Teaching is in full swing

Im well underway with my classes now. Teaching is hard! Teaching with
practically zero resources is hard! Teaching in English to kids who dont
understand English is really hard!

Question: What is an example of a physical change?
Answer: Water

Im appalled at how few fundamentals these kids know. Many of them have to
use their calculators for 4 times 5. If you throw a fraction in there, all
bets are surely off. times 6? Cant do it. Well, at first I was
appalled. But now after being here just a week Im not all that surprised.
There is no such thing as substitute teachers. If a teacher is sick, the
class just sits there without a teacher. If the teacher goes on maternity
leave for however many months? The class just sits for the whole time. One
of the other WorldTeach volunteers said to me the other day, Jen, if youre
doubting yourself as a teacher, just think, youre better than no teacher at
all.

And there are just WAY too many kids to make sure that all or at least most
of them are getting it. Plus, absenteeism is ridiculous, and its not
always the kids fault. Other teachers dole out punishments for whatever
during the day, often pulling kids out of classes. A punishment for being
late to afternoon study? Stay home from school for X days. Grrreeeattt.

When James was handing over the reigns to me, he was so resigned to poor
performance. Many of you know how incredibly type A & perfectionist I am.
At first I thought, oh my gosh how am I ever going to deal with all this?
But truth is, after just a week I see that I have to try to present my
lessons as best I can, make myself available to all that want extra help,
and hope that the ones that can succeed at least dont fail.

There are a couple of bright spots though. The learners (at least in grades
9 and 10) seem pretty engaged in my classes. Theyre getting used to me
calling them up to the board to do problems, and answer aloud when I ask
questions to the class. AND, last week, after just 1 day, I had 2 learners
drop by for extra help at night! Man that just melted my heart. Today, 2
more dropped by. Im hoping word gets out that if you come to me, Im nice
and will totally help as much as I can. Maybe I can nudge the understanding
of a few up just a teency bit.

So my living situation is now as it will be for the rest of the year. I
share a 3 bedroom house with 2 other teachers. Mr. T and Mrs. K. Mr. T has
a daughter and a niece that are over quite a bit (and sometimes they bring
their friends). Mrs. K has a baby and a babysitter who stay with her in her
room. While I have my own dishes and cookware, the others plates and
whatnot do not get washed very regularly. This of course brings bugs.
Sigh.

Theres a bright spot in the home situation though. After a fairly long and
ridiculous process, MY BEDROOM DOOR NOW LOCKS! It was pretty nerve-racking
not being able to lock my room, despite repeated assurances that no one
would ever go in there. The process that I went through to get said locking
door.oh my, I get tired now just thinking about it. Nah, I dont want to
waste your time telling you. Its done now; thats all that matters.

Oh I have a good one. So Mr. T today gets out a bottle of red wine. Then
he gets out a can of coke (coca cola). He then proceeds to pour himself a
glass of half red wine and half coke. What are you doing? I ask. He
says, This is how everyone drinks it. The coke helps cut the wine so its
not so heavy. So, I decided to give it a go, just to see. My Californian
brain was SCREAMING NO! It tasted sort of wine-cooler-y. There was some
fizz, some wine taste, and some sweetness. I suppose if thats what youre
looking for it isnt such a bad thing. But I wont be ordering up a red
wine/coke next time Im dining :-)

I finally washed all of my clothes on Sunday, by hand. Thankfully I have
some experience doing this from my South Pacific adventures, but its still
a B@#$h. My strategy is soaking the clothes until the water runs clear. I
think I soaked 3 or maybe 4 times and still had super gray water :-( I
finally just settled. The dust here just seems to permeate your clothesI
guess theres no such thing as clean anymore.

Pictures I tried to start organizing my photos, only to find out that
Picasa 3 destroys my picture files when I use it. No worry, I had a backup.
But its going to take me some time to figure out whats going on.

Homesickness It kinda hit a little bit this weekend. I miss you guys.