For the students:
It's only been a day, but I miss you all!
This is the final post that I'll be writing for this blog. I'm so sad to have left Costa Rica, but it always feels good to be back home. Have you all gotten your fill of American food and comforts? I know I was glad to sleep in my own bed, take a nice hot shower (and feel dry afterwards), and eat my own food. Being in a foreign country always makes me appreciate what I have so much more - I hope you felt that way too!
For the parents (and other followers of the blog):
Here we go - the last post. I promise it won't be long because we didn't do too much.
1) Our last night in Samara, the teachers took the kids out to a discotheque to give them a little taste of what latino dancing and entertainment is like. We went to a little place called Tutti Frutti but we got there too early. Obviously, if you're going out on a Saturday night, you don't leave until 11:00 at night. So we basically had the place to ourselves with a few latinos who danced with us. It was a good experience and we had fun dancing the night away to some merengue, salsa, cumbia and, of course, good ol' American music.
2) We got up pretty early in the morning to leave for Arenal and of course...it was raining. Inevitable. (Sidenote - I was so distressed to see the rain today. I thought we had left it in Costa Rica, but it seems to have followed us!) We waited quite a while as the bus driver loaded all of our bags on the top of the bus and covered them with a tarp, but then we were off! It took us about 5 hours to get there with a stop for a snack and most people slept since they were up late the night before. When we got to La Fortuna, the town closest to the volcano Arenal, we checked into our hotel. It was a little hostel/hotel that only had 10 rooms and we took up most of the hotel, but were the only ones there.
3)We got ready to go and eat because we were hungry! We ate lunch and looked around the town. We were going to do a river swing, which is basically a rope tied to a tree that you can swing out and drop into the river, but because of all the rain, it was too dangerous. Our guides told us there was the possibility of a mudslide and the current was too strong. This was fine with me (and I think most people) because that meant more time at the hot springs! (By the way, our guides were great - they told us a lot about Costa Rica on our drive there and back)
4) BALDI!!! This was the name of the hot springs resort we went to and it was AMAZING! 26 hot spring pools all of varying temperatures ranging from 67-113 degrees. All natural hot springs, though the pool sides and the tubing was all man made. It was gorgeous and relaxing and a wonderful way to end the trip. I don't know what else to say about it except that it exceeded my expectations and was the most wonderfully relaxing place. It also had 3 crazy water slides that we tried out and at the end of the night we all got to eat a huge buffet. Que rico!!! Pura Vida.
5) That night, we though it would be an easy night, but of course, nothing can be super easy right? We had fights with cucarachas, mice, and bats and won them all, though we didn't sleep much. That was all right since we were going to be traveling quite a bit the next day.
6) Good bye Costa Rica - We had to travel 4 hours to get to the airport, so it was another early morning. This morning, though, it was not raining. It was a beautiful day. We got to see Arenal and were lucky to see it because it isn't always clear enough to see (it's usually cloudy and foggy). We arrived at the rinky dink airport (seriously - tin roof, open on all sides, 2 boarding areas, one restaurant, board from the tarmac) and had to wait in the heat for a while. Thankfully the payment of the airport tax and getting our boarding passes didn't take too long. It was only then that we realized that our flight from Atlanta to MSP had changed. This was good though because I don't think we could have made our flight with all of our bags if we had been on the earlier one.
7) We flew. We ate delicious American food in Atlanta. We flew home. We made it safely back with all of our bags. Thanks be to God for a wonderful trip, a great learning experience, and for protecting us through it all!
Blessings on the rest of your summer!
P.S. - I have put all of the pictures up on Facebook and since there were so many I had to make 2 more photo albums! Here are the links to the two new albums:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.522945157512.2017798.96100057&l=acfe623f3c&type=1
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.522956345092.2017805.96100057&l=7cf3adb079&type=1
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
We thought it was going to be a nice day...
but it wasn't. We woke up this morning to sun, sun and more sun. It was beautiful this morning. The first group went on their canopy tour (more on that later) and had a great time. The second group went and about halfway through it started pouring. It has been raining since about 11:30 this morning and hasn't let up. The electricity went out for a few hoursand the streets again are rivers. But thankfully, the electricity is back on and the Internet is working and we are nice and cozy dry inside Froggy's - our favorite cybercafe run by CREAR.
