keeping up with Kathy

Ni hao from Shanghai!

2011-09-13T02:41:00.000-07:00

So I have made it Shanghai, I am in my apartment and I am in the middle of week 3 with my kids at school! It has been a bit of a bumpy ride getting settled in here, but I am finally feeling grounded, sane (mostly) and am feeling out of my Shanghai slump. So I thought I'd fill you all in on how things have been going!

Week 1:

This was a crazy whirlwind of a week! As I was coming into Shanghai, we landed in the middle of a HUGE storm that rivaled a Costa RIcan storm in the amount of lightning and rain I was seeing. Because of this, my school was a little late picking me up! So I spent my first hour in the country kind of freaking out at the realization that I had no Chinese money, no idea of where I actually needed to go to, and had no way to communicate (I mean I could barely say hello)! So luckily, after enough time stressing, the school driver and my principal showed up! We also had to wait a couple of hours for another new teacher whose flight was delayed. So after being up for about 28 straight hours, I was finally on the way to the new neighborhood I would soon call my own. On the way, I was told that the apartment they had for me had fallen through- so I got my first few nights in a lush 18th story hotel room!

The next few days were blur of shopping trips, exploring fun neighborhoods of Shanghai, and an overload of information about places to see, eat, and explore.

Week 2:

The apartment drama continues. The school found a new place for me, but it would be more than a week until I could move in. So I was kindly invited to stay with another 2nd grade teacher while I waited (who is also the vice principal at the school). Now the school, and my awaiting apartment, is located out in the boonies on the outskirts of Shanghai. But the apartment I was staying in for this week was almost in downtown, so it was a great chance to explore the places and buildings and restaurants! This was also week 1 of training at school. The school is an IB world school, so I was receiving training on how to teach to the specific method used in these schools! So needless to say, this was a LOT to take in, and it was hard to feel settled at all while I was living in someone else's house and was super unsure of my surroundings!

Week 3:

I finally got to meet the other teachers in the school. This was really good for me to meet new people and hear that it wasn't just the new people that were feeling overwhelmed. The school is in the process of expanding, and as it does, the growing pains effect everyone. As I was trying to adapt to a new school, the whole school was trying to adapt to being a larger school and everything that entails! But things are going smoothly! I got to meet all my kids and they are freaking ADORABLE!!!! I have 3 new students that speak ZERO English, so that was a huge challenge for me at first, but their adorable-ness made up for my lack of experience in this area! During this week the school did a great job of hosting a few events to let us get to know the staff- so we were treated to a few great dinners and an awesome brunch (which is a HUGE deal here in Shanghai, aparantly)!

Week 4:

By the end of week 2 with the kids in school, my head was ready to explode almost everyday, and it took me a long time to feel established and understand how to mesh my teaching style with the schools IB curriculum! Luckily, this clarity came during the first 3 day weekend of the school year! I finally feel like I know what I am doing and have a grasp on how I am going to operate at this school!

I have made some good friends! At first, I was really disappointed at the lack of single people at the school. In the group of 15 new teachers, 1 was 1 of 3 single teachers, and am the only one under 39. So there are lots of family oriented events going on- but I am becoming good friends with one of the teacher who is here ith her family, Terri, and another single gal, Narelle! The three of us decided to head to downtown Shanghai for the 3 day weekend. We got a hotel room downtown and spent a coupld of fun days exploring, shopping, and having a blast! Shanghai has he BEST markets- fabric- where I can get ANYTHING made for soooo cheap- the greatest craft market, pearl markets (with awesome rip off designer bags and freakishly cheap pearl jewelery) and many many more. Needless to say, Christmas gifts this year are going to be awesome and fun to shop for :) So I am loving it here- I am now feeling super excited for my new life here and am confident in what I am doing both in school and out!

So here's what I am LOVING about Shanghai so far:

-The shopping

-the amazing buildings- this is the first real big city I have lived in- so I apologize if I take way too many pics. of amazing buildings, but I love them!

- the school- it is a great chance for me to expand my teaching learn from so many amazing teachers

-the Aussies and the Brits- there are so many here, but I love it! I have said many times that I am learning more about Aussie and British culture than Chinese so far. At least a few times a week I have to stop a meeting and ask what they are talking about- we all do the same thing, just the names are so different- haha (they laughed so hard when they heard me call this . a period... apparently proper sounding people with cool accents call it a full stop)...

-My apartment: its a 2 story, 2 bed, 3 bath townhouse. The whole complex is pretty new, and is built mostly to attract westerners- so its a definite upgrade from my CR apartments!

- the scooters- everyone rides them...EVERYONE! Crossing the street is like a frogger game trying to avoid getting hit by scooters and tuck-tucks! I'm buying mine after pay day!

ANd the things I could live without.....

- the stares!! People LOVE to stare at me....the worst is at the grocery store...note to self: never wear my bright yellow dress to go shopping unless I am willing to be followed around the store like i am big bird :) First phrase I need to learn in my Chinese class: "I know I'm gorgeous but you're creeping me out"

- the spitting- its not a proper morning in China unless you open your front door to people hocking a loogie in front of you or picking their nose as they walk down the street...I don't know if I will ever get used to it....

-the humidity- yeah, I've been pretty sweaty here- but according to everyone "it's a hell of a lot better than last year" yay....so if next year is normal again, I have even more humidity to look forward to :/

-public toilets: I don't squat.....so I now know to hold it until I get home- I am yet to be desperate enough to use them- and hope I never have to

-The great firewall- anything fun on the internet is blocked....so dealing with getting VPN's to unblock FB, blogger, google docs.....and many other random pages- so if you don't hear from me for a stretch, I didn't die, it just means China caught up with my VPN!

That should catch you all a bit! Sorry, until this weekend, every last minute I've had has been spent at work or falling into my bed when I got home! Miss you all tons! Since I'm now about 16 hours ahead of you all- I can now read the future for you all! This also makes skyping a little more difficult! But drop me a line and let me know how things are going and we can set up skype dates!

Love from Shanghai!!!!!

Besos!

From summer to bummer ( I kid.....I love my life :) )

2010-08-05T18:46:00.000-07:00

So I'm back to work, back to adorably spoiled 7 year olds, back to trying to decide which tech. guy speaks enough English to fix my smartboard, back to google-translating everything from photocopies forms to parent e-mails, and back to what I love doing the most: TEACHING! I am so excited to be starting back this year. Yes, its stressful, yes it takes over my life, but I am so passionate about it and I love my students, my co-workers, and my friends that get me through the stress of it all! This year I was made the teacher leader of 2nd grade, and I am overseeing 2 brand new first year teachers and a teacher that has been at the school for 25 years, can you say INTIMIDATING! But I am super excited for this challenge and am ready to be the leader I have been missing for the past 2 years! We have been back for 3 days without kids, and finally being organized and having all the information I need to wrap my mind around all the things I have to do, is such a relief. I will update you all on school as is continues, but I am really looking forward to my last year in Costa Rica (and it IS my last year, but not sure where I am headed next)!

Before I went to Arizona this summer I finally finished my masters!!! That's right, MASTERS DEGREE!!!! You can all address me as MASTER KATHY from now on :) I am glad to be done with being a student for a while and will definitely enjoy the pay boost! After the masters classes, I went to Arizona and got to spend almost 2 weeks with my amazing family. I met a new nephew for the first time (of course, he's adorable) and I think I bought out Target and Old Navy :) I also got to visit some friends in Chicago for a long weekend while I was home and had an amazing time! It's such a big city, not like I'm used to in AZ or Costa Rica. The only thing I had to compare it to was Panama City, but I loved it even more. The culture, the nightlife, the public transportation, and mostly-the architecture! I fell in love. I actually considered starting, and still would love to do someday, a masters in architecture because I loved this city so much! I got to see everything via a walking tour, all of down town, Navy Pier, the art museum, a concert in the park, a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, the BEST (and most expensive) deep dish pizza I've ever dreamed of, ride a train, ride the L......I could keep going! All in 3 days! It was hard to leave!

