I haven’t posted in the last few days because I haven’t done anything super interesting or I’ve been wiped out tired by the end of the day. I spent last weekend at Heliconias Nature Inn enjoying the beautiful area and the thermal pools. Above is the adorable towel elephant that the cleaning lady made. She also made beautiful swans and a brontosaurus.
I came back to TEC on Monday morning and gave my first presentation at 9:30am. It was a presentation about the development of health and fitness culture. I gave the talk in English to students who are learning English, but I had PowerPoint slides in Spanish. It seemed to go well, and the students had some good questions, but I know it was challenging for them. I just gave my second presentation titled AI and the Human Future this afternoon. It was also be in English. I think it went well. I got some good questions and TEC managed to fill a big auditorium with people. The university president Zoomed in a welcome message before I started.
Tomorrow, I teach 2 classes and help with two English conversation groups. I’ve made significant changes to my class in an effort to reign in the student in the back who talks all the time. It will be a long day! TEC wants to bring a group of students to UNI next year so hopefully we can make that work.
My accommodations have continued to be somewhat challenging here. The AC wasn’t working when I came back from the hotel last weekend and a couple of nights ago the smoke alarm went off for a few seconds at 4am in the morning. Maybe someone else in the building was smoking. It wasn’t on for long but I didn’t have a plan for what to do if it hadn’t shut off. Who do you call at 4am if the smoke alarm won’t shut off? But, the warm water feature on my shower has worked the last couple of nights so I haven’t gotten shocked turning the hot water on and off. The food in the cafeteria is also good and campus is very pretty. There are parrots flying over my house almost every morning and howler monkeys somewhere nearby. There is an ice cream shop down the street, so I may go get ice cream after supper tonight. It’s also lychee season here and they are delicious!
It’s been a challenging trip but I still feel lucky to have these kinds of experiences. I just have to make it through my classes tomorrow!
Traveling with Emily! 