Saturday, September 15, 2007

The Awakening

I've been saving this title for today or a special occasion. I don't think anyone should have any trouble identifying the author now.

Saturday was the first day of school. Basically it was a ceremony and a meeting, not much actual school going on. It was interesting though. Most of the teachers were there and less than half the students showed up. We gathered outside, sang (or more listened to) the national anthem, and watched as the flag was raised. Then the director gave a speech and poured water in front of the doors of the school. Why in the world would he pour water in front of the school (you should be asking yourself)? Well it's a Bulgarian tradition, of course. At the beginning of something new everyone takes a piece of bread (pitka) and dips it in honey or a seasoning mixture and eats it. Then the welcomer pours water on the ground for everyone to walk across as a symbol of "washing off the old and stepping into the new." So the director just performed the water part of this tradition and then all the students came into school as the janitress rang the bell.

Today was the actual first day of classes. I went into school at 7:15 am, not quite sure what time classes actually started. It turns out school starts at 7:30 am, but no one had a schedule until 7:45 or 8 am. Then there was a mad scramble to get to classrooms and find out which rooms classes were in. I ended up only having two classes later in the day, and both with the same grade. I think I sufficiently scared them. We had a lovely test and I passed out the class rules and test rules. Rules being passed out and stated is a novelty here. The students poured over them, even when they were supposed to be taking their test. All in all it was a good, successful day. The beginning is here.

Friday, September 14, 2007

A Respectable Woman

My summer has been lazy. At first it was maddening but then I adjusted and it was bliss. When we started having to go into school last week I didn't know what to do! I had been waking up without an alarm clock for so long I forgot how to set it. Well not really, but it's still a shock to my system when I hear it go off in the morning. Going in to school has been nice, albeit uneventful. We had a few meetings and I found most of the teacher's hang out spots, but other than that more cigarettes were smoked than work done.

My counterpart refuses to speak to me in English, which is very good for my Bulgarian, but can prove difficult when she's trying to communicate specifics of class books and schedules. For a week and a half I thought that there were no text books for the 11th and 12th grade classes I was going to teach. I asked several people and gleaned the same answer or got a "go ask (fill in the blank) about that". Then on Wednesday I was sitting in the upstairs lounge and one of the teachers started asking me about the 12th class. I responded and she switched over to English. I had no idea she even spoke English! She continued to tell me that she had taught the 11th class last year, who would now be 12th graders, and if I needed any help to just ask her. I asked about the books and she said she had lots of material and books she pulled from would I like to see them and use them. Yes!! This was a wonderful break through! I finally got books and, as it turned out, more books and some more books and an invitation to a na gosti (visit at her house). Right now, I have three textbooks she gave me, plus a couple work books, a literature overview, and I'm on my way out the door to a na gosti where she's promised to give me more books if I want them. Talk about going from 0 to 100.

Tomorrow school starts. Yes, on a Saturday. We won't have any classes, but it's the opening ceremonies. They'll give speeches (and maybe I'll have to too) and basically just welcome everyone to a new year. I still don't know my kids' names or what room I'll be teaching in, in fact I just found out today that there is an actual English classroom. I do feel much more confident that I can do this and I have help if I need it, which is good enough for me for right now.