Feb 20, 2012

Welcome Maine

Welcome Maine! We settled in Maine! By the beginning of February we settled in this state, after hours travelling by plane, airports, picking up cars, and driving driving and driving, we reached our new destination: Skowhegan, Maine. Wow, it still snows, it is still cold, it is still rural! This is deep America too! But it has coast, sea! A need for me.

Our town is Skowhegan. A small town up in the north of the state of Maine. No more than 7000 people live in here. I share the house with three more persons, one of them will leave soon. The house is not the best, kinda old and a carpet that would need to be removed and changed... A part from that, we'll make it our place.



The town is small. The streets have names and not numbers, and downtown is formed by just one street, in which there are a few shops. What suprises me the most of this area (and it also happened in Grand Rapids, Minnesota) is the old style of some of the shops and stores in town. The vast majority of them are small surfaces where they sell old and antique items that you can barely use, such as furniture, gifts or crafts. Of course in the big Avenue of Skowhegan there is a Walmart that provides the popullation with a variety of high quality American "food". Luckily, this time there is also Hannaford, another supermarket in which you can find a better quality food at a higher price.

Another thing that I can not understand is the management of the space by the American society. Let's see: This country in general has a lot of sapce, more in the suburbs and in the countryside. Maine is not an excpetion, not at all, probably is one of the less popullated states compared to its surface. Why then the people live in huge houses where the warehouse is completely packed and full of stuff as you can see from the street? Why do they still have problems with the space?

After a two weeks training we are ready to work. The workplace is much different than the one in Minnesota. Now we will work in a School program for kids with special needs. We'll be placed in one of the classrooms and will work as Educational Technicians. The job seems nice but very challenging. There is lots of staff because is needed, and this fact makes it easier for a beginner as I am!





The Maine adventure starts now!