A for Apple

It has been an incredible week. Some amazing opportunities have presented themselves here. Options have opened up for me, in creating a life here, that I had not expected. The majority of these new options will be discussed at a later date when final decisions have been reached, but this week there was one even that I would particularly like to share. I've begun a part-time nanny position. My job in the process, while playing with my assigned munchkin, is to facilitate her learning English. As of now she can count to ten. Other than that, she speaks no English and I speak only a small amount of Greek. I am however really excited about the work I'm doing. The family I'm working for consists of a Mother, Father, and 3 girls. The two older girls (around 8-10) are doing well with English and are not my priority, but the 4 year old, she is mine to work with. I must say, she's very enjoyable. While she hasn't remembered anything yet, and we haven't done any intensive work (as we are just beginning) she does really well repeating after me. In our first meeting together I did not overwhelm her with anything, I played with her, she was really excited to show me her room. I was surprised at how easily she warmed up to me, her mother was there for the initial translation purposes and would listen to B. then tell me " She says she doesn't want you to leave. She wants to know when you are coming back. She'd like to hold your hand and show you her room." B. shared with me her Strawberry Shortcake doll, who smells like strawberries. She loves hello kitty, barbies, and baby dolls. Does that remind you of anyone? So we played, in two different languages we played, you'd be surprised how easy it is to communicate when everything must be visually translated. When we did speak, I would say first what I wished to tell her in Greek, then repeat it in English and have her repeat after me. My hope is that she begins to associate my Greek words with what follows in English. I've been researching teaching techniques online this morning, and in a short while I intend to go in search for English Alphabet flash cards with pictures, I think these will be quite helpful. She has a couple of little books with stickers in English that you attach to pictures, these should become helpful later - as they seem a bit advanced right now. Interestingly enough, the family must have felt comfortable with me because they have invited me to accompany them for a couple weeks in summer as they travel through their properties throughout Greece. Don't misunderstand, the mother is not one of those who does not enjoy being with her children. In fact, its very easy to see that she spends a lot of time with her daughters, but she did make reference to me that not only does she want B. to learn English from a native speaker, but B. tends to get lonely - as the other girls are closer in age and play together- the very active B. could use a playmate. When V. (mother) is helping the older girls with their studies, it is useful to her to have someone like me around to play with B. and hopefully enhance her learning process as well. In any effect, a productive week.

And the sunshine in this city.. glorious.

Now the below photos are a proposition. :-) Awkward huh?