Farewell Fiesta

Jenna and Zach will post their blog entry tomorrow morning before we leave for the Turtle Preserve but while we still had a good internet connection, we wanted to upload these pictures and videos from our farewell fiesta in Santa Maria de Dota. Marilyn, the coordinator from the Collegio of Santa Maria de Dota, organized a great evening for the students and their host families. We all enjoyed dinner, performances and dancing and were able to express our thanks.

Mrs. Bauer and Dr. Prinkey with the Santa Maria de Dota Collegio Coordinator, Marilyn.
Potomac students receiving thank you gifts from the students of Santa Maria de Dota.
We were entertained by students performing traditional dances.
Maggie delivered words of appreciation to our host families and Mauricio kindly translated.

Jenna's video of around town.

A video of the students enjoying themselves dancing with Costa Rican students at the farewell fiesta!

Potomac School students are coming home soon!

Message to Parents:
The group is returning on Sunday evening to Dulles International Airport. Below you will find the return flight information for your convenience.

COPA 4270 San Jose, Costa Rica - Panama City, Panama 3:13PM - 5:30PM
COPA 488 Panama City - Dulles 7:10PM - 12:51AM (July 6th)

Parents are asked to meet their sons and daughters at the airport. Please call the office at 303-679-3412 or e-mail Erin at erin@worldleadershipschool.com with any questions.

Teaching English

This video is from our English class today.

Chloe and Simone help set up webcams in the school's computer labJose poses with the freshly smoothed concrete that makes up one of our new drainage ditchesSome potomac girls work mix as much concrete as possible
Tori and Jenna work on smoothing the final layer of concrete for the sidewalk we've built.

Hola! Today's update is curtesy of Savannah and Grace :)

As we have been approaching the final days of our stay here in Santa Maria de Dota, we have been feeling the pressure to finish all of the numerous projects we have begun. After eight days of hard work, we've finally completed a sidewalk that connects two parts of the schools. We had tons of fun in an English class today reviewing vocab in creative ways such as song like 'the hokey pokey', 'head-shoulders-knees-and-toes' and playing 'simon says'. Also today we made a descions about how we will spend the extra money we raised. Since tomorrow is our last day at the school, we will be (hopefully) finishing tiling sinks and polishing off the extensive drainage systems we started. Everyone here says a huge hello to their families and friends - hope all is well!

much love!

Today we started wrapping up some of our projects at the school. We're putting the final coat of cement on the sidewalk and pouring cement for the drain. Tomorrow we will start tiling the sink. Most likely, everyone will have to mix cement tomorrow because we need about 15 more wheelbarrows-worth in order to complete the sidewalk by the drain. We just finished a tour of a coffee co-op here in Santa Maria, where they showed us the different stages of the coffee-making process. We then were able to see a barrista in the cafeteria make several different types of coffee (latte, mocha fria, espresso, cappuccino). We're having a great time! Stephanie and Jenna are the best leaders ever.

Monday

Hi there! your lovable children again. Yesterday, we continued our normal activities in the school. We worked on building a sidewalk and on fixing the drainage system. Also, some of the tourism industry students here prepared us a restaurant style lunch as their final exam. When the school day ended, after helping in some english classes, we played a little three team round robin soccer tournament in the municipal gym; sadly, only three Potomac School students participated as opposed to the many Costa Rican players. Although the PS team played against some older and better players we held our own and eventually won.

-- by the coolest cats in town, Robert and Mauricio

P.S our particular homestay has been great; there is no shortage of good food and amazing views. We're lucky to have such kind and offering homestay parents.

On Saturday morning all the students arrived at Parque National los Quetzales at 7 A.M. We divided up into two groups, each with two Costa Rican students and hiked a 2 mile trail. While hiking, the gruops stopped to help dig ditches on each side of the trail to help with water drainage and preservation of the trails. One group also helped create stairs in the hills to make hiking through the trail easier. At about 11 A.M., one group arrived at the bus with immense rain following after. The other group, unfortunately was still hiking back in the rain for another 45 minutes. After everybody got back to the bus, we drove back to Santa Maria de Dota and went to our respective houses.

-Stephen and John

Weekend Update from Santa Maria

Hello Families - We wanted to let you know that the students have had a restful Sunday spending time with their homestay families in town. Some attended church yesterday afternoon or this morning and the guys even had the chance to go fishing. Tomorrow we begin work again at the school and the students will begin their daily posts again, complete with videos we're sure. For now, enjoy these two pictures that we took this morning in Santa Maria de Dota. The first is a picture of the church in town this morning and the second is a view of coffee trees and the surrounding hills.

