Everyday Life

No matter which side of the planet you live on, it seems there's always that daily life stuff that has to be done. You still have to do laundry, make your bed, find something to eat and wash your feet occasionally. You still have to get up every morning, find your way out the door and deal with whatever everyday life may hand you. Life here is no exception. Of course, it isn't always monotonous and routine, sometimes there are little curves in the road that are unexpected. (Here, they seem like hairpin turns, but at least there's some variation!)
So the next time you're feeling the burden of a daily routine, remember that life in a foreign country can feel just about the same as life in your home country most of the time.
Here's a little synopsis of my everyday life:
5:30 Alarm goes off (Steph lays in bed pondering the coming day's activities)
6:00ish Power comes on (Steph decides to brave the shower)
6:20 Breakfast (Steph scrounges around her cupboard to see what she can find...it looks like toast is on the menu again!She really needs to go shopping one of these days...)
6:30 Quiet time (Steph gets some real food and wishes she could stay all day...but 7am always comes)
7:00 Off to work we go...
(Steph works frantically or calmly, depending on the morning, to make final preparations for her students. On most days, this involves squabbles with the printer and copy machine.)
8:05 Students arrive (Steph is bombarded with homework papers, various relational complaints and bugs of all shapes and sizes that were caught the night before by her eager students).
8:10 Students are working quietly (Steph bribes students to start working through a variety of top-secret methods).
11:30 Lunch (Steph escapes to the kitchen to recover from the morning's escapades, unless, of course, she has lunch duty. On these days Steph stands outside repeating in a loud voice: "Throw away your trash." "Sit down while you're eating." "Don't swat at the bees or they will sting you." "You were swatting at the bee and that's why it stung you." and "Is this your garbage?" until the clock strikes 12).
12:00 Return to class for story time (This is Steph's favorite part of the day when she gets to read great books to her great kids. Currently they are reading "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe").
12:29 Students leave the classroom for "Specials", ie. art, P.E., computers, etc.
(Steph breathes deeply for several minutes, perhaps lying on the floor- depending on the day. Then, on most days, she tackles her "in" box, grading papers until her students return. On other days, Steph can only gaze out the window and blink).
1:19 Students return to classroom (Steph reminds herself that she is more than halfway through the school day and prepares herself for the crescendo that usually occurs in most elementary classrooms during the afternoon, especially if the students have just returned from P.E.)
2:50 Students leave (Steph hurries the stragglers out of her classroom, throws away the forgotten water bottles, sits at her desk and stares at the computer. At last she gathers her courage and looks at tomorrow's lesson plans).
5:30 Dinner (the most predictable event in Steph's life)
6:30 Various local events (Sometimes Steph escapes to the nearby "coffee shop" with a few fellow teachers. Other evenings, Steph returns to her classroom, which unfortunately involves climbing in through the window because she does not have keys to her building. Still other evenings, Steph plays Cranium or Taboo with her fellow teachers, works on school stuff in her bedroom or attends meetings. However, Steph's favorite evening activity occurs on Tuesday evenings when she plays Ultimate Frisbee with a wide variety of expat locals).
9:30 Bedtime (Steph crashes, hoping the fan has a chance to cool the room down a bit before the power goes off).

Here's some pictures of my everyday life....

Hanging out at the local "coffee shop" where we eat pizza on Wednesday (our Friday) nights.




With some friends on our staff night out

Class Picture


Duran and Oghai soak their pea seeds in water while Farhad looks closely at his.

Hiking the Wall

Being trapped on a compound doesn't do much for your physical (or mental) health, but every so often, early in the morning, they let us escape to hike the wall. The wall lines a mountain near our neighborhood and once we walk through the streets at the base of the mountain and get high enough that the smog blocks the view of our lovely locks, we can even take our chadars off and enjoy the freedom to its fullest! The wall is ancient, somewhere between 5 and 15 centuries old depending on who you ask, and provides for us a great workout and history lesson all in one. Enjoy the pictures...



A view of "Wall Mtn." from my classroom building. We hike along the wall up to the two bumps on the right.



A close up of the wall. We follow it or walk on top of it most of the way up the mountain.



At the top on our first climb: Esther, me and Becky (all teachers) and Dave and Jeremy (local pilots and necessary male chaperones)



The view from halfway up

Boys and Bugs

What it is about boys and bugs remains a mystery to me, but I do know that, as a teacher with 15 boys and 5 girls, the bug factor needs to be alive and well in our classroom. Luckily, I think bugs are pretty fun too. Yesterday, we decided to see what would happen when a cockroach, ant and scorpion all spent some quality time together in a rather small jar. Here are a few pictures...

