Finally, An Update
As you've surely guessed by my last entry and the lack of updates, my power cord for my computer fried a week ago and, as a result, there been no computing for me. I spend my time by reading (finished War and Peace) and doing crosswords for five hours a day.
But I'm in Chisinau now and have three big things to write about as well as some time to do it, so here it goes:
1)My new favourite activity around here is hitch-hiking to get around. It's not at all unsafe and usually affords me the luxury of being able to sleep in certain mornings. I just walk to our sanitorium on foot and wait there, usually no longer than twenty minutes. It also leads to the type of event that I had a few hours ago (literally), one of the bext experiences in my time here. After waiting a half-hour a guy came up and instead of getting a ride just to my regional center, I was able to go with him all the way to Chisinau. On the road we talked about politics, the fall of the dollar, and our lives (he knows my host mom and brother). He shaved 45 minutes of my commute and the the best part of all, he didn't take my money when I tried to pay him. It made my day.
2) Last Friday a friend of mine called me on my cell phone when I was in class with my 5th graders. I answered and immedeatly the room went silent while they stared at me, but about thirty seconds into the call they started to giggle and when I hung up (after a minute), they first laughed for another minute, then looked at me in shock and surprise while asking if my friend had actually understood me. Then they said, "Mr. Andy, this is how you talk" before making gibberish noises for a minute, then they tried to talk to each-other in Russian as fast as I was apparently talking on the phone. It was great.
3) On Wednesday's I have a group that meets after school for extra work. Last week one of my 4th graders came for the first time, a smart kid who tries hard and is great to be around. We did some work for a while (I go back and forth between the older and younger kids) and he was struggling for a while before having a bit of a breakthrough. When he finally understood something I said, "hey everyone, Victor understands this" and started to clap and cheer, upon which all the kids started to clap and cheer along with me. The kid started to blush with a half-smile on his face and ducked his head a little bit, proud and embarassed at the same time.
Not to sound to melodramatic here, but it was a great reminder of why exactly I'm here and go to school every day.
But I'm in Chisinau now and have three big things to write about as well as some time to do it, so here it goes:
1)My new favourite activity around here is hitch-hiking to get around. It's not at all unsafe and usually affords me the luxury of being able to sleep in certain mornings. I just walk to our sanitorium on foot and wait there, usually no longer than twenty minutes. It also leads to the type of event that I had a few hours ago (literally), one of the bext experiences in my time here. After waiting a half-hour a guy came up and instead of getting a ride just to my regional center, I was able to go with him all the way to Chisinau. On the road we talked about politics, the fall of the dollar, and our lives (he knows my host mom and brother). He shaved 45 minutes of my commute and the the best part of all, he didn't take my money when I tried to pay him. It made my day.
2) Last Friday a friend of mine called me on my cell phone when I was in class with my 5th graders. I answered and immedeatly the room went silent while they stared at me, but about thirty seconds into the call they started to giggle and when I hung up (after a minute), they first laughed for another minute, then looked at me in shock and surprise while asking if my friend had actually understood me. Then they said, "Mr. Andy, this is how you talk" before making gibberish noises for a minute, then they tried to talk to each-other in Russian as fast as I was apparently talking on the phone. It was great.
3) On Wednesday's I have a group that meets after school for extra work. Last week one of my 4th graders came for the first time, a smart kid who tries hard and is great to be around. We did some work for a while (I go back and forth between the older and younger kids) and he was struggling for a while before having a bit of a breakthrough. When he finally understood something I said, "hey everyone, Victor understands this" and started to clap and cheer, upon which all the kids started to clap and cheer along with me. The kid started to blush with a half-smile on his face and ducked his head a little bit, proud and embarassed at the same time.
Not to sound to melodramatic here, but it was a great reminder of why exactly I'm here and go to school every day.
posted by Andy Buchanan at 6:27 AM
2 Comments:
Andy !
Soon you will be impowered for your cord arrived today - from Hong Kong !
Years ago I used to hitch hike around the city, you even saw girls doing it. I guess I can't recall any bad experiences and even had one or two like yours, i.e., almost door - to - door service. Thanks to the serial killers and rapists it is a rare sight these days.
I watched the Missouri - Kansas game, easily the best game I have seen so far this year. It didn't go into overtime so the public was spared that odd arrangement. BCS is a madhouse and at this stage all I am hoping for is to see LSU vs. USC.
I'll send the cord along !
Dad
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