Rebekah and the TPS 8th graders!

I went to La Fortuna yesterday to meet up with the 8th grade TPS class...here's a picture of the whole group! It was great to see them! Made me miss my TPS family very much...

Medtechs!

In this picture, the medicial technicians are training our brave astronauts so that they will be in prime physical condition for the mission.

The engineers look for wood...

In the 5/6th grade science class, we began our Mission to Mars project. Here's some pictures from the first days of the project. In this one, our four engineers search through our scrap wood shed to find materials to build their spacecraft design.

Finally, a quetzal...

So FINALLY after living in Monteverde for eight months, we saw the famous and famously rare Resplendent Quetzal bird! (pronounced ket-zal) Apparently among birders seeing the quetzal is considered quite a coup. We are not birders, however, we did get quite excited when we saw its brillant blue feathers and incredibly long tail on a tree in front of our house. The tail is about three times longer than the body of the bird. The feathers and body are a bright blue with hints of green...almost a turquoise sort of color. When it flies, it is like a streak of color with the long tail flying behind it. It was a very exciting few minutes!
Unfortunatly we did not get a picture of it. Next time, perhaps. We think that he was here to eat the wild avocados growing on a tree in front of our house, as queztals really like those.

We survived the 10K!

Not only did Michael and I run and survive the 10k running race here in Monteverde... but we both got medals!! I was surprised at how it all went...it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. After the 5th kilometer or so, I really picked up speed and started to feel great. Apparently that's typical in distance runs- the first part is hard because you have to warm up, and then after the warm up you start to feel invincible. We did have to walk some of the biggest hills...such as the giant, ridiculously steep hill at the end of the race. But! We both ran for most of it, and many other people had to walk parts too. (It's very hilly here!)
The REALLY cool part is that both Michael and I came in first in our age catagories! In my catagory, there was one person ahead of me, but she won the whole race over all...so then the first place in the 25-30 range went to me because I was second. There were only seven or so folks in my catagory...but still! I felt good about it. Michael won in his catagory but...um...he was the only person in his! But that's okay, he did a great job and really deserves the medal. We both really pushed ourselves hard out there.
I came in 28th overall in the race, and Michael came in 25th. There were about 75- 85 people in the race. I was the fourth woman to finish!
We both finished with times around 75 minutes, not too bad for an incredibly hilly course at a high altititude...
It was so much fun! The most exciting part was the people cheering you on along the way. They gave you water and clapped and made you feel so great. At the end, they had a bunch of people cheering and folks playing drums and it was all very exciting. I felt a huge surge of energy right at the very end when I approached the finish line because it just felt so exhilerating. It was also nice because many of the people watching actually know me so I could hear them cheering my name, which felt great. Afterwards I felt like I was on cloud nine- the adreneline was pumping and it felt like such an accomplishment.
I thought that roasting the chicken at Thanksgiving was the accomplishment of which I was most proud. I think I've decided this 10K wins in the Accomplishment Department. Now I want to run another one! (Okay. Not right now. Right now I am tired.)
This run was actually a fundraiser for the other private school in Monteverde. Next weekend our school is having a 13km walk that is our fundraiser. Should also be fun, but less competitive (it IS a Quaker school, after all...)
Pictured here are our medals and certificates.

Spanish Conferences, Running, etc...

