Welcome

I have lived my life relying on what others could do for me. I have never been able to complete a challenge on my own. Going to Costa Rica is my challenge and I am dedicated to complete that challenge. The challenge to me is working hard to earn what I need. The Costa Rica class as a whole needs to raise 15,000 dollars in order to go. With the hard work and dedication that I am willing to offer I am proud to say there is no doubt in my mind that we will reach this goal. The one thing that stands out to me the most about wanting to experience Costa Rica is the culture. It has been one of my dreams to go out of the country and experience their culture and relate it to mine. When I say culture I mean their difference of style of living compared to mine as in, food, housing, clothes, and environment. So I cant wait to explore and see what Costa Rica has in store for me!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

~Dear Santa~


All I want for Christmas is to go to Costa Rica. Hey we are so close to our fundraising goal for the Costa Rica trip ! It would be amazing to reach it by Christmas. We have raised $13,650 of our $15,000 goal & $3800 of that we earned by raking leaves all over New Hampshire & Southern Maine. We have raised money through raffles, Texas Roadhouse night, a grant & private donations.... ...We only need a little more help, your help. You can donate online at...





Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Raking

            LISTER LEAF BUSTERS!
We are back! This recently we raked our last lawn! We have raised a good amount of money raking with a total of  $3,800. We are trying to figure what our next step is. We are holding a fundraiser at Papa Gino's In Portsmouth on January 20th, 2011 from 4 p.m. until 9 p.m.the address is Heritage commons- 2800 Lafayette Rd. Portsmouth NH. We would appreciate it if we could as many people as possible. I am getting more and more excited the closer we get. Raking was a good experience for our class as a whole. Although at times the raking was very hard and tiring. We learned the positives and that downfalls will come along when working as a class together. It has been nice to chat with classmates and get to know each other even more than we already did. With a grand total of raking and everything else combined we have raised
$11,600. We would like if we could reach up to $20,000 but as long as we reach our primary goal we are okay and are on our way to Costa Rica. I know I have said this alot but I feel like I can not say it enough we really appreciate everything everyone has done for us!

 While grading myself for this class I have realized how much growth I have made in this class.
I am really proud of myself for the things that I have done in the past month, that I would never have done in the past 6 months. I didn't realize that helping others could mean so much to someone. I am very happy that I had the ability to make people happy by raking their lawns. Raking was a very time consuming thing and tireding, but seeing the smiles on those peoples faces was deffinatly worth the end result! I am so glad that I chose to be involved with this class :) 



Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Update!

I apologize that there has been no recent blog posts. The Costa Rica class has been out raking for the past month! We have been working very hard to earn our way to Costa Rica. I would like to thank everyone out there for helping us out. We appreciate it all dont forget every bit helps!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Chapter 7

LISTER ACADEMY LEAF BUSTERS!
In chapter 7 Wolf finds out that he is diagnosed with Bipolar disorder.  When Wolf found out that he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder Wolf was prescribed Lithium.  Lithium balanced the chemical imbalance in his body and allowed him to go back to work full time.

Currently outside of school I am taking a boundaries class.  When I read about the stuff that wolf went through. I thought of my boundaries class.  Boundaries and Bipolar disorder can go hand and hand.  They are similar in all different types of ways.  When people talk about Bipolar disorder it is not always a bad thing. Bipolar disorder does not make a difference in who you are at all and that is what I personally think people struggle with daily.

It's amazing how Wolf had the power to keep on going after he found all of this out.  Having personal experiences with this sort of thing, I found it difficult to get up and keep on going.  Having Bipolar disorder is not necessarily an easy thing to deal with.  It is a lot to focus on when you have so many other things going on in your life.  Reading this part in the book defiantly made me feel more connected to what i was reading.  I think what amazes me more is the fact that there are people out there in the world who are dealing with the same issues.  Reading that Wolf did this is a good way to get  back up and start continuing on with life.

When I found out that I had a similar experience I did not take the news easily.  I found it to be something very difficult to go through and understand.  Finally later on maybe a few months or down the line I was able to realize what was happening and that I had people to help me and get me through what was going on in my life.  I once heard someone say no matter how high the mountain is you can climb it without a struggle.

I totally agree with this saying because I have had so much happen throughout my life and I am still here.  It took me along time to get where I am now but in the end I don't regret anything that has happened because if those things had never happened I would not have the life that I do now.  I really enjoyed reading this blog and look forward to reading more about what happens to Wolf throughout the rest of the book!






