Hiking in Costa Rica: "There's no place to hide from yourself."

10 hours a day. Rainy season. Mountain ranges. 

How was it? "Super hard but great" reports J on the 6 day Outward Bound hike that he and his classmates returned from last night. 

*Love how a night's sleep changes a memory. Today the rendition is, "Not great, but you learned a lot."

"If Ms. Anne (the school director) wanted us to appreciate what we have her mission was accomplished." J came back speaking of how much water, shelter, food, his bed and his family meant to him. Oh, and the bathroom. 

At times, they stayed with indigenous families.

It inspired a deep appreciation for shelter and comfort that was profound. He spoke of the idea that when you're hiking 10 hours a day that everything falls away. You are left only with yourself. We could tell from the whites of his eyes and the rest of him that he had come back changed.

We asked what the guides' role had been and he told us that they 'were like rocks in the river. They were there along the path not telling us what to do but showing us that we decide our way and that we live with the consequences. That there are many paths."

He spoke first of knowing what he needed to work on and that the hike shows you where your weak points lie. And that fundamentally, you are able to endure. He told us that the guides had spoken to them about the idea that there are many paths and that the important thing is simply to choose one.

When I asked him about the highlight his face lit up like a roman candle and what came out of his mouth surprised me- 'The sunset on the last night! We had hiked up so high, way above the clouds. There was no way to take a picture of it." 

Doesn't matter because I know from looking at him and hearing him speak that he holds it within him. 

Beyond PISA scores: why our sabbatical became a living experiment in educational reform

We never planned on staying. There's a simple reason why one year is turning into five more and it has to do with school. I started this post on the week when the latest PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) scores were all over the news ranking American students about average in reading and in science and below average in math. I wanted to write about what it's been like for three American children to experience a different model abroad. Skip to the list below if you already know what PISA is and where you stand on it. . .

PISA compares how well 15-year-olds in 65 cities and countries can apply what they know about reading, math and science, to real-world problems- problems both in and outside of school. The test designers say, "reflects the fact that modern societies reward individuals not for what they know, but for what they can do with what they know."

PISA scores are controversial and I agree with my whole heart that there is something to the American spirit of believing, doing, and launching things that is unique, successful and special- no doubt about it- but what I have found challenging is American kids' getting caught in the middle of the adults' fighting about funding and pedagogy and whether it serves American children well. 

To be sure, education historian and PISA critic Diane Ravitch remind us that "Over the past half century, our students have typically scored at or near the median, or even in the bottom quartile." The debate rages on whether or not the latest PISA results wrongly inspires a "Chicken Little" response or as US Secretary of Education head Arne Duncan says, ""We can quibble, or we can face the brutal truth that we’re being out-educated.” 

As for our own experiment, the kids have been plopped into an entirely different academic experience-one that is some part Finnish, some part Korean, some part KIPP school and a whole lot of other things.

Here's a list of what has been novel to the kids at their new school:

No standardized testing. None. Not monthly, not annually.

No social promotion. And children are held back.

Teacher autonomy.*

Rigorous Grading. Really. Rigorous. Grading.

Rigorous curriculum. Up to two years+ ahead in some classes.

Hot, homemade organic lunch daily.

Eating 'family-style' at assigned tables. 

Fresh fruit snack and drink during a morning break.

Mandatory second and third language acquisition.

Cumulative final exams twice a year beginning in 7th grade.

Uniforms.

No make-up. 

No devices. 

Art and Music. Lots. Really lots.

Saturday hikes led by older students. Long hikes. 

IB students summit the 12,533 foot mountain peak of Chirripo. 

Mandatory Outward Bound hiking.

Mandatory sitting for International Baccalaureate Degree. 

Overnight 3 night trips (longer for older) afield for service, learning and community building. 

Long lunch. PE twice a week. Multiple daily recess where all children are free to roam the expansive campus.

