One of the kids favorite games recently is to get one of the wands from our dress-up drawer and 'cast spells' on the teacher. I've spent my fair share of time chasing them around the room as various animals, but this one with Colleen was downright epic. They decided to branch out from animals, and the results were pretty hilarious. To give you a hint, in the opening shot she is being the Azerbaijan flag!
I'll tell you what. If nothing else, kindergarten is never boring!
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Up in the Air
Hey. Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. It's just that since New Year's, nothing particularly blog-worthy has happened. Work. Kids. Watching Downton Abbey with my roommates. In lieu of a story, allow me to share a bit of the culture we live in (or at least work in- I don't know how this compares to the country as a whole).
One thing we've marvelled at since starting work at our school is how little things are planned in advance. Don't get me wrong. I'm fairly used to that after all my years abroad. But some of the particular instances here crack me up a bit. At one point we were asked to make out a long-term plan, detailing the topics we're going to teach in each subject for the rest of the year. That's fairly standard, as I understand it. But no one was able to tell us how many weeks we'd be teaching, or when school ends. Huh. Okay. We just made an educated guess and planned weeks worth of topics without tying them down to particular dates.
Then there was the time we found out on Wednesday that we wouldn't have school Friday. It's not that someone forgot to tell us. They had just found out themselves. A week before New Years, we asked when the holiday would start and how long it would be and were told that we'd find out next week (a day or two beforehand). And this last Friday we left work not knowing if there would be school on Monday, since Sunday was a national holiday! We had to call someone over the weekend to find out. :)
None of this bothers us. It's mostly just funny. But one particular situation has us even more up in the air than usual. Since we have four teachers and only five students, I've long wondered how the school could justify it. A while ago they decided that they would have us teach an extra conversation lesson each week, with me staying at our school to work with the other classes, and Colleen going to a nearby elementary school. But nothing ever came of it and we had almost forgotten about it. Until last Thursday, when P dropped a bomb on us- they had decided to send Colleen to teach full-time at the other school, leaving me to take over the kindergarten group. But Friday afternoon we still hadn't heard any firm details, so Colleen wasn't sure where she should go to work on Monday, let alone what kind of lessons she should prepare.
Without any more information, we decided to carry on as usual, but I would be prepared to take over any day that they decided to whisk her away to the other school. Apparently someone from the head office was coming by on Monday to work out the details. Except that they didn't. So another week passed. At this point, we don't even know if it's still going to happen. But if it does, it will probably happen quickly, without much advance notice. Ah, flexibility!
It gives new meaning to the passage "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matt 6:34). We really don't know what tomorrow will bring. That's always true, wherever you live. It's just easier to remember it here!
One thing we've marvelled at since starting work at our school is how little things are planned in advance. Don't get me wrong. I'm fairly used to that after all my years abroad. But some of the particular instances here crack me up a bit. At one point we were asked to make out a long-term plan, detailing the topics we're going to teach in each subject for the rest of the year. That's fairly standard, as I understand it. But no one was able to tell us how many weeks we'd be teaching, or when school ends. Huh. Okay. We just made an educated guess and planned weeks worth of topics without tying them down to particular dates.
Then there was the time we found out on Wednesday that we wouldn't have school Friday. It's not that someone forgot to tell us. They had just found out themselves. A week before New Years, we asked when the holiday would start and how long it would be and were told that we'd find out next week (a day or two beforehand). And this last Friday we left work not knowing if there would be school on Monday, since Sunday was a national holiday! We had to call someone over the weekend to find out. :)
None of this bothers us. It's mostly just funny. But one particular situation has us even more up in the air than usual. Since we have four teachers and only five students, I've long wondered how the school could justify it. A while ago they decided that they would have us teach an extra conversation lesson each week, with me staying at our school to work with the other classes, and Colleen going to a nearby elementary school. But nothing ever came of it and we had almost forgotten about it. Until last Thursday, when P dropped a bomb on us- they had decided to send Colleen to teach full-time at the other school, leaving me to take over the kindergarten group. But Friday afternoon we still hadn't heard any firm details, so Colleen wasn't sure where she should go to work on Monday, let alone what kind of lessons she should prepare.
Without any more information, we decided to carry on as usual, but I would be prepared to take over any day that they decided to whisk her away to the other school. Apparently someone from the head office was coming by on Monday to work out the details. Except that they didn't. So another week passed. At this point, we don't even know if it's still going to happen. But if it does, it will probably happen quickly, without much advance notice. Ah, flexibility!
It gives new meaning to the passage "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matt 6:34). We really don't know what tomorrow will bring. That's always true, wherever you live. It's just easier to remember it here!
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