Trip to Arenal

It's a busy week preparing my presentation for the conference and planning for adult classes but I wanted to put up pictures of my trip from last weekend. We went to La Fortuna to see the Arenal volcano. It was pretty amazing!

Our hostel!

Volcanic rocks

Going up high into the rainforest to zipline down.

In the middle of ziplining. We did 8 cables total.

View from ziplining platform

Plaza in La Fortuna

Plaza

View from ziplining platform

Animals in Costa Rica

Monkeys...my favorite!

Some pictures

Some random pictures of the kids I work with in Potrero:

AM Anniversary Celebration

Last week was the third Anniversary of Abriendo Mentes. Three years ago Meradith and Drew began the organization with 15 students that were learning English. Now the organization has over 200 participants and includes 4 different program: youth education, adult education, women’s empowerment group, and a technology lab.

We had a fiesta  in the salon to celebrate this amazing growth and the past few years of the organization. After a welcome speech from Meradith, the preschool through 2^nd graders sung English songs they had learned in class. The Bollywood dance group performed as well as the baton twirling girls (both extracurricular activities given by AM). The volunteers also performed surprising everyone with a flashmob dance. We then all ate arroz con pollo that was made by the Mom’s Committee (with supplies and food donated from local businesses). The afternoon ended with the Potrero band playing and more dancing with the kids and volunteers. Overall, it was quite an event and really exciting to see the whole community come together to celebrate the anniversary. 

 

Thanking our sponsors

 

Moms Committee handing out party hats

 

So much arroz con pollo!

 

Cake!

 

Dancing!

 

 

 

Field Trip to Conchal Reserve and Dia del Arbol at Abriendo MentesMentes

This past week Abriendo Mentes had two activities that focused on environmental issues. Costa Rica is known for its ecotourism and amazing biodiversity. Costa Rica is the size of West Virginia (one third of a percent of the world), but has nearly 4% of plant and animal species are found in this little country. I had been told that people were very concerned with the environment here, especially since Costa Rican environmental consciousness is imperative in order to keep the environment pristine and open for tourism business.  While there is no type of recycling program, which unfortunately is not too surprising because of its rural location, the children took a field trip to Conchal Reserve for an environmental science lesson and we also planted trees for Costa Rican Arbor Day.

Abriendo Mentes works with the staff at Conchal Reserve to bring an outdoor education program to some of the children of Portero. Four times a year, selected students go on a field trip to the reserve to learn about environmental scientists do and to observe different parts of the forest and coast during the different seasons. Last week I went with the students in fourth and fifth grade. Only 5 students came with my group (the third and sixth graders went the next day) because some missed the bus, but once they got into the activity, I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

At the reserve, the students were given  a talk about what the scientific method is and how observation is an important part of doing and investigation. We then learned what an estuary was and the importance of the mangrove trees in the estuaries. The children completed their observations by writing about what they saw, smelled, and felt at our first location, which was an estuary that was part of the protected reserve area. We then drove to a different beach (in Brasilito where I teach English) to observe a second estuary. This one was right next to houses and restaurants that had been built on the beach and was very dirty and included many signs of human destruction. The children had to again make their observations and then had a brief discussion comparing what they had seen and the importance of taking care of these important bodies of water. As homework, the students are supposed to go to the estuary on the Potrero beach and make the same sorts of observations and consider how clean they think it is.

Though not all of the students in Abriendo Mentes are asked to participate in these trips (students are selected based on best attendance in classes), programs like these are very important. The pristine beaches and protected areas are not places the children would normally have an opportunity to see and we hope that the stark differences between the two estuaries encourages them to take action to keep their own town and beaches clean. The students who participate in the yearlong program also will be making a presentation about what they learned to their classmates at school.

 

AM students observing the estuary with volunteers and the Conchal Staff

 

Mangroves in Estuary 1

 

Estuary 1 (protected)

 

The teacher showing the kids the mangrove roots.

 

Estuary 2 (not protected)

 

Debriefing

We also celebrated Costa Rican Arbor Day this week. Abriendo Mentes and the Potrero school had 200 trees (saplings) donated to be planted on Arbor Day. The children got out of school early to celebrate by planting the trees all around the plaza. Before receiving a tree, we had a brief discussion about the importance of trees for us and for other animals. Children scattered in groups with the volunteers and planted their trees.

