When I was enthusiastic about the school my plan was to ask all the students to record a message to Nathan and say Happy Birthday. Instead with my voice only just about coping with the demands on it, and me feeling very pissed off with the lack of information. I am just pleased to have survived the day so sorry Nathan not the celebration I had planned.
On arrival I spotted a dog outside the school and thought it might be the missing Ashu dog, and felt quite tearful when I realised it was not. I knew going home might disrupt me. But it is knowing I could have had longer that has really upset me, especially as I could have made more of Nathan's 26th birthday had I known. I thought my head might apologise again and explain why everyone else at school was told but not me. But no. Instead she informed me I have a student for two weeks, which is fine, but again no warning and when I asked when she was coming, I was told she started today. It was all I could do to stop myself from saying Oh so she knew when term started! But stopped myself mid sentence.
Luckily the kids rescued the day, especially 2A, several of them were able to read not well but enough to show a sense of a word and it really helped them. I get the feeling that they have been practising over the holiday with their parents. Sadly no sign of anyone reading in 2B, so will have to try and support them with this even more than I was, but hopefully it will come.
The little ones did not even have to be told to get in a circle when they came round so while there was a little bit of hitting each other, nothing terrible so we could get on with the work. What colour is this etc. My colleagues and I might have agreed over the resources we use, but he has made me think I can try and push their use of language a bit more, so this term I will try and embed more sentences with them.
Monday, 13 January 2014
Sunday, 12 January 2014
Support ebbing away?
Is the support ebbing away? One of my colleague's is having to make tough decisions about whether to carry on here or not. Hopefully it will all be resolved as she likes her job with the foundation, but other factors are affecting her. I am having the same ongoing debate with myself but more with regard to whether I stay another year. However, I think first I need to get through next term. I realise I am a bit anxious about it, in fact very anxious, do not really know why, but I guess because I know how shattering it can be here etc.
I have to laugh there is a little girl here, she is from America, but has lived most of her life in Kyrgyzstan, she was chatting to me and called me grandma! I have been called Babushka a couple of times on the streets too, if I heard the person correctly, so while in my head I am still this young person, my face says another story.
It is gloriously sunny here today ( I wish I had realised how nice winter would be, I would have encouraged people to visit) so I did a couple of short walks looking for the dog, but have very little energy still. So I have slept and eaten today. I also tried to finish the Winter Festival video but have only managed year zero so far.
I have to laugh there is a little girl here, she is from America, but has lived most of her life in Kyrgyzstan, she was chatting to me and called me grandma! I have been called Babushka a couple of times on the streets too, if I heard the person correctly, so while in my head I am still this young person, my face says another story.
It is gloriously sunny here today ( I wish I had realised how nice winter would be, I would have encouraged people to visit) so I did a couple of short walks looking for the dog, but have very little energy still. So I have slept and eaten today. I also tried to finish the Winter Festival video but have only managed year zero so far.
Saturday, 11 January 2014
Work, talk, knackered.
Last night my colleague from Bishkek turned up with the old colour printer which had been whisked to Bishkek for repair. Had I known he was definitely coming I might have skipped going in on Friday knowing we would work today, but unfortunately I got his message just as I was leaving So rather than rest last night we chatted, very intensely with two guests, one of whom he knew, a nice Kyrgyz woman, a doctor and benefactor, about the history of Kyrgyzstan and the significance of Manas the great Kyrgyz poet and how the Kyrgyz had fared under the Soviets. Then today we had more intense chat over breakfast, this time about education, my colleague and I disagree over some resources, so I was shattered even before we headed to work as speaking (and I did the least in this erudite, knowledgeable but contrasting group) is very painful. We chatted so long my colleague started getting edgy about us getting all our work done, he was especially keen to get me to sign my contract. He was having to translate it for me. It seemed to mainly consist of health and safety regulations, so that might be useful. The original English agreement had been sorted out prior to coming out here, but understandably the organisation also needs it confirmed in Russian.
