Last weekend, we went white water rafting in Ohiopyle, PA on the Youghiogheny River. It was my first time rafting and I was nervous hearing about how some people die doing the sport, but I'm still here to tell the tale!
Ohiopyle is by Uniontown, where my dad grew up in Pennsylvania, so it was around 3.5 hours from Cleveland. When we finally arrived, we had gone through long stretches of highways then a bunch of windy roads and finally drove through a cute small town. There were cabins lining the state park full of little tourist shops and restaurants.
After signing our lives away to the rafting company, we got a small tutorial on what to do in certain situations, including when we crashed or fell out of the raft. My sister and I teamed up with the most experienced rafters in our group and began our journey by carrying the heavy raft down to the river with paddles, helmets and life jackets in tow. The river was especially crowded and full of groups on guided tours. We were going the river unguided, though, so we made sure to pass up as many groups as possible.
As soon as we got into the river, we started paddling towards the first rapid. I was excited to find out what it was like, but nervous at the same time. We hit the rapids head on and I thought my sister and I were going to fall out of the boat, but we held on tight and stayed in as we splashed up out of the rapids. We made it out alive! And it was so much fun! I couldn't wait to do it again. In the mean time, the water was calm as we flowed down stream to the next rapids. The other boats in our group had splash wars with us and the guys in our boat finally tackled us into the water. It was cold, but it felt good.
As we went through the other rapids, other boats in our group tipped or wiped out. Our boat always stayed afloat though, and we finally parked it on the side of the river after all of the other groups had fallen out. We got out of the boat and hiked back up to the top of the rough rapids to jump in and float the way back down. I was really nervous to do it, thinking I might drown, but once I did, it was really fun and I did it a few more times. The rapids would pull you under for a second or two, then spit you right back up.
We went through a few more rapids and then our next stop was at a big rock we could hike up and jump off of into the water. Standing at the top looking down was really startling, so without thinking, I just had to jump off. It was a blast so I climbed up a few more times to do it again.
After jumping, it was a race to see which boat would make it out of the river first. We took the best paths down the rapids and passed up other boats and finally made it to shore first. We decided we had won gold for being the first boat and only boat of the group to not tip over.
We dried off, saw some snapshots of our journey, and went to get some food. We had some awesome fall-off-the-bone ribs at Highwaters grill. We ate so much since we had been paddling all day. We were sore and bruised, but the food made up for all of that.
It was a long ride home, but the trip was totally worth it. I can't wait until I get to go again!
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
last week in PR
Our last week in Puerto Rico was spent working, having quality time with the kids, going out, and of course, taking in as much sun as possible. After giving class we would go to the pool and take in the sunlight while it was there, go home, have dinner and then do any work that needed to be done.
In the last week, the students created a "manifiesto" with us which is like a declaration or promise. We made a declaration against discrimination and towards equality. The students were able to give their opinions and we put them all together into a manifiesto as a class to put on the bulletin board. Also as a class, the students brought in images of equality among other themes to make a collage around our declarations. The bulletin board turned out awesome and everyone was so excited about it. I was glad we were really able to achieve something as a part of the unit of "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" about the Holocaust.
The last day of class we set aside to say goodbyes. Jenn prepared a video using pictures and video we took of the students and we played it with music in the background. As soon as we got to school and everyone started hugging us and telling us not to leave, we started crying. I couldn't even give instructions for a post-test in the first class because I was crying. After the test, we played the video and smiled at some good times we had but also were crying by the end. We thanked the kids for everything and said a few words while we went around the room and allowed the kids to say anything they wanted to. We were showered with cards and drawings and cute notes. One little girl gave us a necklace and ring that she made using some stones; they were so pretty. Some of the students took it really hard and couldn't stop crying. Over lunch, we spent time talking with the kids and exchanging phone numbers and promising to add each other on facebook as soon as Jenn and I graduate. The second class was hard too with showing the video. This class is my teacher's home class, so we passed out popcorn and one of the special education aids made us flan to eat too. They gave us more cards and signed some as a class. Then, the other student teacher working with us gave each us of a necklace and earrings that they picked out for us. Everyone was crying and we basically promised we would try our best to come back for graduation in May, although it'll be a lot of work. It was really hard saying goodbye to Carla, the other student teacher. We gave Rose Marie and chocolate apple and cards with a gift card for Clarks, a shoe store she really likes. She told us how it was so unnecessary, but she really did do so much for us and bought us so much stuff.
Friday night, we were to go out to dinner with her and also spend the night at her house so she could take us to the airport. She took us out to Aurorita, a mexican restaurant which she thinks is the best. We had queso fundido, pico de gallo and some margaritas, her favorite, to start. Their pico de gallo was awesome! It didn't just have onions, tomatoes and cilantro but it included cheese cubes and chunks of avocado. Their queso fundido is a lot different than ours because they use a thicker cheese that you actually have to cut through to put it on the chip. Later, I had tacos al pastor and Jenn had enchiladas de mole poblano and we each shared our dishes with each other. Everything was really good, but I had to ask for cilantro, onion, limes and spicy salsa for my taco on the side because it wasn't prepared that way. For dessert we had some sopapillas that you could dip in some dulce de leche. I had never had anything like that before, but I loved it. Afterwards, we went back to her house to weigh our suitcases and get ready for bed. I was so glad that we could spend our last night in Viejo San Juan, a barrio that Jenn and I absolutely fell in love with. Our suitcases were just about 50lbs when we weighed them so we were able to unpack a few things to be more sure that we would be under the weight. We got to sleep on her futon that night. I slept so good because I ate well and we had all the doors open to the patio to let the air in. We had the fans going and we just slept with a sheet on and it was the perfect temperature. In the middle of the night, it started raining on the patio and I loved the way it sounded, but in my dream I dreamt that someone was showering because of the sound of the water.
We woke up around 6 and got ready and had some toast and cheese. I got a goodbye text while we were taking our suitcases out and started to cry again. My teacher kept talking about how change is good and that we're going to love our new students. Anybody who knows me knows that goodbyes are really hard for me and that I usually cry saying goodbye. I don't think I'm really that sad, it's just part of my process to cry and then when I get to my new place, I'm just fine. She probably thought I was nuts though. She dropped us at the airport and gave us a small wood chip with the 3 kings on it made by an artisan to be with us.
Before getting your tickets going back to the States, you have to have the USDA check your bags to make sure you're not carrying animals or anything from nature. Then, we got our tickets and waited about an hour to leave.
I'm on the plane right now writing this and watching "My Week with Marilyn," something my mom and I saw a little before I left.
I couldn't have made a better decision to do half of my student-teaching abroad. I have such a different perspective to bring now and got to feel like I was on vacation everyday, which is something I think I deserve for as hard as I've worked these past 4 years. It's hard to think that it's almost over though and it's even harder to decide what to do next. All I know is that I want to spend my first year after graduation abroad somewhere and then come back to be a teaching assistant while I do my masters in Spanish. I think after all of that I will finally be grown up and ready to get a job, but right now, I'm still a kid and there's a lot more to do before I settle down somewhere.
In the last week, the students created a "manifiesto" with us which is like a declaration or promise. We made a declaration against discrimination and towards equality. The students were able to give their opinions and we put them all together into a manifiesto as a class to put on the bulletin board. Also as a class, the students brought in images of equality among other themes to make a collage around our declarations. The bulletin board turned out awesome and everyone was so excited about it. I was glad we were really able to achieve something as a part of the unit of "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" about the Holocaust.
The last day of class we set aside to say goodbyes. Jenn prepared a video using pictures and video we took of the students and we played it with music in the background. As soon as we got to school and everyone started hugging us and telling us not to leave, we started crying. I couldn't even give instructions for a post-test in the first class because I was crying. After the test, we played the video and smiled at some good times we had but also were crying by the end. We thanked the kids for everything and said a few words while we went around the room and allowed the kids to say anything they wanted to. We were showered with cards and drawings and cute notes. One little girl gave us a necklace and ring that she made using some stones; they were so pretty. Some of the students took it really hard and couldn't stop crying. Over lunch, we spent time talking with the kids and exchanging phone numbers and promising to add each other on facebook as soon as Jenn and I graduate. The second class was hard too with showing the video. This class is my teacher's home class, so we passed out popcorn and one of the special education aids made us flan to eat too. They gave us more cards and signed some as a class. Then, the other student teacher working with us gave each us of a necklace and earrings that they picked out for us. Everyone was crying and we basically promised we would try our best to come back for graduation in May, although it'll be a lot of work. It was really hard saying goodbye to Carla, the other student teacher. We gave Rose Marie and chocolate apple and cards with a gift card for Clarks, a shoe store she really likes. She told us how it was so unnecessary, but she really did do so much for us and bought us so much stuff.
Friday night, we were to go out to dinner with her and also spend the night at her house so she could take us to the airport. She took us out to Aurorita, a mexican restaurant which she thinks is the best. We had queso fundido, pico de gallo and some margaritas, her favorite, to start. Their pico de gallo was awesome! It didn't just have onions, tomatoes and cilantro but it included cheese cubes and chunks of avocado. Their queso fundido is a lot different than ours because they use a thicker cheese that you actually have to cut through to put it on the chip. Later, I had tacos al pastor and Jenn had enchiladas de mole poblano and we each shared our dishes with each other. Everything was really good, but I had to ask for cilantro, onion, limes and spicy salsa for my taco on the side because it wasn't prepared that way. For dessert we had some sopapillas that you could dip in some dulce de leche. I had never had anything like that before, but I loved it. Afterwards, we went back to her house to weigh our suitcases and get ready for bed. I was so glad that we could spend our last night in Viejo San Juan, a barrio that Jenn and I absolutely fell in love with. Our suitcases were just about 50lbs when we weighed them so we were able to unpack a few things to be more sure that we would be under the weight. We got to sleep on her futon that night. I slept so good because I ate well and we had all the doors open to the patio to let the air in. We had the fans going and we just slept with a sheet on and it was the perfect temperature. In the middle of the night, it started raining on the patio and I loved the way it sounded, but in my dream I dreamt that someone was showering because of the sound of the water.
We woke up around 6 and got ready and had some toast and cheese. I got a goodbye text while we were taking our suitcases out and started to cry again. My teacher kept talking about how change is good and that we're going to love our new students. Anybody who knows me knows that goodbyes are really hard for me and that I usually cry saying goodbye. I don't think I'm really that sad, it's just part of my process to cry and then when I get to my new place, I'm just fine. She probably thought I was nuts though. She dropped us at the airport and gave us a small wood chip with the 3 kings on it made by an artisan to be with us.
Before getting your tickets going back to the States, you have to have the USDA check your bags to make sure you're not carrying animals or anything from nature. Then, we got our tickets and waited about an hour to leave.
I'm on the plane right now writing this and watching "My Week with Marilyn," something my mom and I saw a little before I left.
I couldn't have made a better decision to do half of my student-teaching abroad. I have such a different perspective to bring now and got to feel like I was on vacation everyday, which is something I think I deserve for as hard as I've worked these past 4 years. It's hard to think that it's almost over though and it's even harder to decide what to do next. All I know is that I want to spend my first year after graduation abroad somewhere and then come back to be a teaching assistant while I do my masters in Spanish. I think after all of that I will finally be grown up and ready to get a job, but right now, I'm still a kid and there's a lot more to do before I settle down somewhere.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Differences
Sometimes being here is like falling down the rabbit hole. Things are never really well organized and most people are bad with time management. On top of that, their American companies are a little backwards. For example, Verizon and AT&T are totally flip flopped here. AT&T has the best coverage and service and is the preferred wireless company while Verizon has poor service. Sears and Kmart are also at the top of their leagues. Here, their sears looks like a nordstrom with top of the line designers, ritzy perfume and makeup counters, and designer handbags. Kmart is the best supermarket and it is comparable to our Target. What I don't understand is why these stores don't do this in the states so that they wouldn't be considered last resorts here. People at home usually go to sears only if they want an appliance and Kmart if Walmart doesn't have something or is closed. While all the Rainbow clothing stores closed in the states (or at least the ones in my area) they are one of the most popular stores down here and you can find them everywhere. Then there's Denny's. You wouldn't catch me dead at a Denny's in the states. They're run down with dirty dishes and the greasiest food. I consider the Denny's here as an Applebee's and I actually want to go back to try more of their menu items. Their breakfast was comparable to that of eatnpark and we get free wifi and flat screen tvs to watch. Mexican restaurants are in abundance and they don't wait on you, which makes sense considering how quickly the food is prepared. You order and get a number that they call for your food. The local restaurants here, and other stores, are really old fashioned when it comes to their hours of operation. Hardly any are open on Sunday or after 7 or 8 PM. They also have these signs that say when they'll be back throughout the day, giving them a "mom and pop" feel. You ever miss your fanny pack and wish one day they would come back in style so you could dust that bad boy off? Well then vacation in Puerto Rico, where fanny packs are it. They don't have a stupid name down here though, all though sometimes they're called "mariconera" which is essentially something for "fags" or a man purse. When I asked someone about them, they just told me how convenient they were to carry. They actually do sell some pretty cute ones down here, but I'm just too American to buy one. Another popular fashion is bright, obnoxious, sparkly, 6-inch wedge platform heels. The other student teacher, Carla, always has a different pair on. One day they were bright pink, purple and turquoise all in one, the other day they were just all sparkles. She took us to the store where she buys them and there was an overwhelming collection all for under $30. Jenn actually got a bright pink velvetty wedge for $12. Now you would think the adult/teacher dress code would be a little conservative, but these ladies love to work it at every age in every profession. My teacher wears tank tops, tight jeans, yoga pants, and everything must be matched with a pair of wedges. The teachers here look so fashionable and cute. I wish that we could wear skinny jeans to teach at home and just be comfortable with who we are and respect each other not by how professionally we're dressed, but by the education we have. It's not that our teachers don't look professional, but if they want to wear leggings under a skirt or jeans one day or a hoodie and huge wedges the next, they're still well respected. On top of that, every teacher at the school has a PhD. Once you have one of them bad boys, just wear whatever you want and tell me what to wear while you're at it.
Over all, I just like the way things are so relaxed here. I'm pretty lazy to begin with, so knowing that I don't have to be stressed about every little thing is pretty nice.
Over all, I just like the way things are so relaxed here. I'm pretty lazy to begin with, so knowing that I don't have to be stressed about every little thing is pretty nice.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
The weekend of not spending your own money... or using your looks in conjunction with your brain 101
This post might peg me as a bad person, a gold-digger, or someone that uses people, but I just want you to know, before you read this and judge me, the following events just kind of happened and we rolled with it. Any mal-humored joke is just a part of my sarcasm and a way of laughing at what happened. Here we go...
Studying abroad is an awesome experience, but it costs. I'm paying full time tuition at home, my apartment here, the plain ticket and all the living expenses and I have no money coming in at the moment. I brought enough spending money so that I would feel comfortable, but towards the end, you realize how much you've spent and you've decided that PB&J is the best lunch ever. Or is it? Is there a possible way of getting food for free? Welcome to "Using your Looks in Conjunction with your Brain 101," a necessary class to complete the last few weeks of any study abroad experience.
I LOVE FOOD. A lot. Ask me or my sisters about any type of food and we've probably tried it or heard about it. We are always trying everything and eating at new places, but this gets pricy. Here, Jenn and I will start talking about food and drive ourselves crazy. We say that we're "hangrey" (hungry and angry that we don't have access to the food). "Hanger" occurs when you are bored and imaginative about the food you could possibly eat, and we usually solve this problem by eating lots of chocolate and eventually falling asleep. This weekend, though, we decided we were going to set goals for each night we went out, without spending our own money.
Lesson 1: if they want to buy you a drink, say you can't on an empty stomach. Thursday night, we went out to the clubs down the street from our apartment. Thursday is Friday in regards to university life, so the whole avenue was packed with people spilling out of little restaurants and clubs. By the way, here, not just night clubs are night clubs. Regular everyday restaurants, like this small Chinese place, put on music and open up to sell drinks so people can hang out, which is really comical. So we go into this club and we go upstairs just to hang out, and soon, some friends we met the other night there found us. My one friend told me that the annoying thing about Puerto Rico is that it's so small that once you meet someone, you'll see them all the time, which is true, because I saw so many people that night we were friends with. Another friend of mine says he doesn't even go with a group to la avenida universitaria because when he arrives by himself, there's already a handful of people he knows in whichever part of the street. So we greet our friends, and the first thing they do is offer us a drink, so we begin our schemes. I just say "no thanks, I haven't eaten much today" and automatically they ask if you would like something to eat. Jenn and I ended up splitting 2 orders of spicy wings and only drinking water the rest of the night with built in body guards to escort us wherever we wanted to go. We were content.
