I Passed!!!

Oh herro, this is me in my teacher clothes! I taught my first observation lesson yesterday and it went really well. We have two observations in this practicum where one of our Western professors comes to class and evaluates us. We use the SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) teaching method, so we are evaluated with this comprehensive form with like thirty different points. So basically, it is a lot of stuff to keep in mind!

I passed, though! My teacher had some constructive criticism, of course, but she also said my lesson was one of the best practicum lessons she has ever seen in Mexico. Yay! I owe a big thanks to my wonderful students and mentor teachers. Now, of course, my professor expects me to do just as well on the second one, so that's a lot of pressure. Glad I passed, though!



This is Teresa, my host mom.

She looked so cute yesterday as she set up for her weekly girls' night. She plays cards with a group of seven other friends every Tuesday. They play at a different house every time, so when it is her turn to host(roughly every two months) it's a big deal! She spent so long cleaning and rearranging furniture, kind of like when you have a PEO meeting or ladies lunch in the States, Grandma! The setup was so cute...each table had a tray with a bowl of cheetos and gumdrops for her friends. She's a precious little abuelita! (I miss my real grandma, though!)

First 2 Days in Class

...and it´s great! The fifth graders are so sweet and cute and they know a lot of English! The main teacher, Olga, did a great job creating a welcoming environment for them on the first day. I haven´t done any teaching yet, just observing, but I am preparing for my first lesson tomorrow. I am using an article from their workbook about Miley Cyrus (yes, THAT Miley Cyrus) to teach about adjectives and other things. It should be fun!

If I weren´t working in an internet cafe with a suuuuper slow connection, I would add pictures of my first day outfit. My professor told me I looked ¨beautiful¨ haha. She also told me that my mentor teacher is one of the best, so I hope to learn a lot from her!

Other than that, not too much is going on. I have only gone out one night, because I have to get up super early. We went to some REALLY classy clubs this weekend, though. Like more luxurious than any I have been to in the U.S. or Canada. (Of course, that comes with a price...hello $10 cover and $80 bottle service! Good thing there was a big group of us to split that.) Things are also fine with my host mom. She sometimes annoys me because she is forgetful and also likes to spray insecticide a lot, but she is so sweet I can´t be mad at her. She also makes me sweet little fruit platters every morning for breakfast...guava and cantaloupe this morning :)

Well, wish me luck on my lesson! It´s preparation for my big observation next Tuesday!

P.S. I got A´s in all 4 of my other classes this summer. BOOM.

Love you all!!!

P.P.S. My lack of regular internet, plus the fact that I am consumed with my own lessons is leaving me out of the loop about all your lives and current events back home. If anyone has news to share, just drop it in the comments; I would love to read it!

Michael Larkin is a MexiCAN, not a Mexican't!

Hola everyone! Once again, I am abroad, doing what I do best: gallivanting around Latin America in the name of higher learning! Here's a little background for those who may not know:
This summer, I have been taking classes full time in the TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages) program. That's my minor at school. At the end of the program, everyone has to complete a teaching practicum to show what they have learned. This practicum can be completed in the States or abroad, depending on your interests. The program at Western is great, because we had the option to go on a faculty-led trip to Querétaro, México. Thus, I am south of the border, preparing to teach a class of fifth grade Mexican students!

I am living with a host family again. Well, actually a host grandma, because it is just an older lady named Teresa who lives by herself. Her daughter and granddaughters visit often, though. There is also another student living in my house. He is a middle aged electrical engineer from California. His name is Roberto and he is studying Spanish here at Olé. That's the school where our program is based. (But not where I am teaching my practicum.)