The bridge on Michigan Ave. was up and they were setting boats on fire for the filming of Transformers 3!

I flew back to CR a little early to attend my friend's wedding! It was a very interesting experience, my first complete wedding. Well to sum up the actual ceremony....Catolic church in Latin America, Priest yelling what I think were prayers in Spanish, and me clapping and standing when everyone else did. The reception was so much fun! Ticos (Costa Ricans) start with dancing, have a drink, dance, eat dinner, and then dance til they are kicked out! I loved it, and was really glad to share such fun times and special moments with 2 of my best Costa Rican friends Gabby and Alejandro!
After the wedding, I had 5 days to unpack at my new apartment, which is near humanity, unlike my last apartment, and will be my final home in CR!

I am very aware of the good things in my life, and continuously strive to find the positive in every situation (to the annoyance of some of my friends). I am glad to say that I love where I am, love what I am doing, and count every bad day as a way to appreciate the good days to come! I love and miss you all! I'd love to hear from you all and see picture and life/personal/family updates. With school starting, I can't promise that I will be good at keeping you all updated, but I will try my best! Besos de Costa Rica!

Summer time!

2010-07-01T08:05:00.001-07:00

Hello all!

Ok so I might be the worst blooger in the history of the world. Aparantly school kind of takes over my life and I forget about some things (taxes, blogs....you know nothing important :) )

Anyway, life is not too exciting right now, but that is kind of a good thing. I am in the middle of my last session of masters classes. By the end of July (after a giant research project and my final protfolio are complete) I will officially be a Mater in Education, and I will only go by that title....Master Kathy, has a nice ring to it :)

I get to come home to visit in July for a couple of weeks. I am preparing myself for the heat. I will be leaving the rainy season, 70 all day, cool rain showers each evening, to come to 110 but I am excited. I cant wait to see everyone, eat some good food (both from mama and from the resturants I am craving) and enjoy some time to relax before the madness of school starts ups again!

Anyway, I just wanted to check in and see if anyone still checks this! I promise I will do a better job keeping this updated!

Love and miss you all! If you are in Phoenix in July contact me, I want to see everyone!

Kathy

6 months...I'd say its time for an update!

2010-01-04T17:46:00.000-08:00

Hi, ok so I know this sinlt much of an excuse, but I'm going to give it anyways! So since about October, my computer has been broken, and I have been using one at school that I cannot iplaod pictures to and blocks me from just about every site that looks like it could be social networking....so in a few less words....sorry I haven't updated this thing in forever. I'd like to say that life has been boring and un-eventful but it has not been, so I will catch you up as best I can!

Me and a few angelitas on Christmas Eve!

My class riding the Polar Express!

I just got back from a short trip to the states (under 10 days) and got to spend some great time with my family, got a small dose of cold weather, and was glad to be met by the 75 degrees and sunshine when I got back to Costa Rica. I love seeing my family and the few friends I had time to see, I'm pretty sure I gained 10 pounds on fudge and peanut butter balls (and I brought some back with me) and I shopped, shopped, shopped. Once I got back to CR, I had 2 days to complete pre-course assignments for my masters program, then spent 4 days relaxing at the beach. It was quite an experience being on the beach for new years. Aparantly everyone (and their dog, cousins, cats, horses...) leave San Jose and flock to the beaches for new Years in Costa Rica. Add a butt load of gringos into the mix, and you have a beach town street so packed by 10 PM that it was pointless to try and move through the crowd at all, standing still was the best option. Crowded as it was, it was a really fun experience to be among so many people happy, excited to be celebrating, and ready to celebrate with everyone around them. The people I went with made it a lot of fun. SO I celebrated it up, relaxed on the beach for a few days, had some AMAZING buffalo wings, great sushi (mmmmmm) and then begrudgingly came home Sunday afternoon.

Bright and early this morning, I started my 3rd session on my masters program here in Costa Rica. I have 2 more sessions following this, and then I will be a Master in Education (yes I expect this to be my new name at that time) in July of this year! Day 1 down, and the people I am in the program with really make it bearable, and almost fun. Today may have been the most fun I have ever had in a college class, but I also feel like I learned a lot too, so win win!!!

I realize I have not talked about my class this year at all, and all I can say is i am learning....A LOT...and every day from them. They are a test of my patience, my intuition, my ability to adapt, and did I mention my patience?.....on a daily basis. The ratio of half boys and half girls is a challenge in itself, but I also would consider 5 or 6 of my boys for serious testing for Attention Defecit Hyperactivity Disorder.....and so things are lively in my class...if nothing else. I also have my lovely little Jorge Eduardo who barely speaks English, has Opositional Defiant Disorder, and has a screaming/ kicking tantrum, tackles someone on the playground, tells me I'm not in charge God is, or a combination of these at least once a day. And there have been quite a few days where I had to literally pick him up, and run him to the bus because he collapsed mid-tantrum on the way, and wouldn't get up. So this class will either make me the best teacher I can be, or will get me out of the profession quickly! As crazy as they are, I love them to death, of course, and can't imagine this year without them (ok, I have to admit that I have to make sure I hug Jorge Eduardo at the end of the day to make sure he knows I love him, regardless of how much I yell at him during the day) Anyway, that sums up my class. I am finding most things to be MUCH easier the 2nd time around, I haven't broken down into tears yet this year (not even during report cards) so that's a good sign. People say the first year is rough, but you don't really see how rough it was until the 2nd year. Anyway, glad to feel like an expert at some things now!

My class celebrating Nutrition Day, and being a bit crazy!

Celebrating Independence Day in Costa Rica, dressed in their traditional garb!

I have decided to stay in Costa Rica for a 3rd year, and my school has approved a contract for 1 more year! I am glad to stay around the people I have come to love so much and work a little more stabaly before I move on to a new country and a new adventure. 2009 was an amazing year full of so many learning experiences for me. I learned so much about myself, and my place in this world, and have learned so much about people, life, the world in general.

Halloween, Bam Bam and Pebbles!

Ready for snorkeling in Bocas del Torro, Panama

I am glad to move forward with the same excitement towards life, ready to learn and experience everything around me, and ready to better myself and the world around me in the year to come. A tall order I know, but the few days of 2010 have already shown me that I have amazing people in my life, a few amazing people that I would like to get back in my life, and I share their joys, their sorrows, I am loved and supported, and we grow both together, individually, and because of each other. I have so many goals, hopes, and expectations for this year, and hope they all come to fruition!! I love and miss you all! The invitation is always open for you to come and visit (I am getting my first visitor in about 2 weeks, and can't wait for Jeffrey to experience the place I love) and would love more visitors in the year to come! I hope 2010 is your best year yet!

Besos de Costa Rica, Feliz ano nuevo!

don't worry...I'm not dead...

2009-07-06T15:08:00.000-07:00

So I guess it's been a while...sorry. Since you last heard from me, my kids had their rivers presentation, the school year ended, I survived the school year, masters classes started and that brings us up to date. Did I mention school ended and I survived my first year?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can;t believe it! During the last week of school, swine flu hit Lincoln and my classroom. For the last 3 days of school I had 8 kids 10 kids and 14 (yay!!) for the last day of school celebrations. It was really annoying becasue there was only one kid that was out sick and being tested for Swine...but more than half of my class was out becasue they didn't want to get sick. Good thing we weren't doing anything important, it's just school. So once that was over, I showed my kids the video I made with all of the pictures from the year, and I finaly got it cut down from 30 minutes to 18! It was adorable and I had moms telling me that they teared up watching it, so it seems like it was a hit (I'll have to send you a copy, it's WAY too big to e-mail)
The last day of teacher workdays was HORRIBLE for my friends in the high school. In the highschool, they wait until the last day of school to fire people. so they don;t freak out and stop teaching. Well on Tuesday, the last day at about 1 pm,I had 4 friends fired, without notice from HS. Two of them were married, and had both sources of income swept away from them without any notice. it was a mess!! So the next few days were spent working on my masters pre-course assignments for half of the day, helping one of the fired friends clean out her classroom so she can get her severance check. It was a hard week, but they are all being great about it and have already started interviewing.
Now I'm in the middle of my masters classes. 2 weeks of 8 hours a day, but this semester is MUCH beter than last semester. These professors are keeping things interesting, and we are learning things that actually apply to the teacheing profession. It's a lot of work but I'm enjoying it! I'm going through beach withdrawls. it's been a month in San Jose without going out of twn, and let me tall you, that is TOO long! A few days after masters classes, I am hopping on a bus to Nicaragua and am planning on spending a few weeks around the different cities in Nicaragua, but first stop...the beach. I need the water, the sand, and some sun, but most especially, a break from the rain! No me gusta! Anyway, miss and love you all. Wish I could be there at the cabin but I know you guys will have a blast without me! I'll have to save the ATVing and wakeboarding for Christmas break!

