Lex Libertas

My Class

I can't believe it's only been a week since I left America. It feels like at least a month has gone by. I'm somewhat out of that bad spell that hit in the very begining. I've met a lot of foreigners, and I've already been invited out to a club both tonight and Saturday. I don't think I'll go tonight - way too tired - but the one on Saturday apparently plays goth music, and it's kind of tempting. The only problem is that I'm on one island, and the clubs are all on the other island. Every night at one am they raise the bridges, and don't lower them again until 6. This poses a problem as the last metro leaves at midnight. So, the option is to either leave early, or stay until 6am. Now that I'm an ancient 23 years old, I don't feel like staying out in clubs until the next morning. When I was younger, sure, but not anymore.

I guess I haven't yet described my class. Well, it's me, and six chinese kids. Normally, when learning a foreign language, everybody has the same bad accent, and we all understand each other fine. Not in this case. I can't understand a word of what they're saying. They're nice enough kids, but communication is difficult as best. I do sort of feel like I'm back in high school, the kids are all about 18, and during breaks they run to the bathroom to smoke. Today, in class, the building shook, and I immediately thought it was an earthquake. It turned out to big an exceptionally large truck driving by, and I'm sure I was the only one in the class who's first reaction was "earthquake."

Yesterday, we were discussing family, and my teacher asked us if we had brothers, sisters, etc. A simple enough mistake to make, but kind of cruel considering the audience comes from a country with a one child policy.

The physical building I'm in is falling apart. It's stone, and was probably made at least a century ago, but the desks in the class are new, and they have nice whiteboards. The neatest thing, and one advancement over us, is that the erasers stick to the board. The teacher will be writing, and then just reach over to some other part of the board and voila, the eraser is easily accessible. Talk about paying attention to the little things.