I want to tell everyone that there is nothing to worry about here. The México portrayed on the news is completely biased and not representative of this entire, wonderful country. Querétaro in particular, is very clean, safe, and calm. It is a much bigger city than I was expecting, though. My school is located in the largely historic downtown. It's so fun to just walk around with a michelada (flavored beer) or sit in the plazas. Here's a picture of me and the other new students from Western:

Mariela, Rebecca, Emily, Me, Jessica, and Ariana @ Jardín Zanea

The past few days have been SO busy that I don't even know what to say. A few exciting things:

-Yesterday morning, the Olé coordinators took me to see my placement site. It's a private primary school called Erik Erikson. My cooperating teacher's name is Olga López. I'm going to be working with a fifth grade class. That's a little bit younger than I prefer, but I am still looking forward to it. The only downside: I have to be there at 7:45 every morning, which is really early considering it's about a half hour walk from my house. I start Monday!!!

-Friday and Saturday, the other new students (including my friend Jessica) and I spent time with "Mexican pals". Our school set us up with them so they could walk us around the city and practice Spanish with us. Today, our amigo Marco took us to a market. It was similar to the ones in Costa Rica. However, the meat section was terrifying. There were things there that looked more like live animals than steak or chicken breast. Jessica saw someone with a whole dead pig on his back. I saw a bucket full of pig heads, still intact. At least it was after I ate a delicious "gringa" (think quesadilla made from spit-roasted pork, pineapple, cheese, and cilantro...deliciosa!!!)

-We also had a welcoming party at Olé last night. We helped make the food and it was so good. Even though it was a school party, there was plenty of beer and a few bottles of tequila...and the obligatory piñata. There were also these traditional dancers. I'm one of only two guys in the program so the girl kept making me dance with her! It was kinda embarrassing, but super fun.



Okay, I feel like I just wrote a massive amount. Gonna leave the café soon so I can take a siesta and then figure out my plans for tonight. Love and miss you all! Check back this week to find out about my first few days in the classroom!

Back in Bellingham

Finally!

I feel like I need to write a reflection about my last three months, especially for my personal benefit, but right now I am just so happy to be back in Bellingham. It was extremely hard to say goodbye to my family and friends in Costa Rica. It's nice to return to a place that I love, though. I will probably post more pictures and stories from my last week in Costa Rica...just need some time to relax and unpack my room first.

xoxo

Rafting el Pacuare

Sorry for the delayed posting! These last few weeks have been filled with so much to see and do, so I've been pretty lazy with this blog. I still have to share all the pictures from my visit to the coffee plantation and my weekend in Puerto Viejo. First, though, I wanted to tell y'all about my rafting adventure!

So a few weeks ago, when Jessica's sister was here, we tried to go rafting. We woke up at 6 AM and waited for over an hour, but the tour company never picked us up. Since we booked the trip through our study abroad program, we talked to them about it, and they were extremely apologetic. They refunded us and even gave us a free trip! So last friday, Jessica and I both got to go on a $75 rafting trip...for free!

It would be totally worth the money even if we did have to pay, because this river is gorgeous! It's called the Pacuare, located about 2 hours to the northeast of San José. National Geographic named it "one of the 5 most beautiful river trips in the world." While it was my first real rafting trip, I have to agree with them. It was a four hour trip through some amazing rocky canyons and rainforest. The Pacuare is also the perfect amount of excitement for me; a few class IV rapids, but mostly smoother stuff, which allowed me to absorb the wonderful scenery. They also made us breakfast before the trip and we stopped for lunch in a beautiful place next to the river.

Some of my pictures are kinda blurry because I had water on the lens. I'm so glad I have a waterproof camera!

PS Nobody (in our raft) fell out in the rapids!


In my rafting gear


Rainforest :)




Waterfall!



Taking a swim (with Jessica)

Safety Update

Hey y'all, just wanted to reassure everyone about my safety this weekend. As you know, that earthquake in Japan was enormous, and I have received tsunami warning information from my program and the embassy here. Fortunately, San Jose is inland and not at risk for any kind of tsunami activity. I'm not planning to go to the beach this weekend, either, so I should be okay (a lot of people are cancelling or changing their plans, which is unfortunate). Okay, I just wanted to make sure no one was worrying about me! A more interesting post will be up later this weekend. Take care, everyone! Xoxo

Family time!