Love ya

the morning after...

2009-05-27T04:56:00.000-07:00

so aparantly after watching the news here, yesterday actually WAS a tornado. It was small but powerful, that explains the ridiculousness. Anyway, the next morning, I walk into my room trying to get everything back in place and my principal walks in and quickly tells me to have the kids in their seats with their basals out. Next thing I know, my principal, the general director and a photographer from LA Nacion ( the national newspaper here in CR) are in my room wandering around, taking pictures of my class. Well after a little while, the principal and director leave, and the photographer tells me to just teach like a normal lesson. Well, I was told to keep books out that we are not using, my kids are never going to pay attention to me with the camera inthere, and my lesson for that time was a game outside. So whatever, I changed plans quick got the kids settles, and strated walking around, trying to clean up where ever I was without looking too obvious.(becasue at that point, everything that WAS on the floor had been put on desks and counters so nothing got wet. So I get it looking fine, and 5 minutes later the general director walks backinto my room with the Chinese Ambasador. Now, I mean come on, give me some warning about these things! So we get introduced , I introdce my class, and first thing, my brat child walks up to him in a very demanding tone and says "what's YOUR name?" And of course it was something no one could pronounce, so that was fun having my kids try countless times, with him standing right there. And to top it all off, as they are all standing there,a tour group, people looking at the school, marches into my room. Aparanlty, they like my room becasue it is very colorful and fun and looks like a classroom in the states. Sometimes it's a little diorganized, but they get what they see, ma d aparantly they like it enough to keep shoing it to people. (I was the only elementary classroom to be photographed and to meet the ambasador (who was here to present something to the middle school, aparantly I have a good model of what teching English should look like.

Oh and it was freakishly humid that day, I had just run into my room becasue my bus was a little late, and was sweating like crazy, so any pictures with me in them are bound to be gorgeous!

I think we can officially call THAT the start of the rainy season...

2009-05-25T14:34:00.001-07:00

Ok, so today started out like any other day in May here in CR, really hot and muggy in the AM, cooler about 11, and cloudy by 12:00. Well, at about 12:15, God apparently got very angry with Costa Rica and let the flood gates open. It started with a ridiculous amount of lightning strikes and thunder that shook the buildings. This of course was followed by a whole building of kids screaming after every one. Then the rain started, and I use rain as a mild term. It was POURING, more than i have ever seen CR pour. There was so much rain and I could not even hear my kids yelling over the rain. Then the wind started and my kids, who have lived here all their lives, said it looked like a tornado in a snow storm. The water was no longer dropping vertically, but perfectly horozontally. I got a video of part of it, this is at the tail end when it calmed down a little, but you get the ides. ( listen to my kids going crazy in the background, especially as the power goes out :) ) VIdeo is at the bottom.

And then while all of this is going on, all of the above elements combining to make the most ridiculous storm ever, the principal telling us not to let the kids out of the classroom because it was dangerous, half of my class about to pee their pants, I look over and there is a solid inch of water covering the floor of about 1/4 of my classroom. Water is pouring in from under the walls (not the door THE WALLS of a very poorly leveled hallway that slants in towards my classroom and then has no water seal, aparantly). Well after about 10 minutes of this, the hallway got so flooded that the water stared pouring in under the door. Well at this point, I brave it, send two kids to the office to tell them my room is flooding, and they come back with a beroom. No "oh maitence is coming" or anything, just a broom for me to start sweeping. Well, fine ok, I don't need to teach today, so my kids are "silent reading" (yeah right) while I am sweeping water out of the door. It is still pouring,and every time I sweep water out, more comes in.

See, don't they look like they are completely wrapped up in their books?

Well, a mintence lady finally walks by my room and helps me get the majority of the puddles out. We covered the floor with newspaper so no one dies, have to replace it all 5 minutes later, and keep sweeping. Once the rain finally slowed down we got the hallway cleared so it would stop coming into my room, then got the room all the way cleared, and then she started mopping up.

Even Ali, the permanent sub, got roped in to help us sweep!

As soon as she finished mopping (so the floor is damp but looks fine) then, and only then, does my general director walk in to see what happened. So not olny do I look crazy, but I look like a crybaby! Anyway, it was such a crazy afternoon, and I got NOTHING taught, but that's ok, it's not like I'm running short on teaching days anyway!

So favorite quotes from my kids today:
"Why does Ms Kathy get to take her shoes off?" "Becasue they are full of water"

(to the sub helping mop up) " Why are you taking a picure of Ms. kathy" "becasue this is ridiculous"

(in a TRULY concerned voice) " Oh no, my house is up on a hill, that means all this rain is going to be on my house first, and it's going to be even more flooded than our classroom!"

"Do we get to go home becasue he floor is wet?"

and my favorite

"we made this happen. At recess we saw the clouds, so we did a rain dance and chanted "come rain come rain" " Well, we get to blame you for this then :) NEVER do that again!"

So needless to say, the countdown has begun (16 more teaching days left) and I CANT WAIT to be done. I have a list about a mile long that has to be finished before the end of May, one double that size before June 16th( the last day of school) and the list grows as soon as the kids leave. But I'm going to make it, unless I get struck by lightning, then I'll know I was never meant to finish my first year teachng (becasue I still can't believe I've gotten this far with out kiing someone or being killed).

Love and miss you all!

Kathy

Looks like somebody's got a case of the Mondays...

2009-04-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, so today was SUCH a crazy day for me. Not stressful, I enjoyed it all, just crazy!

So first this this morning, I had a kid flat tire me. The shoes I was wearing didn;t have a lot of life left in them, but this kid ripped the life out of it very quickly. I look like I was wearing a flip flop (my shoe split in 2) and I had to walk like I was jumping hurdles all day! (I will now keep at least a spare pair of flip flops at school for days like this)
Then, our day started with reading. So my kids were all on the floor, and I was in front of them, sitting on a pillow like alwasy. Well, we read for a while and I had to get up to get something. While I was up, one of the kids moved the pillow I was on to find a large black scorpion under it. That's right, I was sitting ona scorpion, that was very much a live, and very much angry that it was being discurbed. So I told all the kids to go back to their desks, did a little freak out of my own, and then trapped it under a cup. It was then a team effort to find something to put it in and then take it to the science lab at school for the science lady to keep. Now normally when my kids bring in bugs and random animals they find, I keep them in my room and go to the science lady for a container or food. She was a little schocked this time that I didn't want to keep it as a pet "You really must not like scorpions, you let you class keep everything else as a pet." So aparantly, I'm that crazy gringa who hate scorpions! All I know is I am not sitting on the floor any more this week, and it will probably take a while for me to get back down there without feeling like scorpions are crawling all over me!

