Moving Forward by Going Back

In about two weeks I'll be returning to the very first place I was ever a teacher - Japan.

I've come a long way since then. My first ever teaching gig came with about 3 days of training and very little self-confidence. These days I've got grad school and a few years of teaching experience under my belt. My hope is that I find the country, culture, and people that I liked so much the first time around still present, but this time have more fun teaching.

It is also my intention to blog more this year than I did last year. I learned a lot last year, but I'm ready to move forward by going back to where it all began.

lightbulbs. again.

I feel like a lot of my life here is consumed by thinking about lightbulbs. I know I wrote about my bathroom light saga already, but in the past week I lost one of two lightbulbs in the living room (on a three bulb fixture- one of them was already out) and then the single bulb in my kitchen started flickering....

I was a away for the weekend, so I sort of forgot. And then last night I cooked dinner while wearing my headlamp. So on the way home from school today I stopped to buy some lightbulbs. I bought four, feeling fairly confident that I had the correct size (a mistake I had made last time).

Well, I was right on the size. But. One of the fixtures doesn't appear to work at all in the living room. The other one blew the bulb when I turned the light switch on. Eventually I got another of the bulbs to work. Then the kitchen. First a bulb that didn't seem to work (and I was starting to fear that I would have to call the landlady again because the fixtures don't work) and then finally one that did.

I can't explain. And my suspicion is that the bulbs may have been faulty to begin with, in addition to my apartment possibly having been wired by a teenage amateur electrician. But I have lights in all my rooms. For now.

The other exciting thing is that last weekend in Greece (and I will do a post about Greece, probably tomorrow) I found lentils. Lentils!!! I'm pretty excited about them. People keep telling me that they do exist here in Pristina, but I have yet to find them. Apparently that's how it goes; sometimes you can find stuff and sometimes you can't. So this afternoon, beneath the glow of a new lightbulb, I made an amazing lentil salad with tomatoes, peppers, olives, and feta in a delicious mustard-balsamic vinaigrette. So. Amazing.

I still feel like, foodwise, I'm struggling to figure out what I can and want to cook. The ingredients are not so unfamiliar, it's just that there's not the same variety of options. So I find myself making a lot of spinach mac and cheese, pasta with olive-tomato-feta sauce, grilled cheese and ajvar (it's kind of a roasted pepper spread), I made a frozen pizza once, some frozen chicken cutlet things (in fact, I think the fact that nearly all of the chicken is frozen and my freezer is TINY is the reason I haven't bought more meat), eggs over fried potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, and now this lentil salad. I haven't been able to get myself back into green salads like I'd been eating at home and I only made some smoothies the first week I had my blender. Also I've been super obsessed with chips, particularly ketchup flavored Ruffles. I'd like to get back to a little more healthy diet, when I get time to figure out what that might look like here. Though I don't think I'll have that much time any time soon.

And I promise to write about school sometime. It's just right now, I kind of hate all my kids and I'm feeling frustrated about stuff. But soon.

Blinded by the light

So for about a week now I have been without a light in my bathroom. The bulb went out and I bought two light bulbs that did not fit in the socket. (don't laugh, it's more complicated than you think!) So finally I called the landlady and she sent her son up to fix it. Well, he came up with another light bulb. Which also did not fit (see - it wasn't just me!). So he thought it was a problem with the fixture itself, but the guy who does that wouldn't be around until Monday.

Well, Monday came and went; I was busy and wearing my headlight in the bathroom at night was starting to seem like the usual. But this morning was the first time I had to get up early - my normal school wake-up time - and it was a little bleak in there. I actually set my headlight on the window sill so that it would shine into my shower. And I planned to call the Landlady again when I got home from school.

But when I got home I found - a rug in my kitchen. Sort of exciting, it does tie the room together, if you know what I mean. However, the bathroom light was still out. So I called the landlady again and she promised to send her son up, he forgot to come the yesterday. As I waited I put away some dishes and found that in my silverware drawer there was a silverware holder - also pretty exciting.

