Today I accidentally came up with a great activity for the 1st graders; rather than making them do another pointless coloring sheet, I decided to branch out. While I was looking for games online, I found "Memory." And that's what sparked the epiphany. The primary teachers had begun to introduce the concept of past tense verbs the week before, but students hadn't had much of a chance to do anything with it. And so, I decided they would write the eight most used verbs in present tense and past simple on little pieces of paper... And then they would play "Memory" with them. Um, brilliant. I wasn't sure how it would go over with the 6 year olds, but I was hopeful.
What I didn't expect was the incredible success it turned out to be! The kids got really into creating their verb cards - writing the words, checking their own spelling, cutting - and couldn't wait to play the game! I kept points of the board of how many times each student successfully completed the game, and this really sent them into a tither! Most commonly used verbs in past simple? Yeah, memorized. Booyah!!!!!!! And no, the kids had NO idea they were learning ANYTHING. To me, THAT is the true marker of success. ;) They had so much fun they begged to take it home to play, and in Laura's 1st grade class, she even assigned playing the game with their parents as their homework!
Hell. Yeah. #Iamabamf
Anyway, after school it was Nacho time. His mom was on a field trip, so it was just him and his dad (whocouldbeJuanes'identicaltwinholycrap)! His dad brought the most delicious and freshly cut Spanish ham with those baby breadsticks for Nacho's snack... And when Nacho decided he was full, his dad let me eat the rest. OM NOM NOM NOM.
I tell ya, Spanish ham is really something you gotta get accustomed to... But when you do, and when I find some really quality ham? Best. Meat. Ever. It's so flavorful and succulent and rich and oily and perfect. Damn.
After Nacho's class I was prepared to leave, but the dad told me to stay and just give him a private lesson even though the mom wasn't there. And so I got paid to just hang out and talk to about whatever.
Sometimes, my job is surreal. You simply hang out and shoot the shit with cool people... and get money when you leave. o_O Sometimes I really question if these people should even be paying me, but then I realize, the ability I have to make "classes" seem so chill and fun is precisely what makes me a great conversation teacher. And that's when I decide this is kind of the definition of a dream job: having such a great time doing it that even if you weren't to ever get paid for it again, you'd still love it and do it just as much. ^_^ Sure, there are shitty days, but on the whole I feel so lucky! <3
Patty had to cancel class, so I spent the night watching Master Chef in Spanish with Marianna. :) Hahaha. The thing with watching a movie or TV in Spanish is that you need a five or ten minute language shift period. Once you have gotten through those first few minutes of straining your brain and mass confusion and frustration, a small breakthrough happens and after you watch the movie or program, you can't even remember if it was in English or Spanish... And boy is THAT feeling weird!!!!! It's not that I understand every single thing they say, but it's I've gotten really good at gathering the general idea at all times and if I just can't understand something, my mind just moves past it without a care. It's like a linguistic superpower which takes months and months of semi-immersion to cultivate and hone.
And that was my day. :) Not bad for a Tuesday!
XOXO
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Day 273: 7th Grade Successes
Today I tried something in my impossible 7th grade class. Today I called up students to bring their chair to the front of the room to be near me. I called them one at a time, and only called the people who were silent and I could tell were sincerely interested in learning. All year these poor kids had been screwed over by their immature and disrespectful peers and finally I decided to just give up on the others and pay attention to the good ones. I gave a really great thirty minute class on most common English mistakes for Spanish speakers and the kids asked questions and practiced.
My sole intention was to give a handful of kids some information that would truly change their everyday speaking and make them a step above the average English student from my year's worth of personal observations. I really didn't care about the other kids in the class. At all. They were free to yell and laugh and be their usual apathetic selves.
And so you can imagine my SHOCK when they all fell silent - and stayed that way. They were all listening INTENTLY at what I was telling the five or six kids at the front, even though I didn't even look up at them. It was the weirdest thing... You mean all I had to do this whole year was ignore them?!? What?!? By making an elite group in the class, suddenly everybody wanted to be in that elite group - and not because they were going to be punished in anyway, but simply because they personally had the desire.