Friday we had been talking about fried cheesecake all day. We had eaten it with our teacher in a really expensive restaurant during our first weekend in Puerto Rico, but weren't quite sure how to get back there. That day, we set a goal that we were going to get fried cheesecake that night without paying for it. Well, last weekend, my teacher had to kayak with a guy, Todd, that was here on a business trip, and she encouraged us to take him out to show him around and we ended up exchanging numbers. Now that his work week was over, he wanted to go out. He told us where he was having dinner and was going to treat us, but we couldn't make it in time because of the short notice and how long the bus systems take. On our way to meet him at the restaurant, these 2 guys approach us to ask if they can go with us where we're going and buy us a drink. I'm just going to go off on a tangent by the way and talk about the guy that started talking to us. He was here working as crew on a Yacht. He's from South Africa so he had like a British accent and he just starts rambling like Russell Crow so that he could go with us. The guy he was with was from Washington DC, and I didn't really get the connection. Later, upon talking to the Washington guy, I find out that he was sitting in a bar alone and South Africa convinced him to hang out and go out. Then, on their hanging out, SA decides to pick us up as well. So basically, this guy just goes around making random friends wherever the place may be. Anyways, his drink offer reverts back to lesson 1 where you refuse the drink and redirect the focus towards food. We agreed to let them tag along and met Todd at Marmalade, the most expensive and best reviewed restaurant in Old San Juan. He was eating dessert so we kind of missed the boat on that one, which brings us to Lesson 2: bring up a really good restaurant/food that you've tried nearby and convince them that they must try it before they leave. Jenn and I started raving about the fried cheesecake at Vaca Brava and telling them how they had to try it. Before we knew it, I was leading the way to the restaurant and we were seated at a table for 5. The waiter greeted us and the guys we were with started asking him about this fried cheesecake they had heard all about. Now us waiters have this tactic of "up-selling" which means that you're going to try to sell as much food at the highest price because a bigger bill gets a bigger tip, especially when you're in a tourist zone. So our waiter started up-selling, which is the proper response when a table of 5 comes in and asks for 1 dessert. This works a lot of the time when I do it, so I decided that I was more hungry that 1 dessert and that I would comply with his suggestions, which is Lesson 3: agree with any and all suggestions a waiter gives and convince the rest of your table it's a good idea by awing over how good everything sounds. While we're at it, let's not forget Lesson 4: where you ask more about the business trip your new friend is on and keep bringing up how nice it is that everything he does is paid for on the company's dime with the company credit card. Anyways, we ended up spending $180 on who knows what and then using my hoarse voice (which I've been losing since Wednesday) as an excuse that I was sick and needed to go home. It was late by then, and the bus system is done running around 10, so we had to start discussing how we were going to get home, to which Todd offered to split a cab. This brings us to lesson 5: where you use your foreign language to make the non-foreign language speaking party pay the full price. We talked to the cab driver in Spanish to explain to him that upon dropping Todd off, he would charge him the full price. Successful Friday night.
Well last night, Saturday night, we were actually with our good friends we met down here, so we weren't really trying to pull anything. They're just nice anyways so anytime we were hungry, which is all the time, they made sure we were well fed. This is part of lesson 6, which brings a sincere closing to this satirical post: surround yourself with people that aren't buying you things because they have other motives, but take care of you because you're friends and you just want to spend time with each other.
I hope this post doesn't offend anybody, I'm just joking about all the manipulation, but that's kind of how it happened and Jenn and I have been laughing about it all weekend. We really just went out with the intentions of hanging out, although fried cheesecake was a real goal that night, but I just have a hard time refusing food once it jumps up in conversation. However, if you really have it in you though, feel free to take these lessons to heart and use them at your convenience.
Studying abroad is an awesome experience, but it costs. I'm paying full time tuition at home, my apartment here, the plain ticket and all the living expenses and I have no money coming in at the moment. I brought enough spending money so that I would feel comfortable, but towards the end, you realize how much you've spent and you've decided that PB&J is the best lunch ever. Or is it? Is there a possible way of getting food for free? Welcome to "Using your Looks in Conjunction with your Brain 101," a necessary class to complete the last few weeks of any study abroad experience.
I LOVE FOOD. A lot. Ask me or my sisters about any type of food and we've probably tried it or heard about it. We are always trying everything and eating at new places, but this gets pricy. Here, Jenn and I will start talking about food and drive ourselves crazy. We say that we're "hangrey" (hungry and angry that we don't have access to the food). "Hanger" occurs when you are bored and imaginative about the food you could possibly eat, and we usually solve this problem by eating lots of chocolate and eventually falling asleep. This weekend, though, we decided we were going to set goals for each night we went out, without spending our own money.
Lesson 1: if they want to buy you a drink, say you can't on an empty stomach. Thursday night, we went out to the clubs down the street from our apartment. Thursday is Friday in regards to university life, so the whole avenue was packed with people spilling out of little restaurants and clubs. By the way, here, not just night clubs are night clubs. Regular everyday restaurants, like this small Chinese place, put on music and open up to sell drinks so people can hang out, which is really comical. So we go into this club and we go upstairs just to hang out, and soon, some friends we met the other night there found us. My one friend told me that the annoying thing about Puerto Rico is that it's so small that once you meet someone, you'll see them all the time, which is true, because I saw so many people that night we were friends with. Another friend of mine says he doesn't even go with a group to la avenida universitaria because when he arrives by himself, there's already a handful of people he knows in whichever part of the street. So we greet our friends, and the first thing they do is offer us a drink, so we begin our schemes. I just say "no thanks, I haven't eaten much today" and automatically they ask if you would like something to eat. Jenn and I ended up splitting 2 orders of spicy wings and only drinking water the rest of the night with built in body guards to escort us wherever we wanted to go. We were content.
Friday we had been talking about fried cheesecake all day. We had eaten it with our teacher in a really expensive restaurant during our first weekend in Puerto Rico, but weren't quite sure how to get back there. That day, we set a goal that we were going to get fried cheesecake that night without paying for it. Well, last weekend, my teacher had to kayak with a guy, Todd, that was here on a business trip, and she encouraged us to take him out to show him around and we ended up exchanging numbers. Now that his work week was over, he wanted to go out. He told us where he was having dinner and was going to treat us, but we couldn't make it in time because of the short notice and how long the bus systems take. On our way to meet him at the restaurant, these 2 guys approach us to ask if they can go with us where we're going and buy us a drink. I'm just going to go off on a tangent by the way and talk about the guy that started talking to us. He was here working as crew on a Yacht. He's from South Africa so he had like a British accent and he just starts rambling like Russell Crow so that he could go with us. The guy he was with was from Washington DC, and I didn't really get the connection. Later, upon talking to the Washington guy, I find out that he was sitting in a bar alone and South Africa convinced him to hang out and go out. Then, on their hanging out, SA decides to pick us up as well. So basically, this guy just goes around making random friends wherever the place may be. Anyways, his drink offer reverts back to lesson 1 where you refuse the drink and redirect the focus towards food. We agreed to let them tag along and met Todd at Marmalade, the most expensive and best reviewed restaurant in Old San Juan. He was eating dessert so we kind of missed the boat on that one, which brings us to Lesson 2: bring up a really good restaurant/food that you've tried nearby and convince them that they must try it before they leave. Jenn and I started raving about the fried cheesecake at Vaca Brava and telling them how they had to try it. Before we knew it, I was leading the way to the restaurant and we were seated at a table for 5. The waiter greeted us and the guys we were with started asking him about this fried cheesecake they had heard all about. Now us waiters have this tactic of "up-selling" which means that you're going to try to sell as much food at the highest price because a bigger bill gets a bigger tip, especially when you're in a tourist zone. So our waiter started up-selling, which is the proper response when a table of 5 comes in and asks for 1 dessert. This works a lot of the time when I do it, so I decided that I was more hungry that 1 dessert and that I would comply with his suggestions, which is Lesson 3: agree with any and all suggestions a waiter gives and convince the rest of your table it's a good idea by awing over how good everything sounds. While we're at it, let's not forget Lesson 4: where you ask more about the business trip your new friend is on and keep bringing up how nice it is that everything he does is paid for on the company's dime with the company credit card. Anyways, we ended up spending $180 on who knows what and then using my hoarse voice (which I've been losing since Wednesday) as an excuse that I was sick and needed to go home. It was late by then, and the bus system is done running around 10, so we had to start discussing how we were going to get home, to which Todd offered to split a cab. This brings us to lesson 5: where you use your foreign language to make the non-foreign language speaking party pay the full price. We talked to the cab driver in Spanish to explain to him that upon dropping Todd off, he would charge him the full price. Successful Friday night.
Well last night, Saturday night, we were actually with our good friends we met down here, so we weren't really trying to pull anything. They're just nice anyways so anytime we were hungry, which is all the time, they made sure we were well fed. This is part of lesson 6, which brings a sincere closing to this satirical post: surround yourself with people that aren't buying you things because they have other motives, but take care of you because you're friends and you just want to spend time with each other.
I hope this post doesn't offend anybody, I'm just joking about all the manipulation, but that's kind of how it happened and Jenn and I have been laughing about it all weekend. We really just went out with the intentions of hanging out, although fried cheesecake was a real goal that night, but I just have a hard time refusing food once it jumps up in conversation. However, if you really have it in you though, feel free to take these lessons to heart and use them at your convenience.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Weekend in the East (bio bay, luquillo, fajardo, El Yunque)
Where do I even begin with this weekend? It was filled with so much fun and so much awesome scenery. Basically, we went out to Fajardo to kayak in the bio-luminescent bay (laguna grande), go to El Yunque Rainforest, and end it at la playa de Luquillo, one of the most beautiful and calmest beaches of Puerto Rico.
But let's start from the beginning so my memory doesn't fail me (like it has in half of these posts).
I was woken up at 10 AM Saturday with a call from my teacher, who was on campus to teach a workshop for intercity kids. She had to pick us up at my apartment early because she had to run back to her house in Old San Juan where she forgot her cell phone, so we drove back there. Old San Juan has very tiny streets, they're all one-way and have one side reserved for street parking and one for cars to drive. So we just blocked up her whole street by parking next to the parked cars so she could run in and get her cell phone. Mission accomplished.
On our way to the freeway to Fajardo, we were passing the hotel where her son's cafe is, so she asked if we were hungry. I always say yes to that question. We stopped there to get the famous 3-tea blend and a muffin and to visit for a while. Their tea is so good so I'm glad we stopped.
I played co-pilot on the way to Fajardo and had to pay special attention, because my teacher get's lost very often with directions and such. I fell asleep anyways, and my teacher just said she would let me know when she needed me. Ok, so you know when you're in the country, and the roads don't have names? They just have those route numbers with north, south, east or west and it's confusing. I've encountered these a lot with my parents and little sister trying to visit colleges in the middle of nowhere like Ohio Northern or Findley. Well, that is exactly what we were up against on the way out to Fajardo. From the main highway, we did find the route we needed, but from there it was very confusing. The directions from the kayaking company listed about 5 different turns we had to make. We didn't make any of them and we kept on straight, yet we ended up on the last route we needed before the beach. In other words, instead of making 5 turns, we continued straight and made it right to where we were supposed to be. I think a few revisions need to be made.
We unloaded at the beach and tried to look for the kayak company, but were told we were real early since we were taking a night kayak trip. This gave us time to play in the water and soak up some sun. Fajardo is the north eastern part of the island, where you have access to the other islands of Puerto Rico such as Vieques and Culebra. Those were in the background as we played in the water. We saw some cool fish and a lot that camouflaged into the rocks on the bottom and others that looked like the seaweed leaves, which was really cool. There were a lot of boats in the background as well as kayak companies setting up. As a per-departure snack, we got some pinchos, those kabob thingies. They actually had a shrimp one that Jenn tried and my teacher and I got chicken.
Finally, it was time for kayaking. These were open ocean kayaks, so we would be getting wet from the waste down, at the very least. We just wore our swim suits with a shirt over top, but it was pretty chilly. My teacher says we're not allowed to say that it's chilly because we're from Ohio, where it's snowing now. Surprisingly, we now think that 70's is cold because we spend the day in the 80's. Anyways, we put on bug spray and life jackets and grouped up to hear some instructions. Everyone got a partner, so Jenn and I stuck together while my teacher went with another single guy. She kept trying to get Jenn or me to go with him, but he was old by our standards and I'm too shy for that business. It was funny to hear them trying to communicate because he spoke no Spanish and she struggles with English, but they made a good team. Our kayak guide was funny, referring to kayaks with other companies as "the enemy" and teaching us how to hit them and make it look like an accident. Well, it was decided that I would be the person in the back of the kayak to steer and everything because I had been kayaking a few times in the ocean and my gym class in college was kayaking. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much I remembered from that experience.
We got into our kayaks and rowed into a single file line until our whole group was ready. We kayaked across the ocean docks where the boats sat to an opening of a river canal. This canal was awesome because it had mangrove trees that hang over the top of you and form a canopy. When you look up through the branches in the air, you can see a million stars. The little river was very shallow and pretty narrow so we had to be careful not to crash into the trees on the side and get stuck. We got stuck anyways, on a few occasions, but our guide just told us that we got the full experience that way.
After about half an hour of kayaking and some twists and turns, we got to La Laguna Grande, a bio-luminescent bay. This lagoon is filled with millions of organisms that react to movement by lighting up. In other words, when you stuck your hand into the water and wiggled it around, your hand lit up like tinker bell. It was the coolest thing ever. At one point, you were able to swim in it to see your whole body light up, but they discovered that all the oils, perfumes and bugsprays that we wear were killing the organisms which would also stop them from lighting up. The sky was filled with more stars than I've ever seen before. I saw the usual suspects, like Orion and the North Star, but they were surrounded and filled with a million other tiny stars.
It was time to go back and we all lined up again to start down the river back to the ocean. This trip would be easier and faster because we would be going with the current. I was excited about that, but then quickly learned that we would encounter enemy kayaks that would be entering as we were exiting. Not good. We crashed a few times into oncoming traffic and got stuck in a jam in the roots of the trees. We finally made it out and back to shore where they had snacks and water waiting for us. My teacher decided she was going to change and went to her car. When she got back, she told us about how she had to go pee but didn't want to go in the nasty bathrooms, so she went in her fast food cup by her car. She really is a character.
For dinner, we saw a restaurant as we were headed back to the highway to stay in Luquillo. The tables were outdoors and the scenery was gorgeous. We had great service and confused them on whether we spoke Spanish or English. We're too tan to look American, but our facial features are American, and then we always enter places speaking Spanish, so it's fun when they come up to our table and say "¿Inglés o español?" Well, with my teacher, it's always at least a 3 course meal. We got 2 appetizers: some shrimp in a fruity glaze and some ham croquettes, both of which were awesome. Then we went to look at the menu. Surprisingly, one of the cheaper things was Filet Mignon, and I don't feel like I get to eat that enough, so I ordered it. All of our dishes came out beautifully decorated with sauces in different designs. Everything was delicious, and when the waiter came with the bill, our teacher refused it and asked for dessert. We ended up getting a creme brulee made with sweet potatoes. It was awesome and also beautifully presented. We called our friends who were staying with us at the apartment, and they said they were at dinner at Taco Maker, a fast food taco chain. My teacher doesn't approve of that, especially since we were meeting up with another teacher and her student teacher, who needs to experience Puerto Rican restaurants, not Taco Maker.
We got back on the highway and went to the ocean side apartment and were exhausted. I shared a room with my teacher who was literally passed out with lights on and everything when I got out of the bathroom. We slept great that night.
The next day, I woke up to birds chirping and the sound of ocean waves, which I now believe is the way that everyone in the world should wake up. We threw on some clothes and went to Walgreens to get bottles of water and then subway to get some breakfast and a sandwich to eat later on our hike. I was very impressed with subway's breakfast; I had no idea they made the eggs right in front of you to put on the flat breads. We took our breakfast back to the apartment to eat on the balcony in front of the ocean and then got our stuff together to go to El Yunque. The other teacher and her boyfriend hike, kayak and bike all around the island, so they knew the spot to take us in the rainforest.
