Ha - three days in a row
Five minutes ago my publishing page wasn't there, and now it is! A window of opportunity opens,and you have to take it.
I haven't really had a chance yet to talk about how work is going for me and school for the boys. I have to say I love my job and the school I am working in. Things are soooo much calmer and I no longer dread waking up in the morning to go to work. Of course there are problems as in every place, but they are minor in comparison to what I lived through last year.
I am really excited by my new colleagues. We have teachers from all over the world: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Luxembourg, Ireland, India, Latvia (;-)), England, and the US. All of them have an enormous amount of experience in teaching internationally as well as working within IB schools. Almost the entire elementary is new to the school, and absolutely psyched to work with inquiry based teaching. Right now we are going through pre-aurthorization as a PYP school, and reauthorizing for CIS. So this year there is quite a bit of committee work, but it is all doable.
I share the responsibility for teaching Grade 5 together with the other Grade 5 teacher -Alex. We plan together, organize our materials,etc. In the beginning both of us were somewhat nervous about the pairing, but we have found that as teachers we are exactly on the same page. Strangely we even have the same color, and find wierder and wierder similarities. Alex last taught in Egypt, and is happy to be in an environment where parents and teachers take learning seriously. We also share our driver Zenja, to defray the costs of transportation.
The boys are doing wonderfully in school, and have settled in quickly. Namejs' teacher is from India, and has gotten Namejs writing and working very hard. He is slowly becoming friends with classmates, and already has a good friend in the other grade 2 class - the economics teacher's son Abuhuh. Namejs is playing t-ball and signed up for karate after school. The karate has yet to get into full swing due to classes being taught in Russina. Didzis as always settled in quickly, and has made lots of friends. He was even elected as class representative for student council. He is learning to play soccer after school and American football during recesses. He is excited to be taking woodcarving and art after school as well. Some days they both struggle with learning Russian in school, and others it is fine. But I am hoping in the process that they will become fluent in another language while here.
This last weekend we also celebrated both boys birthdays. They had requested a swimming party and had chosen two friends each, the teachers' kids and also our next door neighbor Medina. It was a great day with two cakes due to Medina's mom making an extra one.
For those of you in Latvia feeling the cold coming on we can still boast 33 degree days, and 20 degree mornings. We are told that it will really only get cold towards the end of November.
Right now in Uzbekistan I am enjoying: not having to wash my laundry or iron it, not having to drive anywhere, having money to put aside for savings, working with a rambunctious, but intersting group of kids, and having time and physical energy to spend with my own children.
I haven't really had a chance yet to talk about how work is going for me and school for the boys. I have to say I love my job and the school I am working in. Things are soooo much calmer and I no longer dread waking up in the morning to go to work. Of course there are problems as in every place, but they are minor in comparison to what I lived through last year.
I am really excited by my new colleagues. We have teachers from all over the world: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Luxembourg, Ireland, India, Latvia (;-)), England, and the US. All of them have an enormous amount of experience in teaching internationally as well as working within IB schools. Almost the entire elementary is new to the school, and absolutely psyched to work with inquiry based teaching. Right now we are going through pre-aurthorization as a PYP school, and reauthorizing for CIS. So this year there is quite a bit of committee work, but it is all doable.
I share the responsibility for teaching Grade 5 together with the other Grade 5 teacher -Alex. We plan together, organize our materials,etc. In the beginning both of us were somewhat nervous about the pairing, but we have found that as teachers we are exactly on the same page. Strangely we even have the same color, and find wierder and wierder similarities. Alex last taught in Egypt, and is happy to be in an environment where parents and teachers take learning seriously. We also share our driver Zenja, to defray the costs of transportation.
The boys are doing wonderfully in school, and have settled in quickly. Namejs' teacher is from India, and has gotten Namejs writing and working very hard. He is slowly becoming friends with classmates, and already has a good friend in the other grade 2 class - the economics teacher's son Abuhuh. Namejs is playing t-ball and signed up for karate after school. The karate has yet to get into full swing due to classes being taught in Russina. Didzis as always settled in quickly, and has made lots of friends. He was even elected as class representative for student council. He is learning to play soccer after school and American football during recesses. He is excited to be taking woodcarving and art after school as well. Some days they both struggle with learning Russian in school, and others it is fine. But I am hoping in the process that they will become fluent in another language while here.
This last weekend we also celebrated both boys birthdays. They had requested a swimming party and had chosen two friends each, the teachers' kids and also our next door neighbor Medina. It was a great day with two cakes due to Medina's mom making an extra one.
For those of you in Latvia feeling the cold coming on we can still boast 33 degree days, and 20 degree mornings. We are told that it will really only get cold towards the end of November.
Right now in Uzbekistan I am enjoying: not having to wash my laundry or iron it, not having to drive anywhere, having money to put aside for savings, working with a rambunctious, but intersting group of kids, and having time and physical energy to spend with my own children.
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