The Ticklish Teacher in Ridiculous Rain Boots

If I don't make it as a teacher, it's possible I could have a career in acting as plan B. Not saying that this is going to happen, but I think my students are truly entertained by my acting skills during various lessons. So far, my favorite was when I pretended to be Angelina Jolie (it was for Oral English and the theme was being yourself). As much as I'm sure they would love to have Angelina Jolie as their teacher, it was obvious that they were getting a little intimidated when I every now and then busted out a "stunt".. and of course they missed the real me :-) Tuesday's reading lesson was a fun way to put my acting into play again, though, because it was about traveling to the moon (I've always wanted to be an astronaut, too). It was interesting because I really wanted them to read in groups or pairs depending on their reading level, but that's still a work in progress here. Since the comprehension isn't that strong with the story being in English. So I stop every now and then to explain/act - the best part was pretending to eat in space when my food kept floating away from me.. some of them were trying it, too. Not only does it help them understand the story better, but it also keeps their attention.

I'm so proud at how much more my students are putting their creativity into more of their classwork. At first, writing class was such a struggle for them to get ideas about topics and descriptions, so I started using more starter sentences, examples, and pictures to get them inspired. Their work is improving so much and I can tell they are proud to share them with me and each other (we have an Author's Chair for them to read to the class). On Monday I knew they would love the topic because the topic was "comic strips". (Sebastian actually already had created his own comic series in Spanish and English - they are soo impressive, I couldn't believe it.) A lot of the students have apparently been previously making up their own comics actually, so this was an area of high interest and they were very excited.

I took copies of easy Scooby Doo stories that I found randomly, just used the pictures and pasted some of the dialogue on each picture. Then, they had to read the dialogue and use the picture clues to put them in order. I also did an example of creating a cartoon character. I told them that I like mysteries and monkeys, so I was going to have a monkey who solved easy and silly crimes. I took some of their suggestions (like naming him after one of the kids in class, so he ended up being called Dennis the Monkey). They also helped me decide what he should say whenever he solved a crime... "Banana!" It doesn't sound that great, but they loved it, and it really motivated them.

Last Friday some of the students who were completely anticipating getting their reward for not having lost any stars through out the week came up to me at the end of the day. Not only did they laugh at me as I changed into my black rain boots with white polka dots, but they wouldn't stop asking what their reward was. So, without really thinking it over, I told them that since they were laughing at me their lucky reward was going to be... TICKLES! I did the trick that my dad does to me, where you move your fingers around in front of the person and only pretend to tickle - it worked because they were laughing without actually being tickled. Well, baddd move, because this sparked their curiosity... and they all started actually tickling me. I was stuck in the corner laughing uncontrollably as the rest of the class stopped getting ready for the end of the day to watch me, completely helpless.

Yet another lesson learned: Don't show your vulnerability to your students, especially if you're ticklish. (It's not very professional).