El Yunque is a rainforest that is a mountain, or basically the whole mountain is the rainforest. So, we had to drive up and around the mountain until we finally got to the trail to Las Minas waterfall. They have created trail paths with concrete stairs and big rocks to help everyone get to their destination, which was really nice. After hiking 30 minutes down hill and seeing some awesome scenery and plants, we arrived at the waterfall. It was so beautiful and everyone was going in it. We took off our clothes to get into our bathing suits and climbed over a bunch of huge rocks to get into the freezing cold water. I saw some fish swimming around and we kept screaming because of how cold the water was and also because there were huge rocks at the bottom of the falls where we couldn't see them below the water. We got some awesome and hilarious pictures of it all, though. We dried off and hiked up hill all the way back up to the top where we ate lunch by some beautiful scenery and then decided to head out to the beach.
Luquillo beach actually has a parking lot that you have to pay to park in. This is all because the beach has wonderful park facilities. They have great bathrooms, life guard houses, and awesome colorful tiled showers. Luquillo beach is arguably one of the best beaches in Puerto Rico. One of the teachers told us that most people think it's the best, but in her opinion, she likes the beaches on Culebra and La Playa Sucia better. But 3rd best in her book is fine with me. The water is very calm and there's almost no waves. It's also crystal clear and you can see your feet. The sand in the water doesn't have anything in it. No rocks, no plants, but you can see schools of fish swim by and there were actually a few people walking around with starfish they caught. We floated in the calm water and laid out a bit. One time when I went in the water myself, I ended up making friends with these 3 little kids. They thought my name was strange and said I seemed like I was from a different planet, but I just told them I was from the United States. The little girl told me she had never heard of it, but then proceeded to tell me how she was born in New York. My teacher said that I'm a good teacher because I taught some little kids that day how New York and Ohio are both states in the U.S. I pulled them around in their floaties and when we had to go, the kids didn't want me to leave, it was so cute. Sadly, we had to go home from there so my teacher could babysit her grand kids and Jenn and I could go back to our apartment.
This island is one of the most amazing places for me, and this weekends is one of the reasons why. There are so many diverse ecosystems in one tiny place and you can see so much. For example, just this weekend we went to the bio-luminescent lagoon, the ocean, and the rainforest. Another weekend we got to go to the caves and a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains. I know why they call it "The Island of Enchantment."
But let's start from the beginning so my memory doesn't fail me (like it has in half of these posts).
I was woken up at 10 AM Saturday with a call from my teacher, who was on campus to teach a workshop for intercity kids. She had to pick us up at my apartment early because she had to run back to her house in Old San Juan where she forgot her cell phone, so we drove back there. Old San Juan has very tiny streets, they're all one-way and have one side reserved for street parking and one for cars to drive. So we just blocked up her whole street by parking next to the parked cars so she could run in and get her cell phone. Mission accomplished.
On our way to the freeway to Fajardo, we were passing the hotel where her son's cafe is, so she asked if we were hungry. I always say yes to that question. We stopped there to get the famous 3-tea blend and a muffin and to visit for a while. Their tea is so good so I'm glad we stopped.
I played co-pilot on the way to Fajardo and had to pay special attention, because my teacher get's lost very often with directions and such. I fell asleep anyways, and my teacher just said she would let me know when she needed me. Ok, so you know when you're in the country, and the roads don't have names? They just have those route numbers with north, south, east or west and it's confusing. I've encountered these a lot with my parents and little sister trying to visit colleges in the middle of nowhere like Ohio Northern or Findley. Well, that is exactly what we were up against on the way out to Fajardo. From the main highway, we did find the route we needed, but from there it was very confusing. The directions from the kayaking company listed about 5 different turns we had to make. We didn't make any of them and we kept on straight, yet we ended up on the last route we needed before the beach. In other words, instead of making 5 turns, we continued straight and made it right to where we were supposed to be. I think a few revisions need to be made.
We unloaded at the beach and tried to look for the kayak company, but were told we were real early since we were taking a night kayak trip. This gave us time to play in the water and soak up some sun. Fajardo is the north eastern part of the island, where you have access to the other islands of Puerto Rico such as Vieques and Culebra. Those were in the background as we played in the water. We saw some cool fish and a lot that camouflaged into the rocks on the bottom and others that looked like the seaweed leaves, which was really cool. There were a lot of boats in the background as well as kayak companies setting up. As a per-departure snack, we got some pinchos, those kabob thingies. They actually had a shrimp one that Jenn tried and my teacher and I got chicken.
Finally, it was time for kayaking. These were open ocean kayaks, so we would be getting wet from the waste down, at the very least. We just wore our swim suits with a shirt over top, but it was pretty chilly. My teacher says we're not allowed to say that it's chilly because we're from Ohio, where it's snowing now. Surprisingly, we now think that 70's is cold because we spend the day in the 80's. Anyways, we put on bug spray and life jackets and grouped up to hear some instructions. Everyone got a partner, so Jenn and I stuck together while my teacher went with another single guy. She kept trying to get Jenn or me to go with him, but he was old by our standards and I'm too shy for that business. It was funny to hear them trying to communicate because he spoke no Spanish and she struggles with English, but they made a good team. Our kayak guide was funny, referring to kayaks with other companies as "the enemy" and teaching us how to hit them and make it look like an accident. Well, it was decided that I would be the person in the back of the kayak to steer and everything because I had been kayaking a few times in the ocean and my gym class in college was kayaking. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much I remembered from that experience.
We got into our kayaks and rowed into a single file line until our whole group was ready. We kayaked across the ocean docks where the boats sat to an opening of a river canal. This canal was awesome because it had mangrove trees that hang over the top of you and form a canopy. When you look up through the branches in the air, you can see a million stars. The little river was very shallow and pretty narrow so we had to be careful not to crash into the trees on the side and get stuck. We got stuck anyways, on a few occasions, but our guide just told us that we got the full experience that way.
After about half an hour of kayaking and some twists and turns, we got to La Laguna Grande, a bio-luminescent bay. This lagoon is filled with millions of organisms that react to movement by lighting up. In other words, when you stuck your hand into the water and wiggled it around, your hand lit up like tinker bell. It was the coolest thing ever. At one point, you were able to swim in it to see your whole body light up, but they discovered that all the oils, perfumes and bugsprays that we wear were killing the organisms which would also stop them from lighting up. The sky was filled with more stars than I've ever seen before. I saw the usual suspects, like Orion and the North Star, but they were surrounded and filled with a million other tiny stars.
It was time to go back and we all lined up again to start down the river back to the ocean. This trip would be easier and faster because we would be going with the current. I was excited about that, but then quickly learned that we would encounter enemy kayaks that would be entering as we were exiting. Not good. We crashed a few times into oncoming traffic and got stuck in a jam in the roots of the trees. We finally made it out and back to shore where they had snacks and water waiting for us. My teacher decided she was going to change and went to her car. When she got back, she told us about how she had to go pee but didn't want to go in the nasty bathrooms, so she went in her fast food cup by her car. She really is a character.
For dinner, we saw a restaurant as we were headed back to the highway to stay in Luquillo. The tables were outdoors and the scenery was gorgeous. We had great service and confused them on whether we spoke Spanish or English. We're too tan to look American, but our facial features are American, and then we always enter places speaking Spanish, so it's fun when they come up to our table and say "¿Inglés o español?" Well, with my teacher, it's always at least a 3 course meal. We got 2 appetizers: some shrimp in a fruity glaze and some ham croquettes, both of which were awesome. Then we went to look at the menu. Surprisingly, one of the cheaper things was Filet Mignon, and I don't feel like I get to eat that enough, so I ordered it. All of our dishes came out beautifully decorated with sauces in different designs. Everything was delicious, and when the waiter came with the bill, our teacher refused it and asked for dessert. We ended up getting a creme brulee made with sweet potatoes. It was awesome and also beautifully presented. We called our friends who were staying with us at the apartment, and they said they were at dinner at Taco Maker, a fast food taco chain. My teacher doesn't approve of that, especially since we were meeting up with another teacher and her student teacher, who needs to experience Puerto Rican restaurants, not Taco Maker.
We got back on the highway and went to the ocean side apartment and were exhausted. I shared a room with my teacher who was literally passed out with lights on and everything when I got out of the bathroom. We slept great that night.
The next day, I woke up to birds chirping and the sound of ocean waves, which I now believe is the way that everyone in the world should wake up. We threw on some clothes and went to Walgreens to get bottles of water and then subway to get some breakfast and a sandwich to eat later on our hike. I was very impressed with subway's breakfast; I had no idea they made the eggs right in front of you to put on the flat breads. We took our breakfast back to the apartment to eat on the balcony in front of the ocean and then got our stuff together to go to El Yunque. The other teacher and her boyfriend hike, kayak and bike all around the island, so they knew the spot to take us in the rainforest.
El Yunque is a rainforest that is a mountain, or basically the whole mountain is the rainforest. So, we had to drive up and around the mountain until we finally got to the trail to Las Minas waterfall. They have created trail paths with concrete stairs and big rocks to help everyone get to their destination, which was really nice. After hiking 30 minutes down hill and seeing some awesome scenery and plants, we arrived at the waterfall. It was so beautiful and everyone was going in it. We took off our clothes to get into our bathing suits and climbed over a bunch of huge rocks to get into the freezing cold water. I saw some fish swimming around and we kept screaming because of how cold the water was and also because there were huge rocks at the bottom of the falls where we couldn't see them below the water. We got some awesome and hilarious pictures of it all, though. We dried off and hiked up hill all the way back up to the top where we ate lunch by some beautiful scenery and then decided to head out to the beach.
Luquillo beach actually has a parking lot that you have to pay to park in. This is all because the beach has wonderful park facilities. They have great bathrooms, life guard houses, and awesome colorful tiled showers. Luquillo beach is arguably one of the best beaches in Puerto Rico. One of the teachers told us that most people think it's the best, but in her opinion, she likes the beaches on Culebra and La Playa Sucia better. But 3rd best in her book is fine with me. The water is very calm and there's almost no waves. It's also crystal clear and you can see your feet. The sand in the water doesn't have anything in it. No rocks, no plants, but you can see schools of fish swim by and there were actually a few people walking around with starfish they caught. We floated in the calm water and laid out a bit. One time when I went in the water myself, I ended up making friends with these 3 little kids. They thought my name was strange and said I seemed like I was from a different planet, but I just told them I was from the United States. The little girl told me she had never heard of it, but then proceeded to tell me how she was born in New York. My teacher said that I'm a good teacher because I taught some little kids that day how New York and Ohio are both states in the U.S. I pulled them around in their floaties and when we had to go, the kids didn't want me to leave, it was so cute. Sadly, we had to go home from there so my teacher could babysit her grand kids and Jenn and I could go back to our apartment.
This island is one of the most amazing places for me, and this weekends is one of the reasons why. There are so many diverse ecosystems in one tiny place and you can see so much. For example, just this weekend we went to the bio-luminescent lagoon, the ocean, and the rainforest. Another weekend we got to go to the caves and a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains. I know why they call it "The Island of Enchantment."
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Hay un amigo en mi
Today was one of the most wonderful Valentine's days I've ever had in my life, all thanks to my students. Actually, here, we call it "El día de amistad" or "friendship day." It's not about whether or not you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, it's about appreciating your friends and letting them know how much they mean to you. I wish it were more like that in the states, because based on many of the Facebook statuses I've seen today, people get hardcore depressed on this day because they don't have a significant other.
Anyways, Jenn and I started the day with our pink shirts on and jeans because we knew we would be getting Valentine's T-shirts from the school. We were so excited about them too because they would have the school's name on them. Besides the school name, they said "Let's paint a world of love" in Spanish. All the teachers and kids were wearing them and we got some pictures of us in them.
Next, there was an assembly for the whole school to make proclamations of peace and love as a school and also to share in some singing and music. It was awesome. We actually started with a prayer, which surprised me. They respect diversity but they also respect God and aren't afraid of offending people. The 4th graders got out their recorders and their teacher played the guitar and they sang a few songs for us. They were so good, and I video taped them, but my computer is being slow and won't upload the videos. Then, the cutest little autistic boy from one of my 6th grade classes got on stage to play his clarinet and sing. He can be a handful in class, but he sang and played with all his heart today. He played a tune in between verses of "Hay un amigo en mi" or "You've Got a Friend in Me" from ToyStory.
All of the teachers, even us student teachers, cried during this performance. It was just so touching to see his talent and to see him really singing from the heart. Afterwards, different students from the classes read proclamations of peace and it was so precious how the kindergarteners, who have trouble reading, had memorized their lines. They ended by everyone singing the Alma Mater and we went back to our classrooms.
In the classroom, we had a little party for the kids. They had "secret friends" to give gifts too so we went exchanging. The students had to get up and describe their secret friend so we could guess who it was. They said the sweetest things about each other, like how nice their secret friend was or smart or pretty. We all got in a circle to say nice things to each other and it was also a time to ask forgiveness from a friend you might've done wrong to. The teacher started by asking forgiveness from a few students she had been hard on and they hugged and kissed and made up. That's another thing here, you can hug and kiss the kids like they're your own. The teacher also spoke about the kids who represented the class the best and our class slogan the best of "equality." Then other students were able to say sorry to their friends, and one girl actually started crying because she had been mean. It was really sweet. We gave out Valentine's gifts to everyone and had cake. The game we played was really fun too. We taped a paper to everyone's back and everyone got a marker. You had to go around and write something nice on everyone's paper, and we played too. Afterwards, we got to read our papers and everyone got to feel special. My papers are hanging right about my desk right now. I'm going to miss them soo much when I leave.
Well, we did the same activity with the second class and they loved it as well. I got cake and plenty of chocolates so I am good to go. Today was just so full of love with them and my teacher was great. She bought us a teaching philosophy book in Spanish that she's actually published in. She signed it for us and everything.
Well tonight, a guy from campus asked to go out with Jenn, so to be safe, I'm going with her as a third wheel. So Valentine's night won't be too bad.
Have a beautiful Valentine's everyone! And if you don't have a significant other, be thankful for your friends and tell them how much you appreciate them or say sorry to someone you've wronged.
Anyways, Jenn and I started the day with our pink shirts on and jeans because we knew we would be getting Valentine's T-shirts from the school. We were so excited about them too because they would have the school's name on them. Besides the school name, they said "Let's paint a world of love" in Spanish. All the teachers and kids were wearing them and we got some pictures of us in them.
Next, there was an assembly for the whole school to make proclamations of peace and love as a school and also to share in some singing and music. It was awesome. We actually started with a prayer, which surprised me. They respect diversity but they also respect God and aren't afraid of offending people. The 4th graders got out their recorders and their teacher played the guitar and they sang a few songs for us. They were so good, and I video taped them, but my computer is being slow and won't upload the videos. Then, the cutest little autistic boy from one of my 6th grade classes got on stage to play his clarinet and sing. He can be a handful in class, but he sang and played with all his heart today. He played a tune in between verses of "Hay un amigo en mi" or "You've Got a Friend in Me" from ToyStory.
All of the teachers, even us student teachers, cried during this performance. It was just so touching to see his talent and to see him really singing from the heart. Afterwards, different students from the classes read proclamations of peace and it was so precious how the kindergarteners, who have trouble reading, had memorized their lines. They ended by everyone singing the Alma Mater and we went back to our classrooms.
In the classroom, we had a little party for the kids. They had "secret friends" to give gifts too so we went exchanging. The students had to get up and describe their secret friend so we could guess who it was. They said the sweetest things about each other, like how nice their secret friend was or smart or pretty. We all got in a circle to say nice things to each other and it was also a time to ask forgiveness from a friend you might've done wrong to. The teacher started by asking forgiveness from a few students she had been hard on and they hugged and kissed and made up. That's another thing here, you can hug and kiss the kids like they're your own. The teacher also spoke about the kids who represented the class the best and our class slogan the best of "equality." Then other students were able to say sorry to their friends, and one girl actually started crying because she had been mean. It was really sweet. We gave out Valentine's gifts to everyone and had cake. The game we played was really fun too. We taped a paper to everyone's back and everyone got a marker. You had to go around and write something nice on everyone's paper, and we played too. Afterwards, we got to read our papers and everyone got to feel special. My papers are hanging right about my desk right now. I'm going to miss them soo much when I leave.
Well, we did the same activity with the second class and they loved it as well. I got cake and plenty of chocolates so I am good to go. Today was just so full of love with them and my teacher was great. She bought us a teaching philosophy book in Spanish that she's actually published in. She signed it for us and everything.
Well tonight, a guy from campus asked to go out with Jenn, so to be safe, I'm going with her as a third wheel. So Valentine's night won't be too bad.
Have a beautiful Valentine's everyone! And if you don't have a significant other, be thankful for your friends and tell them how much you appreciate them or say sorry to someone you've wronged.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Be thankful for what you got... and break something
Today, I learned how many things I take for granted.
