More Oddities and Pleasantries

More Oddities and Pleasantries

Grocery Store Bill Pay
At the grocery store tonight, I noticed that the guy in front of me had a huge bill, and I thought that it didn’t look like he had very much food. It was because he was paying his bills right there at the grocery store checkout. I guess soon I will be doing the same thing. I guess this will have to happen after I have a bank account... and get paid. This is one of the many things I still don't know about.

Easy Minutes
The ease of recharging your minutes to your phone is amazing. I bought a cell phone with no monthly plan. I paid for $10 worth of minutes when I got the phone and was kind of dreading the recharge. There are signs all over the place for llamadas, which just means calls. They told me at the phone place that I could go to one of those llamadas guys and give him my phone number and some money and it would be recharged. One night when I was at the grocery store I saw a sign for my phone carrier Tigo. They said to just, once again, go to the cashier. I did. He asked for my phone number, I gave him money, and instantly my phone was charged! I love this system.

These cashiers are practically magic!

Close, But Not Quite
One of the many supplies on my students’ list was an English book of their choice for our classroom library. One of my 6th graders brought in a Penguin Classic abridged version of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. For those of you who don’t remember this book from the end of high school, um, well, the subject matter is not exactly appropriate for 6th graders. The confusion comes from this book being rated as elementary. This, however, is elementary in the world of ESL for adults, not children. Great idea, but I’m not really into talking about the word 'adulteress' and playing a game of 'who is the father?' with a group of students who have barely hit puberty.

Adult Braces?
I have no idea why, but there is a disproportionately large group of adults here with braces. Teenagers have them too, but why so many adults? I do not know.

Thunderstorms
Having grown up in the Midwest, and for the past 14 years being a resident of the Pacific Northwest, one of the only things I ever miss are those warm days where suddenly the sky goes dark and the rain, thunder, and lightning roll in. Yesterday, that happened here. It is the beginning of the rainy season, but right now it’s sunny. Today I’m going to the beach.