Back in Biz

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Ok, I found a cybercafé between home and school that charges the equivalent of US $0.60 per hour and is compatible with my portable storage drive. Seeing as my classes do not begin until 1 p.m. (the building is shared with a primary school) I have plenty of time to stop and check in.

As for the use of English in my travelblog, I am composing as much as possible en español, pero mis amigos en los estados no lo comprenden. So I will translate to inglés as that is one of the things I need to learn anyways if I want to translate in meetings.

But that’s not why you are reading this, so here goes:

I sleep in what would be called an in-law unit in the US. I have my own entrance (through a greenhouse) and a private bathroom. It is a fairly basic room- it is small, but decorated nicely. The shower is sort of like the showers in Israel where there is no tub around the basin, but only a drain in the bathroom floor. Unlike Israel, it does not have a curtain. When I first saw this, I thought it was more primitive, but after using it I realized that it is way less messy this way, and that the curtains in Israel are probably a facet of the modesty of the culture there.

The house is nice. Paola (my hostess) encourages me to spend the evenings up there with her family. They all speak slowly around me and make sure I understand what is being said. The children especially have taken an interest in teaching me vocabulary.

The other thing about this neighborhood is there are tons of dogs everywhere. Every house seems to have at least one large, pure-bred dog, and most are allowed to roam freely. Today on my way home from school, I had three canine escorts. They were sitting outside of the school when I came out and they began walking with me. They didn’t want me to pet them, nor did they want to play. But they walked with me the whole way (I’m not good with distances but it is maybe a 10-15 minute walk through a nice neighborhood). When I took out my key for the gate, they turned and left.

I have yet to take pictures of the family, so when I do that I will post them here and tell you all about them.

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Photos

La Casa de Lamela
This is the back view of the house. The upper floors have a view of the lake.

Mi habitacion
This is the enterance to my room.

en mi habitacion
This is where I sleep.

en mi habitacion tambien
Here is my table for homework.

Comments

[Kathy]

your room is lovely :) It doesn't look too cold there - what's the weather like so far? That's great that you're a better speaker than you thought - that should make life much easier :)

[Ellen]

This is waay cool!
Oh Amy, I am totally loving reading your travel blog. This is really cool. I write some more later, I gotta go to work.