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Saturday, August 25, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
This is the gate that leads to the high school and elementary school
This is a view of some of the mountains that surround the area. This is what you see when you walk out of the gates from all three schools.
This is the mist that rolls in in the morning and covers the mountain view.
Taken from the HS parking lot.
So I can't believe I have been here almost 2 weeks already. The rainy season has started and it has been raining pretty much every day at around three for the past week. The mornings are great. Comfortable and sunny. There's a beautiful mist on the surrounding mountains and I get to take a walk to work everyday, or I take a taxi or the bus if I am feeling lazy. The full staff at Country Day School came together last Monday, August 6th and everyone has been really great. I have been trying to get prepared all week for the kids who are coming in on Monday. That's right, school starts on Monday, Aug. 13th. I have been trying to get my classroom set and then decided on Thursday to change my room to a different room that was open, so then my cleaning process had to start all over again.
I will be teaching AP World History and AP US History. Talk about nuts! I will also be teaching three regular US History classes. Oh yeah and I have a student teacher for two of those classes. I only have 52 students on my entire teaching list and we are on an A-G day rotation so I will only be teaching 3-4 classes a day. It makes planning a little confusing and a little mroe difficuly, but this will also keep it very interesting. My classes are an hour long and there are elective classes programmed for every day. I am also the advisor for the National Honors Society.
It is definitely an adjustment to living here. I found a huge spider thing in my tub which I luckily saw before I actually stepped in to shower. It looked like the little alien thing that sticks itself to the guys face in "Alien" but slightly smaller and it moved rediculously fast. I think this is where Riddley Scott got the idea for the alien from. He went on vacation in Costa Rica. The sun rises and sets at 6, no matter what and most of the life in Escazu takes place during the day. There's a fruit and veggie market that takes place on Saturdays and you pay much better prices for food than at a grocery store. Because everything is imported it is expensive. The electrical plugs are American plugs so you do not need a converter, at least in the city. I am not sure about really remote places though.
There is a Hari Krishna group living in the complex that my apartment is in and two nights ago they were up all night chanting and dancing for Krishna birthday. They are very friendly and welcoming and it was neat to see the hindu religion being practiced as I only teach about it, but never really experienced it.
The priciniple of the high school and the director of the entire school will be taking a bunch of us on a hiking trip tomorrow, Sunday, for the morning. I am very much looking forward to that and seeing some sights other than Escazu and San Jose. The new teachers were taken on a walking tour of San Jose and saw some interesting things, but San Jose as a whole is not the prettiest city in the world. There is a lot of smog because the cars and trucks and buses all spew fumes, but the views of the mountains and all the interesting plant life help you ignore that feature of life here.
I'd love to hear from you!
I will be teaching AP World History and AP US History. Talk about nuts! I will also be teaching three regular US History classes. Oh yeah and I have a student teacher for two of those classes. I only have 52 students on my entire teaching list and we are on an A-G day rotation so I will only be teaching 3-4 classes a day. It makes planning a little confusing and a little mroe difficuly, but this will also keep it very interesting. My classes are an hour long and there are elective classes programmed for every day. I am also the advisor for the National Honors Society.
It is definitely an adjustment to living here. I found a huge spider thing in my tub which I luckily saw before I actually stepped in to shower. It looked like the little alien thing that sticks itself to the guys face in "Alien" but slightly smaller and it moved rediculously fast. I think this is where Riddley Scott got the idea for the alien from. He went on vacation in Costa Rica. The sun rises and sets at 6, no matter what and most of the life in Escazu takes place during the day. There's a fruit and veggie market that takes place on Saturdays and you pay much better prices for food than at a grocery store. Because everything is imported it is expensive. The electrical plugs are American plugs so you do not need a converter, at least in the city. I am not sure about really remote places though.
There is a Hari Krishna group living in the complex that my apartment is in and two nights ago they were up all night chanting and dancing for Krishna birthday. They are very friendly and welcoming and it was neat to see the hindu religion being practiced as I only teach about it, but never really experienced it.
The priciniple of the high school and the director of the entire school will be taking a bunch of us on a hiking trip tomorrow, Sunday, for the morning. I am very much looking forward to that and seeing some sights other than Escazu and San Jose. The new teachers were taken on a walking tour of San Jose and saw some interesting things, but San Jose as a whole is not the prettiest city in the world. There is a lot of smog because the cars and trucks and buses all spew fumes, but the views of the mountains and all the interesting plant life help you ignore that feature of life here.
I'd love to hear from you!
Saturday, August 4, 2012
My arrival
My first sighting of Costa Rican landscape. Awesomely green!
Getting closer to landing, I can start the see San Jose!
There's tarmack. And I have touched down.
Last lunch with friends
It was great seeing everyone my last day. Thanks for coming out and supporting my decision to try something new. Yay for the nice weather, awesome patio and wonderful people!
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