Hola! Guess what I did today? I bought a teach yourself Spanish book and CDs! (many thanks to the science department at Brathwaite – part of the Chapters gift certificate went to it :) So, I guess I have to start studying. Yay summer vacation! Oh, and apparently my english and spanish record checks are on the way, so next week I’ll be able to get my work visa. I love it when a plan comes together!

Silly me, I didn’t look at the list of things needed for my work visa closely. According to the list, I need a police check – no biggie, takes a few weeks here in Guelph but not that big of a deal. Here’s the interesting part though: it says I also need a SPANISH version. Now, I’m assuming that’s a stipulation only for americans, since they actually SPEAK spanish there. Not a whole lot of it here though (well, except for you, Mishelle :)

I got lucky though. It turns out I was actually able to get one in spanish! It helps when you know someone who knows someone, doesn’t it. And I’m getting it right away as opposed to having to wait 3 weeks for the one here. So, sometime next week I get to go into the Colombian embassy and get myself a work visa. That’s pretty well the last thing I need, as far as I can tell – I still haven’t figured out where to put all my crap, but that shouldn’t be TOO difficult…right?

Oh, and I almost forgot – I got most of my shots covered by my plan. Sweet :)

One more thing I forgot, didn’t feel like doing a new post for this. I finally have a reasonable idea of what I’ll be teaching. It looks like the course I’m teaching, which is Grade 8 Biology, is almost like a first year anatomy course. Some of the stuff is from Grade 11 Bio here in Ontario (like circulatory and respiratory system), but there’s also stuff like neural system and bones and muscle that are new. Basically, I’m teaching the human body! So here’s my idea – over the course of the year, my plan is to have the kids actually build a lifesize model of the human body, with all the systems in it. The school’s got some money, I’m sure I can convince them to spare some of it so I can make plaster casts of some of the kids :) Well, I can hope…

I know some of you have been DYING to get an update, and here’s the first one in while. I went in today to get my vaccinations – yellow fever, Hep A and B and typhoid. Next round in 4 weeks!