lunes, 23 de abril de 2012

It's Already April!

 For summer break I had facilitated two computer courses which were great successes and got a chance to know a lot of really great people in doing so.  I got my neighbor kids together to play futbol and taught them some baseball which was especially fun.  I went rock climbing in San Geronimo de Cachi at my friend Mo's site.  I spent a bunch of time with friends in San Jose and had a really great summer.  

School started again and its been great working with one new teacher and actually getting time to work with one from last year.  I've had a lot of fun with the students and made time to stay late in Guaitil to work with the 4th-6th graders there more.  We worked hard on a grant application this summer to raise funds for a computer lab.  We won the Kids to Kids grant and are now waiting for the School Board to have a bingo in order to raise its community contribution.  We're all really excited to "Bring Google to Guaitil" as we so cleverly called the project, hehe, and hope to bring all of our hard work to fruition within the next couple months.


I've finished my fourth computer class (and will do a few more once we get the new computer lab up and running) and am now teaching a class for 11th and 12th graders studying for their final English exams that they all have to present in order to graduate.  It's been really fun working with a more advanced group.  They understand most of what they read although don't speak it nearly as well.  It would be interesting to get a chance to teach a conversation class with them but their last year is the toughest of all.

In March I climbed to Cerro Chirripo which is the highest peak in Costa Rica.  It was absolutely beautiful and pretty trying.  I had a blast spending so much time hiking with my volunteer friends and seeing the most incredible views!

We had an environmental conference that we got a chance to take three high school students to which was absolutely incredible.  All of the kids had so much fun.  None of my kids know how to swim but two of them actually swam in the open see off of the tour boat we went out on, and they both learned how to surf!  It was so incredible for them to get a chance to feel so comfortable in the water!  I've been meaning to do a swim camp for about a year now and never made it happen, but when Dad comes to visit in June I really want to get it done!  So many kids around here always say, "I know how to swim in rivers, but not the ocean."  So I'm really excited to see them actually swimming and not just bouncing around in the water!  I'll leave you with this "concise" update. 



Love and miss you all!

Jenny