pitter patter afternoon

Hola,

First of all, thanks for taking the time to read this blog entry. I've been here just over a week, and things are rolling. Our apartment is furnished with a table and chairs, some free, borrowed couches and end tables, and and my free bed and bedside table. As far as furniture goes, we have been blessed. We have a moldy fridge that we paid $50 for (SUCH a blessing!), that I think will do the job after we bleach it a few more times, and we bought an old stove as well. The only necessity that we are missing is a washing machine and dryer. This will be our biggest investment, and we may have to wait a few more weeks to get it.

But really, my life here is more exciting than furniture. We had 4 long days of orientation last week, and we have 3 days of work time this week before school starts on Thursday. Speaking of Thursday, last Thursday I went to a wedding for a friend that I had made when I was here student teaching. It was outdoors and rainy, but oh so lovely. It rains a lot here. It's raining now, and I like it.

I don't really have any exciting culture stories because so much of my time here has been work-focused so far. The Alliance community is a great one, filled with lots of beautiful people with wonderful talents, but it is a strange sub-culture of its own. One thing I am pretty excited about is that the English department (my department) this year is going to be great. We have all new people, but so many good ideas and good leadership. I have a feeling that it will be good. I will keep you posted.

Now for some interesting facts: Today I took a bus alone for my first time. Don't worry, mom. It was safe and during mid-day. I really like milk boxes. They are like juice boxes, but milk instead. Cheese empanadas are my favorite and I could drink jugo de mora (blackberry juice) every day of my life and never get tired of it. I'm glad a I brought a raincoat. I need to stop eating hamburgers here because they always make me sick. Rain and jugo de mora are comparable because I like having them both on a daily basis. I am excited for school to start.

I guess that's all for now. If anything exciting happens, I will be sure to share. You please do the same. Keep it real, spotted seals!