Happy anniversary...

...to me! Five months ago today I moved to Costa Rica! Wow, I can hardly believe that five months have already passed since I made one of the biggest transitions of my life.

Thursday's thoughts

Watching the sunrise is beautiful and coffee is great, but it is not even 4pm and I could go to bed right now!

That is all.

more tortugas!

Yesterday I met my friend and her boyfriend downtown after school to disfrutar the playa a little bit.  We bought some coconuts from a man on the street, who whacked a hole in each coco with his machete before giving us a straw.  We sipped the agua de pipa from our coconuts as we walked down the beach.  Our stroll led us to a nice spot at playa piedra colorada where the river meets the ocean.  We hiked up the rocks and took a little dip in the river.  (Typical after school activity, right?!)  Then after our hike down, we cooled off again with a little swim in the ocean.  Our walk back into town at the end of the afternoon took us past the turtle rescue place where we saw the turtles go out to sea for the first time last week.  There were several volunteers digging, so we went to ask if more eggs had hatched.  Indeed they had!  Last night the majority of the eggs had hatched and those babies had gone out to sea, but there were a few late bloomers who were just hatching.  We were told if we could wait 30 more minutes, we could watch the remaining turtles take their first swim!

I think only about 10 baby tortugas were released, so it wasn't as dramatic of a release as last week, but beautiful, nonetheless.  Although fewer turtles, this release was so great because the sun was just going down.  Not only could we see the turtles without the red lights, but we also were able to enjoy the release with the added bonus of the sunset.

How amazing is it that now, on two separate occasions, I have seen baby turtles go out to sea!

up close and personal

how cute are their little tracks?

Also I saw a very beautiful sunrise this morning.  What?!  Morgan, the girl who typically hits "snooze" 4-6 a morning, was up before the sun?  I was indeed up and moving, and proceeded to have 4 cups of coffee by 8:30.

And then, since my fifth graders and I have been studying one of my favorite topics, weather, and also learning a bit about clouds, I enjoyed the variety of clouds I saw.  My students are currently keeping a cloud observation log, so I only thought it was fair that I join in as well:

cumulus above (altocumulus) and stratus below

cumulonimbus, with a few stratus clouds in front

Tortugas :)

I had a really neat experience Tuesday night. My friend and I were downtown Montezuma finishing up dinner and debating what we should do next. You see, there's not much to the town of Montezuma and many places are closed until November. It's "low season" right now.
We were talking about how we really wanted to see turtles. Friday is a full moon so it should be a decent time to see some sea turtles at night.
Well, no time like the present. Or so they say. Some local came up to the little restaurant we were at and said that turtles would be coming out in 10 minutes! There is a volunteer group on the beach in Montezuma that collects turtle eggs at night and protects them so that people and animals will not damage the eggs before they hatch.

One of the nests had hatched and the turtle volunteers were about to set them free!
A small group gathered as we walked the path to the beach, which is even beautiful at night. The waves appeared to be glowing. I was told it is a special type of plankton that glows. A second person told me it had to do with the high salt content reflecting off of the moonlight. I don't know. All I know is that I have never seen glowing waves before and I was amazed.

Anyways, we got to the turtle hatchery and there were a bunch of teeny tiny baby sea turtles in a large bucket. Each nest has 104 eggs so we had a few minutes to ooh and aww over the little fellows while waiting for the remainder of the eggs to hatch.
When all were hatched, the group that had gathered was told to walk down the beach a bit. The turtle volunteers stopped in an area of sand free from drift wood and rocks. They had drawn a huge rectangle in the sand and all of the onlookers had to stay outside of the rectangle. They called it "the runway."

One by one, the volunteer took the babies out of the bucket and carefully placed them in the sand. And they were off! The little tortugas knew exactly what to do. They started crawling (do turtles crawl?) straight toward the sea.

