November 17, 2011

Spent the morning cooking mung bean soup and seasoning the pot to cook the plov on Sunday. It’s too bad this process requires oil for the entire apartment smelled like burned fat all day. I got more bedbug bites this morning and will have to put into practice what Elisabeth is doing: sleeping on top of her sleeping bag to avoid contact with the mattress. The soup was delicious, but could have been spicier even though I dropped two chili peppers in it.

My first class had a terrific time playing Tic Tac Toe with the topic of countries, languages and nationalities. I tried to continue the theme by playing “hangman” with the names of countries, but the students were very unruly and it didn’t go so well. I could tell it was relief for them to be able to work in groups and challenge each other while the disadvantage was that their knowledge of other countries is slim to none and so many of them tried to use their textbooks or even their cell phones to locate the answer.

My second class contained my ADDH student who can’t sit still for a minute and yells constantly at me and other classmates. Having him working with another partner is almost impossible as he refuses to limit his talking to just one person. I’ve already talked to two other teachers about his behavior, but have seen little change thus far. When he completes the smallest task, he feels entitled to recognition and drives everyone to the point of wanting to smack him.

Met with Caroline at the American Councils and she told me Damian, from the embassy, had invited her to have dinner with his family while discussing what can be done about her case. She invited me to come along, but I declined indicating this was a time for her to have some privacy. Damian was nice enough to give me a ride home since he happens to live nearby.