The Sunflower Gazette

THE SUNFLOWER GAZETTE – PIAM’S BILINGUAL NEWSPAPER 2014



THE BROKEN POT

Compiled by Prof. Rosemary Castro Solano

A water bearer in India had two large pots,

each hung on an end of a pole which he

carried across his neck. One of the pots

had a crack in it, and while the other pot

was perfect and always delivered a full

portion of water at the end of the long

walk from the stream to the master’s

house, the cracked pot arrived only half

full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with

the bearer delivering only one and a half

pots full of water in his master’s house. Of

course, the perfect pot was proud of its

accomplishments, perfect to the end for

which it was made. But the poor cracked

pot was ashamed of its own imperfection,

and miserable that it was able to

accomplish only half of what it had been

made to do. After two years of what it

perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to

the water bearer one day by the stream.

"I am ashamed of myself, and I want to

apologize to you."

"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you

ashamed of?"

"I have been able, for these past two years,

to deliver only half my load because this

crack in my side causes water to leak out

all the way back to your masters house.

Because of my flaws, you have to do all of

this work, and you don't get full value from

your efforts." the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old

cracked pot, and in his compassion he said,

"As we return to the master’s house, I

want you to notice the beautiful flowers

along the path."

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old

cracked pot took notice of the sun

warming the beautiful wild flowers on the

side of the path, and this cheered it some.

But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad

because it had leaked out half its load, and

so again the Pot apologized to the bearer

for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice

that there were flowers only on your side

of your path, but not on the other pots

side? That's because I have always known

about your flaw, and I took advantage of it.

I planted flower seeds on your side of the

path, and every day while we walk back

from the stream, you've watered them. For

two years I have been able to pick these

beautiful flowers to decorate my masters

table. Without you being just the way you

are, he would not have this beauty to grace

his house."

Each of us has our own unique flaws.

We're all cracked pots. But if we allow it,

others may benefit from our flaws. So,

don't be afraid of your flaws, especially of

those that come from the passing of time.

MOTIVATION


LA VASIJA CON GRIETAS

Compilación de la Prof. Rosemary Castro Solano

Hace mucho tiempo, había un cargador de

agua en la India que tenía dos grandes vasijas

colgadas a los extremos de un palo que

llevaba encima de los hombros para traer

agua de un arroyo cercano.

Una de las vasijas tenía una grieta por la cual

se perdía líquido en el camino de regreso,

mientras que la otra estaba en perfectas

condiciones y entregaba el agua completa al

final del largo camino a pie desde el arroyo

hasta la casa de su patrón.

Entonces, cuando el hombre por fin llegaba a

su destino, la vasija rota sólo contenía la

mitad del agua pues había derramado gran

cantidad de agua en el camino. Durante

mucho tiempo, esta fue la historia

diariamente.

Desde luego, la vasija sin grietas estaba muy

orgullosa de sus logros, pues funcionaba de

forma perfecta para los fines para la cual fue

creada. Por el contrario, la pobre vasija

agrietada estaba muy avergonzada de su

propia imperfección y se sentía miserable

porque sólo podía conseguir la mitad de lo

que se suponía debía hacer.

Un día, después de dos años, la vasija con

grietas le habló al aguador diciéndole: "Estoy

avergonzada de mi misma y me quiero

disculpar contigo.".

“¿Por qué?”, le preguntó el aguador.

“Porque debido a mis grietas, sólo puedes

entregar la mitad de mi carga. Debido a mis

grietas, sólo obtienes la mitad del valor de lo

que deberías.”

El aguador se sintió muy apesadumbrado por

la vasija y con gran compasión le dijo:

"Cuando regresemos a la casa del patrón

quiero que notes las bellísimas flores que

crecen a lo largo del camino.”.

Así lo hizo la vasija con grietas, en efecto, vio

muchísimas flores hermosas a todo lo largo,

pero de todos modos se sintió muy apenada

porque al final sólo lograba llevar la mitad de

su carga de agua.

Al verla aún triste, el aguador le dijo: “¿Te

diste cuenta de que las flores sólo crecen en

tu lado del camino? Siempre he sabido de tus

grietas y quise obtener ventaja de ello. Por

eso, sembré semillas de flores a todo lo largo

del camino por donde tú vas y todos los días

tú las has regado con el agua que derramas.