This week, they posted a sign in our apartment that said the whole University would be turning the power off from 7am-3pm today, Sunday. I don't know if this was part of a monk exercise, maintenance work, or just a sick joke to watch all the exchange students run around like crazy.
Anyways, we slept in until 11 today, so things should've been half way over. The AC was off, but it was still comfortable. I was extremely thirsty but too scared to open the fridge to get my water because we have food in there. So I didn't. I went to the bathroom and learned, for whatever reason, that the toilet's flusher runs on electricity. Gross. I went to use the sink and learned that it too is also an electric sink in one way or another. Sanitary. I ate a breakfast bar and remembered how Abby said she would make us her "cream cheese scrambled eggs" today, but she politely reminded me that we also needed electricity to make those. Perfect. I'm thankful for electricity.
So we packed up our tooth brushes and face wash and walked to Denny's to get a taste of home when we needed it the most. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and when a lady came out of her stall, she was laughing while washing her hands. I've decided not to judge people doing things like that from now on, because you never know why the heck they're doing their crazy things. Plus, there has to be a good reason for it, because otherwise they wouldn't be doing things just to do them. Once that was over, I ordered this skillet breakfast meal with caramel and banana french toast, bacon and eggs. I swear I have a much bigger appetite here, because at home I never finish my meals, especially not ones that big, but I finished that whole thing.
I'm thankful for my mom who does my laundry and that every house I've moved into has had it's own washer and dryer. I officially hate laundromats and how they stick their soapy little hands in your pockets. I'm also glad we ignored our laundry for the past 2 weeks and decided to wait to do it today, when the power was out. We had to go down 5 flights of stairs with laundry and lug it down the street to the laundromat, pay $2.25 a load and $.25 for every 4 minutes of drying time. Ridiculous. So now, I'm sitting in the Subway across the street waiting for my dry time to be up so we can lug everything back home.
The power better be on. I want to take the elevator up to my 5th floor suite, flush my toilet, open my fridge, and break something.
This week, they posted a sign in our apartment that said the whole University would be turning the power off from 7am-3pm today, Sunday. I don't know if this was part of a monk exercise, maintenance work, or just a sick joke to watch all the exchange students run around like crazy.
Anyways, we slept in until 11 today, so things should've been half way over. The AC was off, but it was still comfortable. I was extremely thirsty but too scared to open the fridge to get my water because we have food in there. So I didn't. I went to the bathroom and learned, for whatever reason, that the toilet's flusher runs on electricity. Gross. I went to use the sink and learned that it too is also an electric sink in one way or another. Sanitary. I ate a breakfast bar and remembered how Abby said she would make us her "cream cheese scrambled eggs" today, but she politely reminded me that we also needed electricity to make those. Perfect. I'm thankful for electricity.
So we packed up our tooth brushes and face wash and walked to Denny's to get a taste of home when we needed it the most. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and when a lady came out of her stall, she was laughing while washing her hands. I've decided not to judge people doing things like that from now on, because you never know why the heck they're doing their crazy things. Plus, there has to be a good reason for it, because otherwise they wouldn't be doing things just to do them. Once that was over, I ordered this skillet breakfast meal with caramel and banana french toast, bacon and eggs. I swear I have a much bigger appetite here, because at home I never finish my meals, especially not ones that big, but I finished that whole thing.
I'm thankful for my mom who does my laundry and that every house I've moved into has had it's own washer and dryer. I officially hate laundromats and how they stick their soapy little hands in your pockets. I'm also glad we ignored our laundry for the past 2 weeks and decided to wait to do it today, when the power was out. We had to go down 5 flights of stairs with laundry and lug it down the street to the laundromat, pay $2.25 a load and $.25 for every 4 minutes of drying time. Ridiculous. So now, I'm sitting in the Subway across the street waiting for my dry time to be up so we can lug everything back home.
The power better be on. I want to take the elevator up to my 5th floor suite, flush my toilet, open my fridge, and break something.
Fun and Busy Friday and Saturday
I feel like I haven't had time to breathe these last 2 days, but we've been having a lot of fun keeping busy!
Well, this whole week at school was "La Semana de las Bellas Artes" or "Fine Arts Week." On Monday, we got to sing together and one of my 6th graders played the Sax for everyone with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and the Harry Potter theme song. On Tuesday, we watched bongo players and dancers. I actually got to learn how to play the bongos and did a 3-step beat on them. On Wednesday, we learned how to dance "la plena." We didn't have time to participate on Thursday, because our classes were misbehaving and it took forever to do a simple task on Twitter. Also, Carla, another student teacher, took us into town to an awesome shoe store and we had these crazy loaded baked potatoes on the street. That brings us to Friday, when we finished up the week with a school wide chalk mural on the sidewalk outside of the school. Each class had a different central idea to draw about, and ours was "equality." Being 6th grade, we had the end of the sidewalk to work with and then it spit out into the parking lot. The kids took full advantage of the parking lot, and I just thought it was ironic that our theme was equality, but we had the most space out of anyone.
So between classes on Friday, Jenn and I decided to pick up some boxes from the USPS so we could send some stuff home to our families. The "it fits, it ships" boxes would be the cheapest, but their large box isn't all that large. Regardless, I'm planning on sending home some souvenirs and leaving behind my towels and sheets to lower the weight of my suitcase. It was already 1 pound over on the way here, and I'm lucky they didn't charge me for that.
We returned back to school and tried to teach, but the kids were so wound up with the fine arts week, the fact that it was Friday, and also because we had a school event that night.
After school, we went back into town to do some shopping. And the stores here are ridiculous and have awesome prices. When you walk into an accessories store here, be prepared to be bombarded with accessories. Same goes for shoes, clothes, etc. They have so many flashy things and the whole store is just covered in them. It kind of reminded me of the little holes in the wall in Chinatown with all the purses and jewelry and belts, except the stores here aren't little, they're big regular sized stores just packed with stuff all over. I got the cutest sandals for $5 and some really cute wristlets and dresses. I bought so much stuff and on the way home, we stopped back at the school to see the kids' soccer games. They were so good, but it was so hot, so we went back home.
The school event to go on that night was called "Cine Bajo las Estrellas" or literally, "Theatre Under the Stars." It serves as a fund raiser for the 6th grade by them selling concessions. We had sushi beforehand, but when we arrived to the school at night I had a pincho and some popcorn. All of our class was there and they were so excited. They set up a projector for us and started the night with a photo power point with "Party Rock Anthem" in the background. The kids love LMFAO and they were all dancing and shuffling. Finally, we got to watch Cars 2 totally in Spanish, which helped me learn some new words. A lot of the younger kids ran around the whole time, but the older ones and all the adults sat on their blankets or lawn chairs to watch. Afterwards, we went and got nutella milk shakes before bed.
Today, Abby and Melissa, the 2 student teachers from Boston, were going kayaking with their teacher, so Jenn and I decided it would be a beach day. We went to Condado again and it was nice and hot. We were in the hotel zone, though, so we had to keep moving position so a hotel tower wasn't shading us. I got a lot of sun and my cheeks look a little red. The water there is so salty that when you dry off, you can see salt rings on your skin. We decided to get Starbucks before coming back and I found that they had my Tazo peach tea, which is one of my favorites.
We caught the bus and went back to meet Abby to go out in Old San Juan for the night. When we got there, we went to see if my teacher was home, but she wasn't. She later texted me that she was with her grandkids. So we went to Señor Frogs, a very touristy place. But in those places where they assume everyone's a tourist or American, we like to respond to their Spanish and speak back to them. We danced for a bit there and then met up with our friends to go and eat. I had some steak fajitas, which were awesome. They drove us home afterwards and now I'm about to go to bed.
Tomorrow, we need to find something to do outside the apartment. The university is shutting all power off tomorrow from 7am-3pm and we're going to need air conditioning!
Well, this whole week at school was "La Semana de las Bellas Artes" or "Fine Arts Week." On Monday, we got to sing together and one of my 6th graders played the Sax for everyone with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and the Harry Potter theme song. On Tuesday, we watched bongo players and dancers. I actually got to learn how to play the bongos and did a 3-step beat on them. On Wednesday, we learned how to dance "la plena." We didn't have time to participate on Thursday, because our classes were misbehaving and it took forever to do a simple task on Twitter. Also, Carla, another student teacher, took us into town to an awesome shoe store and we had these crazy loaded baked potatoes on the street. That brings us to Friday, when we finished up the week with a school wide chalk mural on the sidewalk outside of the school. Each class had a different central idea to draw about, and ours was "equality." Being 6th grade, we had the end of the sidewalk to work with and then it spit out into the parking lot. The kids took full advantage of the parking lot, and I just thought it was ironic that our theme was equality, but we had the most space out of anyone.
So between classes on Friday, Jenn and I decided to pick up some boxes from the USPS so we could send some stuff home to our families. The "it fits, it ships" boxes would be the cheapest, but their large box isn't all that large. Regardless, I'm planning on sending home some souvenirs and leaving behind my towels and sheets to lower the weight of my suitcase. It was already 1 pound over on the way here, and I'm lucky they didn't charge me for that.
We returned back to school and tried to teach, but the kids were so wound up with the fine arts week, the fact that it was Friday, and also because we had a school event that night.
After school, we went back into town to do some shopping. And the stores here are ridiculous and have awesome prices. When you walk into an accessories store here, be prepared to be bombarded with accessories. Same goes for shoes, clothes, etc. They have so many flashy things and the whole store is just covered in them. It kind of reminded me of the little holes in the wall in Chinatown with all the purses and jewelry and belts, except the stores here aren't little, they're big regular sized stores just packed with stuff all over. I got the cutest sandals for $5 and some really cute wristlets and dresses. I bought so much stuff and on the way home, we stopped back at the school to see the kids' soccer games. They were so good, but it was so hot, so we went back home.
The school event to go on that night was called "Cine Bajo las Estrellas" or literally, "Theatre Under the Stars." It serves as a fund raiser for the 6th grade by them selling concessions. We had sushi beforehand, but when we arrived to the school at night I had a pincho and some popcorn. All of our class was there and they were so excited. They set up a projector for us and started the night with a photo power point with "Party Rock Anthem" in the background. The kids love LMFAO and they were all dancing and shuffling. Finally, we got to watch Cars 2 totally in Spanish, which helped me learn some new words. A lot of the younger kids ran around the whole time, but the older ones and all the adults sat on their blankets or lawn chairs to watch. Afterwards, we went and got nutella milk shakes before bed.
Today, Abby and Melissa, the 2 student teachers from Boston, were going kayaking with their teacher, so Jenn and I decided it would be a beach day. We went to Condado again and it was nice and hot. We were in the hotel zone, though, so we had to keep moving position so a hotel tower wasn't shading us. I got a lot of sun and my cheeks look a little red. The water there is so salty that when you dry off, you can see salt rings on your skin. We decided to get Starbucks before coming back and I found that they had my Tazo peach tea, which is one of my favorites.
We caught the bus and went back to meet Abby to go out in Old San Juan for the night. When we got there, we went to see if my teacher was home, but she wasn't. She later texted me that she was with her grandkids. So we went to Señor Frogs, a very touristy place. But in those places where they assume everyone's a tourist or American, we like to respond to their Spanish and speak back to them. We danced for a bit there and then met up with our friends to go and eat. I had some steak fajitas, which were awesome. They drove us home afterwards and now I'm about to go to bed.
Tomorrow, we need to find something to do outside the apartment. The university is shutting all power off tomorrow from 7am-3pm and we're going to need air conditioning!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Condado Beach/Utuado countryside
Saturday is always beach day here, it seems, but we wanted to go to a new beach. We had gone out Thursday to this nice ocean front club, so we decided that was the beach we wanted to go to and decided to go to Condado again. We figured out the bus to get there and got to this really ritzy touristy place and went to the beach there. It was so nice but there were a lot of guys there in speedos with their "partners." They had a beautiful boardwalk and scenery and we got some awesome pictures. We decided to eat at this burger place that the guys on Thursday told us about, and it was the funniest thing. We go into the house-type building and it's kind of empty with random couches, chairs, weird artwork and a ping pong table. After walking through, we came out to a patio where two guys were grilling burgers. They were sooo funny; they were like legitimate surfer dudes and they were from America. The guy cursed when we came out of the house and said "we have a fry situation," meaning the potato cutter they use to cut the fries was broken, so he had to cut the potatoes himself. Then, I asked the other guy what he recommended, and he said muenster cheese on the 4 oz. burger. When I told him I wanted pepperjack, he looked at me and said "so... not the muenster?" He looked so annoyed that I asked his opinion and didn't take it. There were also a bunch of different guys skate boarding in and out of the restaurant and one of them skateboarded to get our drinks from the store. It was just the most random thing.
Later that night, we wanted to go out to our teacher's town again, but a cab was $96 and the driver actually recommended us to rent a car because it's cheaper, so we did. We took the bus to the airport and got a car and drove to Utuado through a bunch of hills. Our friends were giving us directions on the way, and told us to keep going straight when we were supposed to turn, sending us down this really creepy narrow road. Our friend who was driving, Abby, started freaking out and thinking of car jacking stories and wouldn't stop the car. She swung around for a u-turn and she drove like a bat out of hell back down the hill hitting basically all the pot holes. Finally, we found our way there. We went to the chinchorrito, the hole in the wall place, for dancing and also for the pinchos, or shish kabobs. I mostly hung out with the guy who owns the little shish kabob tent because he has this Mexican salsa I like and since I help him flip the kabobs, he gives me free bread. Writing that sentence just made me feel like a bird. Anyways, I hung out with the people around there and when a Salsa or Bachata song that came on, I found someone to dance with since those were dances I learned back in the states. Everyone was really nice and at the end of the night, they paid for us to get a hotel so we didn't have to drive back late. They were like nice little condos, like the ones we stayed in the last weekend. When we woke up though to find our friends staying in the other room, they were gone and so was their car. We started freaking out and had to walk down this really steep hill to get to the main road to try and find our way to the Grandma's house we knew. When we got to the bottom, I asked a man with his golf cart for directions, but he totally ignored me and continued up the steep hill we just came down. When he parked it at the top though, the brakes totally gave out and the golf cart came zooming down the hill and we had to jump out of the way as the cart crossed the street and went straight into a jungle like ditch. It was the most hilarious thing I had ever seen in my life and we almost peed our pants. Think of the scene where the jungle swallows the car in Jumanji and that's what it was like. Anyways, we decided to just walk down the road to ask the gas station for directions, and our friend's car was parked there. We were so happy to see them, and they thought we were nuts for thinking they'd leave. They were just getting some snacks for breakfast. So we packed up our things and decided to get a real breakfast in town at a real Puerto Rican place. We went to this small cafe and got churrasco, or a type of steak, tostones, which are fried plantains, rice and beans. It was all really good and afterwards we took our rental car back home and of course stopped at the outlet mall on the way and did some grocery shopping before returning it.
This weekend was full of hilarious times all because we decided to rent a car and go out of town on a whim, but we had a blast. Tomorrow, we start teaching full time so it's time to get back into work mode and be teachers.
Later that night, we wanted to go out to our teacher's town again, but a cab was $96 and the driver actually recommended us to rent a car because it's cheaper, so we did. We took the bus to the airport and got a car and drove to Utuado through a bunch of hills. Our friends were giving us directions on the way, and told us to keep going straight when we were supposed to turn, sending us down this really creepy narrow road. Our friend who was driving, Abby, started freaking out and thinking of car jacking stories and wouldn't stop the car. She swung around for a u-turn and she drove like a bat out of hell back down the hill hitting basically all the pot holes. Finally, we found our way there. We went to the chinchorrito, the hole in the wall place, for dancing and also for the pinchos, or shish kabobs. I mostly hung out with the guy who owns the little shish kabob tent because he has this Mexican salsa I like and since I help him flip the kabobs, he gives me free bread. Writing that sentence just made me feel like a bird. Anyways, I hung out with the people around there and when a Salsa or Bachata song that came on, I found someone to dance with since those were dances I learned back in the states. Everyone was really nice and at the end of the night, they paid for us to get a hotel so we didn't have to drive back late. They were like nice little condos, like the ones we stayed in the last weekend. When we woke up though to find our friends staying in the other room, they were gone and so was their car. We started freaking out and had to walk down this really steep hill to get to the main road to try and find our way to the Grandma's house we knew. When we got to the bottom, I asked a man with his golf cart for directions, but he totally ignored me and continued up the steep hill we just came down. When he parked it at the top though, the brakes totally gave out and the golf cart came zooming down the hill and we had to jump out of the way as the cart crossed the street and went straight into a jungle like ditch. It was the most hilarious thing I had ever seen in my life and we almost peed our pants. Think of the scene where the jungle swallows the car in Jumanji and that's what it was like. Anyways, we decided to just walk down the road to ask the gas station for directions, and our friend's car was parked there. We were so happy to see them, and they thought we were nuts for thinking they'd leave. They were just getting some snacks for breakfast. So we packed up our things and decided to get a real breakfast in town at a real Puerto Rican place. We went to this small cafe and got churrasco, or a type of steak, tostones, which are fried plantains, rice and beans. It was all really good and afterwards we took our rental car back home and of course stopped at the outlet mall on the way and did some grocery shopping before returning it.
