Brrr.. Baby It's Cold Outside

Hellaw Hellaw Hellaw

I write this from the first airport of my journey, NEWWCASSTLEEE, and it is 4am on Saturday. I don't know how I got up! I've just left my family, after persuading them to buy me a Greggs pasty (yes, Greggs is open all night!), and now I'm chilling waiting for my first plane to Amsterdam. In this post I will tell you all about my amaazinngg winter break back home and all the many things I have been doing.

I'll be telling you about the main things I have done as I've forgotten most already. If I'm being realistic about it, a large majority of my time was spent sleeping to recover from the months at UWC where I have not been getting much sleep, and to recover from travelling and to recover from the MAJOR jetlag I acquired flying home. I can't tell you how nice it was to have a couple of days just not moving from my bed, they were much needed! And now that I'm on my way back to Costa Rica I can already sense how much I'm going to miss those 'lazy days', but I know I have only a little amount of time to cram by Costa Rican experience in so I will just plan on hibernating through summer.

When I came home I was greeted by my family and my friends, Martha and Hazel, it was really nice to see them again. And these meetings and greetings didn't end there. I tried to make as much time to see my friends as possible and this was the highlight of my break, getting to see them all again. I went back to my old school to see my friends and old teachers which was weird but nice. Just general shopping trips and house visits with my friends was dead nice and something I'll try to do more of in the summer because I know I would love to see some more!

On the first week back I had multiple appointments... dentist, doctor, hair , passport, you name it! I was shattered but all very necessary, this was basically my first week back in a nutshell.

I got to go back to Woodcraft Folk woo and see all my friends from there. I went to my session on the Wednesday and then the little ones (Elfins and Pioneers, where I help out) Christmas pyjama party and then on the weekend Tyne Ventures and DFs went for a weekend away to Minsteracres which was full of fun such as running about in the woods, walks, secret Santa and quizzes. I also went for another excursion with Woodcraft Folk on the weekend beginning the 27th with the DF's (ages 16-21) . Our Tyne DF's gallivanted all the way down to Bristol for Winter Wonderland, which is a national even ran by DF's for DF's! It was amazinngg and so nice to see all my friends from previous events again. Fancy dress was a must, each evening had a different era where you could so all hippy, retro, punk, whatever you fancy, accompanied with evening entertainment like open mic and DJs. Can't wait for the next event!

If you haven't noticed already, I love ma food, so I couldn't  go home and not go to my fav all you can eat restaurant, Taybarns. Don't you just love those words 'All you can eat'!! The Murrays, The Bradders, The Tynes and a Tyne's Malaysian friend all hope along to stuff their faces. It was truly yummy! I also did buy a lot of Greggs pasties whilst being home.. gotta love them!

Soo the big festive event of the year, Christmas. It was so nice to spend time with my family, especially at this time of year and all we've been through. Christmas decorations and the tree were up and shining pretty soon after I returned home. I attended midnight mass to welcome in Christmas Day as I do every year and then after a lovely sleep I awoke to the gorgeous smell of food throughout the house and presents under the tree. I was so pleased with the gifts I was given especially bits and bobs from India off my sister and tickets to my favourite festival!! Thank you to everyone who gave me something!! The family came round to ours and we had a massive delicious meal with the traditional turkey, pigs in blankets, sprouts, parsnips, roasties etc. This was followed by most of us falling asleep on the sofa, lots of telly, lots of music, lots of chocolates, more telly, more chocolates, then tea followed by more chocolate and telly watching. Safe to say we were very full and we were still having turkey sandwiches for a week! And on boxing day I had a nice lie in!

For New Years Eve my friends and I went round to the Tyne household for a Vegas themed night. We dressed to the nines in our best cocktail dresses or tuxedos and had a merry night of poker and cocktails. We also did the more traditional activities, we watched of fireworks, we sung Auld Lang Syne, we watched Jools Hootenanny and someone came to the door with coal to welcome in the new year all before dropping off to sleep. It was nice to welcome in the new year with friends and family. Our family and the neighbours then had our annual new year's Chinese, we ordered in and ate so much food and topped it off by watching Sherlock. All round a lovely day.