FINALLY the son showed up and managed to fix the light. Well, more or less. It works. But he's going to have the normal electrician guy come check sometime.

So yeah. LIGHT in my bathroom. This place is great. :)

The Highlight of my Week

So it's been a long week of, well, not actually accomplishing very much, but doing a lot of things.

At this point I have a pretty good idea of where I live and I can find the stuff that really matters: the grocery store (in fact, two grocery stores), school, the euro store, and ATMs. I'm also able to find places where other teachers live and wander around a smallish area without getting irrevocably lost. I feel like these are all pretty good things, but to call them "accomplishments" seems a bit... of an exaggeration.

I've also met lots of people, about half of whom I have forgotten their names almost immediately. I have a classroom and IDs to log on to the school computers, and I have some supplies to start the year and as of Friday I actually have a schedule of the classes I'll be teaching. Well, probably.

Something that I've been desperate to discover ever since I was hired way back in February is what classes I am teaching. So on Friday we were actually given our schedules. Except that apparently it's not uncommon for people to not even register for school until the first week is already underway. So the schedule I have now could potentially change, but hopefully not too much.

As of right now I am teaching 2 sections of World History (though because "high school" really starts in 10th grade here - and World History is a 10th grade class - it is possible and even likely that they will add another class of World History), 3 sections of US Government (which is actually not even going to be that anymore, at least not exactly, my wonderful department head and I looked at the syllabus from last year and thought that it resembled the US History class far too closely - so we proposed a new curriculum which we are calling "Comparative Government" that will look at different types of government, do some case studies of different countries, talk about civics and citizenship, and changing government through civil and violent means), and 1 section of Geography (which would be fun and a very small class, but if they do have to add another World History this little group will likely be absorbed into another section).

(boy, that was a lot of parenthetical commentary)

BUT - that's not even the highlight of my week. The highlight of my week was that today we went to the mall - which is really like a mall - and I bought a blender. I'm so excited to make myself a smoothie in the morning. :)

Kosova Lesson #1

After packing way more luggage than I have ever packed in my life (while still feeling like I might like to take more with me) and a long day of traveling on full flights, I finally arrived in Kosova last Sunday.

During my three hour layover in Frankfurt I happened to meet three other ASK teachers, another newbie like me and two returning teachers. We also met another American who was returning to Kosova to continue his craft beer brewing business (which involves brewing IPAs and ambers, which apparently are not readily available here). After what seemed like a crazy-long layover and a crazy-long shuttle ride from the gate to the actual plane we began our short trip to Pristina.

Once we arrived, going through passport control was no trouble and though our brewer friend had some trouble at customs, the whole thing was relatively hassle-free. All except securing hand carts for the luggage. It was the third batch of carts that the guy brought out before I was able to get one for all my bags... every time he showed up a mob surrounded him and took the carts before he could even get to the distribution point.

Outside the very small airport we were met by people with signs and somehow managed to fit all our luggage into the mini-van. The airport is about 20 minutes outside of the city and Kristin, an ASK teacher, gave us the rundown on somethings and tried to help us get our bearings (unsuccessfully, I would say; I still feel a little lost if I'm not on the 4 streets that I know... I need some more time!). I was the first to be dropped off, and we lugged all my bags up 5 flights of stairs to my new apartment.

It's small, but enough. It has an open kitchen-living room area with a small bathroom and bedroom off the main room. I also have an adorable balcony, which I can access from my bedroom or living room. There was lots of light streaming in my windows, I decided to lay down on my couch and stretch out a bit. Kristin and Emily were going to come back in an hour and we'd go get some a little something to eat and some supplies.

After my little nap, I went in my bathroom to wash my face and put in my contacts. I smeared face wash on my hand and flipped open the faucet. sputtering. sputtering. nothing. I tried the kitchen. the same. I sat and fumed a little. and tried again. and again. and again. When Kristin and Emily showed up again, I learned

Kosova Lesson #1: The water gets turned off midday in residential buildings.
So we went to a restaurant where I was able to wash the soap off my hand. We got some food - a delicious yogurty-bread thing with some spreads (amazing), some beers, and a little salad (you know, to be healthy).