This weekend was full of hilarious times all because we decided to rent a car and go out of town on a whim, but we had a blast. Tomorrow, we start teaching full time so it's time to get back into work mode and be teachers.
Friday, February 3, 2012
My Teacher's Kids and About School
This week has been kind of busy with planning for next week, when Jenn and I start co-teaching our literary unit full time. On top of it, we do zumba and we're training for the World's Best 10K on my momma's birthday (Feb 26).
Thursday, though, we skipped work outs because our teacher wanted us to meet her kids. She has a daughter who is 23 and a son who is 25 and they own their own cafe/coffee shop in a hotel in Isla Verde. So after school, she took us there. She always feeds us so much when we go out, and we got to have dinner pool side at the hotel. I got chicken with a mashed plantain sort of thing. Then, we hung out with her son at the cafe and had some really good tea. They get these herbs grown right on the island to make it, and my teacher mixes hibiscus, mint, and lemon tea together and it tasted awesome. We both had 2 cups. They also gave us gelato (Jenn and I shared coconut and nutella cookie) and some muffins. As her son was closing up, our teacher had us help him clean by washing the dishes and counters. She always volunteers us for work, but we don't mind because she already has done so much for us and we still have fun while we work. My teacher is also going to law school and had a class that night, but she decided she wanted to skip it so we got to take our time there.
Later, our friend Abby had met some other students at UPR that wanted to take us out, so we decided to hang out with them that night. We went to Condado, which is a ritzier part of the island, and went to this really nice ocean front club with draped white sheets and a beautiful view. We were surprised at how nice it was; it was like one of those places you would film a music video at. They decided to take us somewhere in Old San Juan after, though, and it was this crappy hole in the wall with graffiti all over the walls and everything. It was just so random how we went from one extreme to the next.
Today, Friday, we went on our first "field trip" with the kids. Tomorrow, they have to take a big test called the "PIENSE" which determines their level of learning for when they go on to high school. They have been studying for about a month and working really hard, so the teachers made sure to make today fun for them. The math teacher actually brought in balloons for the class to blow up and write things on about the test and then we counted down to pop them all together. It was fun and the kids loved it. Then, they got to tear up and destroy their test review booklets. With my teacher, though, we took them to the market for some milk shakes. The kids loved it and it was cool to see the market, which reminded me of the West Side Market in Cleveland. They scoop fresh fruit and milk into the blender to make the shakes.
School gets out at 1 on Fridays instead of 3 pm so we got to go to the pool and lay out a bit. Tonight we're going to the mall for sushi and shopping. My poor silver flats that I always wear are broken and I need to get a new pair :/. Hopefully we'll get out to the beach tomorrow for some more sun!
Thursday, though, we skipped work outs because our teacher wanted us to meet her kids. She has a daughter who is 23 and a son who is 25 and they own their own cafe/coffee shop in a hotel in Isla Verde. So after school, she took us there. She always feeds us so much when we go out, and we got to have dinner pool side at the hotel. I got chicken with a mashed plantain sort of thing. Then, we hung out with her son at the cafe and had some really good tea. They get these herbs grown right on the island to make it, and my teacher mixes hibiscus, mint, and lemon tea together and it tasted awesome. We both had 2 cups. They also gave us gelato (Jenn and I shared coconut and nutella cookie) and some muffins. As her son was closing up, our teacher had us help him clean by washing the dishes and counters. She always volunteers us for work, but we don't mind because she already has done so much for us and we still have fun while we work. My teacher is also going to law school and had a class that night, but she decided she wanted to skip it so we got to take our time there.
Later, our friend Abby had met some other students at UPR that wanted to take us out, so we decided to hang out with them that night. We went to Condado, which is a ritzier part of the island, and went to this really nice ocean front club with draped white sheets and a beautiful view. We were surprised at how nice it was; it was like one of those places you would film a music video at. They decided to take us somewhere in Old San Juan after, though, and it was this crappy hole in the wall with graffiti all over the walls and everything. It was just so random how we went from one extreme to the next.
Today, Friday, we went on our first "field trip" with the kids. Tomorrow, they have to take a big test called the "PIENSE" which determines their level of learning for when they go on to high school. They have been studying for about a month and working really hard, so the teachers made sure to make today fun for them. The math teacher actually brought in balloons for the class to blow up and write things on about the test and then we counted down to pop them all together. It was fun and the kids loved it. Then, they got to tear up and destroy their test review booklets. With my teacher, though, we took them to the market for some milk shakes. The kids loved it and it was cool to see the market, which reminded me of the West Side Market in Cleveland. They scoop fresh fruit and milk into the blender to make the shakes.
School gets out at 1 on Fridays instead of 3 pm so we got to go to the pool and lay out a bit. Tonight we're going to the mall for sushi and shopping. My poor silver flats that I always wear are broken and I need to get a new pair :/. Hopefully we'll get out to the beach tomorrow for some more sun!
Monday, January 30, 2012
Weekend in the West
This past weekend, our teacher took us more to the west of the island to spend some time where she grew up. We had planned to go to a cancer benefit and meet her parents and ended up having a lot of fun along the way.
While we were packing on Saturday, our teacher called us and told us to bring tennis shoes just in case, but on the way out to Arecibo, Jenn realized she forgot hers at home. However, this meant that we were able to stop at the outlet malls where we went to the Nike store to get some cheap shoes. The outlet malls are just like the ones at home, but the buildings of course look more tropical. That means they have those stucco outer walls painted in bright colors and those ridged orange shingles on the roof. We were only there to get shoes, but I want to go back because I saw a Juicy Couture store :).
We were going to Arecibo for the cancer benefit for one of my teacher's friends from high school. She doesn't get to see her graduated class that often, but when they get together, they pick up right where they left off. We stopped at her friend's house first to go all together. They had a very nice house in a gated community and a little puppy named "Si." The cancer benefit was something that I had never seen before. Pandero's play hand drums and bongos in different beats to raise money at a bar. They were playing outside and we were right on the water. Our teacher's friends danced with us to the beat and we met a lot of new people. We saw that they were making food in the back of the bar and asked our teacher if we were allowed to eat. We didn't realize you had to make a donation, but when our teacher took us over, she put money in for us to eat. We never expect that from her, but she always pays for us when we go out. We had traditional pork with rice and beans. Across the street, we saw a stand with some fried things and got a fried marlin, which has a special name, but I forgot how to say it.
Next, we went to a coffee shop called "Black Coffee" in her hometown, Utuado, to meet with some more of my teacher's high school friends. We ordered a ham and cheese plate and a cheesecake that had vanilla and red velvet layers. It was really good and we spent a while talking with her friends and she saw even more friends from high school that she knew.
Just about every barrio in Puerto Rico has these little holes in the wall called "chinchorros." It's basically four walls and a tin roof on the side of the road with a juke box and bar for everyone to hang out. There was a DJ there with karaoke and on the side was a small tent where they were making "pinchos" or a kabob. Jenn and I had a barbeque chicken one with Yucateco salsa on it. I felt like I was kind of at a hoe-down or something. The best part was when the young people arrived. They go from chinchorro to chinchorro riding their horses. These horses aren't regular big horses, they're kind of like mutts and they're a smaller and skinnier breed. The people ride them in groups together around the cars and then just park them on the sides of the road. Since we were in the mountains, the area was really hilly and sometimes the horses couldn't stop. What was even more hilarious is that the people riding them were in their regular street clothes. For example, you would see guy in baggy jeans, an Aeropostal shirt and Nikes racing on a horse. We told our teacher how it was odd to see someone like that riding a horse and how we usually think of them with tighter jeans, a button up shirt and cowboy boots. She said that they would actually think dressing like that is ridiculous. It was fun trying to drive away from the chincorro because my teacher was afraid the horses would come in front of her.
My teacher decided that it would be best for us to stay in a hotel for the night, so we drove back in to Arecibo where we stayed in a really cute villa. Basically, there were little houses on a street with 3 separate partitions which were the rooms. We had a small kitchen with a stove and everything, two full beds and our bathroom. We were so tired when we got there, we went right to bed and decided not to set an alarm. We ended up getting up around 8:30 anyways, and even though we spent all day Saturday eating, we were starved. We went to a cafe for breakfast where I had a bacon and egg sandwich with tabasco and fresh squeezed orange juice. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel to go to the Rio Camuy caves.
My teacher had grown up in this area and she had never gone to see the caves. We were all excited and went on the tour which had audio guides for everyone with headphones in addition to a tour guide. We took this little tram to the opening and entered in the cave, which had 2 openings. There was a huge stalagmite that probably took millions of years to make. There was a stalactite that was in the shape of a person's profile, and as you got closer, it started to smile. There were also pools of water, one of in which they found a new and unique species of shrimp. We went out the second opening of the cave which had a hole up to the sky but we couldn't continue up because there was a mudslide there a few days before. We returned back into the cave into a labyrinth where the bats live, and I was horrified. It was this really dark place with bats sleeping in the deeper parts and a river 150 feet below us. The river is actually carving out another cave below and it runs underground all the way from the north of the island to the south. Some bats came out to fly around and I was freaking out, but they didn't come near us. We took a bunch of pictures and headed to lunch.
One of my teacher's friends from the night before wanted to meet us for lunch, so we took a confusing road down the mountains to the lake in between all of them. After we parked, she told us we would be taking a boat over to the restaurant which was on the coast of the other side of the lake. We could've driven straight to the restaurant, but this was we got to see the lake and some scenery and do something fun. We got off the boat right onto some steps to walk into the restaurant, which was all outdoors, but the weather was beautiful to eat outside that day. They served authentic Puerto Rican food there and I got steak in a special sauce with salad and fried plantains. We also had a fried cheese appetizer in a fruit sauce and for dessert we had a mango pudding and fried cheesecake with ice cream. Everything was amazing! We stayed there for quite a while because my teacher's friend just came to have a drink and talk, but we had to leave when the boat was making it's last trip back to the parking lot.
Finally, it was time to meet my teacher's parents. They actually have a pretty interesting story. Back when her mom graduated from high school, the kids usually went up to the states to find work. Her mom wasn't going to go, but another girl decided not to go at the last minute, so my teacher's mom went instead. Her mom left her boyfriend here, who was named Mario Santiago. Turns out that the girl she traded places with had a boyfriend in Florida who was also named Mario Santiago. There wasn't good communication back then, so the girl had no way of telling her boyfriend she wasn't coming in. Mario from Florida came up to New Jersey to await the arrival of his girlfriend, but met my teacher's mom instead and fell in love with her at first site. He returned to Florida to work and decided to write letters to my teacher's mom. Since they were signed from Mario Santiago, my teacher's mom assumed they were sent from her sweetie in Puerto Rico, and not the new guy she met from Florida. They wrote love letters to each other and Mario from Florida fell in love with her. Not hearing from his girlfriend, Mario from Puerto Rico kind of drifted away from having a relationship with her. When my teacher's mom returned back to Puerto Rico to meet with the Mario she thought she was writing letters to, she learned that it was the wrong one all that time. They ended up getting married anyways and my teacher says that either way, she was going to have a dad named Mario Santiago.
Anyways, they live on the top of a mountain in a house that her dad built, which has another story behind it. When she first lived in her town, they lived by a river. One day, it was raining and raining and raining and the river started to rise, but her mom didn't want to leave because there were no warnings. Her dad spoke up and they left everything in the house to get all 7 kids and the parents into their small Volkswagon to go up the hill. The water ended up taking over their car and they all got out to get away safely. They ended up having to stay in relative's houses while their dad built their house on a piece of land as high as they could get. Now her mom has peace of mind that the river can't ever rise to take over her house. So it took us forever to get to her house because we had to wind up and up the mountain. It was too dark to see the scenery, but our teacher told us it was gorgeous. They were very nice and the dad talked to us a lot about how he lived in the states. The mom thought we were Puerto Rican at first because of our tans. We only stayed for a little while, but I'm sure we'll go back to visit.
My teacher's friend then called us to meet them at the chinchorro, because he had a friend for Jenn to meet. We stayed for a little while, and the guy was very nice and said he would take us around a bit. We got home pretty late and went straight to bed to get up this morning at 6. It was a busy weekend, and we're tired but we had the best time with our teacher. We couldn't be in better hands or more lucky to be with someone like her.
While we were packing on Saturday, our teacher called us and told us to bring tennis shoes just in case, but on the way out to Arecibo, Jenn realized she forgot hers at home. However, this meant that we were able to stop at the outlet malls where we went to the Nike store to get some cheap shoes. The outlet malls are just like the ones at home, but the buildings of course look more tropical. That means they have those stucco outer walls painted in bright colors and those ridged orange shingles on the roof. We were only there to get shoes, but I want to go back because I saw a Juicy Couture store :).
We were going to Arecibo for the cancer benefit for one of my teacher's friends from high school. She doesn't get to see her graduated class that often, but when they get together, they pick up right where they left off. We stopped at her friend's house first to go all together. They had a very nice house in a gated community and a little puppy named "Si." The cancer benefit was something that I had never seen before. Pandero's play hand drums and bongos in different beats to raise money at a bar. They were playing outside and we were right on the water. Our teacher's friends danced with us to the beat and we met a lot of new people. We saw that they were making food in the back of the bar and asked our teacher if we were allowed to eat. We didn't realize you had to make a donation, but when our teacher took us over, she put money in for us to eat. We never expect that from her, but she always pays for us when we go out. We had traditional pork with rice and beans. Across the street, we saw a stand with some fried things and got a fried marlin, which has a special name, but I forgot how to say it.
Next, we went to a coffee shop called "Black Coffee" in her hometown, Utuado, to meet with some more of my teacher's high school friends. We ordered a ham and cheese plate and a cheesecake that had vanilla and red velvet layers. It was really good and we spent a while talking with her friends and she saw even more friends from high school that she knew.
Just about every barrio in Puerto Rico has these little holes in the wall called "chinchorros." It's basically four walls and a tin roof on the side of the road with a juke box and bar for everyone to hang out. There was a DJ there with karaoke and on the side was a small tent where they were making "pinchos" or a kabob. Jenn and I had a barbeque chicken one with Yucateco salsa on it. I felt like I was kind of at a hoe-down or something. The best part was when the young people arrived. They go from chinchorro to chinchorro riding their horses. These horses aren't regular big horses, they're kind of like mutts and they're a smaller and skinnier breed. The people ride them in groups together around the cars and then just park them on the sides of the road. Since we were in the mountains, the area was really hilly and sometimes the horses couldn't stop. What was even more hilarious is that the people riding them were in their regular street clothes. For example, you would see guy in baggy jeans, an Aeropostal shirt and Nikes racing on a horse. We told our teacher how it was odd to see someone like that riding a horse and how we usually think of them with tighter jeans, a button up shirt and cowboy boots. She said that they would actually think dressing like that is ridiculous. It was fun trying to drive away from the chincorro because my teacher was afraid the horses would come in front of her.
My teacher decided that it would be best for us to stay in a hotel for the night, so we drove back in to Arecibo where we stayed in a really cute villa. Basically, there were little houses on a street with 3 separate partitions which were the rooms. We had a small kitchen with a stove and everything, two full beds and our bathroom. We were so tired when we got there, we went right to bed and decided not to set an alarm. We ended up getting up around 8:30 anyways, and even though we spent all day Saturday eating, we were starved. We went to a cafe for breakfast where I had a bacon and egg sandwich with tabasco and fresh squeezed orange juice. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel to go to the Rio Camuy caves.