Our family finally took us on their beach trip, last weekend. All but 2 of the daughters came....and about 13 gringos as well! They were mostly Steve's friends, two of which were celebrating their birthdays, so it was just a big party weekend. The gringos taught the ticos how to play college drinking games like beer pong and flip cup. Super fun!

I stayed in a little compound with all the other gringos, about 5 minutes down the road from the rest of our family. The place was still technically "under construction", but we stayed there because our family's cabin didn't have enough room. We occupied 2 of the 6 colorful cabins that were JUST built. The landscaping wasn't even finished around the pool,but it was still a great set-up with the individual houses and common pool/hangout area.

The beach wasn't that spectacular, in fact it was kind of dirty, because a lot of garbage gets washed up in that area :( There was this really fascinating rock plateau, though. My friend Kristi and I had an adventure, walking between the ocean and the sheer rock cliff, trying to reach the other end (where we could safely climb up) before the tide came in....it was a close call!

So overall, this weekend was pretty relaxed, we mostly just hung out, switching between the beach, our pool, and the pool at our family's cabin. I should mention, though, that Ticos are the most disorganized people in the world. Our family left for the beach the day before us and forgot literally everything...ALL the meat, ALL the toothbrushes, their dvd play, karaoke equipment, etc, so they were frantically calling Steve and I before we came to meet them. While we remembered to bring almost all of their ridiculous requests, we forgot the meat and one daughter's toothbrush. SO of course, that was OUR fault, and we were kind of chastised for the first day. Seriously, though, how can you go to the beach for 4 days and not have ANYONE in the family remember to bring the meat or toothbrushes? They are kind of stressful to travel with because of that....and they also caused QUITE the fiasco when we were trying to get back to San José (think lots of crying, praying, name calling, flying down dirt roads in a rickety van, and watching the bus that we should have been on pull out three cars ahead of us, forcing us to chase it down...) Okay maybe I just had a mini-venting session about them, haha. It all worked out, though, and we are a happy family again.


Our cute little cabins!


The pool...as you can see, my life is awful here.


The beach. Not the prettiest, but the rocks/tide pools are fun.


Sunset, as seen from the plateau above the beach.


Bonus picture: Monday was my sister Ely's birthday, so we had a delicious kahlua cake from Spoon :)

Soon to be posted: my trip to the cafetal (coffee plantation)!

Manuel Antonio + Monkeys!

Baby sloth! Awwwww, you know you want to read a post that starts out with a baby sloth, don't you? Yes, you do.

Jessica's sister and her girlfriend are in town, so we took them to the beach last weekend! We wanted to pick one that we hadn't been to yet....Manuel Antonio. The plan was to leave Friday afternoon and come back Saturday night for whitewater rafting on Sunday. Unfortunately, the rafting didn't work out, but we still had a blast in Manuel Antonio. It's about a 4 to 6 hour bus ride (depending if you take a direct bus, which I DEFINITELY recommend.) We arrived Friday evening and discovered probably the best hostel that we have stayed in, so far. It's called Backpacker's of Manuel Antonio or something similar. It's clean, reasonable (~$13/night), has amenities (pool, free internet, pancake breakfast) and is located right by a bus stop.

Manuel Antonio is interesting because it doesn't really have a large town center. It is basically just a road from Quepos (a bigger town) to the national park. There are tons of hotels, hostels, restaurants, and souvenir markets, but they are all located on this one main road that weaves through the hills and down to the beach. It has a really efficient bus service, which is convenient. There aren't as many mega-resorts here. That's something I really appreciate, because it means more quaint, smaller hotels and (hopefully) less invasive construction and development projects.


These buddies are everywhere!





Anyway, the beach is GORGEOUS. We went to the National Park (there is also a public beach right next to it) on Saturday. You have to wake up early, because they only let a certain number of guests in per day to protect the park's wildlife. It was so worth it, though. After a walk through the rainforest, you reach this pristine white beach with turquoise water....and monkeys!










