rain, school, and remodeling

Mood: Very happy. Who would have thought that elation could come merely from checking email?
Stage Notes: In the local internet cafe, which is in the upstairs of the gym at the secondary school. There are a lot of young boys here who I'm sure should be in class...

Yesterday, Tanya/Tess, our LCF (language and cultural facilitator) was sick, so we only had a tech session, not language class. We made her a get-well card with...um...interesting self-portraits and purchased a box of chocolates. Then, not having language class, the five of us (me, Erin, Celeste, Chris, and Mike) decided to take a walk in the park...in the rain. We walked for an hour and a half and got rather lost at one point, but it was a lot of fun. When I got home, Mama Luda exclaimed over the state of my shoes, and I was glad that I didn't have the words to explain how they got that way, as she probably wouldn't have been pleased.

Today I observed the classes that I will be doing my internship with. I'll be working with 6b, 7b, and 8b. 7b and 8b are about 13 students each, while 6b is 24-26...and a little squirrely. They found me absolutely fascinating and kept swiveling their heads to look at me. Kids in all sections would come up to me and say, "Hello. What's your name?" One girl informed me that I was pretty. This sort of surprised me, as Ukrainian women are noted for being good-looking, and I neither dress nor look like them. Novelty has its charms, I suppose, although I don't remember new teachers at Lakeview ever getting this much attention.

We're remodeling the kitchen at my apartment this week. It seems to be a pretty major undertaking...the walls are being retiled and I've heard a rumor from Sasha that when it's done, we'll have hot water that we don't have to heat up. To which all I can say is "Yippee!"