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