Then it was onto trying to work out how to set up the printer in Russian and make sure the odds and even pages were set up correctly, pages turned in the right direction etc, to print the works off. (We have subscribed to a web page which has levelled readers to increase the range of books the children have access to in English and wanted to run through the procedure with the naff printer, ready for when we get it back and can do a proper run) That accomplished we tried to find and print just one page for me for Monday, (all the computers had been moved around and tidied up so it was not where I expected but luckily the computer teacher was in and helped me find my stuff) and failed totally. So we headed back to the Ashu for the three course lunch that guests get, where the conversation between the two men turned really intense over Islam, Stalin, and the World Trade Center (even I got heated over that) so much so that WW3 seemed imminent. So churned up we headed back to work, got my stuff sorted and my stressed colleague headed back to Bishkek with the printer to get it properly repaired so fast that he forgot to drop off all the goodies he had for me (books and paper). He rang while I was resting to say that these were in a bus heading back to me, but they are not here so far. I have faith that the informal post system here will however come good at some point and the items will appear.
This suddenly reminds me of when I worked in Hertford Regional College we had a system that logged in all mail as it arrived. We had a little man, who literally walked between the buildings bringing this mail to everyone, and dealing with all the internal movement of documents (this is before the days of mass emails in the box), then he would drive to the college's other site there and then do the post going out. So in theory a very efficient system, yet never a day went past, when an email would come out, saying has anyone seen a ream of paper, it was delivered etc, but has not arrived at its destination, or a computer has come to the college, but never been seen since. So heaven knows what was happening to it. But perhaps it had been given to a complete stranger on a bus with instructions to get it to its destination.
Two bits of worrying news in terms of friendship support for me. One the dog has definitely disappeared - just when I have found a nice source of food for it and two the art teacher might not be coming back. He was the only person, other than the head, with whom I could converse a bit at the school and we had conversations about art and teaching, both at work and at the Ashu, and we always made each other laugh, so while it was limited it was vital. Anyway we will see, hopefully they too might turn up.
I felt so ill by the time my colleague left, I crawled into bed and have been happily resting and reading ever since. The internet has been down most of the day. However, I know it is often a bit better after 10 which is why I have been able to post this. I know it is only a cold, but it has totally knocked me out for over a week and is still bad so hope that I can just rest tomorrow as the kids will need masses of energy on Monday.
Then it was onto trying to work out how to set up the printer in Russian and make sure the odds and even pages were set up correctly, pages turned in the right direction etc, to print the works off. (We have subscribed to a web page which has levelled readers to increase the range of books the children have access to in English and wanted to run through the procedure with the naff printer, ready for when we get it back and can do a proper run) That accomplished we tried to find and print just one page for me for Monday, (all the computers had been moved around and tidied up so it was not where I expected but luckily the computer teacher was in and helped me find my stuff) and failed totally. So we headed back to the Ashu for the three course lunch that guests get, where the conversation between the two men turned really intense over Islam, Stalin, and the World Trade Center (even I got heated over that) so much so that WW3 seemed imminent. So churned up we headed back to work, got my stuff sorted and my stressed colleague headed back to Bishkek with the printer to get it properly repaired so fast that he forgot to drop off all the goodies he had for me (books and paper). He rang while I was resting to say that these were in a bus heading back to me, but they are not here so far. I have faith that the informal post system here will however come good at some point and the items will appear.
This suddenly reminds me of when I worked in Hertford Regional College we had a system that logged in all mail as it arrived. We had a little man, who literally walked between the buildings bringing this mail to everyone, and dealing with all the internal movement of documents (this is before the days of mass emails in the box), then he would drive to the college's other site there and then do the post going out. So in theory a very efficient system, yet never a day went past, when an email would come out, saying has anyone seen a ream of paper, it was delivered etc, but has not arrived at its destination, or a computer has come to the college, but never been seen since. So heaven knows what was happening to it. But perhaps it had been given to a complete stranger on a bus with instructions to get it to its destination.