Oh! One other thing - I was having such troubles uploading photos that I deleted the slideshow up top. I am currently uploading photos to Facebook which is SO much faster and easier. If you want photos not from facebook, I will be putting all the pictures onto a CD if you want to use the CD to print some photos off. The link to the Facebook album is: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.522873516082.2017760.96100057&l=8636a36e40
All right - on to the good stuff. Since it's been a while since I've written, this is going to be a long post. Happy reading!
1) Macho men - During the "grill" bonfire, two of our macho Erics carried a large suitcase all the way from a girl's house to the school because she had locked her keys inside. They carried it almost 2 km and arrived soaking wet. They told us, "This is NOT water." After less than a minute, the guard at the school had sawed off the lock and we all did a little dance.
2) The next morning we got up early to go kayaking. We got to the school only to realize...
3) Our luggage had arrived!!! It arrived not long after we had left the night before after the bonfire. The girls were ecstatic to have their clean clothes and not wear dirty ones.
4) We started out kayaking, but it wasn't what we expected. The sea was much stronger than anticipated and a few of us flipped the kayaks as we launched. We eventually all made it to the check point, but waiting for everyone and bobbing up and down in the waves made some a little seasick. We did have one kayak turn back because it was too much, but the rest felt a little better once we got moving and especially when we got to the island.
5) We made it to a beautiful little island where we got to drink fresh water and rest for a bit. We got to explore the island and found a colony of hermit crabs (I seriously have never seen so many!) and went exploring around the bend. We climbed up and down rocks so many times, many of us rubbed our feet almost raw, but it was worth the beautiful views and sense of adventure.
6) We came back to our "camp" to find that our guides had brought us bananas and fresh pineapple from the mainland. Delicious! We went swimming in the undulating ocean before kayaking back to shore. We didn't go back to our launch point (Thankfully - that would have been a long, tiring paddle back) but they took us back to the school in vans. One was a party van, the other was the "silence" van. :)
7) The morning was beautiful for kayaking, but like every other day, we couldn't have the whole day sunny. It rained in the afternoon which was ok since we were just in class.
8) That night we all headed to go play some futbol! We had to walk about 2 km to the 5 v. 5 field, but we had a blast! We split up into 3 teams and played a little round robin for an hour. The Ticos had fun watching us and our "gringo" antics. After that, 5 of us got to play another hour against people at the school and most of the others stayed to watch and cheer them on.
9) The next morning was...rain. How did you guess? Good thing it was just classes in the morning. But then we realized that the Internet was down. And we couldn't do part of our activity for the afternoon. And that the rain was part of a Tropical Storm. (Or a low pressure system. It's hard to understand the weather here.)
10) Even though we couldn't do part of the activity, we realized that it was a blessing in disguise. This meant that EVERYONE got to work with the underprivileged children of Samara. We were going to help them make papier-mache maracas, but they hadn't dried from 4 days ago, so we went to plan B. We helped them make tissue paper scenes. The ladies who run CREAR are amazing and they have an amazing volunteer organization that works with the children of Samara who only go to school for 4 hours a day. They run sort of an after-school program for them. We got to play games with kids and had a blast with that!
11) After playing with the kids, we were hungry, so it's a good thing that we had cooking class. We got to make empanadas (kind of like a turnover with chicken inside instead of fruit). They were delicious!
12) We had a movie night that night and watched "Valentin", an Argentinian movie. The school gave us popcorn and cookies and soda. The storm came up again and it was FIERCE! We decided to take a van/taxi back to our different neighborhoods for everyone's safety. We were so glad to be back at our houses and dry off.
13) Friday we woke up and...it wasn't raining. Well, it did rain off and on and off and on. We took a test, had some class, went to a culture talk (we had different ones to choose from) and then we got to graduate! We had a little graduation from our classes and played a little game. We then had some free time to eat and what not. The Internet had JUST come back on so some of the students got to get online. I was not so lucky.
14) We had a hike planned for 3 and the rain let up! We were so happy! We hiked up to a look out, and then down to a beach. It was a gorgeous little beachthat had a waterfall and great views. We had a free night where we could finally relax after meeting at Froggy's for a devotion.