 *Compared to a U.S. public school teacher

I agree wholeheartedly with Diane Ravitch when she critiques the PISA results saying,  "The scores tell us nothing about students’ imagination, their drive, their ability to ask good questions, their insight, their inventiveness, their creativity." But I would have to reply that the kids' education here has proven night and day and precisely because it now is focused on exactly these things: their imagination, their drive, their ability to ask good questions, their insight, their inventiveness, and their creativity. 

As parents, what we notice is their happiness coupled with their growth as intellectual, mature beings.

Grit and perseverance have become 'go-to' words and coveted for being the ingredients found in students who can be safely predicted to excel (read: college admissions). What we've found observing the kids here is that they are growing grit and perseverance by being challenged way outside their comfort zones.  Way. 

Gigi was pushed out of the nest into 'full' 10th grade Spanish this year and she is reading Don Quixote and Carlos Fuentes' The Buried Mirror in Spanish. . . at the same time. To get a sense, my Dad was a university professor and taught The Buried Mirror to his university students. The question Gigi wrestled with over the weekend was comparing what Quixote and Fuentes' sweeping cultural analysis had in common in their first 15 chapters. She's had to write ten page paper's in Spanish. The first week she thought they might kill her. The second week she was simply numb. The third week we didn't hear much. Quietly, after the fourth week, she declared, she was done with the long summaries for this quarter. We'd be lying if we said we were sure she could do it, the books collectively weigh a ton---she is getting through it one word at a time. Best of all, compared to two years ago when she wanted to give up on learning French because it just felt too hard to learn two languages at once, this time (when they announced they wanted to put her in the full Spanish) she said, 'Well, all I can do is try.' Same feelings. Completely different reaction.

It's not all rosy down here. No place is perfect. J's 8th grade class is going through some incredible social dynamic challenges. J has been iced out. It's not just that but there are other problems. Another Dad in the class said he didn't know whether to slap or hug some of the perpetrators. In the Director's classic fashion, she is addressing the issue head on and doing a little bit of both. The boys of the class will be taking a mandatory Outward Bound hike walking from the mountains to the coast instead of having a week's vacation. Wow. 


In a letter to parents, the director wrote that,

 "I mostly see children whose personality is straining to define itself."   

There will be a very specific push to build confidence, to recognize and control emotions, to depend on one another and to be vulnerable. Civility is being called in as a concept that will accept no compromise. The Director had Krishnamurti in mind (the Indian Philosopher) when she started the school. Here's some quotes that really resonate with me on what is happening with J's class and her response:

What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems and suffer and understand, for all that is life.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

To be continued. 

World Cup. A Family Sabbatical. And mold in Costa Rica.

It's been a strange six months-



and I don't mean the weather.


It was great to find comments from fellow dreamers of sabbaticals--it reminded me of the magic behind the challenges, I look forward to corresponding. Fellow dreamers- an update, a family I met through the blog is on their way to Costa Rica in just days time to begin on their sabbatical- seize the day!

 I'd love to say that we have no regrets on our decision to stay on in Costa Rica



because the sabbatical continues to provide a life harvest that is richer than I ever imagined
 serving up experiences that we couldn't have even dreamed a short two years ago.

 Gigi and J. both traveled for a whole lot of hours by bus to spend several days with indigenous populations of Costa Rica as part of their Spring service trip through school.

Hiking in the rainforest hasn't become less exciting- Rick's become more adept at managing the rain.

However, we've had some body-blows this year by way of some logistical challenges and there were times we wondered if it all made sense to stay.  I have a dear friend who is sabbatical-ing in New Zealand this year and she describes it well saying that you have the best and worst days of your life.

But first. . .

It's impossible to overstate how thrilling it was to be in Costa Rica during the World Cup- especially because Costa Rica did so well. 

The excitement was absolutely infectious

Costa Rican's were justifiably proud.

Even the littlest ones in the school were swept away by the excitement. 

The school allowed all students from pre-school through high school to watch all Costa Rican matches that were played during school hours-the emotions on those days was positively electric.

Finding jerseys became a fierce event. . . I had to fight to buy the ones shown below and grabbed them straight off the counter as they were delivered to the store. The stack never made it to the racks. These were the cheaper knock-offs, the 'official' ones ran upwards of $70-$90.

