Emily Teacher!!!!

This morning I woke up in a slightly bad mood, that most likely steamed from me getting woken up from a deep sleep by my alarm clock at 8am. I got out of bed, had breakfast and made sure to have my morning coffee hoping that at some point my mood would clear.

On my walk to school I listened to Brand New and an odd thick fog had settled in our village over night, I could only see a few feet meters in front of me at a time. It added to my mood and made everything seem a little creepy. I am sure the American English teacher, living in a village abroad getting attacked out of no where on her way to school would be a great film or maybe something with ghosts. I do enjoy a good ghost story.

Once I got to school I made my way to the teachers room and sat by the wood stove with the other teachers and warmed myself before going to class in grade four. One of my unofficial favorite students, seemed completely unfazed by my bad mood. Academically speaking she isn’t one of the best students, but she does give me a card about once a week telling me how much she loves me, in Georgian of course. She never wants to sit down and always has to be doing something that she shouldn’t be. She doesn’t have books, because she will destroy them I’ve been told, so she always borrows mine. I personally think she is super smart, but doesn’t apply herself. (I am positive my mother is reading this right now and thinking Hmmm, now who does that sound like Emily?) She has a desk right next to mine in class and is always jabbering along to me in Georgian which makes me laugh, because I would think by now she would know that I have next to no idea what she is saying. Today she had bread in her desk and would eat some when she thought I wasn’t looking and when I would catch her she would just give me an innocent smile mid-chew and make me smile, even though I was trying to look stern. (Students aren’t suppose to eat in class in Georgia.) By the end of the class my mood was much better.

We had grade three next and I went to go set my bag in there, and I took out my camera and headed outside to go take some photos. It was too cold and not that many students were around so I went back into my classroom. I went to go sit down at the teachers desk and wait for my co-teacher to come in after the break and I tried to photograph some of the students without them seeing me. I failed and they noticed right away, but they were over joyed to have my attention. This grade seriously is great. I just love everything about them. There is only one girl in the class, which I feel makes the boys try more because they know that they won’t be out shined by a bunch of girls, so they have a chance to impress the teacher. I just want to take all of them home with me and photograph an ad campaign for Gap Kids or something. They are a bunch of goofballs.

My last lesson of the day was in grade two. Again these kids just adore me. I even had coffee this past weekend at one of the their houses after their grandmother kidnapped me on one of my walks. There is one girl who just smiles at me for the whole lesson, every time. Today in class they were working in their workbooks, coloring so I took out my camera. I wish I could say that I was more sly, but again it was an epic fail. (I could never be a spy.) They too were over joyed to have me taking photos of them and even asked for a class photo which I indulged them in. After all it was just a small break from coloring. 

After that lesson I started to walk home and my certain unofficial favorite student from grade four started walking next to me. I kept my pace to match hers as we walked in silence, while she pulled a handful of sunflower seeds from her pocket and started eating them. The sun had come out during school and she would stop at the edge of a puddle and put her foot on the ice to break it. Having my trusty Bean boots on, I just stepped in the middle of a puddle and broke it with a huge cracking sound and then the splash of my foot hitting the water. She enjoyed this quite a bit, I am going to assume it is because no adult here just steps in puddles making huge messes. I always laughed at for having snow and mud cover my boots. They aren’t nice fashion boots, they are utilitarian so its fine. We made sure to crack every puddle between school and my house. When we reached my house she said goodbye and watched to make sure that I made it in ok, which is hilarious that ten year is making sure that everything is fine with me. I really should be the one walking her home.

I went up to my room and it being a Wednesday meant that I got to indulge in Glee. It is my 43 minuets, of musical bliss every week. I prefer to watch it in private, because most of the time I turn into a fourteen year old girl, this week was no exception. I think I almost cried at one point I was so full of emotion. I need a life.

After I went down to our kitchen and had lunch and did other random things. Making an attempt to connect and share culture with my family I let them in on my Glee addiction, by showing it to my fourteen-year old host brother. He knows next to no English, but my host mom said that he had to sit in watch it with me to learn English. I felt a little bad about having him be forced, but he did laugh at a few parts and I only made him watch half of it. I’m going to keep showing it to him every week, I’m sure if I can find it with Russian subtitles he would be completely into it. I know I am forcing things on him, but I am his older sister right now for all intents and purposes so I am going to treat him, like my little brother in the States. You are going to watch Glee and like it damn it and if you don’t I’m telling mom! 

-Also here are some photos from my first grade class that I didn't really have a blog for: