So, today was our last day of the conference. Went to 2 1/2 sessions. The last one I ditched out of cuz I went to hear about some vocab stuff and they had 2 presenters that had to share the session and the boring lady went first. Yeah, I tried to be polite & stay and then went ¨Screw it! I´m in Costa Rica and I´m not putting up with this!¨So I left! yeah me!! Overall it was a good conference (location helps) but there were quite a few professors doing presentations where all they did was sit & read their papers...ugh! Give me something that I can take back & use in my classroom in a month - that´s what us real teachers want!
Today was my brave adventure to San José. Had heard real sketchy stories about SJ - especially taking the bus back. But I went in a group of 7 and then we split up after that. Saw the Cathedral, Teatro Nacional, Parque Central and the gift shop of the Museo de Oro (gold museum). SJ is a huge, ugly, dirty city - not what you would expect when you like of CR. I´m actually glad we weren´t stay there - uck! Being out in the burbs is MUCH better!! I felt semi-safe walking around, but then again I had 2 guys with me - makes a difference. Had death-grip on my bag the entire time, but just walked around like I knew what I was doing - confidence makes a big difference.
The real highlight of SJ was that the Cows on Parade were in town!!! WOO HOO!!! You know, those statues of cows decorated & designed by local artists...yep, in SJ for the summer! Qué coincedencia!! Got oodles of pics of them and was in the middle of taking others when, big surprise, it started raining. So everyone in the Parque scrambled up to the bandshell and just stood there to wait it out. Couple of shady characters there...so was no big surprise that the cops just happened to wander over and stand by us.
Took the bus back...that was interesting. We stupidly went to the back...and quickly realized we had no escape route as the bus filled to capacity & had standing room only and us gringos with all our purchases and dinero were surrounded by about 15 guys....It all turned out fine - we got back right at dusk. Any later would have worried me more!
But, that´s San José. Tomorrow I´m off for my last excursion. We´re going the Arenal Volcano, Sarchi and Baldi Hot Springs!! Am very excited, but sad to leave. Has really opened my eyes to this part of the world and makes me want to bring kids to do a service-learning project...might not be a bad idea...I´ve made some connections here to make that happen!! :)
Gotta jet - Nos vemos **steph :)
Today was my brave adventure to San José. Had heard real sketchy stories about SJ - especially taking the bus back. But I went in a group of 7 and then we split up after that. Saw the Cathedral, Teatro Nacional, Parque Central and the gift shop of the Museo de Oro (gold museum). SJ is a huge, ugly, dirty city - not what you would expect when you like of CR. I´m actually glad we weren´t stay there - uck! Being out in the burbs is MUCH better!! I felt semi-safe walking around, but then again I had 2 guys with me - makes a difference. Had death-grip on my bag the entire time, but just walked around like I knew what I was doing - confidence makes a big difference.
The real highlight of SJ was that the Cows on Parade were in town!!! WOO HOO!!! You know, those statues of cows decorated & designed by local artists...yep, in SJ for the summer! Qué coincedencia!! Got oodles of pics of them and was in the middle of taking others when, big surprise, it started raining. So everyone in the Parque scrambled up to the bandshell and just stood there to wait it out. Couple of shady characters there...so was no big surprise that the cops just happened to wander over and stand by us.
Took the bus back...that was interesting. We stupidly went to the back...and quickly realized we had no escape route as the bus filled to capacity & had standing room only and us gringos with all our purchases and dinero were surrounded by about 15 guys....It all turned out fine - we got back right at dusk. Any later would have worried me more!
But, that´s San José. Tomorrow I´m off for my last excursion. We´re going the Arenal Volcano, Sarchi and Baldi Hot Springs!! Am very excited, but sad to leave. Has really opened my eyes to this part of the world and makes me want to bring kids to do a service-learning project...might not be a bad idea...I´ve made some connections here to make that happen!! :)
Gotta jet - Nos vemos **steph :)
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