Durante dos años he podido recoger estas

flores para decorar el altar de mi maestro,

gracias a ti. Si no fueras exactamente como

eres, él no hubiera tenido esa belleza sobre

su mesa.”

Cada uno de nosotros tiene sus propias

grietas y defectos, por lo que todos somos

vasijas agrietadas. Pero si lo permitimos,

otros pueden beneficiarse de nuestras

grietas, especialmente de aquellas que

tenemos precisamente por servir a otros con

el paso de los años.

MOTIVACIÓN


COSTA RICA’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: SURPRISE, SURPRISE!

By Ana Lorena Brenes Solís

As everybody knows, in the last Costa Rica’s

presidential election, we got diversity of

candidates as people said “all colors and

varieties” and with very different ideas:

communists, liberals, democratic, social

democratic, Christian, etc.

During the last years the strongest forces

were “Liberacion Nacional” and “Unidad

Social Cristiana”, but now people felt tired of

the same corruption.

Many years ago, the “Partido Accion

Ciudadana” (PAC), “Partido Movimiento

Libertario” (ML) and “Frente Amplio” (FA),

were founded and they had socialists and

communists in both sides. I mentioned only

these because they were the parties with

more followers.

At the beginning of the political campaign on

TV and in the newspapers you could see

almost only advertisements from Liberación

Nacional and Movimiento Libertario. The

others parties had none or just a few.

When the debates started on TV, the same

occurred. Most of the questions were

directed to both candidates of Liberación

Nacional and Movimiento Libertario, and the

surveys always were in favor of Liberacion

Nacional.

But little by little, the candidate of Frente

Amplio was increasing in popularity and

nobody gave anything for the candidate of

the PAC.

In the mean time, the Partido Acción

Ciudadana hired an advertising company,

which is a good example of what you can do

with not too much money but with an

intelligent advertising campaign.

The company was unknown in the country

but, of course, they studied the current

situation of Costa Rica, the two periods of

the government, the displeasure of the

people, the corruption in all the departments

of the government, etc.

They made a good campaign with the

candidate using phrases like “No más de lo

mismo” and “Con Costa Rica no se juega”.

They also used a lot of social meetings and

little by little were getting to know PAC’s

candidate, Luis Guillermo Solis, by means of

his good participation in the last debates.

And the rest is history. Surprise, Surprise!

NATIONAL


IS THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY IN A PROCESS OF CHANGE?

By Adriana Soledad Borel

Thursday July 10, 2014

San José- Will the new Legislative Assembly

be able to move the cart or will it remain

stuck?

The new fragmented Legislative Assembly

will have the opportunity to achieve, by

parties who negotiate, consensus and

openness to dialog. These measures could

allow them to undertake "the Great Task"

and the change that people want for their

country. They will have to pass laws that are

beneficial to the State and to the Costa Rican

people.

According to the newspaper La Nación, the

57 new members (PLN, PAC, PUSC, FA, ML,

RN, RC) "inherited discrepancies and trends

of previous governments such as: the Power

Contingency and Development Banking, the

In Vitro Fertilization and the Reform of the

Family Code.

In spite of this fragmentation, an alliance of

ideologically distinct parties (PAC, PLN, FA

and ML) has managed to adopt the first

version of the reform to the Development

Banking. At this moment the law project is

being verified by the Constitutional Court: if

defects are detected, there is agreement to

resolve them through a quick procedure.

However, there is one major obstacle to

resolve: the opposition of religious parties to

the adoption of laws the In Vitro Fertilization

and the Reform of the Family Code, which

would equalize the rights of the union of

persons of the same sex and heterosexual.

Summarizing, this Assembly still has a long

way to go, where it will only be if the

proposed alliances have enough leadership

to lead the country towards the necessary

change.

NATIONAL


THE RECENT STRIKE OF PUBLIC EDUCATION TEACHERS IN COSTA RICA: A SOFTWARE FAILURE OR A DEEPER ISSUE?

By Ileana Hess Araya

Everyone has heard about the most recent

strike of public education teachers in our

country and has most possibly been

affected directly or indirectly by it.

This is only another blow inflicted on the

citizens by one of the most destructive

unions in the country: the public education

teachers union.

It is fair enough that they tried to show

their support to their colleagues who did

not receive their salaries on time, but why

not pick two or three persons to represent

each school at the national strike? In that

way, they could have expressed their

support, the schools would not have been

closed and the student’s right to receive an

education would not have been affected.

