Week 10: Teachers vs. Students Basketball Game and Samara Beach

Ray had a big basketball game this week where the students played the teachers so Mark had a chance to show off his basketball skills!  Although they were not keeping score, I think that the adults may have won (Mark gave 100% and almost died in the process!)  They hope to play again in the future.  Mark said that is some of the most fun he has had down here!

Samara Beach:

To celebrate the end of Mark’s science teaching experience and having a 3-day weekend, we decided to take an overnight trip to Samara Beach.  Samara is a town about 2 hours south of us on the Pacific Coast.  Being that we are in the rainy season, we knew we were taking a gamble with the weather.  It was rainy, but we made the best of our stay.  Keep in mind that rain here is warm so the boys were still able to go in the ocean and pool (when it wasn’t downpouring).  We were also able to view the Brewer’s Game which was a plus. As you can see, Sport’s Bars exist here as well-note Aaron Rodger’s on the sign below!

Our hotel in Samara was directly on the beach and had individual “bungalows” to stay in.  The whole place was beautiful and relatively inexpensive at about $75 a night which included a free “typical” breakfast; toast, fruit, beans, rice, orange juice, coffee and eggs.  Pretty filling!

Other interesting notes:

• Apparently smoking is still encouraged in the boys’ school!  Note the little cigaretter holder that is on top of the toilet paper holder in the boy’s bathroom 🙂 Too funny!
• Horses tend to run wild around our town (along with dogs).  Note the horses that we encountered on the dirt road on our drive in to school!
  

  

   

• Costa Ricans refer to themselves as “Ticos” for men and boys, and “Ticas” for women and girls.  Here is the reason why this came about: “Ticos have the tendency of turning words into diminutives and sometimes add the diminutive tico at the end of words. Something small, chiquito, becomes chiquitico. A man is chiquitico and that woman is chiquitica.”  

Until next week, Pura Vida!

Janet, Mark, Ray and John