my week

Where did the past week go? Half of my reason for not writing on here is because my computer still seems to be sick, and is so slow. So I do only what is necessary...and that still takes forever. The other half is that I was busy...as usual.

Monday I went to the village I have started the clubs in, but not for the clubs, but to see a cultural festival. The dancing part, in which a student I know was, didn't actually start on time, so I didn't get to see much. But it was a good time.


Tuesday I was back to the village to supervise the clubs in a school for minorities. That was interesting...but I won't go into detail about that.

Wednesday, again to the village, this time for game day. The high school students were on spring break this week, so we also took a break from the regular clubs and had fun. It was a good time, but tiring.


More about my week tomorrow...good night.

a working weekend

Its Sunday night and its hard for me to believe the weekend has come and gone already. Lately I have been busy traveling and visiting people on the weekends, and this weekend I had planned to travel but the snow changed those plans. So this weekend I was able to catch up on some much needed rest and much needed work. I spent most of the weekend in front of my computer and at the moment I am tired of sitting in this chair looking at my computer. I have basically been sitting here since about 3pm, and its now 11:30pm. I took a break to walk down the street and buy some fruit, and I made dinner, but thats about all. I am thankful for the busy week ahead of me, and that it doesn't include or allow for much time in front of the computer.

Well I was going to leave you with some pictures from the past week. But the combination of having a horribly slow internet connection and my computer being sick and working very slow means I have no patience to wait. Yes my computer is sick. Last night it turned off on me and I lost the lesson I had just finished writing but had yet to save. And then it wouldn't turn on again. Thankfully this morning it worked again...but not at the same speed...and it didn't recover my lesson. I can tell something is wrong. I am worried and have backed up all my files now.

Ok, so since I wrote more I had time to upload a couple pictures. This is from Friday when I went to my friend's sister's Celebration for the Day of the School (the anniversary of when the school opened).


This picture is from last weekend when I was visiting a friend in her village. We went to this castle-like war memorial and of course...there was dancing involved (with music on the phone)...even though there were just four of us there.

surprise

Okay, I knew the weather report said snow, but we hardly got any snow all winter, I surely wasn't really expecting it today. Last night I woke up a few times and heard what I thought was rain outside. As usual I woke up this morning and looked out the window to see what the weather was like, so I could decide what to wear. I was shocked as I saw a blanket of white. I was very excited to see such whiteness...but the day did not continue in that fashion as it has been a mix of snow and rain, and therefore not very pleasant to see or walk in.

I am very tired from a long week and am happy that I do not have any work to finish tonight. I think I am going to read my book now and take a nap, then watch a movie when I wake back up. A very exciting evening for sure!

a long day

Overall I had a very good day....it was busy and long, but good. This morning I woke up early (7:30am is very early for me), got ready, talked to a couple friends online, and headed outside to meet the two teachers for the clubs in the village. Next, one hour driving in the car, with a short coffee break in the middle. When I asked if the teachers wanted to get to the school early they said no....so we stopped for coffee (really a must in this culture. I need to remember to plan that into the drive for the future.) The clubs (English and computer) went well and the teachers did a great job. More students were there this week, and others have started hearing about our clubs and wanting to know what is going on. Its starting to get exciting. I love starting up new work.

After stopping for lunch on the way home, we arrived back in the city with about an hour to spare before I had to teach at the university. So I met a friend and we sat on a bench near the university and talked. My class went well today. I think I am back in the swing of teaching again and enjoying it. Its nice to enjoy class again. (Although right now I should be preparing tomorrow's lesson and I am not.)

After class we had game night. There were 8 students there tonight, which doesn't seem like much anymore. Before, that would be considered a lot. We played UNO for awhile and laughed a lot. These students are crazy, but its fun. Later I went out for coffee with a friend....which ended up actually being dinner not coffee.

Now its almost midnight and I should finish my lesson for tomorrow and go to sleep. I am happy that I don't have to wake up early tomorrow...first time this week. Sleep...such a wonderful word.

work, work, work

I am glad that my work is fun. I can say that I have been very busy with work lately, but thankfully a lot of it is fun. Now some of it is not, but you will have that. Last week I was not really enjoying teaching, which was surprising for me, because before I loved it. Sometimes I would be walking to class, not really wanting to teach, but it would always turn out well. In the end I was always happy about teaching. For some reason, last week I did not want to teach, and the classes therefore didn't go very well. Thankfully this week has started off on the right track. So far the classes I have taught this week have gone well and I enjoyed them. I am thankful for that.

