28 October 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JORDAN!!! I know I won’t post this until after your birthday, and I’m probably gonna call you today anyway, but I had to say it. I wish I were home with you to celebrate! Miss you tons!
Once again, missing birthdays and holidays at home is hard, I seriously doubt that will ever change, but as I get more integrated into my community, I get to take part in local birthdays and holidays, and it helps.
The thing about it being Jordan’s birthday is that it is pretty much Halloween, which means that October is over. Wow. And with October being over, that means Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Christmas and New Years are practically here already, which means Valentine’s Day is coming up fast, and when Valentine’s Day arrives St. Patrick’s Day is virtually here, which is just a couple short weeks away from my one year anniversary. You can laugh, but I have a feeling that time is going to go by about that fast. When I think about it, because the first week of the second quarter is fall break, and we have our six month in country training sometime in the second quarter, too, that leaves only six teaching weeks for the second quarter. Then, we have a two to three week new year’s break, and another training during the third quarter, so I think there are only about six teaching weeks during it, too. It’ll be spring before I know it. Hopefully anyway, because winter is gonna be rough. My entire village seems to know that I’m not a huge fan of the cold. It is kinda like a running joke how I’m gonna freeze to death. I’ve been wearing wool socks since September, added thermals to my daily wardrobe last week…. I know, I swore I was gonna wait, but the heat doesn’t get turned on in my school til November, and it is cold! I’m definitely learning how to layer.
Well, it has been a pretty busy week since I last posted a blog:
I threw an AWESOME Halloween party with my counterpart and students. The students did presentations on different American fall traditions, we had a pumpkin carving contest, a costume contest, and we bobbed for apples, had a bonfire, and ended the night with a spectacular dance party. I think my students all had a great time, or at least they told me that they did. Mike, Katie, Katie, and Taylor, some of the volunteers close to my village, came and they were a huge hit, just by showing up, plus they wore costumes, too! I’m gonna try to post pictures when I post this, we’ll see how it goes.
Other big news: guess who has running water in her house!!! Me!!! That’s right! My house is a work-in-progress because we’re remodeling, but the plumbing is in. well, at least the sinks are in and work. I was told we’d have an indoor shower and toilet, too, but right now, the fact that I don’t have to do a jack and jill every day (..fetch a pail of water, for those of you who might have forgotten the rhyme) is pretty sweet. My house is the only house in the village to have running water, so it is sort of like a tourist attraction, because the neighbors want to see how it is done.
Hmm… other news…. I missed class for the first time due to illness and got soaked in hot vodka all in one day. I woke up at 4am Monday and got really, really sick. When my Apa woke up, she heated up some vodka, we poured it on my stomach and rubbed it in, then I was wrapped in four blankets and told to sleep. So I did. I only had one class, but I didn’t go. We were only reviewing, anyway. My apa told me that my counterpart and my director came to visit me but I was asleep. Somehow the entire village knows I was sick. I went to school yesterday and everyone I met along the way asked me if I was feeling better. Then we got into the discussion of why I got sick. I knew it was gonna happen. My Halloween costume was sleeveless and every teacher at the festival told me i’d get sick if I didn’t put on a coat, (which I did, eventually when it got cold) but I wasn’t thinking that type of sick. If I’d gotten a cold, I’d have agreed with them that I got sick because I didn’t wear a coat, but having a random vomitron fest four days later, doesn’t really make sense to me. So, the next possibility was I got sick because I stood outside talking on my phone when it was cold. I disagree for the same reason as before. The next reason was that I must have gotten cold after taking a banya on Sunday… Again, I disagree for the same reason. I’ve never known getting cold to make me stomach sick. My guess would have been food poisoning or something of the sort again, but I ate the same oatmeal as the rest of my family and none of them got sick. So, the mystery of why I got sick remains a mystery.
Also, since this is the last week of the first quarter, it is TEST TIME! Writing tests is one of the most challenging things for me as a teacher. I’m torn between wanting the students to be able to complete the task, without making it too easy, plus coming up with examples and questions that have words that the students know, without using verbatim exercises from class. It is particularly stressful because this is the first cumulative test that the students will take since I got here, and how well they perform reflects on me. I want to know that I was able to teach them something. We gave the first test yesterday, and we’ll check it today. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Oh! I almost forgot! My counterpart and I get our own classroom! We were given the old physics classroom that we get to decorate as an English class. I was kinda frustrated at first because the physics classroom is the 11a classroom, which means that we get to decorate it and have great visual aids that only one class will get to use. But, remember how I told you that the 10th grade class got discontinued? That leaves an open classroom, because the teachers move classes, and the students stay put. So, the 11a class is taking the 10a classroom, and we get to have the students come to our English room, so all classes will get to use the resources and visual aids! I’m waiting on books from Darien Book Aid, so we’ll have a mini library that the students will get to use, plus all the American Culture stuff, it is gonna be great once we get it set up! And since the lack of a 10a class means that next year there won’t be an 11a class, I’m hoping that we’ll get to use it next year, too!!! YAY!!
