My Office at COM
Last night (pwong aio) we had Takuya over for dinner. I prepared a nice little dinner of corn, cucumbers, leftover spicy tuna rolls and farfalle with spaghetti sauce… I had some fun fancying myself an entertainer. When the appointed hour arrived, Takuya showed up with a six-pack of Bud Light. Normally, I wouldn’t touch the stuff, but in deference to our guest I drank one. Then, for some reason having nothing to do with politeness, I drank another three.
The evening was very pleasant, although the conversation was a bit limited – JICA volunteers receive only three months of English training before heading off to their two-year assignments, and Takuya still has a lot to learn. We talked about where we’d traveled, and what our plans were for teaching. Oh, and I learned a little Japanese – I now know how to count to ten (ichi, ni, san, shi or yon, go, roku, nana, hachi, kyu, ju) and how to give a toast when drinking (kampai). Takuya seems amenable to my Japanese-for-English tutoring trade, so hopefully I’ll be learning more soon.
After awhile, Tanja headed off to bed and Takuya and I began discussing the math we’d studied in graduate school – it turns out his emphasis is in topology as well. Eventually, I got tired myself, and had to kick him out. Talking across a language barrier can be pretty exhausting - you have to avoid complex vocabulary, idioms, and convoluted sentences with multiple clauses, all while enunciating carefully and stressing important words - and those Bud Lights were beginning to settle in.
Despite being tired, however, I didn’t find it easy to go to sleep that night. Mostly this was due to being nervous about teaching the next day, although it also may have had something to do with an autistic rooster that decided to start crowing at one o’clock in the morning. I am adding roosters to my list of animals the world no longer needs, right under those worms that always ate my cucumbers. On a curious side note, did you know that every language has a different version of the sound a rooster makes? English roosters say cock-a-doodle-doo, while Pohnpeian roosters say cock-a-roooaaach and Japanese roosters say kokekokko.
At some point in the night, I had a strange dream… in it, I was talking to someone in Japanese and inadvertently used the Pohnpeian word for two, riau, instead of ni. I guess I should take it slow with the languages – I’ve already got my heart set on being quadrilingual when I leave here. I want Takuya to teach me Japanese and the Phillipinos in my office to teach me Tagalog, along with the Pohnpeian I’m getting from everybody on the street.
Mensengo (This morning), I had to teach my first class (Prealgebra) at 8:30. I woke up early for my daily cold shower – I still hate them, but at least they’re free. Intent on looking my best, I put on my wrinkle-free slacks and a collared shirt, and shaved my upper lip with a razor. This was my first time without an electric, and I’m proud to say I didn’t require any little squares of toilet paper.
I got into the office about an hour before I had to start, just in time to print out my syllabus and make copies. When I walked into class, I greeted my students with “Kaselehlie maingko! Ia irohmwail?”, or “Hello everyone! How are you?”. I then informed them that this is about all the Pohnpeian I know, and I would be conducting the rest of the class in English.
I went through the usual first day stuff, introducing myself and the course format. I have settled on a combination of weekly homework (assigned every Monday and due the next), weekly exams (every Thursday) and daily problems (put on the board at the beginning of each lecture period, that is Monday, Wednesday and Friday). I also discussed the difference between just getting the right answer, and doing the right work, with a heavier emphasis on the latter. Then I passed out an assessment test, and while they were taking it I took pictures of everyone holding up cards with their names on them. I’m going to print the pictures out and study them, so I can avoid the awkward “hey you” phase that usually lasts a couple of weeks.
I walked home for a lunch of leftover pasta – now that I’ve figured out how to cut through the south side of campus to Daini, the trip is less than ten minutes each way. Afterwards, I walked back to COM, hung out in my office for a few hours, and then repeated the performance with my second class (Elementary Algebra) at four. They have virtually identical syllabi, to make things a little easier on me – I just have to be careful not to mix up my lectures. :)
When I finished up, the sky was beginning to darken – the sun sets here between 6:30 and 6:45 all year long. I walked home to drop off a few things, and decided it was time to go play Santa Claus with the package from dad that arrived a few days ago. In addition to coloring books, colored pencils, crayons, watercolors, CDs, stuffed animals and other things, it also had item #1 from my wish list of July 28th: Sousol’s Thing action figure.
