The other day I was lightly heckled by Jeff (that's my site mate) for not keeping my blog up-to-date. So here goes.
First I want to say a huge thank you for the packages that arrived in the past month. So much wonderful reading material and so many treats! Evie and Joanna's package took the longest -- close to two months. But the next batch only took two weeks. Go figure. Nicole, Roxy, and Annie, you three are rock stars. I had hippie-Vermont flashbacks imagining you around the Weybridge table, it's tough to believe that two of you are now Midd graduates, not freshmen. I have a maple syrup sized hole in my soul, as well as one shaped like a bag of brown sugar, so when I saw the jug I rolled my eyes to the heavens and gave thanks. Really, I did. In my classroom being observed by a local friend. Evie and Joanna, I'm laughing my way through books and quickly wearing out new socks thanks to you. Mom and Dad are trying to fill the Thai-curry missing part of me (not really a hole so much as a gaping cavern) with spices and instant noodles. They're also ambassadors, sending gifts to my host family. Thanks. Ginny, I'm trying to hold out opening your package until Christmas, but those "perishable" stamps on the box are calling to me...
Here is what I have done in the past few weeks.
Work accomplishments: Continue to teach, albeit sporadically due to holidays and other engagements. Such as singing a Kazakh duet in a huge folk concert in Pavlodar. Last week, my English club performed a Shel Silverstein poem at a regional youth gathering. Four of my fifth grade girls sang in Kazakh, Russian, English and German at a big concert for Independence Day and I had the deep pleasure of being their choir director. I also performed in a comedy show.
Oh, and we've started a new pen pal exchange with a fifth grade class in Michigan. Now we're in the waiting for reply stage.
Social accomplishments: Went to a 40-days party yesterday, like a baby shower but a month after the birth and the first time the mother is allowed to show off her baby. Continue to play volleyball with motley assortments of teachers, students, and "guys" in the purest sense of that word. Still getting along with host family. Possibly was on a date the other night walking home (big emphasis on possibly). Enjoying having a sitemate to talk English too -- also encouraging to realize how far I've come in adjusting. We killed another horse and I had the stamina this year to stay after all the meat cutting to help stuff sausage (see the new profile picture).
Today's accomplishments: hoping to ski, put some pictures on this page, and relax for the next few days -- it's a state holiday and we've got 5 days to rest up for New Years festivities and end-of-the-quarter finals.
Love ya,
Nora
PS-- some of my fifth graders:
And another of them, this time in our classroom:
Here is what I have done in the past few weeks.
Work accomplishments: Continue to teach, albeit sporadically due to holidays and other engagements. Such as singing a Kazakh duet in a huge folk concert in Pavlodar. Last week, my English club performed a Shel Silverstein poem at a regional youth gathering. Four of my fifth grade girls sang in Kazakh, Russian, English and German at a big concert for Independence Day and I had the deep pleasure of being their choir director. I also performed in a comedy show.
Oh, and we've started a new pen pal exchange with a fifth grade class in Michigan. Now we're in the waiting for reply stage.
Social accomplishments: Went to a 40-days party yesterday, like a baby shower but a month after the birth and the first time the mother is allowed to show off her baby. Continue to play volleyball with motley assortments of teachers, students, and "guys" in the purest sense of that word. Still getting along with host family. Possibly was on a date the other night walking home (big emphasis on possibly). Enjoying having a sitemate to talk English too -- also encouraging to realize how far I've come in adjusting. We killed another horse and I had the stamina this year to stay after all the meat cutting to help stuff sausage (see the new profile picture).
Today's accomplishments: hoping to ski, put some pictures on this page, and relax for the next few days -- it's a state holiday and we've got 5 days to rest up for New Years festivities and end-of-the-quarter finals.
Love ya,
Nora
PS-- some of my fifth graders:
And another of them, this time in our classroom:
