My, my, how things can change in a few days. I am here in Bolivia and "settling" in to my new surroundings. It is a much different experience than I had last year...
I arrived with a few other teachers on a flight from Miami, but didn't meet them until we arrived in Santa Cruz. The new group consists of 4 men and 6 women. I've "bonded" with two girls already and after long talks decided to have, not one, but two roommates. I love the honesty of the people that are already here, they don't sugar coat anything and we are being "warned" that this isn't the safest place. There have been a few incidences of muggings with guns and theft in the homes, so we decided we would feel safer as a team. We took the longest to find a place, but today we finally decided on a 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath, open space, large, house with a pool. It has a separate maids quarters with a room and bathroom and a nice yard with a gardener. The house is $700 and since the school only gives us $360/month towards a place, we decided to share. It's been a long time since I have had a roommate, but I feel like this is all happening for a reason and I'm finally getting the girl bonding that I missed out on.
So when we arrived on Saturday it was late (9:45pm). We got picked up at the airport and taken straight to the hotel in SW Santa Cruz. The next day was for "resting" and well you all know how antsy I get, especially just arriving in a new country. We started the "get to know you" process. It's such a different feel from my last job. The people are so much more open and there is little to no competition for where we've been or how awesome we think we are. No one is competing to be the first to do things and it is so much more supportive and laid back. We have bonded for sure.
We spent Monday looking for a place to live and it was certainly frustrating. There were some beautiful places and some dumps. It is hard since we don't know the city and we are being told it is not safe to even walk around any neighborhood, that we will become targets for muggings. The stressful experience just solidified our bonding and the three of us decided to look for a place big enough to have our own space. This place is amazing. I'll post pics tomorrow, since I didn't take any today.
The school is beautiful. It is going to be a LOT of work again. Teaching three different subjects. The lab is very organized, thanks to my principal and AP that cleaned and organized the entire thing after it was left in shambles. I still have a lot of work to do, but I know that I can't just sit in my house and work all night, so having roommates will help me be more social.
I will take pics of my class, but for now I just have a couple pics of the campus...
I arrived with a few other teachers on a flight from Miami, but didn't meet them until we arrived in Santa Cruz. The new group consists of 4 men and 6 women. I've "bonded" with two girls already and after long talks decided to have, not one, but two roommates. I love the honesty of the people that are already here, they don't sugar coat anything and we are being "warned" that this isn't the safest place. There have been a few incidences of muggings with guns and theft in the homes, so we decided we would feel safer as a team. We took the longest to find a place, but today we finally decided on a 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath, open space, large, house with a pool. It has a separate maids quarters with a room and bathroom and a nice yard with a gardener. The house is $700 and since the school only gives us $360/month towards a place, we decided to share. It's been a long time since I have had a roommate, but I feel like this is all happening for a reason and I'm finally getting the girl bonding that I missed out on.
So when we arrived on Saturday it was late (9:45pm). We got picked up at the airport and taken straight to the hotel in SW Santa Cruz. The next day was for "resting" and well you all know how antsy I get, especially just arriving in a new country. We started the "get to know you" process. It's such a different feel from my last job. The people are so much more open and there is little to no competition for where we've been or how awesome we think we are. No one is competing to be the first to do things and it is so much more supportive and laid back. We have bonded for sure.
We spent Monday looking for a place to live and it was certainly frustrating. There were some beautiful places and some dumps. It is hard since we don't know the city and we are being told it is not safe to even walk around any neighborhood, that we will become targets for muggings. The stressful experience just solidified our bonding and the three of us decided to look for a place big enough to have our own space. This place is amazing. I'll post pics tomorrow, since I didn't take any today.
The school is beautiful. It is going to be a LOT of work again. Teaching three different subjects. The lab is very organized, thanks to my principal and AP that cleaned and organized the entire thing after it was left in shambles. I still have a lot of work to do, but I know that I can't just sit in my house and work all night, so having roommates will help me be more social.
I will take pics of my class, but for now I just have a couple pics of the campus...
1 comment:
A lot nicer than last year!!!!
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