I am not really sure what to say about what I ve been doing for the last few weeks, hence, I haven't posted anything. Given that I am now starting my last full week here, I figured I should probably write something. I apologize in advance, if what follows seems hopelessly disjointed, I haven't fully developed my thoughts. I have been busy doing a variety of things. Upon completing the project at the school, I finished the last of the activities I was expecting to participate in when I came, and so I transitioned to a stage. For the second half of my time here, my schedule is blank and I have become responsible for filling it.
I started teaching introductory English classes twice a week. Having no previous teaching experience, my qualification to teach my own class is entirely based entirely on my experience speaking English. I've been speaking English for quite awhile now. I had not previously considered the difference between "some" and "any" or tried to explain it to another person before. I have been interested in teaching English for awhile, because it can be a door to a lot of other opportunities, so I was really curious what it would be like. I found it to be pretty fun, especially the more I get used to it.
I started teaching introductory English classes twice a week. Having no previous teaching experience, my qualification to teach my own class is entirely based entirely on my experience speaking English. I've been speaking English for quite awhile now. I had not previously considered the difference between "some" and "any" or tried to explain it to another person before. I have been interested in teaching English for awhile, because it can be a door to a lot of other opportunities, so I was really curious what it would be like. I found it to be pretty fun, especially the more I get used to it.
Unfortunately, I've been a bit sick. Mostly in a my voice sounds like a butch drag queen when it works, I feel exhausted all the time, and I can't focus well on anything kind of way. So it's a good thing that most of what I am trying to do right now is talking to people. It's been pretty frustrating to be limited by something like a cold in the middle of an opportunity like this. If I was sick like this normally, I wouldn't be affected by it as much, since most of what I usually do as a student is just sitting down and being quiet. Being sick has given me some interesting perspective on being here. I can't do as much here being sick as I could being healthy, but either way if I accomplish anything here it's going to be because of God. I don't know why I got sick while being here, but I know that the same person who got me here is also the one in control of my health.
I've been going to the beach lately, because that's where all the cool kids like to hang out. Really all of the kids and all of their whole families hangout at the beach. There aren't any white sandy beaches near here. At first I wasn't sure if it was ok to call something a beach if there wasn't any sand. I feeling really ok with it now. I've realized that not having sand at the beach means that there also isn't any sand anywhere else three days later. As a child I would probably still be sad, but as an adult I feel like this is a winning feature.
I've been going to the beach lately, because that's where all the cool kids like to hang out. Really all of the kids and all of their whole families hangout at the beach. There aren't any white sandy beaches near here. At first I wasn't sure if it was ok to call something a beach if there wasn't any sand. I feeling really ok with it now. I've realized that not having sand at the beach means that there also isn't any sand anywhere else three days later. As a child I would probably still be sad, but as an adult I feel like this is a winning feature.
In honor of America Day, I thought I should do something American, so I wore a white tank top that said "Made in USA" and went to McDonald's. Actually, I had made a mental note to check McDonald's out, because they always get tailored to fit the countries their exported too. I figured no better time than the 4th. I realized after getting there that the fact that I usually avoid McDonald's probably makes me a poor person to compare them. Anyway, I am pretty sure you cannot order a beer at any McDonald's in the homeland. Maybe it's becoming normal to order at touch screen kiosks in other places in America, I don't know, but it sure seems like the future. Introverts rejoice, they're building sanctuaries.
One the wonderful people who has been coming to my English lessons, invited me to her house to eat dinner with her family. I ended up staying and playing a card game with them which mostly involved me dying. She has a daughter who is just a little bit younger than me, who had just taken an important finishing school test. With out having taken it, I can only compare it to the SAT or the ACT. Basically what I gathered about the test, is that I am really glad I didn't have to take anything like it. I also learned that Pokeon Go is apparently a cool thing that a lot of people like. The next day I decided to try it out, because it seemed like potentially good way to spend time with people and start conversations. Turns out the way you play Pokeon Go is you have a nice smart phone with an unlimited data plan. I have niether of those things, nor do I really want either, because I don't like having a cellphone that much.