Both of these programs related to the environment help the children of Potrero to understand the importance of being environmentally conscious citizens. I think  environmental education could be a whole program on its own here, but the field trips and experiential learn activities are a great start to taking care of Potrero and making sure Costa Rica continues to be among the top 20 countries with the highest biodiversity in the world. 

 

Meeting outside of Potrero School- discussing why trees are important

 

Truck with the trees to plant

Flash Mob at the AM Anniversary Party

For the AM 3rd Year Anniversary party, many of the kids did dances that they had been learning. The little ones sang songs in English and we also had a band play at the party. The AM volunteers did a flash mob in the middle of the celebrations as a surprise for the directors of AM and all of the families. Here it is:

AM Volunteer Flash Mob

Missing other places

Today I got homesick. Not for Bloomington, not for Malvern, not even for anywhere else in the U.S. I am homesick for Venezuela. I moved out of my Costa Rican host family here 3 days ago and last night I made arepas in my new kitchen. Since I live in a very rural place with not many choices other than rice and beans in the grocery store, I decided to buy the harina de masa that was used all over Venezuela since it is easily available. I’m not very good at making arepas without the arepa maker Laura and Rosa gave me, but I tried to make them in the skillet just as my host family had taught me nearly 10 year ago. I also made beans and scrambled eggs to put inside of the arepas like we ate for so many breakfasts. My arepa dinner prepared in Portero, Costa Rica couldn’t have been more delicious. It tasted just like the arepas I used to eat in Anaco, and I began realizing how much I miss the other places I’ve lived in South America as well. The arepas, trips to the huge markets in Venezuela, men selling chipas in the streets in Paraguay, the ease of getting around by bus in Lima, the historical sites in small Peruvian towns.

I am finding where I live in Costa Rica to be a very strange place in many ways. I chose to come here, among many other things, because it was going to be safer than many of the places I would have wanted to go. Going completely on my own this time, I wanted to be in a country that is known to be less hazardous to female travelers and that is safer than many Latin American countries. However, in many ways I feel like I’m living somewhere between the U.S. and Latin America. I speak English everyday since I work with other Americans and also am teaching children and adults English. I also see English-speaking people all over in the restaurants in Portrero and in the vans that pass through as they take tourists on excursions to nearby beaches. In the nearby tourist beach town the clubs played all American music and dollars and colones are used equally here. It feels really strange to pay in dollars and get change back in colones.  

In addition to seeing English speakers all day that are foreigners, I am teaching very eager students to speak English. They are desperate to learn English to improve their lives. For better job opportunities, so they can work with the tourists, to communicate with people from other places, they say.  On one hand English and foreigners are so needed for them to continue with their livelihoods, but on the other hand,  foreigners are taking over the places they live. There are huge gated houses on the hillsides that are used by the people who drive through Portrero with their clean cars and tinted windows. People from town, many Nicaraguan immigrants, clean and maintain these huge houses during the times the families are not here. I’d like to know more how the people of Portero feel about these hillside mansions.

The plane ticket here was cheap, but I’m finding that the prices here are so high that it probably wouldn’t have mattered if I had gone to Lima, for example, since living costs would have been lower there. Some of the expensive prices in Portero are due to transportation costs since we live so far away from the large cities, but a lot of stuff cost the same in Alajuela, right next to San Jose. Some people live here on $500 a month, but almost all of the food is about the same price as in the U.S. (except for rice and beans). I’d also like to learn more about the economics of this country – U.S. prices, but not nearly equivalent salaries.

What I might miss most is being asked why I am here. Instead of people being curious as to why I am here, they automatically assume that I am a tourist here staying in one of the resorts in Flamingo. Today we took a taxi home after teaching our adult class in Brasilito and we asked to be dropped off near the hotel in town. He thought that we were staying there when really it was just a convenient place to be dropped off. It seemed almost incomprehensible to him that we were staying in Costa Rican houses. In other places I’ve lived in South America, I’ve enjoyed being asked why I chose their country and what I was doing there. Here, people mostly come for the beaches and ecotourism and it’s assumed that they are here on vacation. I’m getting kind of sick of being ripped off in taxis, buses, and restaurants because we are given the tourist price instead of the local price. It’s because I’m living in the touristy area since I’m near the beaches here. I felt the same way after living in Lima and visiting Cusco for the weekend.

