Thursday, October 27

I think my brain has run out of any important thoughts.  It has been a long week, but that's probably because last week was so far from normal.  A number of us are already counting the days until American Thanksgiving; the school puts on an amazing lunch which almost makes up for the fact that we're celebrating Thanksgiving a month and a half late!

I was finally in touch with the family I've been tutoring for, and spent an hour tonight working.  It's really fun working one-on-one with a student, being able to really focus on her needs and weaknesses.  I like being able to check for total understanding.  A cool side-benefit:  I'm hoping this will pay for my scuba course I want to take!

Ok, all of a sudden it's nearly ten, and I had plans to crash earlier tonight.  Hasta la vista.

Wednesday, October 26

I am done in.  We had a whole school activity this morning that I'm still trying to assess.  I'm just not sure the outcome was worth the stress of the unknown, and the time missed in class.  I think the elementary students had fun, but the preschool, middle, and high school students and staff are another story.  I dislike whining and apathy, and while I had a decent group in regards to this, many other groups were not as well-behaved or motivated.  Anyway, this year's Wild/Cat activity is over until next year.  Breathe.

We had another rehearsal this afternoon, and for the first time, I had all six cast members there, plus our understudy.  I nearly died of shock.  Of course, we still had to end early as one of the students had to leave, but hey.  You can't win them all.

It took me about an hour and a half to get home via bus.  I had a student with me, so we stopped for supper, and then his mom picked him up.  She's a good friend who needed a break.  It all meant I wasn't home until 7 pm, and still without groceries.  I'm supposed to tutor at some point tomorrow evening.  Maybe I'll have time to get some food before then.  Sigh.

Tuesday, October 25

The longest day yet.  Why does it seem like the days where you don't teach many classes feel interminable?  I expected the grade three class which didn't show up, and then I took all of two kids to the pool for swimming club.  The highlight of the day was Maya picking me up and taking me to the gym she attends.  It's impressive; two floors of equipment and class space, and a pool outside.  Most of it is a really open design; you can even train on equipment outside.  You've gotta love a climate that let's you do that year round!

Maya is very fit; there was no way I could keep up with her, and I didn't try.  Much.  I did what she did, only at about 30% of the weight, until she started doing chin-ups and lifts.  There's no way I'm lifting all of this off the ground!  She was a great guide; we laughed as much as I worked!

I'm really thinking of joining.  The gym is in Pinares, which is really no where near my home, but I think it might be worth it.  It means paying one monthly fee, and then being able to take as many classes (spinning, yoga, dance, aerobics) as I can fit into my schedule, while the pool and equipment is open from 5 am to 10 pm Monday through Friday, and shorter hours on the weekends.

It all comes down to motivation and will power.  Always back to that.

Monday, October 24

Eek, I did it again.  Just ignore the actual post date, ok?

Let's see...Monday...

Monday was the first day in the quarter, the first day where I teach all five blocks, six classes total.  It was long, especially with a rehearsal added on, but it was a good one.  We've moved the date for the high school play until February, so we have some more breathing space.  I think everyone is feeling better about it, as the AASCA Basketball was moved to next week as well.

I'm teaching a foods/cooking class this quarter, and I'm doing more than just turning them loose in the foods room.  We're looking into theory and recipe creation and fun stuff like that.   For one of my grade nine boys, you'd think I was torturing him with every new instruction.  I've never heard a young man whine quite like this; I give him maybe two weeks before he clues in that it's not helping his case.

So that's the sort of day it's been...

Day Twenty One

Oops.  I knew it was bound to happen, but it's sad I couldn't go three weeks without missing a blog.  It's not like I didn't have time yesterday; I spent more time online than anything else.  Oh well, here's making up for it.

Cassie came home from the Zuniga-Owens Cat hotel yesterday.  I know she enjoys it there, as there are four other animals, two children and two adults to wind around her little paw; however, she has been glued to me ever since coming home.  I can't sit down without her being on my lap, and sleeping with her on my feet (and then my chest) was not easy.  I'm sure we'll get back into the swing of things tomorrow when I go back to school.

I went to a Guari-shower last night.  This is essentially a baby shower with alcohol.  Most of the attendees were from work, and the woman of honour didn't show up, but it was a decent evening.  A bit of dancing, a few hard lemonades, and my first chicharonnes...all right all round.

More on "tomorrow's" post!

Day Twenty

Yay, Friday!  It was a good day.  I was able to think flexibly, support a colleague, encourage an intern, and teach two new games to my grade one class.  I had fun at work today, and that's not something I can say every day.  Next week we start getting ready for the Christmas program, so this should be fun too.