15) Today, like I mentioned, began with sun and then turned to RAIN. Ugh. I have not heard from the last group how their canopy tour went, but the first 2 groups said that it was AMAZING! We got to go on 10 zip lines and have a mid-tour snack up in the trees. We had an ocean view on one of the lines and had fun zipping around, even in the rain. Our final "line" was to rappel down a tree. INCREIBLE!
16) Well, we've had the afternoon off. Some went to practice surfing, some went shopping, and some are just lying around now. It is still raining and doesn't show signs of stopping any time soon, unfortunately. How sad that our last day and our free day in Samara was so rainy!
Tomorrow we will be getting up early to take a bus to Arenal. I'm hoping to be able to get one last blog in before we leave Costa Rica, but no promises! Tomorrow it's off to do some hiking and bathing in hot springs!
I hope I've at least satisfied some curiousity of what we're doing. Of course, you'll hear lots of stories from your kids, but we have been so proud of them so far. We have gotten many compliments on what a wonderful group they are, how helpful they are, and how impressed people are with their behavior and Spanish. Some people even thought they were from the University because of how mature they seemed! As a teacher I'm so proud and wanted to pass that on to you, as their parents :)
Blessings on the end of your weekend!
Oh! One other thing - I was having such troubles uploading photos that I deleted the slideshow up top. I am currently uploading photos to Facebook which is SO much faster and easier. If you want photos not from facebook, I will be putting all the pictures onto a CD if you want to use the CD to print some photos off. The link to the Facebook album is: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.522873516082.2017760.96100057&l=8636a36e40
All right - on to the good stuff. Since it's been a while since I've written, this is going to be a long post. Happy reading!
1) Macho men - During the "grill" bonfire, two of our macho Erics carried a large suitcase all the way from a girl's house to the school because she had locked her keys inside. They carried it almost 2 km and arrived soaking wet. They told us, "This is NOT water." After less than a minute, the guard at the school had sawed off the lock and we all did a little dance.
2) The next morning we got up early to go kayaking. We got to the school only to realize...
3) Our luggage had arrived!!! It arrived not long after we had left the night before after the bonfire. The girls were ecstatic to have their clean clothes and not wear dirty ones.
4) We started out kayaking, but it wasn't what we expected. The sea was much stronger than anticipated and a few of us flipped the kayaks as we launched. We eventually all made it to the check point, but waiting for everyone and bobbing up and down in the waves made some a little seasick. We did have one kayak turn back because it was too much, but the rest felt a little better once we got moving and especially when we got to the island.
5) We made it to a beautiful little island where we got to drink fresh water and rest for a bit. We got to explore the island and found a colony of hermit crabs (I seriously have never seen so many!) and went exploring around the bend. We climbed up and down rocks so many times, many of us rubbed our feet almost raw, but it was worth the beautiful views and sense of adventure.
6) We came back to our "camp" to find that our guides had brought us bananas and fresh pineapple from the mainland. Delicious! We went swimming in the undulating ocean before kayaking back to shore. We didn't go back to our launch point (Thankfully - that would have been a long, tiring paddle back) but they took us back to the school in vans. One was a party van, the other was the "silence" van. :)
7) The morning was beautiful for kayaking, but like every other day, we couldn't have the whole day sunny. It rained in the afternoon which was ok since we were just in class.
8) That night we all headed to go play some futbol! We had to walk about 2 km to the 5 v. 5 field, but we had a blast! We split up into 3 teams and played a little round robin for an hour. The Ticos had fun watching us and our "gringo" antics. After that, 5 of us got to play another hour against people at the school and most of the others stayed to watch and cheer them on.
9) The next morning was...rain. How did you guess? Good thing it was just classes in the morning. But then we realized that the Internet was down. And we couldn't do part of our activity for the afternoon. And that the rain was part of a Tropical Storm. (Or a low pressure system. It's hard to understand the weather here.)
10) Even though we couldn't do part of the activity, we realized that it was a blessing in disguise. This meant that EVERYONE got to work with the underprivileged children of Samara. We were going to help them make papier-mache maracas, but they hadn't dried from 4 days ago, so we went to plan B. We helped them make tissue paper scenes. The ladies who run CREAR are amazing and they have an amazing volunteer organization that works with the children of Samara who only go to school for 4 hours a day. They run sort of an after-school program for them. We got to play games with kids and had a blast with that!
11) After playing with the kids, we were hungry, so it's a good thing that we had cooking class. We got to make empanadas (kind of like a turnover with chicken inside instead of fruit). They were delicious!