 The whole country shut down during every match that Costa Rica played in...

Grown men wept, ears lost hearing and horns blared along every strip of road in the country.

It's blurry, but you get the depth of emotion felt when Costa Rica, a nation of only 4.5 million people, advanced beating out bigger and richer countries defying nearly every bookies' odds.

 The joy and pride that we witnessed were amazing. I would tell anyone with an itch for a sabbatical to pick a favorite country who loves 'soccer' and be there during the next World Cup. The way my life has turned out I've had the thrill of being in Mexico and Argentina during previous World Cups' and there is truly nothing like it. Go for the whole month, start planning now.

Gigi discovered that she l-o-v-e-s fencing (we will be forever grateful to The European for hiring coach extraordinaire Daniel to introduce this beautiful sport to children) and not only has she had the chance to train with the national team, she has met wonderful friends through fencing.

I love how this picture sums up the 'international' that infuses life through The European School- 

Bono- the blonde- is a Dutch friend being raised in Costa Rica and Nico is Columbian-Costa Rican. When Nico recently came over during World Cup season he ripped off the red and blue Costa Rican soccer jersey he'd worn to watch the Costa Rican match at school and promptly donned the bright yellow Columbian jersey to take in the Columbia match! 

Daniel is a kind and inspiring coach. Gigi is off in a week to do a two-week international fencing camp in Portland. She and Nico will fly back to Costa Rica alone to start school the first week of August. 

What was the logistical problem and how does it relate to fencing? In a word, the driving. Driving in the Central Valley is not easy because the congestion caused by the number of cars on the road  is exacerbated by few routes to cross the many ravines making it all feel like Los Angeles during rush hour.

Sooo. . . we moved thinking the driving would improve but instead, we got this:

We unfortunately rented a house which had mold.

**If anyone knows how to identify this mold I would be grateful to know more.

I developed a chronic cough almost immediately and we can't say for sure if it's related but within 10 days of moving in, Gigi was in the hospital for four days with a tonsillitis infection that had migrated to her lymphatic system. 

See the big black spot? That was fluid in her abdomen that sent us racing to hospital ER because they thought originally that she might have a burst appendix. Several Costa Rican friends jumped in to counsel us and we ended up with terrific care at the Clinica Biblica. 

The trials of renting a house that you thought was going to be a home run on ease of care and instead, was a maintenance nightmare, took its toll. We learned that plumbing parts are nothing like what we were used to in the US. After we had to change out the 5th leaking water valve, Rick reflected on the fact that ours back home were nearly 100 years old and hadn't had to be replaced. The above is the leaking water heater. When renting a house in the tropics all I can say is look everywhere for signs of mold and lack of maintenance.  Lesson learned.

As we head into our third year when we return in August, I'll be returning with some profound lessons under the belt and they aren't about how to identify mold. I can't say I wish to relive the last six months but I know we all learned and survived things that have made us stronger and hopefully wiser.

Unforeseen benefits: Moving to Costa Rica and Creativity

 Creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the
 same status.” 

- Sir Ken Robinson

Sometimes, it's hard to explain why we are staying on in Costa Rica- what was supposed to be a year to expose the three kids to Spanish has now turned into an indefinite venture. Last week The European School put on its 'Wearable Arts' presentation and in effect, put into practice what Sir Ken Robinson suggests- elevating creativity to the same status as literacy.

I didn't realize until later that it is the biggest event of the year. Each year, a general theme like 'Water' or 'Constellations' is thrown out and the kids' take it from there, with a healthy dose of support from the teachers.



There aren't really words to capture what takes place hence the name, 'Wearable Arts'. It is heavy on creative movement, music, choreography, production and art by way of: painted, constructed, cleaved, and fashioned.

 It is invention, design, execution and expression in its fullest form.

Do you love those fish eyes?!

The kids design and build their costumes.

This year mythology from around the world and through the ages was represented through vignettes that paired a young grade with an older grade. 

