Ode To Ben and Jerry’s

Today was a particularly difficult day. It’s not like it was really that different from any other crazy day. I think it’s just that I have been trying to not let things bother me that actually do bother me in the long run. All the little things add up. Straw that breaks the camel’s back kind of thing, you know?

All week, I’ve had no idea how long the classes were going to be because they would ring the bells early to end the school day early because the building is too cold. Then today, I tried to play a game of Memory with one of my classes for the first time. But it was a huge headache. The students only know how to behave with lectures. So when I introduce an activity, it can be kind of wild. Then half of my students in my last class were missing (there are only 8 students in the class total).

Usually, I have a lot of patience and stamina for this chaos. I actually am kind of proud of myself because I have become pretty good for letting things roll off my shoulder, which says a lot coming from this slight (okay, more than slight) control-freak. But apparently on my hard days, my newfound maturity and flexibility are out the window, and what is left of Maggie wants to jump out the window. Oh well. I guess I’m bound to have hard days. It’s just difficult having hard days in a foreign country.

When I had a bad day back in the States, I often turned to my good friends, Ben and Jerry. But they don’t have it here. I miss Ben and Jerry’s. They have ice cream here, but most of it is served on a stick. And it’s relatively cheap. It’s not the same. I miss good ice cream.

I went on a mission today after school to find ice cream that wasn’t served on a stick. It took a great deal of searching, but I found some in a carton at last. Unfortunately, there was only one kind, vanilla with caramel swirl. Normally, I need something with chocolate after a day like this. But beggars can’t be choosers. And in my current state, I really don’t care. I’m just happy to be able to eat ice cream with a spoon tonight.

Well, in my misery, I have turned to poetry to express myself. I dedicate this to you, Ben and Jerry, lifelong friends to those in need.

You are the ice cream with much flare.
For your taste I greatly care.
But since I moved to Moldova,
My life’s been all ova’
Since I can’t find you anywhere.

Yes, I realize I’m being a little (okay, more than a little) melodramatic. But can you blame a girl? I mean, I’m in foreign country having a bad day. Add in the fact that I haven’t had Ben and Jerry’s in almost 5 months, not to mention countless other things I miss (ode to Mexican food soon to come). For those who might not know me as well, have no worries. I’ll get my ice cream fix as I watch a sappy romantic comedy and I’ll be back to my semi-mature and capable self. But for now, I will moan and groan and complain.

Inconsistence In A Control-Freak’s World

Over the past couple days, I feel like I have gotten a real taste of Moldovan schools. The schedules aren’t set yet; there are still daily changes. Originally, I was scheduled to teach two 5th grades, two 6th grades, one 7th grade, two 8th grades, and two 9th grade classes. And this was split up so that I teach two classes with three of my partners and 3 classes with one of my partners.

Well, this plan has changed. I kind of guessed it would seeing as it would be difficult to schedule all of the classes without any coinciding since I’m teaching with different teachers, which turned out to happen. Which classes I will be team-teaching have changed four times over the last three days. But I’m hopeful the changes have stopped, because none of those changes were today. After several changes, my classes (right now) are mostly the same; I’m not teaching 9th grade classes anymore, but instead teaching one regular 10th grade class and a 10th grade class for students who are just beginning English. I’m kind of excited about both.

Also, there is miscommunication between the teachers and students. Monday afternoon I was meeting with Svetlana during our free period. Then about half way through the period, an 8th grade class came into the classroom. Apparently, they were told to go to one class, but they were scheduled to be with Svetlana. They didn’t have their textbooks or anything since they thought they didn’t have English lessons that day. This was not one of the classes I'm schedule to teach with, so I was going to leave to continue planning, but Svetlana started a question-and-answer forum about America. Once again, a performance was requested. But this time, they asked me to perform a traditional American dance. Needless to say, I didn’t. Mostly cause I don’t know one. But also because the only dance I could think of was the Macarena.

And then today, one of the teachers was absent. And when a teacher is absent, they can’t always find sub, so the students are added to other classes. So today, the 7th grade class was twice as big because there was another group of students who we don’t usually teach. It kind of made the class feel more like babysitting than teaching. We tried to continue as if the additional students had been part of the class the whole time. But they haven’t, so they just kind of sat there, bored and not really included.