Well, I’m gonna go get ready for school (but I do not want to go to school, I want to stay home and bake cookies with yoouuuu—that was for you Jordan haha)
Miss you all
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
20 October 2009
Whew. It has been one of those weeks and it is only Tuesday. I found out that my tenth grade class no longer exists. Apparently there is a law that says that if a class isn’t a certain size, it doesn’t get taught. There are about 6 or 7 kids on the register, but average class attendance has been three, so…. No more class. The tenth graders either have to go to another village to school, or they just quit because it is only mandatory to go through 9th grader here…. I don’t know what they’ll choose to do. I’ve also been talking with teachers about how to deal with my more troublesome classes. I’ve been getting advice that I have to be patient, I have to encourage them, praise them, and tell them that they’re doing great. I know the importance of encouraging high school students, having been a high school student myself. I also probably know it better than a lot of the teachers, having been a high school student more recently than twenty years ago… but… maybe it is just me, but I have a problem with telling a class that they’re doing a great job when they’ve only written their homework twice in two months, and when they don’t study. Maybe I’m too blunt, maybe I’m too direct, or maybe I’m just mean and cruel, but I refuse to tell student “great work” when they haven’t done any work at all. And obviously this method has worked so well for the other teachers (all sarcasm intended.) since they kids don’t do their homework in any of their classes. I think they need a little bit of a firmer hand. I don’t mind giving 2s (Ds) for grades. If they get 2s, they have to do summer school to pass…. I’ll be here all summer anyway… might as well… I’m not going to give good grades if they don’t deserve it. I’m more of a rock the boat kinda girl, and the –pass-them-so-we-don’t-have-to-deal-with-them-boat needs to be rocked. We’ll see how it goes…
Well that paragraph was kinda negative, and I don’t want you to think that I’m depressed or anything. That is just one of the frustrations I’ve got right now. So to balance it out, I figure I should talk about some of the positives… I’m integrating into my teaching staff pretty well. We have the Kyrgyz version of the Avon lady on the teaching staff, and I got to be a customer. I bought some clear nail polish because I’m out. (yes, I know I brought nail polish with me, but giving myself manicures keeps me sane, so shuddup. Haha)
In other news, I finished my Halloween costume today. Actually, I started it today, too. I’m going as a greek goddess. I’ve done it before, it is easy, and not too skanky. Seeing as how I’m a teacher, the skanky costumes that I got used to in college don’t really work anymore… they were fun… I’m interested to see how my students will dress.
The volunteers that live close to me are gonna come, too and Mike is bringing some of the kids from his town. When I told my 9th grade class today, the boys asked- are girls coming? The girls asked- are boys coming? Then they asked me if he was my boyfriend. Typical obnoxious ninth graders… haha
My eighth grade class was just boys today. My counterpart, who is subbing as the organization vice principal was preparing for a party type thing, and the girls were helping. So it was me, and nine 8th grade boys… it was actually a pretty fun class. They’re good kids. We did a reading exercise; they asked me about America, my family, etc. It is the stuff I expected them to ask the first day, but I guess they’ve gotten used to me or aren’t as shy anymore. Then they gave me flowers. I dunno why. It was cute. Then they asked me for my phone number. I didn’t give it to them. I’m not sure I want my cell number in the hands of eighth graders.
I had a laugh that getting flowers and having someone ask for my number is the most romantic interest I’ve had in months haha… and it was from 13 year olds…sigh… then I remembered the marriage proposals, and even though most of them were jokes (not very funny ones, though) it was still a sobering thought. Dating opportunities are pretty thin on the ground here, but I’m making some local girl friends, which is good. I’m got invited to go guesting with one of the other younger teachers.
…
It is tomorrow/today… well.. the next day now… I’m fixin to get ready to go to school to lesson plan, then teach, then head into the city to pick up the last minute stuff for my festival. I have class til 5 tomorrow and the festival is Friday, so it has to be today.
I figured I’d jot a few more things down while I’ve got time. Azeez, my three year old brother is really starting to grow on me. He can still be really irritating, but he’s three, the only boy, with four older sisters, so expecting him to not be spoiled rotten would be ridiculous. He likes coffee, but we don’t like to give it to him, you know, hyperactive three year old on a caffeine high, plus half the sugar bowl that he puts in it, not a good combo… so, I told him in Kyrgyz that if little boys drink coffee, they won’t grow to be tall. I asked if he wanted to be tall and strong like his dad and uncles, and that he wouldn’t be if he drank coffee… Ata picked up on it really quickly and asked if he wanted Zarina, a cousin who is a few months younger, to be bigger than he was and if he wanted to get beaten up by a girl… it was priceless. There hasn’t been a wanting-coffee-related temper tantrum since. He’s also fascinated by one of my t-shirts. I’ve got that long sleeve tshirt from high school, with the PVHS and the dragon on it. I wear it a lot since it is warm, and Azeez loves dragons, so he loves my shirt. The memory retention of three year olds astounds me. We have our “family language club” every night at dinner, and he picks up words so fast! His favorite is “horse.” I think we only said it once, maybe twice, and he knows it, remembers it, and uses it. He’s also picking up on the good mornings and good nights. It’s pretty cool. I wish I could learn Kyrgyz that fast.
I’ve got a pretty busy week ahead of me. We’re doing our Halloween festival on the 23rd, because next week is the first quarter tests, then we have a week off for fall break. Between the week off for fall break and the week long PC training we’ll have during the second quarter, that only leaves six week of teaching in the second quarter, then the holidays. I have a feeling that the second quarter is going to go by pretty quickly. And since I’m not coming home in the winter, it looks like I’ll be making a lot of scarves… haha I’m getting better at crocheting. I made a couple of hats and scarves, and my teaching staff loved them, I think that the fact that I can make something makes me a little less useless. Haha
OH! I almost forgot! I got TWO wicked sweet packages! One from the fam with my sleeping bag and external hard drive full of the most wonderful media… but somehow the cord for it didn’t make it, and the cord to my old external is wearing out, so I’ll have to get a new cord to fully appreciate it, but it is here, and has enough stuff to get me through the winter! AND I got the sweetest package from Ciara, Sarah, and Sara! Thank you guys so much! S’MORES!!!! I absolutely can not wait to make them, but I’m forcing myself to wait until I have a reason to make them with other people, otherwise I’ll eat the entire bag of marshmallows myself and get sick. Haha it was such a great package, I loved the writing on it- great Cyrillic by the way. Haha I miss you guys, tons, too! thank you thank you thank you
We’ll I’ve got to go get ready. I’ll probably go to the city this weekend, too, so maybe I’ll posts pictures of the festival.
