Nothing to Write About

My school

Now that school has started, I am finally back in some sort of a routine. I'm not a big fan of monotony but after having one month with nothing scheduled I am able to appreciate it.

Each day I walk to school around 8:30 for first period class. Each day I have a different set of children at a different time. During school here, each grade is assigned a classroom for the year. The teachers move between classes. The students have English class two times a week for 45 minutes. I think English is one of the more difficult classes to teach because at least half of the students are way behind where they should be and the books assigned by the Government are far too advanced for even the strongest students in most of the classes. Therefore, keeping the students attention is very difficult because they do not care what the teacher is saying. I can not say that I really blame them for not caring either, the textbooks for the most part are very bland and uninspiring. They simply do not make learning fun for the students.

I catch the bus (a ride that puts wooden roller coasters too shame...they jar your body that much) either back to my house or to the neighboring city of Yereghnadzor if I need to do some shopping, meet other volunteers, or work with my Armenian language tutor. I usually leave school around 2:30-3:30 depending on if my Armenian counterpart has time to lesson plan or wants to work on private tutoring with me. Both of my counterparts have been very active in asking questions about how to correctly work the language (although sometimes they aren't receptive to my answer. I.E. Envelope is not spelled Envilope...not in British English and definitely not in American English...).

When I return home I like to hang out with my tatik (grandma) and help her with whatever her project of the day is. She is the coolest old lady I've ever met. She likes hearing English words and trying to remember them. She says it keeps her young. Per the suggestion of a friend, I was able to successfully able to teach her the English equivalent of "baaah." She now says "blerg" just as well as Tina Fey. It's great.

Each day there is always time to spend time alone in my room reading, watching movies, talking on the phone, or just napping.

One aspect of Armenian culture that I really like is all of the meals are eaten at the table in the dining room together as a family. The television isn't on (until 9:30 rolls around...my Tatik will never miss her favorite show "Ana"). After dinner, my host mom and my host brothers usually sit around for an hour or so drinking tea and talking. I learn Armenian and they learn English. At least two or three times a week the chess board comes out and I take on various family members. It's a nice way to end the day.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/08/holder-axelrod-denounce-f_n_708766.html

In other news, some idiot at a small church in Florida declared 9.11.10 Quran Burning Day....