My teacher had grown up in this area and she had never gone to see the caves. We were all excited and went on the tour which had audio guides for everyone with headphones in addition to a tour guide. We took this little tram to the opening and entered in the cave, which had 2 openings. There was a huge stalagmite that probably took millions of years to make. There was a stalactite that was in the shape of a person's profile, and as you got closer, it started to smile. There were also pools of water, one of in which they found a new and unique species of shrimp. We went out the second opening of the cave which had a hole up to the sky but we couldn't continue up because there was a mudslide there a few days before. We returned back into the cave into a labyrinth where the bats live, and I was horrified. It was this really dark place with bats sleeping in the deeper parts and a river 150 feet below us. The river is actually carving out another cave below and it runs underground all the way from the north of the island to the south. Some bats came out to fly around and I was freaking out, but they didn't come near us. We took a bunch of pictures and headed to lunch.
One of my teacher's friends from the night before wanted to meet us for lunch, so we took a confusing road down the mountains to the lake in between all of them. After we parked, she told us we would be taking a boat over to the restaurant which was on the coast of the other side of the lake. We could've driven straight to the restaurant, but this was we got to see the lake and some scenery and do something fun. We got off the boat right onto some steps to walk into the restaurant, which was all outdoors, but the weather was beautiful to eat outside that day. They served authentic Puerto Rican food there and I got steak in a special sauce with salad and fried plantains. We also had a fried cheese appetizer in a fruit sauce and for dessert we had a mango pudding and fried cheesecake with ice cream. Everything was amazing! We stayed there for quite a while because my teacher's friend just came to have a drink and talk, but we had to leave when the boat was making it's last trip back to the parking lot.
Finally, it was time to meet my teacher's parents. They actually have a pretty interesting story. Back when her mom graduated from high school, the kids usually went up to the states to find work. Her mom wasn't going to go, but another girl decided not to go at the last minute, so my teacher's mom went instead. Her mom left her boyfriend here, who was named Mario Santiago. Turns out that the girl she traded places with had a boyfriend in Florida who was also named Mario Santiago. There wasn't good communication back then, so the girl had no way of telling her boyfriend she wasn't coming in. Mario from Florida came up to New Jersey to await the arrival of his girlfriend, but met my teacher's mom instead and fell in love with her at first site. He returned to Florida to work and decided to write letters to my teacher's mom. Since they were signed from Mario Santiago, my teacher's mom assumed they were sent from her sweetie in Puerto Rico, and not the new guy she met from Florida. They wrote love letters to each other and Mario from Florida fell in love with her. Not hearing from his girlfriend, Mario from Puerto Rico kind of drifted away from having a relationship with her. When my teacher's mom returned back to Puerto Rico to meet with the Mario she thought she was writing letters to, she learned that it was the wrong one all that time. They ended up getting married anyways and my teacher says that either way, she was going to have a dad named Mario Santiago.
Anyways, they live on the top of a mountain in a house that her dad built, which has another story behind it. When she first lived in her town, they lived by a river. One day, it was raining and raining and raining and the river started to rise, but her mom didn't want to leave because there were no warnings. Her dad spoke up and they left everything in the house to get all 7 kids and the parents into their small Volkswagon to go up the hill. The water ended up taking over their car and they all got out to get away safely. They ended up having to stay in relative's houses while their dad built their house on a piece of land as high as they could get. Now her mom has peace of mind that the river can't ever rise to take over her house. So it took us forever to get to her house because we had to wind up and up the mountain. It was too dark to see the scenery, but our teacher told us it was gorgeous. They were very nice and the dad talked to us a lot about how he lived in the states. The mom thought we were Puerto Rican at first because of our tans. We only stayed for a little while, but I'm sure we'll go back to visit.
My teacher's friend then called us to meet them at the chinchorro, because he had a friend for Jenn to meet. We stayed for a little while, and the guy was very nice and said he would take us around a bit. We got home pretty late and went straight to bed to get up this morning at 6. It was a busy weekend, and we're tired but we had the best time with our teacher. We couldn't be in better hands or more lucky to be with someone like her.
Friday, January 27, 2012
time flies when you're having fun...
Wow, this week has flown by! I can't believe my last blog was on Monday. It's been busy and fun, let's just see if I can remember it all. All of my days are kind of running together here, and I basically have to look at my Facebook timeline to remember exactly what I did.
On Tuesday after school, we didn't want to do any work so we tried to avoid that as much as possible. We went to Walgreens and the market to get bananas and also got some sort of sherbert or frozen yogurt which is made on site with the fruit. We got a tamarindo sherbert and a nutella milk shake to share. We also went running with the other girls from the states. If I'm not mistaken, we did get our lesson plan done that night.
On Wednesday, Jenn and I went to the pool after school to do some laps and get some sun. I remembered some of the strokes from my 6 years of swimming lessons, so we got to change up the laps we did and got a good work out. After, we laid on the bleachers which are made of cement to tan. The swim team started coming about to practice so we got to watch them and then moved to the other side of the bleachers because the sun was making shadows on us. We hung out and took pictures before going back to our apartment. For dinner, we decided it would be a good idea to try to cook. Each floor in the building has a communal kitchen, so we went in to fry some croquettas and make Spanish rice. Everything turned out good, except the croquettas were a little burnt, but we're not used to electric stoves. That night, we watched "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," because the next day we would teach our lesson.
Thursday was kind of nerve-wracking because we would be teaching the background information on the Holocaust and connecting it with the novel for some background information. When we asked what students knew about the Holocaust though, most of them had no idea what it was. They had never heard that word, but had an idea about concentration camps. Luckily, each class had 1 or 2 students who knew about it, and they were able to share their knowledge with the class. We showed a history channel video we found in Spanish, and there were a lot of gasps. The class was really interesting because in our discussion format, every student was able to share their reactions and perspectives, which was also interesting for us to hear. They also turned in a book of activities we gave them to do with the book so we had to get down to grading those. For lunch, a lady will provide a menu of things she will bring in that day so you can put an order in. For $6 it's a big meal and a drink, so Jenn and I split the barbeque chicken, rice, beans and salad. It was more than enough for both of us and really good. After school, it was time to Zumba! We were so excited to see what it was like here and learn new dances. It actually wasn't as intense as classes I've taken in the states, but I don't think we went for the full hour, because things usually start late here, and it did start like 10 minutes late. Afterwards, we ran a little bit and found some of our students on the track, so we got to talk to them. They were really cute and excited to see us. After showering, we caught the train the Old San Juan to go to dinner at a Spanish restaurant. When we got off the bus, we saw a Starbucks, and we pretty much ran to it so we could get cakepops! I had been dying to have one for forever! Then we went to dinner at the restaurant. We got Jamón Serrano (something pretty much only found in Spain), mofungo, chorizo, and papas bravas to share. Everything was really good and our waiter brought us a flan for free at the end! When we got home, we went right to bed to teach again in the morning.
So today, we continued our lesson by watching a little of the movie and comparing it to the book. The students were really excited and had so much to say. The only problem I'm having is managing them, because they all want to talk and I have to remind them to go one at a time and raise their hands. We also had a student teacher meeting of the school where we learned more about the type of school we're in. Since it's a lab school, the parents have to agree to let their children be part of research and they have to be open to changing teaching methods because this is where the University tests how methods work. It was really interesting and we got to talk to other student teachers, and there are around 20 of us there. We are all really lucky to be working in that school.
I probably forgot a million other things I did this week, but those were the highlights :)
Tonight, we are all going to the mall.
Tomorrow, our teacher is taking us to her mom's house in the country.
Should be fun!
On Tuesday after school, we didn't want to do any work so we tried to avoid that as much as possible. We went to Walgreens and the market to get bananas and also got some sort of sherbert or frozen yogurt which is made on site with the fruit. We got a tamarindo sherbert and a nutella milk shake to share. We also went running with the other girls from the states. If I'm not mistaken, we did get our lesson plan done that night.
On Wednesday, Jenn and I went to the pool after school to do some laps and get some sun. I remembered some of the strokes from my 6 years of swimming lessons, so we got to change up the laps we did and got a good work out. After, we laid on the bleachers which are made of cement to tan. The swim team started coming about to practice so we got to watch them and then moved to the other side of the bleachers because the sun was making shadows on us. We hung out and took pictures before going back to our apartment. For dinner, we decided it would be a good idea to try to cook. Each floor in the building has a communal kitchen, so we went in to fry some croquettas and make Spanish rice. Everything turned out good, except the croquettas were a little burnt, but we're not used to electric stoves. That night, we watched "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," because the next day we would teach our lesson.
Thursday was kind of nerve-wracking because we would be teaching the background information on the Holocaust and connecting it with the novel for some background information. When we asked what students knew about the Holocaust though, most of them had no idea what it was. They had never heard that word, but had an idea about concentration camps. Luckily, each class had 1 or 2 students who knew about it, and they were able to share their knowledge with the class. We showed a history channel video we found in Spanish, and there were a lot of gasps. The class was really interesting because in our discussion format, every student was able to share their reactions and perspectives, which was also interesting for us to hear. They also turned in a book of activities we gave them to do with the book so we had to get down to grading those. For lunch, a lady will provide a menu of things she will bring in that day so you can put an order in. For $6 it's a big meal and a drink, so Jenn and I split the barbeque chicken, rice, beans and salad. It was more than enough for both of us and really good. After school, it was time to Zumba! We were so excited to see what it was like here and learn new dances. It actually wasn't as intense as classes I've taken in the states, but I don't think we went for the full hour, because things usually start late here, and it did start like 10 minutes late. Afterwards, we ran a little bit and found some of our students on the track, so we got to talk to them. They were really cute and excited to see us. After showering, we caught the train the Old San Juan to go to dinner at a Spanish restaurant. When we got off the bus, we saw a Starbucks, and we pretty much ran to it so we could get cakepops! I had been dying to have one for forever! Then we went to dinner at the restaurant. We got Jamón Serrano (something pretty much only found in Spain), mofungo, chorizo, and papas bravas to share. Everything was really good and our waiter brought us a flan for free at the end! When we got home, we went right to bed to teach again in the morning.
So today, we continued our lesson by watching a little of the movie and comparing it to the book. The students were really excited and had so much to say. The only problem I'm having is managing them, because they all want to talk and I have to remind them to go one at a time and raise their hands. We also had a student teacher meeting of the school where we learned more about the type of school we're in. Since it's a lab school, the parents have to agree to let their children be part of research and they have to be open to changing teaching methods because this is where the University tests how methods work. It was really interesting and we got to talk to other student teachers, and there are around 20 of us there. We are all really lucky to be working in that school.
I probably forgot a million other things I did this week, but those were the highlights :)
Tonight, we are all going to the mall.
Tomorrow, our teacher is taking us to her mom's house in the country.
Should be fun!
Monday, January 23, 2012
these are a few of my favorite things
Overall, I had a pretty good Monday, besides starting it at 6:40am to get ready to go to school.
We went to school and assisted the teacher as she prepared the students for a standardized test called PIENSE, which is an acronym that also means "think!" in Spanish. Since we're teaching 6th grade, our students have to take this test to test their abilities in math, English, Spanish, and comprehension to get into high school. Jenn and I assist individually while our teacher directs the class.
Later, we went to Walgreens to get some things we needed and most importantly, Nutella. It's the best thing and the most economical way to get chocolate, since a bag of mini snickers costs around $4 here. On the way back, we saw a lot of students in a froyo shop so we stopped in there. The frozen yogurts they make are all natural with tropical fruits. We got a small cup of tamarindo flavor and a small Nutella milk shake to share. We have to go back soon to try all the flavors.
After getting some work done, it was time for TACOS! I had been dreaming about the tacos I saw at the taqueria because they sounded authentic, so we went there for dinner with our friend Caleb. They were great! They had cilantro, onion, lime and salsa picante, exactly how I like them. I liked them so much I ordered my first order of 2 and then went back for 2 more.
The girls from Massachusetts told us about a free trial class of yoga in the neighborhood, so we went there afterwards. It ended up being 2 hours long, but I feel relaxed. It was fun to do because the teacher only spoke Spanish and I got to hear how a yoga class is held in another language. If we want to go back, it's $13 a session or $40 a month, so I think we will see if the rec center has any classes first and then think about it, since we'll only be getting busier in the classroom as time goes on.
Well, we had Nutella, froyo, tacos, and yoga in Puerto Rico. A few of my favorite things all in a place that I'm falling in love with.
Nos vemos :).
We went to school and assisted the teacher as she prepared the students for a standardized test called PIENSE, which is an acronym that also means "think!" in Spanish. Since we're teaching 6th grade, our students have to take this test to test their abilities in math, English, Spanish, and comprehension to get into high school. Jenn and I assist individually while our teacher directs the class.
Later, we went to Walgreens to get some things we needed and most importantly, Nutella. It's the best thing and the most economical way to get chocolate, since a bag of mini snickers costs around $4 here. On the way back, we saw a lot of students in a froyo shop so we stopped in there. The frozen yogurts they make are all natural with tropical fruits. We got a small cup of tamarindo flavor and a small Nutella milk shake to share. We have to go back soon to try all the flavors.
After getting some work done, it was time for TACOS! I had been dreaming about the tacos I saw at the taqueria because they sounded authentic, so we went there for dinner with our friend Caleb. They were great! They had cilantro, onion, lime and salsa picante, exactly how I like them. I liked them so much I ordered my first order of 2 and then went back for 2 more.
The girls from Massachusetts told us about a free trial class of yoga in the neighborhood, so we went there afterwards. It ended up being 2 hours long, but I feel relaxed. It was fun to do because the teacher only spoke Spanish and I got to hear how a yoga class is held in another language. If we want to go back, it's $13 a session or $40 a month, so I think we will see if the rec center has any classes first and then think about it, since we'll only be getting busier in the classroom as time goes on.
Well, we had Nutella, froyo, tacos, and yoga in Puerto Rico. A few of my favorite things all in a place that I'm falling in love with.
Nos vemos :).
Sunday, January 22, 2012
all I do is eat fish everyday of my life
So Friday night, we went out to get sushi in Bayamón with a friend we met here and it was exactly how ours is in the states and the place looked like Sushi Rock. Jenn and I split a spicy crab roll and a Godzilla roll, which were great, and in the rolls you got to choose if you wanted avocado, mango, or pineapple. We got mango in our spicy crab roll and it was really good! The other nice thing is that when a Puerto Rican invites you out, they pay. So when I was disappointed at the end when they didn't have a chocolate dessert, our friend took us across the street to Chili's to get molten lava cake. And anybody who knows me (or any server at the local Applebee's) knows I am a crazy person for molten lava cake.
Saturday, we wanted to get to the beach but were too lazy to hop on the bus and decided to go to the pool instead. But why would the pool be open on the weekends? And on top of that, why is it so unacceptable to lay out on the lawns of the university? Either open your pool or loosen your policy people!!! Well, Jenn and I found a small solution to our craving for a tan, we climbed to the top floor of one of the buildings (which have their hallways outside, and therefore, their stairwells outside) and set up camp on the stair landing. Then came the rain. This is tropical rain, though, you know, that kind that comes when the sun is still shining and only lasts for 5 minutes. So we curled up under our umbrellas like the crazy Americans we are and waited for it to pass. If a news helicopter passed over, they would have had quite an interesting story.
When we got home, we had an angry hamper full of clothes asking to be cleaned. Since he wouldn't do it himself, we walked him down to the laundry room with a few dollar bills. It's a good thing the change machine was out of order and the guy at the front desk had no quarters, because I never want laundry to be dull and unadventurous. In fact, my ideal Saturday afternoon is spent in the laundry room or walking around the neighborhood in my bathing suit cover up to get quarters. So that's exactly what I did. I walked to this taco place that could only give me 8 quarters, we scraped up some of our own, and then crawled on the floor by vending machines and the washers to find the final quarter we needed. If you're friends with me on Facebook, you already got to see me playing around in the laundry room and fitting myself into the machines. While we were in there, another exchange student from Ohio visited us so we all decided to do something later with him and the 2 other student teachers from Massachusetts.
After all the clothes were done, we all went out for more sushi to this new restaurant that just opened up nearby. Jenn and I split the amarillo roll, which had a sweet plantain, avocado, cream cheese and spicy mayo, the spider roll and another spicy crab roll. The amarillo roll was really really really good, by the way :). Then we decided to check our a few of the college hang outs, and one of them had music to dance to and karaoke. While one guy was singing "Preciosa," a huge patriotic song that everyone in Puerto Rico knows, Jenn and I were following the words and the DJ offered us a microphone, so of course we sang! Then a girl came up to us to find the list of songs and asked us to sing with her, so we signed up for "Material Girl" and got cheered on as we sang that. It was a really fun night overall.
Today, Sunday, we went for a run and went with the girls to the beach. It's always really windy there, but the water was nice and we got some good tans. Afterwards, we went to this restaurant by the beach called Metropol. I got ceviche which was really good!