12) We had a movie night that night and watched "Valentin", an Argentinian movie. The school gave us popcorn and cookies and soda. The storm came up again and it was FIERCE! We decided to take a van/taxi back to our different neighborhoods for everyone's safety. We were so glad to be back at our houses and dry off.
13) Friday we woke up and...it wasn't raining. Well, it did rain off and on and off and on. We took a test, had some class, went to a culture talk (we had different ones to choose from) and then we got to graduate! We had a little graduation from our classes and played a little game. We then had some free time to eat and what not. The Internet had JUST come back on so some of the students got to get online. I was not so lucky.
14) We had a hike planned for 3 and the rain let up! We were so happy! We hiked up to a look out, and then down to a beach. It was a gorgeous little beachthat had a waterfall and great views. We had a free night where we could finally relax after meeting at Froggy's for a devotion.
15) Today, like I mentioned, began with sun and then turned to RAIN. Ugh. I have not heard from the last group how their canopy tour went, but the first 2 groups said that it was AMAZING! We got to go on 10 zip lines and have a mid-tour snack up in the trees. We had an ocean view on one of the lines and had fun zipping around, even in the rain. Our final "line" was to rappel down a tree. INCREIBLE!
16) Well, we've had the afternoon off. Some went to practice surfing, some went shopping, and some are just lying around now. It is still raining and doesn't show signs of stopping any time soon, unfortunately. How sad that our last day and our free day in Samara was so rainy!
Tomorrow we will be getting up early to take a bus to Arenal. I'm hoping to be able to get one last blog in before we leave Costa Rica, but no promises! Tomorrow it's off to do some hiking and bathing in hot springs!
I hope I've at least satisfied some curiousity of what we're doing. Of course, you'll hear lots of stories from your kids, but we have been so proud of them so far. We have gotten many compliments on what a wonderful group they are, how helpful they are, and how impressed people are with their behavior and Spanish. Some people even thought they were from the University because of how mature they seemed! As a teacher I'm so proud and wanted to pass that on to you, as their parents :)
Blessings on the end of your weekend!
Friday, July 15, 2011
No Internet, lots and lots and lots of rain!
Wow, sorry I haven't written in a few days, but we've been waiting and waiting and praying for the Internet to return. Because of a storm, we lost the Internet all over Samara. The rain came and went and came back again, but the Internet did not until this afternoon, but of course, everyone else wanted to access it as well, so we had to wait until now! It's almost time for us to go to supper, but I wanted to let you know we are all alright and having a great time! Here are a few things I will talk about in the next post (which will be either tonight or tomorrow since we have a pretty free day tomorrow):
Soccer!
Rain, rain, and more rain
An afternoon with CREAR - helping underprivileged children and playing with them
Cooking class - making empanadas
Movie night
Our test
Culture talks
Our graduation
Hike to playa izquierda
I do have more to talk about and I wrote things down in my notebook, but I forgot it at the house. More to come later!
Soccer!
Rain, rain, and more rain
An afternoon with CREAR - helping underprivileged children and playing with them
Cooking class - making empanadas
Movie night
Our test
Culture talks
Our graduation
Hike to playa izquierda
I do have more to talk about and I wrote things down in my notebook, but I forgot it at the house. More to come later!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Extra time to write :)
Hola!
So I'll give you a little more detail about what has happened so far...
0)I forgot to add the morning feast of the Miami group - Sra. Hennig had promised the small group a lavish breakfast before getting to the airport SOOO early in the morning. They "feasted" on almost-frozen English muffins, exploding butter, and sour oranges before hauling their luggage to their 4:30 shuttle. They got to the airport where they were greeted with ANOTHER lavish breakfast, which they tried very hard to eat, even though they were stuffed. The airport food vouchers, as well as a kind gentleman paid for this extra meal.
1)The dash through the Miami airport. - The little group had a very, very quick connection, but this time they made it! They got their workout in though! They found out that the Miami airport has thousands upon thousands of hallways...well maybe not that many, but it sure seemed like it!
2)The torrential downpour that greeted us as we deplaned. - The big group got into Liberia about an hour after the small group and as we stepped off the plane onto the runway, we noticed a huge wind blowing. Half of the group made it to the tin-roofed baggage claim before the down pour, but the other half...let's just say they got a very interesting welcome to Costa Rica.
