Rain and a hummingbird

And so the rain is thundering down above as I sit here in the school´s computer lab. I walked to school today in a serious downpour (which is still continuing at the moment) and am completly soaked with the exception of my quick-dry pants, which are completly dry. Ah, the miracle that is high-tech fabric!
I did have a rain coat on, but there is a level of rain that even the best slicker can´t compete with. When i got to work my shirt was so wet, I went ahead and bought another school t-shirt so I would have something dry to wear. This is my third school t-shirt...all in different colors, of course, but still. Somehow I keep ending up a school in wet clothes and needed a new shirt. Luckily it´s a nice shirt.
Just a few moments ago the entire collegio (high school) was in the upstairs hallway attempting to catch a tiny beautiful blue hummingbird that was flying around. It was smacking up against the skylights and flying back and forth in a distressed manner. They managed to catch the little guy using a contraption made of a butterfly net taped to an umbrella taped to a broom. I love creative problem solving! Cows in the backyard, birds in the hallway, scorpions in the closet...something tells me we´re not in Philadelphia anymore...
Speaking of animals, yesterday in yoga class I finally mastered the difficult balancing ¨crow¨ pose. I´ve been trying all year to get it and I finally did! It involves balancing your whole body on just the backs of your bent arms. Very hard to do. Yay!

So busy! No time to write!

Well, it has officially been A Long Time since I wrote on this blog. So today I will list as many interesting developments as possible:

1) Michael saw a spider monkey up close yesterday. It jumped down from a tree and landed at his feet.
2) I saw a coral snake when walking home from work.
3) I walked home from a long run on Friday after the sun had set...this may not seem like news, but when the sun sets here, it is DARK. No streetlights. Ordinarily I would bring a flashlight, however, I was running and did not have one. So I stumbled for a good mile in the dark. It was scary. Luckily i did NOT stumble upon the coral snake a second time. That would have been bad timing. The hardest part in the dark is walking up the 100 steps to our house (100 stair steps, that is). Without a light, you can't see where one step ends and the other begins. So you have to kick your feet around wildly looking for the next step. Must look pretty silly.
4) This weekend I went to the Las Juntas hot springs and hotel with Erica, Tim, and May. It was great. Relaxing and a lovely setting. It is very much a local place, unlike the fancy schmanzy places at Arenal. Las Juntas caters to a mostly Tico crowd.
5) I gave a presentation to the parents of my students for the upcoming year in Spanish! I was presenting to the parents of next years 9th and 10th graders whom I will be teaching in earth science. It was exciting to actually be able to present information and answer questions without too much hesitation. I still have far, FAR to go with my Spanish, but it' s coming along.
6) Last week Tricia brought BAGELS for our snack at staff meeting. I thought i was going to pass out with joy. Michael said later that "It's just bread." It is so much more than bread. It is a little round thing of heaven.
7) Our Mission to Mars launch is this Friday. That is why I am so crazy busy. I've attached a picture here of the astronauts practicing in the "spacecraft" that we built.
8) We have a new house! yay! It is much, much simplier and smaller and less nice than our current house, but that's okay. Our current house is one of the nicest homes in Monteverde. We feel okay about moving into a more simple abode. At least we got to spend one year in this glorious castle overlooking the Gulf of Nicoya, with the monkeys in our back yard. Our house next year is a two room house- one bedroom and a living room/kitchen area (also a bathroom). It has a woodburning stove and an actual hot water heater! It is made of dark wood with a tin roof, of course (every house has a metal roof!). It is right down the road from my friend Gina's house. It is still a bit of a walk from school and town, but not quite so steep of one.

My play Arizona opens in Los Angeles on the 30th of May!

oops

Not sure why that picture keep showing up sideways. I tried reloading it several times... sorry! It doesn't want to upload correctly for some reason.

The final touch...

Here Tim, the owner of the house-to-be, is hammering in a tree branch at the top of the final frame...a tradition and symbol of good luck for the house. He was quite scared up there, but managed to smile for lots of pictures.
He is a parent from my school who has been helping us so much with our Mission to Mars by helping to construct the "spacecraft".

The final frame is up!

Pulling up the third frame

There's me in the purple shirt (you know, the short one)...I look a little strange because I'm pulling down on the rope without having much room to really pull my arms back.

The second frame goes up...

Hammering in supports

Here's Michael helping to move support structures to keep the frame in place. After placing these to brace against the frame, nails are hammered in at various points.

The first frame is up!

Putting in the support beams

Here's a shot of Michael and Patrick and another guy (don't know his name) going back to pick up the support beams to place under the frame to keep it in place.

One, two, three...lift!

There's Michael in the bright blue t-shirt!

Yes, a house raising

Today Michael and I attended a house raising down the mountain in the nearby village of San Luis. A family from our school is building a home there and asked for folks to come and help lift the timber frames that will provide the main structure for the house. It will be built in the traditional style with interlocking timber beams. The frames were lifted using only man power and ropes (and one mule). The frame was lifted by a row of people and pulled using ropes connected to pullies strung over nearby trees. Here is a picture of all the men standing around waiting for the first count down to lift. There's Michael in the bright blue shirt. Watch for him in the next pictures!
Some women, myself including, jumped in to help pull the ropes at certain points. The men definatly dominated the house lifting, particularly since one needed to be of a certain height to lift. Michael was placed near the center among the tall men.