Two bits of worrying news in terms of friendship support for me. One the dog has definitely disappeared - just when I have found a nice source of food for it and two the art teacher might not be coming back. He was the only person, other than the head, with whom I could converse a bit at the school and we had conversations about art and teaching, both at work and at the Ashu, and we always made each other laugh, so while it was limited it was vital. Anyway we will see, hopefully they too might turn up.
I felt so ill by the time my colleague left, I crawled into bed and have been happily resting and reading ever since. The internet has been down most of the day. However, I know it is often a bit better after 10 which is why I have been able to post this. I know it is only a cold, but it has totally knocked me out for over a week and is still bad so hope that I can just rest tomorrow as the kids will need masses of energy on Monday.
Friday, 10 January 2014
Kids in Chon Kemin
Recently I heard a world service programme: an Australian woman and her two year old checking out the child care services in Fiji and China. In China some children from a very young age, as old as her child, are in 24 hour nurseries, five days a week. They have fabulous resources, and are usually used out of necessity but some parents like them for socialising their child and because they offer things like karate and languages. The alternative was a grandma in Fiji, who watched TV and left her 9 grandchildren to just play outside, they got no schooling. The interesting thing was the 2 year olds response to these two models. Apparently through out the visit to the Chinese school she refused to leave her mother's side, but in Fiji happily abandoned her mother. I think in Chon Kemin that we might have a nice mix of these two models. Children spend the whole day outside even in the winter, (helped by the sunshine) unsupervised, when school is out and a lot of the time after school but seem to have a genuine interest when in school to bend to the system for the knowledge it brings. The most frustrating thing as a teacher is that we cannot always push these educational opportunities as far as possible, owing to time money, etc, but that is the same in the UK.
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| Children in Chon Kemin out sledging. |
Thursday, 9 January 2014
More gritting.
Just discovered that the people occupying my room are here till the 15th so perhaps I should unpack and see if I can work out where everything is as things I thought were at work weren't.
Having crashed out again, after my phone call, I eventually got to work about 12. Only me, the cleaner (and her grand-daughter) , the security guard and an artist were there. The artist has painted snow so real it blows me away, close up it is useless, but from 20 feet away I can even see it sparkle. At times I am collapsing into paroxysms of coughing, which is horrid, but in many ways otherwise okay. It felt nice to be back.
The security guard, bless him cooked us all dinner, so that was nice. He is always kind. Despite having about 10 words in common we three managed to talk about the size of the British population, art and Islam. (The cleaner and her grand child had gone home) The artist graphically putting his hands over his eyes when talking about the latter. He said that Kyrgyzstan is not like other central Asian countries, that it is not Islamic, despite the centuries of Islamic tradition and that is what others tell me, but definitely some younger Kyrgyz have come under the influence of Islamisation. He also thought that the countries population was smaller than stated and that this was done for political reasons. So amazing what you can talk about over dinner despite language barriers, that is assuming I understood him correctly, when I got back to the Ashu yesterday I understood I would be in my room by today!
One of my colleagues came into work briefly, gave me a hug, the third I have had since getting back to the Ashu. She introduced me to her granddaughters. I teach her two grandsons. But the granddaughters live in Bishkek and are not currently learning English to her disappointment. She is only 4 years older than me, but has at least 4 grandchildren. It took my step father up until his 80's to get to that position.
Otherwise I had the place to myself. The colour printer has disappeared but mercifully the black and white worked so I have been able to do some prep work., which was some consolation and I sorted out some of the many tri-lingual flash cargs that are hung around the school.
Having crashed out again, after my phone call, I eventually got to work about 12. Only me, the cleaner (and her grand-daughter) , the security guard and an artist were there. The artist has painted snow so real it blows me away, close up it is useless, but from 20 feet away I can even see it sparkle. At times I am collapsing into paroxysms of coughing, which is horrid, but in many ways otherwise okay. It felt nice to be back.
