Dear all,
Anika has asked repeatedly what I do on a day to day basis.
So, here goes:
On every school day except for blessed Tuesdays (my lie in day, as Shelia calls it ), I wake up at about 8:30, get dressed as fast as I can, brush my teeth and my hair, and leave the house before 8:45. School starts at 9 in the morning. Tragically, today is a Tuesday, and in my haste to leave the house, I did not recognize that. So I missed on of the things I look forward to all week. Sleeping in on Tuesday. So, anyway, once I get to school, I go to class. I teach three classes a week with a teacher named Zhana. She speaks very little English, and the kids speak even less. I don't really do much in those classes. I correct a lot of mistakes, and act as the tape player, in reading out English passages in my best slow monotone voice.
The rest of my classes I teach with Ia. We have a lot of classes. Every week they seem to be giving me more. In the classes with Ia I am more involved, but sometimes I really feel like it is pretty pointless, my being here and all. In classes with Ia I am more involved, but I still feel like I don't do much. But it is exhausting.
I spend all day making sure that I do not commit any offenses. And I do anyway. The kids laugh at me for no apparent reason, and no matter what I wear, I am judged. My shoes especially seem to be some sort of village discussion topic. When I wore my Chacos for the first month and a half, every old lady in town would shake her head when she looked at my feet. The kids would point them out to each other. Then, one cool morning when I wore my black trainers, It was like I was an alien. It is because all the teachers here wear these horrible high heeled black boot things. Not only can I not afford them, I also really don't want to wear them. The others will get used to the differences in dress, or at least they will shut up about it. Maybe.
Anyway, after school on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I teach the older kids who never had a chance to learn English. The president apparently initiated a sort of exit exam, that includes an English portion. This really peeved the Russian and German teachers, as well as basically everybody, off. So, pretty soon here I am going to be teaching that class all alone. As soon as my co teacher has "taught them the alphabet" she will abandon them to me. I told her that I did not want to do it and that I have no teaching experience and other stuff. But the administrators think that if one volunteer can do something, we all can. I think there is some sort of heroic super teacher out there, screwing over the rest of us teachers, making us all look bad.
Once I am finally home, exhausted from school, I generally curl up in my freezing room and try to take a nap, or I sit next to the fire and read my book. Not much of anything happens. On Wednesdays I go to Sachkhere and meet up with Shelia, Christina, and Jaime, and maybe a few others, for some food and conversation. At other times throughout the week I do this and that. I may go on a run or a walk, peel a mound of potatoes, pop the corn off dried cobbs for the chickens, or do varous other activities. On the weekends I either stay at home and do nothing, or I travel! I have been to Batumi once, Tbilisi four times, and Chiatura once.
I have been blessed enough to go to church three times already, and I really love it. I am making tons of good friends, and learning a lot.
Love Katie
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