Whiling away a Sunny Saturday

Well it used to be sunny at least.......

Jen has gone to Kruja, but i've remained at home to get some things done which i felt should be done. We've both been to Kruja multiple times by now, thank God!!!!!!!, anyway. So i'm sitting in an internet cafe, the wonderful Stephens Center actually which now, with it's wireless, has essentially the same status. So long as it's not too busy you can sit here for hours and only order one drink, so it's cheaper than cafe's really for long haul interneting. Thank God i've finally found an answer to my ESL problem which ought to satisfy everyone. For those of you who don't know, i've gotten permission, nay enthusiastic support, for starting ESL classes for the caregivers. Problem??????? They want a real official type book course. Well, i say in our meeting the other week, books are expensive. That's why you pay so much at some places. (Well it's probably not the only reason, but i imagine it factors in.) Their answer of course is, well, buy one book and photocopy it. See there is no real sense of copyright in much of Albania. Even some of us foreignors justify "borrowing" materials by saying "well, there's no copyright in Albania", thus declaring that the laws in other countries don't exist. Now while i have to confess i am guilty of the same in some areas, such as the "Were i in the states i would be watching Monk, so downloading it to watch here is essentially the same thing" reasoning, i like to stop short of absolute photocopying of materials without permission. So i was prepared to model after a book and make or dowload (from approving sites) my own materials. Until i found today an online, permission laden, English course. At least that appears to be what it is. The only problem is it has accompanying listening sections. Which i don't have. Still they provide the scripts. Make your own tapes time anybody??????????

In other news, Rauli continues to endear himself to me. Seriously, i wish that he and his sister were adoptable. Please keep this in prayer. He's really such a darling little boy.

Also, we've started a reading room project. It hasn't officially progressed very far yet, but i've designed the Pooh characters to put on the wall (ack!!!!!!! copyright issues again. If i hand-drew Pooh characters copied from a book, can anyone tell me if i have to ask permission to put them on the wall. i'm not sure Disney would say yes, though saying no to an Albanian orphanage seems very wrong. When done, God willing, it will be quite a nice, comfortable, cognitively stimulatin place for the children to learn and have fun in.

Please read back a few posts (or a post) if you haven't seen it yet for a post on the shepherding homes. It may interest you.



God bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,

Mindy Darrow