Miss you tons!
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
p.s.
sorry if i said i'd call and haven't, i spent more on my phone last month than i did on my rent and thought i should cut back a bit
Whew. It has been one of those weeks and it is only Tuesday. I found out that my tenth grade class no longer exists. Apparently there is a law that says that if a class isn’t a certain size, it doesn’t get taught. There are about 6 or 7 kids on the register, but average class attendance has been three, so…. No more class. The tenth graders either have to go to another village to school, or they just quit because it is only mandatory to go through 9th grader here…. I don’t know what they’ll choose to do. I’ve also been talking with teachers about how to deal with my more troublesome classes. I’ve been getting advice that I have to be patient, I have to encourage them, praise them, and tell them that they’re doing great. I know the importance of encouraging high school students, having been a high school student myself. I also probably know it better than a lot of the teachers, having been a high school student more recently than twenty years ago… but… maybe it is just me, but I have a problem with telling a class that they’re doing a great job when they’ve only written their homework twice in two months, and when they don’t study. Maybe I’m too blunt, maybe I’m too direct, or maybe I’m just mean and cruel, but I refuse to tell student “great work” when they haven’t done any work at all. And obviously this method has worked so well for the other teachers (all sarcasm intended.) since they kids don’t do their homework in any of their classes. I think they need a little bit of a firmer hand. I don’t mind giving 2s (Ds) for grades. If they get 2s, they have to do summer school to pass…. I’ll be here all summer anyway… might as well… I’m not going to give good grades if they don’t deserve it. I’m more of a rock the boat kinda girl, and the –pass-them-so-we-don’t-have-to-deal-with-them-boat needs to be rocked. We’ll see how it goes…
Well that paragraph was kinda negative, and I don’t want you to think that I’m depressed or anything. That is just one of the frustrations I’ve got right now. So to balance it out, I figure I should talk about some of the positives… I’m integrating into my teaching staff pretty well. We have the Kyrgyz version of the Avon lady on the teaching staff, and I got to be a customer. I bought some clear nail polish because I’m out. (yes, I know I brought nail polish with me, but giving myself manicures keeps me sane, so shuddup. Haha)
In other news, I finished my Halloween costume today. Actually, I started it today, too. I’m going as a greek goddess. I’ve done it before, it is easy, and not too skanky. Seeing as how I’m a teacher, the skanky costumes that I got used to in college don’t really work anymore… they were fun… I’m interested to see how my students will dress.
The volunteers that live close to me are gonna come, too and Mike is bringing some of the kids from his town. When I told my 9th grade class today, the boys asked- are girls coming? The girls asked- are boys coming? Then they asked me if he was my boyfriend. Typical obnoxious ninth graders… haha
My eighth grade class was just boys today. My counterpart, who is subbing as the organization vice principal was preparing for a party type thing, and the girls were helping. So it was me, and nine 8th grade boys… it was actually a pretty fun class. They’re good kids. We did a reading exercise; they asked me about America, my family, etc. It is the stuff I expected them to ask the first day, but I guess they’ve gotten used to me or aren’t as shy anymore. Then they gave me flowers. I dunno why. It was cute. Then they asked me for my phone number. I didn’t give it to them. I’m not sure I want my cell number in the hands of eighth graders.
I had a laugh that getting flowers and having someone ask for my number is the most romantic interest I’ve had in months haha… and it was from 13 year olds…sigh… then I remembered the marriage proposals, and even though most of them were jokes (not very funny ones, though) it was still a sobering thought. Dating opportunities are pretty thin on the ground here, but I’m making some local girl friends, which is good. I’m got invited to go guesting with one of the other younger teachers.
…
It is tomorrow/today… well.. the next day now… I’m fixin to get ready to go to school to lesson plan, then teach, then head into the city to pick up the last minute stuff for my festival. I have class til 5 tomorrow and the festival is Friday, so it has to be today.
I figured I’d jot a few more things down while I’ve got time. Azeez, my three year old brother is really starting to grow on me. He can still be really irritating, but he’s three, the only boy, with four older sisters, so expecting him to not be spoiled rotten would be ridiculous. He likes coffee, but we don’t like to give it to him, you know, hyperactive three year old on a caffeine high, plus half the sugar bowl that he puts in it, not a good combo… so, I told him in Kyrgyz that if little boys drink coffee, they won’t grow to be tall. I asked if he wanted to be tall and strong like his dad and uncles, and that he wouldn’t be if he drank coffee… Ata picked up on it really quickly and asked if he wanted Zarina, a cousin who is a few months younger, to be bigger than he was and if he wanted to get beaten up by a girl… it was priceless. There hasn’t been a wanting-coffee-related temper tantrum since. He’s also fascinated by one of my t-shirts. I’ve got that long sleeve tshirt from high school, with the PVHS and the dragon on it. I wear it a lot since it is warm, and Azeez loves dragons, so he loves my shirt. The memory retention of three year olds astounds me. We have our “family language club” every night at dinner, and he picks up words so fast! His favorite is “horse.” I think we only said it once, maybe twice, and he knows it, remembers it, and uses it. He’s also picking up on the good mornings and good nights. It’s pretty cool. I wish I could learn Kyrgyz that fast.