Well, that's 3 days in a row of fish, so tomorrow I ordered ribs for lunch at school. I also found a taco place that has tacos al pastor, which are real tacos, not those American things everyone thinks are tacos. Hopefully I get to go there soon!
Saturday, we wanted to get to the beach but were too lazy to hop on the bus and decided to go to the pool instead. But why would the pool be open on the weekends? And on top of that, why is it so unacceptable to lay out on the lawns of the university? Either open your pool or loosen your policy people!!! Well, Jenn and I found a small solution to our craving for a tan, we climbed to the top floor of one of the buildings (which have their hallways outside, and therefore, their stairwells outside) and set up camp on the stair landing. Then came the rain. This is tropical rain, though, you know, that kind that comes when the sun is still shining and only lasts for 5 minutes. So we curled up under our umbrellas like the crazy Americans we are and waited for it to pass. If a news helicopter passed over, they would have had quite an interesting story.
When we got home, we had an angry hamper full of clothes asking to be cleaned. Since he wouldn't do it himself, we walked him down to the laundry room with a few dollar bills. It's a good thing the change machine was out of order and the guy at the front desk had no quarters, because I never want laundry to be dull and unadventurous. In fact, my ideal Saturday afternoon is spent in the laundry room or walking around the neighborhood in my bathing suit cover up to get quarters. So that's exactly what I did. I walked to this taco place that could only give me 8 quarters, we scraped up some of our own, and then crawled on the floor by vending machines and the washers to find the final quarter we needed. If you're friends with me on Facebook, you already got to see me playing around in the laundry room and fitting myself into the machines. While we were in there, another exchange student from Ohio visited us so we all decided to do something later with him and the 2 other student teachers from Massachusetts.
After all the clothes were done, we all went out for more sushi to this new restaurant that just opened up nearby. Jenn and I split the amarillo roll, which had a sweet plantain, avocado, cream cheese and spicy mayo, the spider roll and another spicy crab roll. The amarillo roll was really really really good, by the way :). Then we decided to check our a few of the college hang outs, and one of them had music to dance to and karaoke. While one guy was singing "Preciosa," a huge patriotic song that everyone in Puerto Rico knows, Jenn and I were following the words and the DJ offered us a microphone, so of course we sang! Then a girl came up to us to find the list of songs and asked us to sing with her, so we signed up for "Material Girl" and got cheered on as we sang that. It was a really fun night overall.
Today, Sunday, we went for a run and went with the girls to the beach. It's always really windy there, but the water was nice and we got some good tans. Afterwards, we went to this restaurant by the beach called Metropol. I got ceviche which was really good!
Well, that's 3 days in a row of fish, so tomorrow I ordered ribs for lunch at school. I also found a taco place that has tacos al pastor, which are real tacos, not those American things everyone thinks are tacos. Hopefully I get to go there soon!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
School and Sun
So we started teaching a few days ago, and we love it. We've helped decorate the classroom inside and out and are planning a thematic unit on "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," but in Spanish, of course. Sixth grade is kind of hard to control sometimes, but with some help from our teacher, we're doing really well. Sometimes it's hard to give the whole class in Spanish, but we're getting better at speaking too.
But the best part is how relaxed things are here. I don't really feel stressed out and we're mostly having fun planning the unit. So after school, we can just go swimming. And I'm not sure I've ever been swimming in January before, but it was so nice. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and we swam around the pool, laid out, then put our feet in a little more. We're looking nice and tan now :).
We've also been watching a lot of Modern Family and other shows on hulu. We don't have a TV in here, like most students would bring, so we watch some stuff on our computers. After watching a few things, we got Mexican for dinner but their Mexican restaurants are a little different. We all know that Mexican food can be made really quickly, but the restaurants we have in the States are always sit down with a waiter and everything. Well, here every Mexican restaurant I've been to is one where you order at a counter and then they call you when the food is ready, which is kind of weird to me, especially since I was a waitress at a Mexican restaurant. Over all, the food is a lot cheaper at these restaurants but it's never spicy, Puerto Ricans don't really like spicy.
On our way to dinner, we ran into one of the teachers from our school and she was with 2 girls from Boston that will be teaching English with here. The teacher is a little intimidating, she actually sent Jenn and I an angry e-mail before we even got there saying to beware, because if we didn't "have full master of Spanish" we were going to be moved to teach English. Rose Marie, our teacher, has stood up for us though and always shares with her how well we are doing in Spanish. So there. Anyways, we are curious about the new arrivals and hoping we can make some new friends, since most of the people that want to hang out with us are creepy guys haha.
Well plans for this weekend are: Sushi with a new friend, beach, Plaza las Americas (which is a mall) and church.
Which reminds me, I didn't write about our church experience last week. But we went to a small Lutheran church where we were the talk of the town. Everyone had something to say to us. Afterwards, they were having a lunch for everyone, so we stayed from some real PR food. We had pork, rice, beans and salad and a sausage. While we were having the sausage, they decided it'd be a good idea to share with us how it's prepared. Oh you know, the meat is just ground up, placed inside the intestines and cooked in the blood from the animal. Blood sausage. If there's one thing I hate to think about while eating, it's that 1. my food was once alive and 2. it was prepared in a weird way. Just don't tell me that, and I can enjoy myself. The people were very nice and wanted to help us, but I think we're going to try a baptist church next. We haven't really found Pentecostal at all.
After church Sunday, we decided to go back to Old San Juan to visit the artisans in the festival of San Sebastian. We thought it'd be relatively calm since it was Sunday, but actually it was crazier than the weekend. We could hardly walk through the streets with all the people around. We had to just shuffle through crowds to get to the artisans. Then we went to a Spanish restaurant where they had flamenco and tapas, some of which I got to try in Spain, so I was excited to eat there.
Well that's the update. The only thing hard about this experience is getting up at 6:30 to teach in the morning, but since it get's dark around 7 anyways, it's not like I want to stay up late all the time.
I'll be looking for you on the beach!
But the best part is how relaxed things are here. I don't really feel stressed out and we're mostly having fun planning the unit. So after school, we can just go swimming. And I'm not sure I've ever been swimming in January before, but it was so nice. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and we swam around the pool, laid out, then put our feet in a little more. We're looking nice and tan now :).
We've also been watching a lot of Modern Family and other shows on hulu. We don't have a TV in here, like most students would bring, so we watch some stuff on our computers. After watching a few things, we got Mexican for dinner but their Mexican restaurants are a little different. We all know that Mexican food can be made really quickly, but the restaurants we have in the States are always sit down with a waiter and everything. Well, here every Mexican restaurant I've been to is one where you order at a counter and then they call you when the food is ready, which is kind of weird to me, especially since I was a waitress at a Mexican restaurant. Over all, the food is a lot cheaper at these restaurants but it's never spicy, Puerto Ricans don't really like spicy.
On our way to dinner, we ran into one of the teachers from our school and she was with 2 girls from Boston that will be teaching English with here. The teacher is a little intimidating, she actually sent Jenn and I an angry e-mail before we even got there saying to beware, because if we didn't "have full master of Spanish" we were going to be moved to teach English. Rose Marie, our teacher, has stood up for us though and always shares with her how well we are doing in Spanish. So there. Anyways, we are curious about the new arrivals and hoping we can make some new friends, since most of the people that want to hang out with us are creepy guys haha.
Well plans for this weekend are: Sushi with a new friend, beach, Plaza las Americas (which is a mall) and church.
Which reminds me, I didn't write about our church experience last week. But we went to a small Lutheran church where we were the talk of the town. Everyone had something to say to us. Afterwards, they were having a lunch for everyone, so we stayed from some real PR food. We had pork, rice, beans and salad and a sausage. While we were having the sausage, they decided it'd be a good idea to share with us how it's prepared. Oh you know, the meat is just ground up, placed inside the intestines and cooked in the blood from the animal. Blood sausage. If there's one thing I hate to think about while eating, it's that 1. my food was once alive and 2. it was prepared in a weird way. Just don't tell me that, and I can enjoy myself. The people were very nice and wanted to help us, but I think we're going to try a baptist church next. We haven't really found Pentecostal at all.
After church Sunday, we decided to go back to Old San Juan to visit the artisans in the festival of San Sebastian. We thought it'd be relatively calm since it was Sunday, but actually it was crazier than the weekend. We could hardly walk through the streets with all the people around. We had to just shuffle through crowds to get to the artisans. Then we went to a Spanish restaurant where they had flamenco and tapas, some of which I got to try in Spain, so I was excited to eat there.
Well that's the update. The only thing hard about this experience is getting up at 6:30 to teach in the morning, but since it get's dark around 7 anyways, it's not like I want to stay up late all the time.
I'll be looking for you on the beach!
Saturday, January 14, 2012
La Playa
Today we decided we were going to find out how to get to the beach, which is almost always first priority when I study somewhere. We made friends with the guy in the subway station, so we went back to check with him about the route to take.
So we wait at a stop, that is really a small green sign that says you can get a bus there, for the #40. Bonus: during the weekend of el Festival de San Sabastían, the city takes a lot of the normal buses from their routes to transport people to the festival, leaving each route with 1 or 2 buses. So we were on the side of the road for about half an hour before having to wave down the bus to stop. That's right. You have to be standing up waving the bus as if you were telling an airplane where to land. I mean, it makes sense that you shouldn't get a ride unless you look like you really want it. Otherwise, keep your 75 cents for the subway, because that will just come to you without questions.
Anyways, we had a little help finding out where our stop was from the driver and an American man in his swim trunks and a Hawaiian shirt who was evidently going to... the airport. We were there in less than 10 minutes. So we just decided to walk straight down a side street near the stop at which we were left off and finally saw water. It was the beach! and we were so excited to see it. The sand area itself was kind of small, but after walking a little bit closer to the hotels we found a comfy palm tree to put our stuff by and lay under.
The water was kind of chilly but easy to get used to. We laid out and ate our PB&J's and bananas and decided that we would like to try to swim in a pool. If there was a sign that clearly said "RITZ CARLTON hotel guests only," I must have completely missed it. That, or I looked at it and decided that I would play hotel guest. It was so pretty in there with chaise lounges and cabanas and lions spitting water into the pool. But when we tried setting down our colorful towels, which contrasted against everyone else's white ones, we were offered different towels and then told if we weren't hotel guest we had to leave. We were relieved to get back to our luxurious palm tree in the sand where we could be appreciated. After swimming a bit and taking pictures, we had to leave to make sure the bus would still be running since it is a holiday and weekend.
Javier, the guy from the subway station, told us how good Puerto Rican chinese food was, so we decided take-out would be good for dinner. Then we needed to stop at walgreens to get crackers for our Sour sop marmalade, you know, made of the fruit that comes from the sour sop tree. And I'm not kidding, you can look up pictures of this thing and it's very tasty. Ok, Chinese food. We ordered "mofungo" which is something made with corn and plantains that Puerto Ricans love, which was actually pretty tasty but probably not the best mofungo, but we needed to try it. Jenn got sesame chicken which apparently only means sesame chicken and no rice. I got chicken lo mein with all appropriate condiments: soy sauce, duck sauce, and an american favorite, ketchup. I also ordered a taco because, as most of my friends know, I have an unhealthy obsession to a proper Mexican taco complete with cilantro, onions, lime and hot sauce, since I spent the last 6 months working at a Mexican restaurant. I was so excited for my taco until I bit into it and got a mouth full of tortilla, chicken, mashed potatoes and cheese. Good effort on their part though, they got the tortilla and chicken right.
Well, I gotta go sour sop my crackers.
So we wait at a stop, that is really a small green sign that says you can get a bus there, for the #40. Bonus: during the weekend of el Festival de San Sabastían, the city takes a lot of the normal buses from their routes to transport people to the festival, leaving each route with 1 or 2 buses. So we were on the side of the road for about half an hour before having to wave down the bus to stop. That's right. You have to be standing up waving the bus as if you were telling an airplane where to land. I mean, it makes sense that you shouldn't get a ride unless you look like you really want it. Otherwise, keep your 75 cents for the subway, because that will just come to you without questions.
Anyways, we had a little help finding out where our stop was from the driver and an American man in his swim trunks and a Hawaiian shirt who was evidently going to... the airport. We were there in less than 10 minutes. So we just decided to walk straight down a side street near the stop at which we were left off and finally saw water. It was the beach! and we were so excited to see it. The sand area itself was kind of small, but after walking a little bit closer to the hotels we found a comfy palm tree to put our stuff by and lay under.
The water was kind of chilly but easy to get used to. We laid out and ate our PB&J's and bananas and decided that we would like to try to swim in a pool. If there was a sign that clearly said "RITZ CARLTON hotel guests only," I must have completely missed it. That, or I looked at it and decided that I would play hotel guest. It was so pretty in there with chaise lounges and cabanas and lions spitting water into the pool. But when we tried setting down our colorful towels, which contrasted against everyone else's white ones, we were offered different towels and then told if we weren't hotel guest we had to leave. We were relieved to get back to our luxurious palm tree in the sand where we could be appreciated. After swimming a bit and taking pictures, we had to leave to make sure the bus would still be running since it is a holiday and weekend.
Javier, the guy from the subway station, told us how good Puerto Rican chinese food was, so we decided take-out would be good for dinner. Then we needed to stop at walgreens to get crackers for our Sour sop marmalade, you know, made of the fruit that comes from the sour sop tree. And I'm not kidding, you can look up pictures of this thing and it's very tasty. Ok, Chinese food. We ordered "mofungo" which is something made with corn and plantains that Puerto Ricans love, which was actually pretty tasty but probably not the best mofungo, but we needed to try it. Jenn got sesame chicken which apparently only means sesame chicken and no rice. I got chicken lo mein with all appropriate condiments: soy sauce, duck sauce, and an american favorite, ketchup. I also ordered a taco because, as most of my friends know, I have an unhealthy obsession to a proper Mexican taco complete with cilantro, onions, lime and hot sauce, since I spent the last 6 months working at a Mexican restaurant. I was so excited for my taco until I bit into it and got a mouth full of tortilla, chicken, mashed potatoes and cheese. Good effort on their part though, they got the tortilla and chicken right.
Well, I gotta go sour sop my crackers.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Festival San Sebastían
Que locura!
El Festival de San Sebastían is kind of like a block party for all of Old San Juan. Our teacher was excited to take us there, and we were excited to go! We hopped on the subway from our campus to Sagrada Corazón and then waited in line for a good while to catch the bus. All the buses there were reserved just to take subway passengers from the subway station to the festival. The buses were all lined up and were the only ones allowed on the streets. We packed into a bus and the police escorted a fleet of us into the city. They dropped us off a little far and we had to walk to my teachers house. Along the way we heard music, people singing and dancing and there were people along the sides of the street selling hats and accessories that lit up.
We got to my teacher's house and it was sooo cute! We walked down a hall until we got to a courtyard. On the other side of the courtyard, we entered her house. It's a one bedroom apartment and all the rooms - even the bathroom - open to the courtyard. She made us a dinner of chicken with peppers and onions and potatoes and salad, it was really good! We talked a lot, mostly about the politics of the island and the differences between them and us, and then went out to brave the festival. People were packed in the streets and the plazas converted into discos with a stage playing music and people dancing in front while street vendors sold traditional foods, which are mostly fried. In addition, they had some Mexican food like tacos and Colombian food like arepas. We left the house just in time to catch the festival ending, but we got a good feel for it and returned to her house to sleep on her futon with the courtyard doors open to have a nice comfortable breeze.
For breakfast, we had grapes, toast, cheese and orange juice before leaving to walk around the town. She showed us a lot of different important buildings, stores and we finally made it to El Morro, an old fortress from when the Spanish first got to the island. It was soo awesome and massive. It lies right on the coast so we got some beautiful views. We also had a lot of exploring through it because it has 6 levels. It was castle-like but also defensive and one of the coolest things I've ever seen. After we left there, we went to a different plaza where they were selling a lot of artisan things in honor of the festival. Everything sold there for the festival has to have certification that it was made in Puerto Rico using things only from the island. This stops cheap vendors from selling things made in China. I got some really nice hand crafted things for good prices. Next, she took us to the first governor house, for the "emperor Carlos V" who was the king of Spain during the conquista. It was closed inside, but we walked around the gardens, which were gorgeous, and got some great pictures. On the way to lunch, we wanted to try something authentic so we got "bacalaito" which is fried bacalao, or cod fish. It was really good and thin like a pancake but hard because it was fried, a weird combination. She took us to a restaurant called Vaca Brava and we shared a meal with steak, ribs, chicken and fries as well as tostones and a pitcher of Sangria. Everything was awesome and it was nice to get out of the sun for a little.
