The Hardest Job You’ll Ever Love and The Nightly News

I had a pretty big week. As I’ve written, the wintry weather has relented and I am no longer wearing snow boots everywhere I go. I’ve been able to jog outside, meet my neighbors (namely the 3rd grade girls), and simply go for strolls along Petro’s pedestrian Constitution Street. My noteworthy adventures begin with Wednesday’s classes.

I taught by myself on Wednesday, something that has only happened a handful of times, but that I’m feeling more comfortable with each time. SS helped me out by planning her doctor’s appointment so that it fell on the day we have the 8th grade, which tends to be the smoothest class week after week. I made a lesson plan that both plays to my strengths and Peace Corps’ teaching goals. That means less translating (I can’t quite tell them if their 100% right when I’m supposed to be checking them) and more communicative activities (conversation/speaking). We played some games and practiced some grammar, thereby learning some English. It was a successful lesson. The second group, however brought along a bit of drama to go with their educational endeavors, as I had one student refuse to work with another during the warm-up activity. Student #1 (S1) said, very emphatically, that he would not work with Student #2, a new boy from the village in his second week at our school. I asked him why, and S1 replied that S2 was gay. In my liberal, progressive, moralistic opinion, that is definitely not a valid reason for one person to not like another person, much less refuse to do a school activity with, and I gave him two choices: “You can either work with S2 or you can go to the director’s office.” S1 replied, “I’d rather leave.” I hadn’t expected that, considering that NO ONE gets sent to the director’s office. I hoped it would have a frightening effect on him and that he would, however drudgingly, do the activity with S2. He got up to leave and I told him to make sure he told the director or second in command why he was there. He agreed and went out. We went on with the lesson, with two other boys agreeing to work with S2, although keeping a noticeable distance. During the second half of the lesson, S1 came back to the room, reporting with his eyes on the floor that he wouldn’t disrupt the class anymore, but that the office told him he can choose to work alone. I was hoping for some more support from the administration, but wasn’t really surprised – I can see how most people in our school would feel that alleged homosexuality is ample reason to avoid, exclude, and ridicule. S1, who generally is a B+/A- student, worked very hard the rest of the class, seemingly trying to make up for our earlier spat. SS came to school just as class was ending, and S1 hung around after class to ask about his grade for the day. I told him to explain what happened to SS and she, thankfully, took my side and gave him some wisdom, saying that you will go through your entire life working with people that you don’t want to work with. She wasn’t reproachful, she didn’t raise her voice. You can’t avoid it, it isn’t going to change, and you can’t get by refusing to work with those you don’t like. She gave him the challenge to be able, by the end of May, to put aside his opinions and differences and work with S2. S1 said OK, Thank you, and left. Phew!

I came out of the school that day with a sense of exhilaration and accomplishment. I was so thankful for SS saying what she said, for S1’s response, and the impact (however small) that I had on S1, S2 and the rest of the class by standing up for S2. I think I’m still a little worked up over it, and know that come next Wednesday I’ll be anxious to see how things go. PC advertises that this is “The hardest job you’ll ever love,” and I saw this week just what that means.

Thursday and Friday I attended and presented at a teacher training conference here in town organized by two local teachers and funded by American taxpayer money via FLEX, a government foreign language exchange education agency. I simply participated the first day, but was interviewed by the local news channel. They asked me where I was from, what I do here, and what I thought of KZ so far. I, in Russian, managed to tell them all about my home, job, and love of local food, the last of which appeared on the evening news (first in Kazakh, then in Russian). I’ve had quite a few people say that they saw me on TV, although I’m seeing more and more people I know on TV, meaning that Petro isn’t a booming metropolis, and news isn’t always so newsworthy. It was a fun experience, though. The second day I presented a seminar on Common Errors in Kazakhstani English, which was well received. In the two days since then, I’ve heard SS correct herself twice after making mistakes I addressed on Friday. Pretty cool.

April has been, and will continue to be very busy. I have two more conferences this month, both out of town. I’m looking forward to the days out of site, but not the time spent planning for the presentations I need to give. Stay tuned.