The work in the village is taking over my life. I drove out there yesterday, and am going again today. The most frustrating part of it all is that it takes 1 hour to drive there. So although I only had a little work to do yesterday, it took a long time. Yesterday I went to a school for minorities here. It was interesting and a bit hard as I don't know their language. I will be supervising a computer club and an English club in that school. It will be very different than what I am used to, and although I think it will be a challenge for many reasons, I am excited about it.

sleep?

I am not sure why or how I am still awake...but I am, so before I turned off my computer I thought to write a quick note on here. I apologize for not updating this more, as I said I would during these 40 days. I was away for the weekend again, and therefore did not get much sleep. Tonight after my class I visited a friend at her house. I could not believe how tired I was and how hard it was to keep my eyes open...and that was at 8pm. Now its almost midnight and somehow I have managed to stay awake. It would have been better just to sleep. I find I am not productive at all when I am this tired, but tonight I seemed to be too tired to finish the basic things I had to get done. I was distracted easily and in the end did not really complete much. I have given up, now its time for sleep...

pictures from this weekend

new teachers

"I'm so happy," the computer teacher kept saying after he finished his class today. "I can see," was my response to watching him jump around the room in joy. And then we all broke into complete laughter.

What a change from last Friday when the director was so discouraging and my teachers left with sad faces. Today was their first class. For both of them it was their first time teaching. And both of them did a wonderful job. I am so proud.

On our way to the school we stopped for coffee and were talking. The teachers (two of my university students) were talking about how they were excited about this opportunity and how it was great to work together. And these are not just words, they are encouraging each other and helping each other already. They are using the strengths each one has to help the other. In this society that is traditionally so individualistic these were wonderful words to hear. Its great to see that the young generation here is ready to change things. They can see the problems they face and they are working to counteract them. Its a slow process, and it will take a lot of time, but its a wonderful start.

Tonight I am very tired, but I am happy. Today was a good day.

classes

Well, my days are getting busier and I keep forgetting to write down my daily events here. I will try my hardest to keep this updated well, during these 40 days, so that everyone can continue to lift up the people here and the events going on here.

In general our classes are going well. Now, every day, Monday through Thursday, my roommate and I each teach at least one class. Interestingly, new students keep showing up to the conversation classes and we aren't sure where the old students are going. Somehow the word is spreading about these classes, even though we never advertised them (I only sent an email to the list of students who have ever contacted me about classes). This is slightly frustrating that its different students each week, but nice that we have a good pool of students now for any activities we might do.

Today I teach my intermediate grammar class. This class meets twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Last semester this class was fairly big and it was hard to get to know the students, but so far this semester its been a bit smaller with only about 15 students. I enjoy the smaller class much better.

The engagement party this weekend was very interesting. I will post some pictures later in the week or maybe next week.

learning through challenges

Today was a day of encouraging and learning. I am tired and have to wake up early tomorrow morning, so I will spare you all the details. Just to say, the director of the school we went to today did not agree with our selection of teachers (because we didn't choose his candidates) and terribly insulted them and their competence. I was blown away by how rude this man was today. For the sake of the high school students we are continuing with this project, but with much hesitation. We threatened to withdraw the project from this school, and in the end the director agreed to cooperate with the teachers we selected. The whole drive home consisted of me encouraging the two university students I selected to be teachers, trying to instill confidence in them again. I was impressed with their good attitude about the whole situation.

Tomorrow I am off to my friend's house in a village. Her brother is getting engaged tomorrow. This means, party time...or something like that. I am actually not quite sure what to expect. I know that it will be a very long day. I am glad I practiced my traditional dancing last week (although not on purpose for this occasion.) I am interested to see what happens as I have not been to an engagement party before.

new work

Today I head out to a new area which I have grown fond of in the past couple months. We started working in this town in September, when a team was here to paint a mural. That project opened the doors to this town and has allowed the connection to future work. Soon after the mural project an agency here asked me to head up a project starting extra-curricular activities in a couple high schools. I agreed, if it could be in the town we painted the mural in. It turns out that town fits the criteria for the project and it was a go. Its been a slow process but it is finally gaining momentum. Two of my university students have been hired to teach an English club and a computer club in this town. They are eager to get started, although they are timid at the thought of teaching for the first time. Its really encouraging watching these students and being able to mentor and encourage them. I am really excited about working with them in the future.

Today we are heading to the high school to show the new teachers where the school is and allow them to meet the director. I believe, if all goes according to plan (which usually doesn't happen here), the clubs should start up next week. That will be fun...but that means I have some work to do, as I said I would create some initial lesson plans for each club to allow the students to get to know each other. Thankfully after that they each have a set curriculum to follow.