Classroom Surprises

Last night I decided to stay late and work in my classroom. The fifth grade teacher, Leslee (who is a really neat person and now my mentor teacher) was there in her classroom too and we were just working away when suddenly the lights went out. This is not uncommon here, but suddenly I realized the implications. It gets dark early here, around 7pm, and when the electricity is out, its out and you just have to wait. That is except when the generator is on but I haven't yet learned the delicate balance between when the generator can be used in relation to city power, but let's just say that last night, we were stuck in the dark. So I went and got my hand-crank flashlight which barely illuminated the darkness in front of my face and kept at it a little longer until, lo and behold, the power came back on. No big deal- I had to work in the dark for awhile but it was fine. At least I got something done.
Well, today I decided to rearrange my room a bit, still trying to get it settled into a workable formation. I moved a bookshelf and was looking at the wall behind it a few minutes later when I realized that the crescent shaped dark lump on the wall was actually a small scorpion. Hmm...and less than 24 hours ago I was wandering around barefoot in the dark...Well, I learned my lesson. Next time the power goes out I'll be prepared and keep my shoes on and use my big, powerful headlamp instead of my measly flashlight, just like my neighbor Jo Carol does when she has the urge to till her garden after dark.
The scorpion is now in a jar, a perfect class pet.
Here's some pictures from his capture:



Look closely and you'll see that this is not just a picture of me and a white wall!

Fishbowl Shopping

As I discovered today, shopping here is a whole new challenge. At home, I usually dread going to the store. I get indecisive when it comes to buying things. I think the best way to shop is to know exactly what you want, grab it as quickly as possible and get out. Well, here its not so easy. First, there's no such thing as "one-stop shopping". If you want furniture, you go to the street where they sell furniture. If you want plastic containers, you go to "plastic container street". Everything is grouped. But don't think this makes it organized because it isn't. At least to my eyes, it seems there's no real order. And if you bought it there yesterday, you may not be able to get it there today. So the rule is to buy it when you see it, with no time for indecisiveness. If this wasn't enough, there's the unique fishbowl aspect of shopping. Let me illustrate this aspect for you.
Today, Leslee, Sharon, Mandy and I decided we'd like to get fabric for our classroom bulletin boards and some clothes. Lucky for us, there's one area of shops nearby that sells both. So we hopped in the truck and Ali drove us to what I suppose would be considered a "fabric and clothes mini mall" of sorts. But for us, it was a fishbowl. All the store workers were men and most of them came to the door of their shop, or even outside, to stare while we looked at what was hanging in the windows. As we worked our way along, I snuck a peek back over my shoulder and, sure enough, there was a long row of brown eyes following us as we walked along. Every piece of fabric we looked at, every shirt we thought looked nice or wierd or way too sparkly, was noticed. I may dread shopping at home, but at least I can do it without every one around me examining my purchases! So, I'm realizing that I've got to say goodbye to quick "runs" to the store. Choas, bargaining and fishbowl shopping must become a new way of life!
We did buy some fabric from a nice man who had lived briefly in England and spoke English well. Here's a picture of his fabric shop:

Arrival at Final Destination

The last leg of my trip is finally at an end and here I am walking dusty streets and trying to make sense of a new culture. I've been able to get out a little, visiting some nearby stores and the bakery too! I've also enjoyed meeting the staff here and experimenting with the language. I'm trying to learn a new phrase or word each day. My home here is beautiful! It is so nice to have a comfortable place to go to in the chaos of this city. And also from the choas of my classroom, which I will begin trying to organize starting tomorrow. I’ve included some pictures of the school and my house, along with a picture of the sunset my first evening here, taken from our roof.

My bedroom, in what they call here "The Marble Mansion". There are six of us living here. I have a nice patio and view out the back window. (Check out the crazy light fixture!)




The building for grades 3-6 and my future classroom:




Our roof is great! Its often nice and cool up there in the evenings and provides a great view of the city:

Bergen, Blumen und Backerein (Mountains, Flowers and Bakeries....oh my!)

If these are the ingredients for a good vacation, my time in Europe definitely qualifies as one! The last two weeks I’ve been blessed to spend time hiking in the Alps with my mom and our good friend Jo Carol, as well as spend some time in Austria with my relatives as we gathered together for my cousin’s wedding. In Switzerland, we stayed in a small mountain town and did several hikes right from our cabin/chalet, as well as a few trips to the bakery and back again! In Austria, after recovering from an all-day and late-into-the- night wedding, we toured some local salt mines, went hiking, visited Vienna and ate lots of good Austrian food. Here are a few pictures from my time in Europe:



After hiking around these mountains, my mom and I stopped at this lake to cook up the bratwurst we’d brought along for lunch. The glaciers in this area were gorgeous!



All the green meadows were filled with colorful wildflowers!





I’ve never been one to pass up a stop at the bakery! After a long day of hiking, we enjoyed relaxing on our porch while tasting locally baked treats!





Dressed for the salt mine tour, we rode a “train” into the middle of the mountain and learned all about the history of salt production in this part of Austria.



A typical Austrian hike:
Climb the mountain, stop at the restaurant at the top for coffee and apple strudel and enjoy the view before scampering down again.