Saturday, May 3, 2014

I woke up this morning and did my last minute packing such as my toothbrush and whatnot to ensure that I was ready to go.  Naturally, I was ready to go much earlier than anyone else so I sat on the front porch trying not to seem too anxious to leave.  At 9:00 our taxi arrived and we said our good-byes to our host moms and Zoe and hit the road to the airport.  We were able to pay our departure tax and get through security with no trouble at all and waited for a couple of hours near our gate to get on the plane.  We finally got on the plane at about 11:45 and left San Jose right on time before making our way back north to the United States.  The flight felt longer than going down there based off my anticipation of finally seeing my parents again, but was otherwise uneventful.  We actually got to Houston a little bit early and had to wait for our gate to be ready for us.  Katie and I only had a 90 minute layover to catch our flight to Tulsa, so we booked it.  First we went through the automated scanner to get our passports scanned, then the line to get our luggage and give them the piece of paper that the scanner shot out, then we had to get our luggage sent through the machine as it went to its new gate, then we had to go through the deceptively long line to go through security again, and then we had to take the train to the complete other side of the airport.  It took 85 of those 90 minutes that we had to accomplish this feat.  As we got on the plane to Tulsa, we almost had a reverse culture shock as we came across some very obvious Oklahomans coming home from a trip to Cancun on the plane. We flew into Tulsa right as the sun was setting (which is weird when it sets at 8:15 now…) and got off the plane.  As I exited the doors, I saw my parents and gave them a hug.  It was good to be home again!  They even brought my Jeep with them and let me drive home, something that I had missed and amazingly still remembered how to do.  Overall, I had a fantastic experience in Costa Rica and would do it again in a heartbeat.  Now it’s time to go graduate.  Pura Vida.  

Friday, May 2, 2014

Today the four of us Zoe, Katie, McCall, and I took a day trip to Volcan Poas.  We started off my riding the bus to a nearby hotel so that they could pick us up from a familiar landmark.  Then we went and picked up another lady from a hotel in Escazu before getting to a designated spot where we switched busses again to catch the one going to Poas.  We were in a tour with 10 people and made our way through Alejuela and towards Poas, stopping at several spots up the hill to take pictures of the view and several different coffee farms along the way.  Once we got to the top, we walked up as a group to check out the crater.  Naturally it was so cloudy that we could not see it.  We were literally up in the clouds at that point.  All we could see more than 10 yards in front of us was white.  So we hiked towards the lagoon to see if we would have better luck there and try the crater afterwards.  We made it to the lagoon and it was likewise pretty cloudy.  However, we were a little tired from the uphill hike so we chilled for a little bit.  As we were chillin’ the clouds moved on a bit and we were able to see the lagoon.  I had already seen it on a clear day before, but this was pretty darn cool with the clouds just coming off of the lake.  After some pictures and the clouds rolling back over, we hiked back towards the crater to see if our luck would change.  As we were standing at the cloudy crater once again, we were chatting with this couple from Israel who had just gotten here and were asking for suggestions (the guy was actually a big NBA fan and was like “oh, the Thunder are pretty good”).  And then it happened.  The clouds rolled on and we could finally see the crater.  It was pretty majestic and a work of beauty.  And I have pictures to prove it.  Afterwards, we walked back to the Visitor’s Center to catch the bus back down the hill.  On the way down, we stopped at a neat little strawberry place to sample a little thing of their strawberry wine and check out the souvenir shop.  Afterwards we stopped at this delicious place for lunch.  It was a $12 meal that included a Casado with a fresa fresca and cake for desert.  Our guide said that they use coffee wood for their fires to give it a better flavor.  She was right, because that was one of the best pieces of grilled chicken I’ve ever had.  There was even a hummingbird farm across the street which had a giant strawberry that I of course had to take a picture in front of.  Full and ready for a nap, we drove back towards Santa Ana, got dropped off at the Quality Inn and then caught a bus back to Santa Ana Central, our last bus ride of the trip.  During the afternoon, I spent time uploading the Poas pictures and packing up my stuff.  Just one more sleep in the Pura Vida land.       