It is hard to understand how people fail to

see that labor unions are their enemies,

and that those they claim to defend them

are often the ones that are most adversely

affected by the strikes; not only do they

trample public rights, but they turn their

batteries on the poor: those who cannot

afford to send their children to private

schools, those who cannot pay to get

private medical care when the public

hospitals are closed down, those who

cannot pay for a taxi to drive them around

a road blockade to get to their destinations

on time.

And yet all of these people pay the

syndicate fees out of their scarce money,

and this money goes to pay the salaries of

those whose job is to damage them and

their country as much as they can; in other

words, they are paying to be attacked, and

to let the syndicate leaders take their

rights from them, and to stop the country’s

progress.

We have enough examples of these

abuses, but until people open their eyes,

these abuses will continue.

NATIONAL


LUXURY RETIREMENT FUNDS - THE LIST IS OUT! HOW DO PUBLIC WORKERS' PENSIONS WHICH EXCEED 5 MILLION COLONES PER

MONTH CONTRADICT THE DREAM FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE?

By Ana Isabel González Trejos

Let’s first review the definition of educator:

“the person who acts professionally with

ethics, honesty, and integrity to maintain

both dignity and credibility in education”.

I always had the University of Costa Rica in

a pedestal. Every time I talked about it, I

felt proud because I believed in this

institution and its professors. I loved it and

I had faith in it. For me, it was the best

higher education institution in Costa Rica.

However, and after recently knowing by

the press how the group of university

professors did whatever they wanted with

our public funds in order to earn millions of

colones per month in their retirement

funds, my image of the UCR changed a lot.

I felt surprised, disappointed, frustrated

and angry. Let me make something clear, I

don’t feel envy, but I do censor these dirty

things they do with our traditional public

retirement funds system, only for them to

receive incredible quantities of millions of

colones per month.

Like Maquiavelo said that “the ends justify

the means”, public university professors

have used the youth and the poor, when

they have organized a lot of strikes and

public demonstrations in the streets of San

Jose to demand social justice, better life

conditions and higher salaries.

In the end all these false prophets were

just letting time pass to retire with

millionaire amounts and hid their faces

once they had obtained their economical

interests.

I don’t know how long can the public

system of retirement funds stand with

these millionaire pensions for public

university professors, but in the end the

most affected if the system breaks down

will be the poor teachers from the public

primary and secondary schools.

In conclusion, good university professors

disappeared a long time ago. What we

have now, in 2014, are higher university

workers whose brain only thinks about

money.

NATIONAL


“PILO” OBANDO AND HIS POPULAR CULTURE LEGACY

By Marielos Giralt Bermúdez

In this World Cup in Brazil, there was a

great absent in sports television narrative,

as we could not hear the funny ideas of

“Pilo” Obando. He was not there to make

us laugh and have a good time.

Last April 23rd, a few weeks before the

start of the World Cup, “Pilo” said goodbye

to so many Costa Ricans who were

identified with his stories and witty

comments. His voice had lost power weeks

before his death, because of serious health

complications, but his spirit was as restless

and funny as always in recent television

interviews.

What was Pilo´s popularity due to and

why is his legacy of cultural importance?

Undoubtedly “Pilo” was a pioneer in the

democratization of television language.

People were identified with his surprising

comments, enjoyed by people of all ages,

origins and professions.

We recall some of his most popular

phrases: “That player does not build even a

two-pieces puzzle.” “That match looks like

a ‘poor’s man pray’, only biscuits”. “The

tatá hour has arrived”, “That referee

whistled danger of goal.”

His three favorite words to narrate a

strong and accurate shot were: “frentazo”,

“piñazo”, and “zapatazo”.

In Italy 90, he said: “If Costa Rica makes

a goal, I will sing the Patriotic song instead

of the goal chant.” In the end he didn´t sing

the Patriotic song, because instead he

repeated insistently: “Medford, Medford,

Medford, Medford…”

When, after a match, the teams were

tied and the extra time of 30 minutes had

passed, he said: “They are coming for

“penalitos”.

The final whistle came, and we can only

recall the many times when “Pilo” with

strong voice recounted euphoric: “The

match referee: whistled, whistled,

whistled…”

So, the voice of one of the most

beloved sportscasters of the country was

turned off. He wasn´t a journalist and he

never went to the university, but his secret

was in his authenticity, simplicity and

passion in the narrative. His best

university, he said “was life.”

