Kamila and Nicaragua

Kamila, our exchange student from Tajikistan of 10 years ago, joined us here last Wednesday. She has been living in California for a few years now, and is going to start the MBA program at Georgetown in the fall on practically a full fellowship. In the meantime, she has a break, and wanted to spend some time here with us.

I have to say, Kamila was less than impressed by our one-star accommodations in Monteverde, and we found a scorpion in the house on her first two nights with us. She did not like the number of spiders or millipedes either. Or the cold. Or the noise. It really sounds like birds are playing dice on the roof sometimes at night. The fact that the toilet still doesn´t flush didn´t bother her, nor did the lack of any other modern conveniences, but the bugs really got to her. She survived (barely) her first three days with us, and now we are in Nicaragua for a week in comparatively nice accommodations.

We are in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, while on break from school. Kamila, Kaz, and I are studying Spanish at a Spanish language school every morning from 8-12. We have the afternoons off, and as our house is blocks from the Pacific ocean, we have spent every afternoon so far at the beach. We share our house here with two other interns from the Cloud Forest School who also are here for the week. Another 8 interns are staying at another house the school owns, where we have all our meals and our classes. Our house is comfortable for us. Kamila and I have our own rooms with double beds, and the other two interns share a mattress on the floor of the living room. Kaz has a single mattress on the floor of the pantry area next to the kitchen. The pantry has a door with wooden bars that makes it look like a jail cell, so we call it his ¨Jaula" or cage. We could also call it his nest. He´s happy there.

When we first arrived, the toilet at our house did not flush. I don´t know what it is about us, but someone must not want us to have the luxury of a toilet that flushes this semester. Fortunately, this was fixed the second day, AND we were able to buy toilet paper, and though there is no hot water in the shower, it´s not freezing cold either. So, we are fine.

The weather here in Nicaragua is much warmer and drier than in Monteverde. It has rained every day, but not for long, and it´s pretty refreshing.

Today during our morning break from classes, Kaz went to the pier and bought a fish. He brought it back to the school and the woman who makes our meals helped him clean and fry it. Kaz insisted on cutting off the head and tail, but did not filet it or even remove the scales. It was actually a nice addition to our lunch- tasty and fresh. The teachers told him he´d paid too much for it, though. He paid $2.50, (would have cost at least $8 in the U.S.), but they said he could have gotten it for around 75 cents. Things are much cheaper here than in Monteverde.

Our Spanish classes are great. Kamila has her own teacher, and Kaz and one other student share a teacher. I also share a teacher with one other student. What a great student-teacher ratio. We are all learning a lot.

Gotta run, but I will try to post more information and some pictures when we return to Costa Rica on the weekend.

Peace Circle

Here is the vegetable garden at the school where each class has its own row.

Every Monday morning begins with a "Peace Circle" at which visitors are introduced, a moment of silence is observed, and announcements for the week are made.

Out of Touch

Please note that I will be offline for a week beginning on Sunday, February 22. The school will be on break and Kaz and I will be attending a Spanish language school in Nicaragua. I am told it is too risky to bring a laptop along, so unless we find an internet cafe somewhere to check email, you may not be hearing from us during this time.

Recycling

Recycling really needs to be instituted everywhere as soon as possible. The landfill Monteverde uses will be full in about five years. The kids put recycling bins around the school and this week, a truck from the Municipality came for the first time to take the recyclables to a local hotel that will take them to a recycling center.

To the right, a couple of 8th graders are preparing recycling bins for the school. I would imagine a school like this with a focus on the environment would educate its students well enough to have every family recycling at least its organic waste by the time their eldest child reaches high school. The problem with encouraging the recycling of other things (plastic, glass, aluminum, etc.) is that Monteverde currently does not have any means of handling a large amount of recycling. It is only because the kids did some research and found out that one of the local hotels recycles (the Hotel Heliconia- support this hotel if you ever come to Monteverde) and asked if we could bring our recyclables to them that the school can now recycle reusable materials. I and some of the students and teachers now bring our recyclables here.


Below is Kaz climbing up the strangler fig. This has become a favorite pasttime of his.

