More school and apartment updates

Well, the “Walmart” (Carrefour) store which is apparently a big company throughout Europe and South America is within walking distance of our hotel.  Just a little over the hill.  Who knew??  We did a pass through today to see what we needed and will do our major shopping on Friday.  Since they have to deliver our furniture on Friday  we are taking the day off from school.  We are still observing classes and helping out a little.  Kids are the same everywhere.  Some pay attention and some don’t.  Some do their work and some don’t.  I don’t think anyone who has ever taught children would be surprised.  Right now there are students here in the  morning who are catching up with their class before school actually starts.  Then the afternoon is spent in orientation for the teachers.  Since everything is in Turkish we don’t have to be in all the meetings and get the highlights from our fellow teachers.  We’re spending our time reading about the lessons we will be teaching. When classes start they will be 40 minutes each, but we haven’t seen a schedule as yet.  I want to thank Merve who works with us for the very nice comments about our blog.  We appreciate the feedback.  We’ll send more info about the people we work with as the year unfolds and we take some pictures.  Everyone is young and younger!!   I don’t think I mentioned yesterday that our department is actually the Foreign Language Department.  There is one teacher who speaks and teaches German.  She has a delightful and charming son in the 5th grade that “hangs out” in our room while his mother works.  Did I mention we get picked up and dropped off right in front of our hotel and starting next week we will be picked up downtown just a short walk from our apartment.  The school also has a cafeteria for the teachers.  The food has been great both days. 

Hope the weather in Tucson cools down soon.