Look at them baring their teeth! Very "where the wild things are", no?

Yes, capuchin monkeys who creep down from the trees and steal your stuff. I first spotted one unzipping the bag of some French tourists and robbing several packages of saltine crackers. They travel in packs up and down the beach, and it seems like they are trying to overwhelm and distract you in order to steal food or shiny objects. Fortunately, they didn't take anything from us, but they sure tried! When they went for my bag, I snatched it up and shook a towel at them to make them leave. They responded by mounting each other and hissing. It looked like they were forming a new super-monkey with two heads and two sets of fangs. They are really cute, though.

So after spending a few hours on this part of beach (there are 3 separate beaches in the park), we went for a little hike on this central peninsula/extrusion of rock. Then, we relocated to the beach on the other side of the isthmus from where we were originally sitting. No monkeys there, but we did find something else. While Jennifer, Alayna, and I were playing in the surf, we noticed Jessica freaking out on the beach. A raccoon had appeared out of the bushes and gone for our bags, just like the monkeys. Fortunately, he left us alone after Jessica scolded him.



Even though we were only in Manuel Antonio for about a day, I fell in love. It's definitely somewhere I would take my parents or friends if they came to Costa Rica. I finished the day there with a bacon burger, piña colada, and a camera full of monkey pictures. And a nice tan hehe.

Montezuma

*Let's just start this post by saying, don't go to Puntarenas. Just don't. The beach is average, the water is murky, and the town is a lil ghetto. Fortunately, we only stayed the night here so we could break up our trip to Montezuma. There were a lot of people in town because there was a carnival/fiestas all weekend. Rooms were hard to come by and prices were extremely inflated. We ended up staying at a "pensión", which is basically like a boarding house, I think. The night life was kind of fun; they had about a mile of food stands, bars, and pop-up clubs next to the beach. It wasn't really my scene, though. Here's some pichas:


This sign should simply read "WARNING!"


Okay, let's analyze this one. Six people, one room. Jessica and I were each lucky enough to have our own bunks on the bunk bed. Three girls slept across the queen size bed, and our poor friend Heidi was nice enough to sleep on the floor (on the pillows that everyone else was scared to use.) So this is a picture of my bunk. Notice how I am sleeping on a beach towel and a dirty shirt. There were no sheets provided! We felt kind of filthy after sleeping here. I'm not even going to get started about the [community] bathroom.


Yep, that's what you think it is. Found on the porch of our "pensión".And you thought I was just being a pampered American whiner, didn't you?



Thankfully, our final destination was Montezuma. It's on the Nicoya Peninsula, across the gulf from Puntarenas, so we took a ferry to get there. After the ferry, we got on a bus, thinking, "oh, it will be a simple 10 minute ride." No. It was like an hour and a half of standing in the aisle of the bus, careening around the corners on steep dirt roads. Our arms were so tired by the time we got to Montezuma! But these are just the things that happen when traveling here, and you have to make it fun.


A rooster on the bus!

When we reached Montezuma, we had to find a place to stay. There are so many cute little cabins, but most of them were full. We ended up staying at a decent little hotel with clean bathrooms, sufficient sleeping space, and we even had sheets! The craziest part: it was cheaper than the place in Puntarenas.

Montezuma is a pretty quiet, relaxed town. There is only one real bar and just a handful of restaurants. They have a good grocery store, though, with bread from a local Italian bakery. We used the bread to make yummy cream cheese and veggie sandwiches for lunch....affordable and delicious! This was actually really exciting to me, though, because I hardly ever get to make food (especially super healthy food) here.

Okay, I'll stop talking about sandwiches and talk about what we actually did. The beach is really beautiful, so we wandered down it for a while. The waves are pretty big, though, and there are a lot of rocks near shore, so actual swimming can only be done in a few places. It was still super nice to just hang out on the beach for a while. We actually all fell asleep at one point. That's literally the dumbest thing you can do at the beach, but we were all so relaxed and content.