After the twenty minute walk down to Ohmine, I was greeted by the sight of the house I called home for my first three weeks here. I gave the girls one of the coloring books and all the CDs, and then distributed bubbles and bouncing balls all around (I’ve been using these to bribe every neighborhood kid I see). Sousol wasn’t home, but he was in town… after a quick phone call, someone went to pick him up. When I took the toy out of my bag, he was utterly speechless – he doesn’t talk much anyway, and these kids aren’t used to getting presents so he wasn’t sure what to make of it at first. I can tell it will probably never leave his side. Way to go dad!
(By the way, the MagicJack can’t connect with the server it needs, so I’m sending it back to you – I think Skype might be able to work, but I haven’t tried it. I’ll try to be on AIM more often. I’ll also include the Truth project DVDs in the package – I’ve ripped the interesting ones to my computer.)
I also had the chance to see Floid, and I gave him the Speed Racer coloring book. He loves the movie, and I also had the chance to draw him a map to my apartment and office in the front cover. We made plans to meet up next Friday, so I can figure out how we should arrange the tutoring. The family is going to prepare a dinner, and they hinted that they might even serve dog, which I’ve been dying to try – Takuya said it tastes like chicken.
After this little reunion, I walked to Joy and treated myself to a bacon cheeseburger in celebration of my first day. It was, as usual, delicious … and I still had the grin on my face from seeing all the kids again. I just sat there, reading Tolstoy (122 pages down, 1236 to go) and feeling very contented.
Tomorrow marks the end of my fourth week here in the tropics, and I’m happy to report that I have thus far escaped the scourges of traveler’s diarrhea, culture shock and homesickness. Here’s hoping the next eleven months go as well as the first one has.
By the way, Katie, your last comment really touched me … I’m glad to hear that I’m still in your thoughts, and I hope I haven’t disappointed in my report of my first day.
The evening was very pleasant, although the conversation was a bit limited – JICA volunteers receive only three months of English training before heading off to their two-year assignments, and Takuya still has a lot to learn. We talked about where we’d traveled, and what our plans were for teaching. Oh, and I learned a little Japanese – I now know how to count to ten (ichi, ni, san, shi or yon, go, roku, nana, hachi, kyu, ju) and how to give a toast when drinking (kampai). Takuya seems amenable to my Japanese-for-English tutoring trade, so hopefully I’ll be learning more soon.
After awhile, Tanja headed off to bed and Takuya and I began discussing the math we’d studied in graduate school – it turns out his emphasis is in topology as well. Eventually, I got tired myself, and had to kick him out. Talking across a language barrier can be pretty exhausting - you have to avoid complex vocabulary, idioms, and convoluted sentences with multiple clauses, all while enunciating carefully and stressing important words - and those Bud Lights were beginning to settle in.
Despite being tired, however, I didn’t find it easy to go to sleep that night. Mostly this was due to being nervous about teaching the next day, although it also may have had something to do with an autistic rooster that decided to start crowing at one o’clock in the morning. I am adding roosters to my list of animals the world no longer needs, right under those worms that always ate my cucumbers. On a curious side note, did you know that every language has a different version of the sound a rooster makes? English roosters say cock-a-doodle-doo, while Pohnpeian roosters say cock-a-roooaaach and Japanese roosters say kokekokko.
At some point in the night, I had a strange dream… in it, I was talking to someone in Japanese and inadvertently used the Pohnpeian word for two, riau, instead of ni. I guess I should take it slow with the languages – I’ve already got my heart set on being quadrilingual when I leave here. I want Takuya to teach me Japanese and the Phillipinos in my office to teach me Tagalog, along with the Pohnpeian I’m getting from everybody on the street.
Mensengo (This morning), I had to teach my first class (Prealgebra) at 8:30. I woke up early for my daily cold shower – I still hate them, but at least they’re free. Intent on looking my best, I put on my wrinkle-free slacks and a collared shirt, and shaved my upper lip with a razor. This was my first time without an electric, and I’m proud to say I didn’t require any little squares of toilet paper.
I got into the office about an hour before I had to start, just in time to print out my syllabus and make copies. When I walked into class, I greeted my students with “Kaselehlie maingko! Ia irohmwail?”, or “Hello everyone! How are you?”. I then informed them that this is about all the Pohnpeian I know, and I would be conducting the rest of the class in English.