Then I had a little boy complaining that his eye hurt and it was all red. Well, I had 5 kids out last week with pink eye, so I sent him to the nurse. 5 minutes later he comes back and said the nurse told him to come back if it got worse. Well, this just pissed me off, so I sent him back with a little script he was supposed to tell her "Ms. kathy says I have conjunctivitus and it is very contageous and I should not be in school anymore." Well 10 minutes later he came back "What are you doing here" "She told me to come back" "Did you tell her what I said to" "Yeah, but she said to come back anyway" Well, at this point, in my head all I'm thinking is "Woman, there is a 3 day weekend coming up, I am not spending it with pink eye!" So I had the boy pack up his things, and I sent him back with a note (that he had to translate to the nurse) saying I would not let him back in my class. Pink eye is very contageous and I do not want more students to get it" His mom e-mailed me two hours later thanking me for sending him home and that their doctor said he should not go back to school until Wednesday! YAY!!! Someone who knows what they are doing! I love it!
My kids are determined that I have several boyfriends at school. Anywtime they see me talking to a man on campus, afterwards all I hear is "is that your boyfriend Ms. Kathy" to which I respond "I thought you guys said that man yesterday was my boyfriend" Aparantly, in my kids minds, I am quite a player and am currently dating (and am going to marry) Mr. Lile, Mr. Freeman, Mr. B, 2 maintenence guys, and the dad of one of the students. If only my prospets were that goodher in CR. My favorite was today when I was talking to another teacher in my room, I had 3 girls pop their head in my window and started making kissy faces to us! I don't know what got them started on this kick, but I have a feeling it is not going to end anytime soon. As the teacher left my room they hummed the wedding march! I have to give them props for creativity!

And to top it all off, the minister of Health in CR issued a Pandemic alert for the Swine Flu, and it's not even in our country yet!. I swear I got 10 e-mails today about how to prevent it and how to keep my kids safe. Um, pretty sure its an airporn virus to washing hands and wiping down door handles isn;t going to help, but I even got an e-mail about wearing gas masks! People are so paranoid, and so my kids are really concerned! We had to spend 30 minutes today of me basically telling them they were not going to get the Flu and they shouldn;t worry about it!

So it was a fun, but crazy day! It's days like this where I love my ability to laugh things off! Without that, today would have been ridiculous, but I had a lot of fun!

Love and miss you all!

HOLY week, aka: keeping this teacher's sanity in tact

2009-04-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I've officially made it 3/4 of the way through my first year of teaching, and everyone involved is still breathing! Success! I just finished up the 3rd quarter and that was followed by Semana Santa. For this week of pure, blissful freedom I headed south to Panama. I flew to Panama City and stayed there with some awesome teachers from school. We rented a brand new apartment on the 18th story of a high rise right down town. It was so much fun to be with these girls, be able to relax and have some great times exploring the city. We explored every part of the building, spent about 3 hours one night just standing on the roof taking pictures and laughing at life. We hit the canal, did the tourist thing, and enjoyed being in a real city. Tall buildings, actual malls, tons of people, it put San Jose to shame! After 4 days of this, it was time to make my way back to CR. So I grabbed an overnight bus (getting these tickets was such a stressful process that 30 minutes into trying, I started crying and sadly, that worked and got the two of us the tickets we needed, Not my proudest moment) and rode 10 ours to place called Bocas del Torro, Panama. It is on the Carribean side and is a big chain of islands that Columbus thought looked like a bull's mouth. I had to take a water taxi to get anywhere, which was a lot of fun to be on a speed boat to simply get to my hotel. On everyone;s recomedations, we headed to Playa Estrella (starfish beach) and spent the day in the sun surrounded by crystal clear water and star fish everywhere I looked. Now, these weren't little Sea Word star fish that you can holdin one hand, these were as big as my head and were actually pretty heavy. I was like a little kid giddy with excitemtnt. In my excitement, I failed to pay close enough attention to the first star fish I took a picture with, and as I tried to put it back on the sand, it would not sink. i tried and treid, holding, trowing it, nothing worked, and I eventually had to let it go and watch it float away. So lets recap 1 dog, 1 starfish, 800 cockroaches, I'm on a killing spree in Central America :( After this day, we met some great people who lived in San Jose too, met up with a couple of the studetns teachers, and all headed to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica together. Crossing the border was an experience like nothing else. First, we had to wait in line to get passports stamped for 3 hours. During this time, a truck drove by us and fired some rocks in our direction. One hit a window and cracked it, another hit a Lincoln 4th grader in the face (she was 3 people ahead of us n line) and knocked her over and bloodied her nose. So after that, every time a car passed, everyone practice their duck and cover routine. After that wait, we had to cross a 1/2 mile bridge ( that was really an old railroad bridge) walking on planks of wood they simpy laid over the holes, so that was scary. I finally arrived in Puerto Viejo and had 4 great days at the beach. On Thursday and Friday, everything in the country shuts down, no busses run, resturants are closed and everythings is dead. So we had a heck of a time figuring out ways to get home (we had to wait until Saturday, and it was PACKED) food (the one resturant that sold us food to go) and entertainment.

I had such an amazing and relaxing week. And, as expected, the Monday after was literally the WORST day i've ever had as a teacher. Not only was it the first day back, but I was also stressing about the fiedl trip 2 days later, grade due the day after my field trip, and came in to find all my field trip money gone. So I was in tears twice in front of my kids becasue of this, and eventually got it all back from security (in 3 different chunkc, at 3 different times throughout the day.

So it's been a rollercoaster the last few weeks, but I fell ike I am finally back in the groove of things and am ready to face the last quarter of the year. Talk to me in 9 weeks and hopefully I will be doing a little happy dance becasue I survived!!!!!!

Anyway, miss and love you all. Pictures of all my shenanegins are on my Picasa account so go check it out!

so...how's it going?

2009-03-18T20:22:00.001-07:00

Hey, so it's been a while! So March has been a crazy month so far. To start things off I had another earthquake, this time with my kiddos in the room. It was a small one, but enough to shake up the day....and get my kids talking louder and faster than any one should be allowed to. Lets see...what else...oh yeah the next week a psycho mom told my principal to fire me, and then we went out and ate ice cream together and braided each other's hair....since she's my favorite person in the WORLD! And she is now sending all of tests back with the "real " grade on them (ya know, the one she thinks her daughter SHOULD have gotten) and expects me to be gracious for her expert advice. On the plus side, I started at a gym by my house, and found that I've shed at least one butt cheek since Christmas break! (I still have not been able to translate the workout plan the trainer game me...body parts and muscle names in Spanish is no bueno). I've been trying to find the magic stash of money I had misplaced so that I can find money to come home for the cabin and Christmas....but I fear that stash is MIA (blasted Leprachauns....) so I'm gonna have to pick one or the other.

The days herer are getting slightly less windy, dry for a while now, and a tad bit warmer. It's starting to look like Spring! My kids had never heard of St Patty's day, and by 3:00, I had 21 kids convinced that they DID see a leprachaun at lunch and that they should all chase him to the bottom of the ravine behind the school to steal his gold (I also inadvertatnly toold all of my kids they could go home and pinch their parents) :) I Hit the beach a few times since my last post. The latest was the best. We headed up to Tamarindo in the North Pacific. We had to cross a river to get to the good beach. Well on the way there we took a boat across (to the other side I could spit to). Well we decided we were going to swim across it for the way back, made it half way before it got too deep, and ended up swimming across this rushing river (that I later found out was probably filled with crocs!)

LIVE SAND DOLLARS??!?!? Are you kidding me...so cool! I was kind of excited!

Anyway, love and miss you all. Hope all is well! Hoping for some visitors soon....maybe come to me in July....that would solve all my problems! (do it, you know you want to :)

oh yeah, and I did some teaching in there too...

2009-02-17T19:37:00.000-08:00

so I guess I should show you some of my cute kids and my adventures in trying to not screw them up completely in 9 months of their lives. I think I'm doin OK so far, here's some photographic proof!

A mom brought some chicks in for shw and share one day, the kids had a BLAST with them, and then ran around my class for way too long!

The day Ms. Kathy's Boa Ate the Brownies?... A boa our class made out of socks and newspaper....they actually named him Captain Boa Pants in the story we wrote about him, he's one amazing superhero snake!

1/2 the class hold the first part of Captain Boa Pants.

In centers working on making the boa.

