beach weekend pt 2

a few more pictures from the beach this weekend. paris and his sisters recently got these iphone covers that allow you to bring your iphone into the water. it makes me a little nervous even though it is advertised with people taking pictures from beneath water. but we played a lot with that this weekend having lots of fun taking pictures in the ocean and the pools. except it was a little difficult to get some of the pictures with the waves continually hitting us and sometimes catching us off guard. but a lot of fun was had and thats what matters right?

now i just have to finish all that work i didnt do this weekend... ;)

and i'll leave you with the best picture from the weekend ... one of those waves that caught us off guard.

beach weekend

this weekend we went to the beach. paris and i, two of his sisters, two cousins, one girlfriend and one friend all piled into two cars and headed to the beach. we went to punta leona which is a place i had never been before but paris's parents recently became members so we finally took advantage.

it was a really great weekend that seemed to last 4 days instead of just two. the beach was beautiful, as most of the beaches here are. we found some monkeys trying to steal one woman's food and paris's sister actually went up to them and just held out some chips and they would crawl over and reach out and just take them right from her hand. it was super cute.

we spent the entire day on saturday at the beach or at the pool. after a quick dinner we went back to the beach to find that there was a sponsored party, like a dj and games and beach volleyball all sponsored by dos pinos te frio. it was then that i had one of those "this is my life?" moments. everyone was dancing, but not the type of dancing that would happen back home, instead it was bachata and salsa and pairs just dancing up a storm. and then i was dancing too, as if it were natural for me too to be dancing salsa on a tropical beach with a ton of other people. it was just one of those moments where i realized, oh thats right, i live in costa rica and not back home in the united states. and it felt good.

i have tons more pictures and they are the fun ones so i will try to get them up on tuesday when i catch up on all my schoolwork that i have to get done! hope everyone had a great weekend :)

friday's letters

a little preview of the weekends activities

dear friday, thank goodness you are finally here. this week has been a little bit draining and i am glad you made it. dear students, i am so proud of you for learning the rest of your dance that you are performing next week. i'm not gonna lie, the choreographer and i weren't sure you would be able to do it, but you did and it looks great. also, thank you for cooperating today in class. i was pretty surprised at how much work you got done for a friday. dear boyfriend, welcome home :) i'm glad you had a nice mini vacation before your new job starts but i am so glad that you are back here with me. dear airlines, can you puh-lease give a girl a break and put some cheaper flights up there? this time two years the same flights were almost $250 cheaper than they are now. i just want to go home and see my very missed friends and family.

a birthday

today i went to the first birthday celebration of paris's twin sisters. as paris has been at the beach with his cousins for the past few days and doesnt come back until tomorrow, i had to go without him. paris has a huge family. and when i say huge, i mean we can't go anywhere without him running into at least one cousin. and because of said large family, there are always family parties.

in the beginning of our relationship, this terrified me. i have to introduce myself to all of these people, what if i can't understand them? what if they can't understand me? every time i would think "oh great another awkward family party." and sometimes, when paris was working odd hours at a hotel, i had to go by myself ... without my boyfriend .. to his family party. and i constantly was having to introduce myself to people i didnt know as paris's girlfriend. and then i constantly was having to do that thing where i would give a polite little smile and pretend to laugh as if i had understood the little joke someone had just said. the language barrier was just too much! with paris i'm always saying "wait, what did he just say to me?" but without him there, family parties were not something i looked forward to.

fast forward 8 months, and these family parties are starting to grow on me. now i rarely have to introduce myself because most everyone knows who i am. and people don't stare at me thinking "who is this random gringa girl and why is she not talking to anyone." i now have the confidence to start conversations and ask questions and really laugh at jokes i actually can understand.

so thats what i did tonight. i had a really nice time at a birthday party of my boyfriend's family.... without my boyfriend.

taco pasta

so the other night i tried a new recipe that i found here. taco pasta. i have been wanting to try this recipe for a while, since one of my roommates in spain used to make something similar. i found this recipe online because i couldnt remember the way my roommate used to make it! its really simple which is great because our kitchen isnt what you would necessarily call functional.

what you need is (as seen above):

ground beef, an small onion, tomato, a bag of pasta shells, a clove of garlic, taco seasoning, 3 oz of cream cheese, and some cilantro.

what you do:

chop up the garlic, onions, and tomato.

put some water to boil and cook the pasta.

brown the ground beef in a big pan. once brown, add the garlic and onions.

add the tomato and then the cream cheese and cooked pasta.

stir everything together until the cream cheese makes a sauce. add some water if its too thick.

serve in a bowl and add some cilantro on top.

voila! thats it!

super easy right?

sorry about the quality of these pictures .. i think my camera is on its last legs. time for a new one?

anyway, taco pasta was a huge hit as friends were invited over to try and now there is none left.

monday musings

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i really like this quote. i'd also like to this that its true. 

i take it as positive thinking.

think that you have it

and you have it!

the weekend

friday night was date night. what do you think of paris's red sox hat? with that and the shirt he was wearing i told him he looked just like an american ;) . we went to the movies to see american reunion. i had never seen any of the other american pie movies but none the less this one was pretty funny. then we went home and hung out with a pretty cute pup while watching some tv before we all went to bed.