The security guard, bless him cooked us all dinner, so that was nice. He is always kind. Despite having about 10 words in common we three managed to talk about the size of the British population, art and Islam. (The cleaner and her grand child had gone home) The artist graphically putting his hands over his eyes when talking about the latter. He said that Kyrgyzstan is not like other central Asian countries, that it is not Islamic, despite the centuries of Islamic tradition and that is what others tell me, but definitely some younger Kyrgyz have come under the influence of Islamisation. He also thought that the countries population was smaller than stated and that this was done for political reasons. So amazing what you can talk about over dinner despite language barriers, that is assuming I understood him correctly, when I got back to the Ashu yesterday I understood I would be in my room by today!
One of my colleagues came into work briefly, gave me a hug, the third I have had since getting back to the Ashu. She introduced me to her granddaughters. I teach her two grandsons. But the granddaughters live in Bishkek and are not currently learning English to her disappointment. She is only 4 years older than me, but has at least 4 grandchildren. It took my step father up until his 80's to get to that position.
Otherwise I had the place to myself. The colour printer has disappeared but mercifully the black and white worked so I have been able to do some prep work., which was some consolation and I sorted out some of the many tri-lingual flash cargs that are hung around the school.
Wednesday, 8 January 2014
Through gritted teeth
I am faffing about in my room, taking on board that I am feeling sad and missing Nathan, but that really it is time to get out there and go to work, when the phone rings. The head. She is in Bishkek and school will start Monday.
I choose when I booked the trip to the UK not to tell anyone for fear that arrangements at the school would change, that suddenly we would do training and that my holiday would be curtailed. I was warned after that the holidays might extend instead and indeed they did, for in theory I should have started back yesterday, but I felt that it was not worth extending my UK ticket as that would give me a bit more recovery time and prep time. But Monday is a whole different ball game. Not only could I have spent more time with Nathan, I could have seen a few more friends, visited my new niece in Durham etc and the flight back would have been cheaper so I feel really pissed off. Not with my head, though it may have been her decision, but just in general. The only good thing is that now I can retire to bed and try and get well.
I choose when I booked the trip to the UK not to tell anyone for fear that arrangements at the school would change, that suddenly we would do training and that my holiday would be curtailed. I was warned after that the holidays might extend instead and indeed they did, for in theory I should have started back yesterday, but I felt that it was not worth extending my UK ticket as that would give me a bit more recovery time and prep time. But Monday is a whole different ball game. Not only could I have spent more time with Nathan, I could have seen a few more friends, visited my new niece in Durham etc and the flight back would have been cheaper so I feel really pissed off. Not with my head, though it may have been her decision, but just in general. The only good thing is that now I can retire to bed and try and get well.
In a little Bishkek bubble.
So I flew back out on Monday, but arrived on Tuesday.Owing to the late departure of my Pegasus flight from Stansted I was still in the air when due to be boarding my next flight. (They had us standing in a last call queue for over half an hour with no explanation, during which one one could have been buying books, food, Euros or discussing the problems which the unexplained delay may cause had I twigged how close the turn around was. ) I rushed round Istanbul airport like a loony and managed to catch the plane to Bishkek, about the only Western European on board, but my bag did not. So I decided to crash out in Bishkek to see if the bag turned up today, which luckily it did. In truth, as I am coughing like mad, had such a sore throat whilst en route I felt very ill, am still recovering from jet lag in now both directions, it is just as well as I was only capable of lying in front of the TV, listening to the weather forecast in America and falling asleep. A bit of a waste of time in Bishkek perhaps but necessary. I am now back in the Ashu with sporadic internet, so just want to thank everyone for my memorable Christmas, everyone that is except for property solicitors who I am now feeling seem to be a very nasty bunch, so thank you to everyone but them, it was lovely to catch up with everyone. I am sure that the next five months will go quickly so see you all soon.
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