Friday was the last day of school. Vacation time has arrived. I'm off to Costa Rica in the morning. I spent the entire day getting ready for my trip. Shopping, laundry, and errands filled my day. I'm looking forward to getting on a plane...where I can hopefully take a long nap. I know I won't get much sleep tonight. I never sleep much the night before a trip.

 

It's time to pack up. I've just started arranging my stuff on the bed. Now the hard part- deciding what's absolutely necessary to take. I want my backpack to be as light as possible. It's the rainy season and it's going to be steamy hot. I don't want to make my traveling any harder than necessary. I'm on a bare-bones budget, so I'll be taking buses all over the country.

 

I'll check in from time to time from the road. See ya.

 

 

The school year is winding down...and the kids are winding up. No matter how creative we teachers try to get, to the kids nothing is more interesting than the sunshine and warm weather. Anything school-related is just an annoying interruption to their daydreams of summer adventures-to-come. Last week some of my classes finished up a big project. I figured I'd give them some unstructured time as a reward. I said they could have a choice of 5 activities on the computer. I thought they would enjoy this...but this is what I heard instead-  Miss! I'm booooored of these games. I'm sick of the computer. I can only imagine what the classroom teachers are going through if the kids find the computer lab boring. All they want to do is go outside to PLAY. I can 't blame them. My mind is also wandering to thoughts of my upcoming summer adventures. I decided my summer trip will be to Costa Rica. I'm going to try different places than those I visited last year. Most of my time will be spent at a yoga retreat in the rainforest on the Caribbean coast. I found this website today- Sounds of Costa Rica. Love it. Listening to those sounds brings back memories of my times in the jungle. I think I've been at least 6 times. There's nothing like walking through the rainforest with the music of the crickets, birds, monkeys, and frogs calling to you. Add in the sound of rain drops on the canopy and the smell of the lush green forest and I'm in heaven. I can't wait to wake up to the call of howler monkeys! It's the creepiest sound. Listen to this clip. The first time you hear it in real life, it scares the daylights out of you. The howls usually start right before the sun rises. The eerie godzilla-like roaring echoes through the forest. You can feel the vibrations right through your body. According to the Smithsonian website, howler monkeys are the loudest animals in the world.