Day off - and the other trainees :)
Good morning! Hopefully today will go more smoothly than yesterday. I don´t have to teach today, and I only have to teach for half an hour tomorrow. This morning, instead of waking up and coming straight to school I played tourist :) I went to a house designed by Gaudí, and took about 30 pictures on my ridiculously over priced film! (5 € a roll, which equates to about $7). They damned well turn out perfect. I also wanted to see the whole house, and somehow got a ticket for only one floor, but I think they charged me to see the whole house, but they don´t give out receipts, so there was no way for me to prove it. So, I had to pay extra to see the whole house, even though I think I paid extra already. THEN, they give you an audio thing to listen to when you´re going around. Well, the second time (after I went back and paid extra, possibly again) I got my audio thing in Spanish, not English, so I couldn´t understand a word they were telling me, but I was in the attic when I figured that out and wasn´t going to walk back down the 5 flights of stairs to get it switched. But the pictures will be neat!
Speaking of pictures, today is day 5, so hopefully they´ll show up and not be erased by x.ray. Let´s hope.
I wanted to give you an idea of the people I go to class with. there are 11 of us, 10 ladies, one gent. We are split into 3 different teaching groups (4,4 and 3), and each group teaches a different level. My group is currently teaching intermediate. The group of 3 is teaching elementary (that´s level, not age) and the other 4-some is teaching the advanced group.
In my group we have Jenny, Josephine, Kathryn and me.
Josephine is orginally from the phillipines. She lived in the US when the Phillipines were under marshall law, and went to a US school. She has beautiful dark hair, just over chin length, and the most gorgeous skin I´ve ever seen. She´s quiet, but incredibly caring, the nurturing type, and very self reflective. Her dad sells fire arms, something Josephine doesn´t talk about, I´m not sure if it´s because she doesn´t approve of it, or because she´s afraid we won´t approve. She has never taught before, but has an amazing classroom presence. She took the class because she was going to be here on Holiday with her dad, and needed something to do. She registered a few days before the class started, and stays in an apartment just outside of town with her cousin. She and I are going to travel a bit until she needs to get back for her Spanish class (for which she hasnt´ registered yet). And she´s going to house my luggage after we go separate ways. so, there will be more about her to come!
Kathryn - ah Kathryn. Kathryn is tall and thin with auburn hair, ivory skin and the biggest, most expressive eyes in the world. She´s from Essex, so to top off the great looks she has a lilting British accent that all of us Americans are jealous of. She´s very reserved, so we take pleasure in shocking her any way we can. This weekend Alex (who you´ll hear about later) took Kathryn to a nude beach. I wish I had been there! I´m not sure why Kathryn took the course. She teaches Psychology at a junior college, and has a job in London waiting for her after the course is finished. I think she´s at a waypoint in her life, not really happy where she is doing what she´s doing, but she´s not sure which direction to go. She´s the only one to get an A on any of the projects, but she also had to redo this most recent project. Kathryn is the logical one of our group, balancing out my spontenaity, Jennys wish to please everyone, and Josephines trepidation. She´s opened up a bit since she´s hung out with the "crazy Americans" - which I attribute to her living with Oliva, another trainee in our class who is from New York. Olivia is crazier than I am, which is perfect for Kathryn.
Jenny is my sister separated at birth. She was with a boy for a long time and then woke up to realize how big a mistake she was making. She has a sister named Christi who is very logical and organized, and incredibly intelligent AND is dating a landscape architect. Her mother is very artsy while her father is very logical, and she´s just as Italian as I am. She enjoys yoga and pilates, has similar ideas in the theories behind teaching and is just FUN! She tends to prefer the more adventurous way of doing things, but does it with a little more caution than I do. We just think alike. I think it took four days before we were completing each others sentences. She´s my sushi buddy - and yesterday we shared a moment over Humus (something we´d both been craving since we got here). Every romantic moment (walking in the park, sitting in a plaza sipping wine, watching the sunset as the fountains are dancing) I have shared with her, which is great, because she has a boyfriend back home that she´s had for three years (just like me) who is also working very hard to get places in the world and therefore couldnt´come with her. So, that´s Jenny. She has lived all over - New Jersey, Michigan, Georgia, and now works in Charleston, SC as an ESL teacher, which is why she took the course. She is shorter than I am, and has long (mid back) dark hair. She takes critism pretty hard, which makes sense, seeing as she´s been teaching for 6 years in her style, and now has people telling her that´s wrong. So, we´re struggling with the same thing. Her first teaching job was in Costa Rica, and she´s seeing what she can do to help me out in getting a position there.
The four of us try to meet at least once or twice a week to have some wine and a bitch fest :) We tend to travel to the surrounding towns and such as a foursome too, which is fun. But usually, if there´s a doubt that people will show up I know Jenny will be there, and she knows I´ll be there. So, a lot of the photos you´ll see will have me or Jenny, and occassionally some other folks. Today after class Jenny and I are heading up to the Gaudi house in Parc Guell. Thursday when we aren´t teaching we´re hitting the Picasso Museum and the catherdral in the gothic neighborhood. So, more photos of me and Jenny. If I end up not getting a job here, I can go to SC and teach, and they´ll pay off 10 grand of my loan (knocking that baby down to a mere 8 grand!!!) and I can live with Jenny, who has a house with a guest bedroom. So, there´s option number 2017 (because it seems I have so many!) If all else fails, look for me in South Carolina.
