Today I set up house, or started anyway. I discovered I need some things.
I need containers to organize things... Maybe I can find some small boxes at work or on the way to school. How would I find boxes on the way to school? Because one can put recycling out on the curb *every* day of the week; it's collected *every* day of the week. "Even Sunday?" you might ask. (I'm not sure yet. Need to take note next Sunday.)
I also need ways to hang things on the walls. I brought some thumb tacks with me but they're not nearly as cool as some of the things I'm sure I could find here to use... Everything here is so cute! The pens, stickers, hooks for the wall, pencil cases, pencils...
Speaking of pencils, the students are not allowed to use mechanical pencils at our school. This surprised me as it reminds me of some public schools I've worked in in the U.S. However, the pencils here that the students use *don't* have erasers on them. Therefore, the students have to have separate erasers. Curious. "Why's this?" I wonder... Is it to suggest they write it all perfectly the first time?
Anyway, today I also did a load of laundry, my first in my new apartment, which is on the fourth floor. My washing machine is in an enclosed balcony-like area off the side of my kitchen. It's quite handy to have it separated this way. Another thing of note, I'm not sure what all the buttons on the machine mean, but there are a lot of options! It takes 55 minutes to do one load of laundry, but given the amount of water I hear pouring in and out of the machine, I'm guessing the machine uses less water and less energy than your generic one in the U.S. Just a guess.
This afternoon when I went outside to walk around a bit and take pictures, an old lady walking past me on the opposite side of the narrow steep street actually stopped and stared at me as if I were an alien. Well, I guess I am, just not the kind I was thinking of... Not knowing how to react, I smiled and said, "an-nyung-ha-shim-nikka" which I believe is the "Hello" version that you're supposed to use with elders (and those of high positions). By this point I had passed her so I'm not sure what her reaction was.
Tomorrow is the first full day of school! I'll be teaching math and social studies to start with. Our job as teachers is to teach math VOCABULARY, not the mathematical concepts because apparently the students here are light years ahead of students in the U.S. when it comes to mathematics.
No comments:
Post a Comment