O_o
I hope I will remember this next time I have an impossible class - but who knows if this was just a random fluke or not!? I don't want to have any more classes with these students than I need to, but I would be very interested to see if I can repeat the results I got from this little experiment today. ;)
XOXO
My sole intention was to give a handful of kids some information that would truly change their everyday speaking and make them a step above the average English student from my year's worth of personal observations. I really didn't care about the other kids in the class. At all. They were free to yell and laugh and be their usual apathetic selves.
And so you can imagine my SHOCK when they all fell silent - and stayed that way. They were all listening INTENTLY at what I was telling the five or six kids at the front, even though I didn't even look up at them. It was the weirdest thing... You mean all I had to do this whole year was ignore them?!? What?!? By making an elite group in the class, suddenly everybody wanted to be in that elite group - and not because they were going to be punished in anyway, but simply because they personally had the desire.
O_o
I hope I will remember this next time I have an impossible class - but who knows if this was just a random fluke or not!? I don't want to have any more classes with these students than I need to, but I would be very interested to see if I can repeat the results I got from this little experiment today. ;)
XOXO
Day 272: Sunny Sunday Stroll & My New Ring
By early afternoon I was strolling along some of the most chic streets of Madrid, not knowing how I´d found them, but being grateful I finally had. The sunshine warmed my short-short wearing legs and I may have strutted a bit with my big sunglasses on, blissful as can be to have a day to do whatever I pleased in one of my favorite cities with such perfect weather after such an amazing Saturday!!
I passed by adorable, classy cafes that I´d only dreamed existed in this city. I took pictures of gorgeous dresses and window displays of the hoity-toity shops. I snuck peeks at all of the impecabily dressed women only a few years older than me, with their stunning high heels and floral sundresses. I strutted down that street, pretending that I was one of them - minus the bank account and plus humble gratitute for the simple things in life. ;)
After an hour or two of this casual stroll, I ran into a neighborhood I´d been in my first day in Madrid two years ago and found a Tous shop open! I´d been not-so-secretly wanting a Tous ring since sometime in March, yet always found a way to resist. But today? Today, I told myself, was the day. I would celebrate the completion of my thesis and Master´s degree with a little, shiney present for myself. :) Because I love me. Sometimes possibly more than most people might find rational...
I walked in confidently (I never like being the only person in an exclusive type store - much less when I know I´ll have to speak in a foreign language) and took my time looking at all of the rings. When I found the one I´d been wanting, I let out a tiny squeal and quickly tried to regain my composure. I asked the lady to see it and as soon as I tried it on, I told her I´d take it! She wrapped it up in a cute little pink box with a bell and put it in an adorable pink bag. And just like that, I went from only having one tiny Tiffany & Co. ring on my hand to having two again! :)
When I make a relatively big purchase, I never do so just because. I always have a deeper reason behind it. And this time was no different. Back in 2011, the week before departing to Spain, I´d purchased my tiny Tiffany & Co. ring. I´d purchased it as a promise to myself to make every minute in Spain count and not to be scared and not to be sad about leaving J behind. I´d purchased it as a declaration of adaventure and self-love, even though I wasn´t feeling very adventurous nor self-confident in the slightest (as evidenced when I decided to pierce my lip the night before leaving for Spain!). For the first few weeks, I would look at my new little ring and try to imagine what my Spanish adventure would be like, and wonder if I would ever see J again and try not to totally lose it. I tried to repeat the words Eric had told me when we´d met up for drinks and I tried to believe in his wisdom when he smiled right before we parted ways and assured me it would be an amazing summer.
And, of course, it was. In fact, it was undoubtedly the BEST summer of my life.
So this new ring? This is the ring that proclaims that it´s okay to feel scared sometimes, but that everything will work out in mysterious ways and things will be even better than I could imagine. I purchased it almost exactly two years from the date I purchased my Tiffany ring and I feel like it retroactively answers the fears for which the first ring was purchased. It´s my way of going back to 22 year old Chelsea the week before her trip and whispering, ¨You are in for the biggest adventure of your life that will change EVERYTHING. It´s okay to be afraid, but know that you don´t need to be - not at all!¨
As it turned out, it was the perfect time to purchase this second ring, as Sunday was my last day of feeling this high of accomplishment and security for a little while. But all I have to do is look down at my hands and smile. I´ve been in the position of great fear of the unknown before - and what followed was breathtaking. I can be in this position again.