3)Missing luggage and the search for it - The small group waited and waited for their luggage, but to no avail. Delta or American had lost it. To top it all off, the computers were down! They assured us that they would get us the luggage as soon as possible, but we are still waiting for them to fulfill that promise. We are still holding out hope for tomorrow.
4)Most luggage arrived and was tied on top of the bus, which we rode in like sardines, but pretty comfortably. - The luggage that did arrive (which was most of it) was taken out to a 25 passenger bus by some kind porters and hauled to the top. There they were covered with a tarp and some rope for the 2 1/2 hour trip to Samara. We all fit into the bus thankfully, but this type of bus, when everyone was in it, had not aisle. It's very interesting.
5)Our first experience with a Latin American supermarket...and our almost-first-experience with a Latin American Burger King. - There were some people in the large group who got to ride in 1st class. The rest of us poor peons, rode in coach and did not receive a lunch. 1st class did. While waiting for luggage, we decided that they would not be allowed to talk about the food that they ate in 1st class unless they wanted to pay a dollar each time. The rest of us, even though we may had eaten lavish, complimentary breakfasts, were ravenous! Our driver told us he could take us to a Burger King about an hour down the road. We told him no, that we wanted something more authentic, but he ended up taking us there anyway! We were very confused, but asked him to please take us to a supermarket, which he obligingly did.
6)Orientation at the school. - We got to the school, saw how beautiful it was, helped the driver take down all the luggage and learned about the rules.
7)Our examens - we were so dead that the instructor told us to go to our houses and sleep and come back tomorrow to do them. - After we learned the rules, we were to have our placement exams. After about 1/3 to 1/2 had gone through, the director came out and told us that the kids were so dead, they couldn't even think, so we should go home and sleep. Gratefully, we agreed.
8)Meeting our families - We then met our families. Everyone's is different so ask your kids about them! Sra. Hennig's and my family owns a restaurant. It's awesome to be able to eat in an outdoor restaurant everyday.
9)Another torrential downpour - which most of us navigated to have devotion. - We decided to meet for devotion, but about 5 mintues after the first group arrived, it started pouring. Again.
10)Rivers in the streets. - The rivers turned into rivers. Actual rivers. Many of the streets were dirt roads which had many holes and lakes. It was very wet, but at least it was a warm rain.
11)Our houses - Again, they're all different. It's best to describe them with pictures, but I'm having troubles uploading them. Hopefully they will be available soon!
12)Classes in the morning. - We were all divided up into groups of about 6 for classes. We spent 2 hours in class, then had a 20 minute coffee break, and then continued for another hour and 40 minutes.
13)Our bank and supermarket trip - During lunch, many of us had to go to the bank to exchange money. We had fun navigating the metal detector that would only hold one person in a glass case. I'll try to get a picture of that in the next few days. We then headed to the supermarket to buy some food and others headed to buy bathing suits (since theirs were still lost). We had to get ready to go...
14)SURFING!!! (Be careful - it will hit you in the face...) - Our instructor had a favorite line. It went something like this:
Don't...or else it will hit you in the face.
Make sure you...or else it will hit you in the face.
If you do...it will hit you in the face.
Get the picture? The kids loved him - he was a great teacher. And he spoke in English so that they understood all the safety rules.
We had fun trying to get up. Most if not all of us got up and actually surfed even if it was only for a few seconds (I think my record was about 5 seconds...)
15)Hurry up to get to dance class! - We realized that our schedule had changed and that we had dance class in a few minutes. We quickly rinsed off in the tree (yes, there was a shower IN a tree) and changed and got to dance class where we learned how to dance the merengue. We learned 3 steps. Since there were only 6 boys, some of the girls had to be the boys as well. They looked great dancing! It was fun to see them trying it out and getting the steps down and actually dancing to some merengue music.
16)And finally going home to eat before a beach bonfire tonight!
- We left and ate supper with our families before having a beach bonfire. Unfortunately it was raining (again), but we had a "grill" fire instead! The school provided delicious marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers (Costa Rican style of course) to make s'mores. The kids had a great time just winding down and talking about the day's experiences as well as the devotion. All in all, a successful day full of activity.
