Well, my camera is now officially iffy. I've been wondering about it for some time, but I have no choice now but to declare it, without a doubt, weak. It's one of those Kodak Easyshares, which was nice to begin with because it was simply an amazing point-and-shoot. I could take it anywhere, pull it out of my pocket, and get a great shot. But now, about half the time, the photos come out blurry or fuzzy. Not so much that you can't tell what's going on, but enough so to make you think the camera had a few to many from the bar before taking the photo. Anyway, I'm still messing around with some of the photos I took last week, so that's why none of them are here today.
I'm back in Silistra after a week on the road. Last week I visited and observed nine classes taught by nine different new volunteers. The kids in those classes were sullen, noisy, and mostly indifferent to the strange Americans trying to teach them a lesson or two at the very end of a long school year. Walking back into my own classroom today was a little different than what I saw last week.
First, in 8th class and before the bell rang, Guler ran up to me and said "Hello, Mr. Young. Welcome back!" Then she paused for a moment. Then, in a very loud voice so Nadezhda in the back could hear, she said "Mr. Young, tell Nadya that Dido's 'Thank You' and 'Stan' by Eminem are two different songs that just sound the same. She thinks they're the same song."
And over a (mostly) quiet classroom I explained to the class, and Nadezhda, that "Stan" "samples" Dido's "Thank You," taking the chorus and manipulating it into a new song. In fact, I added, Dido probably wouldn't be as popular as she is today if Eminem hadn't liked the song and made it a hit. Nadezhda, in her own Nadezhda way, didn't buy it and still spent the first few minutes of class arguing with Guler about the subject until I got tired of it and told them both to just be quiet. It's good to be home with the kids I've gotten to know.
Last time it was the TV that didn't work, this time the water failed to work properly on my return from vacation. I went to class still smelling of yesterday's long and hot bus ride over the Stara Planina mountain range back home to Silistra. I also had about four day's growth of beard and bits of breakfast in my teeth that hadn't been brushed out. The students didn't seem to notice, and I hopped in the shower as soon as I realized that the water was back on in my apartment after classes.
Basically, it's good to be home, where I know what things work and what things don't. Where I know which kids will be noisy, which will want to learn, and which will want to learn and be noisy. God, it's just good to be home.
Posted by Rob at June 7, 2004 06:21 PM