I also don’t feel like I have felt the Costa Rican hospitality that is talked about. While people are nice here and always help when I ask, I think some of the other countries have been much more hospitable. I wonder if this is also a difference from living in large cities versus living in the rural town. From my conversations so far with adults in the town, I have enjoyed talking to the Nicaraguans most. They are happy to talk to me about what they do here, how they have to go back to Nicaragua every month to renew their visa (EVERY month!!) and about their families that are still in their country.

In addition to feeling like I am stuck between the U.S. and some foreign country that speaks Spanish, I began thinking about the peculiarity of living in a rural place. I’m sure I’ll experience reverse culture shock to some extent when I return home, but have experienced it even here when I leave Portero. I have gone to Liberia twice now on the way to hikes in national parks and been awed each time that I go into the supermarket there. It’s small in comparison to any sort of store I shop in at home, but after living in Portero on dirt roads with cows, pigs, and chickens everywhere, it’s a huge shock to go somewhere where people are dressed up and not splattered with mud, and are shopping in stores with shopping carts and more than just dim lightbulbs illuminating the aisles.

I wonder what it is like to grow up here in Portero with other parts of the world so much a part of the life here, yet so far away. For example, almost every house has a TV and people watch many American shows or shows from Mexico or other larger Spanish speaking countries. I was watching the world news today and realized how weird it is to be watching people in a clean, air conditioned office in suits talking in English or even Spanish from another part of the world. Many people here have never left the Guanacaste province and some of the children have never left Portrero. I wonder if they also find it strange that to watch shows that seem like they are almost in a different world than the small, rural community here. Even though I was watching the same sorts of shows when I lived in the cities in Peru, Paraguay, and Venezuela, I didn’t feel the same way because the effect of globalization and tourism was not nearly as apparent in the larger cities.

Even though I don’t like being pegged as a tourist here and using dollars and colones together drives me crazy, I couldn’t be happier about my choice to come here for the summer. While I may not be learning as much Spanish as I did in other places, I have learned far more from living in a place completely different than anywhere I have ever been. The need for English is so great all over and it has truly been eye opening to see young children and adults alike explain to me that they have to learn English for their future. I may miss the hustle and bustle of the capital cities of Lima and Asunción (and real stores and cheap food!), but I’ve learned yet another form of Spanish (oh how I miss pure, fast, Venezuelan Spanish), about important issues and problems surrounding Costa Rican education, and what living in a rural place is like. Oh, and I also have beautiful beaches to swim in and from which to watch colorful sunsets. I just have to remember the AFS saying- Costa Rica isn’t bad, it’s just different than other places where I’ve gone to live and learn Spanish. 

Peanut butter is oh so good

I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich today….and it was absolutely delicious. I have been in Costa Rica for almost a month now and in many ways it feels like I’ve been in Portrero for much longer. I don’t pay much attention to the  chickens and cows walking around or the dozens of dogs following us everywhere. I am continuously dirty and sweaty except for about the half hour after a cold shower. I don’t even really miss hot showers, but I do miss peanut butter, which is why couldn’t resist buying a (very expensive) jar when I was in the big supermarket in Liberia yesterday.

 It’s really funny what I realize I miss most about home when I leave for a while. This trip it’s been furniture and peanut butter. I eat at the counter in the kitchen on a very beat up stool and there are two torn arm chairs in the living room. Other than that, I sit on plastic chairs or stools or the floor at home and in the office. I will be very excited to sit on a clean, soft couch again. And rice and beans is still delicious most of the time, but I am also excited to move into my own house so that I can vary my meals a bit (still using rice and beans though because they are cheap).

Overall, I love it here, especially the fact that I have children and adults saying hi to me all over town. I have also given direction to multiple tourists and also translated for an American vet who was returning the dog to a family near my house. I can’t believe a month has gone by. So much has happened, but I also feel like I still have lots to do (work and travel related). Here are some pictures and stories from the recent weeks:

This weekend, a group of volunteers drove to Rincon de la Vieja. This is a national park with a volcano about two hours from Portero. We left at 5:30am and arrived in Liberia around 7am. We stopped to get our lunches and breakfast in the center of town, which was nice because I didn’t have any idea what Liberia was like. It looks like it’s pretty small with not much to do there. I might still go for a day sometime though. We then asked for directions (oh yeah, the car company forgot to give us the GPS) from a man and were on our way down a gravel road (with signs for the right place thankfully). This road took us straight to the park and we started our hike just after 8am.