NATIONAL

CULTURE


THE POWER OF LEARNING TO KEEP OURSELVES YOUNG

By Giselle Jiménez

Health Specialist

Thursday July 10th, 2014

San José – When the elderly are asked

about their secret to keep themselves

young , they answer: exercising and

learning new things in general is the clue.

“The world as you experience it is there

in front of you or behind you, to the left

or right of you on your TV or your

monitor”, said David Foster Wallace.

We only devote a quarter of our lives to

learning. The remaining three quarters of

our life we spend working.

Just because you´ve finished your formal

education it doesn`t mean that your

education is over. But the school is not

the only provider of learning.

Education is the power to think clearly, to

act well in the world of work and the

power to appreciate life. We should be

diligent to learn, and continue to store

the knowledge.

A suggestion of a learning source could

be to investigate and learn about your

food, to maintain a balanced diet and

watch your triggers and your weight.

Educate yourself. Schooling and college

are important but being a “ learner for

life “ also matters. . Find ways to keep

learning through reading, studying, doing

things differently and staying open to

advice. Be ready to learn anything new,

no matter what your age is.

I would recommended reading good

books and extract from them wisdom to

stay young. It is important to take care of

yourself as it ensures a happier and

healthier life, as it helps you to keep

young.

Caring for your mental and emotional

well-being you can find ways to improve

your life. Reading self-help books or

spending time around successful people

is always important.

This is the clue for the power of learning

to keep ourselves young.

HEALTH


WE CAN FIGHT ALZHEIMER´S.....OF COURSE WE CAN.

By William Giralt Bermúdez

BACKGROUND

Every seven

seconds a case of

Alzheimer occurs in

the world, so say

the polls. Alarming truth! But what can we

do to fight this dangerous wrong?

Let us get into action: by exercising our brain,

increasing our self-esteem if it is low,

exercising our body properly, learning a

second language and avoiding routine and

physical inactivity.

It has always been believed that this disease

is reserved only for the elderly, but it also

has cases in 40-years-old adults who have

already submitted. When the brains goes

idle, neurons are lost and shrink, so we

should not allow the progress of the 3 stages,

as the silent disease takes approximately 20

years to show signs.

We must teach our body to fight pain, seek

peace, be active, and immunize our bodies.

"The tranqulity is priceless", said Mr.

Gerardo Gutiérrez, our teacher in the course

of Medicinal Plants here in PIAM tells us,

because if we come to the second stage

where we begin to forget important things

like the loved ones, we lost our way home

and we already begin to suffer senile

dementia, as changes to brain level are given

and come last.

WHAT IS OUR HOPE?

We said that we have several opportunities

to combat this painful disease. 25 years ago

the visionary Dr. Alfonso Trejos Willis,

proposed the plan to the University of Costa

Rica to create a program for the rescue of

older adults to integrate studies in university

classrooms that help fight mental inactivity

and created the PIAM.

Since then, there have been courses that

have saved many people to acquire not only

Alzheimer´s if not other illnesses of old age.

Only the fact that you learn second language,

- such as English with professionals given

entirely without profit to teach their vast

knowledge, their friendship and

understanding, as in the case our teacher

Rosemary Castro for several semesters, and

also teacher Mari Chan - keeps our minds

open to learning that we cannot get back

decades and arrive in a timely manner to

maintain a busy brain to show something

important and productive, like learning a

second language.

I have also been fortunate to learn about

electricity with the electric engineer

Balthazar Chaverri, unknown to my field, or

the course of Medicinal Plants you share

with us the teacher of the caliber Gerardo

Gutiérrez. So that in a time of the twilight of

my life, it has been possible not only to

reaffirm my own value, but also to keep a lot

of sufferings away.

Thanks a lot Dr. Alfonso Trejos, thanks a lot

to professor Rosemary Castro, and thanks a

lot to PIAM.

HEALTH


THE GNC CONTROVERSY IN COSTA RICA

By Manuel (“Manny”) Rojas Vargas

The GNC franchise Costa Rica had a problem:

they had been selling some products with an

expired permit in their stands in different

stores, so they used the Ministry of Health’s

permit label that belongs to others products

on supplements’ containers. Allegedly, they

did this because the Ministry of Health takes

a long time to register the old products with

the permits ending time (5 years) and for the

new ones. In other words, GNC Costa Rica

was selling products with false information

labels, and this is another violation of the

Costa Rican laws.

