I have discovered why I wanted to right in the blog everyday: when I skip a day, it is so hard to get back into writing it, and there is double things to cover, though I don't always remember what those things are. As it is, I will attempt to cover what happened today and yesterday.
Yesterday was Friday, my day off!! I tried to sleep late, but was unable to do so. So, I went to the book fair with the dean, the dean's wife, one of my housemates, and a teacher from the SABIS PPP school. While there, I met one of my students. This fair was extremely large. It contained more medical books than I would have thought possible, a large number of English language books. These books included both graded readers and lit books for native speakers. They even had a book by Campaign which taught English for the military...It was great!!
I walked around for what seemed like forever. There were so many colorfully colored covers to see. I could read a few of them and found they were the Koran. This got me to wondering if they would have a Bible that I could get. I haven't been able to locate mine, and so I don't have it with me. I found one place that my student said was a Christian bookstore. I asked her if she had an English Bible, and as she didn't, she was kind enough to take me to another booth (the International Bible Society) that she believed would. So now, for 3,000 Iraqi Dinnars ($2.59), I received a Bible in both Arabic and English! I have to remember that the front is the back, so when I go from Mathew to Revelations I flip toward the left....It is not as confusing as I thought it would be.
Along with the Bible, I also bought a computer program to learn Arabic. They had one that cost $100 and was four levels, but I didn't want to spend that much money. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get the program to work just yet. I was too busy at work today to do so. Hopefully that will not be the cast tomorrow.
Today seemed just as long. After having a meeting with the dean and convincing him not to change the students again, we loaded CDs from all the dictionaries that we purchaced onto the computers so the students can use them. Then right after arriving home, the other teacher and I went to the bazarre and went shopping. I found the video shop and bought a collection of 169 cartoon movies (they said Disney, but they also included things like Tom and Jerry), a small collection of 007, and Microsoft Office. It came to about $25. Then we moved on and I found a flash drive for $8, and then we went to the Citadel.
The Citadel was built many, many years ago...approximately in the year 4000 BCE, at least that is what I was told. This area has a great history! They are trying to restore it, which is a worthy task. Inside they also have a textile museum. It was small, but quite nice. The other teacher had a camera, so i may be able to get the pics from her on my new flash drive. Then we went for dinner, and came home...It sounds rather uneventful, but the bazzar is full of stores selling worthless things, good things, raw meat in the same section as baby clothes. There seemed to be very little order to it all. I bought two pieces of what turned out to be gum, though it tasted terrible! It was quite fun to be the guniea pig for these experiments!
Now it is almost late, and I am tired. I don't think I will be going to bed too soon though, as when I got home there were visitors: the same teachers from the other school that I met previously at their place. I guess it all makes sense, though they are constantly teaching Arabic, so I can't understand what is going on. Ahhh well, I guess I can get used to this.
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