the experience of travel

before i continue with my nicaragua saga (later tonight for sure, when i'm procrastinating and should be doing school work) i wanted to share something that i read this past week while we were traveling. it comes from the book the pilgrimage by paulo coelho. i bought this book for two reasons: 1. i had read the alchemist by the same author (i believe i borrowed it from cassie) and liked it. and 2. it was on sale. why not.

so here is a part that i really liked (just a little peek inside my head):

"When you travel, you experience, in a very practical way, the act of rebirth. You confront completely new situations, the day passes more slowly, and on most journeys you don't even understand the language the people speak. So you are like a child just out of the womb. You begin to attach much more importance to the things around you because your survival depends upon them. You begin to be more accessible to others because they may be able to help you in difficult situations. And you accept any small favor from the gods with great delight, as if it were an episode you would remember for the rest of your life. At the same time, since all things are new, you see only the beauty in them, and you feel happy to be alive."

:)

nica saga - part one

getting there

so the plan was to take off around 8 or 9 tuesday morning. it's a 6 hour bus ride to the border, then maybe another hour or so to san juan del sur. we had bought the tickets the day before, but they weren't actually for a specific bus, a specific time, or even a specific day. it said march 2008. san jose to peñas blancas. unfortunately we didn't get going as early as planned and we ended up leaving san jose around 10ish.

without incident we arrive at the border and begin our border crossing process. i had gone to nicaragua last semana santa (but on a border crossing bus) so i sort of had an idea how it was all supposed to work. but we were approached by our unofficial border tour guide and given a little assistance. he got us the forms we were supposed to fill out, even gave us a pen to use. mysteriously he turned up on the nicaraguan side of the border as well. and now he was trying to get us to take a taxi to our destination. so the bus to san juan del sur was going to cost around $2. he wanted us to take a taxi for $30. i told him no, too expensive. we took care of the nicaraguan portion of the border crossing and this guy is *still* hanging around. how about $25, it's un buen precio. listen, captain, $30 is too much. $25 is too much. we don't have it. and if that's all you can offer, then we take the bus. (in spanish, thank you very much. amanda was impressed with my fierceness)

so we exit the border area and enter the real nicaragua. and there's a bus. to managua. which is north about 3 hours. and the guy is telling us that the bus could not drop us where we need to be. which makes no sense what-so-ever. i mean, the bus is essentially going up the main highway towards managua. whatever, though. captain annoying (our unofficial guide) shows up AGAIN. still convinced that we should take a taxi. there are no more buses he tells us. and he says some other stuff which i don't really understand. so he recruits gringo bob (not his real name) to try to translate. turns out i understood completely. gringo bob confirms - he's trying to BS me about buses and taxis. so we tell the guy to piss off and we wait with our new friend. but captain annoying has another plan, sends over another taxi driver friend who will take us part of the way for only $20. then the bus turns up. that's right, the bus that wasn't coming.

so i'm not exactly sure how, as we are at the border and surely one of the first stops, but the bus is packed already. we squeeze on and begin our journey. standing, packed like sardines, next to a man who is holding a parakeet on his hand which is calmly eating a piece of exotic fruit and apparently unaware of the chaos surrounding him.

so our destination involves two buses, one which drops us off at la virgen (which turns out to be no more than a fork in the road with a small pulperia - like a convenience store) and the second takes us to the beach. we're pretty pleased that two women get off the bus with us at la virgen and are also hoping to catch the bus to san juan del sur. so we wait. and wait. and now it's dark. and we wait. and finally the bus turns up. it is unexpectedly posh. (the first bus was essentially a yellow school bus - called "chicken buses" here) it has cushy seats (which we even get to sit in) and is showing a film. which inexplicably keeps switching between english and spanish. but no matter.

it's nearly 8 o'clock when we finally show up in san juan del sur. it's dark. we only know the name of one place to stay. we check there, full. we ask for recommendations, and continue on. on the way we see a woman sitting out in front of a place that says rooms for rent. need a room? she asks. so we stay there. it's been a long day and we're STARVING. so we find this place called jerry's pizza. pizza, beer, and we're so ready to sleep. this random guest house happens to have the most comfortable beds ever. so we had a great nights sleep.

next morning we eat leftover pizza for breakfast and start cruising for cheaper places to stay. we end up back at the one place we actually knew, casa oro. and the adventure continues....

nica saga - intro

so i'm just back from nicaragua. seriously, just now, at nearly midnight on friday... it's a long story... the whole trip is a long story... and i'll tell all as soon as i get some sleep. but i'm back safe and sound.

consular matters

so i'm on vacation now. which is pretty great. i sleep until 8am (still terrifying that that seems like sleeping in) or maybe even NINE. yesterday i was super productive. and today i'm heading to the beach.

my passport needs to be renewed this year. later this year. but i'm nearly out of pages too, so i thought it might be a good idea to head to the embassy and see what i can figure out. well, i get inside and can't quite figure out where i am supposed to go or what i'm supposed to do. so i ask the security guards. well, one of them doesn't speak any english, but i kind of get that there's a ticket machine where i press the black button and then go inside and wait. an english speaking guard confirms. i get a ticket and head inside.

