8th Grade Promotion

Amidst as much pomp and circumstance as CDS could muster, Benji and Marina moved up from 8th grade.  Marina looked spectacular in her dress and Benji delivered an impassioned speech about defining yourself as opposed to allowing other to define you.

A few days earlier was the Awards Ceremony and the Blatt kids had many honors.  Marina took home the drama award, the writing non-fiction award and of course, the award for maintaining great grades.  Benji had several awards, as well, including best Spanish in the native speaker Spanish class, a JMUN award, as if he didn't know that he was the king of JMUN, student council award, in case he forgot he was on student council,  a gpa award, and the Leadership award.  We are very proud of our overachievers.

Last night, the kids partied like whirling dervishes and howled like banshees at the Intercontinental.  Ilana and I also let our hair down, metaphorically.  It was a blast of a party, with good food, friends, dancing, and lots of tequila (for the adults).

Tomorrow, the kids get on a airplane to go to camp in the U.S.  They will be away from the folks and Costa Rica for 5 weeks.  Holy cow!  Then, they will return for 10 days before we all make our final despedida to Costa Rica. 

The Great Outdoors

Chirripo:

Back at the end of April, I climbed Chirripo with Benji. It was awesome! Great weather, great views, beautiful memories. We spent 2 nights at the base camp, allowing us to summit other peaks besides Chirripo: Cerro Terbi, Crestones and Ventisqueros, the second highest peak in Costa Rica. Benji had to slow down for his old man, but together we did quite well. George Holland, my fellow math teacher, accompanied us in this adventure.

Cerros de Escazu 21K:

Back in the beginning of April, I completed the Carrera Cerros de Escazu 21 Kilometres. It was the hardest and most humbling run of my life. It took 4:17 minutes to complete and I was one of the last people to finish. But, I finished it. It was 4600 feet of vertical gain across 13.1 miles of mountain trails. I got lost once and fell 3 times. But, I did have a strong finish at the end.

Benji ran the grueling 10K and did it faster than I had done the previous year.  You go, boy!

Marina ran the 5K and managed to get lost and then found.  Luckily she finished saftely, with a good time.


Acatenango, Guatemala:


Back in March, I flew to Guatemala in order to climb Acatenango, the 3rd highest mountain in Central America, with my buddy, Chuck.  The day we arrived, I had a surprisingly successful Skype interview with Bellevue School Distict.  Then, the next morning we set out on our adventure.  The climb to the base camp only took about 5 hours and wasn't too hard.  Once there, we had spectacular views of Volcan Fuego.  But, Fuego was unusually quiet.  That night, we hoped to see Fuego doing its usual fireworks show of spewing lava, but on that night, she slept peacefully.  Chuck and I and 2 other men, however we crammed into a tiny tent and tried to sleep through a windstorm at 12,000 feet on the side of a mountain. We woke at 3:30 for our summit hike, but the guides didn't even want to go.  At 4, we set out for the summit, but blistering cold wind, rain, and clouds turned us back.  So, no Fuego and no summit.  But, it was an adventure.