Pin the Hummingbird on the Flower

Only in Monteverde would kids play pin the hummingbird on the flower. This little guy was very happy with his improvement the second time he tried. His parents came here from Australia, settled, and now operate an artisans' cooperative.

Water Station

While tending our water station for a running race last Saturday, this tiny little kitten came out of the woods and let Kaz pick her up. The picture below shows a bunch of us heading out to our water stations. The race started at the bottom of a big hill deemed too dangerous to run down, but the runners did run UP that hill at the end of the race. Well, actually, a lot of them walked up...

Glass Blowing

Back at the Monteverde Reserve and Biological Research Station, the kids listen to the guide while searching for particular plants. Below, they watch an artisan at the Reserve blowing glass.

Rainbows

This first rainbow was right outside our front door one day, and the one below it stretches over the little town of Santa Elena, specifically the taxi stand outside the supermarket. There are always taxis at the taxi stand. Lots of people take cabs home after shopping at the supermarket because they do not own cars and it is really hard to climb up the hills that surround Santa Elena in every direction with heavy bags of groceries. A taxi to our house costs about $1.60, which is really worth it, especially if we buy something that will melt quickly (ice cream) or anything heavy (canteloupe, milk). Sometimes we walk, though.

Night Blaze

I thought this sunset was particularly brilliant. And as a good red sky at night should, it predicted beautiful weather for the next day. It has been a little warmer and drier lately, although today it is raining a lot. I was just on playground duty, and the kids didn't arrive for a good ten minutes into their playground time. I thought it was because of the rain, but they told me they were all being checked for lice this morning, hence the delay. They proceeded to report, with some excitement, which kids had lice- it sounded like maybe one in ten are afflicted. Yikes.

This is Kaz (second from left) with some of his favorite classmates. They are really nice kids, and are all ninth graders. If they look a bit older than Kaz, remember that he is in seventh grade back in the U.S. but in the ninth grade here.

Pinzona is Birdie again

We are calling Pinzona Birdie again. It's easier. She is a really good dog. When she comes to the school, she goes directly to my office and will nap in the storage room. Here she is outside my office playing with some of the preschoolers. The little boy is the Head of the School's son.

The Sushi Boat

I got tired of cooking, and Kaz had wanted to try out this little Japanese restaurant in Santa Elena, so we headed there one night this week. The place is completely run by Ticos (the term of endearment Costa Ricans use to describe themselves), and the fish and other supplies come from San Juan. There were only three parties there that night, and all three were tourists from Canada and the U.S.

The bottom line- the food was expensive and not very good. It looked nice, but the rice was undercooked and the service was unbelievably slow. I suppose most of their customers don't mind the slow service since they are on vacation. Unfortunately, we were there on a school night and just wanted a quick dinner.

More Strangler Fig

This is Macy, a junior at Swarthmore who is spending the semester helping with the Preschool class in the mornings and with special education students every afternoon, climbing down from the top of the strangler fig. The picture below was taken from the top of the strangler fig tree. You might be able to make out my toes at the bottom of the picture, Jane's face peering through the tree a bit above that, and Kaz's red shirt- he is standing on the ground below the tree (at top of picture). We could not climb to the very top of the tree, as it is too dangerous, but we were able to go about 80-90 feet up, which was high enough for even the bravest among us.

Her own plant

This student was delighted to be planting a plant in the garden outside her classroom that she had planted as a seed some weeks earlier. Here are Kaz and Alvaro on the day of the race/ fundraiser.

No Phone, No Address

Over the weekend, someone asked for my phone number. I replied, "We do not have a phone." "Okay, what's your address, then?" "Well, that's a bit complicated."



