15th November

15^th November

“If failure had no penalty, success would not be a prize” Sorcery

First REAL snow of the year in my village has started falling this evening, after I spent the day teaching the seasons, and telling everyone it was still Autumn. Bloody typical. At least they get to practice the vocabulary quickly!

The Kindergarten classes today were strange, in that the 3 year olds were terrible, and the 4’s were angles! It also helped that the school director (does the name still stand if there are only 2 classes?) was watching, so not only did she help with discipline, but she got to see me teach a good class! (Numbers 1-5, a review of Blue, Red, Green and yellow, weather review, and reading one of the books mum sent, “Hello bear”)

My 4^th A form (the Kazakh kids) drew pictures of the seasons to send to England, in what I hope will be a semi-regular exchange of art and information. I also have something set up with a school in America that I hope to work with as well. With all western films being dubbed into Russian here, and most music being Russian, its important to try reach out to the English speaking world. (Ill try and post them off on the weekend dad)

On a side note, I have actively started to learn Russian (well, I have done it once, today, so the statement still stands), as, well, I am sick of not understanding people. With an understanding of Russian, I can talk to 100% of people here, as opposed to 50% if I only know Kazakh. And the Russian speakers in the Peace Corps seem to be at a higher level of conversation than the Kazakh group, so I am hoping it is easier!