October

I'm taking advantage of the free internet at good ol' Hotel Aranjuez and thought I'd update the blog. Everything that's happened the past month has been decidedly great or um, not so great, but will make for a good story. So here they are...
GREAT
* I went to a dance performance at the end of September. There were probably about 50 typical dance groups from all over Costa Rica, and it was pretty amazing to watch. I was only in the first dance, which consisted of me dancing around with a teapot that supposedly full of coffee. I probably looked stupid, but it was really fun...plus I got to wear the super cool twirly skirts that I would have killed to own at about age 7...or now.
*We held a school fair two weekends ago to raise money for an actual English classroom, as opposed to my English corner of the cafeteria. The actual working of the fair should fall under the not so great category, as I was cashier for 12 hours straight on Saturday and 11 hours on Sunday. Needless to say, I was exhausted BUT we ended up raising a million colones! Granted, this is only equal to about 2000 dollars, but it's enough for an English classroom! Beginning next week, I am moving out of my little corner so the roof can be fixed. Apparently, it has finally been noticed that little bits of something are falling onto my kids' heads during class. Then they will begin construction on the new English classroom!
* I just spent 3 glorious days with my friend Kirby in Granada, Nicaragua. The city itself is colonial and beautiful and we were able to wander around, eat great food that did not consist of rice nor beans, poke around the shops and just relax. I don't have a camera cord here so I can't post pictures, but I fully plan on stealing all of Kirby's once she posts them on facebook. I'll try to get them up here soon.
*There was a great response to the September reading program, with about 80% of my students participating. Less telenovelas and more reading in San Ramon!
*In my Spanish class, I had a teacher who I had not been with since March. He was shocked at my much improved Spanish! I have also been noticing that I am understanding nearly all of what anyone says...whole homilies at Mass, speeches at teacher meetings, my grandpa's daily chats. Finally!
*I also think I found my calling down here! No, I'm not going to live here forever, but I really think teaching English to ELLs, English Language Learners, is what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. So I'm applying to grad school in Bilingual Bicultural Education and English as a Second Language for the spring. Hopefully I'll have an answer before I get back to the states.

NOT SO GREAT
*While the roof is getting fixed and the new classroom is being built, I am supposed to be sharing a classroom with kindergarten. Please tell me how I am supposed to get kids, who have enough trouble paying attention in our little corner of the cafteria, to concentrate when kinder is having what seems like never ending recess, or screaming, or crying or any of the other things that frequently happen in the kinder room. I'm pushing to be allowed to teach in the hallway...anything would be better than kinder!
*Nicaragua was great, but the bus rides getting there were not. Kirby and I decided to try the regular bus system instead of taking NicaBus or TicaBus directly. Bad idea. We were constantly accosted by taxi drivers, so called bus systems and people hawking goods, and it was very difficult to know who to trust and who was going to rip us off. At the border, we were told we would have to take a bus to Masaya and then take another bus to Granada. An hour into the ride, one of the men who was taking tickets told us to get off at this stop to catch the next bus. We did, and ended up standing on the side of the road, in the rain, with a women who was constantly vomiting. The bus for Granada came and we were told they couldn't take us directly to Granada but we would again have to change to another bus. Two very crowded bus rides later, we arrived soaking to our hostel.
*In Granada, there were quite a few begger kids. I was used to this from Ghana, but these kids were much bolder. One came right up to Kirby while we were eating dinner in an open air restaurant and asked for the food off her plate. He was promptly thrown out by a security guard.
* In Costa Rica, I was used to a certain amount of cat calling when I went it to Turrialba. It was times 50 in Nicaragua, probably because I was with the blondest of blonde women. Love you Kirb! The whistles, the hissing, the hello baby got pretty old after awhile.
*My host mom, whom I love dearly, was on a cleaning rampage. Because the walls do not reach the ceiling in our house, there are always dead insects, live insects, dirt and all many of other crud, pretty much all over the house. I helped with dusting and sweeping, but then I noticed that my toothbrush was on the kitchen counter. Then I watched her pick it up and use it to scrub the coffee maker....ewwwww. She was extremely apologetic. She thought she was using her toothbrush. I was relieved to find out that she hadn't used this particular toothbrush for cleaning before and I encouraged her to keep the toothbrushes for teeth and the toothbrushes for cleaning in SEPARATE places.

I have about five people giving me death stares who are waiting for the computer, so I'll stop there for today. Stay tuned for Nicaragua pics, and stories from my birthday and the Halloween presentation I'm doing with the school kiddos!