I know exactly the viacrucis this means for

the different companies in Costa Rica; it is a

perfect affliction the excessive documents

they have to present to approve the new

products or the older. You have to present

laboratory tests, formulas of the products,

supplements facts label, free sale certificates

of the product and distribution of country

origin, notary certification of the product

signed and certified by the government ,etc.

So, this presentation takes a lot of time to be

approved; more or less 1 to 3 years.

There are different kinds of products to

register: pharmaceutics (science), natural

products, food and chemistry ones, and

some of these products will take a short of

time to register but others like natural and

medicines take a lot of time.

They are no innocent products supplements.

The people who want to use them, can do it

with no problem, but always following the

indication of their doctor. I think the

supplements are awesome especially for

high performance athletes.

I think with a very good nutrition guide

expert, the supplements are not necessary;

only in special cases.

On the other side of the coin, I don´t know

how the Ministry of Health has taken a short

period of time to give them the green light to

sell those products , when GNC violated laws

information and this is very delicate in CR.

How did they do it? What kind of

agreements did they take with the

government?

Could you tell me how they did it? I would

like to know!!!!!

HEALTH


THE SPANISH ABDICATION AFFAIR

By Fernando Barrantes Mora

In these first decades of the 21st

century, some national states of

Western Europe still have a

government system called

Constitutional Monarchy. This

political organization form is the

result of a long way historic process

that began in early Middle Age (9th

century) at the collapse of the

Carolingian Empire.

At that time, most of the Western

Europe became divided into small

parcels of economic and political

power, called fiefs. The maximum

authorities were landowner warriors

called feudal landlords. This system

had its basis in the relation of lord to

vassals and serfs. The serfs were

bound to the land and subject to the

will of its owner.

When nations were emerging because

of similar language, history and other

cultural features, one of these feudal

landlords prevailed – generally by war

– over the entire country and then, he

became the king of the nation. So, the

political cohesion was given and

national states were born.

In the 20th century, monarchies acted

like ties, maintaining national unity

during crisis times. For example, the

English Monarchy during the Second

World War or Juan Carlos I in Spain,

with the transition from Franco’s

dictatorship to electoral democracy.

At present time, citizens of those

countries support the political system

with suffrage at periodical elections.

While people that vote are more than

those who get abstention, the system

is in fact valid. In these governments,

royal dynasties are obviously part of

the dominant class that considers

them a symbol of power in

domination scheme.

So, the abdication of a troubled king

who is transferring the throne to his

son is not very relevant news. In

contrast, news is the increasing

number of citizens claiming against

monarchies.

WORLD


THE KIDNAPPED GIRLS IN NIGERIA: EDUCATION IS A

HUMAN RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE

By Leda Castro Herrera

Education is not a privilege.

It is a human right.

According to the Article 10 of the Convention

on the elimination of all forms of

discrimination against women “States have

the obligation to take all appropriate

measures to eliminate discrimination

against women in order to ensure to them

equal rights with men in the field of

education”.

Despite progress, girls and women continue

to be discriminated against in their right to

access education.

According to official United Nations statistics,

of the 72 million children who are not in

school, girls are the majority. Of the 759

million adults who cannot read or write, 70

per cent are women.

The head of the ONU, Women for the

America and the Caribbean, Moni Pizani,

pointed out in a recent written statement

that while most countries from Latin America

had met the goal of gender enrollment in

primary education, this not translate into

better job opportunities for women.

Everyday examples of discrimination are

evident although just a few of them reach

out to public light.

La educación no es un

privilegio, es un derecho

humano.

El artículo 10 de la Convención para la

eliminación de toda forma de discriminación en

contra de la mujer establece “Los estados

tienen la obligación de tomar las medidas

necesarias para eliminar la discriminación en

contra de la mujer y asegurar en el campo

educativo igualdad de derechos con los

hombres.”

En las últimas décadas se ha logrado realizar

importantes avances en este campo, sin

embargo la discriminación continua y la brecha

entre géneros se mantiene.

De acuerdo con datos oficiales de las Naciones

Unidas, 72 millones de niños no asisten a la

escuela y una gran mayoría son mujeres. De un

total de 759 millones de adultos que no saben

escribir ni leer, un 70 por ciento son mujeres.