I’ve got a pretty busy week ahead of me. We’re doing our Halloween festival on the 23rd, because next week is the first quarter tests, then we have a week off for fall break. Between the week off for fall break and the week long PC training we’ll have during the second quarter, that only leaves six week of teaching in the second quarter, then the holidays. I have a feeling that the second quarter is going to go by pretty quickly. And since I’m not coming home in the winter, it looks like I’ll be making a lot of scarves… haha I’m getting better at crocheting. I made a couple of hats and scarves, and my teaching staff loved them, I think that the fact that I can make something makes me a little less useless. Haha
OH! I almost forgot! I got TWO wicked sweet packages! One from the fam with my sleeping bag and external hard drive full of the most wonderful media… but somehow the cord for it didn’t make it, and the cord to my old external is wearing out, so I’ll have to get a new cord to fully appreciate it, but it is here, and has enough stuff to get me through the winter! AND I got the sweetest package from Ciara, Sarah, and Sara! Thank you guys so much! S’MORES!!!! I absolutely can not wait to make them, but I’m forcing myself to wait until I have a reason to make them with other people, otherwise I’ll eat the entire bag of marshmallows myself and get sick. Haha it was such a great package, I loved the writing on it- great Cyrillic by the way. Haha I miss you guys, tons, too! thank you thank you thank you
We’ll I’ve got to go get ready. I’ll probably go to the city this weekend, too, so maybe I’ll posts pictures of the festival.
Miss you tons!
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
p.s.
sorry if i said i'd call and haven't, i spent more on my phone last month than i did on my rent and thought i should cut back a bit
Saturday, October 17, 2009
wow, this is a long one
17 October 2009
What a week! If the days keep going by as fast as this week has gone, my two years will be over before I know it.
This week has been incredibly interesting. I know I didn’t write anything about the regional teacher’s meeting last Saturday, but let’s just sum it up by saying that it was complete shenanigans. I left at 8am, got back at 8pm, had a blast with my teachers, who all acted like a bunch of college students, ended up with a sprained ankle (I fell out of an outhouse… not kidding…only me, right?), a bruised rib from someone’s elbow because there were 9 adults and a baby packed It was raining and the stones were wet and I slipped… only me, right into a Lada (one of the throwback soviet cars), and my stomach and head hurt from laughing so much… it was quite a day.
This week I also threw an all out hissy fit, judged a talent show, and got my students hyped up for our Halloween Festival.
First: the hissy fit.
So, a little bit of background information: I teach 7-11 grades. I have 2 classes of 7th 8th, and 9th graders, and one each of 10th and 11th. The classes are divided into Russian and Kyrgyz classes. 7a, 8a, and 9a are Russian speakers, and the b classes are the Kyrgyz. For the most part, they all understand Kyrgyz, but a few only speak Russian. My Thursday schedule is rough. I have an 8am, a 12:20, and a 5pm class. On top of the weird schedule, the three classes that I teach are the ones that try my nerves the most- The 9b,8b, and 7b classes. It’s not that they are unintelligent… they’re just less… I guess the best word would be motivated... less motivated. It’s like when they divided my governor’s school class into two. The smart class and the dumb class, as those of us in the dumb class jokingly called them. It is like that here. The b classes just don’t care as much. I know what that’s like, having not cared at all about my physics and calculus classes at governor’s school. Thankfully, the kids here aren’t as bad and Kat and I were, at least they haven’t started doing each other’s hair and taking self-pics while I’m trying to teach. Haha I’d probably deserve it, tho. This is my karma for being so rude myself. Haha
Anyways, enough background info. The 9b class only has English on thrusday and Friday. I know that makes retention even harder having a week between classes, but I got really frustrated because I gave then a vocab quiz on irregular verbs last week and not a single student got more than one word right. I was really frustrated because they’d had a week to study and they only had seven words… So, I told them that I’d be giving the test again, and I really wanted them to study this time, second chances and all that. So, Thursday, I gave the test for the second time, which gave them two weeks to learn seven irregular verbs. The best student in the class only got 4 correct. And here came the hissy fit…. I was so frustrated! I told them that I didn’t want to teach them if they couldn’t even go to the trouble of learning seven words. I have to do work outside of class to prepare for lessons, but they can’t study seven words. They have time to talk and chat in between classes, but didn’t have time to study. My counterpart then gave them the whole she-came-from-america-to-teach-you-and-you-act-like-this-you-should-be-ashamed-of-yourselves-speech. I told them that the 6a class really wanted to learn English and I knew that they would study, so I was gonna teach them instead. We’re having a Halloween festival next Friday, and I uninvited them, telling them that going to festivals was a privilege, not a right, and classes had to prepare things for the festival and this class had showed me that they couldn’t be trusted to prepare seven words for a quiz, much less a tradition to talk about at the festival, so they couldn’t come. Then my counterpart and I left. She is equally frustrated with them. About 30 seconds after we got back to the teacher’s room, the class was knocking on the door, asking us to please teach them. I asked them if they wanted me to teach them. They said yes. I asked why. They said they wanted to learn English, it was important. I laughed. I told them not to lie to me, because if they really wanted to learn, really thought it was important, they’d have done their homework, and studied. I pulled out my grade book (I never would have done this in the states) and started telling them their grades- you’ve only done homework twice all year, you only learned two words in two weeks, etc. I told them that if I taught them, right now, they’d all be getting 2s, which is like the equivalent of a D. I asked them if they still wanted me to teach them, knowing how I grade. They said yes. So, I made a deal with them. I told them that I’d teach them that day, and that if every.single.one. of them did their homework, I’d teach them until the end of the first quarter and then, if they’d improved, I’d keep teaching them. But, if one student didn’t do their homework, the whole class wouldn’t go to the Halloween festival, and I would teach the 6a class instead. They agreed to the terms, so I taught them. (yes I’m aware of the irony of me being an English teacher, and the fact that this was practically one long run-on sentence)
Sigh. I was so frustrated when I left the class, I almost ran into one of my 7b students. I don’t teach them until 5pm, so I wondered why he was at school so early. It turns out; he came to ask for help on his homework! I’ve told every class, every single lesson, that if they had questions, to please come ask, and it was the first time that a student came to ask! Good-bye frustration, hello euphoria! The “emotional-rollercoaster” here is like that. Sometimes the up and down cycle takes a few days, or weeks, and sometimes, just a few minutes.
