it's the most wonderful time of the year!

Isn't this picture just the cutest? I love how eager the kids look as they're running for the bus. Hmmm, I wonder if there's cake waiting for them on the bus or something. In my experience, kids aren't usually quite this excited to get back to school.


Even if the kiddos aren't super pumped to get back to school, I always am! While I was visiting my parents over the summer and saw the back-to-school announcements on the marquis signs outside of my old schools, I got really excited to set up my classroom and for school to begin. Does that make me weird? Yeah, I thought so.


The kids arrive next Wednesday, and I can't wait to meet my new fourth grade friends! In the meantime, I've been learning my way around the school and setting up my classroom. Here's a quick tour:

Welcome back to school! This is the elementary building.





Part of the coffee plantation. The beans from these plants are harvested and roasted, and the coffee is served at special events.

Half of a sculpture outside the cafeteria...

...and the other half of the sculpture.

Check out the view from behind the school! The buildings you can [kind of] see in the background are part of downtown San Jose.

Entrance to my classroom

Classroom library and desks, just waiting for students to arrive

Get those pencils sharpened...it's just a few more days now!

Kids running to bus image via.

movin' on up, to the east side

I've pretty much finished settling into my apartment. I channeled my inner Jeffersons-self and found an apartment in Sabanilla, a town that overlooks the East side of San Jose. There are a few things that I need to pick up from a general-type store, and I'm still waiting for a few boxes to make it through customs, but I expect to have all of those things by the end of the week.


Here are some pictures of the view from my apartment's windows and of the front yard/garden area:

As you can see, it's super green here, partly because it's the middle of the rainy season. It storms at least once a day, but that seems to happen in the middle of the day, when I'll be at work.

I started work today, as well. My co-workers seem really nice, and the school is beautiful. I'll post pictures of the school tomorrow. For now, I have to run to the grocery store to get a few things before the next thunderstorm rolls in!

Jeffersons image via.

having internet is the bomb.com

Hi friends! I'm very excited to announce that I made it safely to Costa Rica, have gotten settled in to my new home and work, and that I finally have an internet connection in my apartment! I apologize for my long absence, but I did write a number of posts during my unintended hiatus, which I will be publishing over the next week or so. Thanks for bearing with me!

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leavin' on a jet plane

Do you ever sit there wondering, "What on earth am I doing?" That's pretty much where I am right now. I'm sitting in the Denver airport, waiting for my last flight to Costa Rica. I am really excited, but kind of freaked out right now about moving away from what has been my life for the last few years.

En route from New York to Costa Rica, I stopped in Texas for a friend's wedding, which was beautiful and completely wonderful. Along with seeing my friend so happy, it was great seeing so many of my good friends right before I left.


Getting packed before the wedding was amusing. Because I was going to the airport straight from the wedding, I needed to have everything completely ready to go. I had to fit everything--we're talking all of my clothes, shoes (including bulky rain boots), bedding, pillows, etc.--into only four suitcases. I got a bunch of Space Bags to cram everything into (Space Bags are those amazing things that you stuff and then suck out the air with a vacuum cleaner--you can take three times as much stuff!), but it just didn't seem like everything would be able to fit. I have to give mad props to my friend J here. While I tore around my friend S's apartment like a lunatic, trying to grab every last thing, flinging myself onto my suitcases to try to zip them up, and wailing that my things wouldn't fit, J calmly analyzed the size and shape of my suitcases and rearranged the placement of the different-sized Space Bags to ensure that everything would fit. I'd like to think that if our roles were reversed, I would have been able to help J in such a way, but that's probably not true. I must admit, I did not believe it could be done, but between J's guidance and the sheer amazingness of the Space Bags, we managed to squeeze all of my things into my suitcases. [Note: This is not a paid review for Space Bags.]


The morning after the wedding, I went out for a delicious breakfast with four friends, and then they dropped me off at the Houston airport for my big move.


The flight from Houston to Denver was pretty great, and inspired me to choose the picture at the beginning of this post. However, the picture is a little misleading because: A) I didn't fly Delta, and B) There was no giant baby riding on top of my plane. But anyway, my flight was great in several ways. First, the lady who checked me in at the Frontier Airlines counter didn't charge me the $100 fee I should have paid for checking two extra bags on the plane, which was a lovely surprise. When does that ever happen? I mean, cha-ching! Second, the flight attendant gave me free refreshments and video access because I happened to be sitting in row entirely occupied by unaccompanied minors. Not quite sure how I ended up there, but I really didn't mind. My seat neighbor and I totally bonded when the air conditioning kicked in just before takeoff, and the colder, foggy-looking air started billowing around the cabin. (The captain said it had something to do with the humidity in Houston.) We started talking about the weird-looking air, and as the flight progressed, we had a nice chat about Hannah Montana, Bratz dolls, and the joys of going home after being on vacation, before settling in to watch Miley Cyrus fave The Last Song. Overall, I'd give my experience with Frontier Airlines five stars. [Again, not a paid review.]


