Just a few things bouncing around in my head
As I logged in to write tonight, I quickly looked at the neocounter to the right. I only added it on February 7th, and I see that in about a month (as February is a shorter month...) there were 210 individual hits on my blog. I know that about 23 of them are probably me from Uzbekistan, but that is still a lot of people reading. I think I know who is reading in Canada and Australia, and I know for sure a few of the people reading in Latvia, I can guess who is reading in Sweden. But, I am quite surprised because I really have no idea who is reading what I write elsewhere. So I guess I need to keep doing this, which is fine, because I would have kept doing it anyway. I have found the blog to be an outlet of my thoughts, and experiences, and until this, I had forgotten that I enjoy writing.
This month lots of things have been keeping me busy at work. I have had a good month of focus with the students, but a stressful month with meetings. I have made an agreement with my students that I will limit my meetings per week so that I can focus more on their needs.
I signed my contract that says I will stay on for two more years, and have begun working with the humanities teachers in the secondary school to prepare for next year. Although I am looking forward to returning to teaching high schoolers, I am a bit nervous as it has been seven years since I have done it. I guess I will find out what I like best after 7 years of both elementary and secondary, I have to check back again. I am looking forward to working together across the disciplines with other teachers, and seeing what will develop. We changed the curriculum a bit, and I know that I will also have to brush up on some parts of the world that I know less about - for instance India... But in general I am looking forward to teaching my favorite area: the social sciences/humanities.
The best part of leaving the Elementary is that I won't have to teach Math anymore. The worst part is that I have enjoyed working with the Elementary staff and will miss the ability to work together. I hope that I will build more bridges of activity between the Elementary and Secondary.
I have also been planning our Spring Break trip that starts next week. We will go to the Ferghana Valley for four days. I have really wanted to travel there for ages. I requested that the person who organized the trip consider interesting options for the boys as well. Thus, when we go to look at artisans in the area, the boys (and hopefully myself and my friend Carol) will be taught how to make things out of silk, do block printing, and make Uzbek ceramics. I also hope to purchase some of these items relatively inexpensively compared to Tashkent. We will also be visiting local artists, a copper maker, a jeweller, walking in the small towns, and in the mountains. He has also arranged play time for the boys with some local Uzbek kids where they will learn to play traditional Uzbek games. We will be doing a home stay, and therefore will be staying with a local family rather than in a hotel. Not only will this be a lot cheaper, but I always find it more interesting meeting local families as opposed to observing life as a full out tourist. This of course will occur all in the span of 4 days. We will still have five days of rest and relaxation in Tashkent.
This month has also been a focus on health and wellness for me. I have been working on eating differently, and exercise. The morning walks have been going well, and stopping only when it rains, or due to illness. Soon I will no longer have the excuse of rain, as spring is here, and by the end of March, the rains will stop until October. I just hope that the mornings will not be too hot to walk. :-) I have also found a nutritionist online who specializes in nutrition for people with PCOS and look forward to having her support in the next step of focusing more on the nutrition, and reaching a goal of sustained weight loss. Sadly, our yoga teacher did not receive a visa renewal, so we will now have to look for a new yogi. It means I will have to work hard to go straight to my yogalates upon returning home. Aqua aerobics is still good and although the boys complain about their swimming, they are doing really well. Namejs is no longer nervous of the water, and Didzis can now do, and Namejs is learning to do: freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke.
Russian lessons are slowly developing. I find that something is sticking as I am able to answer more and understand more when I go places. I just seem to forget more things in class... Hopefully it will get better as it continues.
Art is also going well. I have finished two more pictures, one of which was a watercolor. I have begun a new picture that will also be a watercolor. I should photograph the charcoal I have at home and put it up, but perhaps I will wait until the watercolor is at home. The boys are struggling whether or not to continue with art, and I think that they may just need a break. We will take the next two weekends off during the holidays.
Life seems busy and relatively smooth right now, and I am somehow waiting for something to happen that will require a bit of adjustment. Not sure what, but it is waiting in the wings... I can feel it. I don't think it will be tragic, just a change of some sort is brewing.
