Week One

Week Uno—The Beginning

Hola! Costa Rica is increiblemente bonita with lush verde tropical vegetation and pristine landscapes that wrap around the montanas. Costa Rica is divided into siete provinces, similar to the U.S. being divided into 50 states. My first week is spent in the province of Heredia. At the beginning of my primero week, Living Life Tico Style took me to dos tourists spots where I learned about the rainforest and a popular work environment—a coffee plantation. Driving to and from La PazWaterfall Gardens / Rainforest and Café Britt Coffee Plantation provided opportunities to observe and learn more about life in and around San Joaquin and San Jose both located in the province of Heredia. Aside from learning about Costa Rica, it is also my first week living in the home of a Costa Rican family: Mama Tica, Papa Tico, one eight year old, one high schooler, and one college student. Additionally, this is my first week of Spanish! YIKES!

ENERGY SAVINGS-CARBON EMISSIONS

In Costa Rica, each dia of the week is assigned a different numero. On that dia, if your vehicle license plate ends in that number, then you may drive your vehicle on the roads. Other dias, you may choose to walk, ride a bus, or carpool. If you choose to break the law, la policia will write you a ticket. As you drive away, another policia may write you a ticket when he spots you. As you drive away and another policia spots you, he, too, may write you a ticket. One could collect numerous tickets for the same offense in uno given day. Every morning the streets are busy with walkers, scooters, small cars—no Hummers here. Because we are six degrees north of the equator, the sun is up by five—and the world comes alive—schools start at seite. It is strange for me for it to be pitch dark at 6:00pm! So walkers are usually walking home from work in the dark.

Costa Rica has set a goal to be a carbon free nation in a few years. The United States has been very slow at improving the carbon emissions. Presently, the Senate has introduced The Climate Change Bill that would help to improve carbon emissions, but the goals of our developed nation sorely lag behind the ones of this developing nation in terms of environmental protection and conservation.

La PAZ WATERFALLS-RAINFOREST: LOVE, FAITH, HOPE

Love
La Paz Waterfall Gardens is a bonita rainforest with increiblemente waterfalls. It is a tourist attraction that educates one about the inhabitants of the rainforest. Who lives in the rainforest? Toucans, Parrots, Parakeets, Vipers, hummingbirds, monkeys, jaguars, cougars, sloths, butterflies, frogs, and one of the most beautiful birds of all, the Scarlet Macaw. The tall (85-90cm tall and 900-1100 gm weight) rojo headed bird with its magnificent yellow and azul wings is a site to behold. They are monogamous birds—true to each other for as long as they live. Imagine their sadness when they are separated…usually because of human intervention. I believe they are on the endangered list of birds. Love was all around as they paid careful attention to one another and patiently posed for a photo. Just as I was about to click my camera uno of the birds from a second pair joined the happy couple.

Faith

Last year a earthquake that measured 6.2 on the Richter scale devastated a portion of this park. Recovery efforts included aid for the wildlife, replacing buildings, and rebuilding roads. Throughout the park, there was new growth where trees and plants had been broken and damaged. It is interesting to observe the destructive forces of nature and the resiliency of life in the aftermath. If you take a look at the fotografia, you’ll see new plants growing on and through a piece of limestone that was part of the earthquake aftermath... a true personification of faith and perseverance nurturing life.

Hope

As it turns out, an Americano owns this 80-90 acre natural paraiso. Uno may hope that an inspiration and opportunity will become the owner or a visitor to re'create this natural parasio and share the valuable lessons in other countries just as it is Costa Rica.

BRITT CAFE PLANTATION A LIVELIHOOD

In Costa Rica, the major livelihoods are cafe, bananas, pineapple (Dole has a major presence) and ecotourism. We learned that coffee grows well in volcanic soil because of the rich minerals, and it grows well in high altitudes. Knowing this, explains the small cafe bean farms along steep hillsides and the small homes scattered like dots on the maps of montanas. There are two types: robust and abacus. The robust is grown here. Cafe bean skins are mixed with chicken manure to create an organic compost. Cafe bean peels are mixed with banana peels to create papel. However, just as it is in the U.S., many manual jobs are left to immigrants because locals do not want to endure the physical labor, long horas, and little pay. Immigrants from Nicaragua and Panama typically make the workforce of the larger coffee plantations. The photo shows a basket worn by a cafe bean (cafe cherry) picker. The basket holds 25 lbs of beans which equals four bags of coffee. On a good day, one might pick 19 baskets of cafe cherries in eight hours and earn $3.00 an hora. Why do they use people instead of machinery? Cafe cherries do not all ripen at the same time. A picker recognizes and picks the ripe berries and leaves the unripen ones to mature.

