I feel like, once again, I have nothing new to report. I just chug along out here, teaching, reading, walking and watching movies. I have to say I have been very good about my movie watching. I only watch movies when its dark out and I haven’t cracked. I have read a lot of books, which I will post at the end of this blog. Lets see, what are a few new things I could tell you.
First, I gave my 6eme kids a test and, surprise surprise, 95% of them failed. What a shocker. Not. These kids just don’t care. I took to giving out little prizes to the top tester, hoping that would motivate people but no. I gave a test to my 2nde students and only about 45% of them failed, so I count that as a success. There is no impetus to learn here. Parents aren’t pushing their kids to do better (at least, it doesn’t seem like they are) and the kids don’t have any desire to do better for themselves. I have a few standout students who work hard and do well, but they are few and far between. A lot of kids (about 15-20) in total from all 4 of my classes have dropped out of school. I don’t know why and no one has said why. One guy who dropped out was one of my troublemakers and since he left class has been a lot calmer.
I have to give my final for my 6eme classes in just under 2 weeks, on April 1st. I am very confused why we are ending 2 weeks early (class is supposed to end on April 15th) but I have learned to just go with it. At least this time I wasn’t surprised since I decided to ask last week about the finals. I had a feeling they were going to do them early again. Maybe people just really don’t like teaching. I don’t like that I am losing 2 weeks from my curriculum. I have lost a month so far and by the time the school year is over it will 6 weeks. I could have done a lot in 6 weeks.
We had our VAC (volunteer action committee) meeting at the end of February and it was a lot of fun. These meetings are a chance for us all to get together, talk out any problems we have, and get information from our VAC rep about whats going on with PC. It was good to see a lot of other volunteers, from our stage and other stages. We have these meetings every 4 months so the nest one is in June. Yay!
So a new group has arrived in MAD. They are all environment and SED (small biz) people and they arrived March 2, if I’m remembering correctly. I will actually be hosting 4 or 6 them in a week and a half (well me and my site mate) so they can see how we live. We are going to cook them our tomato pasta sauce and garlic bread (our oven has a toast function and we made garlic bread the other day and it was sooooo good). I don’t have that many details yet but I am excited to meet some of the new people. No one will be in my VAC region so I may never see them again, but that’s ok. Its still fun to meet new people.
March Madness is going on right now and I filled out a bracket. I have no idea what happened this year so I pretty much picked by who I know from there, whose name I liked, ya know, typical girl stuff. I am glad I sent with my gut and didn’t pick Villanova. They broke my heart last year so I couldn’t support them and they last this year too. At least my heart is still in one piece, though Georgetown put a crack in it. I am curious to see how I do. I had so much fun last year and this year is veryyyyyy different.
I am all set on going coming back to the States in April. I will be in DC from April 13th to April 29th, with a 3 day cameo appearance in Seattle from April 18th-22nd. If you are interested in booking time with me in either of those 2 locations please contact Brian for DC and my Dad for Seattle (I am that classy that I need two different event planners. Hehehe). Priority will be given to those people who have made an effort to stay in touch with me while I am halfway around the world. J.
Well I think I am done right now. I will post again sometime in the future. I will be back in the US of A in less then a month and I can’t wait. Chipotle here I come!
Here are the books I’ve read:
Tortilla Flat
Black Friday
How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization
Plainsong
Trail of Feathers: In Search of the Birdmen of Peru
The Lonely Polygamist (Brian and I read this one together, though he may not be quite done with it yet)
One for the Money
About a Boy
My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-up
The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman, and the Destruction of Hitler’s Germany 1941-1945Eeeee eee eeee (DO NOT READ. It was horrible)