The days running up to going back to Costa Rica were fun, emotional and stressful. Trying to get everything ready in time but also enjoying being here still. My friend Cameron came up to stay the second last night which was dead nice and we got together with a group of our friends for a last evening together to celebrate Christmas and us all being together.

Overall I have had an amazing time and it flew by so quickly, I wish it could be longer but I'm also ready to go back to college and see everyone there and continue my Costa Rican experience. England has been very cold but I have loved seeing familiar sights and faces again, despite being in an out of hospital visiting people.

I am now at Schipol, Amsterdam when I write this and I am already so tired. Let's just hope none of my flights get cancelled or very delayed. I'll see you on the other side, and I'll post again in a few weeks and when I have time!!

And I'm now in Panama.. nearly there now!
And now I'm finally back in Costa Rica wooo!

Happy New Year!
Ali

Meal at a our fav Lebanese restaurant.

Vegas themed New Years Eve

With friends :)

Me and Sarah at New Year

Me with my Greggs pasty in Newcastle airport!

Me and mi tica Carla back in my room in Costa Rica.

भारतीय सर्दी -- Indian Sardi(Winter)

Hi guys

Its been a while since i last wrote a post. So here is my account of every main event in the last month, before i left MUWCI for winter break. Sorry in advance for how lengnthy it is.

I will start at Project week. If you can remember i was meant to be going to south India to work with a NGO, Sadhana Forest, surrounding work of sustainable living. Well i was still ill around this time so it was not in my health interests to go, which i was sad about at the start but in the end i cherished a week off to relax and recover from being ill. I must say that not everyone here gets ill, most people never get ill here, i was one of the unlucky few. I stayed back on campus with many second years who were doing work and two other first years. The pool opened on the Monday so i got to go in without the huge mass of people, i even went for a midnight dip under the stars, along with the frogs. Also on PW i went on a day trip out to Balaji Temple in KatKcerulle and a fort with Paul and Sarah, who work at the college and two guys from the village. It was great to get off campus finally and to see such beautiful scenery. I also went with a group of friends to Pune to get off campus, to browse and to eat out.

I was back school for a week then we had Diwali Exeat holiday. I went to Bombay with some mates and stayed and one of their houses. The hosts were very hospitable and made Exeat go smoothly for all of us. If i hadn't known it was Diwali i swear it could have been WW3. There were fire crackers being thrown in the streets, by your feet and fire works lighting up every part of the city. It was a mate Elize's 18th birthday when we were there, so to celebrate we took out a friends yacht around Marine Drive harbor, seeing tourist sights, like the Gateway to India, on the way. I visited a street called Causeway, which is one long street filled with markets, shops and restaurants. I ate at Leopolds (a touristy Indian restaurant) and Theobromas (who do the best brownies and full English i could find) here. I also went to a restaurant called Imbiss, as it was called them meating place and i craved good meat.

The Saturday following i heard the fire service alarm for the first time. So i ran out of having a mid day nap to find there was no fire at all, we had been called to do a rescue mission. A visiting group of students from a local village were on a hike up Mt Wilko, the mountain we are next to, a girl in group badly hurt herself disenabling her to walk any further. So a group of fire service students ran up the mountain with stretchers, bandages, pillows and everything else we might have needed. She was very brave, making the whole thing so much smoother. With the help of a couple of her friends and Ingrid and Fredrico, teachers at MUWCI, we took the day to safely carry her back with the correct first aid. It got tough when it started to get dark, the path was almost unrecognisable and we became tired, but we called for back up torches and water to successfully reach the medical centre, my recent home. In all it was one of the best teamwork and quick decision making building sessions i have ever experienced and i thank everyone who was there to make it the success it was.

Closer to the end of the term, we started learning how to put out fires. In training sessions we had the full gear: masks, goggles, jeans, jumpers, t-shirts on heads and a beater in hand. We do it old school, learning how to beat and double beat. Over the last weeks we cut down a ring of grass, with massheties, around the college to act as fire barrier. We had the first practice at beating, when burning the cut grass where we beat the fire to embers.The fires weren't big as the grass was too damp from monsoon season. On the weekend there was a surprise fire alarm. So we all ran, put on our gear and headed out into the hot sun. The fires were at random around campus so required a lot of running to get to. Blatantly enough it was a test, but a well needed wake up call. It made me realise just how fit you have to be, to be able to run and beat for such a long time. It was already too hot and it was winter, so i can't imagine how hot it will be the next time the alarm rings!!

