Since I am a Florida girl...

I decided that now that I am living in a country that has mountains, I will never take forgranted the fact that they are here. I am proud to say that every morning when I wake up I look out my bedroom window to appreciate them.

[Insert pic at a later date - view from bedroom window]

<3 Lotus

I am going to be determined...

in continuing to write in my blog regardless of whether people are reading or not. But for those of you who do read it, I will be adding pictures as soon as I get internet at home, since my pics are all on my pc.

I have decided that teaching people who have some sort of logic, is much better than teaching people who just take your information at face value. The kids don't give you many problems when it comes to new lessons but they give problems such as crying, touching the other children, and sometimes telling you no, when you just don't have the opportunity to punish them. The older students really understand the value in attempting to understand IN class so as to save time outside of class. They are able to stay quiet while writing notes, etc.

<3 Lotus

Gotta go to class!

I should be able to blog everyday until...

I get internet at home. I now have an English Grammar class everyday M-F at 7:30pm-8:45pm. It's not as easy as I might have thought so I am needing some extra advice or a different perspective on how to explain it to the spanish students. I never realized the difference in teaching english to people that speak a different language. I thought it was just learning english the way "I" learned english but I have realized that when you are growing up learning to read, write and speak in a different language that you learn a set of rules and "lingo" that go along with it, so when you are learning english you have to learn it by using this same "lingo" and changing the rules that they were used to with their original language. Now that I am teaching English Grammar I have to learn this "lingo" and the rules that they are used to. Fortunately for me, I have experience learning spanish in a classroom setting.

*sigh*

Just got a call from the Director. She wants me to substitute today from 3:00pm to 6:00pm but I had made plans to go shopping since I got paid yesterday. WOOT!

<3 Lotus

Bored, outside, talking...

to the security guy named Apoline, he is Haitian and speaks english, french, spanish and Creole. I think Roman had bought me some chalk and I was trying to test it out. Enjoy!

I think this one is about loving dogs more than cats. hehe


This is something about rats, rice and chicken.


And this one is about the obvious ;)

Day of final decision...

I guess I have agreed to move into this studio apartment that is so tiny that I think my queen size bed will take up the whole place... >.> so um yeah anyway....I guess it will save alot of money in conchos and stuff. I will be able to afford internet...maybe even fast internet at that...WOOHOO RO HERE I COME YEAH BABY YEAH!!!...I hope my RO hubby hasn't taken over my account...>.>...So I really like the school that I am teaching at. The kids can sometimes be little brats but other than that it is fun when they draw something for you and put little hearts on the board with your name on it. This school is even asking for me to get more people to come over here and visit for at least three months. They really like native speaking Americans here. I am getting alot of work. Oh I went to meet the director of the Orchestra here and he said I need to practice more and then come back for an audition...since I haven't really played in like 2 years. Ahh! I have to go do some research on English Grammar before my next class. I'll come back soon.

<3 Lotus

Happy Birthday...

Happy Birthday ROMAN AND CHENYPOO!!!!!!

Been getting more classes...

Well I have worked three days at this school and I have already made twice the amount in the same amount of days than I did at the first school I worked at.

I only speak english, which I think helps the children more. My progress in learning spanish hasn't decreased any.

OH MY GOD, I went to the Philharmonic Foundation and met the lady in charge. Apparently she thought that Roman wasn't talking about a very experienced musician. She mentioned to him later that based on some of the things I said that I must be a real musician. She already hired me and she didn't even ask me to play. I brought my clarient and everything, she even looked at it. They even have a japanese director. I heard he is very strict but I think that's good. So I think I have a concert on 09/18th, since she asked me if I have a black dress. Practices haven't started yet.

Damn it I wanna see this movie but it is all in spanish:

The movie Andrea review

The official site for the movie Andrea

I can't wait to get internet at my place so I can upload pics for those people who actually read my blog! Anyway, it's freaking HOT...so I am gonna go and veg.

The best shower of my life...

The weather was humid and it was about to rain. I was alone at home. The heat inside was unbareable. The fire escape was so inviting, especially during that kind of heat. I decided to go up on the roof for a better breeze and I found that a lone solitary pipe was pouring rainwater off of the stairwell. I went over to wash my hands and found that the water was very warm, not hot...just warm since the sun was still out. The rain and the breeze seemed to get cooler and cooler and before I knew it I was letting the warm rainwater run down onto my arms. I looked around and even though I could see as far as the eye could see I felt as though I was in a private area. The rainwater that had already wet the bottom of my long thin black skirt had started to feel cold. My arms started to get goosebumps since there was not much covering me, in my black tanktop. It wasn't planned...but I needed a shower anyway and we had no running water in the house. Still clothed, I took the most refreshing shower I had ever taken in my whole life.

New teaching position at one of the top three schools in this area!!!

I received a call from the New York Institue lastnight, one of the top three schools in this area. So I went over to meet with the Director. The Director talked with me for a little while and then called the Interviewer/Evaluator, named Diane, and she set up an interview with me thismorning. After meeting with Diane, I now have a new teaching job. This one pays more than the one I am at now. This one has been open for 21 years versus the one I am at now has only been open for about 8 months. This school also has continuing education and conferences for their teachers and they pay you to go. My current school only has two teachers and one Director. From what I have heard about my current school this guy does not pay his teachers and they all quit (I was told by Climent, the other teacher at my current school, that he fired all the previous teachers). This new school has about 70 teachers. They seem very supportive. I guess the only thing I have left to do is to quit this current school today. If this guy doesn't pay me then I will leave right away. I have been waiting for my pay for about three days now.

Added August 12th!

Added August 9th!

The things that piss me off...

In this day and age and with all this technology and laws that are available how could you have a third world country (with the exception of places that don't even have a government)? I don't understand how this place could be so bad!! People go to work everyday and there is a government. There is running water and electricity.

No hot water, poweroutages, the drivers who have no concept of traffic laws, the traffic cops that only stand around looking pretty and talking like a bunch of school girls, the extreme, obvious, and intermingles difference in classes, the backwards concept of paying people that do the jobs that benefit the community as a whole that no one wants to do, for example housekeeping. People who get paid about RD2000-RD3000 (60US-100US) per month. Where, in the states, they are paid about 20US per hour. Even considering the exchange rage it is still a drastic difference. If you compare what a Customer Service Rep, working for one of the top three cell phone companies, makes and what a housekeeper in the states makes, the housekeeper in the states makes more, almost one and a half times more. Here in this God Forsaken Country housekeepers makes about one fourth of a customer service job. So when you take out the factor of the exchange rate the difference is unreal. I'm not talking just about the fact that they pay less to housekeepers. I am looking at house backwards this society is. How the percentage of people with alot of money is far less here than it is in the states. I don't think it has anything to do with working hard and innovativeness. I go back and forth between blaming this government and blaming the society, people and culture. It's hard to say who was at fault first the people or the government. What came first the chicken or the egg? I men how the fucking hell can you build an apartment where you have to get two different accounts for the water, one for the bathroom and one for the kitchen since the people who made this damn apartment connected the kitchen piping with our neighbors downstairs. Basically, in order to wash dishes we have to get a bucket and carry the water into the kitchen and pour it into the sink, put in the soap, go back and get another bucket of water (in order to rinse off once you wash it). OH and if we have no water in the house then we have to carry a full bucket of water up four flights of stairs after getting it from outside. NO matter where you get your water from there is always still sand in the bottom of it.

Oh trust me that is not all...