When I got back to my place with some basics from the grocery store I tried to unpack. Really, I did. It didn't really work out so well... I slept some more.

sismo de esta madrugada

apparently there was an earthquake just after midnight last night. everyone was talking about it this morning, all the kids were asking if i felt it.

nope.

i have felt some little earthquakes here and i did wake up for no particular reason at some point last night, though it happens a lot and i don't remember the room shaking or anything when i did. so yeah. apparently the center was somewhere in panama. i can remember once when there was a little earthquake in the northeast - i was living in cambridge and i woke up around 6am or something and i remember thinking that i must have been having a scary dream or something, because my heart was pounding in my chest. but then i sort of realized that my heart *wasn't* pounding, that my whole bed was shaking.

7 more days! the end is in sight, and i'm exhausted and still trying to figure out how much actual class time i have next week during which i'll need to have things to entertain the kids with. i'm already thinking of doing a big crossword puzzle (they love them) with spelling words from the whole year, and then a spelling bee with prizes. thursday i'll probably do my awesome christmas card craft that i did last year with my other kids. we're supposed to have something to do on "accomplishments day" - monday, most teachers are doing some sort of little memory book. i'm worried that i won't be able to sell it and my kids will think it's lame. we'll see.

even though school will be done next week, i still have to go in the first week of december to do all my year-end administrative hooha and clean up my classroom. it's kind of a comforting thought that the next time i have a classroom of my own i'll have a little better idea of what i'm supposed to be doing!

life is too short to eat fake cheese

so recently i made the decision that life is too short to eat fake cheese. cheese is not something most costa ricans are really into (along with blueberries). but real cheese is expensive. now, i'm a person who is willing to pay $8-$9 for a delicious hunk of gruyere. but what i consider to be "regular" cheeses - cheddar, mozzarella - should not cost the same. but no more will i buy queso tipo de cheddar or queso tipo de mozzarella - i'm buying the real thing, no matter what it costs.

in other news, i read a little article from la nacion about this year's rainy season - el 2008 es el más lluvioso de los últimos 64 años, según el IMN. basically the national weather service has said that this year has been the rainiest for 64 years. so far we have had 2100 milliliters of rain per square meter (or something, the math is confusing) and the normal annual average is 1860mm. good times.

so i'll actually be heading back to new england a just a few days (!) where i was hoping to escape the rain, but i've heard rumors it's raining there too. c'est la vie.

first of the lasts

so last week i had my first "last"... it was our last parent conferences of the year! and i couldn't be happier. i mean, it's not that i mind talking with people... but i don't know. part of it is the language thing - most of my parents speak english, but either way we struggle. i've also been given the impression that it is required that i defend my grades to parents. there is sort of a culture of just getting A's without having to work too hard - so the fact that not all my kids get A's (not even most of them) is kind of a shock to some of the parents. so parent meetings kind of suck. in theory, next time i have to do parent meetings there shouldn't be a language barrier and they're kids might not have been getting straight A's since kindergarten.

so i went to the beach last weekend to "freshen up" my tan for danielle's wedding. i'm a little pink. but it should be fine by the wedding. it'll be a whirlwind trip home, so i make no promises about seeing people who are not living with my parents or attending the wedding. but those are the places i'll be...

well, i'm about to settle in with a bag of popcorn to watch dancing with the stars... :)

why it's so hard (an illustration)

i know i have told some of you that life is just harder here, which is at times pretty frustrating. i have a little illustration for you:

my watch had been slowing down... sometimes in the mornings i had to adjust the time a little. and then last week it finally stopped working. this is slightly traumatic for me - admittedly i have an obsession with my watch, and i use it in class all the time, it keeps me on schedule (yes, there is a clock on the wall, but it's not always subtle for me to check it) and it tells me the date. so two tough days of school. and it's not that i wasn't trying to solve this problem before this - i had been looking around everywhere i could think of for a while to find a battery for it. but no luck.