Yesterday was another milestone in my life here in Costa Rica. I held parent-teacher conferences in Spanish without a translator! Very scary, but exciting too. I believe that everyone understood what I was telling them about their children...and no one ran out of the room deeply offended, so I think it was a success. It was amazing how the words just kept coming to me, even words I didn't even think I knew! Someone Spanish has snuck into my brain without me even noticing.
I did have to refer to the dictionary once for the word "mature" (maduro, if you're wondering...).
Sandra was here visiting for several days this week! It was lovely. She also had to deal with the lack of water, making her our second house guest who had to go without showering. But she was good sport about it all. Sandra also went on a lengthy hike with my co-workers and I as we trudged up from San Luis via a path that did not actually exist.
She also attended a staff picnic where we ate bread on a stick. You put uncooked bread dough on a stick and then stick the dough in the fire. It is very, very yummy. When you take the bread off of the stick, there is a hole in the middle that you can fill with beans, cheese, or whatever. Very tasty.
Sandra also came to school with me for a few days and seemed to enjoy herself very much.
And I made another roasted chicken-- the best one yet! Woo-hoo!
Found out this weekend that my play "What if I Don't" is going to be produced again, this time at Lousiana State University. This will be the third production for that play. Not sure when the show is, but when I do, I will let folks who live in the Louisiana area know.
Wait....I don't know anyone who lives in the Louisiana area! Oh well.
Today I am going to attempt to run a 10K race. I will probably have to walk half or a third of it, but, I figured I might as well give it a try! We'll see how it goes. Hopefully there will be someone taking pictures so I can post an image of me passing out at the finish line. We can all have a good laugh about that. Right now I am eating some carbs and drinking some Emergency-C and trying to get myself psyched up. I do think it will be amusing when I cross the line DEAD LAST. But there is some honor in that, isn't there? At least I would stand out from the crowd!

Our cabin

Here's where we stayed with the students, a lovely cabin high up in the mountains. It was a great spot for kids because all the rooms had walls that did not come completly to the ceiling, allowing them to peer over the top and see their friends. On our second night, there was an exciting scorpion chasing incident involving a student with a cup and a teacher with a stick. The scorpion was on the ceiling of one of the bedrooms, so Tricia had to sit on a top bunk to reach it. Tricia poked the scorpion from one end, Jackson (a fifth grade student) held the cup on the other. In the midst of Tricia-poking and Jackson-holding, the electricity went out for the night. So then the two intrepid scorpion catchers were attempting to catch the creature in pitch darkness. Some additional students ran over with flashlights and stood by shining the flashlights up to where the scorpion was last seen.
While this was happening, the rest of the class was peering over their wall-dividers and watching. At one point, Tricia screamed as the scorpion moved, causing all 16 students to scream at the top of their lungs simultaneously.
It was quite an adventure.
Luckily Jackson is the most calm scorpion catcher I've ever seen. He was so patient, waiting there with cup in hand.
He actually caught five scorpions in all while on this trip.
Tricia and I were quite pleased that no students were stung. We DID have a student fall from a swinging vine with a THUD to the ground, but she was okay.

Swimming in the River

On our hike the first day, we stopped to take a swim in the river.

A view from the goat path...

Gorp!

Here's a picture of the students with their hands in our tub of "gorp," or "trail mix" as some of us call it. Where did this "gorp" name came from? Is this a local thing or does everyone call it "gorp"?
The students were very hungry for much of the trip because although we brought a lot of food...there were sixteen bellies of growing pre-adolescents to feed (not to mention two adults). Plus one gets pretty famished after all that walking.
At this point in the trip (still day one, just hiking the first trail) we already had to stop twice for First Aid Related Incidents. Our two sweet and enthusiastic First Aid helpers, Lalo and Adriana (a 6th and 5th grader), were quick on the scene and cleaned all wounds and applied necassary bandages. It was very endearing seeing the two of them running back to the injured party, their faces in intense concentration as they set off to Save The Day.

The 5/6th grade Trip

So this past weekend my students and I (and Tricia, the language arts/history teacher) went on a two day overnight trip to the Leiton Albergue, which is high in the mountains opposite Monteverde. In order to get there, we needed to hike down the mountain to a little town called San Luis, and then up again to a mountain on the other side. It was some hard hiking...but lots of fun for the kids. I was quite impressed with how tough the kids were...we hiked over five miles uphill on the first day! Although that might not seem like a lot...these are just kids, after all. They have little legs.
For that matter, so do I.
This picture was taken at the bottom of the trail that led us down to San Luis, affectionatly called "The Goat Path." Not sure why it has that name. It is just rocks and dirt, and is very, very steep. The kids had no fear about it, though-- they ran down most of it, hopping over rocks and roots and trees as if they were nothing.
I, on the other hand, tripped and stumbled a lot.