 A teacher later recounted how one of her students had declared that he wanted to be a full-on Zeus complete with beard and long hair and lightning bolt. I had been lucky enough to see this cat coming in before the event began and his swagger was delightful.

Here he is looking me straight on, bolt in hand!

 Zeus later went on to have quite the aerial 'war' with a bad lady in black who was tremendous in her role. One of the things that I most love about The European is the lack of self-consciousness amongst the kids. There are a lot of built-in opportunities to create, discover, fail, resurrect and grow.

Trust helps. These two were tottering away on tables but they didn't fall. They didn't hurt themselves. Nor did the gal who did a cartwheel off the stage. . .They did look great however.

2 weeks are set aside to prepare for Wearable Arts. I find it ironic that the test prep that occurs each Spring in the US can add up to 19 days or measured in hours, range from 60-110 says a recent report.

After nearly two years now of no standardized testing I will simply say, it's not missed. What the kids do report however, is sadness that they can't catch up art-wise with their peers. They feel stuck in perma-kindergarten and pretty much resent that they received almost no art and music. 

In these two years here, the kids have performed, created and learned French. I'm posting this from France where the kids have literally blown me away in that they are more than functional in French, locals are asking them how they know it. They've been talking lately about wanting to learn Portuguese. Now that's learning. Learning that they can.

That it's HARD. 

That it takes a ton of effort.

But, when it's worthwhile and even fun, they're happy to do it. 

Can't say that was ever the case with testing. By the time we left, the kids had to take monthly computer   testing to check their progress as well as a high-stakes yearly exam that spread out over days. At least with the French and the Art they get to take what they learn with them. 

Google's top hiring manager recently told Thomas Friedman (who wrote about it in an op-ed) that Google evaluates candidates on:

- leadership
-ownership
- humility
- cognitive

Google takes a hard look at these skills and traits before they delve into a candidate's expertise. 

Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google, takes it further. Schmidt reports that looking at someone's past isn't as important as how they'll deal with things in the future. And how are things done well?  Effective communication. 

Schmidt says:

"It turns out the smartest people sometimes can’t really communicate very well. So we actually select not just for intelligence, but also for the ability to communicate with each other and work as teams. Nobody is a solo actor at Google anymore."

Olivia in the photo below is in 6th grade, she's sheparding a pre-schooler. Nobody was solo during Wearable Arts. Young had to work with old. They had to build with each other. Gigi's classmate choreographed nearly 40 9th graders. This special young woman told me that she was in tears during the last rehearsal but that's how you cut your teeth on project management and artistic direction. There is no other way. 

The teachers' who help them create 'Wearable Arts' each year are remarkable. 

It takes time to teach ownership. It takes autonomy to teach leadership. It takes being vulnerable to learn humility. 

So, I am quietly elated when Gigi tells me that she got choked up at Farewell to Arms' ending or when we see African immigrants hawking souvenirs in France and she rattles of migration patterns and rates of death- for I am certain that she's learning. 

I am loudly elated when I see her dance on stage with 40 classmates in make-up and feathers alongside her male friends who also had to wear skirts because their dance was based on Aztec mythology. They were vulnerable together in front of 100's of people and for that, there's no test. 

After it's all over, the school serves fresh fruits and juice to everyone. I experience one of many moments when I know that the sabbatical turned expat decision is the right one. 

Off the beaten path in Costa Rica and Panama- the wonders of a school calendar

"You sounded so content and settled in according to your late summer blog post 
so that is the sort of Fall I was envisioning for you." 

Yikes! When a dear friend wrote that to me a couple of days ago, I realized how long it had been since I posted. 

All is well. The highlight over the last months has been a two week 'rainy season' break. A lot can happen over two weeks. Like Gigi jumping off the cliff of a waterfall.

Her bravery never ceases to amaze me.

Two weeks is also long enough to reach a remote, off-the-grid cabin. The place is largely used by entomologists' from all over the world who come to study insects in the Panamanian Highlands (no, I didn't realize such a place existed either). 

We crossed into Panama again by foot, 

this time over the mountains at San Vito, a little-used, but fantastic border crossing. 

