So people have this idea that I (and those like me) lead a super glamorous life or something. I'm not really sure where they got that idea. (Couldn't be this blog. I mean really...)
Sure, I live in Europe in the center-ish of a major capital city. I go out with my friends all the time. I'm learning (yet) a(nother) foreign language and their are lots of hot European men. But don't get me wrong, this is not a super posh life.
One thing that still kind of makes me uneasy about living abroad is signing things. Honestly, anything of a legal nature makes me nervous but especially when I'm abroad. Nine times out of ten, there's no English version of the paperwork you're signing because for it to the legally binding here, it has to be in Czech.
It's one of those situations where you have to hope like hell that the person behind the counter isn't going to screw you over, is just doing their job, treating you like any Czech person that walks through the door and hasn't left out any important information when telling you, "Sign these documents" and giving you a basic rundown of what they say.
So I really love rain, honestly. Rain smells good, the sound of it hitting the windows is relaxing and the moisture in the air is great for my skin (I have inherently dry skin).
But wow, lay off already.
There was so much rain in three days that — for fear of it over flowing — they had to release some of the water from the Shihmen Reservoir, which as of Thursday night was less than half full.
There is so much moisture in the air that the laundry I hung up to dry 24 hours ago is still wet. Seriously! I wanted to wear those jeans today.
Note to self: give two days to do laundry just in case.
We don't have a dryer, so it's not even an option. At the dorm we had a dryer that you had to pay $40NT for. I was happy to spend the little extra cash simply to be able to get my laundry done in a reasonable amount of time.
The next two weeks are going to be super long.
I was supposed to start three new classes last week — one Tuesday, one Friday, one Saturday — but because of the typhoon I only ended up starting the Tuesday class.
Now they're adding another class to my schedule on Thursday so I'm starting three new classes this week. I'm also subbing both of Tess' summer classes which meet with the foreign teacher twice per week instead of once. That's an extra six hours on top of the usual two-to-four hours per night.
I'm clocking 33 hours this week and next. Of course, I suppose next week I could get even more if they decide to add even more classes to my schedule.
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to be getting new classes. The sooner I get a full schedule the better. I'm considering the option of teaching outside classes. Gloria sent out a flier to each teacher today asking if we want to teach outside classes.
I need to look at the details more closely. I don't know if these are at local public schools or other bushibans (cram schools) or what (and I'm not sure about the legality of it). I just really like the idea of paying down my debt and saving a lot of money.
I would be so happy if I could get my sister completely paid back by the end of September. Then I need to save for my vacation in October and my vacation to go home (whenever that happens). I also want to try to pay down at least one-third of my student loans while I'm here and hopefully go home with some cash.
I was also considering a month-long trip to Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand, but now that's starting to sound like I'm pushing it.
We will see.