Moni Pizani directora del Programa de la ONU,

Mujeres para las Américas y el Caribe señaló

que si bien muchos países de America Latina

han alcanzado la meta de paridad en la

incorporación de hombres y mujeres en la

educación primaria, esto no se traduce en

mejores oportunidades educativas o laborales

para la mujer.

Cada día se pueden evidenciar múltiples

casos de discriminación en contra de la

mujer, si bien solamente unos pocos logran

ocupar la atención mundial.

WORLD


October 9, 2012. Malala Yousafzai, a young

Pakistan on their way home from school

received three shots. Her biggest mistake

was to give speeches across Pakistan in favor

of education.

Malala did not die and today she is an

activist. The assassination attempt received

worldwide media coverage and over 2

million people signed the Right to Education

petition

The Malala Fund is supporting the education

of girls. In a speech In the United Nations she

said “One pen, one teacher and one book

can change the world”.

April 14, 2014. Boko Haram terrorist

kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in

North Nigeria. Boko Haram is a group of

Islamic extremists whose name is loosely

translated as “Western education is

forbidden “.

The terrible kidnapping has evoked

condemnation from people all over the

world and promoted a world campaing

“BRING BACK OUR GIRLS”. Yet nothing has

happened.

In the recent Nigeria-Argentina match, in the

bustle of the World Cup, a few small posters

appeared with the slogan “Bring Back our

girls now and alive but the GOOOAL cry

relegated them to the background, as this

seems to be happening with this terrible

kidnapping

217 girls are still missing.

We are still waiting for a change. Education is

not a privilege. It is a human right. July, 2014

9 de Octubre, 2012. Malala Yousafzai, una

joven pakistaní recibió tres balazos cuando

se dirigía de la escuela a su casa. Un grupo

extremista le cobro el ofrecer charlas a favor

de la educación femenina.

Malala no murió y hoy en día es una

importante activista en pro de los derechos a

la educación. El intento de asesinato tuvo

una cobertura mundial y llevo a más de 2

millones de personas a escribir la petitoria

“Derecho a la Educación”.

Hoy en día la Fundación Malala promueve la

educación femenina. En una reciente

presentación ante las Naciones Unidas ella

expreso “Un lápiz, un maestro y un libro

pueden cambiar el mundo”.

14 de Abril, 2014. Un grupo de extremistas

islámicos denominados Boko Haram

secuestro a más de 200 jóvenes mientras

descansaban en el dormitorio que las

alojaba. Boko Haram es un grupo terrorista

cuyo nombre se puede traducir “la educación

occidental es pecado”.

Este secuestro desato una voraz campaña en

redes sociales bajo el lema “Devuelvan a

nuestras niñas”. Hoy nada ha sucedido.

En el barullo del partido Nigeria-Argentina,

se lograban observar unos tímidos rotulitos

con el lema “Devuelvan a nuestras niñas

vivas y ahora”, pero fueron rápidamente

desvanecidos por el grito de GOOOOL y

relegados a un muy segundo plano, tal y

como parece está sucediendo a nivel

internacional con este terrible secuestro.

217 jóvenes están aún desaparecidas.

Estamos aún esperando un cambio, La

educación no es un privilegio. La educación

es un derecho. Julio, 2014.


“EL NIÑO’S” PHENOMENON IN COSTA RICA

By Rodrigo Brenes Villar

The child is a climatic phenomenon

that usually appears in the Pacific

Ocean, in front of South America

every four years and it is

characterized by an increase in the

water temperature of the Pacific

Ocean and a decrease in the

Caribbean Ocean. Its effects appeared

for the first time in December, in time

of Christmas festivities and, for this

cause, it takes “El Niño’s” name.

In our country the first people to

realize the phenomenon were the

fisherman because warm water

makes the fish migrate to deeper

water, far from the coast, and fishing

becomes more difficult. The

phenomenon also causes low

temperatures in the Caribbean Ocean,

and the risk of flooding is higher.

The phenomenon remains for almost

two years and it causes severe

drought especially in the provinces of

Guanacaste and Puntarenas. The lack

of rainfall also favors the increase of

pests and rodents, causing extensive

damages to the production of basic

grains, grasses, fodder. These factors

are the cause of great losses in

agriculture, fisheries and livestock

that are the main activities of the

region.

