Office Productivity Songs

After hours in the office again and we are putting to the test office productivity and music choices. These results reflect actual trials and calculations.

This was also my assignment for the last hour in the office: be the Motivational DJ.

Songs that increase office productivity at CPI:
1. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
2. Jesse’s Girl – Rick Springfield
3. Boogie Shoes – KC and the Sunshine Band
4. Lido Shuffle – Boz Scraggs
5. Only the Good Die Young – Billy Joel
6. Take Me Home Tonight – Eddie Money
7. We Built This City – Jefferson Starship


Songs that do NOT increase productivity at CPI:
1. Anything Barry Manilow

Walkabout with 34

Well, my new group is officially getting acclimated to Costa Rica. I’ve been answering A LOT of questions thus far, and I honestly feel like a Costa Rica expert at this point. : ) I’m not, but sometimes I like to think I am.

After a long day on Sunday, all of the CPI chaperones were treated to dinner at Tacontento near San Jose. It was delicious! Monday, my group got situated into their classes and then went for a walking tour of Heredia. Imagine taking 34 gringos on the public bus for the first time. It was quite the experience. Thankfully, I had Jesús and Pim to help me help. I led the group and Jesús and Pim covered the middle and the caboose of the entourage.

After successfully making it to the market in Heredia, we ate lunch inside the Market and then headed to the plaza in the middle of Heredia. Pim successfully got pooped on by a pigeon, and Jesús, being a good friend, lent a hand cleaning it up. I just laughed...and took a picture.

The bus trip back was rather uneventful, but once back in San Joaquin, Pim, Jesús and I had to walk all of the students to their home-stays. I am pretty sure I walked to Panamá and back to get one girl home…

Not much else to recount other than this week is a locura in the office. West Coast groups start arriving this week…

My group right now is pretty tranquilo and their professor is muuuuy tuanis. I think I’m going to like this group : )

Time to check in on the students during their coffee break!

Chao pescado,
Jessica Lynn

A special note: the word gringos here in Costa Rica is NOT derogatory. It only points out that we are North Americans, not ticos. Costa Ricans have a way of pointing things out about people in an affectionate manner. For instance, I am often called machita because I have light hair (both men and women alike). Cultural lesson for the day... : )

Back in Action

My new group arrived today!!

I saw my other group off on Saturday morning at the Liberia Airport. Liberia's airport has been major upgrades since I last flew out of there with Kristen 2 years ago. (Sister Bear, you wouldn't even recognize it.)

Friday night we had a farewell dinner and fogata (bonfire) on the beach which is always fun. : ) I almost forgot to mention the snorkel cruise we went on that morning. Now, Kristen, you would recognize this scene: Storm clouds, dangerously high tides and a lot of rain on the horizon. It was a wild boat ride out and back to say that least. I sat up with the capitan and crew so I could watch everything and it was quite the image to see these enormous waves crashing over the front of the catamaran. Deadliest Catch, anyone?

Saturday after the drop off, I headed back into the Central Valley where I will spend most of the next four weeks. I'm staying in an apartment next to the school right now with Jesus and Nanou until they leave with their West Coast groups.

Saturday night, Julian, Jesus, Nanou and I decided to go out at around 11:30 p.m. to a place called Dos Doce (Two Twelve). Upon arriving, we noticed a big group of people standing outside not being allowed to enter, about 14 police officers standing around and security guard holding a shot gun. Apparently a fight had broken out right before we had gotten there, and we arrived to seeing a guy being carried out by his buddies still wanting to fight someone, as well as three hysterical girls. It was quite the event...

At midnight, we decided we would be better served to just cab it over to Heredia and find a place to go. We walked into Rancho Fofo and discoverd it was Two for One coctail night! We all decided to try something different. Julian and Jesus ended up with the girliest (and best tasting drinks) and Nanou and I with the man drinks. Jesus got the award for best pick of the night: Saltamontes.

All right, it's after hours at the office. You know what that means...everyone is giddy. We're all going out to dinner tonight (Arelys, Jonle, and all of the chaperones). I can't wait!!!

Amor y amor,

Jessica

For the Record

Some have questioned the nature of these stories that I post and if I have really done/seen all of these things. Trust me; you can not make these things up. Am I really stoked that I saw a man skirting around my group with nearly see-through undies? Nope. Not even for a second. Did I mention that he also started digging in the sand to make a giant sea turtle? This process involved a lot of squatting, bending and otherwise odd movements that only tiny boxer briefs could make look awkward.

But I digress… Life down here is a break from the ordinary back in the states. If you count the high school students I teach throughout the year and the experiences I get down here, I live a pretty fulfilling and exciting life. There is never a dull moment. Perhaps, that is why I adore being a teacher as well as traveling so much. So many experiences and people have come into my life and impacted me for the better solely because I seize every opportunity before me. Purely, simply, life is good.

Today was a mañana libre, and if you’ll recall another post about free mornings, you’ll understand why we chaperones covet them. I spent an easy morning at the hotel and then later at the CPI apartments with Nanou and Jesús. From there, our driver took us around the greater Flamingo area so I could show Nanou and Jesús every place we stay, eat, and visit while here with West Coast groups. It was a nice way to spend the morning even if we didn’t make it to the beach…

**************

Once a summer I like to give a general recap as to what exactly I do down here. I am optimistic enough to think that someone is new to this blog this year and might be confused as to the nature of my work. I work for a Spanish language immersion school called CPI (Centro Panamericano de Idiomas). I work the Groups division of the school, and do not teach any classes while I am here (which is the general thought when I tell people I work for a language school). I serve as a chaperone for high/college age groups that come down and study at any one of our three campuses within Costa Rica. I am the essentially the answer to all of the questions from the group members, such as “Where are we going?” “What’s for dinner?” “What are we doing tomorrow and what should we bring?” I see that the group’s home-stays are adequate, classes are the right level, and that food is plentiful. I also get the privilege of traveling to a lot of great places and seeing a lot of neat things. I whitewater raft, waterfall rappel, surf, hike, zipline, dance, swim, run, and cook my way through the summer. I am on the move constantly, usually changing locations about every five days. For this reason, I am very nomadic in the summer and choose to travel with a hiking backpack and smaller daypack as my only luggage. I am essentially the liaison between the group and CPI for the group’s entire stay here in Costa Rica.

