* very * vagabond *

sismo de esta madrugada

2008-11-19T16:48:00.003-06:00

apparently there was an earthquake just after midnight last night. everyone was talking about it this morning, all the kids were asking if i felt it.

nope.

i have felt some little earthquakes here and i did wake up for no particular reason at some point last night, though it happens a lot and i don't remember the room shaking or anything when i did. so yeah. apparently the center was somewhere in panama. i can remember once when there was a little earthquake in the northeast - i was living in cambridge and i woke up around 6am or something and i remember thinking that i must have been having a scary dream or something, because my heart was pounding in my chest. but then i sort of realized that my heart *wasn't* pounding, that my whole bed was shaking.

7 more days! the end is in sight, and i'm exhausted and still trying to figure out how much actual class time i have next week during which i'll need to have things to entertain the kids with. i'm already thinking of doing a big crossword puzzle (they love them) with spelling words from the whole year, and then a spelling bee with prizes. thursday i'll probably do my awesome christmas card craft that i did last year with my other kids. we're supposed to have something to do on "accomplishments day" - monday, most teachers are doing some sort of little memory book. i'm worried that i won't be able to sell it and my kids will think it's lame. we'll see.

even though school will be done next week, i still have to go in the first week of december to do all my year-end administrative hooha and clean up my classroom. it's kind of a comforting thought that the next time i have a classroom of my own i'll have a little better idea of what i'm supposed to be doing!

more costa rica

life is too short to eat fake cheese

2008-10-18T12:40:00.004-06:00

so recently i made the decision that life is too short to eat fake cheese. cheese is not something most costa ricans are really into (along with blueberries). but real cheese is expensive. now, i'm a person who is willing to pay $8-$9 for a delicious hunk of gruyere. but what i consider to be "regular" cheeses - cheddar, mozzarella - should not cost the same. but no more will i buy queso tipo de cheddar or queso tipo de mozzarella - i'm buying the real thing, no matter what it costs.

in other news, i read a little article from la nacion about this year's rainy season - el 2008 es el más lluvioso de los últimos 64 años, según el IMN. basically the national weather service has said that this year has been the rainiest for 64 years. so far we have had 2100 milliliters of rain per square meter (or something, the math is confusing) and the normal annual average is 1860mm. good times.

so i'll actually be heading back to new england a just a few days (!) where i was hoping to escape the rain, but i've heard rumors it's raining there too. c'est la vie.

more costa rica

first of the lasts

2008-10-13T18:11:00.002-06:00

so last week i had my first "last"... it was our last parent conferences of the year! and i couldn't be happier. i mean, it's not that i mind talking with people... but i don't know. part of it is the language thing - most of my parents speak english, but either way we struggle. i've also been given the impression that it is required that i defend my grades to parents. there is sort of a culture of just getting A's without having to work too hard - so the fact that not all my kids get A's (not even most of them) is kind of a shock to some of the parents. so parent meetings kind of suck. in theory, next time i have to do parent meetings there shouldn't be a language barrier and they're kids might not have been getting straight A's since kindergarten.

so i went to the beach last weekend to "freshen up" my tan for danielle's wedding. i'm a little pink. but it should be fine by the wedding. it'll be a whirlwind trip home, so i make no promises about seeing people who are not living with my parents or attending the wedding. but those are the places i'll be...

well, i'm about to settle in with a bag of popcorn to watch dancing with the stars... :)

more costa rica

everybody fits in here!

2008-09-29T20:15:00.005-06:00

so i think i mentioned before that my principal wanted me to take down my awesome shoot for the moon bulletin board. which i was a little sad about. but i did a little nosing around the internet for generic bulletin board ideas and found this one i thought was cute. especially given some of the meanness we've had in 4th grade this year (isn't it a little early for cattiness? i think so...)

now that i think about it... it probably would have been easier to do a poster and draw on the puzzle pieces with marker... unfortunately that is not what i did - i cut out all those pieces from construction paper. next time.

also, by the way, today was the first day back after vaca... i was kind of dreading it but in honesty, once i was there it was just like it always is. i kind of love it and the kids kind of drive me crazy. we're sort of working on this idea of a "english club" only it's a club they don't want to be in because it meets during recess every thursday... and they have to sit in class with me and speak english. it's a ploy to get them to stop speaking spanish in class. i'll let you know how it works out.

more costa rica

why it's so hard (an illustration)

2008-09-24T13:03:00.002-06:00

i know i have told some of you that life is just harder here, which is at times pretty frustrating. i have a little illustration for you:

my watch had been slowing down... sometimes in the mornings i had to adjust the time a little. and then last week it finally stopped working. this is slightly traumatic for me - admittedly i have an obsession with my watch, and i use it in class all the time, it keeps me on schedule (yes, there is a clock on the wall, but it's not always subtle for me to check it) and it tells me the date. so two tough days of school. and it's not that i wasn't trying to solve this problem before this - i had been looking around everywhere i could think of for a while to find a battery for it. but no luck.

so i had mentioned my problem to my friend hannia, who gives me a ride to school most days, and she mentioned a place near the supermarket. i had seen this place before, but never been in or really even looked inside. she tells me she took her watch there once to be fixed. they sent it to the main store in san jose or something and it was back in 3 days. so i'm thinking, right, i just need someone to put a battery in, it couldn't possibly need to be sent out.

well, it's wednesday, i've been on vacation for a while now. and today i brought it to the store. i tell the girl what i need. she says i'll need to leave it. sure, sure, i say. for a few days. even though i only need a battery? yes. and do you know how much this will cost? about 1 mil = $2. now to me, that doesn't seem very economical, sending out a watch to have a battery put in that will earn about $2. but that's what i'm talking about. why does it have to be so hard?

more costa rica

for you, but not for me

2008-09-24T10:45:00.002-06:00

so i woke up this morning (at 10 o'clock!) and i smelled burning. and after i checked that it was not our house that was burning it reminded me.... of fall. of that first cool day where you have to make a little fire and the burning smells different. it smells like fall. well, not for me. i took my breakfast outside and sat in the sun in my shorts and t-shirt. and even feel a little bit sweaty after. the rainy season is doing it's thing - it's hot in the morning, rainy in the afternoon and evenings. but i do miss fall.... not that fact that it leads up to winter (which i don't like) but the kind of crispness of the air. and that smell.

i am sort of starting to worry that it's wednesday and i haven't done any preparations for school yet. i really want to get myself as organized as possible for this last quarter so i can just do it. i had visions of doing a little something for school every day during vacation. oops. in fact i still have last quarter's compositions to grade and comments to write for the report cards. plus i have to do a new bulletin board. i blame my dancing with the stars obsession.

more costa rica

yes i'm doing my grades, isn't it obvious?

2008-09-17T17:26:00.002-06:00

yeah.... grades.... i know i should be doing them, but it's so boring. i don't care what happened in chapters 5 and 6 of bridge to terabithia, i'm not interested in the similarities and differences between the simpsons and futurama....

by the way- does anyone remember what books they read in 3rd or 4th grade? apparently the cricket in times square is going out of print and my principal wants recommendations for another book for next year... and i have no idea. all year i've been trying to remember what it was like to be in 4th grade. in all honesty, i don't remember a thing. well, that's not entirely true - i remember doing this project on "gradnickflop" and mr. englund winging pieces of chalk at people in math class. and i was in love with larry kinch. but i can't recall doing any reading in 4th grade.

more costa rica

hi! remember me?

2008-08-29T16:12:00.003-06:00

so yeah.... i guess you could say i've been on a bit of a hiatus. i just really haven't felt like writing (for a variety of reasons). but i'm back. i'm feeling like sharing. not that anything particularly exciting is happening...

so i was watching the food network the other day and alton brown was talking about how blueberries are so good for you, anti-aging, and blah blah blah. so i started thinking about blueberries (yes i am the highly suggestible type) and looking for recipes i could use them in (beyond just mixing them into yogurt, which is the only thing i could really think of). i found some blueberry-cornbread recipes and this one salad.

needless to say i was fully committed to the idea of eating blueberries at this point. i mean, let's face it, i don't really eat a lot of fruit even though i know i should. i eat green apples. i drink juice. sometimes i'll eat grapes or cantaloupe. so i was kind of psyched about this salad. went to the supermarket today to pick up the wherewithal needed. salad greens, check. feta cheese, check. almonds, check. blueberries, $7.

WHAT????!!!!!?!

well, i bought them anyway. i wanted them. at this point i'm almost used to paying $5 for one of those little 8oz. sacks of shredded cheese. but most fruit is pretty reasonable. guess they're not really into blueberries here in costa rica. maybe if they ate more of this salad they would change their minds. it was fab. anyway.

in just three short weeks we end up at the end of the 3rd quarter. i almost can't believe it. almost except that i feel exhausted. i had a sort of preliminary review with my principal this week, which was pretty good. but she asked me to change my awesome shoot for the moon bulletin board! which makes me sad. we have a week off between the 3rd and 4th quarters, which is pretty awesome. since no one decided to suck it up and come to horribly tranquilo, beautiful costa rica to visit looks like i'll just be hanging out and probably getting myself all planned for the 4th quarter.

more costa rica

no school, no rain

2008-05-30T09:12:00.003-06:00

so it according to la nacion the first tropical storm of the season, "alma", has formed off the pacific coast of costa rica. not only the first tropical storm of the season, but the first tropical storm ever to have been "born" on the costa rican pacific coast.

which is all very momentous and exciting (i guess). but the most amusing thing is - i have no school today, and it stopped raining last night before i went to sleep and hasn't started again. there are sunny skies outside my window.

i keep waiting for the school to call me and say "where are you??!!! get over here now!" but so far that hasn't happened. :)

more costa rica

three letters, something i should be building about now...

2008-05-29T18:56:00.002-06:00

so i recently had a birthday... which was fun. 84 is a big year. at least that's what i told my kids. :P (not sure why i love lying to children, but it's fun) so we had a little barbecue in honor of my birthday at my friends amanda and julia's house. there were hamburgers. and french fries. and brownies (if you know me, you know i'm not that into cake). here are a couple of pictures.

hmmmm.... what is maría jose pointing at?

ahhh.... it's the gaping hole in my birthday brownies. but it was my birthday, i'm allowed, right?

since then the weather has been rather miserable. like more miserable than normal rainy season. (in my whole 1 rainy season experience here in costa rica) i mean, the normal rainy season thing is sunny mornings and about 3pm it starts to rain. sometime in the evening the rain stops. the next day, repeat. but recently it's been raining almost non-stop. go to sleep and it's pouring, wake up and it's pouring, today there wasn't even the tiniest break in the rain. which is why there is now a lake in my backyard.

and probably not a surprise, but i'm kind of sick right now. running shnoz, coughing, sore throat. but best news ever (at least best news this week) - school is canceled tomorrow! apparently there is some sort of red advisory (not 100% sure what that means) due to the rain. there's flooding, and people are getting in accidents. so now i get to lie in bed for a while and try to recover. i basically spent most of my afternoon like this:

curled up around a little black and brown wiener dog.

3 letters, something i should be building about now...

ark.

more costa rica

Buen momento para contestar correspondencia

2008-04-27T15:37:00.005-06:00

so my horoscope today says it's a good time to answer my correspondence.

Géminis (21 mayo - 20 jun.)

Buen momento para contestar correspondencia. Lo mejor es que se deje llevar y no oponga resistencia al amor. Ganancias económicas aseguradas. Un dinero adeudado podrá tardar en llegar.

it also says i'm going to make economic gains and i shouldn't put up any resistance to love.... but i'm going to focus on the correspondence for now.

grading "season" is nearly over. i wasn't fully prepared for what this was going to be like.... as the first quarter wound down i found that there were a few quizzes i hadn't graded yet and i had tests planned for the last two days of the quarter. then there was all the calculating, entering them into the online grading system, writing comments, entering conduct grades, attendance..... it was all a bit much. and because though it doesn't really seem like it i am giving grades for 4 different "classes" (reading, spelling, written expression, and oral language) to all 41 of my students.

needless to say i procrastinated as much as possible.... it's what i do. plus i was kind of distracted. but i finally got everything in, and after one terribly boring meeting to review the grades and the comments, and another batch of "corrections", i think i'm finally finished. the only thing remaining is meeting with all the parents to give them the grades. which, in my opinion, seems like an enormous annoyance. i mean, i know we're a private school, and the parents want their kids to do well. but sometimes they don't! and the thought of having to defend the grades that their lazy children *earned* is exhausting.

*phew*

part of my procrastination plan included the imperial festival, which was awesome. and tons of fun. despite the fact that it took us more than an hour after arriving to actual get a beer. at the imperial festival. imperial = beer. but it's just another one of those charming costa rica things, i guess. i mean, to me, and many other non-ticos, it would have been a good plan to have the age verification booth and the drink ticket booth both located shortly after the entrance. i mean, why not get that out of the way. but nooooooooo. anyhow, we had a great time. smashing pumpkins and incubus were great. we got light up slappy sticks (you know, like those things they have at basketball games sometimes). i had the most delicious churros i've ever had in my entire life. good times.

so yeah. i should have some pics coming soon.

more costa rica

long time, no post (nicaragua & panama)

2008-04-18T20:26:00.002-06:00

so i know, i had this plan to post more about my trip to nicaragua during semana santa (easter week) and now it's late april.... so i guess i'll go with the condensed version.

the absolute best part of our trip to nicaragua was that the morning we moved to this cheaper hostel (after our late arrival the night before) we hear the people running get a phone call.... the turtles are hatching. so they organize this trip late that night to see the baby sea turtles hatch at this reserve beach (la flor i believe). so we were completely into it and probably like the first people to sign up. that night we go and it's so cool. probably one of the coolest things i've seen here. not only did we see the turtles digging their way up out of the sand and heading for the ocean (bathed only in red light so as not to disturb them) but we also saw a big turtle who came to shore late lay her eggs. so. cool.

so that was weeks ago now.... and i needed to leave the country again before my trip home in july. and we had a long weekend just this past one (batalla de santa rosa - costa ricans fought against the evil american william walker) and so we went off to panama. here i am crossing the border - yes, i'm walking on a rickety old railroad track bridge. super dodgy, but this is the border between costa rica and panaman.

and this one is me doing a cartwheel off this diving board at a bar. the problem was i was overshooting my dives a little bit and slapped my legs pretty good a couple of times (and i still have the bruises to prove it. so my diving coach encouraged me to make like i was doing a cartwheel in the air off the end of the board, and doing a little flip landing feet first. scary the first time, but so much fun.

so that's what i've been up to. it's the end of the first quarter and i'm kind of swamped with trying to get all my grades together, grading papers, and blah blah blah. definitely a learning experience this past quarter.... seeing how this how grading thing is playing out, i am definitely doing some things a little different for the next quarter.

tomorrow is festival imperial, which should be pretty awesome. i'm going to see smashing pumpkins and incubus, for a mere ¢10,000 (that's $20). and i've heard the ticket includes some free beers too. after all, imperial is la cerveza de costa rica.

the experience of travel

2008-03-23T12:31:00.004-06:00

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

2008-03-22T14:44:00.002-06:00

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

2008-03-21T23:56:00.003-06:00

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

2008-03-18T07:44:00.002-06:00

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

2008-03-04T17:21:00.003-06:00

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 reapeatedly 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

more costa rica

i am satisfactory!

2008-03-04T16:34:00.009-06:00

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...

tico names and toblerone

2008-02-20T18:48:00.002-06:00

week two on the job and in the classroom. monday was pretty bad... i really yelled at my bad group. really. but they've been a little better since then. i'd like to think that i'm getting a little bit better at handling them. but i'm not actually convinced that that's the truth. they've stopped asking what time it is and trying to show me that *their* watch says it's time to go. and there have been much less requests to go to the bathroom. progress...

it's possible i've nearly got everyones' name. and that's no easy feat. my homeroom group isn't too bad - i've got two ximenas, an andres and a jose andres. and a jose luis. in the other group i have a maria paula, a maria fernanda, and a maria alejandra. also an alexandra maria. two daniels and two danielas. and alberto and ricardo look so similar that i screw it up if i see them separately... and sometimes if i see them side by side, too.

in other news i've developed an obsession with toblerone. now if you know me, you know that i'm not really crazy about chocolate. i mean, it's not that i don't like it. it tastes good. but i'd rather eat something savory. the truth is, i'm not sure i've ever had toblerone before. but i got some for valentine's day. chocolate and almonds, sounds good... awwwwwww yeeeeeeaaah.... :P

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shoot for the moon and all that...

2008-02-15T15:18:00.002-06:00

so i had really intended to have some pictures to post before now of my classroom... and i actually brought my camera to school twice this week. but didn't take a single photo. next week, i hope.

so yeah, i'm teaching now! it actually feels like i've been teaching for weeks and weeks now... but it's only been 4 days. day one started out really great. i had my homeroom group first. there was a little name game action - to help me out with everyone's names. we did some other intro type stuff. talked about rules - what does respect mean? what does responsibility mean? they were more or less well behaved and amusing. and then....

my other group (there are two classes of 4th graders, i teach english to both). yeah. they wouldn't shut up during my name game. i asked them to be quiet so many times that i had to follow through on my threat "if i have to yell one more time, we're sitting down and you're writing". and i still don't know all their names. on thursday i had half the class trying to convince me that they HAD to go to the bathroom- that it was an emergency. (i didn't let any of them go)

i realize they're trying to test me. and i know i just have to be strict with them. (and i am for the most part). unfortunately i think what they need is boring assignments and super structured classes. it's the only time we ever get anything done. my big plan is to have a "rule of the day". so say, it's raising your hand to speak. or listening when other's are talking. or doing your homework. and we'll work through the rules one by one until i feel that the majority of the class has followed the rule during the class. and then we check it off the list. when we've checked off all the rules, game day (well, game english class anyway). we'll see how it goes.

the other frustrating thing is that i feel left out a little on my "team" (the fourth grade teachers). i've been told that the costa rican way is sort of like an overprotective mother. instead of showing you how to do something that you are supposed to be doing, they will just take care of it. so you don't have to worry about it. it's terribly frustrating. as an example. the kids had to bring in these forms signed by their parents for the extra-curricular activities they want to do. i had them putting them on my desk. but i didn't know what to do with them, so i put some on my paper tray. today i asked one of my companeras what i was supposed to do with them. and she told me that she already took mine, don't worry. well, she had taken some that were on the desk, but that was not most or all of them. i had to badger her into telling me where they went. she just kept telling me not to worry. all this actually bothers me more than my obnoxious class....

but for the most part i feel pretty good about the first week. i've decided i'm going to read to the kids a few mornings a week. purely for listening purposes. and i've chosen "the magician's nephew". and next week we're actually sort of starting stuff. we'll see how they do with structure.

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big week ahead...

2008-02-10T17:44:00.000-06:00

so last week we had MORE orientation. which was less useful than the week before. one of the presentations we had to listen to was more or less a science presentation. there were pictures of the brain. and neurons. and synapses. oh yes, and it was all in spanish (my vocabulary does not include that kind of stuff. i don't think it's terribly useful) the point was (i think) that not everyone has the same capacity to think in certain ways. or something like that. anyway. there was also the communication workshop. in spanish. so clearly we were really on top of that communicating thing. since i understood about a third of what was said. all in all a frustrating week. but i got some stuff done in my classroom (pics of my cool bulletin boards next week) worked on my lesson plans (which have to be approved - that's kind of crap) and am starting to get pretty pumped for the kids to actually show up.

so tomorrow we have just one last meeting (which i imagine will be pretty useless) from 7:30 to 9:30 then i have the rest of the day to get myself sorted out for the week. actually i did my "lesson plan", and i use that word loosely for what i have planned for next week, yesterday and i'm feeling pretty good.

went out to watch the celtics beat the spurs this afternoon. always a good time. and tomorrow i'm back to waking up early (i slept until 9:30 today!) and tying up some loose ends. hopefully my copies got done and the supplies place got the stuff i need to finish decorating my class. and then i'm teaching! :)

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who doesn't love orientation?

