The view as I walk to my building in the early morning at CIC before the students arrive.

I’m sorry I’ve been slacking so much lately in the blogging arena!  I moved back to Venezuela for another school year and for some reason when I got here I found my internet was not working.  After having the school swear that they paid my bill over the summer (since I left them money for this purpose), they sent someone to check it out. It turns out that someone cut my cable again (it happened in may or June last year too). Except this time, they cut off the metal head that goes into the wall.  So the tech guys at school were not able to get me connected and it took about three weeks before I got online.

I used the time to set up my classroom, meet new teachers, and begin two new dance classes at my salsa academy. Now I’m taking Salsa Casino, Bachata, and Kizomba classes.  It is a great way for me to stay active (one weekend I was dancing for eight hours thanks to a dance party, practice, and various classes), meet locals, and force myself to practice Spanish.

Now that I have internet again in my apartment I am going to do my best to stick to a twice a week posting schedule.

Around the Web:

I didn’t know this was a thing, but if I ever retire from international teaching I would love to be an expat life coach! Apparently, according to the WSJ it is on the rise as more expats move overseas and need help settling into a new place.

If I ever have children of my own I would like to be able to raise them overseas while I teach my way around the world. Many people seem surprised when I say this, but I’m not the only one who loves the way children are raised overseas.

As noted before, I am an avid reader so it is no surprise that I love a blog named Nerdy Book Club. Earlier this month I read an article about ten life lessons from some new and classic middle-grade books.  This post has introduced me to a couple of new to me books that I want to check out like “When You Reach Me” and “Paper Wishes”.

Books:

Thanks to my internet problems and the fact that I don’t have TV, I had plenty of time to read.  This was a month of great reading for me!

The social committee at my school has finally organized a book club! So I was really happy to see that the first book is “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khalid Hosseini.  I read this novel years ago but I wasn’t positive until I got to a very memorable scene about midway through. It is worth a second read and I look forward to discussing it with the other teachers because there is a lot of heavy content to get through.

My favorite book this month is called “The Marriage of Opposites” by Alice Hoffman. I’ve been a fan of Hoffman’s writing for years (I think I’ve read all of her published novels), so I was so excited when I came across this.  Normally I am intrigued by the hint of magic that all of Hoffman’s books have, but this one is really light on the magic and heavy on the coming of age angle.  Still beautiful writing none-the-less.

I also read books one, two, three, and four of Patricia Briggs’ Sianim series.  It is not as polished as her more well-known pieces, but if you like a strong female lead, fantasy (shapeshifters and magic abound) then this series is for you.

My students and I both love to read anything by Rick Riordan, so this month I was very happy when I was able to read “The Sword of Summer” which is a new series about the Norse Gods.   If you  are an upper elementary teacher/parent/or someone who just likes good fantasy books, you should check this one out. Both my boy and girl students love anything by this author.

“The Story Teller” by Jodi Picoult reminds me a bit of “All the Light that We Cannot See” (excellent novel btw). It is another story that tells about the horrors of WWII, but has a great twist. It also tackles the issue of forgiveness, blame, and a bit about what it means to be Jewish in modern society.

Movies:

I got a new projector for my apartment so I have my own home theater going on!  Sadly I haven’t had the time to watch any movies this month! Suggestions?

Music:

A song that I’ve enjoyed listening to on the way to work is “Duele el Corazon” by Enrique Iglesias. For some reason the youtube link wont show a video so you will just have to click here if you want to see it. 😦

TV:

Is there anything on these days? While I was at the gym I caught a couple of the Olympic competitions on one of the treadmills, but other than that, I didn’t watch TV this month. I welcome any suggestions for shows I should try to find!

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