So now, I'm just chilling in Denver after my flight from Houston, waiting for my flight to Costa Rica. Wish me luck!

*****

Ok, I made it! I arrived in San Jose a little before 6 a.m., and made it through all the official business quickly. Other than the man beside me asking if I wanted to pray with him for the plants of the world and demanding shrilly to be served a locally-produced meal (um, locally to where, buddy? We're covering a distance of over 2,000 miles here), the flight was pretty uneventful. Afterwards, while I was retrieving my suitcases from the baggage claim, the last remaining handle on one of them ripped off (apparently, it's been through the airlines a few too many times), but a man nearby helped me snag it from the carousel. Immigration went smoothly, and the man at customs barely glanced at my bags.

After clearing through customs, I met the school director and another man who works at my school. They helped me schlep all my bags to the van, drove me to my apartment, and left me with some groceries to get me through the first few days. As we traveled by amazing mountain scenery, I had to remind myself a few times that I live here now. I've been here only a few hours, but I've unpacked and set up everything in my apartment. The apartment has big windows that let in a lot of light (which might not be my favorite thing early in the morning, but is great most of the time), and it came fully furnished, which makes getting settled in so much easier. I have a good feeling about where I'm living and I'm looking forward to starting work and meeting my colleagues tomorrow!

Image via.

road trip re-cap

After packing up all of my belongings and getting my work visa paperwork taken care of, I didn't have much time between wrapping up the school year in Texas and moving to Costa Rica. However, I did have time for a sweet road trip from Texas to New York, and even got to hang out in New York for a bit before moving. Here are some highlights from the summer:

Driving to San Antonio to hang out and go tubing with my friend SK. Never thought I would see a zebra running free through a field in south Texas!

Checking out the steam at Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas

touring the world's longest underground cave at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky

admiring the views at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee

wandering through the swamps at Congaree National Park in South Carolina

visiting my extended family in North Carolina...

...and making faux-hamburger cupcakes for our massive annual family reunion/Fourth of July picnic combo

avoiding the bears at Shenandoah National Park in Virginia

enjoying the company of old friends

sailing on Cayuga Lake, where I grew up

cooling off at one of the hometown waterfalls

taking a wine tour on beautiful Seneca Lake (in the Finger Lakes region, right next to the lake I grew up on)

and heading back to Texas for one last weekend of fun at my friend SK's wedding before moving waaaay South!

Congratulations, SK and SK! Costa Rica...here I come!

background check: part 3

Remember how I said getting my birth certificate apostilled and authenticated was going to be pretty simple? Yeah, I know. I think we've all realized by now that these things are never exactly simple. But I was so hopeful for a while. Originally, I had my sister express mail my birth certificate from New York to my friend's apartment in Texas, so that I could pick it up on my way to Austin and get it signed, sealed, and delivered at the Secretary of State's office in preparation for going to the Costa Rica consulate in Houston. However, when I got to the Texas Secretary of State's office, they informed me that they can't apostille documents from other states. In retrospect, this seems like a huge no-duh on my part. I guess I just thought you could take these things to the Secretary of State/Consulate that have jurisdiction over the state you currently live in. Silly me.


This was starting to feel like The Land Before Time movie empire.

I mean, we all loved the first one, but I don't think we needed them to make 11 (12?) more of these bad boys... Similarly, I understand that these work Visa processes are complicated, but I could have done without quite so much red tape. If the process had been clearly outlined somewhere, say, in a checklist format, that would have been super. Alas, it was not, but I figured it all out in the end, and ultimately, I guess it's comforting to know that criminals can't just skip out of the country and get a [legal] job overseas.


So anyway, once I realized my misunderstanding, I hopped online to rush order me some birth certificates from the NY State Department of Vital Records (I ordered an extra one just in case). Happily, they were waiting for me when I got to my parents' house, and the day after I arrived in Ithaca, my mom and I road tripped it up to the Secretary of State's office in Albany to get my birth certificates apostilled. Now, all that was standing between me and my work Visa was the authentication of this packet of papers by the Costa Rica consulate in New York City.


