Life Here

I can’t believe it’s already fall break! And I haven’t blogged since before school started. Teaching is kicking my butt! But I love it.

In this post, I’ll tell you all about living and teaching in Central Asia. Then in my next post, I’ll describe our adventures this week on vacation in Uganda. Right now we’re in the Nairobi airport on our way home, and I’m writing this in Word and will post later. It’s been nice to have the week away and not think about teaching. So hopefully my brain has processed a bit of all the craziness and fun of the past several weeks.

Where do I begin? My 9th grade Algebra class is a blast. It’s my fullest class, but very fun. Then there’s Consumer Math, which is mostly juniors and seniors. I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy teaching students that old, but they’re a great group. Some of them have very specific dreams for their future careers, and are very driven to achieve them. I only have two girls in the class, but one of them wants to be a corporate lawyer. Then there’s the boy who wants to be an auditor. Next is 8th grade physical science. That’s my hardest class management-wise. Only 4 girls and a whole bunch of boys that are great individually, but set each other off in class. And there’s the fact that I’m not really a science teacher. But it’s a good challenge, and we’ve had some really fun moments together. Fortunately, I’m almost done with the last chemistry unit, which is the hardest for me. Plus, I love middle schoolers, so I’m grateful to get the experience. My biggest challenge content-wise was Pre-calculus class. It was getting so difficult for me to explain the content (and it’s still in the easiest section), so my director swapped me classes. He’d taken on a 7th grade Pre-Algebra class, and due to scheduling issues, taking it on means I now teach it at the same time as my Consumer Math class. It was a very difficult decision because I wanted what was best for all the students. I also didn’t want to give up on a responsibility that I’d accepted. But I wanted the students to get the best education they could, and the director is a great math teacher. Both classes are small and self-motivated, so it’s been okay so far, but it will be a challenge. I’m glad to have more middle school math experience, though. Which brings me to my last class: Math Foundations. It’s 7th and 8th graders that are struggling with their regular math classes. It’s very small so I get to give more attention to them and give them extra practice in skills and help with their regular homework. So now, most of my classes are within my licensure.

And I’m loving it. Teaching my cute little 1st graders in China was fun, but this is much more fulfilling for me. My students are full of character and I’m relishing getting to know them. I’m trying to think of specific examples (hey, I’ve been on vacation for a week!). Math night was especially fun. It was for the elementary classes, but the secondary math teachers were asked to offer extra credit for volunteers to help. I didn’t even tell my kids about the extra credit at first (and never did for my science class), and I had well over 20 kids sign up to help! And almost all of them showed up. I ran around that afternoon trying to get them all to the various classrooms and stations to help, and it was fun watching them. One boy had a great time running the “cookie walk” (a cake walk where they had to do simple math problems to see which number was the winner). Other students were really sweet helping the little ones do the games the teachers had set up. I also got to meet a mother of one of my students, and got the official 3 cheek kisses greeting that are part of this culture.

So that’s a bit about teaching here, but what about living? Well, living in Central Asia has some similarities to Eastern Asia, at least where I lived in China. You have to remember to brush your teeth with water from the water cooler, and throw away toilet paper in the trash can. And of course there’s squatty potties. We also have mountains around the city, which I love, and appreciated when I was in China as well. Then there are things that are more particular to this region, like dressing to respect the culture and blend in more in public. Like China, there is the warmth and hospitality of the people when you get to know them. And the music. People here love music and dancing. They love Indian music and Bollywood, but they also have great pop music of their own. And they consider bread and cats sacred, and are very passionate about soccer. Love it!

Then there’s the culture of the international staff that lives here on campus. Most are from all over the States. I’m the only one from Oregon, besides one teacher whose parents recently moved there so he stayed there this summer. So now I have friends from all over, bringing their traditions and interests with them. Slacklining is a pastime I’ve attempted to take up. I can only get about 8 feet across so far, but it’s fun! There’s also a lot of musical talent amongst the staff. We like to play music and sing together and may put together something fun for Christmas. We also like to get together to watch movies at each other’s houses, and have watched some movies on a projector screen in a nice yard of one of the other teachers. Very fun! Going out for dinner is also fun. My favorite meal out so far was bbq lamb, and here at school my favorite meal is kabuli palau. Delicious!

I haven’t had a chance to get out and see the city a lot with being busy teaching, but I did go to a lovely park and will try to include a picture or two from that. I also have pictures of the rugged mountains around the city, which when we flew in today had a dusting of snow on them. There’s also a crispness in the air that is very refreshing (although I already miss the warm humidity of Uganda). Bring on autumn!