To My Middle School Students:

To My Middle School Students:

I hope that you enjoy this blog about my adventures living and teaching abroad. I am glad that I get to keep you all updated in this way and know that, even though I am not technically your teacher anymore, I will always consider you my students. Feel free to leave comments, to email me with questions, or just say hi :]

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Inventing Like a Tica

One thing that I really love about Ticos is that they are suuuper inventive and resourceful with what they have.  I have seen them make beautiful dresses out of torn tank tops and gigantic skirts, I have seen them make motorcycle bicycles out of parts of each, I have seen them make houses out of corrugated tin.  

My big accomplishment of the day was making a desk out of a bar chair, a night stand, a towel, and a pillow.  While that is not nearly as inventive as my examples... I am proud and happy, nonetheless.  I have been longing for a desk for quite a while because it hurts my back to work in my bed and it hurts my legs to sit on the bar stools for a long time.  I guess when you have limited resources, you become more creative - right?  I wish that the US could be a little more like this instead of consuming and wasting as we do. 


Here, instead of packaging produce, it is all just out on the shelves.  They even put it all in one produce bag instead of a bag for each vegetable.  They sell ice cream in little plastic baggies that you bight the corner off of to suck out the ice cream.  So much less material waste.  They re-use and fix everything.  They plant plants in old yogurt containers and beaten up pots and pans and old shoes.  It doesn't matter the aesthetics, it just matters that it works. 

And that, I see as beautiful. 

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