Payday!!!!

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We got our first paychecks today!!! So happy.
Yesterday was a very long day. None of my classes were happy to take the test I had to give them and they surely let me know about it. In my last class, I asked them where some good restaurants were in Ostrezesow and one told me about a Chinese Place!!! Now, I know this might not sound like such a big deal, but I can EAT some Chinese food. That and Mexican food are what I love. Right after school I told Des we were going to eat at this place. It's called Hanoi. We walk on over, the menu is all in Polish of course, so we took 20 minutes looking up "sweet and sour chicken" and "noodles" in my pocket dictionary. Finally they bring out our food and what do we get? Not Chinese. You cannot bring me a plate of Chinese without anything fried on it. I look at this plate in confusion (as well as Des) and wonder, "Where did I go wrong? Did I not order sweet and sour chicken? Where is my lo mein? Why is Polish food so wrong?" We managed to eat about half of what they gave us before giving up for fear of becoming sick at the table. Then we decide to try a "pancake" restaurant that was next door and also on the map that was recommended by my students. We order a basic pancake with powdered sugar, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. The waitress tries to talk us into ordering something more expensive. We refuse. They bring out this plate with a crepe. Not a pancake. A crepe, but it does look pretty good. We pick up our knives and forks and try to cut into this thing. No luck. It was seriously like trying to cut a piece of cardboard with a butter knife. I thought about picking it up and eating it like pizza but decided against it. Found success in tearing off just the edges because they were softer. Chocolate sauce was good. Whipped cream was SOURRRRR. Gave up on eating. We then walked back to the bus stop to go home... defeated. Missed the last bus of the day. Stood around not knowing what to do for a while, then called a teacher at school who came and picked us up and drove us all the way back home (very nice thing to do). Got home and watched season 2 of Friends on my computer before going to bed. This morning, we went to the bakery before going to school to buy a donut for our teacher friend that drove us home. Found out when I got to the school that my classroom was going to be used for another class the entire day. So all day, I had to walk around the school looking for empty classrooms/hallways/libraries/etc. that I could have my classes in. After school the same teacher friend introduced us to this nice lady from Canada that owns a private school that gives English lessons. She wants Des and I to come once a week and have 2 short classes each with her students. The school is very nice. We also found out that our salary for the schools we are teaching at now is over twice as much as the senior teachers make that have been teaching for 20+ years. Apparently "native English speakers" like Des and I are hard to find in Poland (which isn't surprising). So the pay for these 2 extra classes will be 1/3 of what we make at the other schools. However, her classes seem to be so much more fun and smaller. We are definitely going to do it though. Its not like we have anything else to do here after school is done for the day. Then we took the bus home and found that our boss had deposited our first paychecks in our account!!!!!!!! Tomorrow we're going to meet Des's friend and then go to Krakow for a couple days. 3 weeks down, 39 to go!!

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Comments

[Aunt Pam]

Sorry about the food - so why not 2 test next week! Now that the weekend is here you can spend some of that hard earned cash. The pictures of the food all look great but looks can be deceiving. Enjoy your weekend and have some fun. Love you