I've completed my certification course and Saturday was my first official day as an English teacher. Tomorrow evening I start with my first group--I'll be teaching them twice a week for the next two months. I'll also begin teaching business English at a company in the mornings as soon as the details get worked out. (The place where I work holds group classes at the center and then also sends native-speaking teachers out to companies to teach groups of employees.) I should also start working at a second school next week as well. I'm starting work right on time...my shoes are beginning to fall apart and I really need new ones.
I've been reading a lot during my underground commutes. There are always tons of people reading in the metro--newspapers, novels, crosswords. For the most part nobody talks in the metro--everyone just sits in silence and read. With my 30-minute commute to the center every day and then other time spent on the metro I always get a good 1-2 hours of reading time in every day. I read the entirety of David McCullough's 1776 in the past few weeks (sort of an odd choice to read a book about the American Revolution while I'm living in Russia) and now I'm about 300 pages into the EPIC Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky (only 500 more pages to go!).
I really love not having a car here--I don't have to worry about gas prices, I spend a fraction of what I used to spend with a car on my monthly transport pass, and I get to read while I'm in transit instead of needing to pay attention to the road. I don't see why some people insist on owning 3-4 vehicles and then claim that it's a "convenience." I find it much more convenient to live in a place where it's not a necessity to own a car. It will definitely be a case of reverse culture shock for me when (or maybe it's better for me in this case to use the word "if") I go back to the states and once again live in a place where I will be required to have a car.
As you can see from this post, my English is suffering.
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