It was beautiful to see God's creatures out in their natural habitat. Here are these teeny tiny turtles in this huge beach. Only moments ago have they entered the world, yet they already know exactly what to do. Confidently each turtle headed out to the big, dark sea; not for a moment did I see any turtle fight to stay in the bucket. These infant turtles were not following their mother turtle, sheepishly taking each step or waiting to see momma's next move. No, these babies just headed out into the sea because they knew that's where they are supposed to be. Within 20 minutes all 104 tiny tortugas had moved on to the next phase of their lives. They will "just keep swimming, swimming, swimming."

My pictures and video are of low quality because we could not use flash, only a red light.  Can you make out the turtle shapes?

If this video works, here they are heading out for their first swim!

Part 2: ¡Semana Cívica!

A week has passed since I started my blog entry about civic week, so I guess it is time to continue it.  Of course I intended to finish this entry during the week, but that didn't quite happen.  You see I had last Monday off in observance of Independence Day, so I was busy going on adventures with my friend in Montezuma.  Then Tuesday, as a result of my adventures the previous two days, but mostly as a result of sleeping in my contacts, my right eye burned like it was on fire, was red and puffy like I had conjunctivitis, and was watering so much that I appeared to be crying.  All day long.  That resulted in me leaving school early to have my eye checked out, because I literally couldn't keep  my eye open.  Then Wednesday I decided to stay after school before an afternoon meeting to catch up on work I had wanted to do the previous day.  I ended up not leaving school until 6 pm, and after my 11 hour work day, I didn't exactly get much done.  I woke up around 10 pm that night still with my clothes on, my light on, and the book I had been reading tossed aside on the floor.

But now it is Saturday, and I am curled up in the hammock as I type this, trying to regain feeling in my legs from my morning bike ride up and down these hills.

I believe I left off my civic week entry with Thursday evening's events.  

Friday morning was the running of the torch; or, it was supposed to be.  The event was cancelled as a result of the September 5th earthquake.  Since the earthquake the ferry, which is the primary means to access the Nicoyan Peninsula where I live, has been inoperable.  The water levels dropped significantly, and the ramp was also in need of repair.  

A bit of history about the torch:  I am going to pre-apologize if any of my facts are wrong, because I am just learning all of this, too.  The independence torch is a national symbol of freedom in Costa Rica.  When the Central American countries declared independence from Spain in 1821, the letter carrying the message of new-found independence left Guatemala and ended in Costa Rica.  

It has become a tradition that the schools in Central America emulate the path of the mail carrying the news of independence back in 1821.  The torch actually didn't arrive in Costa Rica until a month after the declaration of independence, but each year throughout semana cívica students run with the torch from school to school.

I was super excited about this event that our small school had the honor of participating, and I was equally disappointed once I learned that it would be cancelled.  Well, enter the police force of Cóbano:  although the official torch could not arrive without the ferry, the police force arranged for an unofficial running of the torch to keep the tradition alive.

Friday morning of September 14th, several students from the school met at city hall in Cóbano and began the relay from the municipalidad to the school.  Since I have walked it multiple times, let me tell you, that is no short distance!  Those of us at school waited and waited for the torch to arrive.  It was estimated to take about an hour to get from the city hall to school, so the teachers gathered all the students into the lunch room and anxiously waited.

As my students were responsible for the acto cívico of the day, I volunteered to stand down at the end of the driveway to keep a lookout for the torch.  I could hear it before I saw it.  Rounding the corner and kicking up dust along the road, the police truck led the way with its siren going.  Right behind the police truck, was our school Director driving and honking his car horn.  Behind his vehicle was the group of red faced, sweaty students still running.  Behind them, a group of police men ran along, and finally a small caravan of school parents drove their cars and honked along. The torch was passed off one last time before running it up the drive and into the comedor where the rest of the students were waiting.  

waiting...

here they come

getting closer

last leg of the relay

that's my student holding the torch!

almost...

running it into the comedor, with the flag waiting

As I mentioned before, Friday was fifth and sixth grades' turn to lead the acto cívico.  We were assigned to explain the symbolism and importance of the torch.  Thank goodness my co-teacher who teaches Spanish and Social Studies to my students is Costa Rican.  She always keeps me informed.  If not, I would have been googling away.  She prepared a little blurb for one of the students to read in Spanish.  I translated it for one of my students to read in English.  The previous day, we got crafty and made little torches from construction and crepe papers.

cute, right?

