Alaskan Bulgarian

Hi Ho

One long, full busy week nearly finished. Fortunately, it was interrupted Wednesday by a national holiday here. I spent the entire day reading, watching the tube, and writing at home. No internet club trip needed, I told myself. And it was more or less true.

The classes so far are reasonable. I'm teaching 16 hours of students taking English as a second foreign language and 4 where English is the first foreign language. The 4 hours of first is, most of the time, a breath of fresh air. A completely different experience. I feel like I can say or talk about anything with them. Then, when the classes get a bit noisy, I see what's happening, that they're still kids, and the iron boot comes down a little bit.

With the seconds, it's a little bit rougher. They suffer because, when I'm not teaching them, second foreign language classes are often a bit of a joke after the 9th grade. Then I come in, this gift of language, and most of them realize it would be horrid to waste me, so they straighten up a little. But they still need a lot more reminding and a lot more Bulgarian than the other classes. It lets me sympathize a little with the volunteers who work with non-language school students. The situation, while still having those nuggets of reward, is just a wee bit tougher.

Anyway, it's all going well enough. I'm alive, the students are still in a post-summer honeymoon, and the weather isn't frigid or boiling hot. Just the way fall is supposed to be. The only "ugh" moments have come in the mornings, when the alarm is consistently waking me up for the first time since July. If there's one thing I can't handle with grace, it's waking up to an alarm. I do it better than some, I imagine, but it still takes me a lot of effort. If it's still dark out, I have to sit on the edge of the bed for two or three minutes filling myself in on the situation two or three times before I finally slog off to the shower.

Since classes start at 7:30 this year, this situation happens about 4 times a week. Fridays I get to sleep in until 8, when it's usually kind of sunny out. I blame farmers for this discomfot, as I've blamed them for setting the standard workday to about two hours out of my zone of perfect comfort. I regularly tell myself that if bankers hadn't had farmers unrealistic expectations for a workday in their head, they'd have made the working day 10 to 6. I still think that if the change were made the world would adjust pretty easily. Unfortunately, early risers hold Laziness over the heads of late risers like a death sentence. Again, it's the farmers fault.

But until I get my worldwide campaign to change working hours off the ground, I'm stuck with the cursed beeping and opening my eyes to darkness. Sigh.

For those who have been concerned, there will be a Yuli report tomorrow (Preview: "She's doing well!").

And lastly, here's hoping Owen at Lex Libertas gets well and back to Russia quickly. That nasty cyst of his has already kept him from visiting Bulgaria this month. For that alone, it ought to be put down quietly and give the guy a good recovery. Get well, Owen.

Posted by Rob at September 23, 2004 09:24 PM