My English Corner

Salut, 

So, it’s officially been three months? Wow, insane. It’s difficult to articulate the feeling I have, where I recognize the change that has happened in the past 3 months, but it doesn’t quite feel like three months if that makes sense. I’ve had my moments, my hobbies, my fads pass and go (the Rubik's cube era that didn’t last particularly long). I leave to go to IST (In-Service Training) in Bishkek for one week. So my school only has two other English teachers besides myself and my counterpart, and one of those is a primary teacher. Basically, my students all will miss a week of English classes. Other schools with more teachers can attempt to fill in the gaps.

I suppose that ought to be my first remark. You kind of learn to just go with the flow. I think coming to Kyrgyzstan, there were a lot of things I previously was very fixed on, whether it be because of how I was raised and my own very cheery very patient personality! That was a joke, Mihica, because I’ve never been very patient. Regardless, learning to take things as they are, form plans but adapt on the spot, and constantly be in states of limbo is how I would define a lot of my experience at school. Teachers miss class sometimes, which leads to schedule changes. I’ve noticed forever that students constantly ask me if they have English class every period, they’ll stick their head in my classroom and say “Me?” Back at my high school, you had your own schedule you memorized, and if I went up to a teacher and asked if I had them that period, they couldn’t tell me because they had over a hundred students and didn’t know. In the five minutes between periods, it's a madhouse in the hallways. 

Frequent interruptions, teachers coming in to steal students to move furniture, and set up stuff for performances, are all very common. Hell, for my Halloween party, Baktygul stole the 10th graders from their Russian class to help us. The boys are free labor. To celebrate Chingiz Aytmatov’s birthday, students (6th graders) performed and recited some of his various poems. He is probably the biggest celebrity/revered person in Kyrgyzstan, besides the famed/mythical Manas. 

Students also fight quite a bit. Usually, it’s very mild, slapping or shoving in retaliation, usually amongst my 5th-8th graders. This past week, two of my 5th graders got into a very nasty brawl during class, one broke his arm and the other got hit in the eye. 

My host family and I last week went to Kara Alma, a forest area in the mountains. My host father’s sibling lives up there, and we went walnut picking. I’m so late to the party in regards to walnut picking. We briefly picked some when Dinara and some of my other Russian host siblings were here, but this time we had buckets and sacks. The trees were withered, the leaves all fallen (no snow on Kara Alma), but gorgeous all the same. 

Last week, I bought a music speaker for my English club, and the Alexa voice when you turn it on is unfathomably loud (which is my fault). I used it a few times in my club, but for the most part, I now use it to play music. My sister-in-law knew the song Alors on Danse, as I’ve been listening to a lot of Stromae recently. I sent my mom the Kyrgyz/Russian/Kazakh/Uzbek music, and she didn’t like any of it :(. 

So I said in my last post that my host dad got a new job at a bakery somewhere in the village center. Well, like the day after I posted that on my blog, I found him in the main living room on his phone. I asked him about his work and if he was going to go, and he said no. His job is finished? It was two weeks I think, maybe a week and a half, he was working there. I joked, telling him he worked one week and then decided he was finished. In the winter, work becomes more scarce for some people, and I think my dad, as a semi-retiree, sort of does odd jobs. Recently, he's been tinkering with a new red car he bought. It's all a little confusing because I've seen at least 6 different cars in the house my father has claimed are his or the families', only for them to disappear periodically. The mythos of my family continues to expand, but it's a big, confusing puzzle because you get new pieces, new tidbits of information, only to become even more confused when it doesn't make sense, and each time, the puzzle becomes even larger and more difficult to discern. It's like the iceberg analogy; you see stuff on the top and then there are deep parts underneath that are difficult to comprehend. 

So I did start my English club these last two weeks. Currently, my schedule is every Tuesday from 11:30-12:30, 4th and 5th graders have one club, and then every Thursday from 2-3 PM 6th-11th graders come. This was done because at my school 1-5th grade attend classes in the afternoon, and 6th grade attend in the morning. I don't teach below 5th grade at the moment, and students here start learning English in 3rd or 4th grade. It may seem lopsided on paper to have only one period for the 6-11th club and one for the 4-5th only. However, I learned very quickly this was not the case. I don't teach 4th grade, but I decided I would include them in my English club, and it resulted in my first club being absolutely chaotic. Firstly, I think their head teacher told them the wrong time or they all decided to show up early because 20 students were waiting for me at 11 AM. They all came pouring in, and there were over 40 students, all tiny children with their wide eyes and large backpacks. There was about 7-9 of my 5th-grade students. I had them play some games outside (red light, green light), and we did introductions inside my English room (including slang, because students here only know "hi/hello" and "goodbye"). But they were all very active, very participatory. 

For 6th-11th grade, the first club I had with them, there were only about 8 students or so (which was partially my fault as I told them the morning of), but we played hangman and I taught them how to play Uno. The second time, there was double, about 15 students. We did introductions, and I taught them to play Go Fish (which is good because it has them practice numbers, and the phrase "Do you have?") and even Spoons - which isn't really an English-speaking game, but a fun card game nonetheless. I'm not sure how, or if it is, taboo to play cards here. I played with Baktygul, and then later, when I asked her to play with me when we were waiting to leave, she said no, feeling embarrassed to do it in front of the school director. I felt no such qualms, so I played solitaire.