Bring it on.
XOXO
I passed by adorable, classy cafes that I´d only dreamed existed in this city. I took pictures of gorgeous dresses and window displays of the hoity-toity shops. I snuck peeks at all of the impecabily dressed women only a few years older than me, with their stunning high heels and floral sundresses. I strutted down that street, pretending that I was one of them - minus the bank account and plus humble gratitute for the simple things in life. ;)
After an hour or two of this casual stroll, I ran into a neighborhood I´d been in my first day in Madrid two years ago and found a Tous shop open! I´d been not-so-secretly wanting a Tous ring since sometime in March, yet always found a way to resist. But today? Today, I told myself, was the day. I would celebrate the completion of my thesis and Master´s degree with a little, shiney present for myself. :) Because I love me. Sometimes possibly more than most people might find rational...
I walked in confidently (I never like being the only person in an exclusive type store - much less when I know I´ll have to speak in a foreign language) and took my time looking at all of the rings. When I found the one I´d been wanting, I let out a tiny squeal and quickly tried to regain my composure. I asked the lady to see it and as soon as I tried it on, I told her I´d take it! She wrapped it up in a cute little pink box with a bell and put it in an adorable pink bag. And just like that, I went from only having one tiny Tiffany & Co. ring on my hand to having two again! :)
When I make a relatively big purchase, I never do so just because. I always have a deeper reason behind it. And this time was no different. Back in 2011, the week before departing to Spain, I´d purchased my tiny Tiffany & Co. ring. I´d purchased it as a promise to myself to make every minute in Spain count and not to be scared and not to be sad about leaving J behind. I´d purchased it as a declaration of adaventure and self-love, even though I wasn´t feeling very adventurous nor self-confident in the slightest (as evidenced when I decided to pierce my lip the night before leaving for Spain!). For the first few weeks, I would look at my new little ring and try to imagine what my Spanish adventure would be like, and wonder if I would ever see J again and try not to totally lose it. I tried to repeat the words Eric had told me when we´d met up for drinks and I tried to believe in his wisdom when he smiled right before we parted ways and assured me it would be an amazing summer.
And, of course, it was. In fact, it was undoubtedly the BEST summer of my life.
So this new ring? This is the ring that proclaims that it´s okay to feel scared sometimes, but that everything will work out in mysterious ways and things will be even better than I could imagine. I purchased it almost exactly two years from the date I purchased my Tiffany ring and I feel like it retroactively answers the fears for which the first ring was purchased. It´s my way of going back to 22 year old Chelsea the week before her trip and whispering, ¨You are in for the biggest adventure of your life that will change EVERYTHING. It´s okay to be afraid, but know that you don´t need to be - not at all!¨
As it turned out, it was the perfect time to purchase this second ring, as Sunday was my last day of feeling this high of accomplishment and security for a little while. But all I have to do is look down at my hands and smile. I´ve been in the position of great fear of the unknown before - and what followed was breathtaking. I can be in this position again.
Bring it on.
XOXO
Day 271: Wine, Picnic, Feijoada
This Saturday was the best Saturday. *punto pelota*
It began around 10:30 by Marianna´s voice waking me up as she sang, ¨I AM READY!!!¨ She was, of course, refering to the wine tasting that happens the first Saturday of every month at Casa de Campo. My roomies had gone a few times and always had a hoot, but I´d always managed to be busy. I´d told my friend about it the night before when we´d gone out for drinks, and she said she´d totally love to go... if we could wake up on time to get there before it closed at 3.