The fact is that a letter arrived at our house last week addressed as follows:

Montoya Blanco Marcos (owner of the house)

Santa Elena Monteverde Cerro Plano

7a Casa despues de Viandante (seventh house after the Viandante)

50 Norte Del Sapo Dorado (50 meters north of the Sapo Dorado Hotel)

Puntarenas (the county, more or less)

Costa Rica



So, if anyone wants to send us anything, please send it to us in care of the school:

Centro de Educacion Creativa

Apartado 23-5655

Monteverde, Puntarenas

COSTA RICA



Please note that packages larger than a large, padded envelope may get stuck in Customs 4 1/2 hours away, but anything as large as or smaller than a large, padded envelope will arrive within in 5-7 days. Others here have been receiving things sent to them at the school without any problems.
during the week at:





At the fundraiser over the weekend, one of the students sang a rap-like song to thunderous applause... ...and one of the school's many volunteers videotaped the festivities (center).

Plants, Parents, Goats, and Responsibility

Warning- There is a lot of text in this post. I will post more pictures soon.


This picture shows Anna, the high school science teacher, working with two of her students to measure trees on the plots Patricia Townsend set up for her (and the school's) research. Below, the Head of the School awards a medal to Milton's Intern, Jane, after a 10K running race over the weekend that was a fundraiser for the scholarship program at the school.
February 14, 2009
Happy Valentine’s Day!
It is the end of another busy week. I am still impressed by how much goes on at and around the school every week.
Horses
Wednesday, while Kaz and I were getting ready for school, we heard a bunch of vehicles honking. This is highly unusual. The most common source of noise here is the birds. I've never seen or heard a plane or anything else that is loud, except for the winds and rains we had the last couple of weeks. The honking seemed to be coming from our road just down the hill a bit. Even more strangely, the honking continued, so we came out to the front porch to see what was going on. Just then, two very large wild horses galloped up the hill in the road, followed by the three school buses and a series of vans and cars that were trying to get up the hill without stopping and without hitting the horses, who were apparently weaving across the road carelessly. Vehicles do not like to stop on our road (the road up to the school) because it is so steep. If they lose momentum, it can be nearly impossible to make it to the top of the hill. When Kaz and I left the house and started walking up the hill a few minutes later, the horses were standing in our neighbor’s yard. I think they were the largest horses I have ever seen.
Rain, Rain Go Away
Overall, the winds have died down since our first two weeks here, and the rain has diminished a lot. The weather is much nicer now. However, it still rains nearly every day at least a little bit. Everyone carries a slicker at all times, and some of the kids wear rain boots to school every day. To repeat the obvious- it sure rains a lot in the rain forest!
Preschool and Kindergarten
I spent this week helping both Dolly and Milton with their environmental education classes.
Milton and I took the preschoolers out to see trees that older students had planted several years ago. We also collected seeds from a tree to take back to the greenhouse so the kids could plant them. After the seeds germinate, the kids will move the seedlings into the forest to help with the reforestation effort. To each seedling s/he plants, the child will attach a tag with his or her name, the name of the tree, and the date, and s/he will collect data on the growth of the tree(s) for as long as they attend the school- potentially the next 13 years.
In their own garden outside the classroom, the preschoolers are growing corn, cilantro, and tomatoes.
I just looked up from my porch and saw the most beautiful rainbow outside. Have to go take a picture…back now.
The kindergartners this week were too fidgety to do anything terribly focused, so we took them out into the woods and played a Simon Says-like game that taught them how to listen, but also helped them to get all the willies out.
First and Second Grades
With the first and second graders, we planted vegetables in the garden, including carrots, cilantro, and radishes. The kids were so careful to put only two radish seeds in each hole (“Solo dos semillas en cada hueca,” they kept reminding each other). They were equally careful to make the “lines” for the carrot seeds shallow enough.
Third and Fourth Grades
With the third and fourth graders, we explored photosynthesis. The first thing they did was clip pieces of cardboard onto leaves on the plants growing outside their classrooms. We will remove the cardboard next week and see what happened to the leaves underneath. My personal goal with the lesson was for the kids to understand photosynthesis and plant growth better than all the Harvard undergraduates Phil Sadler interviewed on graduation day in his documentary “Private Minds.” Among other things, what Sadler’s documentary showed was that most of the students graduating from Harvard had no idea where the mass of “stuff” that makes up a tree comes from.
So, my goal was to get our students to understand that all of the mass is the carbon found in plants and trees that starts out as carbon dioxide in the air. Yes, this seems crazy- how can something as invisible and seemingly weightless as carbon dioxide in the air be converted into the very visible, heavy trunk of a tree? But, by admitting upfront that this seems counterintuitive, the kids seemed to have no trouble getting it.
