Some blogging about my slogging

It’s a good thing, I guess, that I haven’t written much here lately. I’ve heard it said, “If you aren’t exhausted at the end of every day, you aren’t doing your job as a volunteer.” So I guess I’m doing my job, for once.

I realize I haven’t written much about my actual job, either. Probably because it hasn’t yet yielded great fodder for pert, blogable observations.

Here’s what I do: Every day I try to see what I can get away with. This often involves throwing around a tiny purple bunny rabbit as we practice vocabulary words. (When the kids finally get sick of that rabbit, I’M EFFED!!!) As I teach, Svitlana sits in the back, often rolling her eyes, scribbling marks for each student.

Oh, that’s one thing that makes me want to vomit in terror: marks. Pupils receive a numerical grade for every class, between 1 and 12, based on some set of criteria which no one has ever really explained to me. I imagine Svitlana thinking darkly, “I don’t like your DUMB FACE, IGOR. You get a 2.”

If I am ever forced to give marks, I will just draw a smiley face or write “Tiger!” or “Yellow.”

In any case, I’m trying to make lessons as communicative and comprehensive while still covering material in our dumb-ass books. Often I’ll write out dialogs and cut them up, then have the kids re-arrange them, then practice the parts. I also have an enormous mountain of visual aids; I try to teach vocab using pictures rather than direct translation whenever I can.

Sadly, I will never be totally satisfied with my lessons, because I am not Sidney Poitier in To Sir With Love.

I’m traveling a lot in the next two weeks. I’m going to Lviv for spring break and am hoping for many depressing museums of Jewish history, and also cafes which are actual cafes and not just bars in disguise. And this Wednesday I’m hauling my big gay self to Chernihiv, near Kiev, to give a presentation to Peace Corps staff about improving training for gay volunteers – how to address issues they face (e.g. if you come out, people WILL LYNCH YOU), how to create “Safe Spaces” during training. This is going to be so awkward and great. I’m so excited. I’m going to wear my new thrift-store tweed jacket with elbow patches.

The thing is, though, I really just like being home. Every day Baba V and I love each other more and more. The other day she gave me a huge red apple and said, “See how pretty it is – like you!” and looked at me so, so lovingly. And then later when I was taking a bath she just popped in and scrubbed all the skin off my back.