Aah, international travel. How quickly one forgets. But that's another blog entry.
Muchísimas gracias al señor Cessna-Buscemi, director del NSE, por seleccionar un programa tan excelente aquí en Costa Rica. La organización de MLSA es muy impresionante, y tanto profesional como acogedora. Tambien, le doy las gracias al doctor Rivas por su trabajo incansable para encontrar a una familia encantadora para mi que me está cuidando muy bien. Todo un éxito. Thank you to Nancy Ruíz for recognizing and congratulating me and Maggie, the other NSE becaria, during today's orientation at the University of Costa Rica. It is an honor to receive this scholarship for an MLSA educational adventure through which I can begin my masters degree. It is also an amazing opportunity for me as a educator to be amongst so many highly qualified colleagues in this enchanting and progressive country. ¡Pura vida! I have spent the last two hours in conversation with my Tica mom, talking about everything from grocery shopping to world politics. Rosibel Vargas Serrano works in "agronomía" at UCR, one of the top 200 most prestigious universities in the world and one of the top 25 in Latin America. Her husband, Alán, aspires to be a chef but works in a law firm. He is one of the most affable people I have ever met in my travels and he insisted on cooking a sumptuous dinner (weighed and measure for me!) last night complete with gorgeous presentation. I may never come home. And then there is Gustavo. Patient and attentive are not words that immediately come to mind when I think about teenagers, but this 18-year-old is both. May he achieve his dream of graduating from both UCR and aviation school to pilot a jet for Costa Rica someday soon. His parents, my Tico host family, must be very proud. Christopher is off river rafting somewhere north of San José, near his school in Heredia. His humble host family lives in a rural area accesible only by dirt road…but they have wireless internet! Some priorities never change. He and I are keeping in touch easily with Viber through wifi (available at home and at our respective schools) on our iPhones. It's fantastic and free! Incredibly, on the flight from Miami I met the neighbor of a German Phd who teaches language at Colegio Humboldt, the school with whom we at Saint Mark's School would like to have an hermanamiento. Gerardo tells me Humboldt is absolutely one of the best schools in Costa Rica offering a K-12 program. I hope to visit and meet with the administration and language teachers next week. I cannot wait to see the gorgeous campus pictured on their website. |
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