We followed up two days later to show the kids some stomata under a microscope. Stomata are the tiny “holes” in the leaf that allow air (which contains carbon dioxide) to enter into the leaf. That day, the kids still remembered that all of the “stuff” that makes up a tree starts out as carbon dioxide in the air. I’ll be interested to see if they still remember in June.
Fifth and Sixth Grades
The fifth and sixth graders spent time this week weeding the gardens for which they are responsible. While weeding, I learned from them that all the electricity here in Monteverde is hydro- and geothermal. They do not burn any coal. With all the rain, hydro-power seems like a no-brainer, and there is an active volcano not far away called Arenal, hence the geothermal energy. The school has just equipped one classroom gazebo with solar panels. The kids also found two enormous toads buried one on top of the other in the garden. They were a type of sapo, but not the famous sapo dorado that has gone extinct. At least everyone expects they have gone extinct because no one has seen any sapo dorados since 1988. Someone told me that, technically, you can't call a species extinct until it has not been seen for a hundred years. Okay.
Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Grades
The seventh through tenth grades had several options this week. There was the two-hour session with the expert on orchids, the guest lecturers who talked about their research on loons and on another day taught the kids methods for counting and identifying fauna in the area, the group that recycled milk cartons by making them into wallets and change purses, and the group that gave their last few presentations to fellow students on the dump and recycling and have now presented to every class in the school.
Eleventh Grade
The eleventh graders spent time this week learning how to collect accurate data on the plots set up by Patricia Townsend, the graduate student from the University of Washington who is collecting data for her dissertation from 16 plots she marked out on the campus. The eleventh graders are helping her, and will be entrusted to collect data after Patricia returns to Washington state for a time.
When the Wife of the Head of the School is also a Student’s Mother
Whenever you run a school or teach students, you inevitably have to deal with parents who have issues with their child’s education. The parent with issues this week happened to be the wife of the Head of the School who felt her preschooler was not getting enough exposure to environmental science. Apparently, her husband was not able to convince her either that their son WAS getting plenty of exposure to environmental science or that, as the Head of the School, he could take care of it, so instead he delivered a handwritten note from his wife to Dolly. I thought this an odd way for him to handle the situation.
Dolly suggested that the mother come in to meet with her husband (as both concerned Father and Head of the School), Dolly, me, Milton, and the preschool teachers (there are two in that classroom) so we could let her know what all we were doing with the preschoolers in the area of environmental science. She insisted on meeting just with Dolly, then canceled the appointment hours before the agreed upon time. In my opinion, an unnecessary amount of person hours were spent on this issue over several days, and many staff members were unnecessarily put on the defensive. What I took away from the experience is that it is important to both sympathize with and educate parents in a way in which they feel heard and supported. I also came away wondering about Scott’s influence as both a Husband and Head of School, since he should have been able to handle this issue easily on his own from both of those vantage points.
Goats and Chickens
Late Friday afternoon, Milton came to ask for Dolly’s and my support to buy some chickens and a pregnant goat for the school. It was really interesting to hear Milton and Dolly talk to each other because Dolly’s Spanish is as rudimentary as Milton’s English. I translated a little bit for them, but also let them communicate in their own, choppy way, because it seemed important for them to speak directly to one another. I was impressed by how little they allowed the language barrier to prevent them from communicating and how much they were able to communicate despite the obvious challenges in doing so.
Milton envisions the youngest children incubating eggs and raising resulting chicks for 6 weeks, then selling them for meat. Other chickens could be kept to produce eggs, but apparently this is a less desirable activity to undertake. The goat would be milked. Eventually, Milton wants to have other animals, too. Dolly agreed with all the ways Milton mentioned tying animal husbandry to the curriculum. She also agreed they should teach more about fauna since they have emphasized flora so much at the school.
The difficulty, Milton says, is that he has suggested buying animals before, but has not received the support of the administration. We decided to approach the 1st and 2nd grade teachers first to see if they agree with Milton’s ideas about how having animals would enhance their curricula. If we can get their enthusiastic buy-in and ideas, the five of us will feel ready to approach Scott. Milton says that taking care of the animals would cost only $100/year and that the school would make the money back by selling chickens and eggs.
