so i don't actively have the internet at the moment, notepad it shall be. this is probably going to be an epically massive post. i have a lot to write about and my main concern will be that i leave out at least half of all i want to say.
school has started again. this one is gonna be interesting. i am teaching WAY too many classes, but i have no choice in this. my counterpart, Nuriya Obdrakmanova, is working for peace corps and to get my school to agree to let her go, i had to pick up ALL of her classes. so i am teaching 9 classes of 2nd course Geography of Kazakhstan and 3 classes of 3rd course Geography of Kazakhstan. one of my fellow teachers thankfully accepted the Business English classes i should be teaching because i might die if i had to plan and teach any more. the university still is under the impression that even though i am already over my number of hours, i should still come and teach three classes of Advanced Reading. i'm being councelled/brow-beaten by my site mates to say no to this.
i am torn because in November my counterpart will come back and my load theoretically should lighten. so i feel guilty not just doing everything EVER right now. knowing how life here is though i won't get a lighter load somehow. AND. AND. how could i forget? there are all the english clubs that should be held every week. i'm supposed to help run those. AND some sort of teacher's club. and a professional training club. and work with the organization that i have been working with for the past year. i mean, come on. at some point i need time to think and breathe. YES, i did have a summer off. at least August. i very, very deliberately hid. i mean, i turned my phone off. i didn't reply or even open emails. because i KNEW. i KNEW! that the minute they got me i was theirs. i'm like expert prey specially evolved to avoid my thousands of predators waiting to pounce. but now that's all over. just to give you an example and make me sound less crappy, i went to a meeting. i finally answered my phone. just come in and let's make some plans. ok. sure. that turned into me editting a text book, and completing several reports in addition to simply making a plan. and i have teachers now asking me when and where my club is because THEY are being forced to attend. all i can do is politely ask, to which club are you referring.
but that's the past. summer is over. i am back at work and i am not shirking any responsibilities no matter how much i want to.
another thing that ended with the summer is/was my blondeness. sad times. i liked it. i'd gotten really used to it. even though britt started calling me Yin and Yang (i let the beard get a little out of control cause i was lazy, i'll admit it), we all had gotten used to it and it was nice. my hair was never hot, dark hair gets super hot in the sun!!!! so i go to several stores and ask for hair dye, in what literally ends up as me asking for chocolate color... well, i find some nice brown. darkish. my natural colorish. well, being VERY blonde meant that the color turned into GINGER CHILD RED!!! omg i was such a red head for like two days. it was sad. it was scary. it was horrifying. it was SO MUCH WORSE and UNNATURAL than the blonde. now its more muted and i'm just a horrid ginger child in certain light. i can live with it.
in other news, i also got a hair cut right before i did all this dying. dyeing? whatever. i have never had a 'bad' haircut in this country. so i shouldn't complain. but i have NEVER had a haircut i wanted. i have no hair left, it's a super high and tight. though everyone tells me how much better i look. so thanks people, for telling me that my preferences are horrid and i look better when i have no say over my looks... thanks.
in other other news, we've had people coming through like woah. it's been fun. meeting people crazy enough to travel through this part of the world. apparently there will be some academics doing research here for a while so that's fun.
new vols are going to be here SO soon. it's crazy. and upon reflection of the date, so is my birthday. i don't really want to get older here. it makes me feel like i'm not progressing in my real life. whatever that means. its like i'm taking a two year nap where i dream of working too much and not understanding a lot of whats going on around me. then i wake up all rip van winkly and realize that i now two years behind in the rat race. yay... but that's just when i'm moody. i like being here. as my host mother and i talked about today. its a good experience doing this.
quick update on my students. i have some awesome new students and groups. which is exciting. they speak english. they are motivated. and i am glad that they didn't leave shymkent to go to almaty or astana to study. i have students i am less excited about but that is the nature of being a teacher. one of my new girls, lera (pronounced more like lyera), has a boyfriend who does sambo. which is the russian national military martial art, or something to that effect. i may get to start doing sambo soon! i can go to school looking like a tired ol beat up hobo everyday! can't wait! even better, my girls told me i was far too skinny to really do sambo. can i ask for a better day... oh wait. that's right. i almost had a fist fight in one of my classes (a class of ONLY girls) and i got chewed out several times in russian because NO ONE... literally no one, not just me... can keep up with all the schedule changes. i was told i 'missed' a class that i was not scheduled to teach. fun times. hopefully the schedule will get sorted out in the next two weeks and life will not be so scary and tentative.
random news: i am having 90% of my wardrobe tailored so that i can wear my own clothes. saving me probably 80-90% of the expensive of buying all new clothes. yay!
i still love bathrooms here, even if they don't have S pipes and always vaguely smell like old eggs, because they are magical portals into spying on other people. no matter the time of night i can hear at least two people having some sort of random conversation or music or something so strange it can't be described in words. awesome.
i finally formally got introduced to my local ladies at the little shop i always go to. they are so nice!!!
i was offered a potentially free apartment to live in, which complicates my life terribly. we shall see what goes down.
i have two prospective russian teachers, and have yet to do any more russian learning. august was a bust. BUT, i did start translating the little mermaid. don't ask...
i'm not really worried about teaching at all, which is nice, because even though i feel completely competent and fine in the classroom i used to worry a lot.
hopefully my subtle hint of 'invite me over to your house' will get me invited to my students houses so i can experience a kazakh 'konak' which is something like 'a visit' or 'being a guest and being forced to eat enough food for 7 people and drinking a sea of tea.' can't wait.
the more i read other PCVs blogs, the more i realize that i have a very different, and i might say strange, experience. i don't live in a land of retro music that won't die. all i hear RIGHT NOW, as in blaring from next door, is Rihanna and Eminem. i don't watch and rewatch old movies from the 90s. my students are more fashion forward and in-tune with trends (at least European trends) than i am.
in a desperate, and successful, attempt to keep my sanity i have been reading like a fiend. i have read no less than 2 books this month already and read something like 5 books in the past three weeks. and i am going to finish another tonight.
i am beside myself with the thought of glee coming out soon.
i have begun looking at tickets to beijing and/or seoul for my holiday i plan on taking next summer.
i had the geekiest moment a few days ago where i could not put down the math flash cards for the GRE. i felt so AMAZING while i was burning the cobwebs away with little mental fire i have left to muster to solve inane geometry problems.
i got to catch up with jessy and rail about all things conservative. very fun.
and i'm sure i did like a million other things, but i can't remember any more now. though school has started so i should blog more regularly. let's hope so!
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