Well, I am off to get some homework done and then SLEEP! We have a physical day in front of us tomorrow with kayaking in the morning and soccer at night, with a little class sandwiched between them. Blessings to all of you tonight and tomorrow!
So I'll give you a little more detail about what has happened so far...
0)I forgot to add the morning feast of the Miami group - Sra. Hennig had promised the small group a lavish breakfast before getting to the airport SOOO early in the morning. They "feasted" on almost-frozen English muffins, exploding butter, and sour oranges before hauling their luggage to their 4:30 shuttle. They got to the airport where they were greeted with ANOTHER lavish breakfast, which they tried very hard to eat, even though they were stuffed. The airport food vouchers, as well as a kind gentleman paid for this extra meal.
1)The dash through the Miami airport. - The little group had a very, very quick connection, but this time they made it! They got their workout in though! They found out that the Miami airport has thousands upon thousands of hallways...well maybe not that many, but it sure seemed like it!
2)The torrential downpour that greeted us as we deplaned. - The big group got into Liberia about an hour after the small group and as we stepped off the plane onto the runway, we noticed a huge wind blowing. Half of the group made it to the tin-roofed baggage claim before the down pour, but the other half...let's just say they got a very interesting welcome to Costa Rica.
3)Missing luggage and the search for it - The small group waited and waited for their luggage, but to no avail. Delta or American had lost it. To top it all off, the computers were down! They assured us that they would get us the luggage as soon as possible, but we are still waiting for them to fulfill that promise. We are still holding out hope for tomorrow.
4)Most luggage arrived and was tied on top of the bus, which we rode in like sardines, but pretty comfortably. - The luggage that did arrive (which was most of it) was taken out to a 25 passenger bus by some kind porters and hauled to the top. There they were covered with a tarp and some rope for the 2 1/2 hour trip to Samara. We all fit into the bus thankfully, but this type of bus, when everyone was in it, had not aisle. It's very interesting.
5)Our first experience with a Latin American supermarket...and our almost-first-experience with a Latin American Burger King. - There were some people in the large group who got to ride in 1st class. The rest of us poor peons, rode in coach and did not receive a lunch. 1st class did. While waiting for luggage, we decided that they would not be allowed to talk about the food that they ate in 1st class unless they wanted to pay a dollar each time. The rest of us, even though we may had eaten lavish, complimentary breakfasts, were ravenous! Our driver told us he could take us to a Burger King about an hour down the road. We told him no, that we wanted something more authentic, but he ended up taking us there anyway! We were very confused, but asked him to please take us to a supermarket, which he obligingly did.
6)Orientation at the school. - We got to the school, saw how beautiful it was, helped the driver take down all the luggage and learned about the rules.
7)Our examens - we were so dead that the instructor told us to go to our houses and sleep and come back tomorrow to do them. - After we learned the rules, we were to have our placement exams. After about 1/3 to 1/2 had gone through, the director came out and told us that the kids were so dead, they couldn't even think, so we should go home and sleep. Gratefully, we agreed.
8)Meeting our families - We then met our families. Everyone's is different so ask your kids about them! Sra. Hennig's and my family owns a restaurant. It's awesome to be able to eat in an outdoor restaurant everyday.
9)Another torrential downpour - which most of us navigated to have devotion. - We decided to meet for devotion, but about 5 mintues after the first group arrived, it started pouring. Again.
10)Rivers in the streets. - The rivers turned into rivers. Actual rivers. Many of the streets were dirt roads which had many holes and lakes. It was very wet, but at least it was a warm rain.
11)Our houses - Again, they're all different. It's best to describe them with pictures, but I'm having troubles uploading them. Hopefully they will be available soon!
12)Classes in the morning. - We were all divided up into groups of about 6 for classes. We spent 2 hours in class, then had a 20 minute coffee break, and then continued for another hour and 40 minutes.
13)Our bank and supermarket trip - During lunch, many of us had to go to the bank to exchange money. We had fun navigating the metal detector that would only hold one person in a glass case. I'll try to get a picture of that in the next few days. We then headed to the supermarket to buy some food and others headed to buy bathing suits (since theirs were still lost). We had to get ready to go...
14)SURFING!!! (Be careful - it will hit you in the face...) - Our instructor had a favorite line. It went something like this:
Don't...or else it will hit you in the face.
Make sure you...or else it will hit you in the face.
If you do...it will hit you in the face.