*Not proving anything to anyone - just showing up with a pure heart*

It was a pretty movie-worthy last weekend in Costa Rica. Alison and I met up for dinner in San Jose where we ate at "our place", the National Theater. It's gorgeous and has an elegant little restaurant inside with new displays of artwork each week and our table is right in front of a window that looks out at a little garden. We both had pumpkin soup to make it feel more like fall for us in the constant spring/summer-like weather here with winter-ish decorations already welcoming in Christmas (seriously, Costa Rica is all set for the holidays with fake snowmen and all). We stayed the night at her house, worrying the whole time that her roommates' class pet that she decided to bring home for the weekend would escape. The class pet, by the way, is a lobster who already escaped his cage once, and to make everything more reassuring for us, his name is Flash.. Luckily he stayed put for the night. We left early in the morning for Play Hermosa because it's not very far and it's secluded from a lot of touristy-ness... and there's gorgeous teal colored waves and black sand :-) We found a hotel right away right next to the beach where I accomplished my goals of having a completely relaxing and sun-filled (absolutely no rain) weekend. There was a live band playing at the place we went to for some ceviche where we ended up making friends with a young married couple from Colorado and their Australian friend. They do not ride kangaroos to school in Australia, in case you, too, were wondering. On Sunday I couldn't make myself realize that it was the last time I was going to be on the Costa Rican coast (for awhile anyway). It was scorching hot and burned my feet to walk the short distance from my towel to the tides washing up on the shore, but I took my time letting every little moment sink in so that I can always remember it. Being there is a step out of reality - it's almost too beautiful to take it all in - it's hard to believe that miles and miles away the leaves are changing colors and falling to the ground. I decided that I love both places equally as much - each place has its own kind of beauty, but the most beautiful part of each place, are the people I'm there with. That must be why I have more than one soul mate, assuming soul mates can be places. Costa Rica has made itself one of my soul mates, wether its along the coast or in my home and school in Tres Rios: because the people I've gotten a chance to meet, travel with, work with, or teach have all offered me something genuine that has helped to fill in the four months of my life here. Maybe it's a blessing that I attach myself so strongly to the places I go to and the people I meet - it's happened in back home in Eau Claire/Lake Wissota, and it's happened in Mexico on my mission trip; it's happened in North Carolina each time I go and clearly in Winona, as well - and now here. It's a blessing because now I have more than one place I can call home and more than five people who I can call family. It's actually kind of fitting that the reading lesson - my last reading lesson - that I have to teach my fourth graders here is about a boy who has found Japan and the U.S. to be home for him. I'm scared that I might start to cry on Tuesday when we read the last line of the story when he says,

"The funny thing is, no matter what country I'm in, I'm always homesick for the other."

PS, If you're curious how umbrella #4 is holding up - the handle somehow broke off, which makes it uncomfortable to hold, and a lot of times I get the feeling that it's not water-proof.. but other than that, I think it will survive for the next few days!!

Teaching Shoes / Nicaragua in a Seashell

I must really love my students - in Costa Rica you're allowed to bring in homemade food to share at school, and so as a reward for my "star students" who didn't lose any stars during the week (last week), I decided to bake cookies for them. Luckily I gave myself two days in advance to prepare myself for this event because, as many friends and family know- especially Sarah- whenever I attempt to bake a dessert, the outcome is always more of an abstract piece of art. The first time around, when I decided to pour in some oatmeal so they would be a little healthier, and when I decided to pour it all into a cake pan because I was too tired to wait for batches of cookies, I don't think the presentation would have quite cut it. I just don't think many people typically enjoy being handed a bag of cookie-brownie crumbs that took an hour to be scraped out of a pan. A second attempt was thankfully all it took (even though it took a lot of time and effort) and I successfully baked regular old chocolate chip cookies wrapped up in little bags with yarn. Much better - pretty cute actually. I think I may have spent way too long with my whole baking process, but my students said I passed the test with bringing them homemade cookies (maybe they don't get homemade cookies very often). Unfortunately for them, I'm thinking that I'm done with sharing my baking-works-of-art for my last few weeks here, as much as I love them. Instead I'll most likely end up spending way too much time on a different sort of prize - but they deserve it after all.

Before, I wrote that basically all of my students are my favorites in different ways, but I think I have a secret absolute favorite in my fourth grade class. It must be because he never demands much attention; he's friends with the group of boys my dad calls "the Romeos" who are almost always causing a stir in the classroom; when the Romeos start to get way too rowdy and loud, he backs out and sits there quietly with an innocent and apologetic expression on his face, and he is often the one to call out to the class "Silencio!!!" (silence!!); he's also friends with a girl who's very independent and basically an outcast as far as everyone else is concerned; even though he's a quiet student, every now and then he will answer a question, and I can tell he's a smart kid from his homework, when he tries. But the thing that especially made me favor him (okay his name is Sebastian, which only makes him cooler in my book), is that he's a true blue little poet! I was checking everyone's notebooks (the Teacher Allison notebooks that were sent from a church back in Eau Claire) to make sure everyone did the writing assignment. Underneath his assignment, he also wrote a little poem... at least I think it's his own writing. I read it and wanted to cry and smile at the same time. I gave him an extra sticker (woo! must have been his lucky day) and wrote him a message encouraging him to keep writing poems because he's got talent. So now I present to you Sebastian's poem:

Because a family is

a family when

there is love in

the air

maybe a dozen

or maybe a pair

A family is

where (there are) 12 or

two, we could be a

family just me

and you

I don't know how anyone could not love these kids. Even more so when they say things like, "Hey T... do you have masking (tape)? It's cuz... (sigh) I'm in love with Maria Jose" - haha - I'm blessed to have such an awesome, challenging, and a lot of times strange, experience here. I can practically feel myself growing into my teaching shoes every day.