2008-02-01T10:48:00.000-06:00

it's so.... uh.... exciting? no, that's not right... it's... okay, so it's kind of boring. this past week was new teacher orientation (next week is ALL teacher orientation... not sure if i can handle another week...). so i spent the week trying to get myself used to waking up early. and learning about my new school. which was mostly not that interesting and not that helpful.

i mean, we talked about stuff like what things we're required to have in our classrooms (emergency class list, whistle, place for late slips), attendance procedures (must be put in the box outside your door by 8am), discipline procedures (academic warnings, conduct warnings, detentions), how to get things you need, how to go on a field trip, and on and on. useful, but not terribly interesting.

but then what was irritating was some of the questions people were asking. now, there are no stupid questions, right? but do we really need to know *right now* if we are supposed to write the time we are leaving for a field trip on the board in the office or if the secretary does it? (the answer is no) obviously there has to be procedure for everything, but we're not going to really, really get it until we actually have to do it. and when that time comes we will be working with a team of other teachers. and they know what to do.

the most beneficial part of the week was meeting with the 5th grade language arts teacher. she told us all about the books we can use, gave us some ideas about how she does here quizzes and tests and assignments. and come to find out the curriculum map i was given in december is not entirely correct... so that was a little annoying. but now i have a very clear idea about what i need to do and what i can do. so things are good.

we have today off, which is pretty exciting. so i got to sleep in. until 9 o'clock! (it feels a little sad that that feels late now) and i'm off to my old stomping grounds of san pedro in a bit to meet some friends for lunch. i think i have to relax as much as possible so i don't lose my mind next week. as soon as the kids show up and things start happening, i think it'll be fine. it's all this antici......

.......

.......

pation.

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bad habits

2008-01-24T12:05:00.000-06:00

it's amazing how quickly bad habits develop...

now, i like dogs. i like pets. it's nice to have a little companionship sometimes, someone to chill and watch tv with who never talks when you're trying to hear something. and chili and brownie are sweeties. but.

so i've spent 3 nights in my new place now. the dogs were in and out of my room the first night, checking things out while i unpacked, licking my elbows, you know, dog stuff. the second night chili was lying in bed with me watching tv. it got late. he slept over. i knew that he would want to get out in the morning when rocio got up - they get fed in the morning, and get let outside. so i didn't sleep that great, because i kind of knew at some point i would have to let him out. so i did. what happened next was what i wasn't expecting.

my first morning here, the dogs hung out in the living room after rocio and matias left and until i got up. my second morning after chili had slept with me, i hear scratching and whining outside my bedroom door when they left. so i open up and *both* dogs jump into bed with me. it's a little bed. and they're pretty solid, sausage shaped dogs. it was crowded.

last night i had no dogs in my bed. but i was woken up by - scratching and whining at my door. in an effort to break a bad habit before it took root i ignored them, thinking they would eventually get bored and go hang out in the living room. this continued for THREE HOURS (from about 7:30 to 10:30 - yes, i'm that lazy).

they were *ecstatic* to see me when i opened the door. i made some coffee and now the three of us are back in bed watching tv... and it's crowded...

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santa ana

2008-01-22T21:26:00.001-06:00

so i'm here... moved into my new pad in santa ana. so far, so good. i moved in last night. my room is a little bit smaller than i remembered from when i saw the place a week ago... but it's fine. i just don't have a desk, which i had gotten pretty used to in my other place. so we went on a mission today to see if i could find something... but no luck.

spent my morning chilling at home with the dogs. they're pretty fun. one of them is actually curled up on my bed with me right now (his mom calls him a traitor!) chili and brownie:

the rest of the house is super cute too. there are sofas in the living room!!! which is pretty exciting. but no tv there... but i have one in my room, so i guess that's pretty good.

so yeah, things are pretty good. i start going to school next week, for new teacher orientation and what-not. the kids start back on february 11th. until then i'm laying low, and trying to figure out all this teaching stuff.

:)

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procrastination

2008-01-20T12:25:00.000-06:00

who likes to procrastinate? that would be me....

so i'm moving tomorrow, and i've known i was going to move tomorrow for at least 4 days now. so that should have been plenty of time to get myself organized. things i've done so far instead of packing? let me see....

watch tv
watch movies
create a photo album online (which i've had mailed to my parents - so if you see them, soon they will have a album of my year in CR if you're interested)
create a playlist to listen to while i pack...

but yesterday i actually did something productive! i put some shoes, dresses, and extra pj's in a box. and i cleaned out my drawer filled with little slips of paper with random information on them. yeah, and that's about it so far. i feel like i've acquired a lot of stuff here... but maybe it's not so much. as long as it all fits in a suzuki samurai then i'm fine.

so i'm having dinner this evening at my friends house (hopefully after i do a little more packing) and then tomorrow i have that pressure that i need in situations like these... an actual deadline. my next post will be from the (relatively speaking) posh western suburb of santa ana!

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the opposite of homeless

2008-01-15T12:33:00.000-06:00

that's right. i have two homes. only not in the way that rich people do.... i will have to leave one of them eventually. but for now i have two homes. one that i don't have to leave in any hurry and one that i don't have to move into in any hurry.

so i was cruising craig's list for places to live and there was one that caught my eye. so it's a room in a house. the house is owned by a youngish couple and their two dachshunds. my rent includes utilities, cable tv (and a tv in my bedroom!!! that's pretty exciting), and wifi. and on top of all that, it's less than a 5 minute walk to the bus stop where i can catch the bus directly to my school. it's close to stores and supermarkets, yet there's a huge back garden and it's a really tranquil environment. i'm pretty happy.

so obviously i have to move there before school starts (well, even before that - i have to start going in to school on the 28th for orientation and stuff). but as there's no rush for me to get out of the place i'm in now, i'm procrastinating. the thought of packing all of my stuff.... i'll have you know i came down here with only two bags. my giant backpack and my regular backpack. those two bags probably hold less than half of what i have now... so my real goal is to try to sort through stuff a little and see what is just crap and what i really want or need.

so yeah, that's my news. as soon as i actually move in i'll get some pics. :)

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happy 2008!

2008-01-06T23:41:00.000-06:00

so happy new year! i'm back in costa rica after two weeks at home in maine over the holidays. it was far too cold and there was far too much snow. but i had fun. got to see lots of people. and now i'm back with three more weeks to get myself together before my new job - teaching 4th grade language arts. and maybe top up my tan a little bit. :) anyhow, more news later.

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is today a....? what day is it?

2007-12-19T13:59:00.000-06:00

i keep asking myself this question and thinking of the dude. the corner of this computer tells me it's wednesday, so there you go. we're in montezuma right now, living the dream. :) after some initial frustrations (a very long journey, a hotel very far from everything - including lights, someone's mom...) things started getting good. we're staying at our second beach side accomadations and we're at my favorite beach in all of costa rica. doesn't get much better.

as nice as it will be to see everyone next week, wouldn't it be better if you all came here to see me? no snow, i promise!

think about it.... :)

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the old "christmas tan"

2007-12-14T23:24:00.000-06:00

off to the beach bright and early tomorrow morning to get going on my christmas tan.

what?

you're not working on your christmas tan?

WHAT??!!

it's SNOWING???!!!

yeah, i'm gonna cry when i get home.... finished my new old job today, spent the afternoon at the staff party, drinking and singing karaoke. then we went to the nutcracker tonight, el cascanueces, pretty good. now i'm off to bed. getting picked up at 5am to get to the bus station. but i'll have sand between my toes by mid-afternoon!

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the hard part is over

2007-12-07T17:57:00.000-06:00

well, part of the hard part is over. even though school ended last week (my new school) the teachers all have to come in this week to finish up grades and talk to the other teachers about the students for the next year. so i've kind of been doing double duty this week. though i didn't have any grades to finish or anything, i had to go in a couple of days this week... which was pretty exhausting. (it's a lot of bus time to get there from my current apartment). but now i've got a curriculum map to edit, some books to peruse, and see ya in january.

just one more week of my old job - and it's the easy part. since the kids program finished last week, i have friday afternoon and saturday off this week and next. which is awesome. from here on out i have REAL weekends. so next week i have two classes with my one-to-one guy, and two lesson of revision for my ibm classes, then two lessons where they'll be taking their exam. easy-peasy.

of course the part of the hard part i still have to do is find a new place to live.... but i've got a good portion of january to sort that out.

in completely unrelated news, i get this newsletter from a website called boots 'n' all and one of the stories really made me laugh. so i thought i'd share it. it's about driving in india. i actually had this idea when i was there of doing like a guide to driving in india, in a funny way (which is surely not an original idea, but still). because let me tell you they are insane. but i never actually did it and i sort of forgot a lot.... this brought it all back. enjoy!

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what are you? in 4th grade?

2007-12-03T20:52:00.000-06:00

so my "test" turned out to be nothing like i was expecting, but still pretty difficult. actually it wasn't a test at all. at least not in the traditional sense. i went in and after waiting for over 30 minutes i went in to talk to the administrative woman who i had been speaking to on the phone. basically she just wanted to get to know me a little better, get a sense of what kind of person i am and stuff. the snag was that her english is not that good, and my spanish is not that good. i mean i can get by, but i can't do interview BS in spanish.

so the first part of the struggle was figuring out what the question actually was. "how your family?" (do you have brothers and sisters? where do they live? how is your relationship?) "how your career?" (where do you see yourself in 5 years?) etc. we actually had a really nice chat, even though i wasn't really sure what the questions were sometimes and then i was trying to answer in a way so that she would understand me. obviously not the ideal interview situation. the last thing she asked me to do was draw a picture of a person, any person (clearly some sort of psychological profile type test) and write 2 paragraphs about anything. (i decided to tell of my love for gallo pinto).

i could have sworn she told me she would call the next day and tell me the grade. and after a moment it occurred to me that she probably meant what grade i would be teaching. so i was pretty excited. the next morning i had my one on one class and then i hung around school for a little while so i wouldn't be on the bus when she called. well, she never called on wednesday. or thursday. then i was starting to get a little worried, but when i had spoken to the principal the week before she had told me that she would be making hiring decisions by the end of the next week.

friday i was running around like a crazy person all day, trying to sort out the end of year stuff for my current kids, and nearly forgot i was waiting for a call. but when i got out of my 3-6 class i had a voice message. rapid-fire spanish this is the pan-american school, looking for ann doremus, call at this number (which even my native spanish speaking friend had to listen to twice). well, obviously i tried to call right away, but being after 6 on a saturday, i knew i would have to wait until monday.

so we went to the beach this weekend. because we deserve it. and i got back just in time for my class, so i called the school from the beach this morning. i talked to the same lady again. she said something.... huh? como? you work pan-american school next year.

FABULOUS

she told me that she still had to speak with the principal about which grade she had decided for me and would call back in like 30 minutes. 4 hours later i called her back. 4th grade. and could i come to the school the next morning.... at 8am. blah. i mean i realize that when i'm in school i will have to be there before that. but for right now i live on the other side of the city and it takes me nearly 2 hours of buses and hoofing across downtown to get there.

so i think i'm going to watch another episode of alias and then it's bed-time. i'm exhausted. had a bit of an ordeal getting back from the beach today... we tried to get the 9:30 bus, but it was full. and the next bus wasn't until 12:10. and i'm supposed to be ready to go at the school by 4. it would have been a miracle if that had actually worked. so i ended up getting picked up in town somewhere and having the other teacher bring my books. so yeah.

yeah me! :)

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i hate job searching....

2007-11-26T10:46:00.000-06:00

... but i'm doing it. actually, i had started about a month ago (not sure if i mentioned this already). i found 4 schools that i was interested in and i sent them my resume and a cover letter. one of them told me straight away that they did not have any openings for the 2008 school year. two of them i never heard from at all. and one of them called my current employer, who was a little surprised to say the least. and so was i when they asked me about it. i tried to explain it away, blah blah blah, i want to eventually work in a school, more time with kids, some schools don't start until september (which is actually true, but almost all of them start in february - they do southern hemisphere school schedule here).

i mean who does that? calls your current employer for a reference? i thought there was sort of an unspoken thing about that.... but clearly not. so i sent an e-mail to them and to the other two schools i hadn't heard from saying my current employer will not give a reference until we agree on an end date for my contract (until i give my notice, which i hadn't done at that point) but here are two other people you CAN contact IN COSTA RICA.

after that i heard nothing. and things got a little crazy here. i had lots of stuff going on, i had my spanish exam (nivel inicial - which i won't get the results from for about 10 weeks), i was trying to resist the urge to strangle the panamanian in his sleep (he is possibly the most inconsiderate person i have ever met), etc., etc.

well, i finally decided i needed to get serious about the finding a job thing (man, i hate looking for jobs. and apartments for that matter, which i'll have to do soon as i find a job). so i found some more schools that i liked and i sent out my resumes and cover letters again. i decided to send another e-mail to the eager school, saying i've actually put in my notice and my school will now provide a reference, i'm still interested.

well two days later i get a call for an interview! so last friday i had an interview, which i think went pretty well. i spoke with the primary school principal and she had a couple of openings she was trying to fill. she thought i could teach 5th grade science because i had a bachelors of science (i tried to dissuade her on this idea as best i could - computers does not equal science. but i would do it if it was all they offered me.) but the other thing she had, which i told her i was most interested in, was 3rd or 4th grade language arts.

so she said i would have to come in and do some sort of test early this week (hopefully this is kind of like "are you smarter than a primary school student?" kind of stuff and not too much about teaching theory) so i'm still waiting for that call. and she will have made her decisions by the end of this week. which is great to know, but now i've been waiting all morning for my phone to ring to set up the time to do this test thing!

so fingers crossed everyone, this is a great school that i would love to work at!!!

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possibly not a surprise...

2007-10-30T11:34:00.000-06:00

but yesterday i quit my job. i had been planning to line up something else before i put in my notice, but since i'm supposed to give a bimester's notice (which is two months - but i can't give notice halfway through a bimester) it just wasn't going to be possible. i'm looking to teach in a bilingual high school next year, and they're not really hiring at this point. they still have another month of class and then they have almost 2 months off. so my last day at the instituto britanico will be december 14th. then i'll be hanging out at the beach for a week. and then coming home for a couple of weeks. hopefully by then i'll have a job lined up. that's the plan anyway.

in other news i just paid my first cell phone bill, which i had been waiting patiently for, since i wasn't really sure how much i was really using it (but it seemed like a lot). well, they don't really mail bills here - because they don't really mail anything (i mean my "address" is from this store, 100 meters south, 400 meters west....). so basically you get a text message that tells you it's time to pay your bill. and you either go to a supermarket or pharmacy (these are the places you pay your bills - everything, phone, internet, electricity, water...) or depending on your bank you can pay online. well i had a friend help me set up my online banking yesterday, because apparently my bank does online bill pay (all my utilities are included in my rent, so i don't ever deal with that). entered my phone number and my information came up. my bill was ¢4,545. a little less than $10. :P

and the last thing i have for today is a picture. of things that come in plastic packages. i was terribly amused by this when i first arrived, but really it's for the best here. because they don't really do recycling (at least not very much of it) it's probably better that they have things in plastic bags instead of bottles and jars - less garbage. so here we have: spaghetti sauce, salsa, sour cream, mayonnaise, and ketchup.

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i never get to go anywhere...

2007-10-22T12:18:00.000-06:00

so as promised i finally have a couple of pictures from panama. and one from puerto viejo (on the right). i actually hope to have some more from puerto viejo soon. i think i wrote about swimming out to this massive coral/rock thing, well, i'm waiting for those photos from a friend.

anyhow. these are some of the dolphins we saw (yeah, dolphins!) they were just sort of swimming around in this bay. it was pretty cool. i didn't really get many good pictures (most of them were just of water, or the tip of a fin) but this is one of the good ones. i think you can tell that they are dolphins and not sharks...

the other picture i have is of the place we had lunch at. i think bocas del toro is such a cool place. i mean, it's basically a set of islands, and everywhere has a dock, and all of the restaurants and bars and stuff have little docks and you can sit by the water... so after seeing dolphins, hanging at a beautiful island beach, and cruising around in a speed boat, we had lunch at this cool place. man, i love bocas.

not sure what my next plans are, still trying to work out work stuff... i'm hoping to get a new job next year working in a bilingual high school. of course the complication is that i need to give a "bimester" notice (that's a two month session here - it's kind of spanglish, not a real word in english) at my current job and that's by the end of next week. i've sent resumes to a few schools that i'm interested in, and i know one of them actually called my current school (which didn't go over that well with my boss - who does that? calls your current employer?) but i haven't heard anything else. the thing is, there's a high liklihood that i will get a job at another school. but it might not be until closer to the end of the school year (which is december here - they run on southern hemisphere school schedules for the most part). so do i put in my notice now so that i'm actually available for another job? or what? let's have some opinions please!!!!

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trouble in paradise

2007-10-19T21:28:00.000-06:00

well, i think paradise is a strong word for the rainy, dismal, capital city of costa rica at the moment... the "green" season (aka the rainy season) has really been doing it's thing the past week or so. kind of miserable. but that's not what i'm talking about....

so a while ago this panamanian guy moved into what i had previously thought to be a closet just off our kitchen. there was basically a single bed and a dresser in there and that's it. recently the guy living in my old room moved out. and i guess the landlord decided that the panamanian would move in there (they're friends or something - they know each other somehow, i can't quite figure it out). whatever.

there was a little incident the other week on one of my non-sleeping nights (normally i'm a champion sleeper, but every 4 months or so i have a night where i just can't - it catches up with me) where his "girlfriend" stayed over (i'm not really sure on the status of the relationship, but they do have a child together) and they were up all night - talking, listening to music, arguing, etc - all of which i can easily hear in my room. i was slightly annoyed, but i couldn't sleep anyway, so i didn't get too upset about it.

well. last night. a little before 5 in the morning he comes back - clearly from being out all night - with two friends. i was definitely sleeping this time. then they're talking and laughing... and i'm kind of thinking you've got to be kidding me. we have a massive living room *and* outdoor area - both of which are on the other side of the house. a few minutes later i hear our other roommate come out of his room and basically tell them to be quiet. so they were quieter, but like i said - i can hear everything. so they're still up and talking and listening to music - albeit much quieter. but still i have to bury my head under my pillows to get back to sleep.

anyway. this morning (okay, mid-morning) i get up and go out to the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea and something to eat. and i notice part of a wrapper of some sort sticking out of my cupboards. i open the door and there's my brand new bag of tortilla chips - nearly gone. i notice a fork on the counter covered with refried beans. and what do you know - they're gone too. in the fridge my new package of salsa is ripped open and half gone. (lots of things come in little plastic packages... it's hard to explain - i'll do a pictorial sometime) at this point i'm starting to get mad.

but being the pacifist that i am i don't go banging on his door to yell at him (plus he hardly speaks any english and i know that my spanish cannot convey anger). instead i get myself ready to go to school. i make a bilingual sign which i tape over the doors of my cupboard -
please don't eat my food!!
¡no coma por favor mi alimento!and i leave a post-it note on the panamanians door:
a las 4 o 5 en la mañana ¡callado por favor! puedo oír TODO
(at 4 or 5 in the morning please shut up! i can hear everything)

apparently it had the desired effect. when i got home from school tonight my landlord was in the living room (this is not weird, he lives upstairs and stops down sometimes) and he asked me if i was upset about last night. and i said, yeah, a little. he assured me that it wouldn't happen again, or the panamanian would be leaving, and that he was sorry. so we'll see how that goes... i kind of feel like i'm living in the real world house or something. anyway, just wanted to vent a little.

