((taken from a draft five days ago... i started an entry, then got distracted. for five full days.))
saturday night and i ain't got no-money
i believe the last time i wrote was on monday, my first day of school. since then, i have had three days of teaching (tuesday, wednesday, and thursday), and am still not convinced that this is where i should be right now, but... oh well. there have been some really good classes, and some really not-so-good ones... mainly depending on whether the teacher gave me direction or not, whether the kids were engaged or not, and how badly i wanted the school day to be over.
most of the classes i taught were "introduction" classes, meaning i introduced myself - either through personal objects that i had brought, or through an introduction of "America". i wrote the word "America" on the board and asked the students to say what words came to mind. answers were anywhere from "hollywood" to "children with guns". after writing on the board the words "Americans are...", answers were anywhere from "fat" to "rich" to "friendly" - good to know that Austrians don't have ENTIRELY negative impressions of America(ns)!
on a side note, i just found out tonight (after having my credit card rejected from the machine twice) that i have no money left in my american bank account. nada. zip. zilch. i knew i was pretty low, but had no idea how bad it was. i blame this on the following:
a) i still haven't recieved two out of three checks for this summer. that's almost $1000 missing from my account
b) the austrian school board refuses to pay the teaching assistants until the beginning of november, and
c) the first month came with a lot of big expenses: deposit on the apartment, payment to keep the apartment furniture, a cellphone, the plane ticket to austria, 100 Euro here and there to get registered, etc. etc.
not that anyone cares about my financial situation except, well, my stomach and i. and my parents, i suppose. anyway, i figure if a week of rice, stale bread and soup mixes doesn't kill me, it will only make me stronger (and slimmer!). and thankful for the months to come when i will be making a comfortable living for relatively little work.
my dinners come from boxes: split-pea soup and knoedel/dumplings
have a good night - i hope you're eating well :)
saturday night and i ain't got no-money
i believe the last time i wrote was on monday, my first day of school. since then, i have had three days of teaching (tuesday, wednesday, and thursday), and am still not convinced that this is where i should be right now, but... oh well. there have been some really good classes, and some really not-so-good ones... mainly depending on whether the teacher gave me direction or not, whether the kids were engaged or not, and how badly i wanted the school day to be over.
most of the classes i taught were "introduction" classes, meaning i introduced myself - either through personal objects that i had brought, or through an introduction of "America". i wrote the word "America" on the board and asked the students to say what words came to mind. answers were anywhere from "hollywood" to "children with guns". after writing on the board the words "Americans are...", answers were anywhere from "fat" to "rich" to "friendly" - good to know that Austrians don't have ENTIRELY negative impressions of America(ns)!
on a side note, i just found out tonight (after having my credit card rejected from the machine twice) that i have no money left in my american bank account. nada. zip. zilch. i knew i was pretty low, but had no idea how bad it was. i blame this on the following:
a) i still haven't recieved two out of three checks for this summer. that's almost $1000 missing from my account
b) the austrian school board refuses to pay the teaching assistants until the beginning of november, and
c) the first month came with a lot of big expenses: deposit on the apartment, payment to keep the apartment furniture, a cellphone, the plane ticket to austria, 100 Euro here and there to get registered, etc. etc.
not that anyone cares about my financial situation except, well, my stomach and i. and my parents, i suppose. anyway, i figure if a week of rice, stale bread and soup mixes doesn't kill me, it will only make me stronger (and slimmer!). and thankful for the months to come when i will be making a comfortable living for relatively little work.
my dinners come from boxes: split-pea soup and knoedel/dumplings
have a good night - i hope you're eating well :)
posted by Leah at 9:06 PM
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