so i had mentioned my problem to my friend hannia, who gives me a ride to school most days, and she mentioned a place near the supermarket. i had seen this place before, but never been in or really even looked inside. she tells me she took her watch there once to be fixed. they sent it to the main store in san jose or something and it was back in 3 days. so i'm thinking, right, i just need someone to put a battery in, it couldn't possibly need to be sent out.

well, it's wednesday, i've been on vacation for a while now. and today i brought it to the store. i tell the girl what i need. she says i'll need to leave it. sure, sure, i say. for a few days. even though i only need a battery? yes. and do you know how much this will cost? about 1 mil = $2. now to me, that doesn't seem very economical, sending out a watch to have a battery put in that will earn about $2. but that's what i'm talking about. why does it have to be so hard?

for you, but not for me

so i woke up this morning (at 10 o'clock!) and i smelled burning. and after i checked that it was not our house that was burning it reminded me.... of fall. of that first cool day where you have to make a little fire and the burning smells different. it smells like fall. well, not for me. i took my breakfast outside and sat in the sun in my shorts and t-shirt. and even feel a little bit sweaty after. the rainy season is doing it's thing - it's hot in the morning, rainy in the afternoon and evenings. but i do miss fall.... not that fact that it leads up to winter (which i don't like) but the kind of crispness of the air. and that smell.

i am sort of starting to worry that it's wednesday and i haven't done any preparations for school yet. i really want to get myself as organized as possible for this last quarter so i can just do it. i had visions of doing a little something for school every day during vacation. oops. in fact i still have last quarter's compositions to grade and comments to write for the report cards. plus i have to do a new bulletin board. i blame my dancing with the stars obsession.

three letters, something i should be building about now...

so i recently had a birthday... which was fun. 84 is a big year. at least that's what i told my kids. :P (not sure why i love lying to children, but it's fun) so we had a little barbecue in honor of my birthday at my friends amanda and julia's house. there were hamburgers. and french fries. and brownies (if you know me, you know i'm not that into cake). here are a couple of pictures.

hmmmm.... what is maría jose pointing at?


ahhh.... it's the gaping hole in my birthday brownies. but it was my birthday, i'm allowed, right?


since then the weather has been rather miserable. like more miserable than normal rainy season. (in my whole 1 rainy season experience here in costa rica) i mean, the normal rainy season thing is sunny mornings and about 3pm it starts to rain. sometime in the evening the rain stops. the next day, repeat. but recently it's been raining almost non-stop. go to sleep and it's pouring, wake up and it's pouring, today there wasn't even the tiniest break in the rain. which is why there is now a lake in my backyard.


and probably not a surprise, but i'm kind of sick right now. running shnoz, coughing, sore throat. but best news ever (at least best news this week) - school is canceled tomorrow! apparently there is some sort of red advisory (not 100% sure what that means) due to the rain. there's flooding, and people are getting in accidents. so now i get to lie in bed for a while and try to recover. i basically spent most of my afternoon like this:

curled up around a little black and brown wiener dog.

3 letters, something i should be building about now...

ark.

shoot for the moon and all that...

so i had really intended to have some pictures to post before now of my classroom... and i actually brought my camera to school twice this week. but didn't take a single photo. next week, i hope.

so yeah, i'm teaching now! it actually feels like i've been teaching for weeks and weeks now... but it's only been 4 days. day one started out really great. i had my homeroom group first. there was a little name game action - to help me out with everyone's names. we did some other intro type stuff. talked about rules - what does respect mean? what does responsibility mean? they were more or less well behaved and amusing. and then....

my other group (there are two classes of 4th graders, i teach english to both). yeah. they wouldn't shut up during my name game. i asked them to be quiet so many times that i had to follow through on my threat "if i have to yell one more time, we're sitting down and you're writing". and i still don't know all their names. on thursday i had half the class trying to convince me that they HAD to go to the bathroom- that it was an emergency. (i didn't let any of them go)

i realize they're trying to test me. and i know i just have to be strict with them. (and i am for the most part). unfortunately i think what they need is boring assignments and super structured classes. it's the only time we ever get anything done. my big plan is to have a "rule of the day". so say, it's raising your hand to speak. or listening when other's are talking. or doing your homework. and we'll work through the rules one by one until i feel that the majority of the class has followed the rule during the class. and then we check it off the list. when we've checked off all the rules, game day (well, game english class anyway). we'll see how it goes.