Our acto cívico was short and sweet.  The students put the torch in a special torch-holder (not sure the official name), and were recognized for their job well run.  No pun intended.

Then we sang the 3 patriotic hymns, and said the pledge.  

And then two of my students read the story of the torch.  

Like I said, short and sweet. Unlike this blog entry.

Friday night, September 14th, was supposed to be a parade with faroles (lanterns).  All the children in town make their own paper lanterns and walk from city hall back to the community gym while singing the national anthem.  The lanterns are lit with candles at 6 pm and this is symbolic of the meeting held in a Guatemalan plaza the eve of the declaration of independence.  That meeting was lit by candles.

I was very excited about taking part in such a unique tradition, and once more disappointed when the announcement came that the lantern parade had been cancelled.  Again, we can blame this on the earthquake.  We have had so many tremors and shakes since September 5th that the city officials did not want to have children and families out walking with lit flames in case of another quake.  First their decision was to change the time from 6 pm to 2 pm in the afternoon and just ask everyone in the town to turn off the lights (what about the sun?), but it was then decided it would be safer to cancel it all together.  Can we say thank goodness?  Because that was the day at 1:57 pm a 4.1 shook us with the epicenter only one kilometer from this house.   Three minutes before the time that we would have been about to start the lanterns.  Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

Saturday morning, the actual day of Independence, Cóbano holds a parade, so the students donned their uniforms once more and the preschoolers dressed in their cute Trip the Worm costumes again.  The preschool students rode in a float. The honor students marched behind, leading the way for a banner held by each grade.  The teachers marched alongside their students who held the banner.

Of course the parade started on Tico Time, and the sun wasn't taking it easy on us.  The teachers had to wear our school polos and jeans because apparently jeans are the only pants we all had in common...I know it's "winter here", but 29 degrees Celsius may as well be summer.  We also were given these red scarf things to tie around us, because its part of the typical clothing of this area.

with my Tica sister before leaving for the parade .  She was an honor student!

I took plenty of pictures while WAITING for the parade to start

The fancy banner for our school.  Ohh-la-la

another float.  Don't let those "rain clouds" fool you.  

so thankful for a recently hired American teacher/ new friend :)

I let Jorge choose between my sunglasses and the hat.

precious pre-school on their float.

yay!  The 5th grade banner.

stopped for a bit in el centro

Despite the heat, it was an exciting way to start the morning of my first Costa Rican Independence day.  I loved marching alongside my kiddos and waving to their parents as we passed by!

The parade followed the route of the rest of the semana cívica activities:  from city hall to the community gym.  Once we finally arrived at the gym, it was packed with townsfolk and a performance was already taking place.

no wonder the Ticos dance so well--start 'em young!

I went back outside to watch the remainder of the parade while waiting for my complimentary plate of arroz con pollo.  

The color guard is a little bit different here...the flags don't spin.  I guess more of an honor guard.

And last but not least, the animals:  I guess so the other parade marchers wouldn't step in their poo.

neighhhh

an old coffee cart

That is the end of my longgggggg two-part blog entry about civic week in Costa Rica.  Yes it was a montón of extra activities throughout the week, but I loved every bit of it.  I'm just trying to soak up every little bit of culture I can while I'm still here.

¡Fín!

¡Semana Civica!

This week has been a very interrupted week because it was semana civica, civic week.  September 15th is Costa Rican Independence Day.  Instead of celebrating this holiday with barbecues, beer, and fireworks, Costa Rica goes back to its roots.  Although the actually independence day is only on the fifteenth, the entire week leading up to Independence day is celebrated with daily acto civicos in the schools and symbolic festivities at night.  Despite more ground-shaking, I have had a great time this week learning about the history of the country in which I now live.