-Mrs. Bauer, Dr. Prinkey, Deb & Jose

fruit cocktail class

Santa Maria day 2.479

It's megan and simone for the recap of our second day in santa maria de dota.
today construction continued!
tons and tons of cement mixing and pouring took place.
after a long morning of construction, with help from some of the costa rican students, we returned to our homestays for lunch.
everyone got to put on fresh clothes and wash up.
upon returning to the school, we were divided into two groups of nine.
one group helped to teach an english class to seventh graders for an hour while the other group got to sit in on an acriculture class. The class was making a "coctel de frutas" which is fruit that is boiled together and used as a condiment. after the hour, the groups swithched activities.
After debriefing, all of the potomac students went out into the town to explore and relax before returning home.

we miss you mom and dad. see ya soon. love ya!!

Recap of Our Third Day

Hola!


It´s Claire, Chloe, Tori, and Jessica and its friday. On Wednesday, we had a very busy day. In the morning we woke up and packed our bags and went to breakfast. Then we went white water rafting on a class 3 river. It was fun even though we were wet and freezing by the end of the trip. And after eating lunch and watching the US vs. Spain soccer game, we boarded a bus for our 2 hour trip to Santa Maria de Dota. When we arrived at the school, it was raining and we were all a little nervous, but soon became comfortable when the families arrived. We were all happy with our families even though the first night was a bit awkward.
Thursday was our first day of school and Maggie's 18th birthday! Even though we were a bit nervous, we've all settled in and are happy. We each were paired with a student and walked around with them to see the school. We found some students that spoke english well, so we were happy to talk to them. Then, we began our work projects building a drainage system, a sidewalk, and some sinks. We also picked up trash around the school. We all went back to our houses for lunch, and then came back at 12:15 to continue our work. We capped off the day with a group meeting and some birthday cake to celebrate Maggie's birthday. Then, we all went back to our houses to spend the nights with our families. Oh... and we are all mourning the death of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. We're working hard and miss you all!

Homestay Family Introductions

We arrived in Santa Maria del Dota this afternoon. After a rainy drive through the mountains from Orosi we arrived at the school in town where the group met their homestay families for the first time. Everyone seemed excited to head off, but we managed to get a picture of each student with their Costa Rican "Mama" for the next 9 days. Santa Maria de Dota is a great little town surrounded by beautiful hills filled with coffee tress and we're looking forward to getting to know the area and its people. Enjoy the pictures and the group will blog more news tomorrow.

-Deb, Jose, Dr. Prinkey & Mrs. Bauer

Headed to Santa Maria

Hello parents,
I just got off the phone with World Leadership School instructors Deborah Friedman and Jose Cocozza and they said that the group had a great rafting experience today on the Orosi River. Now they are on the way to Santa Maria, where they will meet their host families later today. They are having a fabulous trip so far!
Thanks,
Ross Wehner

Hike

Day 2 Monte Sky Hike

Hola!

This is Edwin and Maggie, we were chosen to be today´s leaders and documentors. We woke up at 6 am to get ready for breakfast at 7 (at the same restaurant we had dinner last night). Then we took a quick bus ride to the Monte Sky mountains. We hiked a 5,000 ft peak (3 mi) all up hill, it took us about two hours and was more rigorous than we expected! But the top was rewarding, with waterfalls, garden lunch, and beautiful views of the valley. We wrote in our journals and relaxed before heading back down, to beat the rain. We´ve included some footage of the hike that Edwin and I filmed. Once back home we had a few hours of down time before dinner. During this time people played cards in the outdoor lobby, explored the city, and exchanged money and atm at a local bank. We just finished our dinner at the same quaint restaurant again. Tomorrow we are going on a two hour, class 3 rafting trip right here in the Orosi valley. Our tourguide and friend, Jose has been very knowledgable and kind. We have already learned a lot about the natural history, government, and culture of Costa Rica. We have had a few group circle sessions talking about trip expectations and getting to know one another.

Hope all are well, everyone here is doing fine!
-Edwin and Maggie

Potomac Arrived in Costa Rica!

Hello Parents,
I just spoke with Deborah Friedman, World Leadership School instructor, and she confirmed that all students and their luggage safely arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica. Over the next few days, the students will raft, hike and get a thorough introduction to Costa Rica in the town of Orosi. Then they will head to the community of Santa Maria to begin their home stays and service work. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me on (303) 679-3412.
Thank you,
Ross Wehner

Our first post

Welcome to the Potomac School Costa Rica blog. We hope that everyone is enjoying Father's Day with their families and is all set to take off for Costa Rica in the morning.

To our families: We will update this blog as often as possible with stories, pictures and even videos from our trip. We hope you will enjoy following our adventures through this so feel free to check it often while we are gone.

Adios USA... Hola Costa Rica!