Pouring in Portugal

It's Friday evening--about 7:30 here--and it's pouring rain. Which figures, since I did laundry this morning and hung it outside on the line to dry. It's only rained twice since I moved here--and both times it was when I did laundry! Anyway...

So today concluded my first week of teaching. I am so exhausted, but hey, I survived. Classes started on Wednesday, and I feel like I've been going non-stop since then. The kids are really great.

They are:

Mercy
Helio
SaraLisa
Parfitt
Ruth
Aris
Alex
Gaby
Keziah
Colin
Aisha

There are actually a few more coming this next week--they've just been delayed in getting here from the countries they are moving from. It's great having so many different kids in the classroom. I love their accents :) And I'm sooooooo jealous of their multi-language abilities.

The kids seem to respond really well to me. I haven't had any problems yet--I think they're just excited to have a young teacher! I really like them, and I hope thing keep going well...

I have been staying until 6-7 pm every night at school, just trying to get everything done and prepared for the next day--but I just had to come home tonight. I feel like such an old lady! It's only 7:30 and I'm already in my PJ's! But I know I still have a ton of work to do this weekend, and right now I just want to sit around and do nothing :) Tomorrow night, Gina and I are having Stefanie and Ashley (two girls working with Young Life here) come over to make some homemade pizza. It'll be nice to hang out with them--they're really fun!

I'll try to get some pictures up here soon--I haven't really taken any lately because 1. I haven't really been doing a whole lot of sightseeing just yet and 2. well, my batteries have died and I have to get more! I am hoping to go to Spain soon (we have two long weekends coming up in October!) and I'll definitely take pictures there!

I've been getting a little homesick, but it comes in waves. Mostly, I miss my puppy!! (Don't be sad, family--I miss you too!) I do okay most of the time, even accepting the frustrations of living in Europe with a grain of salt...but every now and then something little will happen and it's the straw that breaks the camel's back--and I fall apart a little! I think my short lived honeymoon phase is nearly over. Don't get me wrong, I still really like it here, but everything is just that much more difficult here because I don't speak the language.

And believe me, if there's anything I've learned, it's that Portugal is not America (see earlier posts...). Things are just weird here! Like today, Gina walked to school holding her coffee tumbler (smart one! she brought it from home!) and everyone we passed looked at her like she was a total freak for having coffee in a to-go mug like that. Meanwhile, we passed (probably 2??) people carrying actual glass mugs of coffee or tea on the street--and that's normal??!! What???!! This place is very, very odd. It's also very annoying that people mow their lawns at 11pm. Now where is the sense in that? It's dark....couldn't that be dangerous? Okay....but. There are wonderful things about Portugal too. (Gina makes me list good things when I start to get angry--I'm telling you, God definitely knew what he was doing when he sent her here to share an apartment with me!) It's very pretty. The pastries are ridiculously good (don't be surprised if I weight a gazillion pounds more when I get back). Euros are colorful and very pretty. See? Good things too.

Anyway, I'm beat, and I'm going to go lay out on my couch and watch one of the two channels I get in English--BBC World News or MTV. Miss you all!

Love,
Ariel