Post from Kyle W.

We went to a Costa Rican school on day 7--I forgot to blog about it so
here it is. After we finished canyoning (waterfall reppelling)we drove to
a small house with a large back yard surrounded by a fence on the outskirts
of town. Once I got out I figured out that it was actually a school. It
was very small and was about the size of an average classroom in elementary
school (this was the size of WHOLE school!). It had 2 whiteboards and one
chalkboard and only had one piece of chalk so we gladly gave them a large
box of colored chalk. The teacher was pleased. The school held 30 students
ranging from kindergarten to about 10th grade, with only one teacher and 1
cook. They don't have enough food for all the kids to have breakfast, so
some kids don't eat. There was only one third grader in the whole school.
All the kids learn together. Once we finished giving them all the school
supplies--markers, watercolors and a lot of paper, we went outside and
divided up all the kids into 2 teams. We played soccer and man were these
kids good! I think they play a lot of soccer, their playground is a tiny
field of grass. They don't have any toys for entertainment besides the one
kid who was lucky enough to have an Iron Man bike. So we gave them a Jenga
blocks set. All the kids who weren't playing soccer were trying to figure
out how to play with the blocks and ended up just taking turns building
things. I was surprised nobody fought over the blocks, like what would
have happened in any U.S. school. Everyone in Costa Rica was super polite and
considerate, even the drivers. I was also amazed to learn that the kids
had to walk up to 3 miles to get to the school everyday they got a chance to
go to school. Sometimes they have to help their family on their farms, but
given the choice they would rather go to school. They say it's very fun
and they enjoy learning. If only all children felt the same way about going to
school. It made me appreciate how convenient our schooling plan is. The
kids stay at school for a long time, they were still there around 5:00 and
only just starting to get ready to leave.