the other frustrating thing is that i feel left out a little on my "team" (the fourth grade teachers). i've been told that the costa rican way is sort of like an overprotective mother. instead of showing you how to do something that you are supposed to be doing, they will just take care of it. so you don't have to worry about it. it's terribly frustrating. as an example. the kids had to bring in these forms signed by their parents for the extra-curricular activities they want to do. i had them putting them on my desk. but i didn't know what to do with them, so i put some on my paper tray. today i asked one of my companeras what i was supposed to do with them. and she told me that she already took mine, don't worry. well, she had taken some that were on the desk, but that was not most or all of them. i had to badger her into telling me where they went. she just kept telling me not to worry. all this actually bothers me more than my obnoxious class....

but for the most part i feel pretty good about the first week. i've decided i'm going to read to the kids a few mornings a week. purely for listening purposes. and i've chosen "the magician's nephew". and next week we're actually sort of starting stuff. we'll see how they do with structure.

bad habits

it's amazing how quickly bad habits develop...


now, i like dogs. i like pets. it's nice to have a little companionship sometimes, someone to chill and watch tv with who never talks when you're trying to hear something. and chili and brownie are sweeties. but.

so i've spent 3 nights in my new place now. the dogs were in and out of my room the first night, checking things out while i unpacked, licking my elbows, you know, dog stuff. the second night chili was lying in bed with me watching tv. it got late. he slept over. i knew that he would want to get out in the morning when rocio got up - they get fed in the morning, and get let outside. so i didn't sleep that great, because i kind of knew at some point i would have to let him out. so i did. what happened next was what i wasn't expecting.

my first morning here, the dogs hung out in the living room after rocio and matias left and until i got up. my second morning after chili had slept with me, i hear scratching and whining outside my bedroom door when they left. so i open up and *both* dogs jump into bed with me. it's a little bed. and they're pretty solid, sausage shaped dogs. it was crowded.

last night i had no dogs in my bed. but i was woken up by - scratching and whining at my door. in an effort to break a bad habit before it took root i ignored them, thinking they would eventually get bored and go hang out in the living room. this continued for THREE HOURS (from about 7:30 to 10:30 - yes, i'm that lazy).

they were *ecstatic* to see me when i opened the door. i made some coffee and now the three of us are back in bed watching tv... and it's crowded...

santa ana

so i'm here... moved into my new pad in santa ana. so far, so good. i moved in last night. my room is a little bit smaller than i remembered from when i saw the place a week ago... but it's fine. i just don't have a desk, which i had gotten pretty used to in my other place. so we went on a mission today to see if i could find something... but no luck.

spent my morning chilling at home with the dogs. they're pretty fun. one of them is actually curled up on my bed with me right now (his mom calls him a traitor!) chili and brownie:


the rest of the house is super cute too. there are sofas in the living room!!! which is pretty exciting. but no tv there... but i have one in my room, so i guess that's pretty good.



so yeah, things are pretty good. i start going to school next week, for new teacher orientation and what-not. the kids start back on february 11th. until then i'm laying low, and trying to figure out all this teaching stuff.

:)

procrastination

who likes to procrastinate? that would be me....

so i'm moving tomorrow, and i've known i was going to move tomorrow for at least 4 days now. so that should have been plenty of time to get myself organized. things i've done so far instead of packing? let me see....