I have to get back to retyping my homework now :( I´ll keep plugging away, telling you about the groups and such as I find time. Enjoy the day!
Speaking of pictures, today is day 5, so hopefully they´ll show up and not be erased by x.ray. Let´s hope.
I wanted to give you an idea of the people I go to class with. there are 11 of us, 10 ladies, one gent. We are split into 3 different teaching groups (4,4 and 3), and each group teaches a different level. My group is currently teaching intermediate. The group of 3 is teaching elementary (that´s level, not age) and the other 4-some is teaching the advanced group.
In my group we have Jenny, Josephine, Kathryn and me.
Josephine is orginally from the phillipines. She lived in the US when the Phillipines were under marshall law, and went to a US school. She has beautiful dark hair, just over chin length, and the most gorgeous skin I´ve ever seen. She´s quiet, but incredibly caring, the nurturing type, and very self reflective. Her dad sells fire arms, something Josephine doesn´t talk about, I´m not sure if it´s because she doesn´t approve of it, or because she´s afraid we won´t approve. She has never taught before, but has an amazing classroom presence. She took the class because she was going to be here on Holiday with her dad, and needed something to do. She registered a few days before the class started, and stays in an apartment just outside of town with her cousin. She and I are going to travel a bit until she needs to get back for her Spanish class (for which she hasnt´ registered yet). And she´s going to house my luggage after we go separate ways. so, there will be more about her to come!
Kathryn - ah Kathryn. Kathryn is tall and thin with auburn hair, ivory skin and the biggest, most expressive eyes in the world. She´s from Essex, so to top off the great looks she has a lilting British accent that all of us Americans are jealous of. She´s very reserved, so we take pleasure in shocking her any way we can. This weekend Alex (who you´ll hear about later) took Kathryn to a nude beach. I wish I had been there! I´m not sure why Kathryn took the course. She teaches Psychology at a junior college, and has a job in London waiting for her after the course is finished. I think she´s at a waypoint in her life, not really happy where she is doing what she´s doing, but she´s not sure which direction to go. She´s the only one to get an A on any of the projects, but she also had to redo this most recent project. Kathryn is the logical one of our group, balancing out my spontenaity, Jennys wish to please everyone, and Josephines trepidation. She´s opened up a bit since she´s hung out with the "crazy Americans" - which I attribute to her living with Oliva, another trainee in our class who is from New York. Olivia is crazier than I am, which is perfect for Kathryn.
Jenny is my sister separated at birth. She was with a boy for a long time and then woke up to realize how big a mistake she was making. She has a sister named Christi who is very logical and organized, and incredibly intelligent AND is dating a landscape architect. Her mother is very artsy while her father is very logical, and she´s just as Italian as I am. She enjoys yoga and pilates, has similar ideas in the theories behind teaching and is just FUN! She tends to prefer the more adventurous way of doing things, but does it with a little more caution than I do. We just think alike. I think it took four days before we were completing each others sentences. She´s my sushi buddy - and yesterday we shared a moment over Humus (something we´d both been craving since we got here). Every romantic moment (walking in the park, sitting in a plaza sipping wine, watching the sunset as the fountains are dancing) I have shared with her, which is great, because she has a boyfriend back home that she´s had for three years (just like me) who is also working very hard to get places in the world and therefore couldnt´come with her. So, that´s Jenny. She has lived all over - New Jersey, Michigan, Georgia, and now works in Charleston, SC as an ESL teacher, which is why she took the course. She is shorter than I am, and has long (mid back) dark hair. She takes critism pretty hard, which makes sense, seeing as she´s been teaching for 6 years in her style, and now has people telling her that´s wrong. So, we´re struggling with the same thing. Her first teaching job was in Costa Rica, and she´s seeing what she can do to help me out in getting a position there.
The four of us try to meet at least once or twice a week to have some wine and a bitch fest :) We tend to travel to the surrounding towns and such as a foursome too, which is fun. But usually, if there´s a doubt that people will show up I know Jenny will be there, and she knows I´ll be there. So, a lot of the photos you´ll see will have me or Jenny, and occassionally some other folks. Today after class Jenny and I are heading up to the Gaudi house in Parc Guell. Thursday when we aren´t teaching we´re hitting the Picasso Museum and the catherdral in the gothic neighborhood. So, more photos of me and Jenny. If I end up not getting a job here, I can go to SC and teach, and they´ll pay off 10 grand of my loan (knocking that baby down to a mere 8 grand!!!) and I can live with Jenny, who has a house with a guest bedroom. So, there´s option number 2017 (because it seems I have so many!) If all else fails, look for me in South Carolina.
I have to get back to retyping my homework now :( I´ll keep plugging away, telling you about the groups and such as I find time. Enjoy the day!
posted by Chandi at 11:00 AM
3 Comments:
hrmmmmm...this Kathryn chica sounds perfect...now I'm really waiting for these pictures to surface. No seriously. BTW I talked with Joe yesterday, and we're all playing pool on Friday. I guess they wanted him to work, but he said "nope I've got plans" so good for him. It sounds like he's working a lot lately.
You are going to 1-hour those so we can see them even faster yes yes??
I'm just a poor college student.
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