I rolled over and put a pillow over my head, groaning, as I listened to the three roomies getting their purses and shuffling out the door. I wanted to get up and go, too... but I wanted to stay in bed more. When ten minutes passed and I couldn´t fall back asleep, I reached for my iPad and looked at Facebook. There, in my notifications, was a picture from last night with a caption from my friend Mirium: ¨I am awake. Are you? Wine tasting?¨
And that was enough to pull me out of bed and into the shower. ^_^
A train ride and metro ride later, we met up around 1:15 and purchased our 2 euro wine glasses - which guaranteed us unlimited free wine tastings! WHAT A DEAL! ;) We tasted every wine that was there - TWICE. To be honest, they weren´t really that quality, but after the sixth or seventh tasting, you kinda forget to stop caring about that. ;) Besides wine, they also had cheese and honey vendors. As the event was wrapping up around 3pm, Mirium and I decided to buy a thing of really yummy sheep´s milk cheese, a jar of the best, most sweetest honey and a bottle of organic white wine. She explained she was to meet up with her friends later at a park across town and that we could do a little picnic! Adorable!
Usually, I´m kinda against meeting people. I always say I want new friends and want to go on adventures, but the idea of actually physically meeting new people makes me a little nauseous. I´m trying to get over it little by little, but the percentage of times that randomly meeting people has turned out to be a fantastic success from the start is dangerously low. Empirical data proves that I am one of those kinds of people that needs to warm up to others before I can be myself and likeable in the slightest. My mom claims this is my Virgo rising in my chart and that this is somehow a beneficial thing to myself as a whole, but I´ve yet to see the splendid benefits.
Anyway, I have to admit I wasn´t feeling my usual nerves, as I´d had just enough wine to feel like a generally plesant individual. Actually, I was kinda excited to spend the afternoon with unknown people! I figured any friend of Mirium had to be cool, because Mirium was one of the only cool people in my whole Master´s program, and the odds of cool people having cool friends is considerably high. ;) At least, that´s what my wine-o logic was telling me.
As we approached a guy waiting at their meeting spot, Mirium turned to me and under her breath whispered, ¨You´ll either hate him or you´ll love him,¨ before greeting him with a big smile and two kisses.
It was definitely one of those moments out of a movie, and instantly I could tell this was all about to be really fun. ;)
When the other two girls arrived, we all took a walk in the park, introducing ourselves and looking for a perfect place to... hang a SLACKLINE! WHAT?!? It was simultaneous the most hippie thing and most awesome thing I´d ever been informed I was about to do. I´d seen people one day outside of my dorm doing it, but past that, I didn´t really know it was a hobby. So when this guy produced one from his back, I was amused.
Five little Americans giggling, chatting and playing in a park while eating cheese, bread and honey and drinking wine. Perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon! After successfully crossing the slackline on my own and going back to the blanket to sit and watch some of them playing with a volleyball, I felt for the second time that I was in one of those really cheesy teenage movies. And I loved it. ;)
After the park we hit up a Portuguese pastry shop (I think?) and then went and had frozen yogurt - but it wasn´t all of the sweets that made the post-picnic so... enchanting. It was the non-stop banter and conversation. For every comment I made, he had an immediate, witty response. And for every comment he made, I occasionally actually had to think before responding. o_O When´s the last time THAT happened to me!? This guy had the witty sarcasm of a Brazilian, but the creative intelligence and depth to really back it up. Had I known people like that existed, I would have started actively looking for them years ago! >_<
It was truly one of those super rare encounters in one´s life where you meet somebody for the first time and realize they sort of... get you. It´s spectacular, yet unnerving. ;)
A little after nine I finally left my new friends and went out to dinner at a Brazilian restaurant to celebrate the completion of my thesis with a friend I hadn´t seen since my birthday. Feijoada, patatas palhas and guarana was a pretty awesome celebration dinner, too! ^_^
XOXO
It began around 10:30 by Marianna´s voice waking me up as she sang, ¨I AM READY!!!¨ She was, of course, refering to the wine tasting that happens the first Saturday of every month at Casa de Campo. My roomies had gone a few times and always had a hoot, but I´d always managed to be busy. I´d told my friend about it the night before when we´d gone out for drinks, and she said she´d totally love to go... if we could wake up on time to get there before it closed at 3.