A couple on weekends ago i went on a experimental rock climbing expedition, experimental in the sense of a trial for future trips. We left on Friday after school in a bus to the campsite by the rock. We set up camp near loads of snakes holes so i was walking on egg shells all night. We had a camp fire and eat aloo paratha before gong to bed. We woke at 4:30 packed up the tents and walked to the base of the climb to have breakfast, cereal. the first vertical part of the climb was a lot of fun and very windy. we waited in groups in a man made small cave in the rock, formed when the area was being used as a fort. Carrying on and at one point could use a string like ladder. Taking the opportunity, i pretended i was on the Black Pearl climbing up the ladder to get the sails, as that's what it reminded me of. It was just past mid day when we reached the top, so i had a bit of a sunbathe for the first time in India which was nice but i hadn't put any sunscreen on so i had to cover up after a short time. We encountered some problems when trying to get the whole group up in as one group and back down as so. This was due to the fact another group came on the mountain whilst we were climbing and we had to pass them, which took more time that we would have liked. We got back to campus just after dinner, in time enough for MUWCI Fest.

MUWCI Fest is a more formal event which raises money for Community Fund, a pot of money the school raises to help any students, staff and workers pay for things they need but can't afford, for example hospital treatment. The event had lots of different food stalls, performances with the theme of rock and a auction. The auction included posters, cakes, dinners, and people who offered themselves as slaves, maids and masseuses. It was a overall fun and successful event which brought a great end to the week.

The week following was Gensex week. As a part of LGBTQ club, i was very excited to see what this week could bring. In the previous week at LGBTQ club, we create posters with facts, drawing and messages, like 'Have a Gay Day', to put up around college. We also made small posters to rename each classroom with the names of countries that allow gay marriage. On the Monday of Gensex week, we got together again and set about making hundreds of penis, vagina and boob choco chip cookies!! These were given out throughout the next day. Have to say i ate a lot of them, so i think they were a great success. The week also included sex in a box, which isn't as bad as it sounds. A box was left out on Monday and Tuesday in which you anonymously ask any question to do with gender, sexuality and sex. Tuesday night we opened the box at a cake evening in my courtyard. There was a really great turn out, so discussions were more fruitful than i thought they would have been, although we did go round in circles at times. The rest of the week included talks and discussions, movie screenings and a karaoke to finish it off. Well done to everyone who helped to make this week so informative and fun, as i really cherished and saw the importance of Gensex education, especially in young people.

On one Wednesday night, students who take Philosophy were invited to dinner by the Philos teacher Liam. We talked about philosophy a little, but more what we have learnt so far from class and at MUWCI in general and how to switch the philosophy mind set off to enjoy and accept life around us. We also grilled Liam as to why and when he chose to teach Philos. It was a lovely evening with amazing food.

MUWCIlympics started that weekend. Like the Olympics, we competed in sporting events, like Athletics, rugby, football, basketball, ultimate Frisbee and table tennis, we also had chess. We competed Wada against Wada, i am wada 4, who i have to say had the best cheer leading and support, taking out the bias. Throughout the events wada four were doing very well, such as winning ultimate, but so were wada 2, our main competition. One of the last major event was Athletics, i competed in 100m relay in which we came 4th, as Patricia hurt her ankle during the race and had to be taken to the medical center, so well done to her for carrying on. I also competed in girls shot put and won!! happy days, nice to know i hadn't lost it. Overall we won Athletics but unfortunately it wasn't enough to beat wada 2, we came a close second. I think we will let them win this year, but just get ready for when we thrash them next year!!

All dance students, first and second years, performed at the IB Dance Sunday spotlight. This is a showcase of some of the work we have be learning over the last term. I have been learning Bharatanatyam, a classical Indian dance from the South Indian state of Tail Nadu, Turkish folk dance and starting to choreograph our own styles and routines. First years performed a small Bharatanatyam routine to start the show. The second years performed amazing group and solo dances. It was a great way to show what we were working on. The turn out was great and made all the hard work pay off.

The last week of college was Human Rights week. Treveni's were cancelled but many talks on HR took place. One talk was from Ashima Kaul, a peace worker from and working in Kashmir, running workshops on peace building today.

