Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, world! I know I haven’t posted in a long time, so this one will be rather long,  but I want to share with you the things I’m experiencing here in Central Asia that I’m thankful for.

As always, I have a lot to be thankful for. My wonderful family and friends that support and encourage me from my homeland (I miss you all! Can’t wait till Christmas!). A great job in a fascinating country. Meals (including some local cuisine) prepared for me most days of the week, and a maid to clean the house I share with my awesome roommates (which so helps as a first year teacher!). And sweet students, like the 8^th grade girl that wrote me a handmade card recently that says “You are a light” on the front and honors me on the inside. And the 11^th grade girl that said “Oh, good,” when I told her I’d be subbing for her class for a couple days. The boys are sweet too, like the 12^th grader who says “High five Ms. Johnson, high five!” every time I do just about anything. Sometimes he’s just being silly, but he’s not mocking me. One time I said it to him, and he got so excited. “Yes! You get it, Ms. Johnson!” He’s the same student who didn’t want to be counted tardy, so on his way to the bathroom, he exclaimed “Hold my horses, Ms. Johnson; hold my horses!” So funny. I love my job! Even on the hard days where 7^th graders ask too many questions, 8^th graders call each other names, 9^th graders erupt into giggle fits, and 11^th graders throw tantrums when they have an upcoming test. Because other times they surprise me with how much they do care.

I’m also thankful for the cultural experiences I’ve had here. I get to teach students that are mostly from this part of the world, along with others from around the world. And they teach me a lot about the local culture. Recently one of my professors/advisors from grad school asked me if my pedagogy has changed yet because of where I’m teaching. I’ve been thinking about that. Yes, in some ways I’ve identified so far, and I’m sure there are some that I haven’t, and more to come. For example, honor is very important in this culture, so truth is not always forthcoming because it is very shameful to one’s family to get into trouble. But I have taught them that honesty is important to me, and I have had some students confess things (like cheating). So I have tried to honor them for their courage in that. The students also love to share the popular culture with me, by inviting me to their soccer games or telling me about their favorite local pop musicians or Bollywood stars. When American football came up in a story problem in Algebra class, I confessed that I don’t really enjoy it and prefer soccer and root for the Portland Timbers and Chivas (both in North America so they’re neutral- I’d start a war in my classroom if I supported Manchester United or Barcelona or Real Madrid since those are the kids’ favorite teams here, and they’re as divided as Duck and Beaver fans are in Oregon!). The whole class literally cheered for me! I think by enjoying soccer, I validated an important part of their culture. (It’s huge here! When this country won the regional championships, we had to go inside because of all the celebratory gunfire around us!)

Besides my students, I’ve also enjoyed getting to know the local culture through the national staff and neighbors. One of the ladies that works in the office taught me a local idiom at the beginning of the year. It is a response to a compliment, and means “Your eyes are beautiful.” At a staff celebration of Eid, she told me some of her personal journey of survival. The people here have lived through a lot. The Eid celebration itself was a cultural experience as well. We had a big tent with a divider to separate the men and women, so we could dance. The local women taught us how. One of the drivers didn’t like the music we had playing on our side, so he went and got his laptop so we’d have “better” music. So funny! More recently, the entire staff went out to eat at a delicious ethnic restaurant, and we crowded into several vehicles. One of the local language teachers couldn’t stand the thought of me sitting on the floor of the bus we were in, and convinced me to sit on her lap. With her arms around me (the people here are very affectionate with their own gender- I’ve even gotten the traditional three kisses from the mother of one of my 8^th grade boys), she pointed out places in the city, and painted a picture for me of what the city was like before the war. Two weekends ago, one of my roommates and I went to a neighbor’s house to visit (there are a couple local families that live on our compound). My roommate has been here for several years and knows the language pretty well, so she translated some of the conversation for me. I mostly talked to the 12-year-old (who taught me the local word for “alien” since the movie Battleship was playing on the TV). The father had studied accounting so he commented a little on that in English when I asked about the accounting books. And the 3-year-old was adorable. He kept taking pictures of my roommate and me on his dad’s phone, and took some of himself, and said the local word for “cheese.” Some American traditions have definitely traveled the world!

In one of my previous posts, I discussed the culture of the expat staff here. We have many talents and hobbies and cuisines to share. Now that it’s too cold for slacklining, one of the elementary teachers gives us gals belly dancing lessons on weekends. It’s a great workout! (Mom, don’t read the next two sentences!) And with so many of us being musically inclined, we’re working on a top-secret Christmas project to bring home to our families (if you guess what it is, don’t tell my mom). Hopefully it’ll turn out well. I even got to play the jingle bells! We have a lot of fun making music together here.

On Tuesday, I had my algebra class write three things they’re thankful for. We’d had an assembly on gratitude recently which taught that gratitude isn’t just a feeling of thankfulness, but it has to be expressed to someone. So the kids asked me who the gratitude was supposed to be directed to: parents, friends, God, etc. I’m used to American kids just reflecting on what they’re thankful for. So I was grateful to my students for reminding me that life isn’t about what we have. It’s about who we have.

And with that, I’m thankful to all of you, for your emotional support and encouragement, and most of all, love. Happy Thanksgiving!