Hey there everyone! Once again I have fallen into a slump in updating this blog, I apologize again. I am finding though that not a lot of stuff happens one a weekly basis here so thus I am usually at a loss of what to write. Since I last wrote though I have been very busy with projects, trainings, and just plan old end of the year BS that every teacher has to deal with (yes teachers, that end of the year craziness is a world phenomena and teachers world wide count down the days until that magical time we call summer vacation… you are not alone!). I’ve also found some time to get outside and enjoy the Turkmen spring before all hell breaks loose (quite literally in a metaphor for the heat summer will bring). Anyways, today I have some time to update you all a little bit about the last few weeks of my life.
Let’s start off recalling the end of the school year with teaching. At the end of April/beginning of May my counterpart and I worked feverously to plan a demonstrative lesson for teachers from my district. The idea was to show our teamwork and demonstrate a “communicative classroom”. Well, the lesson wasn’t as communicative as I thought it could be, but in the end it turned out to be a pretty successful endeavor. We had about 20 teachers from the district show up mainly to see me and the methods that I use to teach English, some of them drove over 2 hours to see me teach and listen to me talk about communicative methods. I was very humbled because they all considered me to be an “expert” in teaching when in actuality I have only been teaching for less that 7 months, while some of them had been teaching for 20 years. Everyone was very receptive to what I had to say and I can only hope that some of them took part of our lesson back to their own classrooms. It was one of those rare days that I left work and felt like a real Peace Corps Volunteer.
After the demonstrative lesson I was able to teach a few really good lessons at my school and I could actually see my students making some progress. The two lessons I can recall involved describing a person. One day we took a stack of pictures and wrote simple sentences using the verb “to be” and an adjective. For example, I had a picture of an old woman and my students wrote sentences like “She is kind,” She is beautiful,” ect. Then the next day we learned how to use the verb “to have” to describe a person, “she has a nice smile,” for example. It was great because the kids were actually starting to get it. After 6 months, I would say that at least 3 students in every class made some sort of progress, some classes even more than that; overall amazing progress! So I feel comfortable about the work I have done this past semester, I can see visible results and it’s awesome.
About 2 weeks ago I had a special training with Peace Corps. I was selected to be a member of what is called “Peer Support Team.” To explain it, I am basically a confidant that my fellow volunteers can come to when they are struggling with service and just life in general. Fortunately for me I feel as though my previous RA Training and Social Work studies has helped me prepare for this role of service to my fellow volunteers (thank you CMU Res-Life and SWK Dept!). So I had this training with a group of about 20 other volunteers. We learned about issues PCVs face and how to be empathetic active listeners. Overall, the training was very good, I really enjoyed the real conversations we had about culture and diversity, but what I enjoyed more though was the opportunity to get to know more members of the group that came here the year before me (T-16s). Another cool thing about being a Peer Supporter is the opportunity to reach out to the new group of volunteers coming in October; it’s hard to believe that they will be here soon!
Other than the constant work and training I am also working on getting ready for my summer activities! I have decided to start up a few new clubs during the summer: 2 new English clubs for interested students (if there are any), and a volleyball club (yes, I know… I dropped freshmen gym for band because I was forced to play volleyball… that and I missed music. But my kids like it and besides we play outside, not inside, big difference!). Before I announce those new clubs to my students though I am going to have a weeklong day camp at my school! The camp is called “Travel the world in 5 days with Abby Teacher!” I decided to have a camp teaching my kids about different countries because many of them have never thought of the world outside of Turkmenistan and I want to give them a chance to “experience” other cultures while learning some English too. I hope to teach about Chinese New Year and make some cool crafts, the African savanna’s animal kingdom and sing a classic song from high school choir “Se Ya Humba” (Powers Choir Grads should know what I’m talking about), have a Mexican fiesta with a homemade piñata, and some other cool stuff that I have yet to research! Overall, I might be more excited for this camp than my kids are, but I announced it in classes this week and they seemed pretty pumped. I’m also going to finish up working on my grant and do a training session with my teachers about how to lesson plan.
I’ve also got an opportunity to work with some other organizations in my area this summer. For the first organization my good friend and current Turkmen tutor Ayna recruited me. Ayna works for an American organization called IREX with their program called Tech Age Girls (TAG). TAG is basically a combination of leadership, computer, and community project organization training for 14 and 15 year old girls in Turkmenistan. Anyways, Ayna asked me to help her write and present 4 trainings about leadership for her girls (knowing my passion for leadership development I of course said yes). So Ayna and I are teaming up to give those presentations and I will also help her out with the TAG conference that will happen in July. The second organization is an organization in the town next to my village called the Anew Resource Center. I was approached by Peace Corps to work with this organization to help them organize a summer camp for kids in the Anew area who can’t afford to go to an expensive special summer camp. I am also going to help teach a weekly club with ARC because I thought it was a very cool organization and the students (who are more advanced than my students) could really benefit from having a native speaker in their classes. Overall, I hope to keep myself busy this summer! Now I know what you’re thinking, “Abby, you’re supposed to relax during the summer!” Have no fear… more on that later!
My final activity that has kept me away from my computer and updating my blog has been the beautiful weather! It’s been so sunny lately and it’s wonderful after the weeks of rain we have had. My family and I have taken to doing more outside activities like playing games outside and just sitting outside talking to our neighbors. It’s been really nice, but the kids wear my out with their Turkmen dodge ball! I’ve also had a few opportunities to go explore my mountains again. About 3 weeks ago Ayna and her family took me to their village just outside of Ashgabat on the foothills of the Kopetdag Mountains. It was so beautiful because it was so green and lush from all of the rain; there was also a field of beautiful red and yellow flowers! From the top of the hills the field of flowers looked like a Turkmen carpet, it was gorgeous! Then last weekend I got to go visit Mayagozel again with a group of Turkmen and American friends to celebrate her birthday by having a picnic in the Gokdepe Mountains. It was so great to see Mayagozel again and spend time with all of the girls just exploring the Desert Mountains. Pictures to come soon!
So you see I have been very busy wrapping up the end of the year! I will say though that I am in need of a vacation and a little time outside of Turkmenistan. Which is why in approximately 8 days I will be boarding a plane for a 1-week excursion to Bangkok to celebrate the end of the year and my 24th birthday (which is a week from today I might add) to go see my good friends Cathy and Kenny in Thailand! I couldn’t be more excited to see a bit of home and see the coolness of Bangkok with two experts (I think Cathy and Kenny have been there like 3 times in the last 5 years). It’s also nice to get to experience one of the many perks of being a PCV, cheap vacations! So that is all I have for now. I promise you all I am still alive! Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and positive thoughts! Hope all is well back home! Until next time, Paca (see ya in Russian)!