Thursday, May 1, 2014

I woke up this morning and I was a free man.  Now I am just killing time before my flight back home.  I twiddled around and uploaded pictures from the previous night when I first woke up, getting a chance to see how cool they turned out.  While I was here over Semana Santa, they did not really do lunch at the house.  So at about noon I thought, hey I’m hungry for a hamburger, I’ll walk to Wendy’s because it’s a beautiful day for a walk.  So I walked to Wendy’s and then caught a bus back.  Naturally, when I got back Liliana was like “where’d you go, I made lunch and then you we’re there.”  Oops.  My bad.  But I did catch the girls while walking back from the bus stop.  They were about to go to the Multiplaza to catch a movie, so I went with them.  Unfortunately, the movie they wanted to see, Divergent, didn’t play until three hours later, so we settled on seeing Captain America (for the second time for me).  After dinner, I Skyped home to watch the Thunder game as they put the computer in front of the TV for me.  The Thunder finally looked like the Thunder, which was refreshing.  Then it was time to retire for the night.  

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

The last day of student teaching had finally arrived.  I got up with a skip in my step.  My kids are super sweet and they threw me a party for my last day.  They brought a lot of cake, chips, and white tea; it was the works.  One of the classes actually went around the room and said something nice to me, saying that they wish me luck or that they hoped that I would come back.  It was really nice of them.  I also got a picture with the different classes.  I really am going to miss these guys because they were a blast to work with, but I’ll have to find my own set of kiddos somewhere else.  School actually got out early for Parent Teacher Conferences, but nobody actually showed up to ours.  However, one of my kids’ mom works in the office and she stopped by and said some very nice things to me.  Pan-American School was an awesome place to student teach.  For the evening, Neena got me a ticket to a soccer game as a good-bye gift.  This was excellent because this was one of the few things that I really wanted to do in Costa Rica before leaving.  We went with the middle-school coordinator Frances and her tico boyfriend Alejandro.  We drove to Alejuela and picked up our tickets from the gates before eating dinner at La Liga Bar.  I also bought a knockoff Liga (the team in Alejuela) jersey from a street vendor (for a knockoff, it’s actually pretty nice).  After dinner, we made our way to the stadium.  Apparently, you can’t have coins on you because people will throw them onto the field, so we had to hide our coins.  I just put them in my wallet and was good for the pat-down, but that was an interesting phenomena.  Upon entering, there were some very pretty promotional Tica girls.  Neena’s a good Cooperating Teacher, because she was like, “you’re getting your picture with them.”  I didn’t put up much of a fight.  Afterwards, we found our seats and they were pretty darn good if I do say so myself, close to mid-field.  The game itself was a semi-final between Liga and Heredia.  The winner would play in the final, so the stadium was pretty excited.  The players were playing all-out, with two red-cards for a fight and a bunch of yellows.  Also, the chants were pretty entertaining.  One was “Que equipo es mas mayor?!?!  Liga, Liga, Si Senor!”  Another involved the fans yelling at the refs telling them some mean things about their mothers’ profession.  And the last one involved the fans yelling at player who were “injured” and told them in sing-song fashion that they needed to get some “huevos.”  The game was tied until Heredia took the lead with about 30 minutes left or so, causing the tension in the stadium to rise.  Liga finally broke through in about the 85^th minute with a goal to tie it.  The stadium erupted and there was an incredible amount of excitement.  A couple of minutes later, Liga scored the go ahead goal, making the stadium go even more loco.  Then Liga got a breakaway goal in the last minute to seal it for good.  That was about as cool as it gets, rivaling when OSU beat Kansas in basketball a couple of years ago at home.  On the way home we stopped at the Beach House and had a nice time before I got dropped off late into the evening.  The soccer game was an absolute blast!             