In addition to constant schedule changing, my partners and I haven’t really gotten into the flow of working together yet. Yesterday, in one of the classes I was observing, my partner teacher wasn’t present when the bell rang. After about 3-4 minutes, the students were getting restless, and I thought I would just start a lesson, even though I had no plans nor did I know where the students were in their lessons. So I just started going over the homework. My partner showed up 10 minutes after the bell had rung, and I had just finished checking the homework with the students. Then she sat down, started working though some paperwork, and left me to teach the class…that I had no plans for…and the students spoke very little English. If she wants to observe me teaching, I would like to know in advance. But she wasn’t even observing; she was getting some work done for administration or something. Not exactly what I’m here for. I really wasn’t happy with this, but as long as it was just this one time, I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. If it happens again, I’ll speak with her.

It can be kind of frustrating sometimes, but most of the frustrating things are things that will pass quickly. Or they are things I might be able to help change for the better. I’ll get the hang of things, and the frustrations will lessen. Regardless, handling this instability is really helping me develop my ability to be flexible and think on the spot. Yea for another growth opportunity.

New Kind Of Control

This week, the scheduling of classes is not regular. I don’t know what classes I will be working with until the end of the day before. Originally, I was hoping to start team-teaching right away with my partner teachers. However, with the craziness of the schedule, it is difficult to meet to plan with my partners. So this week, I’m mostly observing (with an occasional singing performance).

Even though observing for the first week wasn’t exactly what I was planning, I can see that it will be beneficial. It gives me a chance to learn the teaching styles of each of my partner teachers so that I can cooperate better with each of them. I can pick out the strengths of my partners and come up with ideas for improvement. Also, I can see the flow of things better without interfering much.

One thing that sticks out in my mind when observing my partners is the difference in control. Every teacher has some kind of control in their classroom, some more than others. And what is controlled in the classroom is obviously going to be different, and it will depend on what the teacher wants in his/her classroom. But something I noticed is my partners like control over how the students hold themselves. For example, when one of the students was standing to talk with a hand in his pocket, one of my partners told him not to talk with his hand in his pocket. Another time, one of the students was leaning over her notebook as she was writing, and another one of my partners told her to sit straight and turn her head differently when writing.

At first, I thought perhaps it was just the preference of one of my partners. But I noticed several of my partners correcting such behavior, which makes me wonder if it’s a cultural thing. I’m usually apathetic and don’t notice such physical appearances. I hope my apathy towards the students’ physical mannerism won’t cause stress in the classroom with my partners. Furthermore, I hope my unawareness won’t be misread as disrespect. I wonder how long before I start thinking like a Moldovan.

Baby Steps, Maggie, Baby Steps

So after the first 2 days here in Criuleni, I thought it would be difficult to have time to myself. Well, I was wrong. I haven’t needed to go into work for the past 3 days. I have been calling my partner to talk about me coming in, but there have been seminars for the teachers at the school, which are taught in Romanian. So my partner told me not to come in. I couldn’t tell if they were telling me to stay home because they wanted me to rest or because they didn’t know what do with the American. I’m assuming the first.

But I finally got to go in again today. But it ended up not being exciting at all. My partner teachers were busy with their responsibilities, which they didn’t need my help with, or perhaps they didn’t want my help. So I ended up just sitting by myself and working on retyping a document I needed. After a little while, Svetlana told me I could go home.

I didn’t really accomplish much in terms of collaborating and planning with my partners, but it was nice to just be at the school. Although it was completely unintentional, I felt very left out. I was hoping to help with something; maybe planning our first lesson or coming up with a disciplinary plan. But since it’s the beginning of my relationships with my partners, I didn’t want to come in being demanding and controlling. Today reminded me that this whole experience will require a lot of patience and flexibility from me. We’re taking baby steps. And I won’t be in control the whole time. Just typing this makes me stop and realize how much work these next 2 years will involve. Whew.

Miss Independence

Doamna Parascovia and Roman took me to Chișinău today, and I was able to purchase the things that I needed, including internet. I wasn’t allowed the sign the contract, so Roman signed for me. Due to language barriers and I didn’t know I was going to purchase internet today, I didn’t quite get what internet plan I wanted. But it works fine. Now I will be distracted during my free time, so I won’t be able to solve world hunger and poverty. Perhaps another time. They also took me to Metro, which is Moldova’s version of Costco except much smaller. I was able to get everything I needed.

Today’s interactions made me miss my independence in America. I did not feel like a 25-year-old adult woman. I need be driven places. I need someone else to sign contracts for me. I need help reading what a product is (a lot of things are just in Russian, and I don’t know every Romanian word). I don’t have the flexibility to go purchase anything I need whenever I want. And while I appreciate how helpful Moldovans are with me, I miss the ability to work independently. Well, I’ll try to think of it as something that will make me a better person.