I rolled over and put a pillow over my head, groaning, as I listened to the three roomies getting their purses and shuffling out the door. I wanted to get up and go, too... but I wanted to stay in bed more. When ten minutes passed and I couldn´t fall back asleep, I reached for my iPad and looked at Facebook. There, in my notifications, was a picture from last night with a caption from my friend Mirium: ¨I am awake. Are you? Wine tasting?¨
And that was enough to pull me out of bed and into the shower. ^_^
A train ride and metro ride later, we met up around 1:15 and purchased our 2 euro wine glasses - which guaranteed us unlimited free wine tastings! WHAT A DEAL! ;) We tasted every wine that was there - TWICE. To be honest, they weren´t really that quality, but after the sixth or seventh tasting, you kinda forget to stop caring about that. ;) Besides wine, they also had cheese and honey vendors. As the event was wrapping up around 3pm, Mirium and I decided to buy a thing of really yummy sheep´s milk cheese, a jar of the best, most sweetest honey and a bottle of organic white wine. She explained she was to meet up with her friends later at a park across town and that we could do a little picnic! Adorable!
Usually, I´m kinda against meeting people. I always say I want new friends and want to go on adventures, but the idea of actually physically meeting new people makes me a little nauseous. I´m trying to get over it little by little, but the percentage of times that randomly meeting people has turned out to be a fantastic success from the start is dangerously low. Empirical data proves that I am one of those kinds of people that needs to warm up to others before I can be myself and likeable in the slightest. My mom claims this is my Virgo rising in my chart and that this is somehow a beneficial thing to myself as a whole, but I´ve yet to see the splendid benefits.
Anyway, I have to admit I wasn´t feeling my usual nerves, as I´d had just enough wine to feel like a generally plesant individual. Actually, I was kinda excited to spend the afternoon with unknown people! I figured any friend of Mirium had to be cool, because Mirium was one of the only cool people in my whole Master´s program, and the odds of cool people having cool friends is considerably high. ;) At least, that´s what my wine-o logic was telling me.
As we approached a guy waiting at their meeting spot, Mirium turned to me and under her breath whispered, ¨You´ll either hate him or you´ll love him,¨ before greeting him with a big smile and two kisses.
It was definitely one of those moments out of a movie, and instantly I could tell this was all about to be really fun. ;)
When the other two girls arrived, we all took a walk in the park, introducing ourselves and looking for a perfect place to... hang a SLACKLINE! WHAT?!? It was simultaneous the most hippie thing and most awesome thing I´d ever been informed I was about to do. I´d seen people one day outside of my dorm doing it, but past that, I didn´t really know it was a hobby. So when this guy produced one from his back, I was amused.
Five little Americans giggling, chatting and playing in a park while eating cheese, bread and honey and drinking wine. Perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon! After successfully crossing the slackline on my own and going back to the blanket to sit and watch some of them playing with a volleyball, I felt for the second time that I was in one of those really cheesy teenage movies. And I loved it. ;)
After the park we hit up a Portuguese pastry shop (I think?) and then went and had frozen yogurt - but it wasn´t all of the sweets that made the post-picnic so... enchanting. It was the non-stop banter and conversation. For every comment I made, he had an immediate, witty response. And for every comment he made, I occasionally actually had to think before responding. o_O When´s the last time THAT happened to me!? This guy had the witty sarcasm of a Brazilian, but the creative intelligence and depth to really back it up. Had I known people like that existed, I would have started actively looking for them years ago! >_<
It was truly one of those super rare encounters in one´s life where you meet somebody for the first time and realize they sort of... get you. It´s spectacular, yet unnerving. ;)
A little after nine I finally left my new friends and went out to dinner at a Brazilian restaurant to celebrate the completion of my thesis with a friend I hadn´t seen since my birthday. Feijoada, patatas palhas and guarana was a pretty awesome celebration dinner, too! ^_^
XOXO
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Down the Rabbit Hole
*i will insert my thesis here at some point... after I edit it for the final time... whenever that will be... haha!*
Day 270: Thesising Marathon & Celebration
After a grand total of 1.5 hours of sleep the night before, I was not quite as pumped for the second half of the thesising marathon as I´d hoped to be. My writing was still pretty quality in the morning, but by late afternoon, I was decidedly less... lucid... and my words were struggling to surface. THAT is the worst feeling for a writer, I think. When you know there is a word that would fit perfectly in a sentence, but you just. cannot. find. it. >_< Sometimes when this happens I think I can literally feel the synapses in my brain trying to fire, but coming up with blocked pathways each and every time... and the more I think, the more my brain literally starts to hurt.