Sadly, it seems that Costa Rica, like the U.S., appears to spend energy and investments to create extraordinary benefits from waste products yet the energy to create solutions for displaced humans, who may possess extraordinary benefits to society, appears to be minimal at best.

La CARPIO HOME

Near San Jose there is an area known as La Carpio. It is the home of 34,000 Nicaraguan immigrants situated within 20 square miles. Many left Nicaragua during the earthquake several years ago, many left because of the oppression and abuse they felt. It is a heartbreaking site to see rows and rows of closet space homes and shanties when you know an improved homestyle. At one end of one long, paved road there is a landfill. The garbage business, owned by a Canadian company, negotiated a deal—electricity and water in some parts of the Carpio in exchange for no more protests of the landfill…otherwise, immigration officials would be called.

Our service project included volunteering at a Montessori school and also building bunk beds to be delivered to families who had children. What innocence and joy filled the faces of little children singing “Itsy Bitsy Spider” in Spanish and English. What cooperative youngsters as they completed art projects on numeros before moving to the puzzle centers. (Elementary puzzles of people and their clothes are a great tool for learning Spanish! Who knew a toddler would be mi profesor for the day!) Appreciative mothers thanked us for beds. Women in co-ops presented us their handmade items to earn dinero for food and living expenses. While my reaction was to feel sorrow, it was clear that the ones who lived here daily appreciated that their lives were improved from where they came. It reminded me of a eastern quote that goes somewhat like this, “While there is a hole in my rooftop, I am able to see the moon and stars at night.”

LIFE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNER: Studying Espanol, UsingEspanol

LEARNING ESPANOL AND LIVING WITH AN FAMILIA ESPANOL

The “list poema” is a poema where the title and the list together create poetry. It is a fun stratgy for delivering many thoughts in a shorter text. This week has provided several opportunities for me to create a few list poemas.

Top Ten Experiences As A Second Language Learner to Remember When Teaching English As a Second Lanuage

1. Placement tests create anxieties and scores deflate self-esteem.

2. Accompanying pictures are needed to understand text.

3. Slow speaking Spanish instructors should be required for slow speaking, slow

translating Southerners.
4. Learning a second language is energy sapping. It should be the only required
activity of the dei.
5. Memorizing vocabulary and learning grammar rules in uno fell swoop can be a
bit overwhelming. Have mercy (compasion)!
6. Did I overlook a prerequiste course ¨How to be Rid of One´s Twang and How
To Develop le Acentio Espanol?
7. Too many-mucho-tasks create overload. One begins to shut down.
8. In spite of all good intentions, time at the end of the dei, does not always allow time to study the second language. 9. Interactive games for learning the new language decrease stress and anxiety.
Passive learning promotes boredom. 10.Small classes provide prompt teacher feedback and a safe place for taking
risks with pronunciacion.

Things That Are the Same in Costa Rican & U. S. Elementary Schools

Girls with ponytails
Winnie-the-Pooh Stickers
Cinderella Pencil Cases
Helpful Secretaries
Friendly Cafeteria Staff
Multi-tasking Teachers
Curious kids
Shy kids
Kids wearing glasses
Beautiful girls wearing beautiful earrings
Gregarious ten year old boys
Wilson and Jansport backpacks
Chalk nubs
Not enough class time
Rambunctious boys
Resilient kids
Kids with braces
Kids with bruises
Reading, Writing & Rithmetic

Writing pen pal letters, sharing books in English then reading the same story in Espanol, predicting and graphing matematicas with jelly frijols were some of the highlights this semana. As our new Costa Rican teacher amigo said, "You cannot erase this from the memory."

If I had to choose one word to describe my initial deis with mi familia, I would choose Alienated--to cause to become withdrawn or unresponsive. The two older children spoke some Ingles, but they were never home when I was spending time with mi familia. Therefore, mi best amigo was mi diccionario. Mama Tica and Papa Tico knew no Inglais. It was MUCHO frustrating. It took MUCHO effort to carry on a short conversacion. Some deis I would go to mi room early because I was exhausted by the efforts. BUT...by the end of the semana, we were more relaxed with each other and laughed more at the gestures and pantomimes.

Things I Miss

Hot showers
Front porches without 6 foot metal bars
Walking on the beach
Laughing with relatives and friends
Lawns without gated enclosures and barbed wire

Things Not to Pack For Costa Rica

American Expectations
Needs for long hot showers
Need for American schedules
Expectations for traffic laws
Expectations for guard rails on curvy mountain roads at 5400 feet
Appreciation for thick, absorbent napkins
Expectations for American toilet customs
Needs for quiet moments alone