Week Eleven 3/7-3/13

Volcan Arenal, this shot was taken from downtown La Fortuna

Sadly, one of the best pictures from the birding trip

Another picture from the early morning birding trip

Sunset silhouetting the Volcan Arenal

Learning to make tortillas con queso

At the Childrens Museum. They had a whole floor on the different parts of the body and ways to take care of your body. The big doors looking like a huge mouth lead into a room full of big teeth, it had big tooth brushes and floss so you could learn the importance of brushing and flossing! Such a cool learning place for kids 

Queen! Finally in my rightful place. :) The guides were all more than happy to take pics for me, I think because then they could make fun of me being the only "adult" in the whole building who was not accompanied by kids.

This week has been crazy, it felt like it was dragging by because I was so very ready to be home. The family I lived with is a whole new definition for crazy. The host Mom - Margarita- is raising her grandson as her own son, but the little boys biological mother lives in the house to! Kinda. She was almost never there and only came home to change her clothes, of which there was little fabric. Margaritas oldest son lives in the little apartment above the garage with his wife and three year old, who may be a contestant for worlds most spoiled three year old. And then there's Margarita and her husband, Margarita is super nice and her house is super clean, her husband works as a lawn guy. His job is to weed whack the "neighborhood" they live in. I never once saw him wear a shirt that had more than the last two buttons done and he is very shy, would hardly talk to me. The three year old was allowed to run around screaming, would cry and have a temper-tantrum for no apparent reason, would leave what few toys he did have just out where ever, but the kicker of it all is this: On Thursday the boys wanted to show me something out side, a plant that eats bugs-kinda cool. While we were out there the little one pulls out his wiener and just starts to pee on Alonzo's and my feet laughing. I scold him in English first because I am so shocked that he would pee on a stranger, then scold him in Spanish. After Alonzo and I wash off our feet and go inside, we tell Margarita and her daughter in law what happened, expecting that he will get a spanking or at least punished, I was totally shocked when they laughed and did nothing! Oh and they had cable, which is something I think they were really proud of because from the moment the first person woke up to the moment when the last person went to bed both TVs were on with different programs and competing volume. 

My "profesora" was a 20 year old girl who was taking English classes. She was really nice but I don't feel like I learned a lot because she could get side tracked really easy, so since I can be to it was not a real productive week. It was fun but not productive. The crazy thing is this girls parents wont help her go to college, she doesn't make enough with AEC to pay for school and she really really wants to go. Her parents want her to marry her boyfriend this year and live with them. I am still sad for her because she so badly wants to go to college and would love to come to the states to go to an art school, but she will most likely be married and pregnant within the year.
She did teach me to make tortillas con queso by hand, they were pretty good. I will use way more cheese and a stronger cheese at that when I make them at home. On Wednesday morning Alice and I went bird watching, pretty cool. Saw tons of North American birds because this is where they all winter. Saw some cool tropical birds to, kinda ticked the guide wouldn't let me use the telescope to photograph the birds but would let Alice use her point and shoot to take the pictures. Thursday night we went to the "local" hot springs, if I could have I would have gone every night! Felt so good after wards! Alice had gone to the big hot spring resort in town and said the one we went to was much better. :) It was dark and quiet. she and I just got to talk about our AEC experiences.

This was an amazing trip, I learned so much. On the bus yesterday I was the one translating for the English only speakers about what stop we were at and what was going on. The bus blew two different tires in our 5 hour journey from La Fortuna. The second tire that blew was just left on because the bus only carried one spare! So we drove the last two hours of the trip with a blown tire. Yesterday was awesome, I got to go play at the local children's museum and was able to read and understand all the information and talk to the guides in each room. Then I went to the National Museum, still pretty cool, but not as informative as I would have liked. A lot of the plaques seemed to repeat what the others were saying- basically not a lot is known about the pre-Columbian society that lived here. I did find out that the cool frog pendant I bought is believed to represent fertility and rain. Lovely! :) The National Museum is in an old fort, it has bullet holes in the walls from the last revolution in 1948, and they have preserved the living quarters of the commanders. It was interesting that the style of dress and decoration was almost Victorian.
Today I am just working on my online certification stuff with Texas Teachers waiting to go to the airport. Looking forward to the next couple of weeks. Even more big changes coming. A TTC, hopefully a local job in Killeen, two Teacher job fairs and seeing lots of my friends. Life is good and I am so lucky to have the family, friends and the opportunities that I have had (and will get to have).  

If you look at the very top right hand corner you see a white dot, that is smoke coming out of the volcano not clouds. Its an active volcano but has not had any lava in about 6 weeks. Still smoking like crazy. People are not allowed to climb this volcan because of the toxic gas pockets, the hot craters and the always constant possibility of a "small" eruption