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puerto viejo madness

2007-10-15T21:26:00.000-06:00

so this weekend was columbus weekend here - and therefore we had today (monday) off. so what else could we possibly do on such an occasion? go to the beach, i guess. if we must. ;)

so we left right after classes for the bus station on saturday. which is when the first snag in our plan occured... carol had gone ahead to get the tickets sorted out and jasmine, laura, and i were going a little later. but when we arrived we found out that when carol arrived there were only 2 seats left on the bus we wanted, and she had to get 2 more for the next bus, which was 2 hours later. it seemed strange, because we had never had trouble before just showing up and getting tickets. but it wasn't a travesty, carol and i were going to go on the first bus and try to sort out accomadations for all of us when we got to puerto viejo.

the bus ride seemed to take forever (it's possible that it didn't, but it sure seemed like it). when we got to puerto viejo we headed straight for the place we stayed last time. but they were full. he said maybe check back in an hour or so, in case one of his reservations didn't show. so we headed off to check out some other places. well, each and every place we checked was full. in one place we ran into a guy (who became our best friend this weekend), juan, whose job it is to ride around on his bike and find rooms for people (apparently). so juan knows a place. there's a couple of dorm beds and a tent. so we go and have a look. well, it wasn't exactly outdoors, but it wasn't really indoors either. it was a covered patio with walls on three sides and inside there were some dorm beds and a tent on the floor in the middle with a mattress inside.

we were not really excited by the idea of staying there. so we sat for a while and the two other people we were with (in total there were 10 of us) went off to investigate other places. well, we were sitting and waiting and texting our friends saying maybe you should get off in cahuita and see if there are rooms there. after a while we're kind of starting to realize that there is truly no place to stay in puerto viejo. and two girls come strolling into the place and we jump and make the decision - we'll take it. the others luckily get some place a little bit farther out of town because a reservation didn't turn up. and we all have beds and have a great evening out.

the next morning our man juan tells us he knows a place that we can stay for sunday night that is a little bit nicer. so before breakfast we go there and have a look. we originally thought that maybe we would all be moving to a different place... but that turned out to be full as well. breakfast was a little bit of a fiasco as well. we found the faraway group sat down for breakfast and went in to join them. well, we're told that they are no longer taking orders. alright. so we find some other place and meet up with the rest of the team after.

we rented bikes. not my idea of a good time. but everyone was doing it... so that was a bit rough, since i'm pretty out of shape and the roads are for the most part dirt and filled with potholes making biking a slightly less pleasant experience. but we spent the day at a beautiful beach in punta uva, about 10k south of puerto viejo.

after the day at the beach we go back to our new room and have a really nice shower (i think i forgot to mention that the "shower" in our first place was basically a hose hanging from the cieling... which did little more than trickle water on you - so this seemed luxurious. in fact the room seemed luxurious as well because it had PILLOWS. such luxury...) and then headed out for another fun night on the town.

breakfast the next day (today) turns out to be another fiasco... we run into part of our group sitting and waiting for breakfast. we're about to join them when the waitress informs them that there is no more gallo pinto - which i MUST have when i'm on vacation. (and didn't get to have the previous morning - after we had found a place to eat i asked if they had gallo pinto and was informed that this was "the carribean, not costa rica". what a snarky wench) so we go back to this other place we've eaten at before... but there are about 40 people in a big group just sitting down... so we decide to try somewhere else. we find a little soda, but sadly they are out of food. yes, out of food. we basically walked all over town and finally found a place with gallo pinto.

after breakfast we had just the morning at the beach before we needed to catch a bus. but sadly all the direct buses from puerto viejo to san jose were sold out (those million extra people really put a damper on our plans). so we end up having to get a ticket to limon and then to san jose. which is not terrible, but certainly a little less convenient. but overall i had a good time. i'm tan. pictures soon.

ps. happy birthday mom!! i love you!!

more costa rica

back with a fresh visa

2007-10-01T20:27:00.000-06:00

for those of you who were concerned about me going to panama... i assure you it was not a scary place. (in fact it was pretty touristy- at least where i was). and that i'm back. photos and stories to follow.

beach binge

2007-09-19T21:01:00.000-06:00

and finally an update! this "beach binge" as i've decided to call does seem pretty far in the past at this point... my tan has faded... there's no sand in the bottoms of my bags anymore... but here's what we did:

so like i said before there was a long weekend - perfect for beach going. then we decided it would be easy to maintain a tan just by spending a short weekend at the beach. and then some friends were going to my *favorite* beach. then it was a long weekend *again* (public holiday season in CR). so yeah. i have only a couple of pictures to share... i didn't end up taking all that many.

this tree was actually right on the beach in cahuita. i wasn't trekking in the woods to get this picture. i was standing directly under this tree. it was pretty cool. there were about 4 little monkeys crawling around, eating fruit, and dropping the pits on the tourists. luckily no one was injured in the taking of this photo.

the last picture i'll share is from montezuma. and yes, i've posted pictures of montezuma before. because i thought when i went there the first time that it was the best beach and the coolest town i had visited. and when we were going to go back i was a little worried that i might change my mind. that i just hadn't seen enough beaches yet. but no. it was just as amazing as i remember. and i still think it's my favorite.

so i might be off to panama next weekend. my visa is up, and though my director seems to think it won't be a big deal if i go a little over, i'd rather not risk it. so i'm trying to finagle some days off... hopefully.

more costa rica

vargas araya

2007-08-08T21:20:00.001-06:00

so yeah, it's been a while since i've posted... but i do have some pictures of my new place in vargas araya. it's actually pretty massive - i share with two other american guys (and possibly some panamanian is moving into this little room which i was sure was a closet for a few weeks? but anyway...). in fact last week, on the day of the virgin of the angels - the patron saint of costa rica and a national non-working holiday for nearly everyone, we had a big roast dinner at my house with loads of people from work. which i don't have any photos of... but jasmine does... maybe another time...

so this is the kitchen - with a full size stove *and* a microwave. but no blender.

the living room slash dining room. sadly there is no sofa. so if all three of us want to watch tv (which though it looks to be about 100 years old, still works remarkably well) then one person gets the "comfy" chair (which only looks comfy, but isn't), one gets the uncomfortable chair, and the other gets one of the dining room chairs. not really designed for home theater. but there is free cable and a dvd player>

and finally our garden. it's a little over-run by palm-like plants, but there are some benches and the sounds of a rushing stream (it actually runs under the patio, but whatever).

so yeah. that's my place. no photos of my room because even though i've been here for a while it still is mostly "organized" into bags that i used to transport it all from my old place to this place. yeah. i haven't really unpacked everything.

so we're on a bit of a beach binge at the moment. went to cahuita two weekends ago because there was a long weekend. went jaco last weekend to maintain our tans. going to montezuma this weekend because some other people we know are going. going somewhere the weekend following because there's another long weekend. after that i'm definitely staying put for an entire weekend. i'm exhausted.

:P

more costa rica

the crater shirt

2007-07-15T12:29:00.001-06:00

just a sort of interesting aside, something that just occurred to me recently. every time i go to a volcano i seem to be wearing the same hooded white shirt. exhibit A:

my first volcano ever - haleakala volcano on the island of maui in hawaii. after this we rode bikes down the road that led up to the crater - not my favorite thing i did in hawaii, but an experience none-the-less.

actually - i'm not sure if this counts, but the next volcano i *saw* was arenal volcano in costa rica. this happens to be an active volcano, so we didn't actually go to the crater, we just hiked around near the base of the volcano. which is why i've just decided to change the name of this post from "the volcano shirt" to "the crater shirt". i don't have any pictures of myself at this volcano, but i'm pretty certain i wasn't wearing the shirt.

after that i went to ometepe island in nicaragua, which is formed by two volcanoes. this is most definitely my least favorite volcano EVER (in my life-long experience of 4). not only was it a grueling, spirit-crushing hike to the crater. but when we actually got to the crater (which is now filled with water) it was so foggy that you couldn't even tell that you were there. i may look happy enough in this photo, but i was DEFINITELY not.

so i was a little leery of volcanoes after that (and rightfully so, i think). but i was persuaded to visit poas volcano, which is near to san jose. to reach the crater of this volcano i only had to sit on a bus for a couple of hours and walk about 15 minutes along a paved path. no problemo. it was actually kind of fun. aside from the whole sulfur smell... this volcano, while not ACTIVE active like arenal (no lava shooting out of it) is still sort of bubbling and spitting muck. apparently it still has the potential of erupting.

so yeah, volcanoes.

travel nightmares (part 2)

2007-07-07T12:15:00.000-06:00

the return trip.

my flight back to costa rica last sunday was supposed to leave boston around 5:45pm and arrive in san jose around 11:30pm. i arrived at the airport in plenty of time, checked my bag, bought some more magazines (i brought back about 7 trashy celebrity magazines, like people, ok!, etc. - english mags are expensive here), and eventually made my way to the gate. i sat down with my book to wait for boarding to start.

as that time approached there was an announcement that there was going to be about a 30 minute delay due to some air traffic control issues in atlanta (my stopover destination). so i was a little worried at this point - my layover was only an hour and fifteen minutes - but i was pretty sure i could still make it. well. it turned out to be a little more than 30 minutes delay. by the time we actually took off we were an hour behind schedule.

so i try to enjoy my flight. but all that first class stuff on the way to boston kind of spoiled me... i was in the window seat (which i prefer), but the guy sitting in the middle has got all these business papers out and his laptop... he was certainly taking up more than his fair share of the space. plus there wasn't enough room for me to cross and uncross my legs easily. but i managed.

so as we arrive in the atlanta area we are told that due to air traffic control issues we are going to have to do the whole holding pattern, circling around thing for a while. people with connections are starting to get nervous, including me. but they make an announcement that since our delay is because of air traffic control issues that it's likely that connecting flights will be delayed as well. so i was kind of holding on to that hope, since i was supposed to be at work at noon on monday.

we finally touch down and of course it takes forever to get off the plane - even with people who didn't have connections staying in their seats. i rush up the ramp, and start scanning the connections board. and my flight is marked "departed". super. (i actually found out later that my flight had left a few minutes early - air traffic control.... right....). so i had kind of been expecting this... since when we actually landed was after the scheduled take off time for my connection.

so i'm off to the re-booking desk. of course there's a huge line because nearly everyone with a connection on our flight missed their connections. so at the back of the line there's this little machine that you scan your boarding pass and they can tell you if you've been re-booked on the next flight or whatever. and also it prints out any hotel vouchers that might exist. well, i got no info about my flight, but if i wanted to stay at the westin that night they had negotiated the low, low, special deal price of just $90. $90????!!!!! the woman mentioned that there was a huge info boards of hotels that were cheaper and closer to the airport just outside of security.

so i bypass the line (which is barely moving) and use one of the customer service phones. i probably waited nearly as long on hold as i would have in the line, but whatever. i eventually speak to an agent who tells me that the next flight to san jose doesn't leave until 10am and arrives in CR at noon. which is when i'm supposed to be at work. super. well, obviously that's not going to work out. but the good news was that since my checked bag and i both missed our connection, the bag would hang around at the airport until the next flight to its destination - which i would also be on. and the guy got me a business class seat. which was pretty exciting.

so with only a couple of things in my carry on bag i head out to the main terminal. after staring at the hotel board for a while and making a couple of calls to check on prices (it was one of those phones where you enter the number from the board and it just dials the hotel automatically) i decided to head for super 8, which had a free shuttle and internet. so i'm collected by the shuttle and whisked off to my hotel.

unfortunately the hotel isn't really near any thing that allows me to get food or anything else. but there are a couple of menus in the lobby and i end up ordering some pizza and chatting with some other random guests for a while. when my pizza arrived i went up to my room, crawled in bed, put a dvd in my new laptop (have i mentioned this? - so exciting, i love it.), and ate. before too much sleep it was time for me to head back to the airport. i had some free continental breakfast and we were off.

when i entered the terminal i was a little taken aback by the length of the lines... but being booked in business class (and seat 1A - which means that business class is the best class on this flight) i start looking for the first/business class short line - i know that i shouldn't be waiting in the lines with the "commoners" :P but even that line was outrageous. and then i realize that there's a whole other section of desks for international trips. so i start to wait in that line... because i really just wanted to speak to someone and make sure my bag was on this flight too. but then i went for the kiosks. i swiped my old boarding pass and lo and behold all my new flight info came up and that i already had 1 bag checked. awesome.

so without further ado, i make my way through security (there's actually a special, shorter security line for first and business class) get to my gate in plenty of time. i wait and read. and then we board. i'm offered a mimosa straight off the bat (ah... business class...). of course there was a little delay, mostly due to so many people having missed flights the day before, there was some confusion about luggage. but we eventually took off.

so i arrived in san jose around 12:45 - 13 hours later than i had planned on. i headed home and got a little nap in before trucking into school to see what was up. i did a couple of placement exams and then went back home, still exhausted.

so yeah. that was my nightmare travel story... now that i've got that out of my system i promise not to be so whiney on my next post...

travel nightmares

2007-07-04T11:37:00.000-06:00

so here's the part where i complain about traveling... actually, i generally enjoy traveling (and i'm talking about the actual transportation portions of traveling, not just the being other places, which i obviously enjoy a great deal) - i like the airport, i like flying, i like buses and trains, i love people watching. but my last trip home was sandwiched by two not-so-hot travel days. actually three - but let me explain.

so on the friday before i left i tried to check in for my flights online. it's generally easier and i kind of like knowing that i have a head start on the whole thing. well. the confusion was that my flight was the return portion of my reward flight. and the week before two of the three flights needed to be rescheduled due to a cancellation (though i actually recieved some bonus miles because of this, which was AWESOME on the part of northwest). so the flights were booked through northwest. but my first flight was on delta, because northwest doesn't fly to costa rica (but delta is a "partner" for miles). so when i tried to check in on the northwest site i couldn't, because you must choose a departure city, and san jose isn't on their list. so i tried to check in on the delta site, but of my three flights home, they only had the first one correct - theirs. (the other two flights were on northwest)

so after i panicked a little, i decided that i would just go to the airport in the morning and sort it out then. well. when i checked in they printed out a boarding pass for my flight out of costa rica and for one of the flights that i was no longer taking and nothing for the flight that would actually take me to boston. though they seemed to understand that my bag should go through to boston. i decided to try to sort all this out with the northwest agents in atlanta.

so i arrive in atlanta (after a lovely flight in FIRST CLASS - my first time ever!) and because we've arrived internationally we have to collect all of our luggage, go through customs, and then recheck everything to our final destination. before just blindly throwing my bag on the belt to be rechecked, i decided to talk to one of the customer service agents to sort out all the nonsense. well i was in concourse E, which happens to only contain delta agents. so i go chat to this woman anyway, to see if she can help.

well, her computer is showing that i'm still on my canceled flights. which i tell i her i am not. so she tries to call northwest, but is somehow unable to speak to a real person (in retrospect this woman was not really helpful in the least). so what she can do is check my bag out of the airport - like atlanta was my final destination. so i would have to go all the way out to the south terminal, collect my bag from baggage claim there and then i can go to the northwest check-in desk on the north terminal and sort everything out with them and THEN go back through security and to concourse D, where my flight was leaving from. in about 40 minutes.

there's a train which connects all these parts - atlanta is a BIG airport

so obviously my bag is not on the baggage carousel by the time i've gotten out there. and i wait for what seems like FOREVER for it. finally it shows up and i run over to the northwest desk (cut to the front of the line because i'm a FIRST CLASS customer) and the woman is like, "oh, it looks like you've already checked in for these flights". super. but now it's too late to check my big bag (which contains - GASP! - liquids larger than 3 oz.!) so i'm pissed, run over to security, which is not that long of a line, thankfully, and i start tearing through my bag to get the liquids out and squeeze them into my quart-sized ziploc - which now no longer closes. luckily i breeze through security with no hassles and then i'm back on the train for concourse E.

so i'm hustling to the gate and luckily there are still some people waiting in line to board. again, being first class i cut to the front, and get on pretty quickly. i plop down in my cushy, first class seat, and the flight attendant says to me:

"can i get you something to drink?"

yes you can.

okay, so that feels like plenty of complaining for today. if you can imagine, the trip back was worse.

safe and sound

2007-06-26T14:27:00.000-06:00

so i'm here!

i did have a sort of hectic travel day, but since i was a first class passenger i got to cut to the front of lines and drink for free. so far the weather has been great here, sunny every day, no rain. i'm working on my tan (it's the rainy season in costa rica - i haven't been to the beach in forever) so yeah. i'm here. trying to see everyone and get all the things i've been missing (cheese, all-day sunshine, target, lotions and potions that i understand the use of).

piratas del caribe

2007-05-28T17:04:00.001-06:00

so. my big plans for this weekend were to, in honor of my birthday, go to see the new pirates movie, go out for indian food, and maybe go dancing. who knew it would be such a project (well, i should have known, many things turn out to be a project here - such is costa rica, but i love it anyway).

so colleen and i head out around 1:30 for the 2 bus, 15 minute walk to this mall called the terra mall, which we had heard had really lovely, posh, rocking, reclining seats at the movie theatre. we were aiming for the 3 o'clock show. well. that didn't really work out. we were on possibly the slowest bus ever. so we arrived after the movie had already started. we thought maybe *maybe* we could get in before the actual film started (though i do really enjoy the previews). but the ticket guy told us that the show was sold out. our next option would be at 5 o'clock. which might have been okay, if we hadn't been planning on having dinner back in san jose. seeing the 5 o'clock would have put dinner at 8 or 9, and we were supposed to be meeting my friend jasmine.

so we decided to head back to downtown - to the mall san pedro and just see it there, in the non-posh, regular theater. well, naturally we missed the 4 o'clock show there. which was sold out. and again - the 7:20 show really cut into dinner. so i got my haircut (a mini-spanish adventure - i didn't have my vocabulary planned out ahead of time and there was a little confusion, but the girl spoke english. and another girl spent *seriously* about an hour drying and styling my hair. NEVER in my life has anyone spent that much time drying my hair. it was exhausting) and we went to meet jasmine for a drink before dinner.

well, that was the idea anyway. but there weren't really any non-old man bars near the restaurant. so we just went in, sat down, and had some drinks and appetizers for a while before we ordered dinner. the food was really nice, the waiters sang to me in japanese (i had a choice of chinese, thai, or japanese - it was an asian fusion restaurant). then we headed out with some world teach volunteers (my friend steve coordinates the program here) for some dancing. yeah! dancing! so we had a fabulous time dancing at this club called castro's until the wee hours. my merengue is improving tremendously (i didn't actually attempt any salsa).

so the plan was to see the movie on sunday instead. so i met jasmine at the mall at 3:20 to get in for the 4 o'clock. but of course, that didn't happen. instead we bought tickets for the 7:20 show and cruised around the mall for a little while. i bought a new pair of pants for work. we had some coffee and a snack. checked our e-mail. then we went up to get in line for our movie (we had seen some lines outside some other theatres earlier) around 7.

strangely there didn't seem to be many people waiting outside our theatre. until we were directed to the line - which ran nearly the entire length of the mall. so we waited. and waited. and waited. around quarter to 8 we finally got moving into the theatre. and of course there were no seats left that were together. so we sat across the aisle from each other. and the film FINALLY started at 8 o'clock. but it was worth it. :)

more costa rica

que triste! (an unfortunate weekend at the beach)

2007-05-21T15:50:00.000-06:00

so the weekend at the beach didn't work out exactly like i had envisioned... jasmine and i caught our bus at 2 and were on our way. there was a little rain - but that's to be expected, rain in the afternoon is sort of how "winter" goes here. we met colleen at the bar/restaurant across from the bus station in quepos as planned. we had a drink and then headed over to manuel antonio to our hotel.

when we found our hotel (we took one wrong turn, but didn't get too lost) it was pretty nice. plenty of space, our own bathroom, as ceiling fan (instead of a floor fan which would have caused some trouble when deciding where to place it so that everyone got some breeze). there was a restaurant attached for no fuss breakfast. we cleaned up from a long day of bus journeying and headed out for dinner by the beach.

had some lovely food and a few drinks (nothing crazy). sat around and enjoyed being near the ocean (though we could see it - because it was so dark - or hear it - because there was loud music coming from a couple of the restaurants nearby). ahhh... the beach.

so the next morning we were up sort of early (around 8:30ish). got our swimsuits on and headed out for some breakfast before hitting the beach. saw a deer (which was kind of weird - not really something i associate with costa rica), a monkey, and a hummingbird while we ate. and as we were finishing it started raining. so new plan, we would drop of some of the beach stuff and head into quepos to get our bus tickets back to san jose on monday. which we did. and then we got the paper and sat in the bus station restaurant for a while, had some more coffee, and read.

tucked inside my tico times were a bunch of little fliers. some for apartments for rent. and a couple for a spa treatment package. interesting... so we decided that since we had gotten rained out of our beach plans, we should get a massage and mud wrap instead. (and did i mention it was jasmine's birthday?). and the spa was called "the raindrop spa". so appropriate. so i had possibly the best massage of my life (but to be fair, i've only had like 4 other massages ever, so it might not have been *that* fantastic) and then we headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.

we decided to go to a restaurant called barba roja, which is on the hill above the beach and has amazing views, for some happy hour drinks and a little snack. luckily it had finally stopped raining. (now that it was too late to go to the beach). so we enjoyed some mango margaritas, some nachos, and the veiw. then we went back into quepos (we seriously rode back and forth between quepos and manuel antonio at least a million times) for dinner at escalofrio, a cute little italian place with brick oven pizzas (so delicious). a couple more drinks at monchado's and then back to the hotel.

