Friday, July 25, 2008

Panapapahnakan kertutyoon

Hey,

it's been a while. we are halfway through our teaching practica, in which we corral all of the kids in the village into school during their summer break in order to teach them about the environment and to practice our discipline techniques. It's fun for me, if not for anyone else. The kids are pretty well behaved, considering their situation, and they are much more entertaining than adult students. And they really, really want to contribute. I mean, they levitate above their chairs when they think they know the right answer. I have taught lessons on seed dispersal, ecosystem succession, aquatic life, nature drawing and decomposition.

Also, i have been given my permanent assignment. I will be working with a teacher training NGO to help incorporate environmental education into other disciplines and teach techniques for incorporating students of different abilities. My work is definitely cut out for me, but i'm excited to see what happens.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Shnorh havor hoolisi 4-in!

Happy 4th, everybody.
We celebrated in style on Peace Corps' dollar. Every village had its own party, and we had a barbecue for all of our host families. There was about 15 kg's of meat for about 30-40 people, not including the lamb that our mayor had slaughtered for the occasion. Then every family brought desserts and side dishes. So basically it was yet another eating olympics.
Other events included pin the tail on the donkey (in which everyone cheated) the denting of a mercedes (when the smashing stick yielded before the pinata), tug-of-war (in which we got our asses handed to us), a fire and a few fireworks. Overall, it was a very nice time. But a lot of work.