Moving.... again

My sister asked me the other day if I was having a really crappy experience here because this is now the second time in a year that I'm going to be moving. Surprisingly, I'm not the one who has had it the worst in this country. There have been several others with problems and I'd say almost everyone has had to deal with at least something. But, again surprisingly, we all handle it really well. We understand we're in a country that is new to us and we can't always choose how things turn out. So here is my story:

When I moved in with my host mom she told me that she had a son in London and she might go visit him this year with her daughter. I thought that was pretty cool since I lived in London for 4 months a few years ago. She then booked her ticket for the middle of July. When she told me when she was leaving I told her I wouldn't be done at my school until after that date and she said it was no problem because her daughter would still be here because she wasn't going to join them until August. I asked her several times to make sure it was okay and every time she said yes.

Then, this Tuesday at lunch, she sat down and said that starting in June I had to find a new place to live. I was pretty shocked and didn't understand. She told me that her daughter was going to move into the apartment after they got back from London and she had to get it ready. She kept saying it was no big deal and that I should just move in with a friend or a boyfriend like all her other volunteers did. I told her that wasn't an option for me and reminded her that she had signed a contract. Eventually she decided to say that I could stay until July 10th. I absolutely had to be out by then because her daughter was now leaving for London with her and she didn't trust me with the house. So that still left me 8 days with no place to live before heading back. And those would also be 8 intense days of exams and grading. So I was not very happy.

I called my director (Kate) and she tried to talk to my host mom. She asked her if I could just stay in my apartment and not enter the house for those 8 days and then leave the keys with a family member. My host mom said absolutely not and then started being rude to Kate. (Older Ecuadorian women don't like when things don't go their way. They are VERY passive aggressive and mean when people don't follow their orders). So when she called me back she told me that she thought I should move out right away because my host mom was going a little crazy. She also said that moving out is moving out and it doesn't matter if I do it now or with 8 days left. And since I'm staying another year it wouldn't be a bad idea to get an apartment that I could stay in next year too.

I talked to my director (Sara) at UTA and asked her about apartments because she had been saying she wanted to give the foreign teachers apartments next year. And luckily enough, one was actually available now because a teacher had left. So I went to go check it out and it was really nice. Another girl, Lucy, a British teacher, went with me. She currently lives in a really crappy apartment so we decided to move into the new place together.

I told my host mom this and it was like she didn't even care. She also stopped talking to me and looking at me. I guess people really do have their crazy moments. Because I'm still not exactly sure what I did wrong. We were getting along just fine before Tuesday.

So I am moving out today. I am going to live on the 4th floor in a tiny apartment with a nice girl. We should have internet starting next week so hopefully I can keep blogging.

Other than that, my kids still don't study for their tests. And teaching inferencing to ESL students is really hard! But it's part of the TOEFL test so they have to learn it.

Hopefully next week is less crazy...