We were the only ones there both going and returning. The staff from both countries treated us like old friends. The actual border crossing can be confusing to reach and we blew a piece of our suspension on yet another unmarked 'muerto' (dead person) AKA a speed bump, but once we got there, we all decided it had been worth it. Can you see why the vacation is dubbed the 'rainy season break'?

It's been a long while since Rick had to squeeze into a seat next to an indigenous woman.



The kids made their own fun as usual.

This apparently isn't as painful as it looks:



Panamanian school children packed the small bus, loading and unloading along the remote mountain road.

When we arrived, it was like reaching a private Eden.

The silence of the Valley was deafening.

Except for mushrooms that resembled a box of chocolates,

moths and butterflies as big as your hand,



and horses who were plump and confident in their untethered life,



we felt alone, alive, and tight as a family. We spent long hours playing cards,



 hiking,

 and riding.



Did I say cards?




We were pretty well in the middle of nowhere. The trip there had taken us over rivers



and up muddy tracks that left one quite frankly, speechless.

We ventured out one day to find a natural hot springs and trekked back down the road on which we had arrived. We found that, even walking was arduous.



I was feeling really proud of the family (especially our littlest one)



when we were dusted by a 72 year old, one-armed man



I called out to him  and he stopped just long enough to report that he was 72 and that the hot springs "weren't far"; after answering briskly, within about a minute he was completely out of sight and we were left staring at one another and shaking our heads in disbelief.

We made it to the natural hot spring which was indeed HOT.



There was a river nearby that a local said was crucial to dunk into to activate the properties of soaking in the hot water. That was COLD.

The scenery was breathtaking.

The locale incredible to test everything you think you need and desire and humbling to see a completely different way of life. The foreman's son goes to school in the nearest city which is a 2 hour walk and a bus ride into town away. He stays in a little room in the city during the week and comes back to the 'ranch' for the weekends. 

Lest my bias make me feel sorry for the boy, his Dad (pictured above) reports that he loves living up on the mountain and misses it when he is gone. We can see why. We felt refreshed and happy and wishing for more time when our days were up. If you're curious to know more, read reviews here, you'll even get to follow along as visitors describe being led around by this son on the weekends before he heads back to school. Something grew within us those days, and in that air that was a bit like the acorns we planted



it was simply hard to believe what would grow out of it. We learned that our family loved the mountains. Loved the quiet and simplicity that is fostered being off the grid and loved each other more than we sometimes realize during the busy pace of every day life. The place is Mount Totumas.

We are grateful for the new perspectives granted by the school calendar. 

The European School breaks for two weeks in October and April with the longest break coming up just before Christmas. The rhythm has allowed for exploration both in and out. 

Here's what else we squeezed in during the two week break. 

A speedy but wonderful stopover at Manuel Antonio.

I visited there 20 years ago and although the growth shocks, the beauty of the place lingers as does its wildlife:

This bad boy is ripping the head off of a giant flying creature. I heard the crunch with my own ears I am sorry to say.

Here's the same shot of the first picture, this time at sunset and minus a tree:



The great thing about traveling in Costa Rica during the rainy season are the cheap prices. We loved Tulemar, a resort with a private, safe beach whose prices are slashed during rainy season.

We drove further south to Ballena to see whales, dolphins and the beautiful coast.

Our friends (Costa Ricans) with whom we traveled this leg, had suggested riding horses in to reach a waterfall. Baby-O road the 8k alone on her horse up and down a rugged 'road' not realizing feeling nervous might be a natural response. My friend and I were gritting teeth and holding breath on sharp inclines littered with big rocks only to watch and listen our preschooler and kindergartener shriek with glee and pass us by.

I loved meeting the matriarch of the family who served us a hearty snack on the way to the falls and lunch on the way out. The waterfalls are on her property. Her husband had made the original house by hand 50 years before





when there was only kerosene and each other.

Even though she reported to me the fact that her husband had 'gone nutty' and left her for a MUCH younger woman a few years back, she was glowing with optimism. 