1. watch tv
   
2. watch movies
   
3. create a photo album online (which i've had mailed to my parents - so if you see them, soon they will have a album of my year in CR if you're interested)
   
4. create a playlist to listen to while i pack...

but yesterday i actually did something productive! i put some shoes, dresses, and extra pj's in a box. and i cleaned out my drawer filled with little slips of paper with random information on them. yeah, and that's about it so far. i feel like i've acquired a lot of stuff here... but maybe it's not so much. as long as it all fits in a suzuki samurai then i'm fine. so i'm having dinner this evening at my friends house (hopefully after i do a little more packing) and then tomorrow i have that pressure that i need in situations like these... an actual deadline. my next post will be from the (relatively speaking) posh western suburb of santa ana!

the opposite of homeless

that's right. i have two homes. only not in the way that rich people do.... i will have to leave one of them eventually. but for now i have two homes. one that i don't have to leave in any hurry and one that i don't have to move into in any hurry.

so i was cruising craig's list for places to live and there was one that caught my eye. so it's a room in a house. the house is owned by a youngish couple and their two dachshunds. my rent includes utilities, cable tv (and a tv in my bedroom!!! that's pretty exciting), and wifi. and on top of all that, it's less than a 5 minute walk to the bus stop where i can catch the bus directly to my school. it's close to stores and supermarkets, yet there's a huge back garden and it's a really tranquil environment. i'm pretty happy.

so obviously i have to move there before school starts (well, even before that - i have to start going in to school on the 28th for orientation and stuff). but as there's no rush for me to get out of the place i'm in now, i'm procrastinating. the thought of packing all of my stuff.... i'll have you know i came down here with only two bags. my giant backpack and my regular backpack. those two bags probably hold less than half of what i have now... so my real goal is to try to sort through stuff a little and see what is just crap and what i really want or need.

so yeah, that's my news. as soon as i actually move in i'll get some pics. :)

the hard part is over

well, part of the hard part is over. even though school ended last week (my new school) the teachers all have to come in this week to finish up grades and talk to the other teachers about the students for the next year. so i've kind of been doing double duty this week. though i didn't have any grades to finish or anything, i had to go in a couple of days this week... which was pretty exhausting. (it's a lot of bus time to get there from my current apartment). but now i've got a curriculum map to edit, some books to peruse, and see ya in january.

just one more week of my old job - and it's the easy part. since the kids program finished last week, i have friday afternoon and saturday off this week and next. which is awesome. from here on out i have REAL weekends. so next week i have two classes with my one-to-one guy, and two lesson of revision for my ibm classes, then two lessons where they'll be taking their exam. easy-peasy.

of course the part of the hard part i still have to do is find a new place to live.... but i've got a good portion of january to sort that out.

in completely unrelated news, i get this newsletter from a website called boots 'n' all and one of the stories really made me laugh. so i thought i'd share it. it's about driving in india. i actually had this idea when i was there of doing like a guide to driving in india, in a funny way (which is surely not an original idea, but still). because let me tell you they are insane. but i never actually did it and i sort of forgot a lot.... this brought it all back. enjoy!

possibly not a surprise...

but yesterday i quit my job. i had been planning to line up something else before i put in my notice, but since i'm supposed to give a bimester's notice (which is two months - but i can't give notice halfway through a bimester) it just wasn't going to be possible. i'm looking to teach in a bilingual high school next year, and they're not really hiring at this point. they still have another month of class and then they have almost 2 months off. so my last day at the instituto britanico will be december 14th. then i'll be hanging out at the beach for a week. and then coming home for a couple of weeks. hopefully by then i'll have a job lined up. that's the plan anyway.

in other news i just paid my first cell phone bill, which i had been waiting patiently for, since i wasn't really sure how much i was really using it (but it seemed like a lot). well, they don't really mail bills here - because they don't really mail anything (i mean my "address" is from this store, 100 meters south, 400 meters west....). so basically you get a text message that tells you it's time to pay your bill. and you either go to a supermarket or pharmacy (these are the places you pay your bills - everything, phone, internet, electricity, water...) or depending on your bank you can pay online. well i had a friend help me set up my online banking yesterday, because apparently my bank does online bill pay (all my utilities are included in my rent, so i don't ever deal with that). entered my phone number and my information came up. my bill was ¢4,545. a little less than $10. :P

and the last thing i have for today is a picture. of things that come in plastic packages. i was terribly amused by this when i first arrived, but really it's for the best here. because they don't really do recycling (at least not very much of it) it's probably better that they have things in plastic bags instead of bottles and jars - less garbage. so here we have: spaghetti sauce, salsa, sour cream, mayonnaise, and ketchup.