Me- Responsible?
Today, a Saturday and Valentine’s Day, the school held a huge fundraising event consisting of a walk, a running race, sales of food, songs played and sung by students, DJ music (beginning with the Costa Rican national anthem), and activities such as pin the hummingbird on the flower, yoga, etc.
The new Development Director for the school, who organized the event, asked me midweek if I would please “man” station #9, the last water station of the 10K race. She was working from a list of jobs the former Development Director had left her, on which was written, “Station #9- this job is for a VERY RESPONSIBLE PERSON.” “You are a very responsible person, right?” she asked me. “Um, yeah, sure,” I replied. “You’ll need to recruit three or four students to help you,” she added. “No problem, I said.”
Of course, as of this morning, the only student I was able to recruit to help me was Kaz, so I proceeded to convince myself that he and I could handle the water station by ouselves. After all, the field would be pretty spread out by water station #9, right? Well, I was right about that part; after running for 45-80 minutes up and down steep hills, the first six or seven runners came at five minute intervals and we were having no trouble at all providing them with water.
Then, the totally unexpected happened. The next runner to pass, a 14 year-old boy, yelled to me, “Do you have a radio? A woman running has fallen back there. ” He was frantic. I could not see anyone lying in the road, so I concluded she must have fallen around the bend, which was pretty far back. What should I do?
I did not have a radio or a car, and did not have any way of getting in touch with anyone who did. I could run back to find the fallen runner myself and try to help her, but that would take a long time, I would be exhausted when I reached her, I wasn’t sure I could help her by myself, I suspected she needed help sooner than I could reach her anyway, and I wasn’t supposed to leave my water station since I was RESPONSIBLE for it. But, I couldn’t let a runner suffer or die on the road, and the next runner might not appear for a long time, and might not be willing or able to help and…shoot what should I do?
We flagged down the next vehicle, a small truck traveling in the direction of the fallen runner. Although he was a complete stranger, I told him that a woman was down, and asked him if he could help. He took off so quickly, I didn’t have time to decide if I should leave Kaz alone at the water station and go with the truck.
Long story short, the truck driver found the fallen runner, a young, American teacher at the school named Liz (and to me, the girlfriend of Stuart, the saint who helped fix our shower this week so we could have hot water) unconscious on the road. He lifted her into his truck and took her to the clinic, probably saving her life. Liz later recalled weaving back and forth across the road once or twice and then waking up in the clinic. She was severely dehydrated and her blood sugar level was dangerously high.
After he was sure she was settled, the truck driver came back to tell me that she was going to be all right, but that she was alone and needed someone to join her at the clinic. Serendipitously, the next vehicle that passed contained Liz’s boyfriend, Stuart, who had finished the race and was wondering where Liz was. She was lagging far behind her usual running time, he said, and he was concerned. She should have passed water station #9 more than an hour ago. Very concerned, Stuart had asked one of the “Moms” who was helping set up food at the school to drive him back along the race route to see where Liz was. When he stopped at our station to ask if Liz had run by yet, I suddenly knew who the fallen runner was, and sent him to the clinic. With our collective, admittedly panicky Spanish, we managed to ask the “Mom” if she knew where the clinic was, and if she could take Stuart there.
All ended well. Stuart found Liz hooked up to an IV at the clinic, and after receiving the appropriate replenishments, she was released in time to join the afternoon festivities back at the school. They were able to get the name of the 14 year-old runner who reported Liz had gone down, and the name of the “Mom” whom Stuart grabbed to drive him around, but nobody seems to know who the truck driver was. I hope he surfaces again soon so we can thank him for his unexpected selflessness and extraordinary care for a stranger in need. There must be a special place in Heaven for people like him.
Motivating Students
After the festivities, Kaz and Alvaro (the outstanding artist) decided to check all the traps Dolly’s friends Jeff and Terry had set up in the forest earlier in the week. I went home. Dolly stopped by my house a couple of hours later to say the boys found some wildlife in the traps and Kaz was eagerly looking them up in the books in our office. It is projects like these that naturally motivate students to be proactive, to investigate, to discover, and to learn. I can tell you one thing for sure- Kaz would not be caught dead at his school in Maryland on a Saturday, and would probably not do a project that was not required. Here, he finds satisfaction and even joy in the activities and projects he does, regardless of whether the work is required or graded or not. What a lovely change this environment is for him!