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Today was my last lesson to teach by myself as a student teacher, which was exciting and a half.  The lesson was on yellow journalism, so I had the students act as yellow journalists, writing a report about their favorite celebrity, adding exaggerations to the truth.  It turned into a really interesting assignment as the kids came up with some pretty crazy stories.  During the rest of the day, I spent my time filling out reflective papers about my experience for OSU.  After school, it was day two of the rainy season.  It was actually raining buckets when we first got out, so we waited for 10 or 15 minutes for the rain to let up a little bit.  When we got home I spent time tagging McCall in many Facebook photos that I thought were appropriate for the PowerPoint Presentation that we will give next week.  During the evening I found the Thunder game on television and watched it.  It was funny because I got the game, but my brother did not get the game in Fayetteville.  Anyway, I am too emotionally invested in the Thunder and a fourth straight overtime game was not what I needed.  I don’t really want to talk about the result because it was worse than being blown out by 20 points.  Oh well. 

Monday, April 28, 2014

To conclude their lesson on the Mexican Revolution, the students participated in a celebrity death-match Mexican Revolution style.  Each group represented a different character and then they essentially debated who would survive between the two people (the Mexican Revolution was full of double crossers and backstabbers, so it was interesting).  The kids even made fake bets on who would win.  It was an interesting lesson to say the least, capturing the students’ favorite passion, arguing with each other.  At about 1:00 in the afternoon the rainy season officially started here with a bolt of lightning and clap of thunder right next to the classroom.  You could barely hear what people were saying because of the tin roofs of the school; it was an interesting experience to say the least.  The really interesting part was walking from the school to the bus-stop.  I was glad that I had my umbrella because I managed to keep my computer dry, which is all that matters.  The rain let up right as we got home, because that’s how life works.  So I went for a run in the rain cooled air.  It was super refreshing and the after-drizzle was the way to do a run.  That evening, I walked over to Mas por Menos to pick up gift-bags for my gifts to give to the people that made this experience what it was.  Afterwards, I Skyped my parents before finding the Avalanche hockey game on television.  The things I find on television here are always unpredictable.  I probably should have went to bed early, but hey, it’s my last week.  Pura vida.    

Sunday, April 27, 2014

We woke up and promptly hit the beach.  We were there pretty early and the tide was out, so we got a pretty good spot near a stereo that was blasting Shakira.  After chilling at the beach for a bit, we went back to the hostel and jumped in the pool and I took a shower before we checked out of the hostel.  Afterwards, we took a bus up the hill and ate at El Wagon.  I had a delicious Pineapple Pizza.  We even saw a baby sloth there hanging out in a tree next to the restaurant.  After a bit, we walked back down the hill to catch the bus home.  We made it back to San Jose and then back to Santa Ana.  When we got home, Liliana sat and chatted with us for a bit before we were both ready to crash.  It was a fun last weekend trip to the beach.  

Saturday, April 26, 2014

We woke up and actually paid for our hostel.  They’re not always very picky about when you pay for hostels here.  Afterwards, we ate some breakfast at a little joint next to the hostel that gave us a discount if we were wearing the bracelet from our hostel.  I had some delicious French toast.  While we were eating, there was this Toyota Yaris parked underneath a mango tree that had three pieces of fruit drop on it while we were sitting there.  I guess they do say more people are killed by fruit falling on their head than are eaten by sharks.  Afterwards, we entered the national park to check out some monkeys.  And check out some monkeys we did.  We saw a ton of them, including some that had little baby monkeys on their backs.  ‘Twas pretty cool.  We also hiked parts of the park that I had not hiked before, finding some really cool lookouts towards the ocean from higher up.  After tiring ourselves out, we went back to the hostel to get into our beachwear before going to relax on the beach.  Unfortunately, right as I was drifting into a nap, the tide came in all the way to where I was sitting.  That was a rude awakening from the ocean and made my towel all dirty.  Not long after, we got hungry and went to this place near the beach to find some lunch.  I enjoyed a quesadilla, which hit the spot.  We furthermore enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at the beach, catching a nap or two.  We went back to the hostel afterwhile to jump in the pool and get all of the sand off of us before getting dressed to enjoy a little bit of happy-hour.  We finished the day off with dinner before watching Ironman at the hostel.  I had not seen that movie and really enjoyed it.  A spent the rest of the evening stressing out about the Thunder as they went into overtime yet again.  Heavens to Betsy.  But they won, so I slept peacefully; pretty much.      

