I'll speak Armenian if you speak English

I just finished the first week of school.  Our 12^th grade does not have a textbook or curriculum at all.  From what I can understand we will get to teach whatever we want.  We spent a good chunk of the first class just talking about America. The kids were asking me questions in Armenian.  The only question I was asked in English was if I had a Facebook profile. Sigh.  It’s nice to know that the students have access to a computer and internet, but it has not helped them improve their English.  They understand most of what I say, they just have can’t form their own sentences in English. Much like me with Armenian.  Outside of school, some of the children stop me on the street just to practice their English.  We have conversations in broken English and Armenian and quickly get to the point where we have exhausted all of our words. I like speaking with children the best because they don't care about my awful pronunciation or grammar.

In other news, my school has a projector! The teachers never use it, though probably because many of them do not how to use a computer. This is a great resource that I hope to use in the classroom.  Teachers here rarely use visual aids when teaching...  Right now I only teach 2 hours per day so the highlight of my week was definitely receiving a package from mom yesterday (it took about 3 weeks).   The postal system is strange here because there are no street names or house numbers.  My host mother told me to look in my room and the package was waiting for me on the table.  I have no idea if the post office called my host mom, but somehow my package arrived! Volunteers say if you send anything after November 1 it will take several months to arrive here because the postal service basically shuts down during the holidays.  If you feel like sending me an early Christmas present, I’m creating a wish list on a new tab in my blog =)

I had my first tutoring session and it went great.  Another teacher my age is tutoring me at the art school nearby.  The people who work at the art school are awesome so I’m hoping to make friends with all of them.  And they have one of the few indoor toilets in the entire village. We will be best friends by winter.  In a few hours I’m going back to the art school to learn traditional Armenian dances!

Remember how I said the President came to my area? Well here is an article about his visit if you are interested:

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/24318852.html