Strangler Fig- Part 1

Ever heard of a strangler fig? Look it up. This is Kaz climbing up inside one on the edge of the school's campus. I climbed it, too. It is about 110 feet tall. An amazing, amazing experience!

Art and the Greenhouse

Terry taught the kids some nature art techniques, such as turning a picture upside down to draw, and how to use charcoal and water colors. Some of the kids had never mixed paint colors. that blew my mind. Alvaro is one of the best artists at the school, and Terry spent a lot of extra time with him after school introducing him to pastels and other materials.

The greenhouse is a popular and active place.

In this picture, a local expert on orchids was showing the kids orchids and telling them interesting things about some of them. Some orchids flower for only one day, for example. She brought the smallest orchid in the world, too. It is an epiphyte (did you look that up?)

Finding Fauna

Dolly's friends Jeff (in white hat) and Terry (in light blue t-shirt) are scientists who do research on wildlife in northern Wisconsin. They have devised a system to track the amount of mercury in lakes by catching loon chicks and measuring the amount of mercury in their blood. They have also tracked the coyote population year after year, and much, much more. They came to CEC (the local name for the school- Centro de Educacion Creativa- the Center for Creative Education; the school is also known by locals as "The Miracle on the Hill") to teach the kids some techniques for finding, identifying, marking, and estimating numbers of, the fauna on their campus. They set up simple traps and visited them a day later with the kids. They gave the kids data sheets to show them what data to collect (date, time, weather particulars, location of the research site, fauna identified, etc.) and had them enter the data as a group. It was amazing how much the percentage of cloud cover changed from one site to the next after just a few minutes of walking between sites.

At this site, Jeff and Terry put a long, metal panel into the ground with buckets buried at either end of it. The idea is that a snake or frog or whatever would be going along, hit the metal panel, slither along it, fall into the bucket, and not be able to get out. The kids would check the buckets every day and record what they found in them. On this first day, they found lots of insects and two shrews. The picture above shows Terry looking in the wildlife guidebook to find the name of the exact shrew for the kids to record. Behind her, from left to right, are the high school science teacher, Anna, her intern Kathryn, and Kaz.

At this station, Jeff and Terry set up a post in the middle of a circle of well-groomed, fine dirt. Jeff poured the oil from a can of anchovies onto the post to attract animals in the area, then came back with the kids to see if they could find animal footprints in the dirt. There were prints, but the soil wasn't fine enough to get a good print, so they could not be identified. Jeff says if you make the soil pretty wet, you can also get good footprints in the mud.

Oh, by the way, Jeff and Terry also told the kids that if they were not going to check the traps the next day (weekends, etc.), they should put a plank of wood in the buckets so the animals that fall in can crawl out. They do not want anything to die as a result of the research.