Today (Wednesday) I didn't have any lessons to teach but I was kept busy all day with grading exams, getting report cards ready, and making sure our class was in order when my cooperating teacher was teaching - all that fun stuff :-) I was SO unbelievably happy when she realized that we needed to give them a new seating chart because otherwise she just lets all the kids just sit where ever they want, which is the source of most of our problems in my opinion. I was so relieved and jumped up to help her choose where each kid should sit - I had been thinking about this for awhile so I basically had it all sorted out in my head already. She took most of my suggestions, but not all, which is okay, it's progress. It was weird though, because I think she wanted to give into their complaining about their new seats just to eliminate their whining. She told me, "aww, look at J.J.'s face" - you have no idea, Jose Javier has THE most innocent puppy dog eyes I've EVER seen (whenever he's supposed to be in trouble, it's hard to keep your heart from melting the second he looks at you). I couldn't look at J.J. or I would have gave in, so I immediately told the class that the more they complained the longer they would have to sit in their new seats. A miracle happened: they were silent.

Even with their new seats a couple boys raised their hands to give the same exact answer one right after another about how at camp they were "boring" so they "made a party". The teacher just listened, even as they began to quarrel about who copied who. Normally I would have let her handle this since she was teaching the lesson, but I couldn't help it and without thinking I corrected them. I told them that they probably mean that either they were "bored" or that "camp was boring" and went on to explain this further. I almost felt bad as they just sat there embarrassed at their mistake, so I added "just so you know... and also, it doesn't matter who copied who, just do your own work next time". I love the power of a smile, because after I tell them things like this, I just give them a little smile and then merrily go about my work as though nothing happened - and they just sit there totally bewildered.

I felt like I had total and complete power over the discipline in the classroom today and I'm still on a high from it. The star - reward system seems to really be working, and it's even better when my cooperating teacher uses it with them, too. After lunch today I was sitting at the teachers' table working on some things, when all of a sudden the other teachers, classes, and I all heard a fiesta going on in the fourth grade classroom upstairs. A teacher came down and told me that my class didn't have a teacher in the room (their social studies teacher was no where to be found at the time for who even knows why). So I walked upstairs where one of the kids was standing outside of the classroom... as soon as he saw me, he ran into the classroom and quickly tried to close the door behind him as he ran to his seat. When I walked into the classroom, I purposely left the door open because I'm sure everyone outside was listening to hear what was going to happen. I wasn't angry with them - Instead I just looked at them with a "are you kidding me?" expression and that may have surprised them, I don't know... but they all guiltily (and quietly) sat in their seats. With a curious look on my face, my head cocked to the side and a hand on my hip I asked, "Did you know... that the WHOLE school could hear you just a couple minutes ago?... and that's not a good thing" (blank stares). I patiently told them that just because they didn't have a teacher in the room with them didn't mean they had to act like animals in a zoo - as I said it I had a smile on my face and they all just kind of giggled quietly. I told them that I know they're capable (then I had to simplify that by saying "I know you all are able...") to be an amazing and smart class, and that they should prove that to everyone more often. I couldn't believe it - a few more minutes passed until their social studies teacher came in the room, and they were still behaving and quiet. I believe my teaching shoes just grew 10 times bigger today!

Nicaragua in a Seashell: Nick and Steve (two of the other student teachers) went with me on a border hop to Nicaragua, which took us about seven hours each way. From the second we got into our taxi at 3:30 am to the second we arrived at the border where we excitedly got our passports stamped and where a Nicaraguan lady selling hammocks told me she'd remember my face for when I returned on Sunday to the second we arrived at our hostile in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, it was a total and complete adventure. For as lost and confused as we felt most of the time, we did an excellent job acting like we knew exactly what we were doing. Our saying the whole time kept us in check, too: "Gettin' Freaky in Nici" - such as while we played soccer with limes up and down the beach - I mean, how much freakier can you get??

