Joe in CRica

I can reveal I made it safely home! Here is the last entry. The last week at the school was uneventful, I had very few lessons. Played last games of football and several kids wrote endearing messages and gave them to me on scraps of paper. My host family held a meal for me, at which everyone said something in turn to say thanks and goodbye, which was very touching. On my last evening in the area I went with Victor to see what for most tourists is their first and last stop - the volcano erupting. A friend of Victor's dropped us off and we sat alone at a viewpoint for two hours, about a kilometre from the volcano's base. What I took in the dark to be forest between us and the volcano was ... read more

Dear all. So, I have only two days left in San Francisco and six in Costa Rica. It's a shame to leave the school just as I feel more comfortable - the opposite feeling to getting into the swing of things (e.g remembering that few 10 year olds speak Aristotle) in the weeks before. I don't doubt that it deserves its reputation as one of the best schools in the north of Costa Rica - the children have the opportunities, facilities and standard of teaching of a good UK primary school (in fact there seem few differences). I've been taking classes of my own, and games make the children very enthusiastic - it's rewarding to see how much those children who say little in a larger class can be livelier in a smaller group. The most ... read more

I think at least one member of Monty Python was once a frustrated primary school teacher. ´What... is your name. What... is your favourite colour'. Small child continues to prefer nose-picking to intellectual endeavour. 'What... is the capital of Assyria?' Child fired into abyss. There seems to be a serious pencil and biro currency in the school - they are the prizes that Oliver (the english teacher who I spend most of my time assisting) and I hand out to the younger years and always brings rapt excitement. Best keep my fountain pen hidden. I'm starting to see that many people in the area don't live as comfortably as my host family. For example apparently many parents can't afford to give their children breakfast before school. My first proper jungle walk with Victor began by entering ... read more

Let me write a little more about where I am. The village, San Franciso, is 13km from the tourist hotspot La Fortuna, where the main attraction is the impressively large Volcan Arenal, which often erupts though it is almost always hidden in cloud. My host family's house is round the corner from the school. The house is largely wood and corrugated iron but they have a dvd player and smartphones. The three daughters are aged 19, 18 and 10. Here's one way to be introduced to a new class (6th grade so definitely slavering horde rather than docile herd). Friday morning I helped to move the school´s two cows between two sites on leashes. Things were going smoothly, so my cow decided to make a break for it. The class looked through their open door to ... read more

Dear all, That last entry was pretty random- i´m going to write these pretty spontaneously as my head is busy trying to get around lots of other things. I´m now two days into teaching. How relaxed everyone is is taking some acclimatisation, as is ´Tico time´- deadlines, class times etc are very flexible! The clocktower opposite this internet cafe, the main one in a large town, has two faces which are half an hour apart. After a scorching jungle bus ride I was received in a very friendly way by my host family. Biggest spanish blooper so far - though my dictionary assures me that ´hacer canguro´means ´to babysit´, at least in Costa Rica it means ´to do the kangaroo´. My first lesson at the school - how to catch pigs and vaccinate them in the ... read more

Dear all! So, day 2 in Costa Rica, and I thought instead of a diary for my stay I'd give blogging a go, in order to make the amusement more widely available. It will be irregular and disordered and not comprehensive but hopefully enjoyable! After only 24 hours in Bath, I was off to Heathrow, for 15 hours of flights. The most interesting feature of doing so was the sheer sarcastic, depressed contemptuousness of the pilot and cabin crew of my flight from New York to San Jose. After the Continental flight into New York, such breaking of the rules of the forced-smile school of customer service seemed almost immoral. San Jose airport welcoms visitors with a banner 'welcome to the happiest country in the world' (a bit misleading because apparently it has the highest wellbeing ... read more