well, my number comes up almost immediately and i'm thinking this could be even easier than i ever imagined. but not quite. what the guards didn't tell me (or i didn't understand. or they didn't understand what i needed. or any combination of those things) i had to fill out a form and get pictures and then take another number and wait. so i head to the forms and i can't quite figure out which one i need.... i ask my pal the guard which one i need and he tells me yes. no, no, which one? yes. okay, no more questions for the guard.

eventually i get the right form filled out and photos and a new number and i don't have to wait too long and i bring it all up to the counter. standing, waiting. i have to go to another window to pay. and then back to another window. (and i had to listen to some annoying woman talk about how she lost her passport and how she's never coming back to costa rica ever like 4 times) okay, your passport application has been approved.

when will my passport be ready? you'll never believe it. 2 weeks.... :)

apparently renewal abroad is the way to go. so this morning i'm off to the beach. in nicaragua.

little devils

so. well, it's been a few weeks now, and we've had some ups and downs. of course i'm the new teacher, and they're trying to test me a little bit - to see how far they can push me. and until last week i had felt like we were making improvements in a lot of ways. i felt like i had a better idea of how much we could cover in a class and what kinds of things we could do. and i sort of felt like they were starting to behave a little bit better.

well. my director had visited my "good" class a while ago. she had some really good feedback for me, but generally she thought i was doing pretty well, that i had a good rapport with the kids. she gave me some pointers and we arranged for her to visit my other class a few days later. my "bad" class.

so she shows up. and generally her thing is "don't even pay attention to me. this is your class, i'm not going to interrupt or try to contribute unless you ask me to". well it was near the end of the class and i had just handed out some quizzes. then i was trying to get everyone's attention to say a few more things and then off to recess. "trying" being the operative word in that sentence. they had actually started completely ignoring me. walking around, having their own conversations, general chaos. so she asks if she can say something. she actually yelled at my class. this is not how pan-american students behave. you are disrespecting your teacher. you're not listening. you're not being kind (some kids were kind of harassing other students to find out how they did on the quiz).

so i finished the class and the students left. and we talked. i was really, really frustrated. and thank god she was completely helpful and supportive. i continue to be frustrated, despite the fact that the behavior has generally improved since that incident. and somehow i still like my job. hmmm.

now yesterday i made my first student cry. oh yes. in my "good" class we were working in groups on a set of tasks about the book we're reading (the cricket in times square). most of the groups are mostly staying on task. one group of three boys (couldn't be avoided - we have more boys than girls in fourth grade) were being generally loud, disruptive, disturbing other groups, throwing bits of eraser (a very popular activity in fourth grade), a dictionary was thrown and ripped. after i had repeatedly talked with the group, tried to get them focused, asked them to quiet down, stop throwing things, i told them they were all getting conduct warnings.

these warnings need to be signed by myself and the student, and then brought home to be signed by the parents. at the end of class i wrote them and handed them out. two of the kids were clearly not happy (not that i think they were sorry about the behavior, they just didn't want to have to tell their parents). but the third. he's generally a good kid. talks to much and doesn't always pay attention. but mostly good. he actually starts crying when i give him the warning. sobbing on his chair. so i try to talk with him about how he was behaving, what did he think about the way he behaved, was that appropriate classroom behavior? he wouldn't talk.

then at recess i was accosted by a mob of my students - from both classes - they had the explanation. S. had told them that it was all F.'s fault - he had thrown things and ripped the dictionary - A. didn't deserve a warning, he's a good student. obviously i explained that this was not up for negotiation, but some of them still kept trying. slightly flustered, i figured it would be best to go speak with the pedagogue. i explained everything and she called the parents to explain before the kids got home. and that was that.

so story time is over (wow, this is a pretty long post). i'll leave you with a couple of pictures from my classrooms.


my 4A classroom. this is my homeroom. i did the rainbow bulletin board seen here. it's covered with their "mind maps".


i have the same board in 4B.


and this one i'm pretty proud of: in my homeroom again it says "shoot for the moon- even if you miss you'll land among the stars" and i have all of their names written on little stars. so cute. :P

i am satisfactory!

so i'm pretty pumped. i am satisfactory. i'll explain...

i can't remember if i mentioned this before, but back in november 2007 i took the dele exam (Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera). passing this exam earns you a certificate issued by the cervantes institute in spain on behalf of the spanish ministry for education and science. it's recognized worldwide.

Nombre y apellidos ANN DOREMUS

	Grupo 1		Grupo 2	Grupo 3
	Comprensión de lectura	Expresión escrita	Gramática y vocabulario	Comprensión auditiva	Expresión oral
Puntuación máxima	20 puntos	15 puntos	20 puntos	15 puntos	30 puntos
Puntuación mínima exigida	24,5 puntos		14 puntos	31,5 puntos
Puntuación obtenida	17.0 puntos	13.13 puntos	16.0 puntos	12.27 puntos	24.0 puntos
	30.13 (APTO)		16.0 (APTO)	36.27 (APTO)

La calificación final es de APTO

(ps "APTO" apparently means "satisfactory")

so my certification is at the "nivel inicial" which basically means that i have "sufficient linguistic ability for understanding and responding appropriately in most normal day-to-day situations and for expressing desires and needs in a basic way"

pretty cool, huh? i may try for the "nivel intermedio" before leaving costa rica... we'll see though. i'm kind of busy for test prep just now... i have some school stories and pictures which i'll be posting momentarily...