Friday, October 22, 2010

Chapter 6

                     Chapter 6
In chapter 6 on page 78 in the third paragraph there is a quote that says
" You can't help but wonder if you're responsible when something like this happens".  "All these years, you're told 'don't touch, be careful,' but the only way to gather understanding is to do the studies". We have recently lost a member in our Costa Rica class and it has set us back.  It's a difficult thing to move forward when you have come so far and then lost someone in the mix.  I know that as a member of the Costa Rica class that we can move forward from this and try harder.
I find this to be a motivation.  The Costa Rica class as a whole has worked very hard to come this far. I know that me and my classmates will not give up on what we do best and that is show that we can do this! So on that note I will do a brief description of chapter 6 and what it had to offer.

Throughout chapter 6 they mentioned The Golden Toad.

The Golden Toad is an extinct, small, shiny, bright-orange toad that was once abundant in a small region of high-altitude cloud-covered tropical forests, about 30 square kilometers in area, above the city of Monteverde, Costa Rica. For this reason, it is sometimes also called the Monteverde Golden Toad, or the Monte Verde Toad.

Frogs or amphibians are extremely sensitive indicators of environmental changes, as the uptake of oxygen and water through their skin can increase concentrations of pollutants, and the life cycle of frogs and toads exposes them to water and airborne contaminants. Amphibians are so sensitive to changes in the environment that scientists have likened them to a canary in a coalmine. I found the Golden Toad to be a very interesting animal. This is all that I have for this week. This is the information that I could find on the Golden Toad.


Our Facebook account is up and running and our PayPal account is accepting online donations.  Look for our article in the Portsmouth Herald / Seacoast Online over the weekend. We are hiring out for leaf raking October  23rd - November 7th. Please consider supporting us and check us out at
http:// sites.google.com/site/listeracademycostaricaclass. Have a Great Weekend

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Costa Rican Monkeys!

MONKEYS!
The word for monkey in Spanish is mono


In chapter 4 in the first paragraph I read contained some information on monkeys! This first paragraph caught my eye and gave me an idea. That idea being that I should do this weeks research project on monkeys.



The White-throated Capuchin Monkeys lives in groups of 5 to 24. They are extremely curious, agile and aggressive, by defending their territory also by threatening with their sharp teeth and shaking on trees.
Apart from fruits and leaves they eat also lizards, birds and eggs.They eat fruit and leaves, as do the acrobatic spider monkeys, while the capuchins and squirrel monkeys enjoy a wider diet including everything from fruits to insects and lizards.


These are all some of the fruits that the monkeys in Costa Rica eat


  • Mamon’ chino, an exotic looking red, spiny fruit with succulent white flesh inside that you suck off a large seed
  • aranon, the colorful cashew fruit or cashew apple, has the kidney shaped cashew nut inside. The fruit is bright scarlet and pear shaped with delectable soft, sharply flavored flesh.
  • Guava or guayaba is a thin skinned, lemon-like fruit rich in vitamins A, C, iron and calcium.
  • Mango or manga, the mango is the male fruit which is greener, smaller and harder than the female manga, which is more yellow with orange pulp.
  • Mombin or jocote is a dark green to red-skinned juicy fruit which has a spicy flavor. Its wild yellow-skinned cousin is called the hogplum.
  • Mountain apple or manzana de agua, has crisp white flesh and a pinkish skin, tastes similar to an apple.
  • Manzana rosa or the rose apple tastes like an apple but is rose perfumed.
  •  Palm fruit or pejibaye is a small coconut that grows in a cluster among the fronds of the pejibaye palm tree.
  •  Papaya or pawpaw has 45 varieties that grow in the tropics and this bland fruit may be yellow, green or orange-skinned.
  • Soursap or guanabana is a prickly kidney-shaped fruit which is a relative of the custard apple.
  •  Starfruit or carambola has a pale yellow skin and very juicy white flesh.
  • Chiverre is a large green and white striped fruit which resembles a squash and is a member of the pumpkin family.
  •  Bananas in many varieties grow in the tropics, including those which taste like apple, lemon or strawberry.
  • Mamey has juicy yellow fruit.
  • Pina anona looks like an ear of corn without the husk and tastes like pineapple.
  • Zapote colorado has brown skin, red puckery fruit like the persimmon.

From May to October the fruit is abundant, so foraging is and easy is  the squirrels have more time to play and rest. But by November, the sparse season arrives and they must spend most of their days looking for food. They rise at 5 AM and retire at about 6PM.

I found all of this information very helpful and useful for learning more about monkeys. Like I have mentioned in previous blog entrys I find this to be very interesting. I hope that you found all of this information to be useful as well.




Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Chapter 5

        Chapter 5        



  Throughout Chapter 5 I kept on seeing the word Transportation. So what I figured I would do is write this weeks blog entry on transportation. Before Costa Rica received the privilege of having buses, cars, or airplanes, they did all of their traveling by foot. Traveling by foot was not easy! traveling by foot takes alot of effort and work.

             There are a variety of options for moving between destinations in Costa Rica: domestic flights, rental cars, shuttles, private vans, ferries, public bus, and even horseback.
In the United States we have many types of transportation. We have buses, Cars, Airplanes, Bikes, scooters, Rollerblades, boats, jet skis etc.... The point is what I am trying to explain is that we are more fortunate because we really never have to travel by foot maybe some do. I am very fortunate for both my parents to have cars so that I can be transported to the places that I need to go instead of having to walk by foot.

                               When we go to Costa Rica that is one of the things I am looking forward to is seeing there types of cars, airplanes, ferries all of those different types of things. I think that it will make me thing about all the things we would have to do or work for in order to have the things that we do now. Most of the roads in Costa Rica are very long they take along time to walk. I know that when we are in Costa Rica we will be doing alot of walking. Although i do look forward to that because it is very good exercise. It will still be a good hike! I look forward to next weeks blog entry Thanks for taking the time to read this !

   Costa Rica Transportation                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Friday, October 1, 2010

Chapter 4



CHAPTER 4



In the beginning of this chapter 4 blog entry I would like to begin with an opening quote from the book that i really enjoyed















" I once heard a speaker share this thought: if you look for bridges and they aren't to be found, then look for stepping stones"


This quote to me sounds in a way that one is seeking for a new beginning. In order for this new beginning to take place they have to take the steps in order to begin to put things behind them. While I was out sick for the past 2 weeks I read chapter 4. When I began to read this chapter and saw this quote I stopped and thought for a second about how this quote could relate to me being sick. I have missed alot of work in this class by being sick for so long. This class means alot to me it is a once in a lifetime chance and I don't want to fall so far behind that I give up on myself for falling behind. So I need to take those steps forward in order to put these things behind me. As I had mentioned in my mission statement  I want to prove to people that I can accomplish this goal that I have set in place for myself. So what I am going to do is begin to move forward with this and continue to do what I had been doing. Throughout the first page they introduce some facts about monkeys! monkeys don't look back they swing forward! monkeys are one of my favorite animals I would love to learn more about them.  So this is what  I would like to research for this weeks research project. I look forward to reading further into the book and learning more.







Lister Academy Costa Rica Article

Thursday, September 30, 2010

My mission

.


My name is Brittney Fournier

           I have lived my life relying on what others could do for me. I have never  been able to complete a challenge on my own. Going to Costa Rica is my challenge and I am dedicated to complete that challenge. The challenge to me is working hard to earn what I need. The Costa Rica class as a whole needs to raise 15,000 dollars in order to go. With the hard work and dedication that I am willing to offer I am proud to say there is no doubt in my mind that we will reach this goal. The one thing that stands out to me the most about wanting to experience Costa Rica is the culture. It has been one of my dreams to go out of the country and experience their culture and relate it to mine. When I say culture I mean their difference of style of living compared to mine  as in, food, housing, clothes, and environment.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Chapter One

My name is Brittney I attend Robert J Lyster Academy. This year I chose to sign up for a year long class that is studying Costa Rica. Each week i will be posting a new blog with feed back from that chapter I have read . My first blog will consist of information about the first chapter such as what I found interesting and I found confusing throughout this chapter. 

 


Walking with wolf is a very detailed, busy, book. Although i find the book a challenge to read I find it very interesting that he has experienced so much in the time he had been in costa rica. One of the things that I did not fully understand is when he said was " All around him was the emerald jungle, the mistress he had been carrying on with for decades while his wife took care of their family" after discussing with the class this particular part of the book. I now have a better understanding to the meaning of this sentence. The most interesting thing that drew my imidiate attention is the begining qoute to each chapter. I find it easier to understand what is going throughout his mind. What I hope to see or find later on in the book that these qoutes some what have a hidden message to them about something that wolf has not shared throughtout the book and you will need to put the pieces together.I am hoping the further I get into this book the easier I will be able to comprehend things are going on.  I am verey interested to see what is going to happen in the following chapters. I do find that when wolf is talking about many things at once that it is hard to take it all in. In the 3rd chapter on page  5 wolf discusses the topic of snakes. The one paticular snake that he talked about ws poisonous fer-de-lance which are colorful corn snakes. I found this one topic very scary I have a major fear of snakes that is a way that I have related to this chapter or the book as you would say. I am very interested to see what information is to be told in the next chapter.