(I wrote this last night, in hopes that I would post it this morning. I forgot and was too busy getting ready and washing my car.)

women's day

Urime 8 marsi!
Happy Women's Day!

Today is International Women's day (like Mother's day in the states, but all women are included) and yesterday was Teacher's day here. It is tradition to give women plastic flowers today, for Women's day. So following tradition and being the wonderful students that they are, many of my students gave me a flower today. It was a bit awkward as many students (ok, just five, but it seemed like a lot) kept coming up to me at the beginning of class and handing me a plastic flower. This is the first time students have given me flowers. I also received some perfume and a plastic clock. Those are also very common gifts. My students also enjoyed it being women's day today, as I started class and said, "since its women's day I didn't want to work hard, so we will play a game during class." I played the same game yesterday in my class, as it was teacher's day. Okay, the game made them use lots of English and talk, so I consider it a learning experience for them, but I usually don't allow it to last for the whole class. It worked out well for me as yesterday and today I was a bit busy and didn't really have time to plan a lesson.

Today also marked one year of me being here in this city, on this term. One year ago today I landed back in Europe after spending a couple months in the states. Its strange to me to think I have only been here in this city, teaching these classes, friends with these students, for one year. It seems like much longer than a year, in good ways and bad. As I think back on the past year I am amazed at how much I have done and how many new people I have gotten to know. I can think back on my first couple months here as I struggled to get my classes started up and students interested. Now we have over 100 students involved in our classes and a constant flow of new students coming in. In the beginning I struggled to break into the circle of friends that was already established here, and now I often find myself overwhelmed with too many coffee visits. Overall it has been a good year.

girls

Today I am more tired than normal and I am not sure why. I started up my intermediate grammar class today. I was surprised that not all my normal students showed up, but it was a good class anyways. The most interesting part was that out of the 12 students who were there today, 4 of them were girls. That is a really abnormal percentage for my classes. Its exciting to see more girls interested in English. Its hard to be friends with the guys, so I am always excited for new girl students, so I can get to know them. Thats all for today, I am going to take a nap or watch TV for a little bit and see if I can find some more energy to plan tomorrow's lesson.

starting class again

For the past month I have not been teaching my normal intensive grammar classes. During the month of February the students here have a month off from lectures and this is their exam period. Their exams are based solely on memorizing all the material from their books. The professors may give an oral exam, which consists of three questions that you must answer exactly how the professor wants (sometimes word for word from the book.) The education system here is now starting to change and therefore many professors are starting to give written exams. Still the grading system is often biased and not fair. The grade you receive on your final exam is your grade for the class. Therefore the students put a lot of time and effort into studying during this month, and I gave them the month off from my class.

Today I start up class again. I am excited to see my students again on a regular basis and start teaching again. My advanced class consists of about 15 students and we meet on Mondays and Wednesdays. I really enjoy this class and the group of students in it. Over the past month I had coffee with this group of students a few times and it was exciting to see them bonding together and growing in their friendships.

friday

Across the street from my flat is a large mosque. Today, Friday, the street is crowded and many men can be seen hanging around the mosque. Today is their holy day. Its impossible to find a parking place on the street around 12:00 on Fridays. (I am glad my car was parked last night and I have not moved it today.) All stores are still open today, and nothing else changes. Sometimes it seems like the call to prayer (which goes off five times a day from a loud speaker on the tower of the mosque) is louder on Fridays, but I am not sure of this.

Today is our day off from teaching. We tend to stay busy on the weekends, so do not get much rest then, so I decided not to teach on Fridays. Its the one day of the week that I can sleep as late as I want and stay in my pajamas all day if I want. (But I have found thats not a good habit, because you never know who will show up at your door. Better to be dressed and ready for the unexpected.) I try not to make many plans on Friday and use this day as a day of rest....or a day to get caught up on work on the computer (which is what I will do today.)

Tomorrow my roommate and I, along with some other friends, will go to my old city for the weekend. We will visit the mountains and enjoy time with some old friends. So, no updates until Monday.

extra curricular activies

Today I have a meeting about a new project I am helping to start up in conjunction with another organization. We will be starting some extra-curricular activities (English and Computer clubs) in the high school of a small town here. The concept of extra curricular activities is really foreign here, and hopefully this will be a start to something good. We have hopes that this will spread to other towns, and will be able to be reproduced easily. Initially the clubs will be more like an extra course (which is common here) but I hope that I can help transform them into something more fun and interesting.

The planning of this project has been going on for a long time, and I am ready for some action. I believe this meeting will finally get us somewhere. So far we have hired teachers for the clubs and have selected students to be in the clubs. Now on to the details about how it will all work out.