Sahana friends had been preparing a theatre performance about the Diwali story for the past weeks now. On the Wednesday it was their time to shine. A show was put on that included hip hop dances, Bollywood dances, Arial silks and of course the Sadhana friends performance. They had made crowns and monkey tails for costumes which really helped show a great, enthusiastic performance by all. After the show we all sat outside, eat samosas and drank chi, listening to guys playing tabla and drums, before waving them off.

A Wada concert was organised especially for Usha. Usha has worked at the college for a very long time and has played a main role in giving the college the success it has had. She has seen many students through their two years and inspired many others. This concert, along with many other gifts and events, saw her off. People sang songs, read out poems and sent their wishes.

The last Thursday saw everyone dressed in their finest for the Christmas dinner, held at Pelham's house, the headmaster. It was a lovely event with great traditional, Christmas, English food like Yorkshire puddings, turkey, beef, roasties and mince pies. There was a Christmas tree under which everyone put final gifts for their Christmas buddy, which was going on over the month. The person who was budding me was Disha and i couldn't have asked for a better buddy. She knew i loved scarfs and food, so her last gift included exactly that. Padya was being the buddy to Saloni, the flash mob coordinator. So a group of us performed a flash mob at dinner to 'Bruno Mars's' song 'Just the way you are' as a final gift. There was also a Latin dance, singing, carol singing, MUWCIlympics awards and best of all fire works.

It was a sad but memorable end to Human Rights week, when the death of the honorary president of the UWC movement, Nelson Mandela, was announced. Pelham Lindfield Robets, MUWCI's headmaster, made this statement 'His life has been a profound inspiration to millions around the world and to the United World Colleges movement. His passing allows us an opportunity to consider the sacrifices made around the world by many people who take action everyday for the human dignity of others and suffer, as Mandela did, to also make a difference and a positive change in the world.'.

All that was left was to pack my bag ready for the Christmas holidays and say my good byes. It was a lot harder than i first thought. However I was so looking forward to going home and with the knowledge that a month will fly bye and i will be back at MUWCI starting my second term in no time at all.

Happy holidays
Sarah

Here are links to MUWCI News letters:
December-http://issuu.com/uwcmahindracollege/docs/december_2013_newsletter
October--http://issuu.com/uwcmahindracollege/docs/october_2013_newsletter

African and Middle Eastern Regional evening-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XssCK_9O7bE&feature=youtu.be

Numaya, me, Yarden and Zelma at the pool.

 Balaji Temple

View from the fort and at the old entrance to the fort.

 Being all Titanic.

Elize, Fian, Alisha and me on the yacht.

         

 View of the Gateway to India from the yacht.

Full English and Earl Grey tea at Theobromas.

A collation of pictures from the rescue mission.

                   

Breakfast on the mountain getting ready to climb.

View on the small hike back down the the camp site.

Roomie picture. Patricia, Shaib's and me at MUWCI Fest.
Performances at MUWCI Fest.

Supporting our Wada's at MUWCilympics football match first round.

Getting ready to perform at IB Dance Sunday spotlight.
Performing.

At Sadhana village, preparing for Sadhana show case.

Disha and me at Christmas dinner, wearing the scarf she just gifted me.

Saying farewells.

Students pay tribute to Nelson Mandela in the Academic Quadrangle.

Comida y Viajar y Inglaterra

Holaaaa,

I am currently stuck in Heathrow after finding out my flight to Newcastle has been cancelled, this is after the last two planes were also late! But hope is not lost because I given a £10 voucher to get anything I wanted. It didn't take me long before I knew exactly what I wanted after being away from England for such a long time. I searched the terminal for the biggest portion and the best prices and finally I was reunited again with the biggest and baddest ENGLISH BREAKFAST EVERRR!!! I can't even describe how I felt eating proper bacon, egg, beans, sausages, tomatoes and hash browns! It was truly amazing. I am now taking a later flight to Newcastle and thank god I got the last ticket on that flight otherwise I would have been flying tomorrow. However I have been travelling since early Saturday morning and stuck in Heathrow for 9 hours and it is starting to take its toll. So I will tell you about my last few weeks in Costa Rica before December break. And in the famous words of Tumisang 'areee youuu readdyyyyyy for Decemberr break babyyy!!' https://soundcloud.com/tumisang-ramarea/are-you-ready-for-december