vargas araya

so yeah, it's been a while since i've posted... but i do have some pictures of my new place in vargas araya. it's actually pretty massive - i share with two other american guys (and possibly some panamanian is moving into this little room which i was sure was a closet for a few weeks? but anyway...). in fact last week, on the day of the virgin of the angels - the patron saint of costa rica and a national non-working holiday for nearly everyone, we had a big roast dinner at my house with loads of people from work. which i don't have any photos of... but jasmine does... maybe another time...

so this is the kitchen - with a full size stove *and* a microwave. but no blender.

the living room slash dining room. sadly there is no sofa. so if all three of us want to watch tv (which though it looks to be about 100 years old, still works remarkably well) then one person gets the "comfy" chair (which only looks comfy, but isn't), one gets the uncomfortable chair, and the other gets one of the dining room chairs. not really designed for home theater. but there is free cable and a dvd player>

and finally our garden. it's a little over-run by palm-like plants, but there are some benches and the sounds of a rushing stream (it actually runs under the patio, but whatever).

so yeah. that's my place. no photos of my room because even though i've been here for a while it still is mostly "organized" into bags that i used to transport it all from my old place to this place. yeah. i haven't really unpacked everything.

so we're on a bit of a beach binge at the moment. went to cahuita two weekends ago because there was a long weekend. went jaco last weekend to maintain our tans. going to montezuma this weekend because some other people we know are going. going somewhere the weekend following because there's another long weekend. after that i'm definitely staying put for an entire weekend. i'm exhausted.

:P

new job and back to quepos

so. i know it's been forever since i've posted... but things are going well.

i've been at my new job now for a few weeks and i'm settling in nicely. my classes are good, it's taking a little time getting used to the new books and what kind of things i can do with the materials. but the students are nice. my classes are pretty small (between 4 and 11 students) and they're mostly pretty amusing.

i was observed yesterday by my boss... which was a little nerve-wracking (i don't like being judged...) so apparently i'm doing well except i need to work on my board organization, do more error correction, and circulate through the class more when they're working in small groups (he caught some of my students chatting in spanish, which i didn't notice - but to be fair this is my class of 11, and i'm only one person!)

i actually - technically - have saturdays off now. well, i was supposed to teach a kids class on saturday morning (which would have been my only kids class, and i wanted to teach kids. oh well). but on the first saturday of the new bimester at instituto britanico, it was the last saturday of the old bimester at centro cultural. which i had already told my new boss, so he was going to have someone cover my class for me. it was nick, one of the other new teachers, and apparently they loved him so much that now he is their regular teacher. and i have been moved to substitution duty. in theory that should mean that i have most saturdays off. but. my first saturday i get a call at 7 am (which i tried desparately to ignore, but they kept calling...) to come in and teach a class for someone. and then earlier this week i was informed that i would be covering a class for a teacher who had to go home for her brother's wedding today. well, i showed up, ready to go, got some coffee and headed to the classroom. and waited. for about an hour. none of the students showed up! so i corrected some papers i had and took off.

so now i have a little time to kill. i already bought myself a lovely pinto con huevos for breakfast. and i'm meeting jasmine (the other new teacher) at 1 and we're getting a bus to quepos to meet colleen for a couple of days at the beach. it's very exciting, i haven't been to the beach in forever (feels like - not since easter week in nicaragua!). also i'm hoping to catch a glimpse of the liquor store cat wearing her dress.

i'm currently trying to find a new place to live. colleen is leaving at the end of may and our place in rohrmoser (on the west side of the city) is pretty far from my new school (on the east side of the city). so a friend of a new co-worker is trying to help me find somewhere (he's a little strange, but he's teaching me how to salsa and merengue - which is so much fun!), and i've been e-mailing a girl from craig's list about sharing with her. so we'll see. i technically have my apartment until june 15th, so i have some time and plenty of people in san pedro (near school) who are willing to let me crash with them until i find something. no worries.