February 27, 2012

I heard the sound of rain as soon as I woke up and felt relieved that no more snow would accumulate today. I had flat bread, a piece of cheese and hot chocolate for breakfast before getting ready to head to the PedInst. The dean’s office was closed and I proceeded to my classroom where a male professor was finishing up his lecture. The whiteboard had been pushed to the side and the space heater was missing while all the tables and chairs had been reconfigured to face the front of the classroom in the traditional manner. The students from my 111 group saw me and started to pile into the room to say hello and tell me how much they missed me. Zoir and Aziz both indicated they had tried calling me, perhaps while I was in Nepal, and didn’t get an answer. Zoir told me he had gone to my apartment and knocked on my door, but there was no answer.

The dean came in then and welcomed me back clarifying he had taken the space heater to his office to make sure it was not taken by someone else. He had it returned a few minutes later. Pariso also stopped by and asked where I had been as she had not been told I was out sick. When I asked about my students, she told me they were waiting for me in the classroom next door because it was warmer there. I refused to move and she went to get them. These were not the interpreter students, but the future teachers and I was totally confused. I started by introducing myself again and asking them to introduce each other by using an adjective that began with the same letter as the initial of their first name. I kept a tally of the adjectives so they wouldn’t be repeated. After much confusion, they caught on and were able to do it for the most part.

After separating the class into groups, I gave them a worksheet with a series of phrases that could be used to indicate things they disliked and had then select a person in their groups to be the scribe. This activity took the rest of the hour and left barely enough time to tally their responses on the board. One student, the most outspoken, indicated he’s already teaching at a school in the afternoon and needed help with classroom management. He stated how mad he was that in four years at the PedInst, this was the first class where he had had a chance to do anything interactive. When they were gone, Nigora came in and explained her class had been given to me because she was late this morning. She didn’t know whether I’d have the interpreter students tomorrow or not and said she’d check the schedule at the front and let me know. She didn’t come back and after a few minutes I just left the building.

Went for my usual bowl of soup and then on to Caritas International where I distributed the tokens of gratitude I had brought from Nepal. It was obvious they weren’t expecting anything from me and were very happy to see I had remembered them. Elbek came for his class and had tons of questions about my trip to Nepal, so instead of going over the book, we talked about the differences between Kathmandu and Dushanbe and I showed him my photos and those of both Corrie and Caroline. He was impressed with the size of the city, the huge numbers of people who live there and by how close together the buildings stand. I had not even repaired on the fact that there are no parks or green areas so to speak in Kathmandu except for a sports park and the temple along the river. Every square inch seems to be taken up by buildings, roads and shrines to different Hindu gods and goddesses.

As I was finishing my dinner, Caroline returned and filled me in on the details of the conference Matluba held for the first day. Apparently, Matluba had spent most of the day lecturing the fifteen teachers and complaining about not getting enough support from Multikid. When Caroline told her she would be gone as of Thursday, she asked for Corrie’s phone number so as to have her assistance in the future.