I have been having dinners with groups of people before we all split up. My residence, Cahuita, had a pot luck dinner in which Amiya and I made chocolate cake with extra chocolate topping, you can never have enough chocolate (I say that now before I devour chocolate at Christmas)! Cahuita also went to a beautiful restaurant on the top of the mountain. Despite the long drive it was so worth it, the view was incredible and the food was just iosafjiufhhiugbwown* (*a bash on the keyboard to represent the incredibleness of the food that left me so speechless). There was also two famous Costa Rican presenters there recording what was supposedly the New Year's Celebration that will be aired nationally....muyyyy fabulouss!! The Brits also had a dinner however we failed to clear up who was making what so, stereotypically, we ended up with chips, mash, roasties, sweet potato soup, scones and welsh cakes... oh the platter was extremely colourful and healthy! It was really nice to meet up and spend a bit of time with the people from your own culture whilst booging along to British music.

I had my last La Carpio session in 2013 in which we went to a place called La Finca which was really nice because it meant both we all got to get out of the places we live and be in a different environment. We focused it around cultures and traditions by having stations explaining different traditions with accompanying activities. We then gave the presents of cake, sweets and individual presents and cards for Christmas which they really enjoyed! It was such a lovely last session of the year and I hope my Spanish improves further so that I can talk to them more.

I take Environmental Systems and Societies and we went on a field trip to the beachh wooo!! We went to two beaches to compare organisms in a tourist beach and non-tourist beach, Jaco was our tourist beach and Esterillos was our non-tourist beach, both on the pacific side. My group was me, Margot, Pietro and Vitoria and we used quadrants to measure species abundance after collecting shells and seeds and we also measured the oxygen in the water. In Jaco we even found garlic cloves and dead fish... which shows the affect tourism has on such beautiful beaches! It was an amazing outing apart from me and most of the Brits getting heat exhaustion and my already bad burn getting worse.. #britproblems!

The first years put on a Firstie show for our amazing second years. It took a long time planning and organising but it finally came together after a lot of work and practising. The acts ranged from dancing, singing to Eurovision the completely weird unnameable acts! I participated in a Bollywood/run the world dance routine courtesy of Amiya, my Indian friend, and Peppi, who choreographed it so well! We also had imitations of the second years, second year awards, the whole first year had a dance together and we had videos such has 'what do uwcr people say' and 'first year boys'. It was such an unforgettable and funny night :)

We had a health fair day in which there were many activities and talks related to health. I went to yoga, various talks, zumba, dodge ball, frisbee and there was also a rally between residences. It was a nice day to just go out and be happy and healthy :)

Our school are trying to raise funds for the current devastation in the Philippines. To help me, Julia, Carla and Becca organised a bake sale. We got a budget and bought and made delicious food to sell all day Sunday. We made scrummy brownies, banana bread and rice krispy squares. It was nice to help raise a bit of money for a good cause and have fun doing it!

On the last Thursday we had an open mic which was really nice, people played, sang, improvised, acted..everything!! It was awesome and nice to be with most of the school before we all part.

On the last Friday before everyone left to go home for Christmas or elsewhere we had a lovely meal to celebrate Pietro's birthday! We made lots of yummy food and got together with close friends. It was a nice meal for the end of 2013 at uwccr and I hope P had an amazing birthday!

So by the time of writing this I am home and well-ish (major jet lag). After hours of travelling I finally arrived back in Newcastle airport to be greeted by my amazing friends and family :D It is so weird but nice to be home, the food is amazing and I have enjoyed seeing my friends and looking forward to seeing more of them and to having a great Christmas. Coming back home makes the last few months feel as if I have been in a dream and that they have gone so quickly. But a dream I am glad I am having, I am already itching to be back in Costa Rica but I'm also making the most of being in cold cold England!!

Well this has been a very unexpectedly food based post, I guess all of us UWC students begin rave over good food  after being away from home so long. But overall I am well and really enjoying my experiences. I hope everyone ready has an amazing Christmas and New Year and I will tell you all about what has been happening once I am back in Costa Rica.

