20 November 2009
It is Friday morning and I am not at school. “But Jess, it is Friday morning, you have class. Why aren’t you at school?” You might ask. The answer would be that I didn’t have to go today. Normal classes are suspended and students are doing what is called control work. I don’t really understand it, but basically all the students have to take 5question tests in a multitude of different subjects. And my counterpart told me that I didn’t have to come if I didn’t want to because I wasn’t needed. So, I elected to stay home and write this blog. Haha I promised that this blog would be more upbeat and I think I will be able to accomplish that because I’m in a bit of a better mood. I made a conscious decision to be happier. Not happy, but “happier” It is almost impossible to just will myself to be happy, because so many of the things that make me unhappy are beyond my control, BUT! happIER, I can manage. It is just making myself focus more on the good than the bad and giving myself what momma told me I need for about five years: an attitude adjustment. Haha So, in an effort to keep my mind on the positive, I used my newly-acquired-and-copied-from-katie-hobby-of-cutting-out-magazine-letters-to-make-pretty-stuff (that is said with one breath. Haha) to make a sign for my room. It is entitled “the good stuff” and since I’ve created the self rule that for every negative thought I have, I have to think two positive thoughts, I am writing the good thoughts and sticking them to the sign. Pretty good, right? So, I’m gonna share a few of the good thoughts. And since I have A LOT of time today, this blog might get a little lengthy. My apologies in advance. Here we go- the good stuff:
1) I have my own English room. Most volunteers do not. The renovations should be finished by Monday and I will be able to start having classes in it. Which also means that: I get to have and use visual aids, I get to use a white board instead of chalk, and have more control over my environment.
2) My students like me and I like them. A few examples: I cracked up in front of my 11th grade class. (Background: My counterpart and I divided up classes on Wednesday because several of the teachers are out sick and if we taught the classes separately everyone would be able to go home sooner. I was teaching them formal introductions- not because it is useful in any way, but because we got new little English pamphlets from the rayon government that we have to use.) I was doing a demo conversation practice with one of my 11th grade boys. He is a good student, but also can be a smart-alek class clown, which is awesome in my opinion. Anyways, we were just doing the basics. You know- what is your name, how are you, etc. Then, he pulls out of his repertoire, “how old are you?’ and “can I have your telephone number.” I have NO idea where he learned that, because most of the other students didn’t know what he said, but needless to say, I was not expecting that, and it cracked me up, partly because of the way he said it and partly because I had a flash back to the “can I have yo number? Can I have it?”. In a couple of seconds, the entire class was laughing. It was a great class. Another example, one of my ninth grade girls, who is friends with one of my host sisters and is at my house a lot, came to me yesterday and asked me for a favor. She brought me a few balls of yarn and asked if I could make a scarf for her. I was more than willing to, but was curious because her mother crochets really well. I asked her why she wasn’t asking her mother to do it. Apparently, she has a crush on a boy and his birthday is next week and she wants to give him a scarf. She couldn’t ask her mother because her mother would want to know who it was for. It was the cutest thing, it still makes me giggle, but she was very concerned with secrecy. She made me promise not to tell her mom or my counterpart or anyone. It made me really happy. Even though it is a small thing, it tells me that there is a growing bond of trust with my students. One final example- I was teaching my ninth grade B class, which if you remember is the one that I had been having a little trouble with. Toward the end of the lesson, when the students were working in pairs creating a dialogue, I caught one of the boys passing a note. I wouldn’t have done anything because he wasn’t really disturbing anyone, but he caught me looking at him and got a “oh no she saw me” look on his face so I asked him for the note, because I was curious. He didn’t want to give it to me, and we ended up having a conversation about why he didn’t want to give it to me, during which time he succeeded in tearing the note into little pieces. It didn’t really bother me, and I’m sure it would’ve bothered a lot of the local teachers, who probably would’ve punished him. Me, on the other hand, just gave him floor cleaning duty for the day. Every day the students have to mop the floor in their classrooms and it rotates every day, but usually the girls do it. I told him that since he made a mess on the floor, he had to clean it. I think the students were surprised, but we all ended up having a good laugh at it and I think they all thought it was a good punishment. So, my students and I are getting along. I also added the sixth grade classes to my schedule and they are a new dynamic, so we’ll see how that goes. I haven’t been able to teach them yet because attendance has been around 3 students in class since everyone is sick.
Let’s see… what else is on my good stuff list…
3) I haven’t peed on my foot in the outhouse in months. Oh! This is kind of unrelated and kind of related. I am trying to figure out how growing up with one sister, we fought over the bathroom in the mornings all the way through school, but now that I have four sisters, I’ve only had to wait for the bathroom twice since June. Granted, the bathroom is the outhouse, so obviously no one is brushing their teeth or doing makeup out there, but we also have our indoor wash room with sink and mirror and I’ve never had to wait to use that either… curious, very curious.
4) My newly dyed hair (did I mention that I dyed my hair?- it is now “chocolate brown”) anyways, my newly dyed hair covers dirtiness better than when it was lighter
5) I talked to Jenn this morning for the first time since coming to country! I interrupted her night at the green leafe, but I think she’ll forgive me. I also found out that she is sending me FOOTED PAJAMAS for Christmas. I am not sure that you’re aware of the gravity of that statement, so I’ll repeat myself. SHE IS SENDING ME FOOTED PAJAMAS FOR CHRISTMAS!!!! I’m am SO unbelievably excited!