Yesterday, we had a holiday. The “fall ball” It was kinda like a talent show, I guess. Three different classes did songs, dances, and skits. They asked me to judge at noon, and the show started at 2. So, having nothing else to do, I judged! I was great! They’re so creative, and I found that I could understand more of the Kyrgyz than I thought I’d be able to.
Next week is our Halloween Festival! I’m so stoked! My 8 classes, from 7th-11th, are all presenting a different fall tradition that I’ve taught them about this week, and then we’re going to do the traditions- pumpkin carving, bobbing for apples, etc. There’s also going to be a costume contest, so the kids are making their own costumes. I can’t wait to see what they come up with! As a matter of fact, I’ve got to come up with my own costume… we’ll see how that goes. I’ll try to post pictures after.
We’ll I’ve written quite a bit, and need to get off to do my shopping. Guess I’ll turn of my billie holiday and try to go hitchhike, I mean, get a taxi… haha
Miss you!
Love from Kyrgyzstan!
Jess
What a week! If the days keep going by as fast as this week has gone, my two years will be over before I know it.
This week has been incredibly interesting. I know I didn’t write anything about the regional teacher’s meeting last Saturday, but let’s just sum it up by saying that it was complete shenanigans. I left at 8am, got back at 8pm, had a blast with my teachers, who all acted like a bunch of college students, ended up with a sprained ankle (I fell out of an outhouse… not kidding…only me, right?), a bruised rib from someone’s elbow because there were 9 adults and a baby packed It was raining and the stones were wet and I slipped… only me, right into a Lada (one of the throwback soviet cars), and my stomach and head hurt from laughing so much… it was quite a day.
This week I also threw an all out hissy fit, judged a talent show, and got my students hyped up for our Halloween Festival.
First: the hissy fit.
So, a little bit of background information: I teach 7-11 grades. I have 2 classes of 7th 8th, and 9th graders, and one each of 10th and 11th. The classes are divided into Russian and Kyrgyz classes. 7a, 8a, and 9a are Russian speakers, and the b classes are the Kyrgyz. For the most part, they all understand Kyrgyz, but a few only speak Russian. My Thursday schedule is rough. I have an 8am, a 12:20, and a 5pm class. On top of the weird schedule, the three classes that I teach are the ones that try my nerves the most- The 9b,8b, and 7b classes. It’s not that they are unintelligent… they’re just less… I guess the best word would be motivated... less motivated. It’s like when they divided my governor’s school class into two. The smart class and the dumb class, as those of us in the dumb class jokingly called them. It is like that here. The b classes just don’t care as much. I know what that’s like, having not cared at all about my physics and calculus classes at governor’s school. Thankfully, the kids here aren’t as bad and Kat and I were, at least they haven’t started doing each other’s hair and taking self-pics while I’m trying to teach. Haha I’d probably deserve it, tho. This is my karma for being so rude myself. Haha
Anyways, enough background info. The 9b class only has English on thrusday and Friday. I know that makes retention even harder having a week between classes, but I got really frustrated because I gave then a vocab quiz on irregular verbs last week and not a single student got more than one word right. I was really frustrated because they’d had a week to study and they only had seven words… So, I told them that I’d be giving the test again, and I really wanted them to study this time, second chances and all that. So, Thursday, I gave the test for the second time, which gave them two weeks to learn seven irregular verbs. The best student in the class only got 4 correct. And here came the hissy fit…. I was so frustrated! I told them that I didn’t want to teach them if they couldn’t even go to the trouble of learning seven words. I have to do work outside of class to prepare for lessons, but they can’t study seven words. They have time to talk and chat in between classes, but didn’t have time to study. My counterpart then gave them the whole she-came-from-america-to-teach-you-and-you-act-like-this-you-should-be-ashamed-of-yourselves-speech. I told them that the 6a class really wanted to learn English and I knew that they would study, so I was gonna teach them instead. We’re having a Halloween festival next Friday, and I uninvited them, telling them that going to festivals was a privilege, not a right, and classes had to prepare things for the festival and this class had showed me that they couldn’t be trusted to prepare seven words for a quiz, much less a tradition to talk about at the festival, so they couldn’t come. Then my counterpart and I left. She is equally frustrated with them. About 30 seconds after we got back to the teacher’s room, the class was knocking on the door, asking us to please teach them. I asked them if they wanted me to teach them. They said yes. I asked why. They said they wanted to learn English, it was important. I laughed. I told them not to lie to me, because if they really wanted to learn, really thought it was important, they’d have done their homework, and studied. I pulled out my grade book (I never would have done this in the states) and started telling them their grades- you’ve only done homework twice all year, you only learned two words in two weeks, etc. I told them that if I taught them, right now, they’d all be getting 2s, which is like the equivalent of a D. I asked them if they still wanted me to teach them, knowing how I grade. They said yes. So, I made a deal with them. I told them that I’d teach them that day, and that if every.single.one. of them did their homework, I’d teach them until the end of the first quarter and then, if they’d improved, I’d keep teaching them. But, if one student didn’t do their homework, the whole class wouldn’t go to the Halloween festival, and I would teach the 6a class instead. They agreed to the terms, so I taught them. (yes I’m aware of the irony of me being an English teacher, and the fact that this was practically one long run-on sentence)
Sigh. I was so frustrated when I left the class, I almost ran into one of my 7b students. I don’t teach them until 5pm, so I wondered why he was at school so early. It turns out; he came to ask for help on his homework! I’ve told every class, every single lesson, that if they had questions, to please come ask, and it was the first time that a student came to ask! Good-bye frustration, hello euphoria! The “emotional-rollercoaster” here is like that. Sometimes the up and down cycle takes a few days, or weeks, and sometimes, just a few minutes.