Pura vida mae

Alison :)

A representation of the beauty I ate in Heathrow.. it's missing the tomatoes though!

Me and Carla at the restaurant for the Cahuita outing.

Me and Amiya gaze out at the view.

La Carpio at La Finca service day.

Chillin like a villain with Nancy at La Finca

Me, Maia and Carla in an empty swimming pool by the river at La Finca

Dodge ball on the health fair day.

Yoga- Health Fair. I was just out of shot... luckily enough!

Zumba - Health Fair. And just to clarify that it water down my back, not sweat!!

A talk at the Health Fair.

Me and my roomie with some more of Cahuita (including JuanPa) at the rally for the Health Fair

Me, Julia and Andre. Taking a break from selling our baked goods.

Chillin at the open mic!

Yummy food for Pietros birthday.

HOMEEE at last with the twin and friends in the kitchen with yummy food. :)

Alison's Whereabouts

Greetings from Alison,

So as we approach the wonderful season to be jolly the weather is getting warmer here... whaatt?!! I am actually starting to miss the cold and layering up, but I know I will be longing to come back to the sun in January. Yet again I have been so busy it is just one thing after another here, but I love having things to do! So here is what I have been up to in beautiful Costa Rica.

I and many others participated in a 40hr famine, I gave up food for 40 hours ad only allowed myself to drink water and sugar (which is not a nice taste). Others slept without a bed, confined themselves to a hut, stayed in a tree, went blind, didn't sleep, spoke in another language, the list is endless. During this I also had my service in the slum La Carpio, in which we went to the slum to have a fun filled day with teenagers around the topic of gender roles and sex education. However, due to communication issues, we were met with a bunch of very small children to entertain. So we played with them and got to do a short session with some of the teenagers at the end of the day. Also in the evening I went to see the band Sonambulo at Jazz Cafe. It was a amazing, a great and energetic latino band! I did all of this whilst still on my 40hr famine, I can tell you that it got extremely difficult to maintain activities with such a lack of energy. I didn't feel hungry at any point, I just felt a complete lack of energy and this was affecting my thinking, my attitude and my physical well being. Even when I started eating again I had to do so in small amounts because my body was so confused by the lack of food. I definitely appreciate food a lot more now.. if that is even possible!!


UWCCR had a Gender Bender Day in which, well, genders bended! Females dressed as the 'stereotypical' males and males dressed as the 'stereotypical' female. It was a really fun day and some people went to the extremes, let's just say. Some males suddenly lost all of there hair, and I mean all, and some girls grew hair! It was interesting to feel like the another gender and to experience one aspect of their everyday lives. I can't wait until next years!

To celebrate my friends (Carla-usa/honduras/costarica) end of exams we went to Lindora for a nice meal. In Costa Rica the majority of school years work differently, so they have finished their finals now and are now on the equivalent of my 'summer break'. Lindora is a fairly westernised and Americanised place near Santa Ana, it is full with American restaurants and fast food places. We went to Applebee's, which many of you might know as it is a big restaurant company. I reallyy enjoyed it and the food was lush, and if you're wondering, I had the soup f the day and brownie with ice-cream mmmm!

I went on a hike in Poas, a community of the poas volcano. I and a few others from my school attended, due to the fact it was very early on a Sunday morning but never the less and to my surprise I was up! The whole Poas community was on this hike, which was more of a lovely walk through the beautiful surroundings and plantations. Where we started and ended there was loud latino music, even in the early hours...how very latino!! So off we went on the hike and suddenly the group was small and no one was following, there was only me, Gabriel and Weiru from uwccr and the rest had disappeared! So us and some others climbed over a log over a river, climbing up and down the slopes of the coffee plantations before concluding that we were in fact lost. After some giggles and confused stares we headed back the way we came and eventually got back one track. I also got to see some people again who were at our MUN which was nice. It was an interesting and amazing walk and yes, I did get sunburnt AGAIN!