next morning jasmine was going to catch a bus back to san jose at 9:30 (she has an afternoon class) and colleen and i were going to hit the beach for an hour or so before i had to catch my bus at noon. we got up and it was kind of sunny. we had breakfast at the hotel restaurant. walked jasmine out to the bus stop. then it started to sprinkle. then it started to rain. ugh. so after a short walk on the actual beach we went back to the hotel, packed up and headed over to quepos to catch our bus.

we did have a cat at the liquor store sighting before our bus arrived, but it wasn't wearing a dress, and i'm not even sure it was the same cat. looked like a new cat. so maybe next time i'm in quepos they'll be letting it wear the other cat's dresses. and i can get a photo. i'm being 100% serious here.

more costa rica

new job and back to quepos

2007-05-19T11:04:00.000-06:00

so. i know it's been forever since i've posted... but things are going well.

i've been at my new job now for a few weeks and i'm settling in nicely. my classes are good, it's taking a little time getting used to the new books and what kind of things i can do with the materials. but the students are nice. my classes are pretty small (between 4 and 11 students) and they're mostly pretty amusing.

i was observed yesterday by my boss... which was a little nerve-wracking (i don't like being judged...) so apparently i'm doing well except i need to work on my board organization, do more error correction, and circulate through the class more when they're working in small groups (he caught some of my students chatting in spanish, which i didn't notice - but to be fair this is my class of 11, and i'm only one person!)

i actually - technically - have saturdays off now. well, i was supposed to teach a kids class on saturday morning (which would have been my only kids class, and i wanted to teach kids. oh well). but on the first saturday of the new bimester at instituto britanico, it was the last saturday of the old bimester at centro cultural. which i had already told my new boss, so he was going to have someone cover my class for me. it was nick, one of the other new teachers, and apparently they loved him so much that now he is their regular teacher. and i have been moved to substitution duty. in theory that should mean that i have most saturdays off. but. my first saturday i get a call at 7 am (which i tried desparately to ignore, but they kept calling...) to come in and teach a class for someone. and then earlier this week i was informed that i would be covering a class for a teacher who had to go home for her brother's wedding today. well, i showed up, ready to go, got some coffee and headed to the classroom. and waited. for about an hour. none of the students showed up! so i corrected some papers i had and took off.

so now i have a little time to kill. i already bought myself a lovely pinto con huevos for breakfast. and i'm meeting jasmine (the other new teacher) at 1 and we're getting a bus to quepos to meet colleen for a couple of days at the beach. it's very exciting, i haven't been to the beach in forever (feels like - not since easter week in nicaragua!). also i'm hoping to catch a glimpse of the liquor store cat wearing her dress.

i'm currently trying to find a new place to live. colleen is leaving at the end of may and our place in rohrmoser (on the west side of the city) is pretty far from my new school (on the east side of the city). so a friend of a new co-worker is trying to help me find somewhere (he's a little strange, but he's teaching me how to salsa and merengue - which is so much fun!), and i've been e-mailing a girl from craig's list about sharing with her. so we'll see. i technically have my apartment until june 15th, so i have some time and plenty of people in san pedro (near school) who are willing to let me crash with them until i find something. no worries.

more costa rica

apagones

2007-04-27T15:57:00.000-06:00

so it all started last thursday... well, sort of. we lost power breifly at home. but not for too long. we packed up and headed to school for our evening classes. i had just got going when our director came around and told us that there was no water in the building and that for health and legal reasons we had to cancel class. okay, fine. so the next night i go in, ready to teach the exact same lesson from the night before (this class meets on tuesday, thursday, and friday evenings). we get about 15 minutes into the class - and the lights go out. everyone goes home.

saturday morning classes go fine. it was my day to bring my class to the computer lab. normally we have them do boring grammar exercises... but this is an advanced class and we're talking about conspiracy theories in the lesson, so i have them researching other theories. we're sitting there and there all looking up stuff, and another teacher asks me what they're doing. then she tells me that some people have a conspiracy theory of sorts regarding the blackouts. the last time there were nationwide blackouts was right around the time there was some big political something or other going on. and they've recently announced that they're going to have a referendum on cafta (the central american free trade agreement - which is called tlc here - not sure on the exact translation). hmmm. curious.

so in the paper we read (okay, so colleen read, i listened to her translation) that there have been some problems with energy and water for a while. they haven't had much water, which has slowed down the hydroelectricity production, and we were renting some power from panama, but they recently decided to stop renting to us. and then something happened with the water (thursday) and some sort of transformer or whatever blew up.

so. they were going to ration power, have scheduled blackouts for a while. and then a couple of days later they announced that they weren't going to do that, that some transformer or whatever (electricity vocab is clearly not my specialty) had been repaired and they were planning to bring some other thingy online as well. and then yesterday they changed their minds *again*. the blackouts are back on. so last night the power was out when i got to school. i had one student who was coming in early to make up an exam - which he took sitting next to the window in the dimming daylight. and then at 6 o'clock when the lights were still off class was canceled. again.

so colleen bought the paper this afternoon, which had a schedule in it for the blackouts. and apparently our school is scheduled to be out from 5-8pm tonight. which means our class will be canceled AGAIN. normally having no class due to a blackout would be kind of fun (and it was the first time it happened - we went out for some beers and had a good time). but this is the last week of classes. so really the students are supposed to be taking exams and doing their final interviews. PLUS i start my *new* job on wednesday, so i can't be making up classes at my old job when i'm supposed to be doing my new job.

oof. so in other news, i did go to my new school yesterday for a little orientation. i also met another new teacher, named nick. there's supposed to be a third new teacher - jasmine - and they're throwing a little bbq for us on sunday. so i'm kind of excited. i'm happy that the teachers at my new school seem to be interested in getting to know the new teachers (unlike my current school, where most of the teachers are costa ricans and therefore don't experience the same sort of settling in issues that foreigners do).

oh yeah, so my new word for the week: apagones.

blackouts.

more costa rica

photo 2: mystery device contest

2007-04-10T13:51:00.000-06:00

here's another photo that will maybe put the device in a little more context:

more costa rica

nicaragua wrap-up

2007-04-06T13:54:00.000-06:00

so our first relaxing day on ometepe island we decided to go to this natural swimming hole called ojo de agua (new picture at right). we took the bus... despite my disdain at the whole island bus system. after paying a dollar and walking through a cow field (very carefully) we arrived at the place. the water was kind of a greenish-blue and a little chilly. clearly the focal point of the whole place was the rope swing. a stream of young local boys were swinging off it. we just watched for a while then decided to try it before sitting in the sun for a little bit.

WELL. it was pretty awesome. and after sitting in our chairs for a little while longer we decided that we should try to take some pictures using the rapid fire picture mode on my camera. i was endlessly amused by the whole ordeal and we went on the rope swing many times - while perfecting the method of the shooting mode. such a blast. i was smiling about it for the rest of the day.

the rest of the day we just kind of chilled for a while. we chatted with a few other travlers - sara, tom, and barbara - who we ended up hiking the volcano the next day with.

ah, the volcano hike... well, they said it would be an 8 hour hike - four up and four back - which i was a little concerned about, as i'm rather out of shape. and it certainly was 8 hours. at first it was fine. a challenging hike, to be sure. but after about two and half hours i stopped having fun. the trail was, well, not very trail like. we were basically hiking up a narrow ravine with water trickling down and ankle deep mud. it was incredibly rocky and quite steep. on top of all that - when we got to the top, where there was a crater lake (this is an extinct volcano - the other on the island is still active), it was so foggy/cloudy that you couldn't even really see across the lake.

so i was not really thrilled with the hike. and i could barely walk when i got down (for like 2 days afterwards as well) and i was coated in mud. *sigh*

the next day we left the island and headed up to managua where we were going to catch our bus back to costa rica in the morning. managua was, meh, a city, not all that different from san jose. we sprung for a room with AC, TV, and our own private bathroom. ah, luxury. saturday morning we got up bright and early and walked (yes, the other feature of our "luxury" hotel was that it was less than two blocks to the bus station) to the bus station. another long day on the bus (but again - rather luxurious compared to our other bus adventures in nicaragua) and this time only 2 and a half hours at the border - and no standing in the sun.

arriving back in costa rica kind of felt like coming home. i was half expecting to see someone at the bus station holding a sign for us (man, do i love signs at airports/bus stations!). so home again, home again.

more costa rica

when are there too many people on a bus?

2007-04-03T15:12:00.000-06:00

answer: never. seriously. especially in nicaragua.

so after spending a lovely day and night in granada, cruising around granada (which i really liked) we got ready to head for the island of ometepe. we got ourselves together in the morning and made our way to the bus station. well, "station" is too strong a word. the buses for rivas left from the corner across the street from the gas station. no problem. however, due to a little confusion when trying to pay our bill at the hostel we arrived just in time to hop on the bus. all the seats were full and we had to stand and lean against the side of the seats. normally not a huge deal - but this was going to be an hour and half bus ride.

not a terrible ordeal overall. but we kept stopping and picking up more people. and more people. every once in a while someone would get off - but mostly we were just picking up more people. finally at one point the bus is kind of pulled over and the guy is shouting "rivas!" and waving us toward the back of the bus. so we jump out the back grade school bus emergency drill style and there´s a taxi driver waiting to take us to the port.

then we get on the ferry, which will take us to ometepe. again crowded, but not that bad. what did worry me was how interested everyone was with the life jackets. like grabbing one off the rack and holding it with them in their seats... so after an hour of sitting on a metal seat i was ready to get off the boat.

we get on the island and talk to these people at a hotel which the book says can make a reservation at this place near the beach. so after that's squared away we wait for the bus. it finally pulls up to the bus stop and we hop on a take a seat. and then we wait. and wait. for the next ferry to come in. at which point tons more people get on the bus. and finally we take off. the bus is pretty packed, but we keep picking up more people. lots of people.

it takes us nearly two hours to get to where were going. which is a bit surprising because it's not a very big island. but all the stopping takes a while. and then when we are a little farther away from the main town the quality of roads deteriorates rapidly. so not only are we going about 10 miles an hour the whole time and stopping to pick up more and more people, we are also dodging pot holes and swerving all over the road to avoid livestock.

by the time we get to our hotel i am so ready to get off of the bus. our room turns out to be fine, with a shared bath and a view of one of the volcanoes out the window. we take a little walk along the beach to santo domingo for dinner. and then a longish (about 25 minutes - even though the book claims it should be about a kilometer away) walk back home. we decide the next day will be for some relaxing and exploring. more later.

more costa rica

fronterra extravaganza

2007-04-01T20:46:00.000-06:00

so we woke up at the crack - no wait - well before the crack - of dawn this morning to get ready to leave for nicaragua. 3:15am. i actually felt surprisingly awake - but seriously, it's more like the middle of the night than the morning. we got ready, made some pb&j's and called our taxi. got to the bus station ¢4,000 poorer - even though normally this would have cost like ¢2,000. but it was the middle of the night. and for some reason our taxi driver came from another town. but whatever.

we got on our bus, which was well air-conditioned, and settled in. well, since it was the middle of the night (okay, well 5am i guess is the early morning) it wasn't actually hot. at all. so we spent the first part of our journey with goosebumps trying to get a little more sleep.

eventually we seemed to arrive somewhere. everyone got off the bus and got in line to get our "leaving costa rica" stamp. well. this line rivaled the line for space mountain on the busiest day at disney. it snaked back and forth through a dirt parking lot with no sun. we stood in this line for over 2 hours. sometimes there seemed to be regular movement. but other times it would just stop. for like 20 minutes. at one point we got excited that we might actually get the the shady portion of the line just before entering the building. but no. we were just out of reach and the line stopped for like a half an hour.

eventually we got through, having ruined all my careful tanning on the patio in the process. we found our bus and got back on. the driver collected all of our passports and $8. this was for the "entering nicaragua" portion of the border crossing.

so while we wait, colleen decides she's going to use the bathroom on the bus. she goes, but then comes back pretty quickly. apparently there was a big crap in the toilet. so we're waiting and the driver goes to the back - seems someone has told him about the poo - and berates the back of the bus - los banos son solamente para liquidas!!! the bathroom is only for liquids! then he gets off the bus and moments later comes back. carrying a big stick.

the nicaragua portion of the border crossing goes much easier. the bus driver gets all the passports stamped. all we have to do is get our bags out from under the bus and stand in a short line to talk to the customs guy. you show him your form and then you press a button connected to a modified stop light with only two options. red - you go inside to have your bags searched - or green - back to the bus. luckily colleen and i both get green.

getting all the luggage back on the bus ends up being a bit of a project as well. but we do discover that the bus can drop us off in granada instead of taking us all the way to managua where we would have to get *another* bus to granada. we arrive in granada at about 5pm. a very long day, for sure. all in all the whole border crossing extravaganza tooks us about four and a half hours. aye dios mio!.

but now we're here. we've had some dinner. some beers. we have a place to stay. free internet. and we don't have to work for a whole week!!

more costa rica

new and soon to be one and only

2007-03-28T17:18:00.000-06:00

so i have a new job. and when i start this new job, it will be my one and only job. and i'm guaranteed 24 hours a week (and that's full time for english teachers in costa rica). i will no longer be looking for second jobs like it is my job. so that's exciting. more exciting is that i will be seeing an increase in salary. instead of making a measly $5.50 an hour i will now be raking it in at the incredible rate of $6.00 an hour!!! i'll also get a foreign hire stipend of ¢84,000 a month - which rocks and i'll get two hours of free spanish classes every week.

so things are looking good. luckily this new school is running on the same bimester schedule as my current school - so i can finish out my term here (instead of leaving in the middle) and then start my new school straight away. they're also going to get me a work visa. which is a good thing. though i do kind of like the idea of *needing* to go on a mini-vacation every three months to renew my visa. but whatever.

the only bad thing is that colleen is leaving at the end of this bimester. she had always planned to go back to the states this summer for some weddings and to make a little money. but now it's looking like she won't come back in the fall. so i've got to find either a new roommate or a new place to live. that'll be a spanish adventure, for sure.

next week is semana santa - holy week - which means there are no classes. and since i need to get my visa renewed, colleen and i are heading to nicaragua for the week. we have a 10 hour bus journey this sunday, and then we are spending a couple of nights in granada. after that we are heading to the island of ometepe in lake nicaragua. the island is formed by two volcanoes. there was actually an article about it in the paper two weeks ago, and it looks pretty spectacular. we'll spend 3 nights there, do some hikes, see some ancient petroglyphs, and hang at the beach a little. i'm looking forward to it.

i'm not sure how internet connected this island is going to be, but i'll post a full report when i get back, and hopefully some pictures. oh - and also the answer to the mystery device contest. which no one won, by the way. :P

more costa rica

a first time for everything...

2007-03-16T17:22:00.000-06:00

so when i woke up on tuesday morning there was no power. i didn't actually realize it at first. the sun shines directly into the bathroom in the morning, and lights a lot of the apartment. it wasn't until i tried to put on the kettle for a cup of tea (we have an electric range) that i realized i wasn't just sleepy/stupid - the stove wasn't turning on. but whatever, not a huge deal. this is costa rica. the power goes out from time to time. i made a hot tap water cup of tea and got on with my morning.

by the time i left for work around 4pm the power was *still* out. that concerned me a little.

when colleen and i arrived home at 10:30pm and the lights were on in the hall and at our neighbors' - we were relieved. however, when we walked into our apartment the lights were STILL not working. then i started getting annoyed. we donned our headlights and grabbed what we could from the fridge - a little cold pasta, some leftover rice. we decided it was too late to call rita, our landlady.

so first thing in the morning colleen called her, and she sprung into action (she is actually very helpful). I, of course, was still sleeping at this time. Rita stopped by about mid-morning and we had a little chat. or maybe chat is too strong of a word. she talked and i mostly understood. i did manage to explain that we had *never* received any sort of electricity bill (the people downstairs are supposed to distribute them when they come). so she seemed to think that it was because of an unpaid bill.

so colleen gets home and we go out for lunch, since we've eaten all the cooked food in the house already. needless to say i was feeling a little annoyed. first of all with mail in general. seriously, important bills like electricity and telephone are just tucked into the gate or something. no envelopes, and there are no mailboxes. and in theory we could just go to the supermarket and pay the bills - but that only works if we have an old bill to present, so they know the account number (they don't really do mail, so sending checks doesn't work. you have to go to a supermarket or pharmacy and pay in cash.). so we couldn't exactly do that either.

i had to go to work, but colleen was going to be home and try to figure things out with rita. by the time i got home, the power was back. hurrah! cooking! hot water! rotting veggies and dairy products! so it turns out that our bill had not been paid for 4 consecutive months. last year. and obviously recently as well - since we never received a bill. but there you have it - i had my electricity turned off. though it wasn't really my fault. just an interesting life experience.

more costa rica

estoy enferma

2007-03-07T17:15:00.000-06:00

i'm sick. blah. with a cold, of all things! i've been sneezing up a storm, trying to keep after my runny nose, and hoping that i don't lose my voice. i keep thinking about going to the pharmacy and trying to get some medicine. but instead i'm rationing out the dayquil caplets that i brought with and sleeping (sort of) with tissues on my pillow. yuck. also, it comes and goes. i can't quite figure out why or where, but every so often i'll realize that i'm breathing just fine through my nose. or that i haven't sneezed in a long time. so far all i can figure is that it's worse when i'm trying to sleep!

so i am in the first week of our new bimester at school. and i'm only teaching at one school right now, my first one. my second second job kind of fell through for the moment... they only hire people with work visas, and they can only get people work visas if they are full time, and i could only work part time for them this bimester because i already said i would work here at centro part time. but next bimester i think i will have a new job and possibly be on my way to having a work visa! very exciting.

for now, with no visa, colleen and i are planning our border run for semana santa (holy week - the week leading up to easter) since we have no classes that week. we are looking to go to nicaragua, visit some beaches and whatever. should be good. i might even get paid half time for it! so that's all that's news for now.

more costa rica

where i live

2007-02-27T12:10:00.000-06:00

a few photos from our apartment... finally.

	this is our street. it's very quiet. there's a bus stop. not very exciting. but there you have it.
our living room. we've actually moved the furniture around a little bit. the one restriction is where the cable comes in for the television, so we're limited as to where we can put the giant hutch/cabinet thing on which the tv rests. so this is what we've settled on for now.
	here is our little kitchen. it has a microwave, which is more than we had in our place in quepos. it's not really set up that great either... i have a tendency to hit my head on the cabinets when i'm at the sink. and once i got a big bruise on my hip from hitting the counter when i stood up from crouching in front of the fridge.
a room so small it can really only contain my bed. oh well. it's comfy, but the window opens out onto the stairs outside the apartment and i can hear everything that goes on in the apartment across the way. everything. and there's a big closet. what more could a girl need...
	ah, the patio. the most exciting part of the whole place. the plants really make it a lot nicer. this is where i do most of my tanning - between the hours of 10:30 and 12:30. it's also nice to sit out there and get a little natural light even when there isn't direct sun. it's our only source of natural light in the apartment.

more costa rica

mystery device contest

2007-02-27T12:05:00.000-06:00

so here is a photo of a very common item in many costa rican homes. think you know what it is? submit your guess in a comment.

more costa rica

spanish adventures - waxing is fun

2007-02-10T14:04:00.000-06:00

so "spanish adventures" is the term that colleen came up with for something we do pretty frequently here. basically it's when you go out somewhere to accomplish some task that at home would seem easy and straightforward, but with the different language and culture becomes, well, an adventure. opening a bank account was an adventure. getting something at the pharmacy is an adventure. and yesterday i had a fabulous spanish adventure.

so living somewhere warm where i'm constantly wearing capris, skirts, and my bathing suit it seemed like a good idea to get my legs waxed. so i had that done before i left for costa rica. well, it was time for that to happen again, and so began my adventure. i had seen this sign in front of a salon that my bus drives by everyday that said (among other things) depilacion. which got me thinking. that nair cream stuff - that's called delapilatory cream or something, right? so that's kind of close, maybe they do waxing at this salon.

well, i tried to do some online research as to what the actual phrase might be in spanish (it's always best to know a few key words in any spanish adventure). what i came up with was hace encerar de la pierna? do you do leg waxing? so after procrastinating a little (because my spanish is crap, the adventures always require a little more guts for me than they do for colleen, who speaks pretty well) i set off to the salon. as i approached i saw there were a couple people inside and the gate was open. i walked by. about a block later, i turned back and headed in with my prepared speech: perdona mi espanol! pero, hace encerar de la pierna? (excuse my spanish! but, do you do leg waxing?) the woman replied no. blah blah solamente cabezas blah blah. (only heads - como se dice "blah blah" en espanol?). oh. okay. i had kind of suspected that this might happen. so i said: sabe donde...? (do you know where...?). well, she went on a bit of a run here, but what i got out of it was: derecho... carreterra... dos ceintos... a la derecha... estetica... (straight... the main road... 2 blocks... to or on the right... estetica...) so being the yes person that i am i'm going si, si, esta bien, gracias and off i go.

so up to the main road, i turn right, and i walk, looking for esteticas - which i've seen signs for before. so i walk and walk. about 4 blocks and no estetica. so i start thinking that maybe she had said to go left and it was *on* the right after two blocks. so i turn back and sure enough i eventually come across an estetica. i walk by. and then i walk back, examine the sign out front telling about all their services. i ring the buzzer and a boy comes out, lets me in and asks what service i want. i try to explain leg waxing - using some gestures - and he speaks a little english and understands. so he gets his dad, who also speaks a little english, and he tells me that yes, they do that, i would have to wait 30 minutes or so. no problem, my only other plan for the afternoon was to go to the supermarket. but then comes my favorite part - i ask cuanto cuesta? how much? he wasn't sure, so he had to call his wife. well, she tells him it's....

cinco mil.

