Students create dance to perform for rural Costa Rican school

2015 Student Field Reporter Project:  We’ve enlisted the help of several students to share their 2015 Costa Rica experiences with us. Over the coming months we will regularly feature their posts, photos, and reflections – letting them tell their amazing stories of Costa Rica and it’s impact on their lives!  

Reporter:  Alice, Eckstein Middle School student

“Five, six, seven, eight.  From the top!” someone shouts.

I try to concentrate on the dance moves my group has made up.  They will go into the dance Eckstein Middle School’s Costa Rica Crew is putting together to present to the school.  Every year, Seῆora Guerra, our Spanish teacher and Costa Rica trip leader, has her students make up a dance to be performed at an end of the year assembly and then again at the school we will visit while in Costa Rica.   Right now, we have been split up into three groups and need to create dance steps to a specific section of our song. Our music is three different songs arranged by Ms. Metter, the tech teacher at our school, who is also traveling to Costa Rica with us.  It’s surprisingly fun to work together and plan the dance.

Since January, we have been having our Costa Rica Meetings twice a month.  Each time, we discuss travel plans, daily itinerary, and the cultural differences between the United States and Costa Rica. Lately, we’ve been more focused on our dance, but we still cover these subjects.  During one part of our trip, we will be split into groups of three or four and assigned a local family to stay with for two nights.  We will get to experience normal everyday life in such a different environment from what we are used to, which is really cool.  We’ll help with our family’s farm and livestock, cook dinner, and play with the little kids.  Students in the past have said that they learned things like how to say the suits and names of all the different playing cards, and other interesting Spanish vocabulary that one wouldn’t think to learn.

As another part of our experience, we’ll be visiting a cloud forest for the weekend.  A cloud forest is a high-altitude forest that is covered by clouds or fog.  Many of my friends are very excited for this part of the trip.  They are mostly excited for the break in the hot weather, as this will be the coldest part of our trip, averaging only seventy degrees!  I’m curious about the cloud forest as well – just to see what it’s like.  Preparing for this trip of a lifetime really brings into perspective how truly amazing the whole experience will be, and all the things I will witness and never forget.  I am really excited to meet new people and see new places that are nothing like anything I am used to.