This weekend I'm planning on going to a baby shower for a colleague.  It's a little strange, as we've already had a shower for the child (who isn't going to be there yet!) but this is apparently more of a fiesta.  It should be interesting if nothing else.  Also, Cassie comes home tomorrow, so I have to go pick up her food and such, along with some groceries for me.  Market day!  Sunday is the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, which starts at eight am.  All I'm asking is for sun.  It rained ALL day today, and just quit a few minutes ago.  At one point the rain began to look like snow, though it never piled up on the snow.  I wonder if we'll miss school because of rain again this year.  It sure seems possible at this point.

Anyhow, it's an early night for me, as tomorrow will be an early morning.  I'm going to try out all of my anti-itch lotions on my hand; something bit me while we were in Panama, and it's causing a good portion of my hand to itch uncontrollably.  It's even swollen.  I'm sure I'll live, but man, it's annoying.  Let's hope Goldbond is up to the challenge, because the Afterbite was useless.

Ciao!

Day Eighteen

Day one of parent/teacher conferences are over for another year.  It's a long afternoon of sitting in the gymnasium, hoping that all the parents who come see you are happy and thankful that you teach their child.  Or just hoping that parents visit you at all!  Today was a good one, I think.  No one seemed particularly upset about anything in particular.

I have hopes of putting up the pictures from Panama in the next few days.  It was a beautiful trip, so I want to share it, but the world is sort of upside down.  I present to the parents meeting tomorrow, then interviews all afternoon, possibly picking Cassie up tomorrow night, then stuff with Isella on Friday, a baby shower on Saturday, and the Avon Walk for the Cure on Sunday.  It never rains but it pours.

Anyhow, the presentation tomorrow should be taking my attention tonight.  More tomorrow!

I wish I wasn't such a procrastinator.

Day Seventeen

What a wonderful place.  I love Bocas del Toro, and I know I'm not alone.  It was a great place for a weekend, and I'm seriously considering a much longer time in December/January, if I can afford it.  Then again, I might want to spend the time in Costa Rica, and avoid the crazy bus ride/border bridge.  We'll see.

Now it's back to work tomorrow with a half-day teaching schedule and  the first of two afternoons of parent/teacher conversations.  It will be a long day, but I believe Monica and I are doing supper tomorrow night in order to prep for my presentation Thursday morning.

I'm presenting to the parents Thursday morning.  I might upload it here when it's ready.  We'll see.

So, none of this is very interesting or informative.   I need a bit of sleep before I can attempt those things.  'Night.

Day Twelve

Me voy a Panama a sabado!  I'm very excited.  Jessica and I are booked into an actual resort...no Nicaraguan craziness this holiday!  I'm sure there will be excitement and adventure, as our travel plans stop at the border with the bus we have tickets for.  After crossing the bridge on foot, we hope to catch one of the rumoured busses to Changuinola, then a water taxi to Bocas del Toro.  Cross your fingers this will all be as easy as everyone makes it sound.  We might even be able to get the taxi right to our hotel.  We'll see.  I've been excited all day, ok, since we booked the hotel yesterday.  Sleep was somewhat elusive.  Tonight may be tougher.

You see, Cassie left this afternoon for her spa weekend with the Zuniga-Owens family.  They have two kids, three cats and a dog.  It's a built-in exercise program for Cassie!  I miss her; I keep expecting her to come around the corner, stalking me.  She's in wonderful hands; this is the same family who cat-sat for me when I was home this summer.  Sometimes I think, no, I know I bore her.  Such is life!

Speaking of summer, it's winter here.  The rainy season and the inherent hurricane weather is very much upon us, though the promise is that it will clear up by tomorrow.  It's amazing to me that a country located in this part of the world, with the reputation that Costa Rica has, doesn't have the infrastructure to maintain it's roadways and such when it rains like this.  I mean, it does this EVERY YEAR...  I recognize that the country's GDP is lower than the province of Saskatchewan's, but still.  If I can predict some of these things already, maybe it's time to really examine the corruption and shoddy work going on.  I'm not a construction worker, but even I know cement isn't supposed to virtually dissolve.  Just sayin'.

All right, time to pack and do a final load of laundry.  I'll just pray that tomorrow is dryer, and that the clothes will dry...pray!

Oh, here's the link to the resort...eeeee!  www.hotelplayatortuga.com

Day Ten

I'm listening to the rain fall on my tin roof.  It's the same rain that has been falling since about 10:30 this morning.  It's very similar to the rain that fell yesterday, and the day before, and the day before...  Yes, it's the rainy season.  To top it off, there's a hurricane nearby.  It's not forecasted to hit us directly, they never seem to be, and yet we will be subjected to more than enough rain and possibly some pretty high wind.  All of that means there's a greater chance of mudslides and such, so travel is recommended only for those who have the brains to stay out of trouble.  It's not restricted, but most sane people are staying home.

I must be Canadian.  Even when I'm not in Canada, the weather plays a major part of my daily decisions.  If you had told me two years ago that I would survive a month, even three months, where it rains every day, I would have laughed at you.  Now?  I've done it.  Last year was the rainiest season on record (I didn't ask who kept the record - a radio personality may have made it up) and September of this year was supposedly the driest September on record.  I must say that October is making up for that in a big way.