I went through the usual first day stuff, introducing myself and the course format. I have settled on a combination of weekly homework (assigned every Monday and due the next), weekly exams (every Thursday) and daily problems (put on the board at the beginning of each lecture period, that is Monday, Wednesday and Friday). I also discussed the difference between just getting the right answer, and doing the right work, with a heavier emphasis on the latter. Then I passed out an assessment test, and while they were taking it I took pictures of everyone holding up cards with their names on them. I’m going to print the pictures out and study them, so I can avoid the awkward “hey you” phase that usually lasts a couple of weeks.
I walked home for a lunch of leftover pasta – now that I’ve figured out how to cut through the south side of campus to Daini, the trip is less than ten minutes each way. Afterwards, I walked back to COM, hung out in my office for a few hours, and then repeated the performance with my second class (Elementary Algebra) at four. They have virtually identical syllabi, to make things a little easier on me – I just have to be careful not to mix up my lectures. :)
When I finished up, the sky was beginning to darken – the sun sets here between 6:30 and 6:45 all year long. I walked home to drop off a few things, and decided it was time to go play Santa Claus with the package from dad that arrived a few days ago. In addition to coloring books, colored pencils, crayons, watercolors, CDs, stuffed animals and other things, it also had item #1 from my wish list of July 28th: Sousol’s Thing action figure.
After the twenty minute walk down to Ohmine, I was greeted by the sight of the house I called home for my first three weeks here. I gave the girls one of the coloring books and all the CDs, and then distributed bubbles and bouncing balls all around (I’ve been using these to bribe every neighborhood kid I see). Sousol wasn’t home, but he was in town… after a quick phone call, someone went to pick him up. When I took the toy out of my bag, he was utterly speechless – he doesn’t talk much anyway, and these kids aren’t used to getting presents so he wasn’t sure what to make of it at first. I can tell it will probably never leave his side. Way to go dad!
(By the way, the MagicJack can’t connect with the server it needs, so I’m sending it back to you – I think Skype might be able to work, but I haven’t tried it. I’ll try to be on AIM more often. I’ll also include the Truth project DVDs in the package – I’ve ripped the interesting ones to my computer.)
I also had the chance to see Floid, and I gave him the Speed Racer coloring book. He loves the movie, and I also had the chance to draw him a map to my apartment and office in the front cover. We made plans to meet up next Friday, so I can figure out how we should arrange the tutoring. The family is going to prepare a dinner, and they hinted that they might even serve dog, which I’ve been dying to try – Takuya said it tastes like chicken.
After this little reunion, I walked to Joy and treated myself to a bacon cheeseburger in celebration of my first day. It was, as usual, delicious … and I still had the grin on my face from seeing all the kids again. I just sat there, reading Tolstoy (122 pages down, 1236 to go) and feeling very contented.
Tomorrow marks the end of my fourth week here in the tropics, and I’m happy to report that I have thus far escaped the scourges of traveler’s diarrhea, culture shock and homesickness. Here’s hoping the next eleven months go as well as the first one has.
By the way, Katie, your last comment really touched me … I’m glad to hear that I’m still in your thoughts, and I hope I haven’t disappointed in my report of my first day.
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3 comments:
of course you're still in my thoughts, sillybutt. i'm being really slow about your package. i keep adding crap to it.
you never disappoint. t minus three minutes until i need to head off to work, and i got to read this entry at a leisurely pace.
coffee time!
love,
k
Nice office – better than I expected. It appears that you do have a little privacy there. What is that antique next your “other brand” laptop?
You have some very ambitious goals. Clearly you are becoming an international chef and multilingual as well! I think I will skip the doggie dinner… BTW, I hope you don’t expect those of us at the CRS stage of life to learn all these new words, too.
So you have 12 students in each class? How is their English? We are happy to see that the care package was well received. Sousol looks quite happy. Way to go Brian with a wish list that includes others! Thanks for returning the Truth Project disks. I hope you enjoyed them. There will be a test on the material later, ha. Bummer about the MagicJack, but thought it was worth a try. I am monitoring AIM so give us a jingle when you can. Did you catch up on The Colbert Report? I am really digging his show. More later… Love ya, Dad
Please contact me at jgalloro@cr.k12.ia.us or at joangalloro@yahoo.com
I am trying to locate academic records for Kayla John who attended Ohmine Elementary School the past several years. She is now attending Roosevelt Middle School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Thank you.
Joan Galloro, ELL teacher RMS, CRCSD
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