Seidy, the founder of the Copey Learning Center, has resigned and after four incredible years this is her last week. My English students came together to show their appreciation for everything she has contributed. We prepared a PowerPoint presentation with pictures of all the students over the years and all the different volunteers, too. We wanted to remind her the blood, sweat and tears meant something. We also created a scrapbook. Everyone wrote letters (in English) and expressed in their own words what Seidy and the centre meant to them. We even reached out to former volunteers and asked them if they would write a letter and send it to us. We handmade envelopes and pasted each one on a separate page. Then we glued pictures with an artisan feel. Seidy has no idea we were working on this project. It was a complete surprise. It was a lot of work, but so worth it. Tonight was also my last night teaching my adult English class. We had a nice party to celebrate the end of the year and to say goodbye. My students surprised me with a lovely certificate that reads: The Advanced Adult Class wishes to thank: Anne Lawrence for being an excellent professor and a wonderful person. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and kindness with us. To be clear, I was just a volunteer teacher (not a professor). Needless to say, I was overwhelmed and yes, I cried. It was a night of mixed emotions. I had such a fantastic year. I met new people and made new friends. It was truly one of the most enriching experiences I've had. I'll never forget it... and I will always remember each of my students with great fondness. I've gained a huge appreciation for teachers and the work they do. It's not an easy job. I've been inspired by people are out the door every morning at 4 am to go to work on their farms and after a long day would find the energy and motivation to come to class for two hours twice a week all because they want to learn English. I'm full of admiration. I'm so grateful for their sense of humour, especially when I was trying to speak Spanish. I always managed to make them laugh (not sure that was a good thing, but laughing is always good even if it's at my expense). Thank you to all my students for making it such a fun year!
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We just said goodbye to guests this afternoon. Then we received a phone call tonight from a woman who runs a B&B in Escazu near San Jose. She has been hosting a European couple and she's trying to organize places for them to visit. She heard about us from one of our neighbours and recommended us. Sweet! This couple will be staying with us in late December right after other guests who are also staying for three nights. It's all good!
I picked up our guests in Santa Maria this morning at 11 am. This couple was here back in August. Their daughter had bought her mother one-night stay in our guesthouse a Mother's Day gift. They liked it so much she decided she wanted to spend her 60th birthday here. And today is the day. How time has flown by. Feels like they were just here. Velia who speaks a little English and her husband, Francisco, speaks only Spanish. They live in San Jose where there aren't a lot of green spaces so they love to walk around the property admiring the tall trees and the flowers and breathe in the clean air. They are a lovely couple. And it's such a nice feeling to get repeat business. We caught some fish and I made a tasty dinner as well as served a carrot cake with six candles. Kevin and I lit the candles and sang Happy Birthday. She seems pleased. That's all that matters.
I came home from my second to last English class, had some dinner and sat down to relax when Kevin and I heard a weird noise. We couldn't figure out what it was. Then Kevin looked around and found this little creature on one of the tables just outside the office. He was scratching at the window. It's a porcupine. We've been seeing the blue heron the last few weeks. We love this bird, it's one of my favourites, but the like to eat our Trevorettes (trout) so he's a bit of a nuisance. We've also seen the magnificent osprey. Gorgeous creature. Martin told us about the otters last year (it appears they only come this time of year for some reason), but we hadn't seen any evidence they were on our property, but we saw one a few days ago. This is called a tyra. He looks like a weasel and martin. He's usually black (sometimes brown) with a white marking on his neck. He also has a fluffy monkey-like tail. He's very agile and quick. Not harmful to us, but could be a menace to our Bettys |
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