Can’t seem to get myself to write these days. I’ve been spending
a lot of time creating lesson plans and sending official email messages
to a multitude of grant organizations, book donation organizations and
textbook publishers. My school isn’t desperate but they do need things,
so I’m trying to get some activities going. I’m also working with
the Moscow director of Junior Achievement Russia to get materials and training
to put three different JA programs together here in Rostov-on-Don.
I seem to be getting involved in things I’ve never done before and am thoroughly
enjoying it.
Yesterday my site rep, VaLary, asked
me what I knew about internet programs for education in Business.
Since I know nothing, he’s asked me to begin to research the topic.
I now know you can study for and take the TOEFL test by computer.
Also, there are programs to teach people how to be investors via the internet.
There’s even a program that links American companies to Russian schools
to help students learn and understand stocks, bonds and investing.
One of the professors here is a specialist on economics and wants to get
the school to put a program together that will certify the students to
become stock and money brokers. This is a private school so they’re
continually looking for programs to draw more students and they hope this
will help. He’s asked me to partner with him in teaching the English
jargon in the industry, so I’ll need to do some (a lot of) research on
this topic, too.
This isn’t at all what I’d expected
when I originally thought about volunteering to join Peace Corps.
Every once in awhile I feel sort of guilty that I’m having so much fun
and living such a “luxurious” lifestyle (compared to living in a cement
building or hut with no indoor plumbing in African or South American).
We have plenty of heat, water and electricity.
We had our first real company this weekend.
On Friday we invited Luda and Nina, Scott’s co-teachers, over for tea.
Here, when they say “tea”, it really is a meal. I fixed fresh fruit,
cheese and kobasa sandwiches, cabbage and persimmon salad, chocolate, waffleys
(cookies that are very popular here) and, of course, tea. Nina ended
up not coming because she was sick at home with a high temperature, but
Luda got here around 4:30 and stayed until 10:30. We had a nice visit and
then showed her all our textbooks and my catalogs from TESL publishers.
She and I are putting together a “wish list” to send to the San Francisco
Public Library and a few other organizations who have offered to try to
get us some donated texts.
Saturday evening, one of my students called
to chat and I invited her over to dinner. I had just finished making
cream of vegetable soup and we had plenty. She lives only a block away
and, since I’d been wanted to get to know her better, it worked out
perfect. She only stayed a few hours because she lives in the student
housing and they lock the doors at 10:00 p.m., so we walked her home at
9:30, after arranging for her to come back over Sunday to teach me how
to cook a Kazakstan recipe for baked chicken. |
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