Preschool friends. February 10, 2009
I’ve helped teach the preschoolers for two days in a row now. They are so cute and have so much curiosity and energy. Two of the boys, including the son of the Head of the School, are noticeably more hyperactive than the rest of the group, unable to sit for more than about 20 seconds at a time. They are SO wiggly, squirmy, and jumpy. There is only so much a teacher can do to keep them occupied and out of trouble, though I do wonder if they would do better in a Montessori classroom where they could move around freely and be proactive learners. “Circle time,” where the kids have to sit and listen or watch another kid do something, is torture for these two boys. One is no longer expected to participate in circle time; the other sits in the teacher’s lap as she massages his arms and back and tries, mostly unsuccessfully, to keep him from wriggling away.
Today, we took the group outside to show them the trees the 5th graders planted when they were preschoolers. They had fun comparing the height of a five year old child to a five year-old tree. We also collected seeds from one of the trees, which this group will raise to seedlings and then plant themselves in an area of the campus that still requires reforestation. I suggested that each child make a tag for his/her tree with name, date, and type of tree on it. They should be encouraged to follow the growth of their tree for the next 12 years until they graduate. I was surprised to hear that kids have not been marking the trees they plant, and I encouraged Milton to have older kids return to trees they remember planting and make a tag with at least the year they planted the tree if not the exact date on which they planted it. The potential for experiments and data collection on these trees is huge, and could quite possibly be meaningful to the larger community.
This morning, I attended a meeting of school administrators. The discussion largely revolved around finances. The global recession is of concern, and Scott wants to maintain diverse streams of income to keep the school afloat. They rely on tuition, various fundraisers, such as an annual run/walk and selling posters of Monteverde sights, charging foreign students a premium, and entertaining groups of visiting students from high schools and colleges in the U.S. Volunteers, student teachers, and interns pay for the experience of working at the school, too. Several people remarked that the number of revenue-producing activities is unwieldy and requires sacrifices that no one has really measured. Others suggested it is unfair to charge volunteers to give their time and skills to the school, and that the number of volunteers is likely to drop as rent and food costs increase. I have, and others have confirmed, a steep rise in prices for just about everything since I first visited the area last September.
This afternoon, I attended a meeting of high school staff. Topics discussed included: a boycott of the school uniform by 11th graders, a parent who was contesting a behavioral demerit issued to his son for lying to a teacher, short-term and long-term priorities for the high school (the schedule, the environmental science curriculum, working better as a team, retention of students, putting more policies in writing, and better communication both within and outside the school. ) A lot of ground was covered, but much is left to do. I was particularly impressed by how Scott handled one teacher who has been sort of hostile to him in these meetings because he feels that Scott is not making progress and needed changes quickly enough.
A friend of Dolly’s who is visiting from Wisconsin, taught the 8th and 9th graders about nature drawing. Kaz got to draw a plant while merely feeling the plant in a bag. Then, using charcoal, he drew some deer from a photograph. Dolly’s friend suggested to the kids that they turn their photos upside down and then draw. I decided to try that with them, and was happy with the result: I was able to draw a mouse that actually looks a lot like a mouse!
But the biggest news of the day is that the boyfriend of one of the teachers helped me fix our shower so we now have hot water there! There is still no hot water anywhere else in the house, but that is typical for here. Every once in awhile, I boil water with which I then clean the dishes so they do not feel so oily.
The other big news is that a bunch of us reported waking up at 5am today because of the sudden QUIET. The wind finally died down, and the change was so marked that it woke people up. Furthermore, today was the first day since we have been here that it did not rain at all. It was strange not to have to shout over the wind or bundle up against the constant rain. Tonight, it is windy and cold again, but I do believe the daytime weather may have turned a corner for us. Or maybe I am just hoping as much.

Puppy!

Kaz offered to be a "foster parent" to a puppy until we leave in June. She was part of a large litter and the owner says she hasn't been getting any attention and would really benefit from being away from the mob of dogs she already has. The owner is the 2nd grade teacher at the Cloud Forest School, and yes, she will take the puppy back unless someone else adopts her before we leave. Her name was Birdie, but Kaz thought she needed a good Costa Rican name, so he re-named her Pinzona, which means (female) finch. So, she is still a bird, I guess. They had called her Birdie because she would make a chirping sound when the other dogs stole her food or otherwise overpowered her. Kaz picked her up from the owner at the weekly Feria at the public school gymnasium (below) and promptly took her to our favorite cafe, Chinches (above). Dogs are allowed almost everywhere here, and they run free, though Kaz has her on a leash for awhile to train her. Kaz took her in a cab yesterday and unfortunately, she threw up in the cab. Fortunately, she threw up on Kaz and not on the interior of the cab itself. She is already housetrained and has all her shots. She's a lovely puppy; "beautiful and very friendly," Kaz says.

