10-10-10

Happy 10-10-10! I guess I am celebrating by enjoying a) my only day off this week, and b) my first time on the Internet in 7 days. Things have been moving quickly here in some ways and very slowly in others; on one hand I can’t believe I’ve been here two and a half weeks, while on the other it seems like I’ve lived here for years.

Mostly, I am balls deep in learning this crazy language. I get really frustrated every day with my lack of progress, and then I remember that I have only been studying Azeri for three weeks—in college terms, that’s not even to the midterm—and I can already speak in complete sentences (sometimes) and in past tense (slowly). I also have technical training several days a week, where I’m learning about lesson planning, learning styles, the Azerbaijan education system, and the textbooks I’ll be working with. Starting next week I’ll be observing an English class in my school, and in three weeks I’ll be team-teaching my first English class in Azerbaijan with an Azeri English teacher (gah!).

Today, I was lucky enough to have TWO really great “wow, this is what it’s all about” moments. The first was during my language class, when my cluster-mates and I were introduced to two of the English teachers that we’ll be working with during practicum (i.e. observing and then teaching lessons while I’m still here in PST). When we first met them, the two teachers, one who has been teaching English for 30 years and the other for 10, told us that they were excited to work with us and learn from us, and that they wanted to learn the “new methods” for teaching English. One of my biggest roles as a PCV in Azerbaijan is not only teaching English to students in order to provide a few hundred kids with slightly better English skills, but introducing creative and interactive classroom methods to Azeri English teachers, who tend to stick to translate/recite/memorize language instruction. So, it was really exciting when someone with 30 years of teaching experience expressed so much interest and enthusiasm for what we have to offer right off the bat!

My second “this is what it’s all about” moment came when I got home from my language lesson and found my mom stringing beans to make into this pickled thing that is hard to describe but really delicious. Seeing my host mom sitting on the floor working away at cutting up green beans brought back fond memories of my Grandma with a metal pan in her lap stringing beans from her garden, and I immediately offered to help. Although she wouldn’t let me sit on the floor without a pillow (I think that in Azeri culture it is never okay for a woman to sit directly on the floor or ground), I picked up a knife and sat for an hour stringing and then cutting up a whole bunch of green beans. As I sat there, I told her that my Grandma in America has a garden and we also have these beans. It was strangely therapeutic to take my mind off of learning Azeri (except enough to explain things and ask/answer questions from my host mom), and to just mindlessly work with my hands. It was one of those cross-cultural moments that both reminded me of home and made me feel really happy to be here.