By 7:30 I HAD to be done. I easily could have taken a whole other day to do my citations better and to reword two parts whose paragraphs ended up falling onto the page more like toddler splatter paint than an impressionist work of art, but I had to quickly reformat it onto Abby´s computer (mine doens´t have Word, it has the free version) and stick it on a USB drive before the print shop closed! I ran to the print shop to have it printed and bound (¨encuadernar¨ has to be one of the tickliest words to say in Spanish!), and was delighted when I saw how THICK it turned out to be! The page requirement was 50 pages ¨more or less.¨ Mine? Mine was 101 pages! BOOYAH!
You know me... once I get typing about something I´m really passionate about, I just can´t stop. *shrug*
I went back home to have my roomies take a cute ¨I AM DONE!!!¨ picture of me and my baby thesis, and then put the document on a CD (as requested by my advisor). By the time it was done, I realized I had 7 minutes to RUN to the university and submit it by the deadline.
Running on 1.5 hours of sleep is... a challenge. That´s all I have to say about that.
But I MADE IT! YAY!
As I left the building, one of my most favorite girls from my program was running up to submit hers, too (ha, I wasn´t the latest one!). We were ridiculously delighted to see each other after sever months. :) When our director asked what we were going to do this weekend, we both responded in unison: ¨SLEEP.¨ And then my friend laughed and said, ¨Well, drink, too...¨ Haha. This propted her to ask me if I wanted to go out for a drink to celebrate! I said sure, despite being deliriously sleepy.
Five hours, two tintos de verano and three shots of Jack later... I was in all smiles. Depite being so tired, I had a great night talking and giggling and having a burger and drinks with her! We made tenative plans to meet up the next day for a wine tasting, and parted ways to go catch up our sleep!
Awesome ending to a stressful, thesis filled day!
XOXO
By 7:30 I HAD to be done. I easily could have taken a whole other day to do my citations better and to reword two parts whose paragraphs ended up falling onto the page more like toddler splatter paint than an impressionist work of art, but I had to quickly reformat it onto Abby´s computer (mine doens´t have Word, it has the free version) and stick it on a USB drive before the print shop closed! I ran to the print shop to have it printed and bound (¨encuadernar¨ has to be one of the tickliest words to say in Spanish!), and was delighted when I saw how THICK it turned out to be! The page requirement was 50 pages ¨more or less.¨ Mine? Mine was 101 pages! BOOYAH!
You know me... once I get typing about something I´m really passionate about, I just can´t stop. *shrug*
I went back home to have my roomies take a cute ¨I AM DONE!!!¨ picture of me and my baby thesis, and then put the document on a CD (as requested by my advisor). By the time it was done, I realized I had 7 minutes to RUN to the university and submit it by the deadline.
Running on 1.5 hours of sleep is... a challenge. That´s all I have to say about that.
But I MADE IT! YAY!
As I left the building, one of my most favorite girls from my program was running up to submit hers, too (ha, I wasn´t the latest one!). We were ridiculously delighted to see each other after sever months. :) When our director asked what we were going to do this weekend, we both responded in unison: ¨SLEEP.¨ And then my friend laughed and said, ¨Well, drink, too...¨ Haha. This propted her to ask me if I wanted to go out for a drink to celebrate! I said sure, despite being deliriously sleepy.
Five hours, two tintos de verano and three shots of Jack later... I was in all smiles. Depite being so tired, I had a great night talking and giggling and having a burger and drinks with her! We made tenative plans to meet up the next day for a wine tasting, and parted ways to go catch up our sleep!
