i am helping prepare some kids for the olympiads. the olympiads are similar to academic decathlons... i think... but they are a huge deal here. schools pride themselves if they have a student that does well and they will talk about it forever.

but as i was saying..

i am helping prepare some kids. and today we were working on an essay question. the question was something like pretend the fountain of youth was discovered and you could have any notable person live forever. who would you pick, why and what do you think the consequences would be.

my kids top choices for everlasting life were: Da Vinci, Shakespear, Aristotle, and Michael Jackson.

hmmm.

lets be real.

i had a whole different post up here before. i want this blog to be completely honest. not really for anyone but myself. I have a journal that i write in and im more candid there but i also want this space to be true to my experiences. when im having a great time i want it to show and when things are hard i want it to show too. up til now i dont think it does. granted i dont update all that often but still. so..

lets be real

and

lets keep it real. 

ive been at site for almost 3 months, and they have been difficult. sometimes really difficult. im really good at finding excuses as to why im not exactly happy here. sometimes they feel like real strong valid reasons and other times they feel like weak excuses. really though perhaps im just lonely and all those other reasons/excuses are just more concrete things to focus on. im hoping with school starting and my schedule getting busier ill be able get past these feelings and start to focus on my work and start enjoying my time here more. I know I'll be at the year mark, and at close of service before I know it. My friend received a letter from a volunteer in Morocco during our training and it was a list of things to remember everyday to keep you sane. The thing that stuck out the most to me was owning your feelings. so much is going on constantly here/as a volunteer that your feeling/emotions are not so stable. He told her to identify exactly what you are feeling and own it. Don't feel bad because you are not enjoying every second, or that you are frustrated with something, etc. Own it. So thats what im trying to do. Own it so that I can get past it. 

***********

School. 

i've officially been a teacher for a whole week now. im just doing observations for the first 2 weeks but its still exhausting. exhausting and confusing. the schedule seems to change everyday. my classes are small for the most part. I think the biggest class is 16. and the smallest is 6. im excited for those small classes. The kids seem somewhat timid at the moment but i know that wont last. ive also found a russian tutor so hopefully soon the language barrier between us will be very small. I also get free lunches at school! It will def be a help in saving my pennies for future travel. 

some of my students made me this card! i also got flowers on friday. i guess i now know who my favorites are. i also now know im married. thats my married name. 

I have more pictures of my classroom but ill post those next time.