Conversa News - June - July, 2009

Quién dijo lluvia?

Just a few weeks ago, the predominant hues in the mountains around our Santa Campus were tones of gold, yellow, and brown. Now with the onset of the rainy season, they have been replaced by vibrant greens with tinges of red, orange and gold of new blossoms that reflect in the morning sunshine. It's a perfect time for planting new trees and shrubs. We are awaiting a promised delivery of about five hundred new saplings from the "Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería", which we will plant around campus. We'll also be trying to attract more birds and butterflies by adding more bushes and fruit-bearing species throughout the campus. We're hoping to create an even more lush and vibrant environment for our students as well as a home for the natural fauna of the area. Bring on the rain!

La Enfermería Opens for Business!

We're happy to announce that Conversa's Enfermería received its first patients this month! La doctora Hernández performs a mock check-up on Michigan State student Raffy Appel as part of their morning Spanish class. Students play the role of patients as well as doctors during these exercises... just another little thing we're doing to make your learning experience one you'll never forget!

Copa Conversa Begins June 30th!

The first edition of "La Copa Conversa" (The Conversa Cup) will begin on June 29th. This is the first of what we hope will become a long tradition of paddle-tennis tournaments (referred to as "padel" in Spanish) held on campus. For this first edition we've got some tennis converts joining the sport: Tyler Tate from Alabama and Conversa's administrative director, Andy Kaufman both played tennis as juniors as well as at the college level. Of course, these tennis players will have to measure up to Conversa's Fabricio Estevanovich and Rudy Villafuerte - the two have earned their spots as 1 and 2 seeds and will do everything they can to hold on to the glory. Buena suerte a todos!!!

Senderos Educativos

We're thrilled to announce that we have brought a bit of Conversa's campus online! We've been talking about the trails we've created throughout the campus. However, we have now brought those trails to life on our web site! We have added a new section to our site called "Spanish Trails." These three trails, Sendero Los Itabos, Sendero Los Tucanes and Sendero El Higuerón host 20 information stands. Each one has a brief description of an important period or event in Costa Rican history, provides information on one species of flora found in Costa Rica, one species of fauna, AND (couldn't let this one get past us), one Spanish grammar lesson... All you have to do is stroll down the paths, clicking on the different information stands and you'll start learning about Costa Rican history, flora, fauna, while polishing up those Spanish verbs while you're at it! Click here to visit the trails...

Welcome to the University of Utah

Here in July, we're delighted to welcome Prof. Christina Gringeri and her group of students from the University of Utah. We're very happy to have them with us. In addition to their Intensive Spanish program with us out in Santa Ana, Christina's students will be fanning out into the Santa Ana community where they will be gaining hands-on experience in their chosen field of Social Work.

Conversa Director, Dave Kaufman Cumple Setenta Años

Dave Kaufman celebrated his 70th birthday on June 29. He came to Costa Rica back in 1971 with his wife, Anita. They've been here ever since. The Kaufmans have two sons, Ari and Andy. Both were born in San José. Andy is now 35 and is Conversa's Administrative Director. Dave can now remind Andy that he has to pay attention to what Dad says. "After all", says Dave, "I'm twice as old as you are!"

Thanks to Michigan State University and Ashland University

In May and June, we were fortunate enough to receive groups of students from Michigan State University and Ashland University (Ohio). This marked the first time that these schools sent groups to our Santa Ana campus. We look forward to continuing our relationship with these two fine institutions. Hasta el próximo año!

Conversa.COM is finally here!
It's been a long time in the making, but we've finally done it! Conversa.com is... More...

Not-so-news:
May 2009
April 2009