Kids in Trees

Here is the porch during the day. I wish I could spend more time there, because it is truly the center of communication at the school. Kind of like the town square. If you aren't there, you miss a lot of scuttlebutt and important information. But who can spend much time there when there are classes to teach and preparation to do? Word spreads moderately well if the information is really important, but the school's communication system really needs an overhaul.

I haven't seen monkeys in the trees at the school, but I often see kids there. I've taken lots of pictures on different days of individuals and groups of kids in the trees. This picture came out best.

Here is a nice rainbow that ended at my office. I did not find the pot of gold, though. Maybe next time. The school's gathering porch is to the left, behind the flag pole.

Three-Ring Circus

This is the space next to Dolly's office that I think would make a great classroom for her. The fact that she does not have a classroom is crazy. She spent a lot of time yesterday flitting around finding kids in her different classes and telling them where to meet her. I thought it was the biggest waste of time. How is it that the kids don't know from one class to the next where to meet her? The next picture shows our building. Dolly's and my office is in the lower right, with the white flag in the window. It is not a flag of surrender; we are not giving up. Actually, I don't know what that is in the window and it is not there anymore. To the right of our office, you can see the space shown in the picture above. Scott says the space is not suitable for a classroom. The supports would have to be strengthened, the junk cleared, a retaining wall built in the back, and so on. It would take a lot of time and cost an estimated $3,000. He is, however, considering another classroom for Dolly's exclusive use. I said I'd help her move all her stuff there as soon as he gives us the green light. I am not holding my breath, though. Things move slowly here.

Finally, this is a picture of our office taken from just outside. It is often a 3-ring circus in there, and on this day, there really wasn't any room for me, nor could I hope to concentrate in there. You can't see them too well, but from the left, there is Dawson, the 3 year-old son of Patricia, the Ph.D. student from the University of Washington who is marking plots on the campus and taking data on them. Next is Patricia, and next to her, her assistant Michael. Then, there are three of Dolly's students and Dolly. Finally, Dolly's daughter Grace is working at Dolly's computer. The silver rectangle at the bottom center of the picture is my laptop. I couldn't really get at it while all those people were in there. This sort of thing happens a lot, and interruptions are frequent. I can't keep track anymore of how many conversations have been interrupted mid-sentence, never to be completed. Keeps me hopping.

The Porch

This is the Grand Central Station of the school. It is an open-air porch with 3 long picnic tables just outside the main office and computer center. Everyone gathers here in the mornings, the staff all eat lunch here, and people hang out here after school. Kids come here if they have a free period, and visitors sit here and watch the world go by. I love the mosaics the kids did on the front walls, and the view from the porch is just stunning. I have included pictures of the view in a couple of other posts.

This 4th grader was so proud of himself when he located one of the plants we had seen at the Reserve in the school's hummingbird garden. He is holding the picture of the plant he got from the Reserve behind the plant he found in the garden.

The Road to School

This is the road to the school. I don't think the picture shows how rocky and steep the road is, so I will try to take another.



Below, Dolly instructs a class at the Children's Forest.

Both pictures were taken last week before the endless hurricane hit us.

Buying bananas and Raking

Milton has the kids plant trees, identify plants, tend to the many campus gardens, and even rake the grass after it is cut. These boys spent part of the time raking and part of the time pretending the rakes were guitars. They got the job done, though.

The scene below really cracked me up. I ran into these two students buying bananas at the local market. They just told the storekeeper to add the charges to their families' accounts. Can you say "Small town in the 1940's?"

School Campus

This picture was taken from the main front porch of the school on a particularly clear day last week. You can see the peninsula on the west coast of Costa Rica in the distance and the Gulf of Nicoya (the lighter blue) in front of that. We have not had a clear moment like this for about five days now.

This is a part of the campus that was cleared long ago for cattle. When the school bought the land from the Nature Conservancy, it agreed to reforest the entire area. Milton and the students have been planting trees like mad, in a specific pattern that will encourage the monkeys to move from the highest elevations down through a particular series of trees to the campus. This patch has just a little bit of meadow left.