Let me just say that Nicaragua is, as was expected, much, much poorer than Costa Rica. We had to be careful where ever we walked down the street because most of them were flooding with backed up sewers. People sat with the doors open to their houses because it was so hot constantly, even when it rained. The people generally looked sad - except for the barefoot boys on the street banging on some things calling out "ONE DOLLAR!" as we passed by, they were having a good time. Actually, most of the children seemed to be totally content. It was awesome seeing them play on the beach either playing intense soccer or volleyball games all day long (I don't think they ever stopped) or just rolling around in the sand as the waves washed up onto the shore where they were just loving life.

The hostile we stayed at was really a lot better than I originally expected - even though the power went out a few times each day (but that was planned for the whole city) and sometimes there wasn't any running water. It was a lot of fun though making almost all of our meals ourselves in the shared kitchen - we made some amazing (and creative, thanks to me) meals. For example, I found this awesome dark pinkish purple exotic looking fruit at the market and made a really sweet refresco with it. We used the leftovers of the fruit that wouldn't strain completely and mixed it in our pancake batter the next morning - DELICIOUS. Some of the people that stayed there who we became friends with were from Australia, Israel, and Minnesota - pretty random. It's crazy how many people travel alone all across the world. These people just go from country to country for months at a time, without no real plan in mind.

Since we had two full days there, we went in a taxi-bus to the only beach we could get to (since the other roads were flooded to the other better beaches). It was a secluded area with huts to sit under and tables outside of it, which was good because I didn't feel like sprawling out on the rocky beach. It was a relaxing day talking to new people, reading in a hammock, eating ceviche, and watching the surfers.

The next day the three of us went on a hiking adventure. We got stuck within the first few minutes because we had to cross over a gross river. We started out trying to make a bridge, but it wasn't going to make it, so instead we each paid 20 cents to a guy who was taking 10 second trips back and forth in his falling apart canoe. The hike up the streets along the bluff and up to the very top wasn't too terribly strenuous, but it was extremely hot - so we just kept reminding ourselves that we were getting freaky in Nici and enjoyed the view at the top.

Another thing, that has nothing much to do with Nicaragua, but in the hostel we thought we were so lucky to be the only ones in the room the first night because we each got a bed on the bottom of the bunk beds. NOT a good idea for me. In the middle of the night I was half asleep and sat up way too fast, banging my head on the board above me - I vaguely remember just being in total shock, covering my forehead with both hands, falling back onto my pillow and passing out. The next morning I woke up with a bad headache and realized I got a case of the bottom-bunk-bump on my forehead. That was almost too freaky for me, I had to settle down after that.

Anyway, Nicaragua in a seashell - we enjoyed the little area that we were in, buying a few things because they were cheap (banana sundaes were a dollar!), and wandering around trying not to look too touristy, which didn't work I'm sure. It's hard not to stop and take out your camera for a picture of huge pigs tied up with a leash or a lonely horse standing on the side of the rode waiting in front of a building with "for sale" painted on it in Spanish, but I did hold myself back from taking a picture of one of the thousands of stray dogs that looked like half dog / half cow because of its "utters". I don't know, but it was an interesting experience traveling to a place where people walk around carrying things on their heads and blaring Spanish polka music out into the streets. However, we were very happy to make it back "home" to Costa Rica safely.

Oh and by the way, the Nicaraguan hammock lady really did remember me on Sunday when we arrived back at the boarder. In fact, she was waiting right where our bus let us out and reached out her hand to help me up the steps. Her little girl was so excited to hand the hammock to me (which was five dollars!). Good old Nici, but now that we're back, we're going to be "getting freaky, deaky in Costa Rici" according to Nick. Who really wanted me to "sign out" of this post as "Sharp Eyes Allie Cat saying WOAH! ..until next time".... buuut.. I'm not going to.

PS thank you everyone for the comments! I love reading them. Also, since I'm flying home on Halloween, what does everyone think I should dress up as on my plane ride? (note: a terrorist costume is NOT a good idea).