vindication

I had a really cool thing happen yesterday. Several, actually, including going out for Chinese food for a classmate's birthday, buying an inscribed copy of Madeleine L'Engle's poetry, and having a goofy, low-stress evening hanging out with Lisa as she snarked her way through a video game and I alternately read articles for the lit review I have to write and snarked along with her. Oh, and the random tour bus that was parked in front of our apartment for several hours. We never quite figured out why.

But the thing that made me decide to blog wasn't any of those things. I've been on http://www.vkontake.ru/ for a couple of weeks now--it's an equivalent to Facebook for Russian/Ukrainian speakers. Another RPCV had let me know about it, and I've enjoyed seeing what some of the people I knew in Ukraine are up to. Well, yesterday, I had a friend request from Firyuza, one of my former students.

Firyuza was one of the best students I've taught. She was one of the very few people I could count on to do their homework, and she was a regular at my English clubs. Her family moved into my apartment building partway through my time in Balaklia, and she and I would often walk home together, having simple conversations in English and playing word games like "I Spy" and "Think of a word that starts with the last letter of the previous word" in English. She was also had a quick temper and could be a bit moody--I remember an "open lesson" for the rayon teachers where I gave both her and another student the same high mark. She felt that she'd done better than the other student and that my grades should have reflected that, told me I could go ahead and give her a failing grade, and stormed off. Nelya and I didn't always agree about her--Firyuza is Tajikistani, and Nelya felt that she often showed "uncultured" characteristics of Tajik village people (Nelya spent several years in Tajkistan), but no one could argue that she wasn't a good student. (Firuyza's family are Muslims, the only ones I knew in Balaklia. Interestingly enough, her brother, Faridun, was friends with Vitaly Yukhymets, which made me wonder if it was because they both weren't Orthodox.)

Anyhow, when I looked at Firyuza's profile, I saw that after she finished 9th form last spring, she had transferred to the junior college in Balaklia and is now studying to be a translator (I assume of English, although it might also be German). I'm beyond thrilled. I loved my time in Ukraine and occasionally felt like I was making some small differences in regard to how people perceived Americans, but I was never sure if I made any difference as an English teacher. I figured at best, maybe some of my kids would realize that there were different ways to teach, that my educational effectiveness had more to do with helping them see English as fun than with actually learning anything. And now I found out that one of my students has decided to go into a language-related professon. As I said, I'm thrilled. It's a tiny vindication that yes, I probably helped inspire someone. And that makes all the days when I got so frustrated with the kids who didn't care worthwhile.

from the mouths of little children...

Yeah, I'm not that good about doing regular updates. Part of it is that my life just doesn't seem that exciting to me right now, and also, moving to Ann Arbor has been more of an adjustment than I realized it would be (it seems like the last six months or so have been nothing but major adjustments...this is wearying). I like my job a lot, but moving to a city where I don't know a lot of people (however, *wave* to Cary!) and I won't be here long enough to build long-term friendships has been challenging. But I have Ukrainian conversation time with Svitlana, think I may have found a church (two, actually) for the summer, and generally run up my phone bill. So I'm hanging in there.

And as I said, I really enjoy my job. The kids say the funniest things. Kay, one of my 4-year-olds, has a very stubborn streak to her...as well as a misunderstanding of reflexive pronouns. Last week, we were learning about feelings, and she said, "I angry." "Why are you angry?" I asked. "I angry because Daddy help me on monkey bars and I do it yourself!!!" She's very big on the phrase "I do it yourself."

Also from Ryan in the same class: "Who that?" (looking at the mailbox for a child who hadn't yet joined the class). "That's Mia," I said. "She's going to be the new girl." "Why we need new girl?" he asked.

My kids really are what keep me going some days. No matter how tired or drained or lonely I get, teaching them cheers me up!