Summer plans are forming. I will have to do two weeks of professional development over the summer. One will be in Basel, Switzerland, and the other in London. The rest of the time I will be in Latvia staying at my summer house, or traveling around with my friend Carol who will also come and visit Latvia. We are not quite sure where we will end up, but hopefully we will do some fun things, and also be able to spend some time with the boys.
My next post will probably be after the spring vacation. There should be lots of pictures and hopefully lots of interesting experiences to relate.
This month lots of things have been keeping me busy at work. I have had a good month of focus with the students, but a stressful month with meetings. I have made an agreement with my students that I will limit my meetings per week so that I can focus more on their needs.
I signed my contract that says I will stay on for two more years, and have begun working with the humanities teachers in the secondary school to prepare for next year. Although I am looking forward to returning to teaching high schoolers, I am a bit nervous as it has been seven years since I have done it. I guess I will find out what I like best after 7 years of both elementary and secondary, I have to check back again. I am looking forward to working together across the disciplines with other teachers, and seeing what will develop. We changed the curriculum a bit, and I know that I will also have to brush up on some parts of the world that I know less about - for instance India... But in general I am looking forward to teaching my favorite area: the social sciences/humanities.
The best part of leaving the Elementary is that I won't have to teach Math anymore. The worst part is that I have enjoyed working with the Elementary staff and will miss the ability to work together. I hope that I will build more bridges of activity between the Elementary and Secondary.
I have also been planning our Spring Break trip that starts next week. We will go to the Ferghana Valley for four days. I have really wanted to travel there for ages. I requested that the person who organized the trip consider interesting options for the boys as well. Thus, when we go to look at artisans in the area, the boys (and hopefully myself and my friend Carol) will be taught how to make things out of silk, do block printing, and make Uzbek ceramics. I also hope to purchase some of these items relatively inexpensively compared to Tashkent. We will also be visiting local artists, a copper maker, a jeweller, walking in the small towns, and in the mountains. He has also arranged play time for the boys with some local Uzbek kids where they will learn to play traditional Uzbek games. We will be doing a home stay, and therefore will be staying with a local family rather than in a hotel. Not only will this be a lot cheaper, but I always find it more interesting meeting local families as opposed to observing life as a full out tourist. This of course will occur all in the span of 4 days. We will still have five days of rest and relaxation in Tashkent.
This month has also been a focus on health and wellness for me. I have been working on eating differently, and exercise. The morning walks have been going well, and stopping only when it rains, or due to illness. Soon I will no longer have the excuse of rain, as spring is here, and by the end of March, the rains will stop until October. I just hope that the mornings will not be too hot to walk. :-) I have also found a nutritionist online who specializes in nutrition for people with PCOS and look forward to having her support in the next step of focusing more on the nutrition, and reaching a goal of sustained weight loss. Sadly, our yoga teacher did not receive a visa renewal, so we will now have to look for a new yogi. It means I will have to work hard to go straight to my yogalates upon returning home. Aqua aerobics is still good and although the boys complain about their swimming, they are doing really well. Namejs is no longer nervous of the water, and Didzis can now do, and Namejs is learning to do: freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke.
Russian lessons are slowly developing. I find that something is sticking as I am able to answer more and understand more when I go places. I just seem to forget more things in class... Hopefully it will get better as it continues.
Art is also going well. I have finished two more pictures, one of which was a watercolor. I have begun a new picture that will also be a watercolor. I should photograph the charcoal I have at home and put it up, but perhaps I will wait until the watercolor is at home. The boys are struggling whether or not to continue with art, and I think that they may just need a break. We will take the next two weekends off during the holidays.
Life seems busy and relatively smooth right now, and I am somehow waiting for something to happen that will require a bit of adjustment. Not sure what, but it is waiting in the wings... I can feel it. I don't think it will be tragic, just a change of some sort is brewing.
Summer plans are forming. I will have to do two weeks of professional development over the summer. One will be in Basel, Switzerland, and the other in London. The rest of the time I will be in Latvia staying at my summer house, or traveling around with my friend Carol who will also come and visit Latvia. We are not quite sure where we will end up, but hopefully we will do some fun things, and also be able to spend some time with the boys.
My next post will probably be after the spring vacation. There should be lots of pictures and hopefully lots of interesting experiences to relate.
Comments