Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Encuentro de Culturas

Dia de las Culturas (Day of the Cultures), or Dia de la Raza (Day of the Race), known as Columbus Day in the states, was celebrated this week in Costa Rica (on October 13 to be exact).  The students spent their social studies periods discussing the journey of Christopher Columbus and his impact on arriving the the Americas.

I am working in a third grade classroom in Costa Rica and today my wonderful third graders, along with the other third grade class, put on an assembly for the rest of the primary school.  They have been practicing various dances from different countries to celebrate their various nationalities.  Dances were included from Ireland, the United States, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Mexico, and other countries.  They got all dressed up in their respective country's costumes and performed for the other classes.  It was so fun to see where all of the students in my class had come from.  They were so cute in their outfits, I wish I could share the pictures with you!




Adding to yesterdays events...we went out for pizza and on the way found an accident, or as the my southern friends call it, a 'wreck.' (I swear I'm going to come back talking like I'm from the south).  I have no idea what happened but one vehicle was on its side (with what appeared to be very little damage) and the taxi that it hit also appeared to have very little damage.  I am very surprised that we don't see more accidents around here.  Tico time is a cultural thing here.  Everyone is very laid back and not rushed...unless they're driving.  Cars go so fast and motorcycles zip in and out and around every vehicle on the road.  We see semis driving down the wrong lane and the buses zip through the bus lanes on the side of the road even if they don't have to pick anyone up or drop anyone off.



On another note, Nicaragua apparently got a 7 point something magnitude earthquake the other night so we think the mini earthquakes we got were just the aftershocks of that.  I'm still mad I wasn't awake to feel them.

I also tried another fruit today that my teacher brought for me.  It was called "guava."  They have two types of guava here- green and pink.  The pink is native to Costa Rica and the green I think my teacher said is Chinese.  I tried the green kind; it reminded me of eating a green pear, but with seeds.

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