We decorated cookies for our Valentines Day Party...so cute!

passing out Valentines...not really a big thing here, but I had 3 kids whose parents bought candy hearts the last time they were in the states....SWEET!

boquets, burning feet, beautiful rainbows, and blood...man, I have alot to catch you up on!

2009-02-17T17:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I know it's been a while since I've updated this thing, so here goes, I'm starting from the back and working my way forward. Since I last left you I...

Flew to Florida to go to Leslee's wedding on the beach (she's the teacher who lived in my complex but left to get married and have her baby)
Kim and I sum up the weekends in these two phrases "are we lost?" and " we did NOT come this way!" I think I got lost more in this weekend than I ever have in my life. Basically, every time we got in the car, we got lost. Finding food, finding malls, finding the wedding, WE GOT LOST!! We showed up to the gorgeous beach wedding just in time for the reception to start. We were really frustrated at first, but we got to see beautiful Leslee and we got to have fun getting to know all her family and friends. It was so great, she was so honored that were there, and Kim and I got to know each other alot better!! Here's the highlights from the trip.

Chillin in our convertible PT Cruiser!

The beautiful couple!

1st dance

I was standing in the back, not fighting it at, but the boquet fell right into my hands! Go figure, now to find that hot Tico....hmmmm, wait, that doesn't exsist!

The following weekend, I was not planning on going anywhere, but got woken up and convinced that I had to go to the beach with my friends, so I packed in 4 and 1/2 minutes and ran out the door! And it was sooo worth it. We drove to a beach only 2 1/2 hours away, but it winds up and down a very curvy mountain road. About an hour into the drive, the breaks prett much gave out, so we pulled over, let the car cool down a little, drove to a mechanic (using the parking break ALOT) and got it kinda fixed. They then found a nail in the tire. So we drove to another one to fix that, and then a 3rd mechanic for some other reason (I don;t rememer). Well, we finally got to the beach, in one piece, and enjoyed a very RELAXING, much needed weekend. We went to a black sand beach that basically burned your feet off everytime you walked on it. I was torn between walking painfully slow to get no sand in my flops, or sprinting...but I blistered my feet anyway! We got home safely and quickly sent Matt and Megan's car in for some repairs.

Chillin beachfront

our "WOO HOO, mechanic #3 fixed it" picture!One of those "only in Costa Rica" moments. Horses walking down the highway behind the mechanic trying to put the sare tire on the car, and finding that the spare actually only fit the back wheels. I love it!

I think it was the 1st week in February, I saw more rainbows in one week than the rest of my life combined. There was one day that I woke up and fell asleep to a rainbow outside of my window. An these were not normal rainbows, they looked fake, computer generated, photshopped into the sky!! it was soooooo beautiful. We drive over a big ravine to get homne from school, and the rainbow looked like it started perfectly at the bottom of the ravine and ended perfectly on top of the mountains. I wanted to have the bus driver stop one day so I could just out and catch the leprachaun that was waiting at the bottom with his pot of gold. It literally took my breath away, I am just in awe to live in such an amazingly gorgeous place. More and more signs like this tell me I am right were I need to be and let me look forward to more amazing days! It's so much nicer to walk to the bus stop when you look up and see this!!!

An finally, catching you up to this weekend. I rented a car and headed to the Arenal Volcano with 5 of the new student teachers. I had a blast and found some amazing friends. We left straight from school on Friday, and got almost all the way there before it got dark. Well, andout 20 kilometers before we got there, I, the only driver, turned a sharve turn in the road to see a dog darting across it. Well, I hit the brakes and swerved into the other lane to avoid it, but ended up following it exaclty. I heard a thud, felt a bump, heard a squeal, and then another bump. Well, we stopped and looked back and no dog in the road, so aparantly it ran off the road to die :( so THAT kinda freaked me out, and the jokes from the boys started immediately. From then on, whenever we saw a dog, someone in the group let out a whimper, and we all started laughing. After getting ou tot check out the car, the new catch phrase for the weekend was "is that BLOOD?!?!?" On Saturday, we tried to goon a hike, but got rained out, so we spent most of the day at the hot springs in the rain, the BEST combo in the world. This is the main reason I keep going back to Arenal, I LOVE< LOVE< LOVE the hto springs!! Sunday morning we hiked to see the lava from an eruption in 1992, and saw some amazing views. We drove home with out incident, but the person in shotgun became the perro (dog) watch. Anywtime was saw a dog at all, in the road, behind a gate, tied up, anything, they alerted us with the dry "perro, perro!!" It kept me laughing all the way home.

The group

Amazing flower grwing in the middle of the black, lava rocks! So cool!

Lava from 1992! Hard to hike on but so worth it for the view!

HOT SPRINGS!!!!!!!!!

So it;s been a month of great new friends, getting closer to old friends, and crazy adventures! I wouldn't trade this for the world!!!!!!!!!!!

...and our next stop is to your left folks, most beautiful beach in the world people, but please keep your hands inside the vehicle while it's moving!

2009-01-21T14:11:00.000-08:00

So after the masters classes were over, we all decided that we needed some time away before we got back to school. So 3 of the the other teachers and I headed North to Guancaste and had an AMAZING time at the beaches there. Mari is a Tica and she basically grew up in Guancaste, so she became our own personal tour guide for the weekend. We tried 1 or 2 beaches every day we were there(there are about 15 beautiful, well known beaches within about an hour of each other), and she was able to give us all the best resturants to eat at, where to avoid, and she basically knew everyone in town!!

Day 1 of our tour, we hit Playa Hermosa and Playa del Coco!

Playa Hermosa

Sunset at Playas del Coco

Couple #1 (Megan and Matt)

Couple #2 :) (Mari y Yo) This was our running joke for the weekend, every couple picture Megan and Matt took, Mari and had to pose for a cheesier one!

Day 2: We went to some of the most gorgeous beaches I have ever seen in my life, about 40 mnutes South of where we were staying!

To get to Playa Conchal, we had to go to another beach about a mile away, drive to the water, and drive back a mile on the sand to get there. Here's Mari Driving on the beach.It' so weird, and technically illegal on any other beach, but it a resort has bought out all the land behind this beach, and that is the only way to these unless you are staying at the resort. It's the law in CR that, since all beaches are public property, there has to be public acces to it, but this is quite a stretch!

Once we got there, thoug, it was soooo worth it. I wasn to move here, and walk the mile to this beach everyday, it's sooooooo gorgeous!!

Playa Flamingo for the afternoon!

My favorite picture of the trip!

And back to Playas del Coco to end the day, but a little too late for sunset! (this picture makes me laugh, Mari, a tan Tica: Megan, a freakishly tan Gringa: and me, a freakishly white Gringa!)

Day 3: 1/2 day at the beach, Playa Ocotal, then home!

a little crab on the beach!

A little pool time to cool down!

And then home. Guanacaste is cool becasue it is mostly flat and a lot drier than the rest of the country. I had to take a picture of the open areas tht you never see anywhere else!

It was a great weekend and made coming back to school a lot easier. The first few days back have been good. I am getting a lot more organized and am having fun getting to know the new student teachers (15 in all, and I'm the only 2nd grade teacher without one) Anyway, love and miss you all!!

Shakin things up, BIG TIME!

2009-01-08T11:38:00.000-08:00

Alright, well, Karen, you might not want to tell you're girls about this one either. We just had another earthquake in in Costa Rica. I was on the 2nd story of the school, in the middle of one of our masters classes, and the building started shaking. It was shaking ALOT, to the point where it was hard to stay balanced while we were leaving. I am sitting there very unaware of what to do in this situation, and everyone starts running out of the room, except for a few of the gringos. Well, we caght on and followed them out, and started talking about our lack of earthquake drills at the school! Anyway, we got outsde, everyone was having a good laugh, a few people were freaked out, but most of us were excited! (me especially, it was cool) It was like surfing, but on the floor of a 2nd story building!! SO fun!!! Well, we waited a while, headed back in, headed back out again after we felt a few aftershocks, and we're back inside! Ayway, It was a 6.2 on the scale, and the center was in Volcan Poas, which is like 30 minutes outside of San Jose, so it was pretty strong! . Anyway, no damage or injuries, this time. A couple of the teachers had bookshelves and fish tanks fall over in their houses, but for the most part, un damaged.