5,000 colones. 10 US dollars. what???!!!! i try to act cool. okay, that's fine. inside i feel a little guilty, like i'm stealing. so i sit and attempt to read glamour magazine in spanish. and the dad tells the boy to show me some of the before and after pictures from the services they offer. so he's showing me all these pictures of peoples noses, and wrinkles, and butts... i'm not really sure why and i'm kind of wondering if i've signed myself up for something more than a leg waxing. but after i pretend to care how they've improved these womens butts for a little while he leaves me to struggle through the magazine. eventually the wife/mother shows up, and she speaks even better english. so she is the one that tells me what i should really be saying when i want a lex waxing - depilacion.

so eventually my lady shows up - liliana - and does a pretty good job (although i had a bit more wax residue on my legs than i usually have after a wax at home). so she is trying to learn some english and me a little spanish, so we sort of chat, and she gives me her phone number for next time. and at $10 a pop, i think i'll be a pretty loyal customer. sometimes it's pretty cheap to be a woman in costa rica. and sometimes spanish adventures are fun.

more costa rica

i might get paid maybe someday...

2007-02-02T16:57:00.000-06:00

so today i managed to successfully open a bank account. so i might actually get paid someday maybe. which would be exciting. although i have to admit there were two very important things that made my bank adventure successful: a letter from the school i work at that said "please open an account for ann so we can pay her" and the lessons learned from colleen when she opened her account 2 weeks ago. so i went in all prepared with my passport, my letter, and an electric bill to prove my address. i also knew that when she asked me solterra o casada? that i am solterra (single). *and* the most important thing - when she started babbling on about lunes and las dos en la tarde that was when i can come back to pick up my atm card (monday after 2pm). so good things. a successful spanish adventure.

so i am attempting to be more employed. i went to this language institute last saturday to say i was living in san jose and could i leave my resume. well to my surprise the girl asked if i wanted to speak with the director now. well sure. so i chatted with this guy for like an hour about the school and their system and what-not. he asked me to come back on wednesday from 11 to 1 for "training" - though i kind of got the idea it would also partly be like an audition.

so i went on wednesday and there was about 5 other people there too. a few ticos and an american boy. so we all kind of got the demo of how they run their classes and stuff. and then we were all asked to do a little demo of the system in the language we intended to teach (so there was some spanish, some english, and one girl was even going to teach portugeuse). so i was pretty good, i have taught before and i'm not afraid to look a little silly in front of other people, especially not strangers.

BUT. after we ran 30 minutes over the 2 hours (because this one annoying girl was being super nit-picky about some grammar thing - but they were talking in spanish and i actually kind of understood most of what they were saying - yeah me!) i still didn't know if i had a job. and how much i might be paid if i did have a job. they asked me to come back next wednesday for another training session, to talk some more about what they do in the more advanced classes. *sigh* so i'm going, but part of me is a little annoyed - i mean i feel like i'm jumping through all these hoops and they won't even tell me if i'm going to be hired and how much i would get paid. so i can't help but wonder if this is all a waste of my time.

other than that, not much else is going on. i had to conduct midterm interviews this week in my classes (which no one actually told me how to do). basically i was just supposed to ask them a couple of questions and make notes on how they speak in their responses. so i guess it went okay. but i still generally feel like i don't know what i'm doing. i'm grading writing assignments and giving interveiws and conducting classes whatever way i feel like. i know this place has lots of systems in place and ways of doing things.... but no one seems that interested in letting me know what those ways are. so i guess they can just deal with my crappy execution of stuff until they take the time to tell me other wise.

so colleen is kind of excited to do something for the super bowl this weekend (it is this weekend, right?). not that either of us care about football at all. but we just thought it might be fun to hang around with other people and watch something in english. does anyone know what channel the super bowl is on? or what time it's on? i'm sure we'll figure it out...

more costa rica

hebrew day school

2007-01-27T11:53:00.000-06:00

so i found this ad in the tico times (which is the english language newspaper for costa rica) for a teacher at an american school in rohmorser (this is the neighborhood i live in). so i e-mail my resume and later the same day the woman e-mails me back that yes, she is still looking for a teacher. so i call her, we play a little phone tag, and yesterday morning we actually spoke. she asked me if i could meet with her at 2pm that afternoon and i said yes.

it turns out that this is not just an american school, it's a hebrew school. in fact it's a school that one of the instructors in my TEFL course mentioned. but i haven't been scared off, it's not like i'm teaching in hebrew or about judaism - i'd be teaching language arts, math and science. plus the pay is supposed to be pretty good and i would only have to work monday through friday, 8am-3:30pm.

i was a little early just like she asked me to be - because she had another appointment a half an hour after mine. but i waited over 45 minutes for her to show up (15 minutes early, she showed up 30 minutes late).

then i actually started talking with her... she asked me about discipline and i said that i felt i could be strict when neccesary, that children need boundries (which was the right answer) but she went off on how sometimes you hear kids saying things they shouldn't and you might want to just pretend you didn't hear, but you have a responsibility to do something about it... and then she was on about the right and wrong way to do things: hold a pencil, write certain letters, etc. for about 5 minutes. oh yes, and then my favorite part - how teachers are supposed to look. traditional. the dress code is slightly different for the non-hebrew teachers (hebrew women are supposed to cover their collarbones, elbows and knees). shirts should be crewneck. elbows don't have to be covered - but the sleeve should go to nearly the elbow, no short sleeves. no pants. skirts and dresses only. and of course they must cover the knee (and she went off on how when she was growing up her mother always told her that they had to cover the knee even when you sit down, that was the real test). and you can wear open toed shoes, but only if you wear panty hose. because it's not right for teachers to be showing their painted toenails and whatnot. no visible tattoos (pretty standard). no more than one earring in each ear (because if you start letting more, then next it's nose rings and....)

so i was completely inappropriately dressed for this interview. i was wearing open toed shoes - and no panty hose (i don't even own any because i HATE them), capris, my yin-yang was sticking out, my shirt was too low cut (and really, it's not, it's just a v-neck, and cleavage is not really a problem i have), and i was wearing too many earrings.

despite all this she still seemed like she might want to hire me (she's pretty desparate - school starts on the first of february). but i don't want the job anymore. this woman is insane. and a complete control freak about the teacher image. and holding pencils. and really she hardly asked me a thing about myself. plus she's under the delusion that if she e-mailed my references on friday afternoon that they would get back to her by saturday evening. clearly she's delusional.

and obviously i'm not taking the job. i'm in town now to print out some more copies of my resume and drop them at a couple of language schools. but for now i remain under-employed.

more costa rica

at one week in...

2007-01-23T14:06:00.000-06:00

so i'm at a little over one week in right now, and i thought i should post a little update on how things are going.

so i am actually teaching a little bit right now. on tuesday last week (after i went into the school and they told me they didn't have any classes for me since the bimester already started) the director called and asked me if i wanted to take half of a monday/wednesday class because the current class had too many students. so i took it. i was a little freaked about teaching for 3 hours (though it's actually only 2 1/2 with the breaks) so i went in on tuesday night to watch someone's class. which was actually very reassuring. i got my books are started planning my first lesson.

then on wednesday morning the director called again - did i want to take a class on tuesday and thursdy nights? so i took that one too. so now i teach two classes - which meet twice a week - on monday through thursday nights. it's kind of fun. the students are nice. but there is tons TONS of paperwork... i have to fill out ongoing assesment sheets, grade writing assignments, schedule exams, sign this, and fill out that... it's a little much. and i'm still trying to get everything set up so that i can get paid (but not until february 15th - it's a 15th/30th kind of place)

in the meantime i'm not really doing a whole lot. partly because there's not a whole lot to do that i know how to find. i've been working on my tan - on our patio (and i use that word loosely - it's a room with no ceiling and 15 foot concret walls all around in the center of a block of buildings). and trying to figure everything out. i don't have to teach for the rest of this week, because there's some sort of conference thing that all the teachers (except me and colleen) are going to this week. so my big goal is to find some more hours at a different place. and to find a bar near our house. and maybe get a plant for our concrete bunker patio.

i am going to try to upload a couple of photos of our apartment maybe later this week.

more costa rica

palmares

2007-01-15T12:05:00.000-06:00

so i'm back in costa rica. had a very long day of traveling on saturday... because i used my frequent flier miles to get here, i had the crappiest schedule. i flew out of boston at 9am heading for detroit. i had an hour and a half layover there. then i flew to atlanta. where i had a THREE and a half hour layover. then i was finally on my way to san jose at about 6:45pm. we arrived at about quarter to ten and i was SO PLEASED that when i got out to the luggage carousel, my bag was already making it's way around.

so i had already arranged for this transport service to pick me up at the airport (not only is it easy, but it's cheaper than a taxi) and take me to the hostel i thought i would be staying at. but i had an e-mail from my friend colleen earlier that week saying that she had found us an apartment. it was too late to change my destination (and i think they will only take you to hotels) so i went to the hostel and immediately asked the guy to call me a taxi. i gave colleens directions to the driver and he took me to my apartment. :)

we live in a small apartment building, there are maybe 6-8 other apartments. there's a big living room, a decent kitchen, a patio (which is in the center of the block, so has no view, but does get sun and maybe we'll put a plant or something out there), a bathroom with real hot water (not the costa rican favorite - the thing that heats the water as it comes out of the shower head), and our two bedrooms. pretty nice.

so we slept kind of late sunday, then went out for breakfast and some exploring. had my gallo pinto con heuvos, which was so good (and much better than my own attempt at home). did a little grocery shopping. then colleen called a friend from work about this festival type thing that was going on. so it turned out that we had to cut our exploring short and go home and get some stuff together to head out to san ramon to go to this festival.

so the festival is not far from san ramon, in a town called palmares. it's hard to explain... it's kind like a state fair, but not. i mean, there are some carnival rides, lots of greasy food, little shopping stalls, apparently there was a horse parade last week. but along with those things there are also a number of bars/discos/clubs built on the site. massive places, with multiple levels. i think during the days there are also concerts.

so we got there late afternoon. we wandered around, went on a couple of rides. i had some thing the name of which i can't remember, but it was a hot corn tortilla smeared with sour cream, very yummy. then we chose a bar with a reasonable cover charge and started dancing. there was also a stage inside. sometimes there were just dancers on the stage. there was also a guy who had his body painted like a leopard dancing around with a black light and a giant infaltable ball. and another guy painted silver and wearing wings with a disco ball and flames shooting out from his wrists. very strange stuff. but the dancing was fun. :)

so we stayed in san ramon with colleen's friend (steven, who also works at the same place she does) and got up early this morning to catch a bus back to san jose. needless to say i'm a little exhausted, i've had a pretty intense weekend. and now i'm trying to get my bearings... i'm still looking for a job. there was the possibility that i could get a job where colleen is working, but i arrived later than she had wanted and so they had to shuffle and assign the classes with the teachers they had. not a big deal. so i'll be job searching and learning to navigate the city this week.

anyhow. i'm here now. write me e-mails!

more costa rica

the other beaches (more photos)

2007-01-06T22:46:00.000-06:00

so here are a bunch of photos from the beaches we traveled through and to after the course ended. (when in theory i should have been looking for a job).

	somehow this is the only picture i have of our house in quepos... i thought about taking some pictures when we first moved in, but never did. this is me the morning of our departure from quepos, still dressed from the night before, packing my bag and preparing to run to the bus station.
our first beach destination: montezuma. the building you can see (yes, the one right on the beach) is the hostel we stayed at. downstairs there was a restaurant and upstairs were the rooms. there was also a balcony area where we could sit and stare out at the ocean. before we found out that we could light fires on the beach.
	this is the waterfall we hiked out to see in montezuma. hike is maybe too strong of a word... there was a short path and then we were pretty much walking along the edge of this river/stream and climbing all over the rocks. eventually we came to this waterfall - which was beautiful and spent some time there diving off the rocks into the pool and just kind of chilling.
here we all are, camped out on the beach in front of our fire one night. this was before we had the brilliant idea to dig out these little recliner shapes in the sand and cover them with the sarongs. we also had progressively bigger fires. as you do.
	it may not look like much, but this was our super great snorkeling spot at playa ocotal. there was one beach (play ocotal) and another nearby beach (the name of which escapes me now) and between them was this rocky bit sort of jutting out into the ocean. there was this little sort of sheltered area where we got in. we saw a blowfish, some other crazy fish i don't know the names of, some stingrays... all very cool.
our last beach destination. since we didn't really spend that much time lying on the beach while we were at playa del coco (we were snorkeling and tooling around on the scooter), i spent a good deal of time in tamarindo trying to top off my tan. and here is one of the fabulous sunsets that finished off a day at the beach.

so very soon i'll be headed back to costa rica. though i'll be living in san jose and might not be able to get to the beach as often as last time, i'm still looking forward to it. i know everyone's been saying how mild the winter has been here in the northeast, but i've been freezing since i got back. in fact i'm shivering as a type. looking forward to more temperate climates. i may put up one more set of photos before i go... the couple days in the mountains and the volcano. but we'll see how the rest of my to do list goes...

more costa rica

our beach - manuel antonio

2006-12-23T12:08:00.000-06:00

so pretty much every saturday and sunday most of us went to the beach. and why not - just a 15 minute bus ride away is the town of manuel antonio - where there is a nice public beach and a beautiful national park. and it only cost 105 colones (about 20 cents) to get there. the ultimate cheap weekend trip. plus lots of beach side restaurants and bars with 2 for 1 happy hour specials. :)

	here i am surfing. it was my second attempt ever (i had tried it in hawaii too) - but it was a little bit different. in hawaii we were out kind of far and i actually had to paddle quite a bit and then was assisted with a little shove from the instructor. in manuel antonio we were about chest deep in the water and basically we were just lying on the boards and when the wave came the instructor would shove us off and tell us to stand up. kind of strange, but still fun. i definitely got more bruises on this attempt - but my arms and shoulders weren't as sore after.
this is one of the beaches inside of the national park. i actually only went to the park on one day (it cost $7 to get in!!!) during the whole time i was there. but the beaches inside the park were even nicer than the public beach. and the waves were a little gentler so you didn't have to swim out as far to not get knocked over while swimming around.
	this is the group that i hiked around the park with - left to right: ryan the lion (there was more than one ryan), me, lesley, mark, and matt. basically all we were doing was hiking through the trails and finding beaches. every time we found a new beach we stopped for a while, had a swim, sat in the sun, and then moved on to the next beach. i did get a little sore from all that hiking around - i'm clearly not in the shape that i used to be and it's been a while since i've done any hiking. but the beaches were worth it.
this is one of the animals that was wandering around the national park. i'm not really sure what it is. it kind of looks like a raccoon and lemur mix. i can't remember what it was called in spanish. but it's not something i'd ever heard of before. kind of weird.
	and here is a sunset on the public beach. what more can i say... :)

more costa rica

quepos pictures - for a start

2006-12-20T12:14:00.000-06:00

so we're finally up and running with the new computer at home. i've been going a little crazy trying to get my stuff all organized once again, but i've finally got some pictures ready to post. this first batch of pictures are of quepos, the town i was living in during my course.

this is the main street of quepos, such as it is... a pretty small town

here's a view of quepos from the road on the hill which leads to manuel antonio - the next town over, a much more touristy (and picturesque) place.

and finally some views of the coastline in quepos - not really nice for swimming or beaches though.

so more pictures to come. i'm trying to divide my time evenly between sending and uploading pictures, christmas shopping, figuring out my future, and spending time with my family. but hopefully in the next couple of days i'll put some more pictures up.

more costa rica

do you know the way to san jose?

2006-12-15T22:29:00.000-06:00

so i'm not technically in costa rica anymore, but i am currently without computer at home (it died a slow and painful death i'm told). just got back tonight and happened to have the opportunity to use someone elses... so i figured i'd do a quick little update while i have access.

so last i wrote it was beaches, beaches, and more beaches... and i think there was another one - we went to playa tamarindo and spent a few days there. it was actually a great beach, but it's a very touristy, very rich gringo area. we managed to find a hostel that was a decent deal, and well, everything is close to the beach. a lot of the restaurants were on the pricey side, but we had some good food and spent a lot of time at the beach working on my tan (and oh my am i tan now - jealous? all you pasty northerners? :P )

after tamarindo we headed inland to arenal volcano. it's the most active volcano in costa rica and it last had a major explosion in 1986, but it's also had some smaller explosions in 1991 i believe. so you can hike into some of the old explosion spots and every once in a while (at least twice during our hike) there is an actual explosion. though really all you can see in the daylight is the ash shooting up into the air. at night you can see the lava actually shooting up out of the top and starting to stream down the side of the volcano - it was sooo cool.

another cool thing about the active volcano is the hot springs it creates. we went to this place called bondi hot springs where they have all these different pools that are various temperatures based on which shoot off of the stream they come from. lots of fun. there was even a swim up bar - and pricey drinks.

after arenal it was a long journey back to san jose so that i could fly home. didn't really see or do anything in san jose, just had some food and went out for some beers.

this morning i woke up early (6am) to get a taxi to the airport. a long day of flights and airline regulation hassles and now i'm finally home. well, sort of. i'm at my nana's. and it's freezing. haven't taken my jacket off yet and we've been inside for the past 4 hours.

so my plan was to do a few posts over the next week or so and put some pictures up - but depending on when the new computer arrives... i don't know when that will be. but for now, i'm home. still trying to plan my future... possibly back to costa rica... who can say.

:)

more costa rica

muchas playas!