In addition to the two English club periods I do, Baktygul and I also teach a separate lesson for Olympiad students. So the Olympiad is supposed to be an upper, advanced level English test/exam given to 9 grade+ and it is a raion and oblast level competition (like district and county competition as a parallel to US). Directors and schools put huge effort into it, as winning it or doing well gains immense clout (and possibly more funding). Lots of other volunteers have had to work with students on the Olympiad (there are other Olympiads besides English, so I've been told, but English is one we think about because of what we teach). Baktygul has mentioned it once or twice before. I've seen, from other volunteers, excerpts from Olympiad practice materials, and it looks like it is ripped from the SAT. Basically, it's really damn hard. Difficult grammar that even native speakers may hesitate or trip on. I currently don't teach 9th or 11th grade, and 10th grade has middling English (which isn't their fault!). Baktygul and I selected 2-3 students per grade to come to our Olympiad lessons, which we conduct from 3-4 PM every Monday. Currently, because the school's English level is not that of the Olympiad level, our class is basically just an advanced English class for the most gifted students at our school. I think it is necessary, as there are a few students at our school who would benefit from it. So I guess I've stumbled across favoritism, which I think I do have sometimes. A lot of my job is to avoid that, to engage with the students sitting in the back, the boys who get into fights and are unmotivated, but it is hard, and I will acknowledge that. I mentioned to my language tutor that there was one student I know has the best English in the whole school, without referring to her name. Instantly, Rahima eje, my language tutor, knew who I was talking about despite her not speaking English. Said student's father is an English teacher and works at Frank's school. 

Again, on the subject of school, in my village in particular, it is interesting the dynamic between the schools. I've been trying to piece together who comes to my school and who goes to Frank's (they're about three blocks away from each other) besides the language of instruction difference (his is Russian only, mine is Kyrgyz with a small number of Russian classes). Location in the village doesn't seem to matter, one of my 5th graders commutes from the city, and some people near me go to Frank's despite mine being closer. It seems to be a patchwork of factors, but it does seem the Russian language seems to be a big factor. I learned that 4th grade is my biggest class in the whole school (around 100 students in one class, in contrast, there are about 20-25 in 10th grade and 30ish in 6th grade). Baktygul said students attend my school from 1-4th grade and then the best students leave and go to Frank's school (size-wise, my school is about 500 or so students, while Frank's is 2000, and his is probably the largest school any of the volunteers are working at currently). 

The olympiad group lesson has been good though, we chose about 12-14 students for it. Next week, because of IST (In-Service Training), I will miss it. 

This past Friday, we went to another toi. There was a bridal toi across the street from my school ( a bridal toi basically like a big bridal party that precedes the formal ceremony/wedding). During lunch, we could hear the loud music. The groundskeeper of the school, his daughter, is getting married, and he invited the teachers. He invited the teachers to come around 1 o'clock. Unfortunately for us, all the teachers had classes and we all went at 4:45/5 o'clock. This is where I asked Baktygul to play cards with me to stave off boredom while waiting. By the time we went, the toi was over and it was very cold outside. But because it was a big group (like 15 of us), we ate food inside and did some dancing. 

    Thanksgiving also passed, and I celebrated by having the 6th grade write on a sheet of paper in the front of the school what they were thankful for. I had wanted to do a little bit more, but unfortunately that Wednesday, I got caught up in my English club and lesson planning. It's the Thanksgiving/Christmas corridor where I start to miss home even more often. The usual Christmas deluge of music arriving hasn't come this year. No Mariah, as I told my friend Macy.

So a random update but I've fortunately and unfortunately gotten very used to and very good at milking the goats at our house. I've been trying to convince Aidana to name them and the two bunnies and sheep. I named one of the goats Aidana, because there are two Aidanas in the family (Aidana, my sister-in-law, and Aidana, Dinara's daughter -- technically my niece), and I thought having three would be fun. Aidana found that amusing and named the second Grace. Our two bunnies are Bakyt and Gullia, one boy and one girl. The sheep is named Azamat. Aidana found all of this hilarious. 

Speaking of Aidana, today we celebrated her birthday. Yes, literally everyone in my family is born in September-November (my family back home is almost all July). Her parents came over, and we drank lots of juice, and ate lots of borsok, and ash. She did all the work setting up and cooking, and I did all the dishwashing, which wasn’t my favorite. She turned 27, and as per tradition, they made me sing Happy Birthday in English. Lots of students here know the song and sing it at inappropriate or inopportune occasions.

    I don't know if I have a lot to wax and wane about as I usually do. I'm still reading, trying to catch up with Loki season 2. My host dad forgot to pay the internet bill so it's currently not working, so I hot spot. Emir cries all the time, Adelia has been helping clean up more often, and Alihan is still a troublemaker if not endlessly endearing and adorable. His smile is like the sun. After my family asked why I wasn't teaching them English, I resolved that when I come back from IST (In-Service Training) from Bishkek, I would teach them. I wanted to just say that I'm tired, have a part-time job (which is more than anyone else in the house), and don't want to come home and do my work all over again (teaching them also necessitates me bringing home school materials for them). Regardless, it's not something I mind but something I might try.

    I think about the lyrics from a song I thought about during COVID, All at Once, but he Airborne Toxic Event, which I recommend listening to:

"Then we longed to be loved

In the rush we'd become some things we thought we'd never be
We were surprised by how hard
Left wary and scarred from the nights spent feeling incomplete
And all those evenings swearing at the sky
Wishing for more time

All the promises we broke when we tried
Were just wasting all our time

We grow old all at once
And it comes like a punch in the gut, in the back, in the face"

I think that the last two lines are what resonate with me at this moment. Not the regret, but the growing, the changing, and the way you don't feel it until it crashes over you like a tidal wave. Three months are gone, which Peace Corps terms the "Community Integration Period". I think about if I've integrated- and in some ways I have- and the way time can scald over you before you know it. Growing old not necessarily in years but in experiences. Peace Corps does age you, I think, but it's also its own form of stasis, like being frozen in time compared to the American work grind. Maybe at the end of all this, the change will come back to us like a punch, where we won't realize it. Or maybe we'll see it as something beautiful. 

A Bientot, 

Grace