This is my 3rd, yes 3rd, earthquake here. The fist 2 just felt like someone was shaking my bed, but this one, the whole building was shaing, it was big! Just another day of adventure in my life! Hopefully no Earthqueakes in AZ, if so, let me know :) I should probaly get back to work!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/08/world/main4708094.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_4708094

M-A-S-T-E-R-S, what's that spell? no vacation

2009-01-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I made it back, alive and in one piece. And I immediately knew that I was back in Costa Rica when my taxi driver home from the air port was hitting on me. Sadl, I had to turn dow the 5 ft. 35 year old taxi triver, but I let him down easy :) It has been weird getting back to speaking in Spanish. The first few times someone spoke to me in Spanish, I just kinda stared at them and processing time was a lot longer than usual. I think I am back to just looking kind of stupid now!
I started my masters classes On Monday, so yes, i am offically a grad student! I seem to recalltelling people to hit me over the head with a blunt object if I even talked about going back to school in the next 5 years, so I am gravely disappointed that no one did their job. It's not actually that bad. I am taking 2 classes right now, one for 4 hours in the AM, he other, 4 hours in the pm for two weeks. The people in the classes are a lot of fun, and I have about 10 of my friends starting the program with me, so if nothing else, we get a good laugh. During a rather rousing lecture this morning, we found a website that sells toasted caterpillars, cofee eaten and then regurgatated by weasels, and ant suckers. Our professor in the AM tends to ramble, is at least 80, and forgets his ideas mid sentence, so needless to say we have a lot of class time to kill.
Our afternoon class is about technology, and I'm sorry, but they should make tech classes seerate, those who know what a computer is and use it frequently, and those who struggle to turn it on. I think we've gotten through like 1/4 of the material we were supposed to so foar becasuse there are thos 3 or 4 people in the class who act like they have never heard of these amazing new inventions. So after about an hour, I had checked everything I could think of online, and spent the rest of my time helping a college figure out how to get info onto her flash drive. good times!
It warmed up quite a bit in the 2 weeks I was gone. It's been like 75 all week, and everything has dried up. It's weird, there are those spots at our house where you just don;t go because they are always muddy, now, you can walk right through them. It doesn;t sound like anything exciting, but it is REALLY strange to see dirt instead of mud, dry concrete and clear skies! Where am I? Anyway, I uploaded pics from AZ, sledding, Christmas, to my Picasa, so you can go see them if you want.

Miss you all!

My top 10 list!

2008-12-11T15:38:00.000-08:00

ok, se seeing as how I have been gone for about 5 months now and am counting the days tl I go home for a visit, my mind is fixed on the things that I take for granted in the US and really need lots of when I get home!!

1. Driving a car, I don't care what kind or whose it is, just a car that I can drive, blast my music, and not have to walk to a stop for, wait for 30 minutes in the rain for! (public transportation has its place, I am just in need of a break)

2. My family. I am missing the cute faces of the kiddos I so love to have around me. Kids that I don;t have to teach, don;t have to be responsible for, don't have to be Dr. Phil to, kids that I can just rile up, sugar up and then send home when I am tired! (and yes a car did come before family, sorry, but I have priorities!)

3. My friends!! The list of people that I want to see is much longer than 2 weeks will allow. I want to see everyone and can't wait to catch up. The people I am here with are AMAZING but there's nothing better than an old friend!

4. Chili's! The queso dip, the salads, the atmosphere, the people, can;t wait!! If you can;t find me while I'm at home, check Chili's, I will probably be there!

5. Pei Wei! I am need of some good Pad Tai!

6. A bug free-house. Yes, I am sure that Caitlyn loves being awakened at 11pm to me screaming because there is another cockroach or random bug crawling across the living room floor, but t's not such a part for me. My favorite was when I was unpacking my bag over Thanksgiving and a roach come flying out of shoe!! Man, I have seen the biggest, creapyest bugs ALL in my apartment.

7. Being able to walk down the street and not fear getting hit by a car, truck, motorcycle....and any other random vehicle. The phrase "right of way" does not exist in CR. The right of way is the person who goes first, has the biggest car, or honks the loudest. The only time I have a chance to win this one is when I scream at the cars that almost run over my toes!

8. Three words...Peanut butter balls....ooh, and fudge, oh and carmel corn.....hmmmm, this could make up the whole top 10 I think!

9. A TV that I can watch from more than a foot away! We have a very classy 10 inch TV in our apartment, partner that with the hit and miss choppy cable, and TV is a challenge!

10. Shopping....for clothes made for people in a normal size. Yeah, clothes here are made skin tight, and for people who average 3'5''! I'd love to be able to buy shoes, jeans, shirts or anything here, bet everything I try on ends at my knees, my waist, or the arch of my foot! Old Navy and Target, here I come!

Pictures!

2008-12-06T16:32:00.000-08:00

So,I have new pictures from Thanksgiving, and I don't know why I can't get them to upload to my blog. It just helps make my case that my computer is in on a conspiracy to make my life difficult and it's succeeding)!

So, here's the link to the pics on Picasa! Enjoy

http://picasaweb.google.com/kjanderson86/Thanksgiving#

See most of you soon, less thank 2 weeks!

It's raining chicken?!?!

2008-11-22T16:52:00.000-08:00

So today has been the biggest waste of a day. It has been pouring ALL day, I mean it hasn't stopped raining once. And worse, the wind is blowing like crazy, so an umbrella is useless. I tried to go somewhere this morning, and was soaked through after a block, so I turned around and came back home. This is not normal at all for Costa Rica! Normally, it rains and pours for a few hours, usually mid afternoon and then is beautiful for the rest of the day! So I have been at home all day, going some work, watching Costa Rican shark fin poachers get busted (and getting excited because I knew where they were at while they were getting busted) and chillin. Well my neighbor, Leslie, is an amazing cook and her boyfriend is currently here visiting from home. They were in the same boat as me, nowhere to go without getting soaked, so they decided to make a full on Thanksgiving feast today with all their time. Now Leslie is an AMAZING cook (anything I cook here I attribute to her coaching me) and this meal was amazing. Sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, homemade stuffing, cranberries, chicken (turkey is ridiculously expensive) rolls, and even homemade pumpkin pie!!! It was so yummy and it really helped me feel more like I was at home for Thanksgiving! The only thing we were missing was rainbow jello and turkey trail mix cups! But don't worry. I am having a turkey thanksgiving lunch with my kiddos on Tuesday (the moms are paying for the turkey the students "have" to have) and I will be making an improvised version of the cups for my kids!!
So this year already has a leg up on last year because I got pumpkin pie!!! Yeeee haw!!

Well...the hospital was nice at least!