2006-12-07T17:02:00.000-06:00

we've moved on to a new beach town on the same peninsula (and yet nearly a 7 hour journey to get here) we are now at playa del coco. so far so good, it's really nice. last night was sushi night at this bar/restaurant. a little pricey (for costa rica, it was good prices for home) but sooo worth it. absolutely amazing.

today we rented a scooter and cruised around to some of the other beaches in the area - ocotal, hermosa, and panama. they're all pretty swanky places with lots of new construction and wealthier travelers. but nice beaches and a worthwhile place to sit by the ocean and have a mango daquiri. :)

might be hitting the local discotheque tonight - if it turns out to be cool. we've gotten in such a groove of going to the disco it seems like it's been forever. and there's this lizard lounge place that our driver yesterday reccomended.

so we're off to find some food - hopefully some nachos (though i've been craving a burrito and the only mexican place in town is closed down) and then maybe chill out on the beach to watch the sunset/moonrise.

i can hardly believe that by next week at this time i'll be getting ready to get on a plane to come home... a few more beach days and then off to arenal volcano, i think. :)

more costa rica

the mountain of zuma (montezuma)

2006-12-04T11:28:00.000-06:00

so the end of the course was a bit of a rush and everything was crazy. people were losing their minds (myself included) trying to get all their lessons planned and approved and making posters and visuals and oy vey. then there was all the paper work we needed to hand in.... but i'm happy to say that i finished the course, i have my certificate and a letter of reccomendation from the school. sigh.

had a bit of a crazy night the last friday. first there was our free graduation dinner - which was really good. mahi mahi and wine and champagne. then the plan was that a small group of us were going to do a little traveling together. actually the original plan was to go down to panama for a few days - boca del toro or something - and do some snorkeling. after that some of our friends were flying to equador and the rest of us were going to work our way back to san jose.

but then they weren't going to be able to fly out of panama, they would have to fly out of san jose. so it didn't really make sense to go all the way down to panama (a very VERY long bus journey) just to have to make the same trip back. so instead we were going to go south from quepos and hang out on the osa peninsula. and so that was the plan. until friday night after dinner about 6 hours before our bus was supposed to leave (at 5:30 am)

then we get to thinking - getting to the osa peninsula is still a lot of bus riding and still a long way back to san jose. so why not just go somewhere a little closer. so the new plan was to go north on the pacific coast to the nicoya peninsula, find some beaches, and do some snorkeling. and that bus didn't leave until 7:30am - so then the great debate, to sleep or not to sleep. it seemed to make a lot of sense not to sleep when the bus was at 5:30, but 7:30 seemed like it merited at least an attempt at a couple of hours. there were mixed opinions. so some of us stayed up and some of us opted for a little shut eye (can you guess which group i was in? the sleeping one).

however. as nice as it was to get a little shuteye we ended up sleeping past the 7:30 bus. oops. so we sent out a spy to find out when the next bus was - 10:30. no problem. a little more sleep, a long bus ride, and a ferry and we actually managed to catch up with the rest of our group. we all rolled into montezuma around 5:30pm and found a place to stay. after dinner we pretty much crashed out after the long travel day.

sunday we did a little (half an hour) hike to this waterfall near here - which was beautiful. we wandered on the beach, worked on our tans, and made ourselves a bonfire in the evening. the hostel we're at is actually right on the beach, so that's pretty much where we all meet up in the morning. today some of the boys are attempting to do some spear fishing. some local guy told them it might be possible to catch lobsters! if that actually happens i would be pretty happy. (i'm not holding my breath)

tomorrow some people are heading to the airport and the ones left will likely move on to some other beach. possibly to the arenal volcano and hot springs.

oh yeah. montezuma. that's where we are. :)

more costa rica

teaching practice - week 2

2006-11-28T11:10:00.000-06:00

somehow it seems like i had SO much to do last week... SO much teaching.... SO much preparation... SO much observing. but now that i'm in week two that doesn't really seem like the case. last week i taught a variety of classes. my first class was a group of mixed beginners at a local hair salon. they were a fun group and i think i was able to teach them *something*, though it was tough to know what kind of material to cover with a level like "mixed beginners". they actually turned out to be a little lower than i had anticipated.

my next two classes were both team teaching classes. there were things i liked about team teaching (sharing the workload, poster preparation, worksheets, etc) and things i didn't like so much (counting on someone to show up when you expect them to, not sharing the same vision of the class - plus i have some control freak tendencies). but i did work with two people that i actually like - instead of someone who *really* annoyed me, so that's something.

one class was a hi beginner class in which we had to teach - the present perfect tense. what????!!!!! how many of you reading this can explain to me the present perfect tense? now how many can explain that to people who don't speak english? we went for a grammer free approach, basically telling them the structure to use but not really explaining why. to be fair all of our "training" in the course has been about using there simple dialogue system and teaching beginners. never did we discuss the best way to get grammar points across. kind of annoying. but we got through it.

my second team teaching class was more fun. we taught present tense (a much easier concept) - like i'm running, i'm going to work, etc. we had lots of games and a really fun group of adults. it's the class i've probably felt the most confident about so far.

for the remainder of this week i'm teaching low beginners. and i observed another teacher teaching the class last night and they are VERY low beginners. so i've got to adjust my lesson plan a little - but i suppose it's unlikely that i'll run out of things to do.

can hardly believe this course is almost over.... on friday we have our graduation dinner and then saturday i'm off exploring. i'll most likely be traveling with some people i met on the course and doing whatever as opposed to trying to see the things i'm interested in. anyhow - will try to write at least once more before i'm off traveling and maybe a little more often when i'm on the road (no lessons to plan or teach).

more costa rica

beach saturday + beach sunday = no sunburn

2006-11-20T11:06:00.000-06:00

had a very successful weekend at the beach. :) after a marginally late night on friday (but not as late as last friday) i slept until about 11 on saturday and then caught the bus to the beach. lots of people were already there, even those who had been out later than me! so there was lots of lying around in the sun, some swimming, the more athletically inclined played volleyball and frisbee.

had a quiet night on saturday. went out for pizza at an italian place in town. it was actually really yummy pizza, nice light crust and fresh toppings. i only finished half of it so i took the rest home with me. sunday morning i packed up my leftover pizza in my bag and headed out for manuel antonio national park. met up with a couple others heading to the park on the bus.

i had been warned that when you get there the tide may or may not be up and you either have to wade through the water or pay some guy to give you a ride in a boat across. the tide was low, so we really only had to wade through a small stream to get to the park entrance. inside the park i was a little nervous about the sorts of wildlife we might encounter.... (i think you know what i'm getting at here) but there was no problems.

we did see some crazy raccoon kind of looking things (except they had really long tails), some iguanas (kind of creepy), a couple of monkeys, and a sloth. and besides the wildlife there were hiking trails and *stunning* beaches. basically what we did was hike for a bit. find a beach. go for a swim. sit on the beach for a while. have a snack. hike for a bit. find a beach..... :)

i had to do a little work last night for my first class today - which went okay. i was actually the first teacher of the first class today - which was not a big deal. i had a small class of 4 hair salon employees. my lesson was talking about time and making appointments. i think they were struggling a little in the beginning and i was trying to follow the "paradigm" lesson plan that we were supposed to use for our first class... so i think i could have been more helpful. but mostly i'm happy to have the first lesson done. i don't have to teach again until wednesday night so in the meantime i'm trying to get ahead on my lesson planning and observe some other classes.

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parlez-vous bruncajc?

2006-11-11T19:23:00.000-06:00

one part of our course is learning a foreign language using the immersion method (no english in class). and to make it fair for everyone (a lot of the other trainees already speak spanish, some quite fluently) we learned an indiginous langauge of costa rica called bruncaj. i have to admit that having taught using only the target language in class (in japan we used only english - lucky for me since my japanese was rubbish) i had no idea how difficult it was. though to be fair - i never NEVER would have taught so much and such complex vocabulary and sentence structures as we were taught in bruncajc.

but i suppose that was not really the point. we had to write a little essay about the experience (three lessons in all) and how we can apply what we discovered about being a student to being a teacher. but all i could think was - i wouldn't make it so hard! and i would certainly do some review each day of some basics. after 3 days of bruncajc i cannot even say "my name is..." because we never went over it again after the first class. but at least it's over now.

we have another full week of classes next week and then teaching practice for the two following weeks. already it feels like we've been in this course forever, but at the same time one week done seems like a lot.

in non-school news, a bunch of us went dancing at a discotheque last night. i was so excited - as my friends at home (and yes, i love you all dearly, but still) never (or rarely, in some cases) want to go dancing. we had a blast and stayed out dancing until 4:30 in the morning. but the best part of the whole night - the disco is the one place in town that our house is actually close to! so we had a nice short walk to our beds after we exhausted ourselves on the dance floor.

today was a pretty chill day. i had planned to go to the farmer's market and do my laundry. but i slept past the farmer's market (it closes at 1pm, which is when i got up). and after i putzed about my apartment for a little while i didn't get to the laundrymat until 3:30 and the woman said i did not have time to do any laundry. so i washed a couple of things in my sink - which may or may not be dry tomorrow - and will have to drop off my laundry on the way to school on monday.

beach day tomorrow, hopefully i won't burn to a crisp. i intend to use sunblock. but we'll see. also i get my second chance at surfing.

more costa rica

escuela

2006-11-07T19:08:00.000-06:00

so i've now completed 2 days of school.... and so far so good. the first day our morning was filled with orientation and getting to know the other trainees (there are about 20 of us). there are some pretty cool people here. but wait - it's been days since i posted.... let me tell you about my apartment:

it's actually pretty big. we have a kitchen (but no microwave, which is kind of annoying) a small dining area, a living room (and a tv that gets NO channels, very useful). then there are our rooms - four of them (but our 4th roomate never showed up, so we have one empty room), and two bathrooms. we're basically in a one floor home. the big downfall is that it's FAR. from town (about 10-15 minute walk) and even farther from school (25-30 minutes saunter - there's a steep hill, so we're sure not going to be power walking).

the first couple of days have been fun, some of it is stuff i'm kind of familiar with from my teaching stint in japan, and some of it is completely different. we have basically been focusing on teaching theory and a simple type of lesson plan that we are supposed to use for at least one of our practice teaching classes. so for the first two weeks we are in class from 9:30 to 5. but for the second two weeks we don't have to come to school at all - we have a schedule of classes that we are supposed to teach (offered free to the community) and observe.

i'm actually quite excited because TEFL International is throwing a little event for us this weekend, which will most likely be a little bbq on the beach with surfing lessons and stuff (it's not confirmed yet). and when we finish the course there will be a graduation dinner - free food and champagne is the word on the street. sounds good to me. three of my favorite words: free. food. champagne. :)

being the end of the rainy season the days are mostly pretty sunny, but it generally rains in the afternoons or evening. which is fine - i mean, it's hot and the rain is nice. BUT. the streets are such crap that we're sort of navigating small rivers and mud trying to walk around. but maybe by the end of the month the rain will let up some. i'm starting to look a little tan - just from walking around. but i'm hoping to get some real color starting this weekend when we're at the beach.

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yes i am the highly suggestible type

2006-11-04T17:45:00.000-06:00

so last night as i was preparing to cook myself some mini-cheese quesadillas in the hostel kitchen the guy from the front desk came out and said those magic words i've been waiting to hear "your luggage is here". so fabulous. so now i have all my stuff - and an extra toiletries that i bought before the bag showed up. plus the mini-cheese quesadillas were fabulous and then we all watched LOTR the two towers.

this morning i slept late (sort of - at least i wasn't waking up all through the night trying to make sure i didn't miss my morning bus like i did the night before) and then went out in search of some breakfast. i was pretty proud of myself - i ordered and conversed with the waitress *all in spanish*. here's our conversation:

chica: que quiere?
me: gallo pinto con huevos (this is rice and beans with eggs - a typical tico breakfast)
chica: huevos revueltos o fritos?
me: revueltos (i looked this up before i went to the restaurant - it means scrambled). y un cafe
chica: con leche?
me: si.

coffee with milk!!?? you might be asking incredulously. i drink black coffee if you didn't know. and yes i am the highly suggestible type. in fact when i was in san jose my first night i had an empanada and a coffee from this little diner next to my hotel. and after she poured my coffee she got me a spoon, opened the sugar jar, and put the spoon in. so i dutifully scooped some sugar into my coffee and stirred.

when my food came i put some of the hot sauce that was on the table on my eggs. i don't know why. it's not something i normally do. it might have been because the side of the jar said (in english) "keep away from the hands of small children". i thought that was pretty amusing.

i went down to the beach and wandered through the market (but didn't buy anything) and then i sat by the water for a while. i don't know if i've mentioned, but the weather is FABULOUS. it's warm and it hasn't rained at all today (this is the tail end of the rainy season). this afternoon i went on a mission to find my apartment where i'll be staying during the course. tonight i'm thinking about making nachos.

more costa rica

turbulence

2006-11-03T17:20:00.000-06:00

turbulence has been a pretty major component of my trip so far... the flight from atlanta to san jose was probably one of the bumpiest i've ever been on. i don't know if it has to do with flying over the carribean or if it just happened to be a bumpy day. and then today my shuttle bus from san jose to quepos was majorly turbulent. and i've made it here safely, despite the scary, scary bridges we drove over on the way.

however, my luggage is still not here.... the man in the office said that they called earlier... but he is presently trying to find the message. hopefully it's good news. if not i'm going to have to go out for some toiletries tonight.

it seems much warmer in quepos - which is nice, since i was a little chilly and unhappy in my room in san jose last night. and we're close to the beach, which is always nice. the hostel i'm at is nice. when the shuttle guy dropped me off there was a sign on the gate that said "warning, big dog" or something, but when i came in the gate there he was.... passed out in the middle of the walkway. and now that he's been awake, he is so not warning worthy. plus there's a couple of other dogs about and a nice big courtyard area.

not sure what is in store for tomorrow, but the day after i'll be moving into my apartment for the course - so it'll be nice to sort of set up shop in one place instead of staying in the dorms... more tomorrow.

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getting there (is not fun at all)

2006-11-02T18:12:00.000-06:00

so i'm here. and it's been a very VERY long day for me. probably because i decided it would be better to not go to bed at all than it would be to go to sleep sometime around midnight and then wake up at 3:30 in the morning. so after a relaxing evening of watching tv and lounging with my cat we took off for the airport around 4am.

i was there in plenty of time (2 hours early? please, i can't really think of when i've ever needed that much time). i wandered around with my dad until it seemed like the right time to get into the security line. i mangaged to time it quite well and had just enough time to get through security, walk the long, long way to my gate, rest for a few minutes and board the plane.

our flight was practically empty - which was great. so i stretched out and got a little shut-eye. however. we got into atlanta nearly a half an hour late - which really cut into my 45 minute layover. so i had to do a little early morning jogging and barely made my plane - and the flight attendants informed me and the other 4 late-comers that they might have left already if there hadn't been a problem with the smoke alarms.

so late to atlanta, late to san jose. and then i waited and waited and waited for my bag to be dumped out onto the baggage claim belt. and i waited some more. then there was an announcement for passengers who had arrived by way of boston and atlanta should go to the desk. our luggage had not arrived. *sigh*

so thanks to a lovely tourist info desk girl i managed to contact my interbus company (which was supposed to collect me at the airport and then take me to the spot i would get my bus to quepos), explain what had happened, get some information on the place i was going to stay in quepos, and re-book me for tomorrow morning's bus to quepos.

so for tonight i'm still in san jose. at some random hotel reccomended by the interbus people. hoping i can find some dinner without having to try to hard. and then laying on my bed and watching some spanish tv.

hopefully tomorrow i will be a little happier and nearer to the beach!!!!

more costa rica

quepos, costa rica

2006-10-31T13:48:00.000-06:00

thought i'd just post a little about the town i'll be in - at least for my initial training - quepos. from let's go costa rica 2003 (yes, a very old version, which i bought used and cheap since the new version will come out just after i arrive and there was no point in buying a full priced version that will be out of date in a month):

"three and a half hours south of san jose, the city of quepos is one of the central pacific's most well-trodden destinations, not so much because it has anything of real interest to see, but rather for its proximity to tourist-magnet parque nacional manual antonio and the dozens of tour operators who run adventure trips into the raging rivers and wild mountain terrain just outside town."

so a quiet town near (expensive, i hear) adventure travel. mostly i'm hoping to come back at christmas time with a tan and to be a slightly better surfer. oh yeah, and be certified to teach english as a second language. :) i'm very excited about my trip and if i manage to meet some people half as cool as the people i met teaching in japan, then it should be a great time.

in 48 hours from now i should have actually touched down in costa rica to begin my adventure. buen viaje!

more costa rica

hang loose redux

2006-10-20T10:26:00.000-06:00

i've long since recovered from the frustration of losing my post at the shipboard internet center... and i'm not really 100% sure of what i was planning on saying anymore. so instead i'll just post a few more pictures from hawaii as a reminder to "just hang loose".

towards the end of the cruise there was a shift change for some of the crew. and we finally got a cabin steward who knew how to make towel animals. which of course is one of the more amusing things about cruises. we also got a bunny. but out of a 7 day cruise, 2 towel animals does not an extra tip earn.

the zipline in kauai was probably one of the cooler things i've done in my life. here's meg en route across the zipline. the guy in the blue shirt works for the zipline company. but he was once a mere vacationer who never went home and found this job. he's my hero. plus he's from nashua and says he would like to open a zip course in north conway someday. i'm so there. :)

on the last day of the cruise we did some "scenic cruising" past the napali coast on kauai. which was amazing and beautiful. and perhaps due to the proximity of the bar to our viewing spot on deck i took about 100 pictures that all look relatively the same. but none-the-less it was cool.

the sunset on waikiki beach. sadly it's never really an *amazing* sunset in hawaii because as the air gets cooler the clouds pretty much always move in or something. so no crystal clear sunset, but still really nice.

hawaii is definitely somewhere i could see myself being happy for a while. it's beautiful, warm, there aren't any of those bad things that i hate, and the people are nice. but alas - i'm off to costa rica in less than 2 weeks. hopefully i have a similar reaction... and hopefully my spanish improves.

more miscellaneous

maui wowie (but not what you're thinking)

2006-09-19T21:55:00.000-06:00

today was our second day in maui. it's been absolutely amazing, so beautiful. yesterday we took a trip to molokini, which is a crater island off one of the volcanoes of the island. from above the island has a crescent shape which shelters a great spot for snorkeling. we spent the morning exploring this spot and we have tons of photos.... which unfortunately are on the underwater camera and therefore NOT available for our immediate viewing pleasure (who knew digital cameras would make me so impatient?).

turtles!

after we left molokini basically we did some cruising around. and our pal captain doug opened up the bar.... the open bar.... :) i managed to ruin my careful tanning system by standing on deck in my suit drinking free vodka cranberries for a couple of hours... but what are you gonna do? we did get to see some turtles swimming near the boat - above is my best picture (which is admittedly not that good).

maui downhill bicycle

today meg and i did the downhill biking safari. now many of you might know how i feel about bikes.... for those of you who don't - i don't like them. living in japan and riding my flippin bike to work every day sort of turned me off of them. but this was an opportunity to ride a bike down a VOLCANO. (almost) no pedalling required. and the views were amazing - they said we had one of the clearest days that they've had in a while. but it was still a little bit scary.... careeening around those hairpin turns... trying not turn too far left (into oncoming traffic) or too far right (over the edge). it was exhilarating and beautful and i'll never do it again.

i'm quite excited that tomorrow i will try surfing for the very first time. i imagine in my mind that i will be quite a natural at surfing and possibly join the pro circuit in leiu of a traditional job. but we'll see how that goes. my immediate goals is to not get too badly sunburned the day before my massage. :)

more miscellaneous

aloha cousins!