saturday we hit up a weekend fav, "new york pizza." i'm so happy that paris wants to go there almost every day because it reminds me of pizza from home. it basically is pizza from home because one of the owners lived in nj for 20 years and thats where he learned to make it. lucky me i get a little taste of home every time we go (which is quite often!).

this afternoon we decided to go for a little walk, or more like a hike because we went up this incredibly steep mountain. and then it started raining halfway through so we ran the rest of the way back. not too bad of a workout. it rained the rest of the day so we just hung around, and i was able to work on my lesson plans for the week. i also made a new dish for dinner, taco pasta, which i will be posting about this week!

hope everyone had a great weekend!

friday's letters

some pictures from my unexpected class field trip to ride horses

dear favorite leopard flats, i'm sorry that you had to endure all that mud yesterday. i wasnt told that my students were going on a field trip, otherwise i would have changed you for some converse sneakers. i hope you get better soon. dear english week, you are coming in a few weeks at school and i am not ready! i hope we get ourselves organized before then. dear boyfriend, congratulations on finding a new job, i know you are going to do great! dear friends in the united states, i miss you all so much!! don't forget to send me emails every now and again, i love reading them and will surely respond! i miss your lives. but mark your calenders, i will be home july 2nd. dear mother nature, i never thought i would say this but i miss the cold weather! you have been making the weather almost unbearably hot lately and i would very much appreciate some cooler weather so i can at least sit down and not start to sweat. dear weekend, i'm so glad you are finally here! lets have some fun okay?

thoughts on teaching

1., 2., 3., 4.

i've just reached my two month mark as a teacher. being a teacher was something i was thinking about doing for a while being that i adored working at summer camp for many many years. however after i had chosen my major of hospitality management i kind of thought that idea had run its course. but here i am, two months into my first year as a middle school english teacher. some of my thoughts so far:

- i think it is really strange that i am not allowed to give my students homework. you heard right, people .. no homework allowed mandated by the administration. therefore i have to finish my lessons and finish the "homework" i want to give during my class time. i constantly find myself being that teacher saying "when i was in 8th grade..." but its true! when i was in 7th and 8th grade, homework was a given!

- writing on a whiteboard is no easy task. i'm not kidding. my handwriting has definitely improved over the past two months but writing in a straight line? i fear it may take me the whole year to master that one. i'll take a step back after writing a sentence on the board and it will be going straight up towards the top. then i'll overcompensate and take another step back and realize i have two sentences that look like an alligator's mouth. 

- my coworkers have been lifesavers. not only am i a new teacher at the school this year, but it is my absolute first year as a teacher .. anywhere. yes i was a teacher's assistant last year in spain, but that was a whole other country and a completely different job. this year i have all the lesson plans, all the tests, quizzes, and projects to make and grade, not to mention i have to deal with all the parents of my students as well. but my coworkers have been fabulous mentors. i think they practically expect me to seek them out every day and say "i just have a little question for you...". lifesavers i tell you.

- and finally, yes there have been many days where i have left my classroom thinking, "good lord, what did i do to deserve this??" but then there are those days where i cant help but smile. when my students say "thank you, teacher" after i help them with a question. or "oh nooo tomorrow is the day we don't have english!" those days when my lessons went just as planned and my students don't feel like they want to race out of the classroom for recess. those are the days that make it worth it.

p.s. how cool are all those apple cupcakes i found on pinterest??? if only i had an oven...

ta-da!

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surprise! the boots parade has a new blog design! every since i started my blog, more like since before i started my blog, i have wanted to have someone who knows what they are doing give it a great design. so after a few months of writing in this thing, and continually following a lot of other very lovely blogs, i decided to finally ask someone to redesign the boots parade. and thats when i met brooke! i got her off of a recommendation from megan over at this blog because i really liked her design. after scoping out a few more designs that brooke had done i knew i was in love and wanted her to do my blog too! and the rest is history. there are still a few things to get done on my part but i'm so excited that i had to say something. i hope you like it and thanks again brooke!

monday musings

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just a nice little quote to get you through your monday!

one day..

the other day we had a nice "family" lunch at paris's sister's apartment. she and her husband live in a beautiful apartment complex in a nearby town. in this area there are tons of apartment complexes as opposed to houses and one day i would really love to live in one of them. unfortunately, i didnt take any pictures of the inside (smart, right?). but theres one of the outside and then one of the awesome view. oh and then there is paris and me making duck faces with our pringles ... i had to. we had a really nice lunch with all of paris's sisters and his mom and then his sister did everyone's nails :) i love having my nails done.

hope everyone had a great weekend and is getting ready for another work week!

a little friday surprise

my new classroom!

we were finally able to move to our new classrooms in the new building at school! this is the first year the school has "colegio" aka middle/high school and they built a building for those classrooms. since this year there is only 7th and 8th grade (my classes!) we were able to use two classrooms in the original building until the construction was finished. one was the old music room and the other was the principal's old office (that class only has 9 students so it was pretty small). but now we have beautiful new classrooms with really nice tile floors, lots of windows, and more space! these pictures don't do them justice, since we were only there for about 30 minutes. but once we get all the details finished and organized i'll put some better pictures.