Yesterday, we had a holiday. The “fall ball” It was kinda like a talent show, I guess. Three different classes did songs, dances, and skits. They asked me to judge at noon, and the show started at 2. So, having nothing else to do, I judged! I was great! They’re so creative, and I found that I could understand more of the Kyrgyz than I thought I’d be able to.
Next week is our Halloween Festival! I’m so stoked! My 8 classes, from 7th-11th, are all presenting a different fall tradition that I’ve taught them about this week, and then we’re going to do the traditions- pumpkin carving, bobbing for apples, etc. There’s also going to be a costume contest, so the kids are making their own costumes. I can’t wait to see what they come up with! As a matter of fact, I’ve got to come up with my own costume… we’ll see how that goes. I’ll try to post pictures after.
We’ll I’ve written quite a bit, and need to get off to do my shopping. Guess I’ll turn of my billie holiday and try to go hitchhike, I mean, get a taxi… haha
Miss you!
Love from Kyrgyzstan!
Jess
10 October 2009
When things get kind of frustrating here, without fail, something will happen that makes me feel not quite so far away. Sometimes several things will happen all in one day that make me realize that no matter where in the world you go, people are the same. Teachers still confiscate and laugh at ninth graders’ love letters, kids still put off doing their chores until the last possible minute, mothers still make their kids put on too many clothes when it is cold, and people still show off when they have something that others don’t. Although, in the last case, the something that they have that others don’t… just happens to be… me. Haha
So, a little bit of a geography lesson… Kyrgyzstan has seven oblasts (the equivalent of a state). The Peace Corps has volunteers in six of them. Each oblast is divided into rayons (the equivalent of a county, I guess). In my rayon, there are two volunteers: me, and Mike, a health volunteer. So, that makes me the only TEFL volunteer in my rayon. Last weekend was the teacher’s holiday. I went guesting with all my teachers and had a great time. Today, in honour of the teacher’s holiday, every school in the rayon sends five or six teachers to the rayon center for a bit of a celebration. Guess who is one of the five or six from my school? You’re right! Me. Apa told me, jokingly, this morning that they wanted me to go so they could essentially show me off as their volunteer. Woo-hoo. I’m not 100% sure what we’re going to be doing. Apparently we’re going to the rayon education office to meet with all the other teachers and watch a concert, and possibly going to a café with the teachers from my school. My counterpart is going too, and told me that we shouldn’t be gone long, but Apa told me I’d probably be back late, so I haven’t the foggiest idea what exactly I’ll be doing.
I’m meeting the teachers at 8:30, which, at one time would’ve seemed really early to me for a Saturday, but I’d have been up that early anyway. The students here go to school on Saturdays, so my family is all up and ready and going to school anyway, but as part of my PC contract I only teach Monday through Friday. I’m normally up on Saturdays anyway because a family of seven can’t get ready without making a considerable amount of noise, that plus, my internal alarm clock has been set for 6:30 for so long that I’m usually up.
Well, I’ve got to go to school to meet with the teachers, so I’ll wrap it up for now, but maybe I’ll write about today when I get back.
When things get kind of frustrating here, without fail, something will happen that makes me feel not quite so far away. Sometimes several things will happen all in one day that make me realize that no matter where in the world you go, people are the same. Teachers still confiscate and laugh at ninth graders’ love letters, kids still put off doing their chores until the last possible minute, mothers still make their kids put on too many clothes when it is cold, and people still show off when they have something that others don’t. Although, in the last case, the something that they have that others don’t… just happens to be… me. Haha
So, a little bit of a geography lesson… Kyrgyzstan has seven oblasts (the equivalent of a state). The Peace Corps has volunteers in six of them. Each oblast is divided into rayons (the equivalent of a county, I guess). In my rayon, there are two volunteers: me, and Mike, a health volunteer. So, that makes me the only TEFL volunteer in my rayon. Last weekend was the teacher’s holiday. I went guesting with all my teachers and had a great time. Today, in honour of the teacher’s holiday, every school in the rayon sends five or six teachers to the rayon center for a bit of a celebration. Guess who is one of the five or six from my school? You’re right! Me. Apa told me, jokingly, this morning that they wanted me to go so they could essentially show me off as their volunteer. Woo-hoo. I’m not 100% sure what we’re going to be doing. Apparently we’re going to the rayon education office to meet with all the other teachers and watch a concert, and possibly going to a café with the teachers from my school. My counterpart is going too, and told me that we shouldn’t be gone long, but Apa told me I’d probably be back late, so I haven’t the foggiest idea what exactly I’ll be doing.
