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
Monday, November 23, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
OW
Usually I write blogs at home and then upload them when I come to the city, because it saves me time and money, but I let my director borrow my flash drive yesterday for a day or two so i'm actually writing this in the internet cafe. I don't really have a lot of news, which is why I've been writing a little less frequently, so I'm going to just write a few random thoughts and be on my way because i don't have a lot of time today.
1. clumsiness + ice = a very bad combination. I bit it hard on the way to the internet cafe. It definitely wasn't the first time, and certainly won't be the last, but it hurt all the same. Those of you Norfolkers who remember my last experience on ice should know that i managed to fall with a little bit more decorum, although this fall was kinda like that one, although thankfully without the windmill arms. The teeth jarring head crack was achingly similar though. sigh. my head still hurts
2. I have rediscovered my respect for artists. After spendng three consecutive afternoons locked in a room with windows that don't open writing grammar tables with paint (and quite possibly getting lead posioning haha) I've remembered how difficult artsy stuff is. and i ruined my manicure with paint thinner... sigh
3. i've realized that surviving this winter is going to be one of the most difficult things i've done. emotionally. one. it is cold. and we all know how much i love the cold (i hate that the dripping sarcasm of that statement doesn't come through in type) plus it is dark when i wake up and dark when i come home at least three days of the week. it is a damper on my mood... sigh
In case you haven't picked up on it (all the sighs), i've been kind of in a down mood for a couple of days. One of those stomach-dropping turns on the emotional roller coaster.I have no doubt that it'll go back up, but the downs are just really hard sometimes.
well, in an effort to not infect the rest of the world with my depressing mood, i'm gonna end for now. my next post will be more upbeat, i promise.
miss you
love from kyrgyzstan,
jess
1. clumsiness + ice = a very bad combination. I bit it hard on the way to the internet cafe. It definitely wasn't the first time, and certainly won't be the last, but it hurt all the same. Those of you Norfolkers who remember my last experience on ice should know that i managed to fall with a little bit more decorum, although this fall was kinda like that one, although thankfully without the windmill arms. The teeth jarring head crack was achingly similar though. sigh. my head still hurts
2. I have rediscovered my respect for artists. After spendng three consecutive afternoons locked in a room with windows that don't open writing grammar tables with paint (and quite possibly getting lead posioning haha) I've remembered how difficult artsy stuff is. and i ruined my manicure with paint thinner... sigh
3. i've realized that surviving this winter is going to be one of the most difficult things i've done. emotionally. one. it is cold. and we all know how much i love the cold (i hate that the dripping sarcasm of that statement doesn't come through in type) plus it is dark when i wake up and dark when i come home at least three days of the week. it is a damper on my mood... sigh
In case you haven't picked up on it (all the sighs), i've been kind of in a down mood for a couple of days. One of those stomach-dropping turns on the emotional roller coaster.I have no doubt that it'll go back up, but the downs are just really hard sometimes.
well, in an effort to not infect the rest of the world with my depressing mood, i'm gonna end for now. my next post will be more upbeat, i promise.
miss you
love from kyrgyzstan,
jess
Friday, October 30, 2009
Happy Birthday Jordan!
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
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
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
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