2006-09-17T17:59:00.000-06:00

i am in hawaii, cruising like a millionaire (except that i'm staying in one of the practically underwater cabins, but whatever) and having a blast. :) today is our first full day on the ship and we are docked at hilo on "the big island".

we arrived in hawaii on thursday evening after a long LONG day of traveling (i had two stopovers, the rest of my family only had one). it was all we could do to stay awake through dinner (hawaii is 6 hours behind the east coast). but i did make one great discovery at the ubiquitous "abc" stores (there's one about every block in honolulu) - they carry onigiri, which are these fabulous japanese snacks, basically rice and some sort of filling (salmon, tuna...) wrapped in seaweed and absolutely delicious.

waikiki at sunrise

friday morning was probably the earliest i've ever woken up on vacation... i was awake from about 3 or 4 am - dozing when i could. but we all got up and decided to head down to the beach for sunrise. unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the island to actually see the sun rising up over the ocean, but we still had a nice view of waikiki and diamond head.

we hit the beach pretty early and started the tanning (burning) process. i'm happy to say that i'm NOT sunburned (yet) and am well on my way to a deep, dark hawaiian tan (hopefully). by noon time we were pretty much done on the beach (we were there by like 8am) so we had some lunch and did some relaxing.

germaine's luau

friday night we went to germaines luau. basically a huge buffet of traditional hawaiian foods - such as the roast pig and poi and lomi-lomi. then there was a fabulous show of many different kinds of island dances. we saw some from hawaii, tahiti, new zealand (who knew?), and samoa. oh, and did i mention the drink tickets? ;P tropical (and your average run of the mill drinks as well) drinks and both meg and i purchased the souvenir germaine's glass (which only cost one ticket to refill - the same as the little cups). good times had by all.

saturday we hit the honolulu zoo which was nice. and then it was down to the port to board the ship. our rooms are actually really cute and the beds are super comfy. this morning i even woke up at a somewhat normal time (not normal for me, but there are people who wake up at 5:30am, right?). so before i know it i'll be on hawaii time... and looking tan like a native... maybe...

more miscellaneous

my first day of unemployment

2006-09-05T14:01:00.000-06:00

and AWWWW YEEEAAAH it feels good to be unemployed. :) well, more truthfully, it feels good to not be going back to that particular job... i do realize i will have to work again at some point. but still. for now, i'm pretty happy.

two months from now i'll be starting my teacher training course in costa rica. it's meant to be pretty intensive, so in the meantime i plan to get myself organized as much as possible. relax as much as possible. study up on some english grammer. and possibly take on some temp work after i get back from hawaii.

for now i'm reading through my let's go costa rica (which is 3 years out of date, since, irritatingly enough, the new version will come out just after i leave for CR - grrr), flipping through my costa rican spanish phrase book, and thinking about starting to listen to my spanish cd's. i'm also thinking about taking a spanish language course down in CR after i finish my training course. it makes sense, since i'm intending on staying for a while...

anyway. i'm sure these two months will just fly by, so if i don't call you, you should definitely call me. :) more later.

more costa rica

scotland photos

2006-07-29T11:24:00.000-06:00

here is but a wee sampling of the photos i took in scotland... i may have gone a little crazy, but i love castles and stone buildings.

	edinburgh castle. this is just one of about FORTY photos i took of the castle. most of them nearly identical to this one. i just love how it's perched on the cliffs. and the sun is shining in this one. not that it rained every day... just most of them (at least a little).
william wallace cow - there was some sort of art cow exhibition going on all throughout edinburgh. everywhere you went there were cows, painted with maps on them, painted to look like a feild of flowers, etc. they were everywhere. some of them were cool, but this guy was by far my favorite: perched high upon mercat cross in front of st. giles cathedral. william wallace. cow.
	edinburgh palace - i didn't actually get to go in to the palace. the day we went down there it was closed off for some kind of award ceremony. i couldn't even really get a good photo. this one is the view of the palace from the top of calton hill.
greyfriars bobby - at first i thought this was such a cute little statue. and the fact that he had his own bar (pictured behind the statue) was kind of cool. but the (abbreviated) story is that after his master died he stayed by his grave until he also died (which was a long time after). such a cute story. and a cute statue... i was mildly obsessed.
	me and jill at uruqhart castle on loch ness - since we were at loch ness with jill's parents, i have lots of pictures of the two of us there. it turned out to be a beautiful day after we waited out the rainstorm that began on our way to loch ness.
uruqhart castle - so amazing. of course i love castles. and even though this one is pretty skeletal (though not compared to elgin castle), it is probably my favorite that i saw on this trip. plus there are lots of stories about saints and picts and crazy highland folk. such a cool place, and all on the edge of the famed loch.
	elgin cathedral - i'm told this cathedral was the reason that elgin was granted city status, though it's not so big a place. it's quite old and it was destroyed not by some large enemy, but by some feuding scotsmen. watch out - they're a wild bunch. i just wish they had restored some of the stained glass...
rosslyn chapel - of da vinci code fame. i was fascinated to see this place, which the book describes as being filled with intricate carvings and varied pre-christian, christian, and masonic symbols. it really was quite cool, and though filled with tourists (some of the annoying and irritating variety) i had a good time. took many pictures, none of which really do the place justice.

more scotland

como se dice "rich coast" en espanol?

2006-07-26T14:52:00.000-06:00

ooh! wait! i know this one!! costa rica!

that's right. i'm off to costa rica this fall. many of you may have heard me talking about this for a while now... at first it was just an idea, then i was seriously planning on it, then i applied for a job in portsmouth which i thought i would get, but i didn't, and so now, i'm going to costa rica again. (and if you didn't know before, i think you may have noticed that i have decision making problems)

it's been a bit of a struggle to get everything settled... but i've signed up for a TEFL certificate course (that's Teaching English as a Foreign Language) - so in theory i should actually know what i'm doing this time. there was a lot of confusion with trying to make my payment online, and for some reason one card didn't go through, but the other did... anyhow, i've been putting off this post until everything was settled. and now it is. :)

so needless to say, i'm very excited about all of this. but of course there are lots of loose ends to tie up before i go... so i'll write more later.

more costa rica

bits and bobs part 2

2006-07-20T15:48:00.000-06:00

loch ness and nessie
i was very excited at the prospect of spotting nessie gliding through the famed loch ness waters... and after the rain cleared i had many opportunities to gaze out at the water from the ruins of uruqhart castle. but in the end i was surprised by where i managed to spot nessie:
and
i also spotted nessie outside of a large gift shop and strapped to a raft near a loch cruise dock. apparently he gets around. otherwise i would be selling these photos to the tabloids.

men in skirts
i don't know what it is... there's just something about men in kilts that i find very attractive. (not really a fan of the hats these boys are wearing in my photo... but still) and lucky for me there was some sort of award ceremony going on at the edinburgh palace. so while jill and i strolled the royal mile we passed many good looking young boys (and some older guys as well) sporting their kilts. :) makes a girl smile.

the perfect close to my trip since i started out my trip with hassle on my amsterdam to edinburgh flight, it's only fitting that i end my trip with more flight hassles. i arrived in london for my 2 hour layover without issue. i bought myself a magazine (that came with a free bathing suit - yes, seriously) and i sat down to read a bit while waiting for my gate number to be posted on the departures screens. when the gate was posted i gathered my belongings and made my way to the gate. it was a bit of a hike, but i didn't mind since i knew i would be sitting for the next 6-7 hours. as i neared where the gate was i saw a large mob standing off to one side. i breezed past them and to my horror - they were waiting to get in to the same gate i was looking for. *sigh* i took myself to the back of the queue and waited patiently. after standing in line for nearly 30 minutes (and our departure time fast approaching) i was finally through to the waiting room (after having my matches taken away from me, which i packed only because lighters are not allowed). it was exactly 30 minutes before our departure time that we were allowed to walk down the hall... at the end of which there was, not a plane, but a bus. we piled on to buses and rode for nearly 20 minutes (no exaggeration here) to our plane. it was one of those gigantic double-decker planes capable of carrying 5,000 passengers (probably a little exaggeration here...) - and it took well over an hour to get the rest of them from the terminal to the plane. not only that, but i was seated next to this surly american girl who was just angry about all aspects of the flight (okay, so i was annoyed as well, but it was a resigned annoyance, i wasn't trying to get anyone to comiserate with me). luckily i got to eat lovely food (chicken and penne with creamy broccoli and mushroom sauce) and watch good movies (failure to launch and lucky number slevin).

i'll probably post some pictures in a few days - i took like a million.

more scotland

bits and bobs part 1

2006-07-13T19:08:00.000-06:00

since i didn't get many chances to post while in scotland, i decided i would just tell a few short little stories:

royal pain in the arse airlines
or sometimes also called "royal dutch airlines" - KLM. after an overnight flight where i never really slept (like i said before, there were good movies) i had a short flight with them from amsterdam to edinburgh. well, it should have been short. we were all put on the plane, which wasn't very crowded. i had an empty seat next to me and an emergency aisle, the responsibilites of which were explained. then we waited. the captain came on and announced that there were low clouds in edinburgh, which meant that they didn't want planes coming in too close together. so we would be delayed about 30 minutes. we were served juice and pretzels. then we began to pull away from our gate. but before we got too far the captain came on again. this time there was a problem with the electricity on the panel. so we pulled into another stand and waited for the electrician to come on board and check it out. so we waited. eventually some repair was made and we were ready for takeoff *again*. but then.... the captain came on *again*... and due to the weather in edinburgh we wouldn't be able to takeoff for another 55 minutes. fortunately we actually got to take off this time, i was sure there were some surly businessmen who were near mutiny. and my concern was that i had no phone number to call jill and let her know even if i did have a phone (which i didn't). but when we arrived in edinburgh 2 and a 1/2 hours late she was still there. what a peach. :)

monster mash
after a couple of days at less than my normal (giant) appetite, we went to monster mash for dinner on friday evening. and it was sooo good, especially on a cool and rainy night. basically a british diner, the specialty is sausages and mash. there were sausage specials for the day (and vegetarian sausage specials as well) and mashed potato specials. one of the sausage specials was a beef, ale, and stilton sausage - which both jill and i got. then you pick your mash - plain mash, mash with spring onions, mash with neeps (turnips). i chose mash with spring onions. the final step - gravy - i went with the classic gravy. when they brought this food out i was completely enamored with monster mash. a giant bowl of mashed potatoes - giant like i would make for myself when i'm at home and eating nothing else for my meal - topped with my two sausages, and a pitcher of gravy on the side. once i dug in, i knew it was love. monster mash and i were meant to be. a truly perfect meal on an slightly cool summer night. after the short walk back to jill's flat it was all we could do to sit on the couch and have a cuppa tea. soooo good.

castles
i do love castles. and really, stone buildings in general, which edinburgh is filled with. my first glimpse on this trip was of edinburgh castle at the top of the royal mile (literally the mile long road between the castle and the palace). i snapped a quick photo while some fellas in kilts marched about. the first castle i went in was on loch ness, urquhart castle - if you can really call it going "in". maybe explored is a better word. but anyway, what remains of the castle sits on the banks of loch ness and is quite beautiful (minus the tour groups milling around). then there was elgin castle. or rather the spot where elgin castle once stood and now lies a pile of stones and a tall monument. but a nice view of the town. i spent part of my last full day in scotland wandering through edinburgh castle, which compared to my other castle sightings on this trip is very well maintained and dramatically perched on a now extinct volcano. i was actually a little obsessed, taking millions of photos of the walls coming right up out of the cliffs. so cool. (pictures coming soon)

more scotland

the haggis experience

2006-07-08T15:55:00.000-06:00

so this morning we rose bright (seriously, at 7am!!!!) and early to catch the bus to inverness, north of edinburgh. we were collected at the bus station by jill's mum and dad and took off to loch ness. the weather was a bit rainy, but we managed to get some sunshine while we explored urquhart castle on the banks of the loch.

i have a few nessie sightings caught on film, which i'll share later when i get my camera hooked up to the internet. and loads and loads of pictures of the castle itself (i'm a bit obsessed).

we had a little nap on the ride back to elgin (and got a little bit of a sore neck) and when we arrived the dinner started getting prepared... a traditional bit of dinner... haggis, neeps, and tatties...

truth be told it was actually really nice! even though i had read the ingredients to haggis in the supermarket (not a nice image) it was very, very tasty. you don't really eat the intestine wrapping, you just kind of scoop it out. it's like a pile of minced meat. and there's oats in it, it's spice very nicely. i really, really enjoyed it (which was a surprise to me - i did intend to try it, but i never imagined i would like it). the "neeps" were not so good... (that's turnips) but i can never say no to "tatties" (potatoes). if you ever have the opportunity to try it, i highly reccommend. just don't think about it too much.

so tomorrow we'll do a bit more looking around elgin, and traditional roast lunch. then we're back to edinburgh for a scary ghost tour in the evening.

more scotland

my favorite letter is RRRRRRRRRRR!

2006-07-07T07:02:00.000-06:00

got to see the new pirates movie last night. which was very exciting, and of course is sort of jill and mine's film. (we were a bit obsessed in japan - how can you go wrong with johnny *and* orlando?) we got to sit in the posh "gold club" seats. :) all in all a very exciting evening.

yesterday seemed like my first real day in edinburgh, since my plane arrived 2 and 1/2 hours late on wednesday, and i was in despareate need of a nap.... there were some good movies on my transatlantic flight... i never actually got to sleep.

so thursday we got out bright and early (around 1pm) and did some wandering in edinburgh. walked the royal mile, which is the road between the palace and the castle. saw the castle and the palace (from the outside only....) saw a man dressed as william wallace taking photos with and axe and tourists.

it is really a lovely little city, which jill claims is easy to navigate, but i don't quite agree. everytime i think i know where we are or where we're going i find that i am mistaken. but i do keep ending up at places i recognize, i'm just not sure how we got there.

so for the weekend we're going up to elgin, where jill's mum and dad live, for a visit. i think we'll also go to loch ness. and i may be treated to a meal of "haggis, nips, and tatties" (which is haggis with turnips and potatoes). i'm wiling to try the haggis, but i'll have to say no to the turnips....

i think our plans for the rest of today involve a bit of shopping and more likely than not some food. :)

more scotland

leaving tomorrow, and more to come...

2006-07-03T17:39:00.000-06:00

so tomorrow i'm headed to scotland to visit my fabulous friend, jillian, and see the lovely city of edinburgh.

my goal is to actually post a few times while i'm there (i'll be away for a week). but as of late i've really hated everything i've written for this site (hence the lack of posts), so i'm not making any promises.

*however*

this will be my first trip with my digital camera (disney and pennsylvania don't really count...) and i intend on taking as many photos as i possibly can. so even if i don't get around to posting anything (or i only post crap) i will probably have a few photos to post when i get back.

i am also tenatively planning to make a MAJOR journey in the fall... more on that when i return from scotland.

more scotland

hello kitty holidays

2006-04-24T17:49:00.000-06:00

one "weekend" late in november (which is almost never saturday and sunday for nova teachers, it was tuesday and wednesday for me, wednesday and thursday for jill) jill and i made plans to go to takamatsu for a little starbucks and to start our christmas shopping. and in the evening we would meet mariko for some dinner and drinks.

well after lolly-gagging in starbucks for far longer than normal people (it feels a little like home... plus there's great people watching) we attempted to do some shopping for people on our lists. sounded like an easy enough task, to pick out some cute japanese themed stuff to mail home. and yet all we came away with that day was a 3-foot plastic christmas tree and some hello kitty decorations. we made plans to go to takamatsu *again* the following weekend - and this time really get some gift buying done.

christmas presents started arriving in our mailbox, along with some confusion trying to pick up packages at the post office, and our flat started to look really festive. we began planning our christmas eve and day feasts, as well as a post christmas detox day before we headed to tokyo for new year's.

christmas eve day was so balmy that we could open our balconey doors and let the air flow in. after watching "pirates of the carribean" for the second time over a breakfast of poached eggs and hollondaise it was time to get ourselves moving. we rode our bikes to vivre in utazu (the shopping center extrordonaire) without coats to purchase our holiday feast supplies. we came away with ¥10,400 worth of groceries packed in our bike baskets and our backpacks (which seems like a lot of money - it's about $100 - but we did get 4 bottles of wine and ¥1,000 worth of beef, so i'd say it was pretty good) and headed home to start preparations.

our christmas eve setup

we spent christmas eve like i do at home every year. we watched christmas movies (my family sent a tape with some of the classics on it - a charlie brown christmas, rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, and white christmas). and we drank and ate (edamame, gyoza, chili shrimp, sushi, pistachios, pringles, and mulled wine).

christmas day was the strangest ever - for many reasons. in the morning we had a lovely, holiday breakfast of bacon sandwiches and mimosas. but then jill had to go to work (while they love christmas in japan, it's not *really* a holiday as most people are shinto and buddhists). i spent my day doing laundry, going to the store to buy jill's christmas gifts (they were open, since it's not a holiday), i painted my nails, and pretty much sat around watching movies until jill got home from work.

then the real holiday began. we started by opening some wine and our presents. then we began preparing our feast. we started with a butternut squash soup (from a carton). then we had a japanese flavored beef stew, mashed potatoes, green beans and corn, broccoli citron, and of course more wine. by the time we finished we could barely move.

christmas dinner (notice the mobile phones at the dinner table)

we had planned to meet some of our friends at karaoke to sing some christmas songs, but in the end didn't feel like getting off the couch. we watched "pirates of the carribean" again (a gift from my lovely girls) and drank more wine. all in all it was a lovely day, but strangely didn't quite feel like a real christmas....

more japan

if you're going to san francisco...

2006-03-27T17:31:00.000-06:00

this post has been hanging in limbo since march 14, 2006... nearly 2 weeks ago. c'est la vie. here it is now:

... be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

both caitlyn and i arrived at oakland airport on friday evening. at danielle's dorm room that night (almost like old times - except no cassie! :( ) we perused a catalog of vineyards in preparation for our trip to napa valley.

we woke early the next day, despite the loud japanese girls living down the hall, without too much trouble (hooray 3 hour time difference - 8am feels like 11am). after a quick stop at starbucks we were on our way.

the day was sunny enough as we made our way to our first winery, the hess collection. located at the end of a long and winding road it had a small collection of modern art, beautiful views, and of course wine tasting. next we headed to darioush. the outside was beautiful, the entry way was flanked by columns and fountains, the view was scenic. but on the inside the wine was pricey and the whole atmosphere was a little too posh. after a lovely midday meal at pacific blues we went to provenance, which we had been given free tasting coupons for from hess. here we learned a little about wine growing and grapes in napa valley and i tasted my first sip of my newest obsession - port.

the next winery on our list was v. sattui. this place had lots of people, like darioush, but was very down to earth. we took a place at the tasting bar and were served by an older guy whose name tag read george sattui (though he claimed it was a coincidence). we made our purchases and headed to our last stop of the day - hall. this place was small, but the staff were funny and the the other tasters amusing. we closed the place down with a glass of sparkling california wine and headed back to hayward.

the crew at hall winery

sunday was our day to explore big sur. big sur is a coastal region of california, with dramatic oceanside cliffs and redwood filled forests. after the long drive we started with some sandwiches and hot tea at the nepenthe restaurant. then we did a short (but steep) hike to an unimpressive waterfall in the pfeiffer big sur state park. we followed the coastal route 1 home.

the beautiful big sur coastline

on our third (and my final) day in the bay area we spent in san francisco. early in the morning caitlyn's dad (mr. man) arrived for a few days visit and they went off to breakfast. after danielle and i got ourselves together we all drove into the city. after checking into their hotel, mr. man took a nap while we girls headed off to japantown for lunch. a seemingly straight route from the hotel was nearly all uphill (*big* hills too) and after a short descent we arrived at our destination.

danielle and caitlyn in japantown

we had some lovely sushi at a shop proclaiming to have the best sushi rolls in san francisco (and they were pretty darn good). after a little shopping (and the discovery of one of my obsessions from my time in japan - rice crackers) we went back to pick up mr. man. after dropping danielle at the bart station (she had work to do, it was a weekday afterall) we drove down lombard street - twice - which was big fun.

then we walked down to the wharves to see the excitement and the sea lions. after wandering around and poking in and out of some shops we chose a restaurant for dinner with a view. sadly there was not the beauteous sunset we had hoped for - it was still quite cloudy from the afternoon rain. my time in san fran was coming to an end. after a little post-dinner tv i was dropped at the airport with my crate of wine bottles and a ticket home.

good times. :)

more miscellaneous

video store adventures

2006-03-01T19:10:00.000-06:00

¥100 can buy you many things. notebooks. hats. scarves. dishes. cleaning products. and 3 nights (5 nights? my memory isn't that good) with an english language video.

something we did almost every week was rent some videos. after the initial fascination with and amusement at japanese tv fades, sometimes you really want to hear english on tv. while 100% worth it, a trip to the video store (like many activities in japan) was an adventure.

of course it always starts with a bike ride... which i generally despised as part of my commute, but grew to almost enjoy for other activities - such as shopping, going to the movies, going to izakayas and karaoke, and going to the video store. bikes parked and locked out front (and most likely on the ground, knocked over by the wind, when we come back out) we enter the store. and thus begins the hunt.

it's the pretty standard video store layout: a section of video games, a new release wall, the curtained off porn section, your standard video genres, and the "foreign films" section - that's where the english language films are. usually there are many english films on the new release wall, and not all of them that new - and you check there first. with the front of the video case facing out, it's easiest to tell what movies they are. not all of the movies have the english title on the case (or it's very difficult to find).

on to the "foreign films" section. at the end of the aisles were mini displays of movies. and then there were the aisles themselves - packed solid with videos. slowly you make your way down the aisles, head tilted and eyes squinting, trying to look for side pictures you recognize or english words. this part takes a long time. every time. no matter how carefully you think you may have looked, there's always some videos you missed.

as you make your selections you have to look out for "the yellow sticker". this sticker indicates that the film is dubbed in japanese instead of merely subtitled (or is it the other way around?). we managed to avoid that disappointment by asking the clerk "english?". even when selecting subtitled movies there always remained the chance that you could miss out on something. if, by chance, there are any conversations in non-english languages... these too are subtitled in japanese. very dissappointing. and to this day i still have not seen and comprehended all of birthday girl, in which about 40% of the conversations are in russian.