Awesome ending to a stressful, thesis filled day!
XOXO
Day 269: Afghanistan & Pizza Party Study Party
After my last private class of the day I went straight to Pizza Hut and purchased a medium sized pizza with pineapple, mushrooms and corn. That´s right. Corn. I think it´s a Brazilian thing (?), but I´ve gotten really into it, thanks to only really eating pizza around Brazilians. Ha! Then, I went to a corner store and bought an orange Fanta and a dark chocolate ice cream bar.
To study - to really study and thesis and get work done - one must always be surrounded by yummy food. That´s something I´ve learned in my 20 years of formal education. ;o)
But before I began what turned out to be an all-nighter thesising pizza party, I had a very important Skype call to take. I walked in the door at 8:27. The Skype tone was ringing at 8:30. Talk about timeing!
My Skype call was with the director of the volunteer program I had written a week ago, and was to tell me more about the program and see if I was still interested. And after hearing more about it, I couldn´t properly express to the lady just how interested I was!
Basically, the program places English speakers with girls from Afghanistan through Skype, to have two, one hour English classes per week! The girls are all in high school or university and have studied English on their own, but have not gotten to have formal instruction in the language, but are extremely motivated to learn all that they can. They connect to Skype through a community center, which they have to have signed permission from their fathers to go to, as Afghan women are not traditionally allowed out of their homes for any reason. In fact, it is so against their culture thta they literally risk their lives to go to this center, to study, and to learn English, as men have been known to injure and sometimes kill girls who try to assert some sort of independence.
The program director went over some cultural differences with me, telling me that talking about things like dating or going out for a drink were against their religion, and so such topic should really be avoided. She went on to caution me about other cultural differences, and explained that the girls could get in a lot of trouble with their families if they were asked to talk about or write about many of these things.
The whole conversation, concept and opportunity was so enthralling and exciting that I felt like I was on a call in regards to a super secret covert mission!
At the end of the call, the director said she was very happy to have me on board as one of the 25 (only 25!) volunteers and would be pairing me up with an Afghan girl in the coming weeks to begin! YAY!!! I am way excited to have found such a wonderful sounded volunteer job and hope that I am really able to make a difference in the life of the girl with whom I am paired!
XOXO
To study - to really study and thesis and get work done - one must always be surrounded by yummy food. That´s something I´ve learned in my 20 years of formal education. ;o)
But before I began what turned out to be an all-nighter thesising pizza party, I had a very important Skype call to take. I walked in the door at 8:27. The Skype tone was ringing at 8:30. Talk about timeing!
My Skype call was with the director of the volunteer program I had written a week ago, and was to tell me more about the program and see if I was still interested. And after hearing more about it, I couldn´t properly express to the lady just how interested I was!
Basically, the program places English speakers with girls from Afghanistan through Skype, to have two, one hour English classes per week! The girls are all in high school or university and have studied English on their own, but have not gotten to have formal instruction in the language, but are extremely motivated to learn all that they can. They connect to Skype through a community center, which they have to have signed permission from their fathers to go to, as Afghan women are not traditionally allowed out of their homes for any reason. In fact, it is so against their culture thta they literally risk their lives to go to this center, to study, and to learn English, as men have been known to injure and sometimes kill girls who try to assert some sort of independence.
The program director went over some cultural differences with me, telling me that talking about things like dating or going out for a drink were against their religion, and so such topic should really be avoided. She went on to caution me about other cultural differences, and explained that the girls could get in a lot of trouble with their families if they were asked to talk about or write about many of these things.
The whole conversation, concept and opportunity was so enthralling and exciting that I felt like I was on a call in regards to a super secret covert mission!
At the end of the call, the director said she was very happy to have me on board as one of the 25 (only 25!) volunteers and would be pairing me up with an Afghan girl in the coming weeks to begin! YAY!!! I am way excited to have found such a wonderful sounded volunteer job and hope that I am really able to make a difference in the life of the girl with whom I am paired!
XOXO
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