31 August 2009

I can’t believe tomorrow is September. 5 months ago tomorrow, I moved into my PST host family. This summer flew by! If the rest of my service goes this fast; two years will be up before I know it!

I’m kinda sick again, just a little bit of a cold. I think it is a combination of the weather change from the south to the north, or the succession of rainy, chilly days we’ve had this week. (sidenote- momma, remember the little knitted sock/boot thingies we got right before I left?- awesome) Or, it could just be strep again, but I’m using the power or positive thing to make it go away. Its not like antibiotics would work anyway. Haha I did the Kyrgyz treatment of drinking warm milk and milk in my tea to make it feel better, partly just to appease my Apa, and partly because I’m hoping it’ll work. Apa is kinda sick, too, so we sat and drank our warm milk with honey together and chatted. It was nice.

My host family is great. I’ve gotten more used to being a part of a bigger family, and it has only been a few months (and I was gone for half of that time.) My naughty little brother is still a trial at times, but he’s three, so what else would you expect. It is strange that some days I feel so very far from home and so out of my element, and some days, nothing could make this place feel more normal. My family here is such… a family. haha For example, a friend of mine came to visit my village because he’s getting a site transfer to the south and I won’t see him again for a few months. I made sure it was okay with the family for him to come. Ata gave me the third degree- who is he? Why is he coming? Etc, etc. Apa told me to make sure my room was clean. Just what would’ve expected from momma and daddy. I still miss home, but gradually, my village is feeling more like home. Site visit was a rough time, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to come back, but now when I’m gone, I miss it. I’m taking that to be a great sign.

Tomorrow is the start of the school year, but it’s also like a holiday, so classes don’t actually start until the second, but we don’t actually get the school schedule til the 5th or something like that… It’ll work out eventually. I’m not sure how much actual teaching I’ll do the first few weeks, but I’m really not that worried about it, truthfully. Just learning the other 20 teachers’ name is going to be a challenge, not to mention my three hundred students. Eep!

I met with my counterpart on Saturday to start writing our calendar plan for the year. It is different from what I’m used to, needless to say there aren’t really standardized test in school here, at least not from what I’ve seen. So the calendar plan is basically an overview of what the teacher plans on teaching. Every class. All year. I also have to plan every single lesson with my counterpart, but that will come later. My confusion with the calendar plan was that, say, for example, that we will teach articles the first lesson of the second week of October, and then move on. What if the students don’t understand articles? Do we have to move on anyway? Can we spend more time? Will we have to push the entire calendar plan back or redo it if we get off track? So, I talked to my counterpart, who talked to the zauvuch, (like a vice principal) who said that we could plan one quarter at a time instead. I also had a few hang-ups about our books. Okay, so basically, they suck. Maybe that’s a little harsh. Outdated might be a better word. And the typical teaching method here is having the students read a text and answer questions about it. The first entire unit is about Canada. Now, I have nothing against Canada, except… nevermind…. I have nothing against Canada. ;-) Haha I just don’t see the point of reading for a month about Canada when I’m not sure that basic greetings are understood. So, I talked to my counterpart and we established that we can use the book as a resource, but teach other, more conversational topics. We worked for about two hours and got and outline for September and October… for one class.

When I left the school Saturday morning, I was so disheartened and disappointed. I felt like I should have accomplished more than what I did, or at least understood more than what I did. Then, I thought about it and talked to some other volunteers and realized I was thinking about it all wrong. I didn’t just get one quarter planned for one class. I GOT ONE QUARTER PLANNED FOR A CLASS! That is an accomplishment, especially considering the language barrier between my counterpart and me. Also, I wasn’t just able to negotiate planning one quarter at a time. I WAS ABLE TO NEGOTIATE PLANNING ONLY ONE QUARTER AT A TIME! There may not seem like a huge difference between the two to you (except for the all caps, that was for emphasis haha) but it is a matter of mindset and the realization that I was able to overcome decades of teaching styles and make a minor change, hopefully for the better! That’s HUGE!!!!

So, it’s the night before school starts (technically) and for the first time in about.. what… seventeen years, I’m not “going back to school.” It’s funny. I graduated college early because I don’t like school, and where do I go, but halfway around the world to go to school, but this time, I’ll be on the other side of the desk. I’ve been doing clubs all summer, but actually class will be different. We’ll see if the teaching blood running in the family got to me too. Wish me luck!

Miss you
Love from Kyrgyzstan, land of vicious geese, (don’t even get me started)
Jess