weekend and quick update of week

I must say that I really can't remember exactly what I was up to. I was working of course Saturday and Sunday nights and during the day I think it was normal life nothing spectacular. Oh yes, there was one incident when Morgan handed his shift over to me he also dropped a little bombshell on me about us living together (one of my room mates) in two minutes flat and than ran off to his other job and gave me no chance to respond. Elmer and me discussed it and decided we both can do without all that crap and we started looking for a new place to live. The strange thing is here that all the prices for rents are quoted in USD not in Q which makes it hard to translate to Q depending on which rate is being used. We viewed a couple of objects and there was one we both liked more on the costly side but than again it is safe for me to walk home from work at night which is important as well. It is very quiet there and the landlady and I hit it off right away. We can socialize more as well since we can have his family come over, friends, Ema for a cup of tea etc. It has lots of plus points and right now I am not worried about money. I am working here and although what I earn right now is not the world it is enough to buy food and being rainy season I am not too keen on traveling and spending money that way anyway. In this country getting paid is 1. and 15. but for me it is more like asking if I could please get paid. So the first time I had 200Q in my hand I was like cool my first self made money here. I was really proud and spend it right away for food o,))) It was leaving drinks one night after another since all my friends are leaving first one was Hanna than Heidi and upcoming week Hedda and Camilla. Since they have all been partying a lot they were pretty tired and called it early nights. I was around and waited up for Elmer to go home with him.
Oh yes, the other night was rather entertaining when some guy bought me a drink and later on when he gave me his card he turned out to be a doctor. He was pretty strange though!
The only other thing here is the rain that gets one down. Usually it is proper afternoon rain but lately it rains like during lunch hours and than stops and than pours at night but not in the afternoons. So I always carry my little umbrella with me and a raincoat sometimes. The shoes are more tricky carrying spares or not??? Better to wear flip flops yes or no (and worst case fall on your butt since the sidewalks tend to get very slippery)? Oh, the other day it was sunny and it burnt so I put my sandals out in the sun to dry properly since they have been soaked for ages. They were finally dry and I walked around with Elmer when I almost fell on my face because the strap broke. He had a laughing fit for a while at my expense. For me nothing to get upset about since they lasted a while and cost like 15Q! The quiz question is only should they be replaced or should I rather buy plastic a different pair of flip flops.
Sunday right after work I raced to the laundry service to get a big wash load done and had packed my big backpack to carry it all. It was so much like not only my clothes, his and the bed spreads and linen as well. Another girl was also doing laundry there and we started chatting. I had to use two washing machines and since it all fitted into the dryer I was in for a surprise since it was all only partly dry. I guess the SEARS dryer can't handle too many clothes although there was plenty of space left. Nicky was nice enough to give me a ride to parque central. I walked to Monoloco to meet Elmer in Funky. We went back to my place and decorated my room with laundry which was very funny since I don't have a closet to hang clothes or even clothes hangers for that matter or so ... It also meant that there was no chance to sleep in my bed so we went back to his place at night after we had cooked ourselves a wonderful dinner!

Monday, he had to get up very early since they open for the Mundial at 8am but have to be there an hour earlier. I was allowed to sleep a bit longer but the two little dogs at his place were making a racket and it was hard to get some sleep. I got up and the whole family had left for school or work. I went to the school and was all by myself. I think some of the kids were sick since it was only 10 of them. They were playing with their marbles and being occupied little angels. When I got the books out to get them to do their exercises it was a no go. So I decided to try a different tack. I started folding little baskets and that got their attention and Jonathan wanted one but with color. The others came running and wanted some as well. They were water colorizing as well and had good fun. Camilla showed up and brought gifts with her. Her timing was not good though since all the other classes were running around and wanted a piece of the action. She had bought toys and they started fighting about who should have what. The older kids started taking things away from the little ones. My charges just screamed for Wilson and he would take on the older boys to get the toys back. However when someone would take something away from the girls than all the little guys would try to get the toys back for them. It was rather entertaining just to observe and I regretted not having my camera with me. Camilla went with Cash to the market and bought him some new shoes since his are like at least 3 sizes to big and he couldn’t really play soccer the other day with the guys. She had also bought some socks so the one's who weren’t' wearing any got some. They very proudly took their shoes of and put on the new socks. Their shoes are partly in a very sad condition which isn't apparent when one just looks at them. Their feet are black with dirt but they would wipe them first before putting the socks on and would proudly pull their pants up and show them to anyone who was walking by or the other kids. The toys were appreciated but clothes even more. They were smiling very much when we left them. Camilla had a date with Hedda and I walked with her to parque central. I had planned to go home and fix myself some lunch. It turned out a bit different because in the park suddenly someone was in front of me going hola Claudia. It was Nena, Elmer's niece and his sister. We chatted for a bit and I asked how to prepare the beans best and she said just come with me and I'll show you. So we had lunch together and I got taught the different ways how to prepare beans. I played with the kids in the afternoon and learnt so many new words that my head was spinning real soon. I called it quits after 3 hours and asked who wanted ice-cream. We all got some and returned after buying crème and bread (I get taught where to buy what and what stuff costs etc.). I took my backpack and picked up Elmer from work. He was surprised when he heard that I spent all afternoon spontaneously with his family. Monday night we also prepared our dinner at my place and it was really nice.

Elmer and I have developed a rhythm by now and it feels like being married and all. The whole week can be summarized as passing very quickly with good-bye dinners and drinks with Heidi, Hedda, Hanna, Camilla, Carmen etc. I knew therefore that this week would mean little sleep and lots of partying. That is pretty much how it turned out. I didn’t see the kids this week since I am currently having a dispute with Praktikwelten and might take legal action against them. I was working Wednesday night which broke my normal rhythm a bit. Friday Elmer and I went to visit his family and I took lots of pictures and want to copy them over so that they can be emailed to his brother. Right now I am in an internet cafe and trying to do just that but with no luck. My memory stick got all screwy too and now it tells me that it needs to be formatted and that I lost all my data on it which is just no good like losing my CV and attachments to go with it etc. The other stuff is on the laptop at home which means not accessible at the moment but at least not completely lost. Other than that I had the prints done here and the pictures turned out very nicely. I have also blown one up to see the result and I must say it is very nice ... I will be glad when today is over and I don’t have to deal with Morgan anymore. He is just such a pain and I just want my peace and quiet. Elmer says that even after I leave he will find his own place since he is clashing more and more with his sister. I guess the characters are just too different and it doesn’t click very well.

I am coming close to half time here and since everyone is packing up and leaving it is more and more on my mind as well. I really just want the apartment to be sold so that I am free of everything that entails and can make my own decisions about what to do next with my life.