Friday, April 25, 2014

After teaching a lesson on the Gilded Age by showing a video a discussing it (because it is better for all parties involved if we just get through the Gilded Age), I spent most of the day enjoying life and helping out the 9th Graders in their continued quest to learn about the Mexican Revolution.  After sitting in on the teachers’ meeting which featured a couple of police officers coming and talking to us about drugs, I caught a ride back to Santa Ana to pack up and go catch the bus to Manuel Antonio.  After taking the bus to San Jose, we walked to the Tracopa bus station.  Zoe was busy dropping off loafs of bread that she did not want to random homeless people along the way.  We walked through an area that I had not seen before which was actually a lot nicer than what I had previously seen of San Jose.  We even passed by the Teatro Nacional which is their national theater, which was a really cool looking building.  At the bus station, we had to wait for quite a while because the bus was running almost an hour behind, but that was ok.  That just meant that it was major snoozeville when we did finally get on the bus.  Zoe and I found our hostel at the bottom of the hill in Manuel Antonio and got all checked in.  The hostel was pretty cheap, in a great location, had a pool, and played movies on a projector, but the rooms themselves were pretty outdated and the bunkbeds had some of the thinnest "mattresses" I have ever experienced.  But hey, we were in paradise.  

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Today I had the opportunity to teach the 10th Grade US History class so that I had a chance to teach a different grade level and subject.  I had the opportunity to talk about the era of Reconstruction, mentioning people like the carpetbaggers and scalawags and the Civil War Amendments.  After my PowerPoint lecture, we reenacted the different stages of technology during the Civil War.  Even though I was bs-ing these different stages a little bit, it was a good opportunity for these guys to throw paper wads at each other like the 9th Graders did.  After a little bit of tutoring this afternoon, I was on my way home.  When I got home, I finally got the last document that I needed for my Student Teacher Work Sample over email.  As I was excitedly opening up the email and downloading it to my computer so that I could include it, the internet went out at the house.  Just my luck.  So I waited five minutes for it to come back up and then hurriedly saved the document, included said document, and then submitted the portfolio.  Praise the Good Lord, that was a big weight lifted off of my shoulders.  I did my best happy dance before dinner.  That night, I had my baby brother Skype me in to the Thunder game.  He put his computer in front of the TV and went to Buffalo Wild Wings while I watched the game.  It was quite the ordeal, turning into another OT game.  After the disappointing loss, I gave Kelsey a lecture over the causes and consequences of World Wars I and II because she is about to teach the novel Remember the Stars.  It was definitely a lot of information and hopefully she got some of it, but it was a good indicator that I have a good understanding of WWI because I was spouting off dates like crazy.  It was like I just taught a unit on the subject or something.   

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

I watched Neena start a lesson on the Mexican Revolution.  That means that it was officially time to turn the 9^th Graders back over.  I had a nice time watching the class learn about the Mexican Revolution.  The cool thing about this school is that there are people here from many different countries and one of those countries is Mexico, so several of the students were super excited about the lesson and one student was even related to one of the key figures Carranza (or so he says).  That evening after school, I enjoyed life in Costa Rica by sitting outside and enjoying the weather.  Zoe picked up our bus tickets to Manuel Antonio, so we were good to go (it´s nice having a roommate who gets out early and is willing to go to San Jose to pick up tickets while seeing her friend). 

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

After watching Neena teach a lesson on the Civil War, I spent most of the day grading essays.  Because that’s the natural consequence for a teacher who assigns essays.  In addition, I also worked extremely hard on my Student Teacher Work Sample.  The end is near on that and now I just have a couple of editing spots and conclusions to make and then I can send that in and become a super happy man.  Unless you want to hear about my reflection of my job teaching as a result of the statistics of my students’ unit exam, I will conclude this day by saying that there was a lot of typing of questions that I essentially waited to answer until the very end for probably several different reasons.