Sights and sounds

Because I promised to include a few pictures and I now have access to faster internet connetion at school so uploading is easier, here's a few images.

First, frisbee with other staff, students and friends each Saturday:


This is a sloth that was walking back and forth on a telephone line by our cabin one night:



Here's a view of my bedroom, with the quilt my mom made me that matches really nicely with the all wood everything:

And here's a video that Bethany recorded of the 15th of September Independence Day celebrations:



Finally, here's a link to my all my photos on Picassa that I'll update periodically.

Cooking with chayote and other ideas

And now for something completely different. I mentioned chayote and good soup in an earlier entry, and Melissa asked for some recipes. So, here's a recipe that a friend from Columbia shared. Making a variation of this soup attempting to create my own chicken stock was my project all Saturday afternoon. The first time I had it, it was cooked on a wood stove, which I do not suggest, since takes super long.

Super starchy soup

2-3 potatoes
1-2 chayote (darker green is better for soup)
1 yucca
1 green plantain
1 tomato
bullion cube
salt
cilantro

Peel and dice the potatoes, chayote (remove white center core), yucca and plantain. Add them to boiling water with bullion cube and salt to season. When potatoes are soft, add diced tomato and fresh cilantro and allow to boil another 2-5 minutes.

Tastes great with fried plantains (as does everything). 1 large yellow plantain makes 8 pieces. Slice peel length-wise to open, then cut plantain in half and slice halves length-wise. Fry in some vegetable oil until both sides golden-brown. No need to add anything.

Other ideas

I've also used chayote boiled along with potatoes to make mashed potatoes/chayote. Then mixed in some sauteed onions, peppers and garlic and a bit of cheese. Melissa suggested boiled with brown sugar, which sounds wonderful. And, like all veggies, mixed with rice is a great plan for some cut up chayote. I like Dana's mom's rule about more colorful meals being better.

Another thing I very much enjoy is creating variations on banana bread. Here's a recipe:

Banango bread

1 egg
½ stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2-3 ripe bananas
1 mango
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Mix egg, butter and sugar (I'll melt butter in oven as preheating, so also greases pan). Mash in bananas, using a fork. Add cut mango. Blend dry ingredients, and add to batter. Bake in a greased pan at 350 for about 30-40 minutes (or until golden brown).

I've substituted (or supplemented) fruit yogurts, jams, for fruit and added honey, nutella, granola, oatmeal, and/or raisins. Always pleased with results.

Please share ideas you have for good recipes. I'm a big fan of food. And potlucks are a splendid way to socialize. One of our teachers talked about starting cooking classes as a way to socialize and learn Costa Rican cooking. Once that happens, I'll have more to share.

Dirty Nica

Do you know how when you learn something new, and you start to notice it everywhere? Like hearing the SAT word “garrulous” on the news and then noticing it in a magazine ad. Maybe not, but these past few days I have been hearing a lot about Costa Ricans' prejudice towards Nicaraguans. As a teacher, I am trying to better understand where this prejudice comes from and how to address it in my students. Here are some things I've seen.

On Thursday, we were having a lesson on understanding, asking and answering (discussion, short answer, essay) questions. Students have been reading student-selected books with partners. I asked them to write discussion questions about their books so that they could have a conversation about big ideas from their text with others who have not read the book.

One of my 10^th graders wrote this discussion question for The Friendship (a novella by Mildred D. Taylor set in turn-of-the-century American South about a conflict that arises when a black man addresses a white store owner by his first name) : “Do you agree or disagree have friends with niggers?” I said the question used a very racist word. He said he's not racist, but then went on to say that Nicas (short for Nicaraguans) are dirty, stupid, talk stupid, violent – greeted by giggles from the rest of class. I said, “I'm not laughing.” Good strategy or not, I let him continue, so he could practice his English and I could listen and better understand. I asked why. Asked if others agreed (all did, one qualified “not all bad”). The student continued. Stupid. Kill people. 9 people at the bank (in Monteverde 2 years ago). Rotweiller chased a Nica. And girls. Men *hip thrust and smile* girls. I was overwhelmed with the matter-of-fact hatred.

I said I wanted to understand. Told students to bring in articles to show me, and “justify their opinion” (a phrase we were practicing). And we would talk about this topic more. Clearly haven't resolved, and I'm still figuring out what my plan will be for our next class on Tuesday. We didn't have class on Friday, since celebrating Children's Day and also a trip to see the play for 7^th, 8^th and 9^th which I'll mention more below. Monday we have Independence Day celebrations.

During break, another student said a joke in Spanish about Nicas crawling on the floor in Pali (=Walmart) looking for “los precios mas bajos” (“the lowest prices”). I mentioned dumb blonde jokes. But rubias are beautiful. Ah, stereotypes.

On Friday, I went with students to see Cesar Melendez's El Nica, a powerful monologue about hate, marginalization. After some slides showing news headlines and graffiti with hate messages towards Nicas, the character, El Nica, stumbles onto the stage in a dirty, bloody “Pura Vida – Costa Rica” t-shirt with a giant smiling tree frog. He confides in a small cruxifix on the table – laughing, yelling, reenacting flashbacks. He apologizes to the audience for being poor, illiterate, for coming to the country, for his accent, for his dead father. He talks about political oppression, torture, real hunger, Ruben Dario, brotherhood, a dangerous crossing in secret of the San Juan River (border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica). A scene near the end involved him being beaten up by unseen attackers and ended with his arms outstretched, crucified. Play is 8 years old. Over 1400 performances. In a short Q&A after the performance, Cesar said wants a day when the message he presents is no longer needed and people stop coming. When we returned to CEC, the other students were wrapping up ice cream to celebrate Children's Day. No formal processing of the piece. What was understood? How will we continue this conversation? Where does prejudice come from? Political instability? Oppression? Poverty? Hate?

I've been trying to process what I've seen, and figure out what to do with this knowledge. Anna (my roommate and colegio science teacher) said that she saw most of the 10^th graders at the play when they had a public performance, so we can use that as a common discussion topic to address these issues.

In the meantime, this weekend and Monday are celebrations for Central American independence from Spain, which originally was 5 provinces, now Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica (Panama part of Columbia). Here's a look at the parades that will happen tomorrow on the 15th. A major event involves a torch that leaves Guatemala at 4am on the 13^th and is carried by youth down the Panamerican highway and into each community. Our town received the torch in a ceremony at 9am this morning, after high schoolers had been running with it all night from the highway and up the hill (taking turns, with a bus). This symbol of shared purpose and unity is so interesting when considered with the hateful anti-Nica speech I've been hearing.

Two truths and a lie

So I had my students play this game in class to practice with talking about the past and telling stories. I explained the basic rules - you share 2 truths and 1 lie about yourself (I added that it had to be about when you were young) and other players have to guess the lie. It was fun, but not everyone understood. Freddy was my favorite. He asked if he could have 2 lies, and I said that was ok. So, he said: 1) A man cursed me and I killed him. 2) I fell off a precipice and died. and 3) I like to play soccer. I guessed the third, and he was shocked.

Also, they all believed that I lived in Argentina for 3 years. Which I found surprising. I guess I need to go there now.