2008-11-19T17:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I wasn't a patient, just a visitor, but I am not comforted to know that if I have to go to the hospital here, it is very nice. Aparantly the private hospital by our house, (the Tico's call it the Gringo hospital) is great, private rooms, flat screen TV's, a chance to practice my Spanish, who wouldn't want to visit!?!?
Anyway, yesterday friend of mine, a fellow teacher, got hit by a motorcycle. He was getting off the public bus he takes to school, stepped off the bus (onto the highway, yep bus stops on the highway, people walking on and off the on-ramps, crossing the highway) and got knocked over by a motorcycle that was trying to go around the bus. Well, as I found out later, the cycle didn't actually touch him, but it was the force of the man's helmet smashing into his chest that knocked him over and sent him flying. This was at like 7:45, so everyone at the school knew there was an accident, 1/2 of my class was late because of it, but it wasn't until school got out that they told us who it was. I guess he got lucky because he was right in front of the school, like 4 teachers stopped and called ambulances and stayed with him until they came.
I went to visit him last night at the hospital, and he was surprisingly looking really good. He had just woken up, and didn't remember anything from the whole day. As we were talking, it would remind him of things that happened, and he slowly started recalling everything. He just had some scratches, bruises, and a cracked clavicle. He's in good spirits, another teacher went and bought him a toy moto and plastered his pic on an action figure that is now siting by his bed (to remind him of his invincibility, as he puts it)! Apparently it's big business when you get hurt here. Our principal, General director, and HR lady all followed the ambulance to the hospital and his family was called within an hour, so they know what they're doing!
Well, that would have been enough excitement for one night, but no, it continues. So I went to bed amidst a big storm. It has been soooooooo wind for the last couple days and freezing cold. Anyway, the wind had been rattling windows and doors all night. Well, at about midnight, I am woken up by my bedroom door bursting open. Well, this really freaked me out, and I sat in my bed for a few minutes waiting to see who kicked the door in! Once I kinda convinced myself that it was the wind, I ran over, slammed it (it doesn't lock :() and jumped back into bed. (I guess we left a window open and the wind was SOOOOo strong) Well, now I am thinking every noise is someone in my house, and the wind constantly rattling my metal back door is not helping things. So I am sitting in my bed listening to the band of armed men that are at my door :) and all of a sudden my bed starts shaking and moving from side to side. Well I look over and my shelves are rattling and bouncing too!! Well this goes on for about 5 minutes, getting stronger at times, and then stops. Well, now I am WIDE awake, and not going to sleep any time soon. I had to pop in a movie and got through most of it before I fell asleep again.
So lets recap, friend hit by motorcycle, door bursting open and earthquake all in one night!! So things are nice and dull here in Costa Rica! I guess at the center of the Earthquake, on the Panamanian CR border, it was almost a 7 on the scale, but not near that strong here! It was funny to talk at school to see who slept through, who thought that had dreamed it, and who actually woke up! Kind of fun, kinds scary, but no damage done here, or anyone in the country!
So right now I am wishing I had a better jacket, more sweats and better insulated walls! It is sooo cold and windy, and hs been misting rain all day. I actually wore my scarf to school today, IN COSTA RICA! I would be making fun of myself for being a wimp if it really were not so frickin cold! Anyway, looking forward to seeing you all in about 3 weeks!! Love from down South!

Ay teeeacher!!

2008-10-21T16:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I finally got report cards sent home today (the cutoff) and only because one of my students brought in Prnce of Egypt and that bought me the last 1 1/2 hours of the day. whew! Now I just have to deal with the consequences on Thursday at parent meetings (after a full day of work, from 4-6:30 pm )and I'm in the clear.
So we have intensive security at our school. They are on campus 24/7, they are always walking around, nd aparantly, they are always checking teachers doors to make sure they are locked (because aparently I work in a PRISON, not a school). Well, 2 weeks ago, they checked my dorr and it was not locked (ever) and found my laptop (from the school) unchained from this desk lock they gave us....so they ook it. So I come back from my lunch and start freaking out because my laptop is gone, and then I remembered people telling me about stuff like this happening, and then I was ust pissed. I stormed up to the office, had the secretary on the phone with any and everone in the tech department and security, and she finally tracked down my laptop. Well, aparantly, that was my "first strike" according to the tech buy, and I only get three before they"take away my computer for good" (as you can tell, I quite enjoyed being treated much like the students I am teaching and talked to like a dad scolding me for stealing a cookie.) Anyway, after that incident, I talked to my principal and let her know how frustrated I was, because of course, the day it was taken ( and the reason it was un chained (novel idea, moving a laptop off a desk, hmmmm) ) I was doing a presentation to my students with it and could not do it with my frickin laptop gone.
Ok, so today (still not locking my doors again, it's Lincoln SCHOOL, not Lincoln Penitentiary for the Criminally Insane (well...) ) I was doing report card right before lunch, listening to my i pod, and doing fine. Well, I left for lunch with my kids, i pod still on my speakers, still on my desk. Well when I came back from lunch, the speakers were there, the digital projector I checked out from the library was still there, but the i pod was gone. No freaking out this time, just immediately pissed. The laptop, I KIND OF understand taking because it is school property. But my i pod is MINE, the school has nothing to do with. Well, I immediately ran up to the office, and the secretary spent the next hour on the phone tracking it down, and what do you know, it was in the security office. Ahhhhhh. I was so pissed, and of course, this office was at the complet oppisite end of the campus (which is huge) so I had to wait until the end of the day to go get it. My kids could tell I was annoyed when they got back, so I told them what happened, and they couldn't believe it. Why would they steal your i pod Ms Kathy? Don't they know it's not theirs? You should tell their boss on them! I love my kids....anyway.
I was talking to my grade level and principal about this. This is their policy for people who don;t lock their doors (a fight I will be approaching here soon) but we all aggreed that they should have to leave some sort of not when they take something so we know they took it and someone didn;t just steal it, and we know where to get it back!! Ah, so frustrating, but I am not going to back down about this. It is such a pain to lock my door every time I leave. I alwys have to take my keys, my students can;t get in the room if they forget something (which they do alot) they track me down at lunch to open the door for "emergancies". AND, the only problem I have ever had with things missing is because they took them. My kids aren;t taking things, and no one else is in my room at all during the day.
I don't know, it's just so annoying, I guess all I can say about it is "ayyy" ( a favorite phrase of most ticos, ay teacher, ay no, ay (explitive)) AYYYYYY!!

F+, that's all you're gettin!

2008-10-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the quarter ends this week and report cards are due by the middle of next week. So they have this fancy digital grade book that is supposed to make the report cards a lot easier. Well it definitely does for the secondary who uses number grades like normal schools. But not for us. We have to use these crazy letters that don't fit into anything, our digital system doesn;t recognise, and makes grading anything so much more difficult. I can;t put a number on anything, it's a little annoying, but anyway. So report cards due, 1 week, we can't put our grades in the computer and have the system find the final grade because of the letters, so we have to figure out the grades by hand, old school, and then input the final grades, all 9 of them, into the computer and figure out how to print out these crazy specific report cards. So I am kind of freaking out because I have no idea what I am doing with report cards. I have things graded and into my record book, but I don;t know how they break them down ( there are aparantly like 4 grade for reading alone) and how to make the report cards. AHHHHHH! I keep asking my principals every day, and they keep telling em the tech buy is supposed to be working on shoing the newbies (and most of the returning teachers) how. I know I will get it as soon as they explain it to me, and probably have to show all of my grade level who are "technologically challenged" (Jen's phrase I believe) but no one will even show me how. I figure, what ever, ya know, I think these parents will be ok with me just guessing at a grade and shooting them an e-mail, yep, that'll have to work!

I love horses??

2008-09-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was some sort of celebration for the cowboys in costa Rica. All day they had festivals, parades, and everyone was walking around in these ridiculous hats that looked like a sad atempt at a cowboy hat. So last night, I was trying to get to a friends house and jumped in a taxi and told him where I was going. He then tells me that he can;t get there exactly because of the parade. They apparently had all of the streets blocked off near my friend's house for this Cowboy parade. So I said ok, try and get me as close as you can. We drove around for a while, winding in and out of these back little neighborhoods that I really am not familiar with. Almost everytime we make a turn, the road is blocked off and we are both getting frustrated. Finally, I saw the Taco Bell, a landmark I knew, so I told him to let me off there and I would walk the rest of the way.
Well, little did know that the parade was strictly a horse parade. So I am walking down theis street, and I suddenly fin myself surrounded by at least 100 horses, horse trailers, 200 people, and more horse crap than I have ever seen in my life. This "parade" (which really moved nowhere, people just pranced around on their) stretched on the street for about a mile. So I am walking in flip flops, dodging puddles from the frickin downpour we just had, avoiding giant piles of steaming doo, and trying not to get kicked in the head from one of the horses who looked less than happy to be where they were.
When I thought I had finally gotten through it, I turn the corner and a 2nd group of these wonderful beings emerged as well. So after round 2, I finally get clear and am now on the main road with about a 1/2 mile to go, and of course, right at that point, they open the streets back up and the taxi driver I had actually drives by and honks at me!!! So I don;t know who I pissed off, but that was not my night. only in Costa RIca :)

Christmas...in September?

