End of School Semester

Well it’s been about a month and a half since I last wrote on here so I guess I’ll fill you in on the end of school, Christmas, New year’s, my trip to Belgium, Germany, and Turkey and the beginning of 2014. I warn you that this will probably be a three part post…bear with me.

First thing’s first, I survived my first semester of teaching. A huge milestone for those that know me…I’m not as apt to teaching as my sister Olivia is but I managed to do alright my first real go at it. My program manager came to my school to observe my counterpart Nino and I conduct a lesson for my 10^th graders. It was a little nerve racking at first but all went well for the most part. Both my counterparts and my school’s supervisor gave me glowing reviews and expressed to my program manager how grateful they are to have me.  I’m glad they feel that way; I’m never too sure what they think of me at times. Normally I can pick up on social cues and expressions but those are mostly lost in translation here.  We all have big plans for the coming semester such as have a technology training class for all the teachers at school, starting the dormant English club back up, and participating in more national projects.

The end of school came soon after my observation. The school lost power a few times and we even had to shorten our classes to 35 mins in order to keep the kids from freezing in the classroom. It’s harder than it looks to try and write with chalk while wearing gloves. The petchi (wood stove) in our classroom helps a little bit but just enough so you can’t see your breath in the room.  My favorite part of the last few days of school however (as childish as it may sound) was teaching my 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grades all the lyrics to Jingle Bells and then having them sing it for their end of semester performances.  They in turn taught me the Georgian version of Jingle Bells which is more like a happy chant.

My best friend, her name is Blaze and she keeps me warm when I'm in the living room

A bebia (a grandmother) making her way down the cold snowy moutain

My family was really sweet and decorated their house early so it could feel like Christmas for me. My family usually doesn't decorate the house or put up a tree until the 25^th of December because Georgians don’t actually celebrate Christmas until January 7^th. So it was a real treat that they wanted to start their Christmas traditions early for me since I would be gone on my trip to Brussels and Istanbul.  My family and I decorated the tree and sang both Georgian and English Christmas songs as we decorated the house. My mom sent Christmas cookie cutters in a care package so I taught my family how to make Christmas cookies. They were a big hit, so big in fact that the neighbors were asking for the sugar cookie recipe that I had used.  I’m glad that I could share a bit of my traditions with theirs during the holidays.  It was a great way to spend some quality time with the family before embarking on my first trip of my service…Which leads me to my next post….

The Christmas tree my mother sent us

Winter is Coming!!!

In the words of Ned Stark, "Winter is coming". Last night was the first night that I slept in my blue meanie long johns (you read correctly, blue meanie long johns) AND my sleeping bag in my room. I can tell this is going to be a harsh winter.

Update: I survived my first week of teaching. There are a few hiccups here and there like the fact that my whole fifth grade class does not have textbooks or the fact that 4th, 5th and 6th grade all have the same textbook and are essentially learning the same thing. On Friday however I was invited to attend a Teachers' Day concert to celebrate teachers around the world so that was nice. It's still weird to be called Miss Anneke in class...or the fact that I have to discipline these kids for not doing their homework . Oh well. I'm going to see if a rewards program with a chance to select a prize from the prize box will inspire more of my kids to complete and bring their homework to class.

On a completely different note, yesterday I learned how to bake bread Georgian style and how to make Churchkhela, a Georgian treat consisting of strung walnuts dipped into a thickened grape juice goo. Very good. Below are some of my pictures from yesterday.

Bread stuck to the inside wall of the kiln/oven thing

Wrangled me a loaf of bread from the oven with my hook

Before...

After!! Freshly made Churchkhela

My mom and I

My sister and I

Yum yum!