an hour or two later we emerge with a stash of movies - some old favorites, some we haven't seen yet. we pick up our fallen bikes and make our way happily home.

more japan

monday is a new day

2006-02-22T19:31:00.000-06:00

my partner in crime, jill, and i were similar in many ways. one of those ways was that we both loved our food and drink. after living together for just over a month jill declared "monday is a new day". this meant that we were going to stop behaving as if we were on vacation - stop eating and drinking loads, stop lounging around all the time. i planned to eat slightly healthier, slightly less, and start practicing yoga on a regular basis.

the fact was that we had had enough time to discover many of the yummy foods japan had to offer. the izakayas that we visited had picture menus (for easy ordering) and every time we visited one we knew what things we wanted. of course gyoza (pan-fried dumplings), deep fried oysters, tiny eggplant halves with miso, french fries, sashimi, edamame (green soybeans), and atsukan (hot sake!). white russians at karaoke. fried chicken and egg on rice concoctions from the mini-mart, onigiri (filled rice balls wrapped in seaweed), and late night bowls of ramen.

and as if that weren't enough our home cuisine creations were evolving too. every friday night was "gyoza night". we cooked up a couple packages of supermarket gyoza and sat on our little sofa watching videos. we started making pizza toasts. we managed to make nachos in our toaster oven (in japan they didn't have tortilla chips, but we did find "plain" unflavored doritos - seriously). other favorites included beef stroganoff and jill's fabulous mac and cheese (which i now make for myself and claim it's my recipe - sorry hon!).

so despite riding the bloody bikes everywhere all this food was starting to add up. and i behaved for a little while. but then came christmas. and our trip to tokyo. japan is just a food lover's paradise, what's a girl to do?

more japan

4 jobs and 3 years ago

2006-02-05T12:08:00.000-06:00

i can hardly believe it has been so long, but three years ago today i wrote in my journal:

5 February 2003
am here, finally. it's strange. can't believe i'm really here - all the preparation, planning. my nerves come and go. and sometimes i can't believe this is only the beginning, that i'll be wandering for two and a half months...

i had just arrived in london after an overnight flight and was trying to settle into the whole idea of long term travel. and the idea of traveling alone. it was the beginning of an amazing adventure in my life.

after working a contract job for almost 5 months and being turned down twice for a full time position in the group i decided to take my money and run - to do something a little crazy. and it felt a little crazy at the start. as time passed though, i eventually got into the rhythm of travel. lazy mornings, sitting hours at a cafe with only a coffee and my journal, making sandiwches from the supermarket, visitng a museum or sitting on the beach, scoping out a restaurant for dinner.

by the end of the 10 weeks i was feeling confident enough in my travel skills that i was giving advice to other travelers at my hostel. but i was also looking forward to being home again, to staying in one place for a while.

now that i've had 3 years to reflect on that trip, i've learned a lot of things and become a better and happier traveler. a couple of tips for long term travel:

* when everything seems to be going wrong - throw a little money at the problem. sometimes a night in nicer hotel or a meal at a proper restaurant is all you need.
* don't schedule yourself too much - sometimes you just don't feel like seeing the most famous sight in wherever, so don't do it and don't give it another thought.
* take pictures of the people you meet - it'll make your memories that much stronger.
* write everything down - that way you can relive the adventure whenever you want!

lately i've just been dying to be back on the road, i miss the variety, the pace of life. luckily i have my journals, my blogs, and my photos to transport me back to those times. and before i know it, i'll be on the road again. you can relive my france and italy 2003 trip vicariously through my fritaly blog. and until my next big trip i'll continue writing about my adventures in japan.

more miscellaneous

tortilla espagnol

2006-02-02T18:09:00.000-06:00

on my second night in spain i went out with carlynne and alida from my hostel and a friend of alida's who had been teaching in madrid. we charged him with choosing a restaurant, since he was the most familiar with the city. his first pick was far too crowded - we were never going to get a table. after a little more wandering we finally found another of his favorites and sat down to eat.

after perusing the huge menu (which was translated into english, german, and french) i decided that i would try a tortilla espagnol - literally a spanish omelette, meaning a potato omelette. it turned out to be one of the most divine things i've ever tasted. and so i decided then and there that my mission for this trip would be to find the best tortilla espagnol in spain. so here's what i found:

madrid
my first tortilla was perfectly round and crisp on the outside - like it had been flipped out of the pan and onto the plate. no rolled or folded omelettes here. the potatoes were diced small with just a touch of chopped onion and some spice i couldn't quite identify. also, far from being just a filling, the potatoes were evenly dispersed through the entire omelette.

granada
this tortilla was thicker than my last, but still about the same circumfrance. the potato peices were larger and it was lacking something... that i couldn't quite put my finger on.

sevilla
1. a pre-flamenco meal (very early by spanish standards). once again there were big chunks of potato but that elusive spice was back. :) it was also served with some potato slices on the side.
2. when i arrived early at the bus station on my way back to madrid from sevilla i went out in search of coffee. outside the bus station i found a little stand with a funny man inside. as i stood there chatting and drinking my coffee i decided to get a sandwich for the ride - a tortilla sandwich. the omelette was rolled this time - obviously - to fit inside the bread. the potatoes were a medium dice with onion. overall the omelette sandwich was pretty tasty, even at room temperature a few hours later.

the verdict
madrid wins it - the first was definitely the best. the small dice of the potato gave a better egg to potato ratio. i've even been able to reproduce this at home! it turns out that the onion *is* the elusive spice, somehow in this recipe it's just very subtle.

overall i found spanish food mediocre. but the tortilla espagnol has forever become one of my favorites. this is my last post about spain, next week i hope to get some more japan stories posted as well as a tribute to my 2003 fritaly trip.

more spain

mis fotos

2005-11-03T17:09:00.000-06:00

(that's "my photos") i know i haven't posted in a while, i do have a spain wrap-up post planned - but i don't have my notes with me today. so that'll have to wait a little longer. instead i offer you some of my photos of spain. enjoy.

	cat's hostel in madrid was probably the most beautiful hostel i've ever seen. everything was so clean, the key system was so high tech (each person gets a wristwatch type thing which is used as an electronic key to the front entrance, the room entrance, and your locker), and the courtyard area was amazing. the perfect place to relax after the craziness of the city.
i did not intend to get anything at burger king, i was merely there for the company. but how could i resist a beer at burger king? and just when i thought i couldn't be more amused, said beer was delivered in a plastic cup with the burger king logo on it. priceless.
	the alhambra in granada was perhaps my favorite place in all of spain (that i saw, anyway). the tile work, the carvings, the beautiful gardens - and of course the history of it all - were fabulous.
i was prepared to love sevilla, from everything i'd read it sounded so great. well, it did not live up to my expectations. but the flamenco show i attended was above and beyond my wildest dreams. absolutely phenomenal - my photos do not do it justice.
	toledo is a quaint and historic city. though a little boring. mostly i just wandered through the winding streets looking for non-weapon souvenirs. throughout the city i saw many artists painting and drawing away. in the right hand corner of this photo is a man painting the scene.

more spain

holy toledo!

2005-10-01T10:32:00.000-06:00

visited toledo today, which was cool. one of those wall type cities perched on a hill. it was very beautiful, but easy to get lost in. which, i'm obviously very good at by now. :) but now i'm back in the place where it started, cat's hostel in madrid. i don't have anything on my to-do list, except maybe a little shopping.

this whole trip has been a little too whirlwind for me, i've been moving every 2 days or so. i think my next adventure will have to be a more base camp approach, where i stay in one place for a while and take day trips from there.

i'm glad to be on my way home, as i've been getting sick. stuffy head, runny nose, that kind of thing. i also had some devastating news- we lost power at home on thursday and my vcr didn't tape ALIAS like it should have. the season premiere!!!! so the person who can provide me with a tape of the episode will get a special prize from spain! i know there's someone out there who loves me!

not too much to say today. on my way here from the metro i passed burger king and i am considering having my dinner there... it seems wrong, i've only been gone for a week and i rarely eat there when i'm at home, but for some reason it seems like a good idea. tomorrow i think i'll actually make the free breakfast at the hostel (i was too late my first night and left too early the second)

more spain

twice as long for a third the price

2005-09-30T10:06:00.000-06:00

so yesterday i walked around and around (there's something new...) looking for the entrance to the alcazar (the palace). there were lots of roads blocked off, police standing all around. and still it took me nearly an hour to figure out that i wasn't going to be able to get in. i happened to overhear someone say that el presidente was at the alcazar, hence the security. oh well. i didn't really want to see it anyway.

so i went back and had a little siesta then decided to take my tired legs and feet out to a nice dinner. a close dinner. in the plaza right near my hostel i plunked myself down without checking out the menu or prices and ordered some sangria. well, the man brought me a mini jug of sangria. and a wee plate of potatoes in oil. i had definitely mentioned that i wanted to see the menu, but he seemed to forget and in spain sitting around for hours on end with nothing but a drink is not uncommon.

when i finally got a menu i noticed that the restaurant was a little pricier than i normally do. but i was already seated and settled in, so i ordered tagliatelle carbonara. disappointingly but not surprisingly it wasn't actual carbonara, it was alfredo with bits of bacon. (and that my friends is *not* carbonara, carbonara must involve egg yolks). still taste good, though.

this morning i woke early and headed down to the bus station. i opted to take the bus instead of the train, even though it would take me twice as long to get to madrid, because it was a third of the price. and i certainly got what i paid for. by the time i got here i was dying to get out of that seat. i made my way on the metro to my hostel (this time my window overlooks the actual outdoors, but still no view).

i'm now about to head to the supermarket to load up on some cheap eats. my last real day in spain is tomorrow and i intend to head to toledo to explore.

more spain

ole! vayamos!

2005-09-29T03:49:00.000-06:00

so i woke up this morning, the sun shining brightly through my window, the smell of bread baking and hot coffee...

oh wait- no i didn't. there was the smell of laundry detergent wafting into my cell and suffocating me - that was what woke me. i managed to salvage my day yesterday after i was settled in a bit and more familiar with my surroundings. i bought a souvenir for myself and i purchased tickets to a flamenco show.

i chose the venue (there are many) based on it's proximity to my hostel - to minimize the chances of me getting lost *yet again*. my show was at 8 o'clock, and i was told to arrive a half an hour early. so i found a cafe that was actually serving food at 6:45 pm (not an easy task in spain) and ordered a tortilla espagnola knowing full well that there was no chance i'd last through the 2 hour show without having dinner first.

i was seated in the front row and my ticket included a drink (vino blanco, if you're curious). it was a small theater with a small stage and walls covered with paintings and photos of flamenco and bull fighting. after everyone's drinks were served the show began. the guitarist and a couple of singers took the stage. they played and sang a bit before a dancer in a full skirt came down the stairway onto the stage. and it began.

i was enthralled. it was an amazing show, the footwork, the costumes, the music, the castanets. i was so wound up after the show, that i could barely keep the smile off my face or the beat out of my head.

back at my hostel i opted to head up to the patio for some air and to see if there was anyone around. (there wasn't). i tried out a couple of flamenco moves and wrote in my journal. i went to bed feeling much better about sevilla.

today i'm on my way to visit sevilla's cathedral, which is the 3rd largest in the world, and the alcazar, which is the palace, where apparently spanish royals still live, when they're in town. hopefully tomorrow i'll be on my way back to madrid for the night, then spend saturday in toledo before heading home.

more spain

so NOT impressed with sevilla

2005-09-28T08:50:00.000-06:00

sure, it seems a bit early to be making rash judgements like that, but so far, i am so *not* impressed with sevilla.

my last night in granada was good. no band in the plaza, but i had a nice dinner out and a little stroll around. it didn't rain, i didn't get lost, i finished my book. life was good. i woke up in plenty of time this morning to walk to the train station (it was less than 30 minutes). i was able to get my ticket and get on the train. had a mini siesta on the train (accidentally). and after just 3 short hours i was in sevilla.

sevilla, being a large city, has a very large train station. and when i did eventually get to the exit, it took me another 15 minutes to find where the buses were (after talking to TWO information people). the bus showed up another 15 minutes later. as near as i could get to where i wanted to be i got off the bus and began to walk. and walk. and walk. you know how this goes...

it is now over 2 hours later and i've only just found my hostel and the internet place. my room has a window that overlooks the lovely... laundry room. there is a rooftop terrace... in the middle of a block of buildings. *sigh*

so now what i really need to do is change out of my cranky-pants and get something to eat. hasta luego.

more spain

there's a band outside my balcony!

2005-09-27T06:21:00.000-06:00

so yesterday after i left here (the internet place, that is) the sky was very gray and dark. there was some thunder rumbling. i made a quick phone call to my hostel in sevilla and just as i was finishing the sky opened up and it began to pour. i rushed to the nearest shop and stood under the awning, thinking it would be over soon. (we had a rain shower in madrid, it only lasted from the time i entered the metro to the time i left it). well, i stood there for almost 40 minutes. and it was really pouring, and there was lightening, and HAIL.

after it stopped i walked around some more, *carefully* - flip flops are slippery on stone sidewalks. poked in some shops and had an early dinner (by spanish standards, it was about 6:30pm). after my early train i decided i would have a relaxing evening in.

so i stretched out and read and wrote and as i was people watching out my balcony i noticed a gaggle of teens carrying instruments. they set up in the plaza right below my balcony and proceeded to play for nearly 2 hours. it was fabulous - sort of marching band/pep band style tunes, and some singing (you know how those spanish are, can't help themselves). so i got some major people watching in as well as live entertainment. until the policia shut them down.

today i visited the alhambra, a moorish palace/fort atop a large hill here in granada. it was magnificently beautiful, filled with gorgeous tile work and carvings in stone, wood, and plaster. i took so many pictures, as i couldn't possibly describe it well enough. there was also a great view of all of granada.

i had lunch at a "french" cafe (not like it didn't serve the normal spanish things, but it also had french style foods). very good, and a welcome break. the jury is still out on spanish food, i have some likes, but as a whole it's not that appealing (and that's saying something, for me to say that). well, my time is about to run out here, tomorrow i'll be on my way to sevilla!

more spain

a train like a plane

2005-09-26T08:53:00.000-06:00

so today i woke up very early. so early, in fact, that i missed the free breakfast again! i had to settle for a machine coffee which i drank on my walk to the metro. yesterday i managed to buy my ticket - using spanish only. carlynne, who missed her second train for the day, went back with me so i could get a ticket (no sense in waking up early only to find that the train is full). it was a bit like the deli, you take a number and wait for your number to be called. just as my number was called and i was approaching the counter and a woman rushed in front of me. she tried speaking english to the teller, and the teller just said "no english". so the woman left and i stepped up, took a deep breath and said: granada manana. she started typing away. then i said: ocho. she asked: a las ocho? si. and it was done.

so this morning bright and early, i was up and ready. we arrived at the train station in plenty of time, i went down to my platform and waited. only a couple of minutes late the train rolled up. there was barely anyone on it, and not that many more people got on. i was lucky enough to be standing on the platform directly in front of the car i was assigned to. the seats were very spacious, i didn't have to share my 2 seat section with anyone. as we pulled away from the station a man came around and was handing everyone a little box. like a welcome gift.

i opened it up and inside there were some little headphones. eventually on the tv screens place throughout the car a movie began to play. so i plugged my headphones in and got ready for some entertainment. of course i should have known it would be in spanish, dubbed, it was an english movie though. (not sure what - a grisham one with robert downey jr. and kenneth brannaugh.) instead i opted to listen to some music - there were like 3 music stations - and "rest my eyes".

after a few hours i went to the food car to get something to eat. i picked a ham and cheese sandwich, which seemed like a safe bet. there was something ooky about the cheese, though, so i ended up pulling out the filling and just eating the bread. another movie came on, this one was something with john travolta - not something i recognized - and i didn't even bother to check if it was in english.

arriving in granada i was feeling sufficiently brilliant enough to walk to the area i was headed, instead of taking the bus. simply follow one large road and then turn onto another large road. easy-peasy. well, not so easy-peasy. somehow i got waaaaay lost and ended up off the map from my guidebook. luckily i found a large map in one of the plazas and was able to find my way eventually.

nearly two hours after leaving the train station i finally settled into my room - my *fourth* choice hostel. but it's in a great location, i have my own sink and a balcony that looks out onto the plaza below (though i suppose that means it could be very loud, oh well). i'm off to find some food. hasta manana.

more spain

the lovely siesta time

2005-09-25T10:16:00.000-06:00

so i'm just up from my siesta, a spanish tradition that i've really taken to. :) and making plans for the evening, possibly seeing some flamenco dancing/music (though the *best* is supposed to be in sevilla, so perhaps i'll go there as well).

yesterday i went out to get myself some food at a little cafe i found near the hostel. i got a coffee (which wasn't the best idea, as i was a bit dehydrated still from all the flying) and a pizza (which was mediocre at best). after sitting in the sun for a while and people watching i walked down to plaza mayor. it's basically a square, surrounded by buildings and shops and filled with cafe tables. really lovely, but i was starting to fade, so i bought a couple of bottles of water and went back to the hostel for a little nap.

i napped for a marvelously long time. it was fabulous, especially since i hadn't actually been able to lie down for 24 hours! i woke at about 8pm and decided i was going to go for a walk to find something to eat. i managed to find my way to a shop and back to the hostel with only a small detour down the wrong road (madrid is a bit like boston, in that the streets don't neccesarily have any logic to their layout).

when i got back two girls i had met earlier carlynne and alydta were about to go off to meet a friend of alydta's. so i ate my little cheese and spinach pastry and we set off to sol, which is the center of madrid (also kilometre 0 for many spanish highways). we met up with alydta's friend eric, who happened to know the city pretty well, so he took us all to a restaurant he liked. i had the tortilla espagnola - a spanish omlette, but so much better than in the states. instead of just some hunks of potato mixed into an omlette, there was little tiny bits of potato all through the egg. it was delicious. we washed it down with some sangria and some free entertainment from the table near us. (spaniards seem to break into song just about everywhere)

this morning i slept a little late, missed the free breakfast at the hostel, then went down to el rastro (the flea market) with carlynne and alydta. a bit of shopping, a coffee and a snack, then we headed towards museo del prado. (many museums are free on sunday ). we poked around there for a while, saw some goya, some valasquez, etc. carlynne went to catch a train to barcelona and alydta and i went to get some food and back to the hostel for siesta.

so refreshing, and a timetable very much to my liking. lunch between 1 and 3. a nap. dinner around 10-11. sleep late. repeat.

more spain

* very * vagabond *

sismo de esta madrugada

life is too short to eat fake cheese

first of the lasts

everybody fits in here!

why it's so hard (an illustration)

for you, but not for me

yes i'm doing my grades, isn't it obvious?

hi! remember me?

no school, no rain

three letters, something i should be building about now...

Buen momento para contestar correspondencia

long time, no post (nicaragua & panama)

the experience of travel

nica saga - part one

nica saga - intro

consular matters

little devils

i am satisfactory!

tico names and toblerone

shoot for the moon and all that...

big week ahead...

who doesn't love orientation?

bad habits

santa ana

procrastination

the opposite of homeless

happy 2008!

is today a....? what day is it?

the old "christmas tan"

the hard part is over

what are you? in 4th grade?

i hate job searching....

possibly not a surprise...

i never get to go anywhere...

trouble in paradise

puerto viejo madness

back with a fresh visa

beach binge

vargas araya

the crater shirt

travel nightmares (part 2)

travel nightmares

safe and sound

piratas del caribe

que triste! (an unfortunate weekend at the beach)

new job and back to quepos

apagones

photo 2: mystery device contest

nicaragua wrap-up

when are there too many people on a bus?

fronterra extravaganza

new and soon to be one and only

a first time for everything...

estoy enferma

where i live

mystery device contest

spanish adventures - waxing is fun

i might get paid maybe someday...

hebrew day school

at one week in...

palmares

the other beaches (more photos)

*our* beach - manuel antonio

quepos pictures - for a start

do you know the way to san jose?

muchas playas!

the mountain of zuma (montezuma)

teaching practice - week 2

beach saturday + beach sunday = no sunburn

parlez-vous bruncajc?

escuela

yes i am the highly suggestible type

turbulence

getting there (is not fun at all)

quepos, costa rica

hang loose redux

maui wowie (but not what you're thinking)

aloha cousins!

my first day of unemployment

our beach - manuel antonio