Word on the bureaucratic street was that this authentication could be done through the mail. I just needed to send in the required documents, my payment, a letter describing what I needed, and a self-addressed, stamped envelope for them to return the documents to me. I wanted to verify that I was sending the correct items, but when I called, I just reached a voice recording telling me to look at their website for all the information I could need, so I sent an e-mail to double-check. When they didn't respond for a few days, I decided to send in the packet as it was, as I had to leave for Costa Rica in just over a week. However, I did tuck in a note that requested that they call me or e-mail if there were any problems, rather than returning the documents to me un-authenticated.


Predictably, two hours after I express mailed the packet, I received an e-mail saying that for the payment, I could not send a check, but instead had to go to the Bank of America, make a deposit into their account for the required amount, and send the bank deposit receipt to them in lieu of an actual payment. D'oh! Of course! I should have remembered this requirement from my experience in Houston! I dashed off a reply explaining that I had sent a check in error, but would be making the deposit right away and would fax the receipt for immediate confirmation, after which I would express mail the original receipt to their office. I did all of these things and sat back to wait. The next day, my self-addressed, stamped envelope arrived from the consulate, feeling strangely light...yes, my documents had been returned, un-authenticated, for lack of proper payment. Sad day.


I received my original documents on a Friday, and I was leaving early the next Thursday, so it was officially CRUNCH TIME. Cut to me waking up at 3:00 a.m. the following Monday to catch the first bus to New York City. After an uneventful 5-hour ride on the Shortline (FYI, it's also referred to as the "Snortline," so you can never be too sure of what you'll find on those rides), I arrived in NYC and took the short walk from the bus station to the consulate.


When I arrived at the consulate, the woman I spoke with was very apologetic about the confusion and inconvenience of the whole situation. I was worried that my order would not be processed because I only had a copy of the bank deposit receipt with me, but she had saved the original at the office for me, so that worked out. I went in hoping that I could just get the official stamps and head back to Ithaca, but learned that that would be impossible, as I did not have an appointment with them. Luckily, the post office was just two blocks away, and so after narrowly avoiding being hit by one of those cycling couriers, I managed to procure a pre-paid express mail envelope for them to return my authenticated documents to my parents' house.


With my fingers and toes crossed that my documents would make it back to me in time, I caught the 12:30 bus back to Ithaca, and arrived just 13 hours after leaving. Tuesday came...no envelope. Wednesday came...envelope! And so, on the very last day before I moved, I received my last documents for my work Visa.


Thus concludes the Trilogy of the Background Check.

Images via and via.

one day starts today...

Have you seen this article about some of the new teachers in Teach for America's (TFA) 2010 corps, from Monday's edition of the New York Times? If you're unfamiliar with TFA, the article gives a little background on the program. Five years ago, I began teaching with Teach For America, and although it was a very tough two years, I can't say enough good things about my experience and the people I met because of this program.

Tomorrow is the last day of training for the 2010 corps members at the TFA's institute in Houston. Along with completing my own initial training at the Houston institute, I have worked on institute staff over two summers as a corps member advisor (CMA). As a CMA, I got to work with new teachers by reading and editing their lesson plans, and observing and providing feedback on their teaching. One part of observing their teaching involves talking to the students to check their understanding of the material they are supposed to be learning. Last summer, there was a completely adorbs little friend named Zahaira in one of the fourth grade classes I was observing. She always said hilarious things and furthermore, she would waggle her head and peer over her glasses while talking, à la this feisty dame (minus the angry scowl, of course):

Zahaira's particular brand of sass was right up my alley, and needless to say, I loved interviewing this girl while observing her class. During a lesson on matter, I quietly walked over to her to see how she was doing with the material.

Our conversation went as follows:

Me: Hi, Zahaira. What are you working on today?

Zahaira: Matter...everything's matter. This pen is matter. This paper's matter. That prize bucket is matter. Even that girl over there who always watches The 16 Show is matter.

["That girl over there" gives Zahaira a look. Zahaira is unfazed.]

Zahaira: What? You do always watch The 16 Show, and you are matter.

Me: [stifling laughter] Great, so you're learning all about matter. So tell me, what are your goals in this class?

Zahaira: I don't know...like, work hard, get smart?

Me: Awesome...are you working hard to get smart?

Zahaira: Oh yeah. [dramatic pause] Oh, and see that desk? That's matter too.

Being a first year teacher is hard. Although my first year was a while ago, I distinctly remember feeling completely lost and like nothing I was doing could make any difference. So, to all new teachers...let Zahaira's words be a reminder that what you do does, in fact, matter.

Images via and via.