Another important aspect is the low

production of electricity due to the

lack of rain water; the levels in

hydroelectric dams are very low and

cannot work at maximum. So, we

have to put diesel plants to work but

their cost is higher.

This phenomenon affects the entire

national economy, as the prices of

food (grains, meet, and fish),

electricity, and transport will be

higher. Only the tourism sector will be

benefited because the year will be

sunny.

The only solution to fight the effect of

this phenomenon is through the

cooperation of all of us and strong

government campaigns to save the

available resources.

ENVIRONMENT


FIFA’S WORLD CUP AND COSTA RICAN HUMOUR

By Sonia Amador Berrocal

SAN JOSE - The Costa Rican football team is in the World Cup and placed in the so-called “death group”. Despite that, the “ticos” were the winners of their group, against all predictions and causing different public reactions among “ticos”. Some players had had positive expressions like “We will go to Brazil with our illusions and dreams; we will make history”. And people have answered them with hopes, gifts and ovations at the airport, when they returned from the championship. Why do we feel a lot of enthusiasm and happiness if our team is seen as a poor football one and it doesn’t have sport recognition around the world? Probably the causes are in the very same people. Since 2010, we have been named by the New Economics Foundation as one of the top countries in the Happy Planet Index, and in 2012 we even achieved the top spot and became the happiest country in the world, despite having poor economic development. However, and because it is necessary to clarify, some national studies have said that ranking isn’t true, because we have social inequality, poverty, unemployment and other very serious social issues. Nevertheless and apart from the above discussion, a lot of “ticos” have been posting many happy expressions on Facebook. Some of them are poetic, such as:

Costa Rican World team, continental giant

we plead that in our next play the referee treats us less well

Sele mundialista,

gigante continental, que en la próxima mejenguita

el árbitro no nos trate mal Other ones are visual, like the people who claim to have seen the trophee in Poás Volcano’s lake (see the picture). There have also been plenty of jokes about our rivals and enormous meetings to celebrate our triumphs. We are not a wealthy country and we probably don’t have the best football in the world, but this World Cup has given us great happiness and good humor.

Lucky charm? Tourists claim to have seen a World Cup

image reflected in the Poás Volcano lagoon.

HUMOUR


“LA SELE” MAKES US BELIEVE AGAIN: A STORY OF GUTS,

DISCIPLINE AND DREAMS

By José Guillermo Severino Solano

The day was June 11th, 1990. The place was

the Luigi Ferraris Stadium in Geneva, Italy.

The protagonists were the Costa Rican

national soccer team players, a group of

players that had never been in that kind of

stage before, but their lack of experience at

world tournaments wasn’t an obstacle to win

their first match against Scotland.

Brazil soccer team was their next rival in a

difficult game that they lost by only one goal.

But winning their third game against Sweden

allowed the “Sele” to prove they were a

fantastic team and could classify to the

knock-out rounds of the last sixteen, getting

the second place in group C. Even though

they lost against the Czech Republic in the

next stage, they had made an incredible

performance.

Names like Róger Flores, Luis Gabelo Conejo,

Juan Arnoldo Cayasso, Claudio Jara, and

Mauricio Montero, among others, have been

remembered since that year in our football

history. With their best effort and technique

that group made a whole country´s dream

true.

The 1990 achievement seemed to be

unrepeatable; Costa Rica national soccer

team had other World Cup experiences, but

none as the 1990´s one.

Costa Rica´s team had to wait twelve years to

be in another World Cup, when in 2002 and

guided by the coach Alexandre Guimarães,

Costa Rica classified first in CONCACAF to the

Korea and Japan World Cup. However, the

results in their tournament matches didn´t

favor our national team to go beyond the

first stage, because we even had to face

Brazil again, that year’s cup champion.

Another opportunity came when the team

classified to Germany 2006. Then, for the

third time, Costa Rica participated in the best

competition of soccer, facing the home team

Germany in the initial match of the contest,

but losing in all their presentations.

However, Costa Rica’s history in World Cups

seemed to change last year, when our soccer

team classified in second place in the

CONCACAF qualifying hexagonal. Just behind

the United States, we got our ticket to

Brazil´s World Cup when there remained

some qualifying games to play. But another

obstacle had arrived when they realized that

group D, where Costa Rica was assigned,

there were also three other former world

champions, making the qualification to the

next stage really difficult for the Central

American team.

