Everyday goings ons

So, I dropped a €20 on medication today. What a bitch. That's like two weeks of groceries or... let me calculate this...5.7 kebabs. Highway robbery! I got a receipt so I can give it to my insurance company that I signed up for here, but that doesn't give me money now. I may try to take it by the insurance place later today and if the man accepts it I will then buy a kebab to set things right with the universe.

Insurance here costs something like €5 a month, but even after signing the papers I'm not sure what I get out of it. Oh well-- I had to have it for residency anyway. And I guess it'll be useful if I get hit by one of the many speeding cars around here. European drivers scare me, really. The roads are most often one-way through the cities, since they're such cramped areas, but instead of having the 15MPH speed limit like back home, it is easily double that or more. There aren't any speed limit signs, actually Most of the cars are stick shift to keep the cost down and they are all of course, very small, but that doesn't mean they can't haul ass. And the way you're supposed to walk around the city is this: if there is a crosswalk sign on the pavement, walk into the middle of the road without looking and the driver of the Peugot hurdling at you at 50KM will then hopefully put on his brakes ever so gently and let you cross without issue. Me? I just wait until there's a break in traffic and then I go. Euro drivers may be better than US drivers but I'd rather not get in the habit of crossing the street with a car speeding at me. I'm incapable of that sort of trust.

I've got an English class to give tomorrow, we'll see how that works out. The hard part is coming up with subjects to talk about. If you hate awkward silence and have no clue about how to fill it, then teaching English is probably not the job for you. Essentially you're just having a conversation with someone and you are to correct them when possible and help them in any specific areas that they need help with. But it's pretty much up to you to be able to carry the conversation and I'm no Oprah Winfrey. Money is money, though, and it is something to do. I'll try and print out some worksheets tonight or something ... I hated school and am not really the teacher type so this is all new territory. Combine that with the fact that I really don't give a shit and, well, god help my student. The cool thing is, they phone me, come to my apartment, pay me and leave, all because I was raised to speak English and it was naturally one of my better subjects in school. I think I'll milk that golden cow for as long as possible.