The beach at Montezuma


Piña y cerveza


I would like to thank my faja Bill for this leatherman juice pro tool. Seriously, you have no idea how much I have used it (especially this weekend.) It comes in handy for manly things like chopping fruit and opening wine bottles.


The ocean at Montezuma


Bandit! My lil beach dog love muffin. He found us two days in a row.

For dinner, we took advantage of the kitchen at our hotel. We made a simple pasta and garlic bread. So yummy!


Good food & good friends :)


Wine with dinner...so classy.

The highlight of the trip was definitely our hike on Sunday. About fifteen minutes outside town, we found a trail that led up to some waterfalls. It followed a creek through the jungle. We swam in the water below the waterfall. What an amazing day!


The sign says: "Danger! Several people have died here. Do not climb or jump."


Cool spider, with chicas in background.


Just a stroll through the forest...


Waterfall!


Oh hey


On the bus back to San José, there was a sign on the bathroom that said "YES TO PISS". I'm sure it didn't sound so awful in Spanish, but that's what the translation said.

Okay, that was kind of foul, so I'll leave you with this:


A beautiful bird that joined us for breakfast.

Still Kickin'

Hola a todos!

I'm still alive, after an amazing weekend in Montezuma. I'll upload pictures and share stories probably tomorrow or thursday, when I have less homework. (Tonight I have to read 70 pages and take 20+ different pictures of an umbrella...) Anyway, that's what's going on down here. I'm feeling a little sad because I only have a month left :( But it will be a wonderful last month, and I have been very lucky to be here. Hope all is well!

-Mikey

This Past Week

AYYYY

So much to say! Here's what's happened in the last seven days:

Thursday:
-Class trip to Heredia. We visited the National University, the central square, and the market. We were supposed to investigate the city/province of Heredia.

Fountain in the central square.


Yep, definitely a Catholic church.


I don't mean to be sacrilegious, but this is frightening!


Chicken feet at the Heredia Market


Friday:
-45 minute presentation with Jessica & Emily. It went really well :)
-Jessica and I decided to reward ourselves afterwards. We went to Barrio Amón, this really cute (and clean) neighborhood with boutique hotels and cafés. Lunch at Café Mundo...super yummy! We ate bruschetta, salad (me), shrimp pasta (jessica), and chocolate cake. I also sipped a mojito as we sat on the veranda. Qué rico!
-First haircut experience in Spanish. I was a little anxious, but the end result was great. Well, the stylist tried to make me leave three inches of flimsy, deflated mullet in the back, but I told him NO way. It only cost $6, though, and Jessica got a pedicure for $8!
-Lexi, Jessica, and I went out to Club Oh! on Friday night. We had to pay a ten dollar cover, but they had an open bar. So obviously we were really well behaved and didn't dance on stage or anything. Also, there was an intense drag show.

Saturday:
-I went to the produce market with Mildred and Mare, her second oldest daughter. SO many luscious/bizarre fruits and veggies! Such a variety, and decent prices. Like 3 pineapples or 4 boxes of strawberries for $2. We filled up a whole grocery cart with JUST produce. I couldn't believe it.
-We also went to the pool. So nice :)


Farmer's Market


Our cart...all fruit and veggies!


Drinking from coconuts with Mildred. Refreshing!


Lettuce head.

I didn't do too much the rest of the weekend. San José is kinda dead on Sundays.

Last night, I went out to "La calle," this street near the University of Costa Rica that is basically a long strip of bars for the college crowd. Jessica's housemate Kelly's boyfriend is in town, so the four of us went for drinks. I can't remember what the place was called, but they serve flavored beers. I had "the torero"....a light beer with cherries and cherry flavored syrup. It's an odd concept, but it was tasty. They also have "the godzilla" (green beer with salt), as well as orange, grape, or bloody-mary flavored beers. Good times :)