Italy, the second most successful national

team with four championships; Uruguay, two

times world champion including the first

world cup championship; and England one of

the oldest national teams and one time

champion, were the rivals of Costa Rica. This

group was called by the international press

“the death group” based on their

competitive level. These perspectives made

Costa Rica´s team the victim of multiple jokes

and the object of a general expectation that

SPORTS AND

CULTURE


they couldn´t do anything against their

powerful rivals.

However, the attitude of Costa Rica´s coach

Jorge Luis Pinto was exactly the opposite.

After the raffle of the tournament groups, he

said “bravest the bull, better the bull´s run”.

The challenge wasn´t lost since the

beginning. On the contrary, it was accepted

as a motivation to do things right.

This attitude made Costa Rica´s debut on the

2014 World Cup a total success and let

others know that they weren’t intimidated

by former champions. Costa Rica won the

match against Uruguay three goals to one,

and led the “death group” since the first

presentation. Campbell, Duarte and Ureña

scored the goals.

Then came Italy, which was also defeated by

Costa Rica, with the captain Bryan Ruíz’s

goal. Now Costa Rica´s team was doing the

unthinkable and became the surprise of the

World Cup. After Italy, with a draw against

England, the team classified in first place to

the knock-out stage, after twenty four years

since they had done it for the first time.

But the 2014 soccer team not only wanted to

match what the 1990 team did, they wanted

more. They wanted to get into the final

eight, and they did. After they had had an

amazing performance in the groups’ stage, a

draw against Greece which they won in the

penalty shots, let them advance to the next

stage. After a really difficult game, five

perfectly executed penalty shots and an

outstanding stop of our goal keeper Keylor

Navas, we deserved to advance in the

tournament.

The last challenge was against Netherlands, a

team that was second in the last tournament

and which was considered one of the

favorites to win the world cup. As they did in

the other games, the “Sele” went to the field

giving their best, but although they had an

excellent defense, this time they were in

troubles to score. The match ended with a

draw also, so once again they went to the

penalty shots. However, after the coach of

Netherlands changed their goal keeper, the

Netherlands players scored all their penalties

and our team missed two of them. We were

officially out of the World Cup, but our team

never lost a game. On the contrary, we had

the best defense and the best goal keeper.

Meanwhile in San José and every other city

in Costa Rica people got crazy. Never in the

history of soccer had a national team gotten

so far in a World Cup, and after the team was

underestimated they proved to the world

that with guts, discipline, effort and dreams

everything was possible.

Also, even though football is only a game,

this team has united the people of Costa Rica

with the same feeling, knowing that with

effort we can achieve big dreams. It also

values our team and our people in front of

the world. Thanks God we were there to

enjoy it.


By Prof. Rosemary Castro Solano

Learning English (or any language, for that

matter) is a process. So, in order to

continually improve your English, we have

thought about some strategies to make sure

that you are able to reach your English

learning goals.

1. Patience is key to improving your

English, so go slowly and focus on

your goals. Remember that learning

a language is a gradual process - it

does not happen overnight.

2. Define your learning objectives early:

What do you want to learn and why?

3. Make learning a habit. Try to learn

something every day. It is much

better to study (or read, or listen to

English news, etc.) 10 minutes each

day than to study for 2 hours once a

week, because if you study just once

a week, English will not be as present

in your mind.

4. Vary your learning routine. It is best

to do different things each day to

help keep the various relationships

between each area active. In other

words, don't just study grammar.

5. Find friends to study and speak with.

Learning English together can be

very encouraging.

6. Choose listening and reading

materials that relate to what you are

interested in. Being interested in the

subject will make learning more

enjoyable - thus more effective.

7. Relate grammar to practical usage.

Grammar by itself does not help you

USE the language. You should

practice what you are learning by

employing it actively.

8. Be patient with yourself. Remember

learning is a process - speaking a

language well takes time. It is not a

computer that is either on or off!

9. Communicate! There is nothing like

communicating in English and being

successful. Grammar exercises are

good - having your friend on the

other side of the world understand

your email is fantastic!

10. Use the Internet. The Internet is the

most exciting, unlimited English

resource that anyone could imagine

and it is right at your finger tips.

Remember that English learning is a process,

so be patient with yourself and with the

other people who are with you in this

process.

TIPS FOR

LEARNING

Questions? Comments? We want to hear from you.

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