Global Navigator Perspective: Food and Collaborative Learning

This blog was written by Sam Luria. Sam is a global navigator that is always asking deep questions and challenging our group to think more critically about climate change. Sam also incorporates his musical talents in our group to express the importance of climate change mitigation. 

The day after our incredible adventure to the Children’s Eternal Rainforest was a much needed break from the intensity of the days prior. We arrived to class to meet Sofia from an organization called Corclima; a group of people from Monteverde who banded together to mitigate the effects climate change had on their farms, homes and the environment around them. They work within the community to help educate, empower and implement actionable solutions to reduce and offset Costa Rica’s carbon emissions. 

After Sofia left, our wonderful teacher Luis Dumani asked us to curate and present a project explaining an impact of climate change. We worked until lunch, which was a delicious meal of rice, beans, fresh avocados and flavorful pork. After a quick break everyone headed to their Spanish classes. Since it was our second to last class our Spanish 3 teacher had us split into two groups and play a game. We had to run, identify a kitchen item in Spanish and then pass it along a long line until the last person ran it back to the front. Switching between Spanish and English, running back and forth and communicating as quickly as possible was difficult and exhausting, but also very rewarding. After a full day of learning we met at the kitchen where the kitchen staff taught us how to make empanadas. They were incredible. We rolled out the dough and filled them with beans, rice and a salsa of tomatoes, cilantro, onions and lime. The kitchen staff here are incredible. Everyday they cook and cook and cook, clean and clean and clean all the while preparing desserts like, pineapple cake with caramelized pineapple on top, or a heavenly light coconut cake. A few days ago they made donut-shaped fried pancakes glazed with caramel. Tonight will be tres leches and I am absolutely ecstatic. 

That night we (just the students) organized a group movie night and after gathering about 25 people onto the cozy (but well ventilated) rec room we turned on a horror movie. About halfway through the movie we were attacked by a a few huge beetles that flew in seconds before the first jump scare, and right before the movie ended the humidity broke, unleashing of rain, lightning and thunder. It was perfect. 

After a long night we woke up slightly tired but excited for the day. We presented our projects from the day before and continued learning about clean energy sources. We even built our own little machines out of Kinect’s which were fully functional and help us visualize and better understand how each form of energy production worked. After lunch we took our final Spanish class and then headed to the rec room for some acro-yoga. This was the most physically demanding hour of the entire trip. Each person and a partner would take a turn slowly hoisting the other person up by their core until they were balanced parallel to the person on the ground, held only by their balance, core and arms. It was exhilarating. We spend the last twenty minutes of the class trying to hold a position where someone lay on floor with their knees tucked into their chest. The other person would slowly step onto each shin and carefully raise themself up until they were standing, held only by the balance between the two people. 

This Friday morning we met Adolfo who taught us about the effects of urban planning on forests and people and animals who live there. He explained to us what the biggest threats were for animals and forests and gave us examples of how to overcome them as a society. After he left Luis took us outside for a quick break and a fun little exercise where he asked us what human traits we need to apply to the animals and plants around us in order to prioritize their survival as a species. After that we had a long break where some people went to a local cosmetics shop! That’s what is happening right now!! In an hour we will have a dance class where we will learn some traditional Latin dances. That was a lot but the fun never stops! Tomorrow we head out of campus for two day excursion. Stay tuned!