Conociendo Costa Rica is what the tutor groups here take part in, there are many trips available around Costa Rica to get to know our new home better. My tutor group and our tutor Brian (the best tutor group) paired with Bernados tutor group and we had a trip into the capital San Jose. Here we visited the Gold Museum and a Masonic Lodge. It was really intriguing learning about all the money and gold in Costa Rica, liking with the current issue of the large amount of gold deposits under the ground. However, Costa Rica decided to save its stunning rainforests instead of having gold mining, but some big foreign companies are eager to get it. The nature is beautiful here and I wouldn't dream of it being destroyed! Anyway back to the point, our tutor groups then when to a roller skating disco which was aweeesommmeee, but I have never been on the disco roller blades with 4 wheels in a square so it was really hard to get used to. But they played loads of songs and games with the everyone so it was really fun, it was incredible how talented some of them were!! 

On Thursday the 14th of November we had service day, the whole school participated in it doing various service days. I did mural restoration in La Carpio, the slum I do my service cas at. We had previous meetings to arrange it and I was part of the creativity group, I help come up with numerous designs for our new mural. Once there I helped paint the new murals and other groups painted playground games on the ground and others were restoring a current mural. There was also another service day here who were painted houses and assembling bunk beds. It was so nice when all the kids came up asking what we were doing and we painted their faces and played games. It was such a hot day and yes I burnt myself, yet again! After a late lunch we got to walk around La Carpio and down to the river where the poorest part of the slum was, it was incredible to see how they live. It seems like they never move and that they are stuck there in very bad conditions, especially the women who have to look after their family and children from a young age. Despite this many of them are very positive and friendly people!

Last weekend on Saturday I went into San Jose with Maia, Kayleigh and Vilde and none of us spoke amazing Spanish, so it really pushed our language skills as well as our guessing and improvising skills. We visited the old market and the art market and the main square.We had a great time shopping and seeing the sights, it's nice to get to know the capital more! And on the Sunday a group of us went to la playa Jaco, which is the one of the closest beaches to Santa Ana on the pacific side. It was a really nice day lying around or playing in the sea. It was nice to get away from campus with a small group just to escape the madness and chill with less worries. And yes it was hot and yes I did burn myself.. AGAIN, but this time it was worse. I burnt myself so much that I could not move and had to take a day off school because it hurt so much. Right now it is mostly blistered and peeling and still bright red, oh the pros of being a stereotypical Brit!

So trimester one has ended and exams are done and our grades are in, but now work is still on for second trimester. Academics are going fine, I know the areas in which I have to work harder now but I'm adapting well. The weather is still very hot, as you may have guessed, but there has also been a lot of bad thunder and lighting. Just recently one stuck campus and I screamed so loud and ran to my friends room, the electricity went and it cracked a roof... this is Costa Rican weather for you, but I'm getting used to it! Our school is putting on a musical and this year it will be West Side Story. As some of you may know I love being creative and I love textiles so I am on the creative team for set and costume design, I'm excited to get going!

On Thursday the 21st we all had blind dates, our lovely second years organised this so that they each had a first year to take on a blind date, I had Claudia from Spain and it was a really fun time. I had to meet her outside my residence and I was so sceptical as to who it was. My friend Amiya's date hid in her closet then burst out and captured her and blind folded her to take her date, after all it was a blind date! The on the Friday I went on an E-Systems field trip to two beaches, this was to look at the sea creatures and the oxygen levels in the water between a tourist and non tourist beach. The first beach was Esterillos, the non tourist beach, it was soooo beautiful. We collected our data in the hot sun, and yes I did burn a little but I got heat exhaustion and my previous burn got worse and blistered bad so I had to go and sit in the shade and chill until I was better.What as ironic was that all the Brits were the most effected by the sun me and Dilly started the sick Brit hammock and then the rest joined! I will get used to the sun...let's hope. Then we went to Jaco, like last Sunday, to do the same there and have fun on the beach before heading back to campus.

Sooo that's about it until now, I'm excited to be going home soon but I'm still making the most of being here!

Pura vida mae!
Alison :) 

At Applebee's in Lindora with Clara, me, Vitoria and Amiya.

The girls in Lindora.

La Carpio service CAS.

La Carpio serice cas with Sebastian me and Zara.

Before the hike at Poas.

During the hike at Poas.

After the hike at Poas!

Gender Bender day!

Playa Jaco!

Me and Sheree at Jaco beach.

Painting the new mural based on gender roles!

The finished wall of murals and the mural team!!

The other mural 'ambiente' with hand prints from the children.