We went back to her house to rest for a bit before taking the bus and subway back home. Tomorrow we plan on going to the beach to get some more sun :). I love it here.
El Festival de San Sebastían is kind of like a block party for all of Old San Juan. Our teacher was excited to take us there, and we were excited to go! We hopped on the subway from our campus to Sagrada Corazón and then waited in line for a good while to catch the bus. All the buses there were reserved just to take subway passengers from the subway station to the festival. The buses were all lined up and were the only ones allowed on the streets. We packed into a bus and the police escorted a fleet of us into the city. They dropped us off a little far and we had to walk to my teachers house. Along the way we heard music, people singing and dancing and there were people along the sides of the street selling hats and accessories that lit up.
We got to my teacher's house and it was sooo cute! We walked down a hall until we got to a courtyard. On the other side of the courtyard, we entered her house. It's a one bedroom apartment and all the rooms - even the bathroom - open to the courtyard. She made us a dinner of chicken with peppers and onions and potatoes and salad, it was really good! We talked a lot, mostly about the politics of the island and the differences between them and us, and then went out to brave the festival. People were packed in the streets and the plazas converted into discos with a stage playing music and people dancing in front while street vendors sold traditional foods, which are mostly fried. In addition, they had some Mexican food like tacos and Colombian food like arepas. We left the house just in time to catch the festival ending, but we got a good feel for it and returned to her house to sleep on her futon with the courtyard doors open to have a nice comfortable breeze.
For breakfast, we had grapes, toast, cheese and orange juice before leaving to walk around the town. She showed us a lot of different important buildings, stores and we finally made it to El Morro, an old fortress from when the Spanish first got to the island. It was soo awesome and massive. It lies right on the coast so we got some beautiful views. We also had a lot of exploring through it because it has 6 levels. It was castle-like but also defensive and one of the coolest things I've ever seen. After we left there, we went to a different plaza where they were selling a lot of artisan things in honor of the festival. Everything sold there for the festival has to have certification that it was made in Puerto Rico using things only from the island. This stops cheap vendors from selling things made in China. I got some really nice hand crafted things for good prices. Next, she took us to the first governor house, for the "emperor Carlos V" who was the king of Spain during the conquista. It was closed inside, but we walked around the gardens, which were gorgeous, and got some great pictures. On the way to lunch, we wanted to try something authentic so we got "bacalaito" which is fried bacalao, or cod fish. It was really good and thin like a pancake but hard because it was fried, a weird combination. She took us to a restaurant called Vaca Brava and we shared a meal with steak, ribs, chicken and fries as well as tostones and a pitcher of Sangria. Everything was awesome and it was nice to get out of the sun for a little.
We went back to her house to rest for a bit before taking the bus and subway back home. Tomorrow we plan on going to the beach to get some more sun :). I love it here.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
We've Met our Teacher!
Oh Em Gee.
That's how I would describe our teacher. And this is OMG in a good way.
Ok, first things first. We e-mailed her last night to see what time to arrive at the school because the guy that picked us up at the airport kind of just dropped us off at our apartment and said "there's the school, there's the campus, down this road is some food, see you tomorrow."
When we got to the school, everyone greeted us and our teacher was so proud to have us there. She was so nice and had so much to say. She has such an awesome philosophy on education, I wish I could share everything she said, but some of her most important points were that conflict and mistakes are good things, because we learn from them. She told me that if I do something well, then that's great, and if I do it bad, then that's great too. She was sad to learn we wouldn't be there the whole semester and she's going to try to plan events for the times we are there so we can have more to experience. Jenn and I will be in charge of her 6th grade classes. We will be collaborating on lesson plans but will split the classes so that we teach the whole time for a period and then switch the next period. But all this school talk is nothing.
Tomorrow we will be attending the San Sebastian street festival in Old San Juan where my teacher lives. It's this crazy thing that millions of people go to and I have no idea what to expect. She invited us to stay in her house overnight, since the festival goes until all hours of the night. I'm so excited!!! Especially after being just dropped off like that yesterday, it was so refreshing to be invited into her home and to the festival with her.
After school, we shopped at Walgreens to get some stuff we needed and some food. After eating PB+J for lunch, we decided to walk around campus and most importantly, find the pool. We took pictures the whole way and found swimmers doing laps in the pool. The lifeguard said we could go swimming, but when I say I want to "swim" I really mean float around the pool soaking up sun, get out to tan, repeat. Hopefully the swim team rests a few days of the week. We found the track and decided we could jog there and we're going tomorrow. Even though it's 80 degrees, it's not too hot, there's a nice breeze to work out.
We found the subway here and the guard inside told us what bus to take to the beach. It's only 75cents so maybe we can donate 25 to any homeless person we see on the way. We got Quizno's after, which was soo good, I don't know why I don't ever go there in the States. I guess daylight saving's time is a curse everywhere because it got dark around 6 so we've just been in the apartment online and looking over student teaching stuff.
I just can't wait for the festival tomorrow! I will surely come back with stories to tell and hopefully only good things.
That's how I would describe our teacher. And this is OMG in a good way.
Ok, first things first. We e-mailed her last night to see what time to arrive at the school because the guy that picked us up at the airport kind of just dropped us off at our apartment and said "there's the school, there's the campus, down this road is some food, see you tomorrow."
When we got to the school, everyone greeted us and our teacher was so proud to have us there. She was so nice and had so much to say. She has such an awesome philosophy on education, I wish I could share everything she said, but some of her most important points were that conflict and mistakes are good things, because we learn from them. She told me that if I do something well, then that's great, and if I do it bad, then that's great too. She was sad to learn we wouldn't be there the whole semester and she's going to try to plan events for the times we are there so we can have more to experience. Jenn and I will be in charge of her 6th grade classes. We will be collaborating on lesson plans but will split the classes so that we teach the whole time for a period and then switch the next period. But all this school talk is nothing.
Tomorrow we will be attending the San Sebastian street festival in Old San Juan where my teacher lives. It's this crazy thing that millions of people go to and I have no idea what to expect. She invited us to stay in her house overnight, since the festival goes until all hours of the night. I'm so excited!!! Especially after being just dropped off like that yesterday, it was so refreshing to be invited into her home and to the festival with her.
After school, we shopped at Walgreens to get some stuff we needed and some food. After eating PB+J for lunch, we decided to walk around campus and most importantly, find the pool. We took pictures the whole way and found swimmers doing laps in the pool. The lifeguard said we could go swimming, but when I say I want to "swim" I really mean float around the pool soaking up sun, get out to tan, repeat. Hopefully the swim team rests a few days of the week. We found the track and decided we could jog there and we're going tomorrow. Even though it's 80 degrees, it's not too hot, there's a nice breeze to work out.
We found the subway here and the guard inside told us what bus to take to the beach. It's only 75cents so maybe we can donate 25 to any homeless person we see on the way. We got Quizno's after, which was soo good, I don't know why I don't ever go there in the States. I guess daylight saving's time is a curse everywhere because it got dark around 6 so we've just been in the apartment online and looking over student teaching stuff.
I just can't wait for the festival tomorrow! I will surely come back with stories to tell and hopefully only good things.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Why Puerto Rico?
So it's been a long time coming, but I'm finally in my last semester at The University of Akron, and being an education major, that means I get to spend it paying a full time tuition while holding a full time job teaching children. This backwards concept is better known as Student Teaching.
Since I'm more obsessed with the Spanish part of my Spanish Education degree and don't plan on getting a job as soon as I graduate (because I wish to travel more and get my Master's in Spanish), I decided that I wanted an experience that focused more on my Spanish.
My university shared 2 partnerships with Spanish speaking countries: one in Mexico City and one in San Juan, PR. My friend Jenn and I signed right up for Mexico since it was the cheaper option. We e-mailed with excited teachers, talked with our home-stay teacher and even learned about our classroom placements. Our magic carpet was pleasantly ripped out from under our feet when the study abroad office informed us that it would be a liability to send us to Mexico with the increase in crime there. They had shared that this had been the policy for a few semesters, but why should the College of Education keep tabs on that when they can let their students' hearts be crushed in a more personal way?
Anyways, our sights turned towards Puerto Rico, our only other hope of skipping January and February in Ohio and practicing our Spanish. I'm beyond excited for this experience! Jenn and I will be living in on-campus housing at the University of Puerto Rico in their capital, San Juan. We will be teaching 6th grade Spanish literature at the university's lab school. Our teacher sounds very nice and let us know we will be teaching grammar, then the book "The boy in the Striped Pajamas," and "The Color of my Words." (Both of which will be in Spanish, of course).
Being the lazy person I am, I am much more excited to spend hours on the beach and taking millions of pictures. However, this is going to look awesome on my resume and give me a teaching experience that will be much different than here in the States. I will learn more in these next 2 months than any of my college classes could ever teach me, and that makes it worth all of the money I have spent and plan on spending (mostly on cute dresses).
Anyways, if you can bear all this sarcasm that I can't seem to get rid of, stay tuned, and I will let you know if all this work is worth the mini vacations I plan on taking at any spare moment on the island.
Adios Amigos!
Since I'm more obsessed with the Spanish part of my Spanish Education degree and don't plan on getting a job as soon as I graduate (because I wish to travel more and get my Master's in Spanish), I decided that I wanted an experience that focused more on my Spanish.
My university shared 2 partnerships with Spanish speaking countries: one in Mexico City and one in San Juan, PR. My friend Jenn and I signed right up for Mexico since it was the cheaper option. We e-mailed with excited teachers, talked with our home-stay teacher and even learned about our classroom placements. Our magic carpet was pleasantly ripped out from under our feet when the study abroad office informed us that it would be a liability to send us to Mexico with the increase in crime there. They had shared that this had been the policy for a few semesters, but why should the College of Education keep tabs on that when they can let their students' hearts be crushed in a more personal way?
Anyways, our sights turned towards Puerto Rico, our only other hope of skipping January and February in Ohio and practicing our Spanish. I'm beyond excited for this experience! Jenn and I will be living in on-campus housing at the University of Puerto Rico in their capital, San Juan. We will be teaching 6th grade Spanish literature at the university's lab school. Our teacher sounds very nice and let us know we will be teaching grammar, then the book "The boy in the Striped Pajamas," and "The Color of my Words." (Both of which will be in Spanish, of course).
Being the lazy person I am, I am much more excited to spend hours on the beach and taking millions of pictures. However, this is going to look awesome on my resume and give me a teaching experience that will be much different than here in the States. I will learn more in these next 2 months than any of my college classes could ever teach me, and that makes it worth all of the money I have spent and plan on spending (mostly on cute dresses).
Anyways, if you can bear all this sarcasm that I can't seem to get rid of, stay tuned, and I will let you know if all this work is worth the mini vacations I plan on taking at any spare moment on the island.
Adios Amigos!
Birthday in Cancún
I haven't posted on here in a while, but figured I should start back up again considering I will be spending the next 2 months in Puerto Rico.
Anyways, all the way back in July, my older sister Jessica took me to Cancún to celebrate my birthday. We spent 4 days in the Zona Hotelera at the Flamingo Resort. It was all inclusive and our cheapest option and actually really nice.
When we arrived, our room wasn't ready so the hotel watched our bags while we got a few things to eat in the restaurant, which had a Spain theme that day, and headed to the bathrooms to change into our swim suits. Packed deeper into our suitcases was our sunscreen, which we decided to do without as we headed to the beach. The water was beautiful and the sand was white and floating through the waves seemed surreal because it was sooo nice. We were able to see all the hotels down the strip and other vacationers doing water sports. We then visited the pool where we played bingo and Jessica won a shirt.
The next day, my birthday, I wanted to visit the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza, so we signed up for that trip. We took a bus from our hotel and were unaware that this trip would take all day and the site was 3 hours away. On the way, we stopped at a small Mayan village where you could buy all sorts of hand-crafted souvenirs. Then, we went to the pyramids. It was so cool to see all of the old ruins. There was their old ball field, platforms for sacrifice, and of course the pyramid of Kulkulkan. It had a total of 365 stairs and faces in a way that respects the equinox. Once upon a time, tourists were allowed to climb the stairs and go to the top, but this has changed to preserve the pyramid. It started to rain while we were there and there was a huge dark cloud over the pyramid, which is kind of creepy considering it was constructed for sacrifice. There is a hotel built near the property where we had a buffet lunch with traditional Mexican food. My favorite thing were the tacos with hand-made tortillas and pork with good salsas. We also walked around the hotel a bit. When we got on the bus, we were taken to Valladolid, a colonial city nearby. I was particularly excited because I had actually lived in a city called Valladolid in Spain when I studied there. It was very cute, but they just had us look around from the bus and we were on our way to the Senote which is a water source under ground filled with minerals and blind fish. Since we decided not to use sunscreen the first day, I really wanted to go into the water because it is said to have healing properties. The water was really cold but I still went in. There was a group performing on a small platform in the middle, like tribal dancers. There was also a farm-like setting with peacocks, chickens, goats and a horse. We were driven back to the hotel for the night and tried relaxing in the hot tub, but the hot tub wasn't up to our "hot standards" so we just watched Finding Nemo in Spanish and went to bed.
We spent the last day swimming some more and enjoying the beach and decided to go shopping afterwards. We wanted to get some souvenirs and go to the famous flea market so we hopped on the bus to go into the city. We had to get on the right one and pay a dollar and then find our way to the market. This was confusing because there were a few places falsely labeled because tourists usually don't know where they are going. Some people helped us to the market, and everything was so much cheaper than at the shopping center in the tourist area. We were able to get something for everybody. On the way back, we weren't sure where the bus stop was so we had to ask for some more help. It was so packed on the bus and so hot.
Well, that's most of what I remember about the trip. One night we had dinner on the beach as well, but I forget when that was.
Anyways, all the way back in July, my older sister Jessica took me to Cancún to celebrate my birthday. We spent 4 days in the Zona Hotelera at the Flamingo Resort. It was all inclusive and our cheapest option and actually really nice.
When we arrived, our room wasn't ready so the hotel watched our bags while we got a few things to eat in the restaurant, which had a Spain theme that day, and headed to the bathrooms to change into our swim suits. Packed deeper into our suitcases was our sunscreen, which we decided to do without as we headed to the beach. The water was beautiful and the sand was white and floating through the waves seemed surreal because it was sooo nice. We were able to see all the hotels down the strip and other vacationers doing water sports. We then visited the pool where we played bingo and Jessica won a shirt.
The next day, my birthday, I wanted to visit the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza, so we signed up for that trip. We took a bus from our hotel and were unaware that this trip would take all day and the site was 3 hours away. On the way, we stopped at a small Mayan village where you could buy all sorts of hand-crafted souvenirs. Then, we went to the pyramids. It was so cool to see all of the old ruins. There was their old ball field, platforms for sacrifice, and of course the pyramid of Kulkulkan. It had a total of 365 stairs and faces in a way that respects the equinox. Once upon a time, tourists were allowed to climb the stairs and go to the top, but this has changed to preserve the pyramid. It started to rain while we were there and there was a huge dark cloud over the pyramid, which is kind of creepy considering it was constructed for sacrifice. There is a hotel built near the property where we had a buffet lunch with traditional Mexican food. My favorite thing were the tacos with hand-made tortillas and pork with good salsas. We also walked around the hotel a bit. When we got on the bus, we were taken to Valladolid, a colonial city nearby. I was particularly excited because I had actually lived in a city called Valladolid in Spain when I studied there. It was very cute, but they just had us look around from the bus and we were on our way to the Senote which is a water source under ground filled with minerals and blind fish. Since we decided not to use sunscreen the first day, I really wanted to go into the water because it is said to have healing properties. The water was really cold but I still went in. There was a group performing on a small platform in the middle, like tribal dancers. There was also a farm-like setting with peacocks, chickens, goats and a horse. We were driven back to the hotel for the night and tried relaxing in the hot tub, but the hot tub wasn't up to our "hot standards" so we just watched Finding Nemo in Spanish and went to bed.
We spent the last day swimming some more and enjoying the beach and decided to go shopping afterwards. We wanted to get some souvenirs and go to the famous flea market so we hopped on the bus to go into the city. We had to get on the right one and pay a dollar and then find our way to the market. This was confusing because there were a few places falsely labeled because tourists usually don't know where they are going. Some people helped us to the market, and everything was so much cheaper than at the shopping center in the tourist area. We were able to get something for everybody. On the way back, we weren't sure where the bus stop was so we had to ask for some more help. It was so packed on the bus and so hot.
Well, that's most of what I remember about the trip. One night we had dinner on the beach as well, but I forget when that was.
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