Happy New Year



HAPPY NEW YEAR*



We made it through another year.  What lies ahead in the coming year? It will be a good year and I pray that I make a difference here even if it is just a small one. I have been observing classes and ended up teaching a couple (not by choice as I am just suppose to observe until January), but my counterpart more or less trick me into teaching.  Go and observe class Annette and then when I went to class, no other teacher was there.  After the class, I go back to the teacher's room and told her that there wasn't a teacher and she would say "Oh, I am just too busy to teach"! I keep telling her that we are to co-teach, Peace Corps regulations, but I really don't think she understands.  But I have come to realize that a bigger challenge for me is teaching to students that have no interest in learning English.  They know just a few words and they will laugh and talk as I am reading the text.  I understand this because there is no reason to listen if they do not understand what I am reading.  These are 9th through 11th grade teenagers (11th is the highest and last grade they have).   I went to the bazaar and I bought large poster paper and clear plastic to cover the posters once I am finish.  I am doing basic visuals (e.g. weather, family, body parts, etc.) and I hope I can peak their interest.  I am working on word games and music (since most teens love music), so if anyone has any additional ideas please send them to me.  I NEED all the help I can get.  All I can do is try and see what happens.  The school system here is all about getting through the lessons (and the teachers do too),  it is not about understanding what they read. I want them to understand what they are learning even if it is basic.  Now on a lighter note:

Dalmatian Houses:

These pictures are from Belken (about 20 mins from Georgian border).  But aren't these awesome! I love the black stones that are inserted in the white stones.  This is all over the northern part of the country.  The story I got regarding this type of stone was that they did not have enough white stones to build walls and they had plenty of these black slate stones, so they started using them and the towns and villages liked it so much, they started building houses the same way.  The poorer families who could not afford this black slate just simply painted stones black on walls and houses. Zaqatala has almost the whole town painted this way and look, they even even painted the house pink with the dalmatian look.  Pretty unique don't you just love it!!

PLEASE HAVE A SAFE AND WONDERFUL NEW YEAR'S



*In case you are wondering about the phrase "middle finger", Azerbaijan border is shaped like a hand, where Baku is the thumb and yes you got it, I am in the MIDDLE finger (Oh, I am second from the left in case you didn't recognize me)!

Life Challenge: Experience enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.