Buen momento para contestar correspondencia

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.

long time, no post (nicaragua & panama)

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

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

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

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

:)

nica saga - part one

getting there

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

nica saga - intro

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