Blair Academy- Costa Rica- 2015: Sun starting to come out, combined with lots of work and fun

Pura Vida!

Hi again! The past few days have been a blast. With our project nearing culmination, we've been having lots of fun and working hard.

Veronica, Yichuan, Jack and Heiner walking to Doña Ginette's house during our 'Amazing Race'

Day 2 of our project started with an ice-breaker game called 'Cebolla' (Onion) in which two people would each hold an onion in one hand with a spoon, and use the other to try to knock their opponent's onion off of the spoon.

Jane plays Cebolla with Deiberth (aka Cotho)

With the floor now clean, we applied a (blue) sealer to prepare for the process of tiling. After we finished working that day, we went to Doña Amable's house to learn how to cook 'picadillo de chayote'. It tasted great, and afterwards we had some fun figuring out riddles.

Grace, Yichuan, and the 'squad' applying the sealer

Yichuan cooking

Day 3 of our project was a long, but satisfying, one. We dug an area out to create a sidewalk that will be built later. We prepared the mortar for the tiling process.

And finally, we began placing the tiles. Throughout the day, we split up into groups to help out in English class.

On the 4th day, we continued to tile and began applying grout. However, the highlight of the day was the Amazing Race' event. Our group was split up into two teams, and assigned to four locations around the community to partake in local customs. At each of the four 'stations', a team could be awarded up to three rubber bands based on the usage of Spanish, enthusiasm and quality. At Doña Antonia's house, we danced salsa and bachata. At Doña Amable's, we cooked tortillas and empanadas. At Doña Ginette's house we extracted 'agua dulce' (sweet water) from sugar cane. And at Don Daniel's, we milked goats!