hope everyone has a nice weekend!

a mish mosh of vacation pictures

here is another little splattering of vacation pictures from when my parents were visiting. there were probably about 3 million pictures taken those few days by the four of us so i'm trying to give you as much as possible without giving you everything.

so we're starting off with some sloths because i certainly love them and i know at least one other person reading this loves them too. so these are for you, girl. then we head to some downtime at the lovely hotel restaurant where we quickly turn to a little jungle hiking action, veer towards some kindle reading, piña colada-sipping, pool lounging, and finally an airplane restaurant (we did not eat there .. just took the picture).

so there you have it. this may or may not be the last vacation picture post. i mainly just want to keep thinking that i am on vacation instead of back at work. today was kind of a wonky workday, as most first workdays are after a lovely vacation. but there is a strong chance i am moving into my new classrooms tomorrow! fingers crossed everyone.

a little inspiration

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i'm feeling a little defeated tonight.

tomorrow is my first day back to work after last week's vacation. i had a week off from work for holy week. and yes i spent most of it with my parents. and yes we went to the beach for a few days.

 so yes i had a great vacation.

but tonight i am feeling a little bit like a failure? okay failure is harsh. whatever the word would be for someone who had really high expectations but didnt quite reach them...

i had plans for myself this week. 

finish ALL my lessons plans and maybe even next week's too...

grade ALL three tests between my two classes and ALL the geography projects...

buy and organize new binders with dividers for each category of worksheet i use...

make up and print out all vocabulary lists for the rest of the trimester...

now lets see what did i actually accomplish from that list?? buy new binders and dividers in the HOPES of getting organized ... but i didnt actually organize them...

everything else was only partially finished or not at all started

what the heck?!

i feel like i'm in high school again not being able to get my work done

and the worst part is .. i have worked an insane amount of hours this week! for the amount of time i spent glued to my computer trying to get all of this finished, i'm amazed i didnt finish everything for the whole school year!

but trying to look on the bright side ... i did get everything done i will need for tomorrow. and i ALMOST finished a lot of this things on my list

i guess this just comes with the territory of being a new teacher. for me, everything has to be done from scratch this year while for most of the other teachers, they have last year's material to work with.

and i'll just have to keep in mind that i may not be there yet, but i'm closer than i was yesterday.

sloths, iguanas, and monkeys, oh my!

like i said yesterday, the hotel we stayed in at manuel antonio was called costa verde. it is one of the coolest hotels i have ever been to. it is literally right in the middle of the jungle and the property is huge. they have four or five different areas of rooms, three different pools, an incredibly delicious restaurant, and the best part ... tons of animals!

thats right. since it was built in the jungle and they didnt destroy much of the surrounding land, many of the animals just hang out right on the property. my favorite though, the sloths. they are just too cute! the hotel's slogan is "still more monkeys than people" however i didnt actually see any monkeys on the property (my dad did though) i saw a ton of monkeys at the beach. there were however, probably more iguanas than people.

that picture with all the leaves actually has a sloth in it! you can see his little head somewhere in there while he was looking down at us. it was my goal to see a sloth on this trip and i saw two! also, those monkeys were actually that close to the camera. they were not afraid of the people at all and actually got close enough to steal a bag of potato chips from someone!

even more vacation pictures to come tomorrow ;)

a little vacation

soo sorry i've been mia for a while. but school has been kicking my butt. my annual plan was taking forever and thank god i got a little extension to help me finish it. not to mention all the normal lesson plans, test making, test and project grading, etc etc. so needless to say i have been a little busy ... 

 

not to mention that my parents are here!!! they have been here since last wednesday and are leaving tomorrow morning :(  but also another reason why i just havent had time to write in here! we've been having plenty of fun though, don't you worry. my parents met paris's parents for the first time (hence the picture above). paris's mom and sisters had a nice meal prepared at home and all the sisters served us while me, paris, my parents, and his parents sat down to eat. even though there is a little bit of a language barrier i think everything went really well and everyone seemed to be getting a long great.

so since this week has been holy week here in costa rica (easter week aka vacation for students and teachers thank youuu) i have had off from work and my parents planned a little vacation to the beach! i suggested manuel antonio because it is the much nicer of the few beaches i have been to here in costa rica and i am pretty familiar with it now. i suggested the hotel costa verde where paris and i and some friends stayed a few months back. my parents LOVED the hotel. here is just a preview of the view from the hotel restaurant.

i'm going to save the rest of the hotel pictures for tomorrow because right now blogger is giving me a really hard time about uploading my pictures. but i will leave you with some pictures from the crocodile bridge on the way to the beach. there is a bridge that is famous for having crocodiles under it! sometimes there are only one or two but this time there were a ton! and some really really big ones. 

 

 

and for everyone who asked me if these crocodiles that we are laying on are real ... they are not! don't worry.

enjoy!!