Geothermal plant on our way into the park

Picture of the map of our hike. The ranger station didn't have any copies so we had to rely on the picture.

We decided to do the hard hike to the waterfall since the other option only took about 2 hours total. Our hike was 5km each way and it took us about 2 hours walking up to the waterfall (about an hour and a half back).  “Hard hike” was definitely the truth because we were climbing up and down hills with roots and rocks for much of the walk. The most interesting thing for me was walking through the different habitats all in just a few kilometers. We started in the dense forest (and saw anteater-like animals and monkeys!) and then came out into fields with small shrubs and trees under the full sun. Then we continued walking up and entered a forest of what might have been yucca plants (they were huge!). We cycled through some of these different environments again until we ended back in the forest where we found the waterfall.

We started out in the forest

Then we walked into a forest with these huge plants!

We saw monkeys!

And we walked through fields with little shrub plants 

Back into the forest

Back into the plains-like field

Rocky hike!

Made it to the waterfall!

Lizards were everywhere

Boiling water pots from the volcano

Last weekend, a few of us did a hike from Portero up the hill to a castle. Apparently some man who lives here wanted to build his house looking like a castle on top of a hill overlooking all of the neighboring towns and beaches. This hike ended up being much more intense than we anticipated and it took us 2 hours of walking nearly straight up the hill to get to it. The castle has been under construction for 7 years and isn’t done at all (no one lives in it) but we got to walk inside of it and climb up into the tower.

View hiking up to the castle

View from the castle

Inside

The most incredible thing about the castle hike was  meeting one of my adult English students there. In class earlier that week she had told us that she lived at the castle, but I didn’t know how far it was from Portero. She lives in a house next to the castle with her two young children taking care of the property. She comes to English class 2 times a week making the hike down into town with her friends who also work in the very large houses up on the hill. Knowing how far the students walk to come learn English shows how dedicated they are to the classes. My beginner English class is made up of mostly Nicaraguan immigrants who work in the big houses here and they know that learning English is a way for them to have more opportunities here in the touristy beach towns.

Work is also going well and is busy. I’ve taken on teaching two more adult English classes so now I have two beginner classes and one advanced class. Teaching adults has been challenging and requires a lot of patience, ,especially in the beginner class. Teaching students who have pretty basic literacy skills and no strong understanding of parts of speech, etc. in Spanish makes it extra difficult to teach English to them. On the other hand, the adults are really committed to working hard and learning as much as they can. I start the advanced class this week so it will be interesting to see what the new and different challenges for that class will be.

I am helping in kids’s classes to some degree but really need to start focusing on writing the curriculum, which is an office job rather than interacting with the kids. I’ve been to enough classes that I know most of the kids though and it’s really fun to work them too. The school textbooks for English class are very basic (even the older grades) and it is clear that there half hour English classes only a few times a week are not teaching the kids very much. Our program tries to review what they learn in school and add new vocabulary and grammar skills. My task is to write lessons for each of the units and grades including activities that volunteers can do to reinforce the English lessons. So far it’s going okay, but it is a lot of work and I need to continue working on it because time is passing very quickly here.

Kids' soccer game- Portero vs. La Paz (private school with mostly American kids). 

Portero won 12-0

The last thing that I’ve been working on is thinking about the upcoming Cross-Cultural Education Conference. I submitted a proposal to speak about how to prepare prospective volunteers for volunteering abroad and I am thinking about changing or adding to the topic. Watching volunteers teach adults and children English using the materials we have has gotten me more interested in the idea of culturally relevant pedagogy. Most volunteers do not have education backgrounds so the classes are based only loosely around known language teaching methods. We also have limited materials to work with, which makes it even harder to plan classes.  For example, we labeled parts of the housing using the picture below. To a child never having been out of Portrero, the room in the picture looks absolutely nothing like their own houses. I have talked with other volunteers about this topic and I think I will be leading a small discussion at the conference about it. I don’t have any answers to these issues, but it will be really interesting to hear how others work through these difficulties.

Example teaching materials. When will the children ever have a dog holding  a newspaper or a baby in a high chair in their dining room? Many of the houses don't even have dining rooms or tables!