As San Ambrosio´s school year comes to an end there were many days in week three that were planned for special events. During week three the students participated in a sports day very similar to a field day back at home. The younger children were playing soccer and the older children were playing basketball. On Friday the entire school pre K-11th grade had a teacher appreciation assembly in the soda. This was a very thoughtful day were children had created letters for their teacher telling them how much they appreciated all their hard work. I was very suprised when "Teacher Ashley" was called to come up and get a gift from the students. The students & faculty are amazingly thoughtful and I felt so special. My gift was a small bag of letters from the students with a pair of earrings also. I tremendously enjoyed reading their letters and will keep them forever. One student wrote "Thank you for teaching me English, I wish you could stay longer, but will you please come back and visit again". This is when I learned the most valuable lesson here in Costa Rica. There were many days in the classroom when I was unable to understand what the students were saying to me in Spanish, and there were also many days they didn´t comprehend my insturctional guides in English, but somehow in all the mix they knew that I cared about them.. It doesn´t matter what language you speak to fall in love with children. If you are really passionate about teaching them to learn and caring for them as unique individuals they will fill it in their hearts.
During week three I began teaching the students about Thanksgiving and why we celebrate this Holiday in the United States. I could not find a book to illistrate the story so Lena and I demonstrated the story on the white board. We first drew a map of the world on the board and then posted pictures of Native Americans, Pilgrims, The Mayflower, The first Thanksgiving dinner in the correct places and told the story of how Thanksgiving came about in America. I was so proud to be able to share with them a Holiday where much love and thankfullness is present and it made me miss my family dearly. There were very eager to create their own Pilgrim and Native American craft. I gave each of the girls a femal pilgrim and indian to color, cut and paste together & a male for each of the boys. We then proceeded throughout the week to learn about the certain foods that were present at a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. They learned the vocabular for corn, pumpkin, apple pie, turkey, etc. We also read an English Bible verse everyday that reminds me of Thanksgiving and Lena helped me translate what it meant in Spanish "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." -1 Thessalonians 5:18 Many of the students asked me if I was sad becuase I wouldn´t be with my family on Thanksgiving, but I assured them that I was being blessed with another gift from God..spending Thanksgivng with them:)
On Friday after the Teacher appreciation presentation was finished I headed to the bus station for my first adventure in Costa Rica to Arenal Volcano. I was very nervous about my first trip just because I had no experience on riding the bus, but there were many friendly people who were willing to help me.My first bus left from Nicoya-Liberia, Liberia-Cañas, Cañas-Tiliran,Tiliran-La Fortuna. I had a BIG suprise when I reached Tiliaran!!! I had missed the bus for the day from Tiliran to La Fortuna(My final destination). There were taxis waiting when I got off the bus and the taxi driver let me use his cell phone so I could call Karla to see what I should do. The taxi driver offered me a 50$ taxi ride from Tiliran to La Fortuna. Let me remind you that I had been been on a public bus for about 4 and a half hours. My choices were very slim..take the taxi, go all the way back to Nicoya, or stay in a hotel and wait for the next bus in the morning(which was a 4 hour bus ride compared to an hour and a half taxi ride. I decided to pay the 50$ for the taxi ride. The driver was great company and spoke English very well. He had lived in California in previous years and told his story about the first time he ever went to the States. His friends were supposed to be at the airport waiting for him, but they were not and he could´nt speak English that well so he related to my shocking suprise. haha
When I arrived in La Fortuna the taxi driver dropped me off at the Hostel Gringo Petes. The hostel was super cheap at 8$ a night. I met what some peiple may call strangers there, but they were more like angels with their friendliness and advice about traveling. Most of the people were backpacking the country. I met two girls from Germany, a couple from Canada, a guy from Denmark, and an American girl from Idaho and a guy from Oregon. When I woke up on Saturday morning I went on a canopy tour at 8am. The canopy tour was at Los Cañones and one of the most thrilling things I´ve ever experienced. Ok, it wasn´t that great, but if you know me at all...you know I hate being off the ground. So to me, it was electrifying zip lining on a rope through the jungle. When I arrived back at the hostel Amanda and John invited me to joing them at Baldi Hot Springs for the day and dinner. I spent the entire day relaxing in the Baldi hot springs with my new friends. On Sunday morning I left for Nicoya. This time I did not take public bus, but instead took a private bus named Ride Costa Rica where I met friendly people from Australia and VERY, might I add VERY attractive guys from Spain. hahah
On Monday I went to the beach with the exchange students and took my first surf lesson. The lesson was totally rad and I even stood up on my first try! I hope to practice more while I am here.
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