ese igi,
During the glorious vacation described in the previous post, I realized my depressing tendency to be depressive all the time, and I got-- well, you know. It's a cycle.
So, to combat the Lamenting Linda syndrome, I decided to write each day in my little notebook (gift from the English teacher I don't work with anymore) 3 things I'm thankful for from that day. I'd like to start either another blog or maybe twitter or something to keep track of these updates. I haven't decided yet. But, bottom line is, I have been feeling better about things. Also making goals helps. Stress eating bread and honey and not exercising does not.
Not that this time of the year has been the greatest time of year for me before. As the one-year anniversary of my last and closest grandparent not being alive came and went, I found myself having a terrible week (at least I knew, in part, why) and escaped to my friend's place in the next town this weekend, and I was telling her that I'm going to buy some flowers when I get back and go visit Grandma's grave, because I haven't physically gotten to say goodbye yet, and the same thing happens to my friend one year later, when I just so happened to be there talking to her about my grandma.
In other news, I'm going to go to school tomorrow to work on the computers with Ana. We need to fix them up for the technology training that's going on now. Well, we didn't have this week because we had a SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!
Now, I know what you're thinking, Iowans. No, snow days here do not consist of waking up at 5 in the morning and listening to the radio, praying that enough snow will dump before the deadline for the supervisor to make the call that the roads would be too dangerous for school buses to make the journey. Think without the waking up early, without the warmth, without the planning ahead of time, and without knowing that school will be canceled until right after 1st lesson happens. BUT!!! My Georgian snow day still consisted of making snowmen (and women) and chilling out with friends.
And I know what you're thinking, PCVs in the Greater Caucasus. You don't have shortened classes anyway, because of heat/kids not coming/sickness/whatever excuse they're using today? No, because our school has hot-water-pipe heating that's firewood fueled, and it's actually on ALL day until people want to leave. Amazing, huh?
We also, thanks to Appropriate Projects, have 4 places with running water in our school. I'll post more appropriately on that later, with the results of the currently underway hygiene poster contest.
Anyway, I'll leave you with a ponder pondered by one of my students while learning the word "thirty":
"Paula Mas and Magda Mas, why is there no "th" in Georgian?"
Most schools in this country teach kids how to memorize, not how to think.
Oh, and he's 9 years old.
During the glorious vacation described in the previous post, I realized my depressing tendency to be depressive all the time, and I got-- well, you know. It's a cycle.
So, to combat the Lamenting Linda syndrome, I decided to write each day in my little notebook (gift from the English teacher I don't work with anymore) 3 things I'm thankful for from that day. I'd like to start either another blog or maybe twitter or something to keep track of these updates. I haven't decided yet. But, bottom line is, I have been feeling better about things. Also making goals helps. Stress eating bread and honey and not exercising does not.
Not that this time of the year has been the greatest time of year for me before. As the one-year anniversary of my last and closest grandparent not being alive came and went, I found myself having a terrible week (at least I knew, in part, why) and escaped to my friend's place in the next town this weekend, and I was telling her that I'm going to buy some flowers when I get back and go visit Grandma's grave, because I haven't physically gotten to say goodbye yet, and the same thing happens to my friend one year later, when I just so happened to be there talking to her about my grandma.
In other news, I'm going to go to school tomorrow to work on the computers with Ana. We need to fix them up for the technology training that's going on now. Well, we didn't have this week because we had a SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!
Now, I know what you're thinking, Iowans. No, snow days here do not consist of waking up at 5 in the morning and listening to the radio, praying that enough snow will dump before the deadline for the supervisor to make the call that the roads would be too dangerous for school buses to make the journey. Think without the waking up early, without the warmth, without the planning ahead of time, and without knowing that school will be canceled until right after 1st lesson happens. BUT!!! My Georgian snow day still consisted of making snowmen (and women) and chilling out with friends.
And I know what you're thinking, PCVs in the Greater Caucasus. You don't have shortened classes anyway, because of heat/kids not coming/sickness/whatever excuse they're using today? No, because our school has hot-water-pipe heating that's firewood fueled, and it's actually on ALL day until people want to leave. Amazing, huh?
We also, thanks to Appropriate Projects, have 4 places with running water in our school. I'll post more appropriately on that later, with the results of the currently underway hygiene poster contest.
Anyway, I'll leave you with a ponder pondered by one of my students while learning the word "thirty":
"Paula Mas and Magda Mas, why is there no "th" in Georgian?"
Most schools in this country teach kids how to memorize, not how to think.
Oh, and he's 9 years old.