I’m meeting the teachers at 8:30, which, at one time would’ve seemed really early to me for a Saturday, but I’d have been up that early anyway. The students here go to school on Saturdays, so my family is all up and ready and going to school anyway, but as part of my PC contract I only teach Monday through Friday. I’m normally up on Saturdays anyway because a family of seven can’t get ready without making a considerable amount of noise, that plus, my internal alarm clock has been set for 6:30 for so long that I’m usually up.
Well, I’ve got to go to school to meet with the teachers, so I’ll wrap it up for now, but maybe I’ll write about today when I get back.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
ugh.
so... it looks as if i won't be making it home this winter to visit after all. you might be a bit upset, but i almost guarantee you aren't as upset as I am. I was hoping to come home the end of january or beginning of february, but PC has this rule that TEFLs can't take vacation while school is in session. I totally understand that rule, after all, we are teachers. but, apparently a lot of volunteers have been requesting leave, so they broke down and said that TEFLs could take vacation between December 20 and January 12. I'm sure this is great for some people, but they're just really bad days for me to be out of site. I've got so much stuff that I want to be here for those weeks: end of semester tests, i'm planning a christmas program, winter camps, and I feel like i'm finally integrating and becoming a part of my community and I think that I really should be here for the new year holiday. don't get me wrong, i'd LOVE to be home for christmas and new years, but really think that i should be here. So, no winter vacation for me. I'm sure there's a good reason for all the bureaucrap... I mean bureaucratic rules and stuff, but it doesn't really mean that i have to like them. I personally don't see the difference in missing a week of school in december versus in january, but... alas... there you are.
After having a minor temper tantrum, (I actually stomped my feet. haha) and crying for a bit, and calling momma... I've forced myself to think positive and tell myself all the cliches like it happens for a reason, look on the bright side. as a result.... i'm hoping to maybe come home next summer? the pros would be that i'd be able to come home for a longer period, people will be out of school so it'd be easier for me to see you. the cons are that it is next summer that we're talking about and seems extraordinarily far away right now. Oh well, thats the way it goes. I signed on for two years, so next summer would be the halfway point if i come home.
we'll see.
miss you all
love from kyrgyzstan,
jess
After having a minor temper tantrum, (I actually stomped my feet. haha) and crying for a bit, and calling momma... I've forced myself to think positive and tell myself all the cliches like it happens for a reason, look on the bright side. as a result.... i'm hoping to maybe come home next summer? the pros would be that i'd be able to come home for a longer period, people will be out of school so it'd be easier for me to see you. the cons are that it is next summer that we're talking about and seems extraordinarily far away right now. Oh well, thats the way it goes. I signed on for two years, so next summer would be the halfway point if i come home.
we'll see.
miss you all
love from kyrgyzstan,
jess
2 October 2009
2 October 2009
I’m a liar. You know how I said that I’d never leave laundry for three weeks… ever… again? Well, two weeks ago was my bi-weekly laundry day, but I was temporarily evicted, and then last weekend, we lost power and it rained, so here I sit with A MONTH of laundry to do. Granted, a month’s worth of laundry here is so much less than it’d be back home given my redefinition of the word “dirty,” but, even with my rewearing schedule, a month of clothes is still a lot. For example, clean underwear every day, that’s 30odd pairs, most shirts I wear at least 5-7 times to school before washing, unless I spill something on myself, haha, so let’s say 6 dress shirts if we include overlap from last month, too. My jeans I usually wear for a month without washing. (kinda gross, I know, but denim is a pain to wash and dry here…. I still haven’t figured out why Peace Corps volunteers are assumed to be dirty... haha) My dress pants usually go for a month too, but I’ve got the long ones that I wear with heels and the shorter ones that I wear with flats, and I haven’t washed them since getting to site in June… so that’s two pairs of dress pants. Plus, two skirts that I’ve been alternating for a month, and then there’s my house clothes. I usually wear a t-shirt and a pair of bum pants around the house and to sleep in for a week straight, so that’s four more shirts, and four more pants… plus my bedding, and my towels, and my socks… sheesh. It is a ton. Other background information that you need to know… I was supposed to teach four lessons today until 1. But, my second class, the boys all got called out to do work to winterize the school. Then I had a break and was supposed to teach two more lessons, but after the third lesson today, it was cleaning time and the students have to clean the school, which means no class. So. Here it is, 10:15am and I am done with work for the week. “Why don’t you do your laundry now?” you might ask. That’s a very good question. Well, I went to start hauling my water and was going to light a fire under the big kazan (it is like a huge cauldron type pot, seriously it’s so big I could take a bath in it haha) but then I looked in the big pot, and there was food in there. We lost power yesterday so Apa cooked in the pot, and what with it being potato harvesting time, winter salad making time (like canning in the states), school cleaning day, and the other regular work, I guess there hasn’t been time to clean it yet, and it isn’t really a job that I want to undertake myself. Alas, since tomato, potato, and noodle-flavored clothes are really what I want to wear, I’m not doing laundry right now. AND tomorrow I’m going guesting since it is the teachers’ day holiday, I probably won’t be able to do it tomorrow. Oh, the disadvantages of having too many clothes… I can feasibly go another two weeks before I run out of underwear, and another month or two before I have no clothes… If only I had less clothes, I’d be forced to do laundry… sigh. Poor me. Haha
Anyways, enough ranting about laundry. The time has come to talk of other things. (love that movie) Teachers’ day, for instance: I was given a present today by my 11th grade class. They gave me one of the felt souvenirs that is shaped like an old fashioned canteen; I found out later that one of the girls made it. They also gave me a hand made beaded necklace and ornament. They also made a really sweet card with paper flowers. I am continually wowed at the ingenuity of the students here. In America, kids would just buy something, but here they make everything. Even my creativity is improving here.
Speaking of which, I finished my first ever crocheted scarf. I used the dark red yarn that Jenn sent me and bought some grey to accent with. I’m working on a hat now. I’ll post pics modeling my goodies when I finish. It is hard to make things without a pattern, but through trial and a lot of error, the finished projects should be reasonably mediocre. Haha
Other bits of randomness:
I’m learning some Kyrgyz superstitions. I know every area has their own different little things, for example, I was always told when I was little that if your nose itched, someone is coming to visit you. My host dad and I had an encounter this morning when I was on my way to the outhouse, and the outer door to our house had a massive spider web with a half-dollar sized epic monster spider in the middle of it stretched across it. Me, being my typical brave, courageous, daring self… was paralyzed with fear. Haha Okay, really, I was looking around for something to get rid of it with, when my host dad came and just wiped the web with his hand (ew, shudder, gross) and grabbed the spider and took it outside. He then told me that having a spider build its web across your door is good luck because it means someone is coming to visit. It is opposed, of course, to my belief that having a spider build a web across your door simply means that there is a huge nasty spider blocking your way to the outside. Haha
miss you
love from kyrgyzstan,
jess
I’m a liar. You know how I said that I’d never leave laundry for three weeks… ever… again? Well, two weeks ago was my bi-weekly laundry day, but I was temporarily evicted, and then last weekend, we lost power and it rained, so here I sit with A MONTH of laundry to do. Granted, a month’s worth of laundry here is so much less than it’d be back home given my redefinition of the word “dirty,” but, even with my rewearing schedule, a month of clothes is still a lot. For example, clean underwear every day, that’s 30odd pairs, most shirts I wear at least 5-7 times to school before washing, unless I spill something on myself, haha, so let’s say 6 dress shirts if we include overlap from last month, too. My jeans I usually wear for a month without washing. (kinda gross, I know, but denim is a pain to wash and dry here…. I still haven’t figured out why Peace Corps volunteers are assumed to be dirty... haha) My dress pants usually go for a month too, but I’ve got the long ones that I wear with heels and the shorter ones that I wear with flats, and I haven’t washed them since getting to site in June… so that’s two pairs of dress pants. Plus, two skirts that I’ve been alternating for a month, and then there’s my house clothes. I usually wear a t-shirt and a pair of bum pants around the house and to sleep in for a week straight, so that’s four more shirts, and four more pants… plus my bedding, and my towels, and my socks… sheesh. It is a ton. Other background information that you need to know… I was supposed to teach four lessons today until 1. But, my second class, the boys all got called out to do work to winterize the school. Then I had a break and was supposed to teach two more lessons, but after the third lesson today, it was cleaning time and the students have to clean the school, which means no class. So. Here it is, 10:15am and I am done with work for the week. “Why don’t you do your laundry now?” you might ask. That’s a very good question. Well, I went to start hauling my water and was going to light a fire under the big kazan (it is like a huge cauldron type pot, seriously it’s so big I could take a bath in it haha) but then I looked in the big pot, and there was food in there. We lost power yesterday so Apa cooked in the pot, and what with it being potato harvesting time, winter salad making time (like canning in the states), school cleaning day, and the other regular work, I guess there hasn’t been time to clean it yet, and it isn’t really a job that I want to undertake myself. Alas, since tomato, potato, and noodle-flavored clothes are really what I want to wear, I’m not doing laundry right now. AND tomorrow I’m going guesting since it is the teachers’ day holiday, I probably won’t be able to do it tomorrow. Oh, the disadvantages of having too many clothes… I can feasibly go another two weeks before I run out of underwear, and another month or two before I have no clothes… If only I had less clothes, I’d be forced to do laundry… sigh. Poor me. Haha
Anyways, enough ranting about laundry. The time has come to talk of other things. (love that movie) Teachers’ day, for instance: I was given a present today by my 11th grade class. They gave me one of the felt souvenirs that is shaped like an old fashioned canteen; I found out later that one of the girls made it. They also gave me a hand made beaded necklace and ornament. They also made a really sweet card with paper flowers. I am continually wowed at the ingenuity of the students here. In America, kids would just buy something, but here they make everything. Even my creativity is improving here.
Speaking of which, I finished my first ever crocheted scarf. I used the dark red yarn that Jenn sent me and bought some grey to accent with. I’m working on a hat now. I’ll post pics modeling my goodies when I finish. It is hard to make things without a pattern, but through trial and a lot of error, the finished projects should be reasonably mediocre. Haha
Other bits of randomness:
I’m learning some Kyrgyz superstitions. I know every area has their own different little things, for example, I was always told when I was little that if your nose itched, someone is coming to visit you. My host dad and I had an encounter this morning when I was on my way to the outhouse, and the outer door to our house had a massive spider web with a half-dollar sized epic monster spider in the middle of it stretched across it. Me, being my typical brave, courageous, daring self… was paralyzed with fear. Haha Okay, really, I was looking around for something to get rid of it with, when my host dad came and just wiped the web with his hand (ew, shudder, gross) and grabbed the spider and took it outside. He then told me that having a spider build its web across your door is good luck because it means someone is coming to visit. It is opposed, of course, to my belief that having a spider build a web across your door simply means that there is a huge nasty spider blocking your way to the outside. Haha
miss you
love from kyrgyzstan,
jess
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)