Now I could complain about getting wet every day; about how my shoes aren't drying properly; about how my umbrella shows signs of growing mold because it doesn't get a chance to dry.  I could whine about not being able to dry things outside, or about how much it sucks to wait for the bus or taxi in the rain.  I could do all of these things, but I won't.

Why not?

Because I live in a country where neon green really does exist in nature; where there is more biodiversity that almost anywhere else in the world.  Because the temperature at home this morning was 2* Celsius, and here, even with the rain, I'm pretty sure we saw 20* Celsius.  Because, though it may seem doubtful in the middle of a tropical rainstorm, God has promised that He will never destroy the world by flood again.  He might take little bits of property that shouldn't have been built on a landslide-prone piece of land, but that's another story. God loves us and the earth He created so much that he gives us and nature what we need.  He is a generous God.  It's us humans who complain and try to manipulate things to fit our own agendas.

I wonder if the Garden of Eden had neon green in it?  I bet it did.

Day Five

Thank goodness there's only one day left in this week.  It's funny how we look forward to the weekend, longing for it.  It's unfortunate that these are considered the "fun days" of the week.  What if you had a job, a career, that let you enjoy every day like a weekend?  If you have one of these, let me know.  I think I'm in search mode again.

There is a lot of change going on in the school where I work.  Some of it is predictable; I've been asked to do the same kind of professional development and paperwork in each of my previous division.  It's a lot of work, and some of my co-workers are up-in-arms, but it's not a big surprise.  It's not particularly welcome, but not surprising.

Some of the change is driven by the school.  We've started using the Habits of Mind, and I think it's a pretty cool way of getting the kids, and us, to really think and evaluate what we do and say.  It's another piece of a pretty big puzzle that's being handed down to us from above, but it's working for some of our classes already.  

Much of the change is being driven by our demographic.  When the school opened its doors, it had a majority of North American native-English speakers, and our programming reflected that.  (So I'm told; I'm not old enough to have worked here then!)  Now our demographic has changed to have a majority of Costa Rican, native-Spanish speakers.  It's a great thing to be enveloped into this culture, but it does come with challenges. I"m not sure our planning and our goals have adapted well.  We still value certain things as an administration, and as the parent council, but our students/clients don't have the same values or beliefs.  Are we begin reactive or proactive?  Where do things change?  Could the school control our demographic?  To a point.  The country of Costa Rica has changed around the school; are we relevant to our clientele, or are we an island apart?

This is what I've been struggling with this week.  I don't have the authority or the place to question the major decisions in my workplace.  I don't know if this is my battle; after all, I need to decide where I am going to be come June 16th, and I need to decide by the end of November.  Do I stay in the upheaval that is sure to come, just ensure I have a position, a paycheque, or do I risk finding yet another place to be, giving up security for something closer to home?

What to do?  I think for now I'll just continue being glad that tomorrow is Friday, and I will enjoy an early bedtime.  Maybe that means I'll be up and ready in the morning.  Maybe.

Day Two

Facebook really is a wonderful thing.  Here I am, thousands of miles away from home and most of my friends, and I received more birthday wishes than if I was there.  What was life like before we had social networking?  Before cell phones and sms?  I remember when we didn't have a VCR, never mind a DVD or Blu-Ray or Ipod or Ipad...  I taped songs off the radio in order to make mixed tapes.

I know I'm not "old." Everyone I work with who is older than me has spent plenty of time reassuring me of that.   Apparently I have plenty of time to get married, have children, etc.  I'm only 30.  But you know, sometimes it's not about the number.  I still have questions, doubts.  When will these things happen for me?  WILL these things happen?

For now, I'm going to try to instill a creative source into my students.  While they might not have to sit beside a radio, ready to push record the split second after the announcer stops talking, they can still have the imagination to create and share.  Maybe I'll have to pull out the old tapes to show them how it's done.

Maybe.

Day One

Well, here goes.  I turned 30 this morning, supposedly at around 9 am.   I spent the morning cleaning my apartment, and then tutoring a student before meeting Tammi at Terramall at noon.  She and Johnny made me a wonderful birthday lunch, and Spoon Chocolate Cake is a perfect birthday cake.  It was a great day.

Why is any of this important?  It's not, not in the great scheme of things.  But how many little things do we miss when we don't think about them, don't notice them at all?  What won't we remember in the future, if we don't take note?  What, if I'm blessed to be ninety or one hundred, will I remember about my second year in Costa Rica?

I'm setting out a goal for myself:  to blog every day for the next year.  I miss writing.  I want to develop more and better self-discipline.  Hence the blog and the goal. It's probably been done before.  It's not likely to change the world.  But I haven't been thirty before, and I haven't taken notice before.

Let's go.  Vamos!