Get the picture? The kids loved him - he was a great teacher. And he spoke in English so that they understood all the safety rules.
We had fun trying to get up. Most if not all of us got up and actually surfed even if it was only for a few seconds (I think my record was about 5 seconds...)
15)Hurry up to get to dance class! - We realized that our schedule had changed and that we had dance class in a few minutes. We quickly rinsed off in the tree (yes, there was a shower IN a tree) and changed and got to dance class where we learned how to dance the merengue. We learned 3 steps. Since there were only 6 boys, some of the girls had to be the boys as well. They looked great dancing! It was fun to see them trying it out and getting the steps down and actually dancing to some merengue music.
16)And finally going home to eat before a beach bonfire tonight!
- We left and ate supper with our families before having a beach bonfire. Unfortunately it was raining (again), but we had a "grill" fire instead! The school provided delicious marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers (Costa Rican style of course) to make s'mores. The kids had a great time just winding down and talking about the day's experiences as well as the devotion. All in all, a successful day full of activity.
Well, I am off to get some homework done and then SLEEP! We have a physical day in front of us tomorrow with kayaking in the morning and soccer at night, with a little class sandwiched between them. Blessings to all of you tonight and tomorrow!
Finally!
This is going to be a short but sweet post until I can possibly get back to this internet cafe later tonight.
We finally made it! A few things that I will talk about more in detail later:
1)The dash through the Miami airport.
2)The torrential downpour that greeted us as we deplaned.
3)Missing luggage and the search for it
4)Most luggage arrived and was tied on top of the bus, which we rode in like sardines, but pretty comfortably.
5)Our first experience with a Latin American supermarket...and our almost-first-experience with a Latin American Burger King.
6)Orientation at the school.
7)Our examens - we were so dead that the instructor told us to go to our houses and sleep and come back tomorrow to do them.
8)Meeting our families
9)Another torrential downpour - which most of us navigated to have devotion.
10)Rivers in the streets.
11)Our houses
12)Classes in the morning.
13)Our bank and supermarket trip
14)SURFING!!! (Be careful - it will hit you in the face...)
15)Hurry up to get to dance class!
16)And finally going home to eat before a beach bonfire tonight!
So that's where we are heading quickly now. Hopefully I will have some time to expand on some of these items. If not, I hope some pictures make it up. It takes quite a while to upload them, so...I hope they make it! These pictures are from dance classes today. I have to work backwards right now. Enjoy the few I was able to get!
We finally made it! A few things that I will talk about more in detail later:
1)The dash through the Miami airport.
2)The torrential downpour that greeted us as we deplaned.
3)Missing luggage and the search for it
4)Most luggage arrived and was tied on top of the bus, which we rode in like sardines, but pretty comfortably.
5)Our first experience with a Latin American supermarket...and our almost-first-experience with a Latin American Burger King.
6)Orientation at the school.
7)Our examens - we were so dead that the instructor told us to go to our houses and sleep and come back tomorrow to do them.
8)Meeting our families
9)Another torrential downpour - which most of us navigated to have devotion.
10)Rivers in the streets.
11)Our houses
12)Classes in the morning.
13)Our bank and supermarket trip
14)SURFING!!! (Be careful - it will hit you in the face...)
15)Hurry up to get to dance class!
16)And finally going home to eat before a beach bonfire tonight!
So that's where we are heading quickly now. Hopefully I will have some time to expand on some of these items. If not, I hope some pictures make it up. It takes quite a while to upload them, so...I hope they make it! These pictures are from dance classes today. I have to work backwards right now. Enjoy the few I was able to get!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Atlanta continued
To continue with Atlanta since I was booted off the computer, the kids occupied themselves well during the wait, playing cards, listening to music, sleeping, making a fort, and just chillaxin'. Their words, not mine. And yes they made a fort out of a poncho.I'm sure the other passengers were entertained just watching them :)
We are adding another member to our group. His name is Senor Hughie. See if you can try to spot him in many of out pictures. Some of the girls picked him out to be our "photo guide" through Costa Rica. I will try to get some photos up tonight. They can usually tell the story better than I can :)
Well, we are about to have a devotion and meeting, followed by more resting and an early bed time. I get to resume my role of dorm supervisor by doing bed checks. And to think I thought I was getting the summer off :) Some have an early early morning tomorrow so hopefully they will take the opportunity to rest up. Blessings on the rest of your night and please pray that we have safe and smooth flights tomorrow.
