Bartering

What a great day! This morning when I woke up at 6AM, I was really glad it was Friday! The kids were crazy and wound up today. It probably was due to the large sugar intake. They first had their usual snack. Then, a mother of one of my students, who turns five tomorrow, brought in cake. It was the sweetest cake I have had maybe ever! Because today was our last day to focus on Mr. P, I bought some Popcorn. So...they did a lot of eating today. Oh, and they took treat bags filled with candy home from the birthday, also. Good luck to those parents!! :) Anyways, things went well and I am loving working with these students! I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but teaching here is very relaxed compared to teaching in the states. There are a lot more breaks for teachers during the day. Then, because I am with such young kids, we have "choosing time" two times a day. This is when the kids basically play...dress up, my favorite Letter People Go Fish, read books, paint, make beaded necklaces, use lots of scotch tape for building paper airplanes and paper watches, dressing up, etc. It is FUN!!


After school we went home for lunch, and I hurried outside to meet the Burgs. Sarah and I have been wanting to go back to SIAO again, so we were hoping that someone we knew would want to go...and the Burgs did! I cannot begin to tell you how much fun shopping was today. They still had tons of things left, and the vendors were more willing to go down on their prices because it was later in the week. We had several hours, and Sarah and I got our feet wet with African bartering. I have to admit...I'm not too bad. I guess all of those garage sales when I was younger has paid off! :) Depending on the country, some knew English. The ones who did were hilarious because they would say, "Oh, I make you a good price...a very good price." One man cleared his chair off and asked me to sit down as I thought of "just one more final price" for the boutique (cloth picture) that I was interested in. We went back and forth and eventually I got a good deal on it. It is true that you have to walk away if you don't like the price because this strategy was extremely effective. One man found me several stands down about a necklace that I asked about. I found so many fun things and bought a lot more than I did the last time. So, I think that I am set now with my shopping for the trip. There are just a few little odds and ends that I still want to pick up around town before I leave.

Here is a picture of my beautiful new boutique. It is a picture of the continent of Africa and it has a woman working on it while her baby is wrapped on her back. I love it so much!

Tonight is a relaxing night for me. I am getting things organized and rearranging some things since I now have the dresser. I am really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. However, lesson planning will be a majority of the day I think as I will gain math next week. This should be fun! :)