Rocking that *International* Paradise

Slowly but surely, I am checking items off of my “to see” list in Puerto Rico.  Yesterday, Amanda and Josh and I took a hike through the Guanica Dry Forest—one of the places I had not yet explored.  Surprisingly (for us), we didn’t get lost once all day. What we did get was sweaty.  Oh man, did we get sweaty. When I checked the weather before we left home, it said there was a heat index of 105 in Guanica.  Awesome.  Stepping out of the car when we got there was like stepping into an oven.  No…ovens are dry.  You’d think the dry forest might have dryer air than the rest of PR…but it’s just as humid there as elsewhere.  Let me tell you—I’ve gotten used to sweating here.  But yesterday was pretty gross.  Sweat should not form puddles on your clavicle, or drip off of your chin.  Ew.  On the plus side, it was a nice hike!  It was greener than I expected.  But as Josh pointed out—it was the green of weeds, not vibrant foliage.  Also, there were more trees.  I guess I’m not

Time for a teacherly rant.  I hate teaching research.  Hate it, hate it, hate it.  It’s taken me only a year of experience to come to this realization. Let me back-track.  When I started teaching, writing a research paper was one of the things I was most excited to teach.  When I was in school, I loved finding information, organizing it in a different way, putting my own spin in it, and spitting out a research paper.  In my opinion, writing a research paper is simply a process—and one which requires very little deep thought, especially when you’re in middle or grade school and aren’t really expected to add any ideas to the research of others. Here’s what I’m learning: writing a research paper DOES take extensive critical thinking skills, and it’s not as easy for everyone as it is for me.  My Saturday.   Step 1: Find scholarly sources of information for your topic.  Check.  This is pretty easy for my students, after I guide them about how to identify sources they

If you’ve been reading any of these blog posts, you may have noticed there are several recurring themes in many of them, such as:         -The kindness of strangers         -Lucky finds         -Getting lost         -Lots of fun and friends         -Adventures in beautiful places This weekend’s trip to Culebra encompassed almost all of the themes above—making it one of the best mini-vacations I’ve had in a long time. sunrise on the way to Fajardo Friday morning (no school—Columbus Day holiday), we stood in line to buy ferry tickets for the 9am ferry at 7am.  The ticket window wasn’t open yet, but the line wound down the sidewalk.  By 8:30, ticket selling now in progress, we had inched our way closer to the window an were one group away from buying our tickets.  And then, a sign went up in the window, and the announcement came on over the loudspeaker: tickets for the 9am ferry to Culebra were sold out.  Nooooo!  We’d been SO CLOSE!  The next ferry didn’t lea

I feel as though I haven't written as much or as often this school year, and I apologize for that.  I think the reason why is that this year, being in Puerto Rico feels more like home.  I have a life here now.  I have more friends from the area than I did last year, and I know my way around a bit better.  This means that the weekends are less about heading off to find the next adventure, and more about decompressing from the week and spending time with friends--like a normal person.  Last weekend, on Friday, Kelsey and I had a joint birthday party for each other at her apartment.  The night was a complete success, with lots of food and drink and great company.  We ended up with enough leftovers to throw two or three more parties.  :)  Saturday, we headed to Playa Caribe (a local beach) for a full day of relaxing in the sunshine.  I came home with a slight sunburn--proof I was at the beach which I haven't had much of so far this year.  And Sunday, I spent at home, cleaning