smoke coming out of the top of it. During our time in the surrounding town of La Fortuna we were able to hike to a really beautiful waterfall. The water was so cold and it felt like pins and needles were poking your skin when you jumped in. At night we were able to take a car and drive to the other side of the volcano and see it actually erupt. It was so amazing because you would all of a sudden just see this red lava coming down the side of the volcano.
We were also really lucky to be able to see Monte Verde which was completly different. Monteverde is very rainy and very cold, but really beautiful. The 6 of us also got to do a canopy tour where you fly over the tops of the cloud forest on a zipline. One of the lines, which was my favorite went through clouds and I couldn´t see anything except below me.
Last night I went with my family to a rodeo in another town. My family explained to me that the people in the Nicoya area really enjoy rodeos so they will set them up in order to raise money for the schools or hospitals. I have never seen an actual bullriding so it was really fun to experience. I was shocked at how the local people were allowed to go in the ring and run from the bull. People would run right up and touch the bull and then sprint back to the wall and jump up. It was really fun to watch.
After the rodeo everyone usually goes to dance and have a really big fiesta next to where the rodeo arena. I learned from my host mom that from November till March there will be a rodeo in almost every town in this region.
Arenal!
The walk to the beach!
Gaza beach!