Sorry about the lack of posts, our team has been doing quite a bit of travelling. Last Friday we left our dear little town and headed to Lezhe, Albania. There we visited with some families who we know. We spent three days climbing mountains, exploring an old castle, and strolling up and down the beach. It was a really refreshing time. I was especially excited. I spent eight months in Lezhe in 2003, so the streets and faces were all familiar to me. I was able to reconnect with some friends and my old host family. I have never before experienced the feeling of going back to a place that has meant so much to me, my heart was so full.
We left Lezhe on Monday, and got back home for one night to shower sleep and leave again. This time our destination was the capitol city, to join in a nation wide project. Every day this week we have gathered with about 35 to 150 people from all over the country to do some community service, things like picking up trash, and visiting the poor and elderly. It has been a really good week getting to know a lot of new people. I have been so thrilled to meet all these young people who are eager to make changes, and to see their brand new nation start off on the right foot. I can see that they truly value their freedom and Independence.
Tomorrow morning we are heading off for our third destination, Thessaloniki, Greece. I hope it will be a relaxing week. This is my first time planning a vacation, I don't feel so relaxed. Then after two and a half weeks on the road our travelling marathon will end and we will finally return to our own little town.
sara
ps we will post some pictures of our travels when we get back home.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
I am the Loch Ness Monster
It's 1 o'clock pm and Lakyn and I gather up my big bag full of school books and walk a few steps down the alley beside our house to school. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday Lakyn and I teach some younger students, which happen to be, for the most part, my favorite part of being a teacher. New to being teachers Lakyn and I have been trying to come up with fun activities for the students to do. We've made dialogues about 50 cent (the rapper), going to buy groceries and plans for the weekend. I think I can speak for both of us when I say we've been relearning a lot English grammar that we've forgotten all about. (Plus Lakyn and I both have some kind of PA accent.This makes me rethink how I say some things). Lately though, we've run out of creative ideas. So, for the last few classes Lakyn and I had to read a story over and over again about the Loch Ness Monster. The classic tale of a monster and his problems with the evil scientist Mad Mick. I think that Lakyn has the first two paragraphs memorized. She can recite it on cue.
" I am the Loch Ness Monster. My nickname is Nessie and people have been
hunting me for generations. I'm nine-hundred and forty-seven years old
and I've lived in my grotto all of my life."
The funniest part of this story though is when the head teacher asks me to read it "solider style". I always dread those words. It means that I have to read one word and then the class repeats that one word and I do that for an entire paragraph. I feel and sound like a robot. This is usually just for the older classes though. The older classes that we teach are on Tuesday and Thursday from 12:45-3:00. Lakyn really enjoys teaching these students a lot more than I do. I also teach on Saturday with Sara from 8-2. Our day usually starts with teaching one class. This class goes until 9:30. 9:30 is a very significant time for Sara and I. We always eat lunch at that time. Yes, at 9:30 in the morning Sara and I bite into a nice huge doner. A doner is similar to pork BBQ sandwich. Instead of pork it's beef and sometimes it has carrots. It always comes with cabbage and some type of mayo blend with a drizzle of ketchup. It's an abnormally huge sandwich. We wash this honkin' huge sandwich down with a coke, followed up by a few strong energy drinks later in the day. After eating this sandwich I'm pretty much good until supper. Saturday's are always interesting between the early morning doners and the stories that we read out of the English curriculum. Last Saturday though, I had a singing solo in class, accompanied by Sara. I sang the ABC's in front of a bunch of 16 and 17 year old. I was a nice shade of pink when I hit "z". This is the week thus far.
Well, there's tons of other stuff that happens in the course of our days spent here, but I'll have to save them for a later blog.
I really have been enjoying teaching English. It has opened the doors to a lot of new relationships and it's been a stretching experience to be a teacher when I feel completely unqualified.
-minda
" I am the Loch Ness Monster. My nickname is Nessie and people have been
hunting me for generations. I'm nine-hundred and forty-seven years old
and I've lived in my grotto all of my life."
The funniest part of this story though is when the head teacher asks me to read it "solider style". I always dread those words. It means that I have to read one word and then the class repeats that one word and I do that for an entire paragraph. I feel and sound like a robot. This is usually just for the older classes though. The older classes that we teach are on Tuesday and Thursday from 12:45-3:00. Lakyn really enjoys teaching these students a lot more than I do. I also teach on Saturday with Sara from 8-2. Our day usually starts with teaching one class. This class goes until 9:30. 9:30 is a very significant time for Sara and I. We always eat lunch at that time. Yes, at 9:30 in the morning Sara and I bite into a nice huge doner. A doner is similar to pork BBQ sandwich. Instead of pork it's beef and sometimes it has carrots. It always comes with cabbage and some type of mayo blend with a drizzle of ketchup. It's an abnormally huge sandwich. We wash this honkin' huge sandwich down with a coke, followed up by a few strong energy drinks later in the day. After eating this sandwich I'm pretty much good until supper. Saturday's are always interesting between the early morning doners and the stories that we read out of the English curriculum. Last Saturday though, I had a singing solo in class, accompanied by Sara. I sang the ABC's in front of a bunch of 16 and 17 year old. I was a nice shade of pink when I hit "z". This is the week thus far.
Well, there's tons of other stuff that happens in the course of our days spent here, but I'll have to save them for a later blog.
I really have been enjoying teaching English. It has opened the doors to a lot of new relationships and it's been a stretching experience to be a teacher when I feel completely unqualified.
-minda
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