2008-09-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I just bought my ticket home for Christmas, and man was it a process. After hours of searching, and thinking about my bank account thinning out, I finally got it, and the ticket was pretty cheap, seeing as I am traveling within the week before Christmas and after New Year's. I will be coming back to AZ on December 17th and will return to Costa Rica January 3rd. The school here offers a master's program through Framingham State College in Massachusetts. It is a 2 1/2 year program in which I only take classes for two weeks on each of my breaks from school. So the first two weeks in January and July of each year, I have two weeks of just masters classes, ALL day, studying all night...that kind of thing. The program I am going to do is a Masters in Teaching English as a Second Language. The TESL program goes for one semester longer than my contract, so I will either sign for a third year here, or will just have to fly back over Christmas break that year from wherever I am at. So I am excited to have things coming together a little bit. This will stink a little because I will not be able to travel as much as I would like to, but I will still have 4 weeks to myself for each break (they are 6 weeks long). Anyway, I'm loving life, learning a lot about myself, and having a blast. What more could I ask for!!! A masters perhaps?....ok, done!

My Hellian

2008-08-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have this student who I just found out is on conditional enrollment. I guess what that means is that basically, his behavior was SOOO bad last year, that they put him in this status, and a meeting next month will determine whether he stays at the school or has to leave. So his parents caught me after school today and we had a little chat about this kid. Aparently at the meeting next month, what I say about his behavior has about 95% weight on whether he stays or goes. So these parents are trying to kiss up to me, telling me how bad last year's teacher was, how great I am, and all of these things. Then, they want me to, with no notice, give all these specific examples of behaviors and problems that this kids is causing. Then they try and tell em that everything I am talking about is somehow caused by another kid in the class. Well at the drop of a hat, I had some, but nearly close to what this kid does everyday. So I tried to talk to these parents without sounding like their kid is driving me nuts (which he is).
AHHHH, this is crazy, I am really annoyed that the other 2nd grade teachers pawned him off on me for my first year and forst year at this school. All I know is that I have to write down EVERYTHING this kid does and am going to be presenting how crappy this kid is behaving to his parents, all 3 principals, the councilors, the general director, and board members in about 2 weeks (the 11th to be exact.) I was nervouse just talking to the parents today.
I did get their permission to videotape a few classes and use these to help better explain the problems that are going on, because all that comes to mind when i have to describe it is that prevents me from teaching the class a lot of the time because I am dealing with him. (um, and I want to strangle him at the end of every day)
I still have to meet with the councilors and his teacher from last year, so hopefully they will help me put more things into words. Anyway, I'll keep you up to date, but this is not going to be fun.

Getting Settled in

2008-08-07T11:26:00.000-07:00

I officially got moved into my apartment last week and love it. My roommate Caitlyn and I are having a little too much fun decorating the palce and making it feel more like home. Our apartment is part of a little gated 3-plex, and we share it with 3 of the other new American teachers at Lincoln. It is so nice to have our own little area and have the people we know so close by. It has been very helpful so far while we are getting settled, the one with the alarm clock wakes all of us up (until we got to the store) the one who got to go grocery shopping makes us dinner and shares it (we finally just got to go grocery shopping yesterday!) and it's fun to have people to just chat with and play the WII with! We went a few nights without sheets (ew) ,just got internet (and it's soooooo slow), and have found that the coocaratchas love our garden and living room, but things are slowly falling into place. We've found the closest laundry service (because it took me more than 3 hours to just wash a single load in our crazy washer (pics to come) , and have started trying the many Chinese restarants that surround our house.

My first, first day of school was lastTuesday, and lemmie tell ya, it kicked my butt. I cannot remember being so emotionally, mentally, and physically drained in my life. I came home and basically fell into bed. Day 2 was much better, and I am loving the school. The kids are adorable, they love to talk...ALOT, and they are so affectionate. I't still weird to get and give hugs to all of my students, but they love it. This first week is perfect. We started on Tuesday, and Friday is Mother's day here in CR, so I can handle a 3 day week!!

To celeebrate all our hard work, some of the new teachers headed off to the beach for our long weekend. We went to the pacific side of the country to the Manuel Antonio National Park, and it was gorgeous. Our hotel was up on this big hill where we overlooked the rain forrest and then had an amazing view of the ocean. The sunsets would have been amazing if it was not pouring at sunset both nights we were there :( The beaches are beautiful there, smooth sand, clear water, and lots of friendly people to meet. I got to see some monkies living in the tree in front of our hotel, and had fun shopping for some hand made jewelery at the many shops that line the beach.
My Spanish is really coming along well. Every Tico I talk to tells me I speak very well and I can understand almost everything they are saying, I just need to expand my vocabulary. I
talked to my maid for like 40 miutes today all in Spanish, and she was very impressed, so I am glad people can at least understand me. I am starting a Spanish class this week through the school, so I hope that helps me too!

I have sooooo many pictures I need to share. but our internet at home is soo slow, that I cannont even upload pictures. So once we convince our landlord to boost up the speed, I will get them to you. I got one up somehow, but it took like an hour, and I am not that patient.
It is weird getting everything arranged here! It all takes a lot of time, and cannot really be rushed, so I really going to learning some patience. i still do not have a bank account, but have been getting paid, so I feel like I am loaded, because I have all this cash just laying around (yep, pretty sure I have to count it again everyday because I have never had that much cash in my possession in my life! )I just got my Costa Rican drivers license and can now be a danger on the road in another country! woo hoo!

Well, I will get pics up ASAP. I miss and love you all. Be sure to keep me up to date with you all. Send me pics, letters, boxes of goodies, whatever you want, or even better yet, come for a visit, Costa Rica wants to see you!

I'm back baby!!

2008-07-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

Well, after months of waiting, packing, and buying way too much stuff, I am back in Costa Rica and am ready to start my time as a real teacher. I got here on Sunday the 27th and have been busy since I touched down in San Jose. I am going to be teaching at Lincoln School, a private American School, in Moravia,the burbs of San Jose. I have spent the week trying to get everything figured out for my time here in CR, and have been loving every minute of it. I am one of 8 (? I think) new American teachers at the school this year, and we have been in close quarters getting to know each other so far this week. I am so excited to be here with such a fun group of people who know exactly what I am going through and will help keep me sane when it gets to be too much.

I have had a very productive week so far. I found an apartment that I can move into on Friday (pictures to come) and found a roommate who is also in her first year of teaching. I was quite a relief to get that part taken care of, and I can now start working on the most important part, the teaching!!

I just found out today that I will be teaching 2nd grade. Before I came, I was told to prepare for either 3rd or 4th, and I prepared mostly for 3rd, so 2nd isn't too far off. I am really excited to be with a younger group of students, because I feel more comfortable and more capable teaching them, so 2nd is PERFECT!! I got to see my classroom today, got the keys, and in the 15 minutes I was there, got the desks rearranged, the different areas sectio0ned off, and the layout exactly how I wanted it. Aparently when they told me I was teaching 2nd, not 3rd or 4th, I looked upset, because everyone thought I was angry about it, they even told me I could talk to the principal if I wanted to. I t took a while for me to convince them I was not angry, just surprised, it really came out of left field to me. But I am up for any and all adventure!! I get all day tomorrow to set up, re-arrange, and decorate, and I can hardly wait. This is the fun part and what will really make me feel like it is my classroom! I will get pictures up when it is finished, and am more than willing to take any pointers and suggestions from those of you who are more experienced than I am in this area.

Anyway, there have been a few twists and turns along the way, but so far, so good. I am so anxious to get going and everyone keeps saying stuff like “I remember when I was like that” or “you will not be this excited all the time…hopefully” Well, I want to prove them wrong, because I know I will be this excited the whole time I am here. I am in an amazing place, with great people, doing what I want to be!

I will post pictures as soon as I get them!

Love from Costa Rica,

Kathy