She showed me all around and gestured to the many young people helping her run the operation and exclaimed, "I am so lucky! I am surrounded by my family."

I still think about her. 

The further you go afield the further you get out of your comfort zone, both literally and figuratively. What's one to do but laugh when you sit down to dine and you find this?

I'll never forget the sound of Gigi howling with laughter when I tried to step around some mud and ended up looking like this:

We drove even further south to the old United Fruit port city of Golfito. I had low expectations and found it to be a fascinating place steeped in history that is completely stopped in time. One of the wettest places in the world, Golfito was ground zero for growing and shipping bananas when a scourge hit the established growing plantations of the Caribbean. When United Fruit set up camp in 1939, there was only wilderness and the indigenous Boruca people. The ghosts of the workers and the Americans who came and lived in this remote place are practically palpable.

The company town has original buildings from '30's and '40's all over town. United Fruit abruptly withdrew from Golfito in 1984, it was said that their departure was accelerated by fierce protests for labor rights.  I loved stumbling upon this train engine that you can imagine stopped one day and rusted in place. The Che graffiti was a hint of what lay beneath the surface.

The past didn't seem very distant despite the rust.

When I started asking a lot of questions at the hotel, an incredibly kind fellow let me tag along on an errand run and took me up to the top of a hill. As we stood on an old foundation now blanketed with moss, he told me that we were standing at the site of the old dance club. 

The view was incredible.


 So were his stories about Golfito, United Fruit, worker's rights and the men and women who had come from the US to this remote corner of the world to live in the closed 'Zona Americana' and tried to hang on to the culture that they knew.

As we drove through Golfito, he pointed out some bars and even a brothel. When he saw my shock he laughed and said "This was known as the 'gray zone' back in the day. It's always been here." Golfito remains a port but is hanging on by a thread. When I got back to the hotel, I studied a painting on our wall that glorified Golfito's past and captured the exotica of it all:

I wondered if I had imagined Golfito's more turbulent past. Just before we left I got lost getting back to our room and accidentally turned into the worker's lounge wing. As I got my bearings I regrouped and almost missed what was right in front of me. I peered to take a closer look and saw the stories the man had told me on the old dance floor come alive:

As I spotted the train engine in the background of the painting, I was reminded just how powerful it can be to get off the beaten track and linger. The vacation schedule allows for it.  

We laughed and rested and lingered during those two weeks and as much as we are grateful for the academic experience the kids are receiving, I know in my heart that it will be the memories from these 'breaks' that live on perhaps more than any one subject.

**Exciting news. I met a family through the blog who wanted to take a sabbatical. They came to visit last month. I loved meeting them and was thrilled to find out this week that all four of their children got spots at The European (hurrah!) and that they are planning on moving down for the next year. When we first started corresponding, the father said that they'd dreamed about the idea of taking a sabbatical for years and recently it became clearer that sooner rather than later made sense if they were going to take the plunge. They're doing it and I couldn't be more thrilled. It won't be easy but the experience will definitely cultivate grit in them all and I predict will bring their family closer than they have ever imagined. 

Here's a list of links for our two week off-the-beaten track itinerary:

TULEMAR at Manuel Antonio ( a splurge but one of the only beach hotels in Manuel Antonio and it is safe for kids)

NAUYACA WATERFALLS near Domincal 

CUNA DEL ANGEL near Dominical/Ballena GLUTEN-FREE menu that is delicious. Pool was beloved by the 6 kids traveling in this group. 

CASCATA DEL BOSQUE CABINAS great place to stay overnight at San Vito- former Lake Tahoe chef will feed you a killer breakfast and we all loved the round cabins and his bamboo stands.

HOTEL CASA ROLAND Over-the-top hotel in the Zona Americana in the old fancy part of Golfito, a stay here makes the gritty town memorable for kids. With the most gi-normous pool ever and pool table and other fun things for kids, it's a fun but a bit weird place to stop. 

MOUNT TOTUMAS near Volcan, Panama access via Rio Sireno crossing near San Vito from Costa Rica