Every morning, just after the first bell, the students and staff of Futuro Verde gathered in front of the flag pole for an acto civico.  The students lined up by grade and sang the patriotic hymns, said the pledge and listened to the outdoor lesson for the day.

Each day a different teacher and grade was responsible for organizing and planning the events.  On Monday the preschool shared the importance of Costa Rica's independence by looking adorable, singing the anthem, and having their teacher read a short story.  Tuesday, first and second grade educated us on the history and evolution of the Costa Rican flag.  On Wednesday, third and fourth grade recounted the history of the Costa Rican shield.  Thursday, was a practice run for Thursday night's presentation in the community gym (more on that later), and on Friday, the wonderful 5th and 6th grade students led the students in staff in welcoming the torch to our tiny campus.

In addition to the acto civicos, each class took part in decorating the school.  The students brought in flags, shields, streamers, and anything red, white, and blue.  It wasn't just our school that was adorned in the national colors all week; each of the little bakeries and tiny shops around town were equally festive.

"window" decorations in 6th grade

above the board in my 6th grade room

All of the guide teachers were responsible for their class's creation of a pancarta (banner) for the cumulating event of semana civica:  a parade on Saturday morning, the actual independence day.  I am the guide teacher for fifth grade.  That basically just means that I am the 5th grade teacher, but I also teach the English language subjects to 6th grade.  I was right in my element getting ready for the parade!  I love getting crafty, so it was great being able to get a bit messy (or messier than usual) while making our banner.  My kids came up with the phrase "nuestra tolerancia y cultura" to put on the banner.  They wanted to make a flag to go on the banner, so I suggested that the entire banner be colored like a flag.  And to make it more personal, I thought they should use their handprints.

being silly with my boys!

in progress

ta-da!

And for everyone who thought all of those years of color guard and marching band would be useless after high school graduation...wrong!  The director asked me to lead marching practice during the week.  I reverted back to my days as LMHS color guard captain.  I have to say, from our first practice on Monday until today, there was a lot of improvement.  Monday we had shuffling feet and swinging arms.  By the end of the week we had strong, straight arms and marching feet.  Not to say that everyone was on the same beat, but one step at a time.  Turns out the teachers had to march in the parade too!  But more on the parade later.

Thursday night we all gathered in the community gym in Cóbano.  Our school was leading the performances of the night and also selling the typical Costa Rican foods as a fundraiser.  The night started out with a group of policemen singing and playing guitars.  You know the crime is low if that's what the police do here!

Later the children's string orchestra played a few songs.  The big open gymnasium wasn't the best venue to hear strings play, but I still enjoyed it.  A few of my students play and it was neat seeing their talent at such a young age!

The main performance of the night was put on by our school.  It was sort of like a fashion show of the traditional clothing and traditions throughout Costa Rica's history and nearly every student in the school participated.  The students came out in groups modeling their clothing while a recording played over the loudspeaker explaining the clothing and tradition that was particular to a region at a certain time.  Then the students lined up in the front and music played while they showed off their personalities a bit.  Here's a look:

First Communion

introduction of black

scarves and dancing

typical machete

I don't know if I've mentioned this before but nearly everyone has a machete here.  It's like an essential item.  If you have a car, it is not uncommon to have a machete in your trunk.  Some men just wear them through their belt loops.  How else would you be able to chop open a coconut when you are away from home?!

At the end of the show, all of the performers came out together to take a bow.  Here they are:

Later in the evening, the preschoolers presented the "Story of Trip the Worm."  One of the little girls' moms is a seamstress so they all had little costumes on.  The story was about a worm who looked different than all of the rest;  none of the green worms wanted to be friends with Trip because he was spotted.  Trip was traveling, hence the name, and explained that back home all the worms have spots.  So one little green worm took a chance with Trip and before you know it all of the green worms have accepted Trip and the forest is happy.  The story just made my heart melt.  Here is a little clip of it:

This blog author is tired, but I'm not finished writing about all of this week's festivities so this post will be continued at a later date.