So what’s in it for me? Everything. I get to meet new people and make new friendships as well as come back and be with those that I have grown extremely attached to. I speak Spanish all summer, which I happen to love. : ) Each year gives me a new experience to draw upon and grow from. I have grown immensely fond of my ‘summer home.’

All right, “Noche de Baile” awaits me back at the hotel with the group. I’d better see what’s in my dancing repertoire before getting there. : )

Hasta pronto,

Jessica Lynn

There’s Appropriate Beach Wear, And Then There is…

There are some lines that should never be crossed and some fashion rules that should never be broken.

That being said, my chofer today at the beach stripped down to his underwear to swim with the group—first rule broken. The kicker? His skivvies were tighty-whities. Second rule broken. Hey, swing for the fences, right?

I arrived on the scene just in time to hear the group of girls squealing, “Jessica! Look at our chauffeur!” I had been out showing Nanou and Jesús around Tamarindo and the group decided to teach our chauffeur how to swim. They assumed he would leave his shorts on. At this point, I’m just thrilled he left something on. Squinting, I spotted our driver out in the ocean bouncing around with a boogie board and itty bitty white boxer briefs. Leaving little to the imagination, he strutted around the beach for the next hour until he dried off enough to put his clothes back on. Heaven help me…

So...I took a picture.

And on that note…there really isn’t much else to report. Must be a slow day if that’s all I have for you. We did some volunteer work yesterday at a local clínica and painted an exterior wall. Monday, I saw my first causality on the beach when a wave got the best of a student. He got knocked around pretty good by the waves and end up going to the hospital for x-rays. I’m happy to report that he is fine and doing well.

Nanou, Jesús and I hung out on the beach today which was fantastic. Love these mornings… I also learned a new phrase to describe my white body: yuca peleada (a peeled yucca plant, which is apparently super white) : )

Playa Tamarindo

Time to get a little done and move toward more productive things. I’ll write more later!


Tighty-Whities are hardly appropriate as under garments these days, let alone on the beach,

Jessica Lynn

Backlogged...

My entries are backlogged a little, so there are a few new ones posted below!

Cerro Amigos Ascent

From: 18 de junio

Today, I woke up around 6:00 a.m. and saw my group off to Arenal for the weekend. The group went with a guide and I stayed back here in Monteverde. I will meet up with them in Flamingo on Sunday. Last night, Jesús, Julian and I went to Bar Amigos to play some pool and dance. It was a lot of fun, but it was a late, late night.

Early in the day on Friday, Jesús and I made plans to climb to the top of the mountain Cerro Amigos on Saturday, which is the tallest point in Monteverde with the best views. It is always where the local T.V. towers are located. I was under strict instructions NOT to wake up Jesús before 9:30 a.m., so after seeing the group off, I came back to my apartment, ran, and made a cup of coffee. Around 9:00 a.m., Dad called on Skype and we talked for about 40 minutes. Lucky for Jesús…

Around 9:45 I went and got Jesús up so we could start our hike. Earlier in the morning, the sun was out and it was gorgeous outside. Around 10 a.m. when we started out, the clouds had already set in. We set out anyway!

Let me go ahead and explain what this so called ‘hike’ was like. First of all, it’s not a trail hike or anything of the sort. It’s a climb straight up a mud covered road. It’s not like you wind your way through the trees before reaching the summit. No, literally every time you turned a corner, the road went straight up. Between fighting to stay afoot in all of the mud, and general humidity that comes with Costa Rica, it was quite the endurance work out. Not to mention, I had already run 6 miles earlier that morning straight up the mountain. Jesús was bouncing along, full of energy, and my legs were shot. There were exactly three ‘breaks’ in the steep climb.

The final total (see the picture) was 6072 feet above sea level. We hiked probably a total of 3.5 km to get up there and it took around 50-55 minutes. I can not even explain my ecstasy at reaching the summit—and I like to think I’m in pretty good physical condition. Julian is in a lot of trouble for not elaborating just what exactly we were getting ourselves into.

Anyway, we climbed all the way to the top only to be greeted by a lot of clouds and no views to speak of. It was pretty cool to be standing in a cloud though at one point and as Jesús put it, “Bueno, lo hicimos.” Well, we did it. Yes, yes we did.

We stayed around the top for a while before beginning the descent. The descent was also more challenging than the climb because we were slipping and sliding every where in the mud. Gracias a Dios, it didn’t rain! Want to know something crazy, people actually live up there! We met one man along the trail who descends about every eight days to buy food and supplies and then hikes all of the way back up with a huge backpack full of food. No puedo imaginar…

Almost immediately when we reached the bottom, we headed to a local supermercado to get some supplies to make lunch. Upon arriving at the bottom, it also started to pour. What luck that it waited until we were at the bottom! : )

In keep in tradition with Jesús’s Spanish culture, after lunch it was siesta time for me. I woke up just in time to order Chinese delivery and talk to Muni for a while.

I think it’s about time to go back to bed. Tomorrow, I leave for Flamingo! More to come when I get there…

Buenas noches a todos,
Jessica Lynn