Friday, August 12, 2011

One Week Down

Today I finished up a full week of work at the Village. In some ways it's amazing how fast it went, but some days I thought the day would never end.
I've been meeting many other teachers, and though I'm still new, I'm making acquaintances that might eventually request my friendship on facebook. That's how we young people know what's legit: relationships, friendships, what someone had for breakfast...it's all there on fb.
I worked with a couple of classes this week. It's kind of hard to explain how the classes are set up and divided, but this week there were six classes of about 15-17 kids aged 9 - 13. The younger kids were FAR more fun than the older kids. It seems that it's not just the movies or American schools where 13 year-old girls are evil two-faced monsters.
On Wednesday or Thursday as I was walking to "City Hall" to clock in via my finger print (way cool) I noticed camera crews and stuff in my usual path. I guess things are filmed here often, and I heard that this time they were filming parts of a music video. Here's a picture of the scene from the top of the stairs by my apartment:
It was not raining that day, but everything still looks wet because nothing ever dries here. I can't wait to laundry!
If you look very closely, you can see a water fountain in the distance, just to the left of the pillars of the building on the right (basically the slightly dark spot on the ground - if you don't see it, it actually doesn't matter). Well, the other day, my co-teacher and I were walking our class to their next class and passed that water fountain. There were lots of other kids around, but one rotten little boy was aiming to throw his empty drink bottle into one of the upper tiers of the fountain (I'm sure because another kid had succeeded at it just moments before). The boy leaned slightly forward and took aim. When he tossed the bottle, his feet slipped from under him and he fell face-first into the fountain! It was SO funny! It took a lot of effort to not laugh. I was literally 5 feet away from him when it happened.
There is some kind of insect in the trees around here that screams so loud! It almost sounds like the constant chirping of a security alarm. When I walk past the trees that the bugs are in, I look really close to try and see what is making the noise, but they must be really small.
Today it drizzled all day. It felt much like when the neighbor's sprinklers are on and you can feel the mist in your own yard. It was like that all day until this evening when it started to really pour, lightning and all. I actually went shopping again tonight (and thus was out in the rain), but this time I went with 3 other people to E-mart and we took a taxi both ways. Turns out there is an E-mart much closer than the one I went to last week, and it is much MUCH better too. There was no cramped isles, the store was spacious and much more like a modern Target or Walmart. They even have a Popeye's, which was were I also had dinner.
Thing of note which I purchased: dish soap (thanks to a very kind lady who knew enough English to help me find it), more plum juice and another flavor called Black Raspberry, a light green blanket for my forlorn bed and for the winter months, and some extra passport-sized photos. The photo requirements included that I could not smile, so I didn't - instead I look totally pissed. Also I look like I'm 16 years old, except with an impeccable complexion. The photos were cheap, and done pretty quickly.
Tomorrow is my first day off, and I plan to lazily enjoy the day. If the weather is nice I'll go for a walk and take pictures to post here.
To tie some of you over, here are a few random pictures I snapped while walking around the village the other day. Let me know what you think!
(This is "City Hall" where I clock in and out of work)

(This is looking up part of Market Street. That trolley is for looks only. It's also where they were filming)

(I can't remember why I took this or the next picture.... The architecture styles are so mixed, lot's of Roman and European styles)


1 comment:

  1. The photo of the trolley made me picture you walking along singing:

    Little town
    It's a quiet village
    Ev'ry day
    Like the one before
    Little town
    Full of little people
    Waking up to say:

    Bonjour! Bonjour!
    Bonjour! Bonjour!
    Bonjour!

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