Author Archives: Andrea

About Andrea

I am teacher and traveler blogging my experiences living as an expat from the USA. From 2007-2012 I lived and worked in Oregon, USA. From 2012 (when I started blogging) to 2014, I lived and worked in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. In August 2014 I begin living and working in Santa Ana, Costa Rica.

The End of the Adventure

Posted on July 2, 2015 by Andrea

At the end of May I returned to Oregon. In the one month that I have been home I bought a car, found a job and found a place to live. So, the overseas teaching adventure is over and the Oregon … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Moving On

Posted on May 25, 2015 by Andrea

This past Saturday (two days ago) was the UWC Costa Rica graduation. The are some important traditional elements for the UWCCR graduation, two student speeches (one in English and one in Spanish); a speech by a teacher; and a male … Continue reading →

Posted in Costa Rica, Expat Life, Food, Friends, Gluten Free, Work | Tagged chocolate, crazy faces, French macaroons, fresh food, graduates, graduation, iguana, outdoor market, pineapple, sangria, saying goodbye, selfie, tapas, tarantula, tea time | 4 Comments

Wet & Wild

Posted on May 16, 2015 by Andrea

Today turned out to be a very interesting day. My friend Stephen and I set off this morning for a trip to Feria Verde, where they happened to be celebrating their fifth anniversary. Feria Verde is awesome (I’ve written about … Continue reading →

Posted in Costa Rica, Food, Friends, Gluten Free | Tagged animal rescue center, animals, crocodiles, Feria Verde Costa Rica, Gluten Free Costa Rica, iguana, ocelot, owl, scarlet macaw, squirrel monkey, vegan, white-faced capuchin monkeys | 2 Comments

In Costa Rica, April flowers bring May showers.

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Andrea

We have wrapped up the teaching year here at United World College Costa Rica. Students are in the midst of their IB exams or their course finals. For me this means writing student grade narratives, assessing and invigilating exams. We did … Continue reading →

Posted in Costa Rica, Expat Life, Food, Friends, Gluten Free, Work | Tagged 10K, 20th Century History, Arab-Israeli Crisis, friends, gallo pinto, IB History, role play, running | 3 Comments

Tárcoles

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Andrea

The school year is wrapping up here. We have just one more week of regular classes and then students and staff start preparing for their final exams. The last few weeks have flown by! It feels like just yesterday I … Continue reading →

Posted in Costa Rica, Expat Life, Food, Gluten Free, Work | Tagged beach, beaches, boats, cooperative, environmental protection, fish, fishing, ocean fishing, Pacific Ocean, sustainable, Tarcolces, traditional fishing | 4 Comments

Semana Santa

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Andrea

Whether you call it Spring Break, Holy Week or Semana Santa, the week when the world takes a spring holiday is here. In Costa Rica this vacation time falls on the week leading up to Easter, also known as Semana … Continue reading →

Posted in Bucket List, Costa Rica, Expat Life, Travel | Tagged baby monkey, Ballena Bay, basilisk lizard, beach, beach landings, birds, boats, butterflies, Costa Rica, crabs, deluxe tent, Drake Bay, flights, glamping, hanging bridge, hawksbill sea tutle, hiking, insects, Isla Caño, jellyfish, Las Caletas Lodge, litter patrol, migration, Nature Air, ocean, ocean swimming, rainforest, scarlet macaw, scorpion, small planes, snorkeling, spotted dolphin, tadpole frogs, three-toed sloth, white tipped reef shark, white-faced capuchin monkeys | 6 Comments

Around Town

Posted on March 14, 2015 by Andrea

We have had some pretty exciting volcanic activity here in Costa Rica. That is, if you like to clean up ash when you come home from work! The volcano is quite far away, but the very windy conditions have carried … Continue reading →

Posted in Costa Rica, Expat Life | Tagged ash clouds, erruption, flowers, graffiti art, morpho butterflies, Onion Festival, onions, OVSICORI-UNA, rooster, Turrialba Volcano, volcano | 2 Comments

Hitoy Cerere

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Andrea

Nestled into the massive banana plantations of the Limón province in Costa Rica is the Hitoy Cerere Biological Reserve. Not often visited due to a very, very rainy climate and relatively unknown, Hitoy Cerere is a pretty pristine piece of … Continue reading →

Posted in Costa Rica, Expat Life, Work | Tagged ants, bullet ant, giant bugs, grasshoppper, Hitoy Cerere, poison dart frog, preservation, rainforest, river, service, social responsibility week, trail maintenance, United World College Costa Rica, volunteer | 3 Comments

Catching Up

Posted on February 7, 2015 by Andrea

I started writing this blog about two weeks ago but was having some serious computer difficulties. Turns out, I needed a new hard drive. Now that my computer has a new engine, I am back in action. I started on … Continue reading →

Posted in Costa Rica, Expat Life, Food, Friends, Work | Tagged albino coyote, American flag, chocolate, cockroach, iguana, Irazú Volcano, leaf katydid, North America, Portlandia, pride, Sanitorio Durán, TED, TEDxUWCCR, Turrialba Volcano, USA, UWC Costa Rica | Leave a comment

New Year, New Adventures

Posted on January 16, 2015 by Andrea

Happy 2015 to all my readers!! I spent the first part of the new year on the second half of my “staycation”, traveling around Costa Rica with my parents. They arrived in the afternoon of 30 December and we got … Continue reading →

Posted in Bucket List, Costa Rica, Food, Travel | Tagged boa constrictor, boat tour, bugs, cacao, caiman, casque headed lizard, chifrijo, chocolate, cocao, cocoa, cuban food, eyelash pit viper, green iguana, hanging bridges, howler monkey, patacon, rain, rainforest, sloth, snakes, Tortuguero, toucan, waterfalls | 7 Comments