6) I am integrating into my village pretty well. I’ve begun to meet students’ parents. I am still getting invited to go guesting. I am going tonight as a matter of fact, to the Kyrgyz equivalent of a house warming party.
7) I am making Hummus again today and I am eating it now. I’m eating in my room because apa is frying fish and the smell is permeating the house. Sigh The hummus is delicious, though, if I may say so. That is another thing I have learned- things that you make yourself are so much better than store bought stuff. I am eating aforementioned hummus with tomatoes and cucumbers, whose prices are starting to rise again. They are both sixty som a kilo. Which converts to about $1.50. I know- that doesn’t seem like a lot, but I don’t really think about it dollars anymore, I budget in som and don’t have a ton extra to splurge on veggies, and when you don’t eat meat and need vegetables, and when the prices are only going to steadily increase…. It is cause for a wee bit of concern. Especially considering that less than a month ago tomatoes were 6 som a kilo, which was about 14cents… But, to quote Mrs. Buckett, “nothing goes better with cabbage than cabbage.” And I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ll be enjoying cabbage as my primary vegetable for the next few months. Luckily, citrus fruits are coming into season and pretty soon I’ll be able to get a kilo of oranges for about 50 som ( a little over a dollar) I am just going to have to switch vitamin sources. Delicious, delicious, vitamin sources.
I might try my hand at pita bread later, too. I’m not sure yet. I also want to make pumpkin bread, but I’m having trouble finding the spices. If anyone is sending a box this way in the next few months, some little containers of nutmeg, allspice, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, cream of tarter, cumin, and brown sugar would be great.
8) OH! Big news! So, if you have been keeping up with reading this blog, you will know that I had a Halloween festival with my students and that a Christmas concert/festival is underway. I have created a monster so it seems and am now expected to have some sort of festival or party every quarter. I have no problem with this because it keeps me busy, but after having a discussion with my counterpart and some of my students about holidays and American school traditions… hold your breath… here it is…. I am going to help my students have ….. a prom. Yes, I know. A PROM? Do I know how much work that will be? Yes, I do. Do I know that the concept of the boys and girls going on a pseudo “date” might shake up my school a bit? Yes, I do. And am I still going to hold a prom? Yes, I am. I think it’ll be good for my students. Only the ninth and eleventh forms will be able to go, since we don’t have a tenth form. It’ll be for the older, and slightly more mature students, just like in America. So, here is where I need your help. Explaining the concept of prom wasn’t that difficult, but I would really appreciate if you all could send me pictures from your respective proms to show my students what prom is like. I’ve already recruited Jordan to send me pictures from my prom and hers, but I would love a bigger variety. If you could just print a few pics and stick them inside a card and mail it to me, that would be fantastic. It only costs like a buck to send a card or letter over here, and my students LOVE seeing pictures of America. When I made my scrapbook, I had no idea how much of a cultural aid it would be. The pics from last year’s Halloween in Norfolk were a big help, as were pics from jordan’s wedding and Christmas. Anways, I digress… pictures are good. Very good. Send me some please?
9) It is the third week of November and I have taught six classes the entire month. My second quarter schedule has me teaching 18 classes a week, but due to a week of vacation, a week of training, and over 50% of my students being out sick, there just haven’t been a lot of English classes. Now, why is this is a list of my good stuff? You would think that me not doing the job that I came to do would be bad, not good. I put this on the list as a representation of how much I have relaxed. We have a teaching plan, right? Which topics we will teach on which day in order to cover all the things we need to cover all year. We are currently four topics behind in about half of my classes and I am not concerned. Being behind schedule, or off schedule, would have really stressed me out a year ago. Now, I know that we’ll make it up, or just change the schedule, or just drop some topics. I’m not fussed about it. Is this personal growth and progress? We shall see.
10) This point does not really belong on here, but I like the prospect of finishing up a list with a round ten things. Nine just seems incomplete. What? Yes, I know, I am still OCD and crazy. You didn’t expect that to change, did you? Well, you might have noticed, maybe not, that my English is diminishing. (word is helping to check my atrocious spelling) Like most languages, lack of use makes it hard to remember. And seeing as how outside of class and lesson planning with my counterpart, I do not use English, it is becoming rusty from lack of use. Also, because my textbooks use British English and I’ve been reading quite a few books by British authors, my language is not only starting to get worse, but it is starting to change and I say things differently. I caught myself saying “you have a brother, have you not?” because I have read tag questions like that in the textbook all week. It is really strange. I have also almost completely quit using contractions because I use my TEFL voice whenever I do speak English. BUT on the flip side, my Kyrgyz has improved. I scored between and advanced Low and Advanced Mid on my language at our last training, which is technically fluent. YAY! I was told that I need to use more idioms, and I am sure that I will pick those up in time. Also, the upside to getting an advanced score in Kyrgyz is that I can now start learning Russian, too. I have picked up a little bit of Russian, simply from living in the most russianified oblast, and living in a half Russian village, but am having trouble with the grammar. All the verb conjugations and gender specific words are pretty rough to learn on my own, but I can now get a Russian tutor and hopefully by the end of two years, I’ll be fluent in both languages.
I know. It must be hard to believe that my language is suffering considering how loquacious I have been in this blog. I’m on the fourth page! Sheesh. If you have stuck with me and read this whole thing in one sitting, thanks. But, alas, as I am sure your eyes are starting to hurt and the words are starting to blur, I shall do you a favor and close for now.
Miss you tons!
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
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