We are adding another member to our group. His name is Senor Hughie. See if you can try to spot him in many of out pictures. Some of the girls picked him out to be our "photo guide" through Costa Rica. I will try to get some photos up tonight. They can usually tell the story better than I can :)
Well, we are about to have a devotion and meeting, followed by more resting and an early bed time. I get to resume my role of dorm supervisor by doing bed checks. And to think I thought I was getting the summer off :) Some have an early early morning tomorrow so hopefully they will take the opportunity to rest up. Blessings on the rest of your night and please pray that we have safe and smooth flights tomorrow.
Atlanta
Well, I guess I was a little too optimistic about catching our connection in Atlanta. If the only thing that had delayed us was the maintenance issues, we might have been able to squeeze it in, but the weather decided to play tricks on us and force us to postpone our take off by about 15 minutes. We were hoping and praying the entire way down to Atlanta that they would hold the plane long enough for such a large group (24 plus about 3 others who were traveling to Liberia as well) but God decided that he wanted us to have some unplanned travel adventures.
By the time we got to our gate, our flight had already been in the air for a few minutes. Mrs. Hennig and I proceeded directly to the help desk to figure out what we were going to do while the kids waited patiently. *Just a quick commentary - I was so so so so impressed with your kids! It took us nearly 3 hours to get everything complete and squared away and the kids were awesome about it. We felt so bad that this happened, taking away a whole day of being in Costa Rica, but they just went with the flow. I cannot tell you how thankful and impressed I was with the patience and flexibility they displayed today.* After 3 hours, this is what we had squared away - 16 of us would fly directly to Liberia the next day, at the same time that our flight was today. The other 8 would fly first to Miami and then fly to Liberia. The Miami/Liberia people would beat the others to Liberia by about an hour. We got vouchers for food and hotel rooms. We finally arrived at our hotel around 4 and that is where we are at right now.
By the time we got to our gate, our flight had already been in the air for a few minutes. Mrs. Hennig and I proceeded directly to the help desk to figure out what we were going to do while the kids waited patiently. *Just a quick commentary - I was so so so so impressed with your kids! It took us nearly 3 hours to get everything complete and squared away and the kids were awesome about it. We felt so bad that this happened, taking away a whole day of being in Costa Rica, but they just went with the flow. I cannot tell you how thankful and impressed I was with the patience and flexibility they displayed today.* After 3 hours, this is what we had squared away - 16 of us would fly directly to Liberia the next day, at the same time that our flight was today. The other 8 would fly first to Miami and then fly to Liberia. The Miami/Liberia people would beat the others to Liberia by about an hour. We got vouchers for food and hotel rooms. We finally arrived at our hotel around 4 and that is where we are at right now.
Airport fun
Well, our adventure is still on hold for a bit. We found out that our flight has been delayed for maintenance reasons but they just found us a new plane. Hopefully the plane will be here soon after they finish they're safety and maintenance checks and we are hoping for a departure time of 6:15. We will be cutting it VERY close in the Atlanta airport, but with a large group we shouldn't have any problems. As we sit here waiting, we notice that there are 2 other high school Spanish groups near us - one going to Guatemala and one going to Belize and Mexico. It's awesome to see so many high school students learning another language and culture!
Well, blessings to all of you on this rainy Sunday morning. Please keep us in your prayers as we (finally) start our travels. More updates will follow as we have the time to write.
Well, blessings to all of you on this rainy Sunday morning. Please keep us in your prayers as we (finally) start our travels. More updates will follow as we have the time to write.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Introduction
Hello All!
Sra. Hennig and I have just created our blog for this summer's Costa Rica trip! This blog has access to Picasa Photos, so we will be able to post pictures as we go. They will hopefully be able to be seen at the top of the screen.
That's all for now. We will keep you updated throughout the summer on how plans are coming.
Blessings on your final days of the school year!
Sra. Hennig and I have just created our blog for this summer's Costa Rica trip! This blog has access to Picasa Photos, so we will be able to post pictures as we go. They will hopefully be able to be seen at the top of the screen.
That's all for now. We will keep you updated throughout the summer on how plans are coming.
Blessings on your final days of the school year!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)