There are so many beautiful flowers around, that I thought it would be a good idea to try out my telephoto lens.

I have so fallen in love with this beautiful tree that has purple blossoms. Each time I see one of these trees, I just have to stop and heave a great sigh. It is just bautiful! Oli told me that it is a JACARANDA. They are all over the place!

I also took some pictures of flowers from the units down the street. One of the residents got suspicious of me and asked me in a hostile voice why I was taking pictures! I answered him in my sweetest, most innocent voice, "I'm taking pictures of flowers." The guy then backed off. Maybe he's up to something illegal! Maybe he has a meth lab somewhere there! Anyway, here are the beautiful flowers, though not necessarily his!

JOB UPDATE

Today I just had my 4th day of casual teaching, also known as substitute teaching. Here, it is an unwritten rule, but overseas-trained teachers have to become casual teachers first before they can hire you as a full-time teacher. I don't see the point, because they don't observe you in the class anyway. Maybe they get feedback from the kids. I don't know. I really don't understand the way educators think here, but that's another story.

Last week, I was given two days at Diego's school, teaching a Year 1 class. In fact, it was right next door to Diego's class. This week, I got called by St. Francis of Assissi, which coincidentally is the school of Sophie Robillo, my cousin Chinny's daughter. And again, coincidentally, I was assigned to take over her class! Unfortunately, Sophie was sick and did not get to call me "Tita Mrs. G". They have asked me to come back next week, for two days again. Although I can't really say that I completely enjoy my work, I certainly enjoy the pay, considering I only work for 6 hours, and sometimes all I really do is babysit. St. Francis has quite a number of Filipino students. In the classes I taught in, the Filipino students were thrilled to have a Filipino teacher! At Diego's school, when the parents saw that I was the teacher of one class, I could see them whispering to one another ... sobrang naintriga ba?! But in St. Francis, when the Pinoy parents saw me lead a class off, I could see the wide smiles on their faces!

Although hopefully, either me or Edge, or both of us, get full-time jobs by January 2006. We really need to move forward career-wise and money-wise. I want my dream house!