Now I am due to go to school so will have to leave yesterdays comments and hope to catch up with myself later.
So slights and delights updates.
Slights vary from amusing to slightly more worrying.
Slights, the school bus driving past me as I walked to school - clearly I look more like a local than I thought.
Here I have more time to observe people cos I cannot talk with them, so I sat at my desk and watched as my colleague answered a phone and looking for somewhere to write a phone number just used one of the many tri - lingual teaching cards and wrote not on the back, but on the laminated front of it! But then the other day I could not find my timetable till I realised that a piece of torn paper on my desk was half of it, someone had torn in in half and used the back to write their notes and when I found the second half of it, someone else had written on the back of that. Perhaps Mn, Ts, Wd, did not signify or times that it might actually be my timetable despite it being on my desk.
Anyway just amusing things really but more worrying is the situation at the Ashu, not very serious, but two nights ago when I got home I wondered what will happen tonight about food, normally the hotel staff leave food out for me or the daughter in law cooks, but now she is back in Bishkek and just the owner's mum is here. So come 7.30 the owners grandma (85) and I had been sitting around together on and off since 4, I decided to look for her and found her working away in the restaurant kitchen, so I figured I would make myself some pasta back in the kitchen in South House where I live. I had no sooner started (I must look up cooking at High Altitude) as the water never seems to boil) than all the family came in and wanted to eat. First they were a bit puzzled maybe insulted that for some reason I had not wanted to eat the beshbarmak that had sat out for several hours in the warmth, then they had to wait till I finished so I rushed and ate half cooked pasta, which was not much fun. Then last night similar thing by 7.30 I was getting really hungry and this time they were all just sitting around, so I know the imperative for eat, but not the verb so tried it, and they just nodded but did not do anything about getting anything so I gestured can I cook some eggs. Yes so made an onion omelette, ate it quickly so that they could eat, and then she cooked yes onion omelette for her, her husband and her mum. Tonight I came back from school quite late and realised that the owner and his wife were back and therefore she would cook, but that it might be a bit late therefore, so I was lying in bed, almost dozing off, when I jumped up in the air as my door was thumped. I was not even sure if someone was actually knocking it was so loud so I thought there might be another cause, it was because the owners mother was holding the baby and trying to thwack the door at the same time and she gestured towards the restaurant and motioned that I had to eat there. It is as if I have to know by osmosis that guests are here. I am sure she finds me very annoying too, but ... But the compensation was that one of the guests turned out to be a very nice Kyrgyz woman who has been studying for her Phd in Exeter. Ashu's delights restored And hopefully if the internet can be restored properly I can start using google translate and have some conversations with this woman and we can both enjoy each other's company a bit more as a result.
Then there is the problem with the washing, in summer I would wait till the hotel was less full, then in the evening use the laundry and hang my clothes on a small plastic dryer and it would dry quickly in the sun. At first I was very worried about what to do in winter, but as it was just me and grandad in my bit of the hotel most of the time brought the rack in and by the end of the night it had dried in front of the radiator. But when the whole family came back they used the washing machine constantly and the radiator in my room had stopped working for a couple of days, so my larger than normal hand washing made rather unpleasant smells that they understandably objected to I have now been able to re-negotiate using the washing machine and dried the last lot of washing in my room near the now fixed radiator and again it was dry next morning, but the family think my washing has caused the mould in the room, not the fact that it is the coldest room in the hotel and a very terse grandma sent me out into the snow this morning, to hang my washing on the line!
The delights are the children, sometimes they are just so lovely. The little girl in the first picture below when I did the review with her she did not have her book with her, so we looked at someone else's work, then stupidly I got her to fill something in and we both suddenly realised what she had done and had a lovely little giggle together. There are a couple of the boys too, I cannot really explain it they are just so lovely, when I was in primary school one of my teachers said she would have wanted to adopt me if I needed adopting, I did not take this as anything creepy just an appreciation of the 9 year old me. I hope it is the same with me and these children One reminds me of my nephew so it is easy to explain and another reminds me of someone else I know but I think it is just that they are so passionate about learning and you have seen the photos, they are all so beautiful. I know having taught for 20 years that when working with people learning, one invests so much in the people one is teaching and so want them to succeed that the idea of not seeing them through the process is almost impossible - it is why I stayed so long teaching in Hertfordshire and why I felt so sad to leave Senegal without seeing them progress. But what I have realised recently with the departure of 3 children in year 0 and the arrival of 5 children in year 0, I could easily return next year and find some of the children I most want to work with again have disappeared. And the truth is though at times I can be great fun as a teacher, there are lots of other good teachers out there.
It was funny yesterday with year 0 when I first walked in they told me to leave, finger pointed to the door, rather than English, they were too busy colouring and so quiet and calm no wonder they did not want me to come in as with my chaos, noise, energy etc. Anyway I went away pretending to be sad and they came to get me, and we started class. They still fought to get some of the items and to touch the letter box I have made into which they post letters of the alphabet (pinched idea as is so much of teaching) but they are better than before, they then laid out some clothes I had brought it which they found great fun, and then did some work in groups with flashcards. When I went to leave one girl would not give them back, these kids are strong, if small so taking things back from them can be a challenge, and when she hid it under her bum, clearly I could not go there so iIpicked her and the chair up to see if I could shake it free and amuse her sufficiently into releasing the cards (her teacher who is supposed to help me has sat so busy that she has not seen strangling, a result of teasing - bullying? going on or my frustration with the kids fiddling with my things, or me picking the girl up) After that the girl did give up the cards, laughing with pleasure, but of course after that several kids wanted to be picked up, by the time I got out of class, I literally had about 4 children physically hanging on to me that I could not get off me! I struggled up the hall with them clinging to me and in the end, yes they all got a swing around. I am not sure this is how teachers are supposed to behave, but it is nice if somewhat knackering to have such fun.
The other delight is the sun on my face, as I sit in the garden on the swing and listen to the birds and just relax. So on that note as I am the last one out and the caretaker wants to lock up I had better go home. Off to Bishkek after work tomorrow hopefully to go to a piano concert.
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