30 October:
Caps for Claire
It’s been so long that I’m not quite sure which adventure to
start with—so instead I’ll start with two small confessions. One: I’ve
become one of those people who reads food blogs—specifically cooking
blogs with really good food photography. Two: I started a Raverly
account, which, for those of you who aren’t quite so thrilled about
knitting as I am right now, is an on-line forum for sharing knitting
projects. I don’t think either of these new-fangled habits are in any
way related to neglect of my blog, but I’m starting to see them as
logical outgrowths of my life here: the day to day adventures of living
in a vibrant farmers market (romanticizing just a little here) but only
having two and a half pots to my name (the half is a metal bowl which
functions as a no-handled pot in a pinch), and thus limited cooking
opportunities. The other—knitting envy—I think is a reflection of my
rocky adjustment to having a desk job, or at least a job where I am
rather firmly pegged to my e-mail. I feel busy most of the time (just
about all of the time really) but don’t really feel like being busy
always amounts to something tangible—like for instance, a pair of
mittens (something I’m going to need shortly).
But (and there is always a but!) I think I just found my adopted grandmother (hopefully the sentiments are mutual) and she puts the handy in handywork (or the work in handywork—either fits pretty gosh darn well). Her name is Baba Sava (Grandma Sava), and oh man is she’s prolific—embroidery, weaving, crocheting…and just about everything she’s made has a little label pinned to it—indicating to whom (and on what occasion) each piece should be given (eg. for my grand niece upon her graduation from secondary school, for my grandson’s future wife). She’s got it all planned out. She also informed us that she’s signed a pact with God and will live until 101—so no worries. Shes got another 14 years of smooth sailing ahead. and I can’t wait to hang out with Baba Sava some more. Last night, as Culi (her grandson) was driving us home from their Slava (family saint’s day party—I’ll get back to that) he said “but seriously, come spend as much time with my family as you like.” And Culi is one of those earnest people, so I have a feeling he meant it—at least within reason. Luckily I don’t have a sleeping bag, so I can’t just show up at their gate one day and move in (although a Peace Corps Volunteer [PCV, not to be mixed-up with PVC] is selling one before returning states-side, so there is time yet to just camp out at Baba Sava’s).
But I think before jumping into all that (not to mention the first snowfall on the mountains above Tetovo. beautiful. just beautiful), let me get some of this descriptive stuff out of the way.
I get this question “so what are you doing here?” (which usually is followed or follows (depending on the questioner) by “so why are you here?” (with all sorts of accents or emphasis on theherepart of the question) quite frequently. And it’s a terribly difficult question to answer neatly, briefly and without totally confusing the listener. So technically I’m here as an English Teaching Assistant—although teaching, I’d say, is the smallest of the hats I wear these days (although that’s going to change soon). The semester—at least school-wise—got off to a really slow start, which, it seems like, is a product of the students, the crazy bureaucracy (different logic, excuse me), and bout of holidays.
For the first few weeks I felt a little stir-crazy because classes were still being opened and sections closed, students moved. My class that I was co-teaching became an on-line course—which then again slowed down the process of really jumping in because now we had new students, had to revise the syllabus, try to meet with the students, wade through the complicated mess that is the university web-portal-thingy…..thankfully the class is alive and kicking right now. We’re actually not just kicking but blogging. It still feels a little too high-tech for me sometimes. but students are actually starting to have on-line discussions! they’re reading what the others write. Small miracles, I know, but they still feel like miracles nonetheless. So that is ‘Education and Society,’ which I’m co-teaching with another professor in the Faculty of Languages, Cultures and Communication. although I still wish it was an in-person class because I’d really like to actually get to know my students a little more. It’s a lot easier to be silent on line than in a classroom—and it’s a lot easier to see silence in person, than virtually.
I spent much of today going around to classes giving a five-minute shpeel about two/three of my other hats at SEEU (South East European University): encouraging students to run for the new Student Parliament, promoting a Writing Center, and getting a little buzz about a reading club.
So Parliament. Whenever I tell people that I studied Political Science before coming here to teach English, I usually get a little bit of a puzzled look. But, and this is really for anyone out there considering a liberal arts degree, you never know what’s going to be useful. From my first few weeks here, I’ve been part of the four-person commission charged with totally revamping the old student government and creating a completely new Student Parliament (writing the election rule, figuring out how diversity is going to be handled, getting people to run for office, creating the offices, writing an interim working rule for the Parliament to adopt, holding elections, overseeing elections, mopping up after elections, helping train the parliamentarians, and hopefully no riot-control). It’s been a hell of a project and really really amazing to be a part of.
In addition to some of the more mundane aspects of forming a new (NEW! can I just say that once more? NEW!) government (how long will the president be elected for? who is an eligible voter? who is eligible to stand for office?…I can keep going) we also spent hours approaching (and then usually backing away from) the issue of how to both have a democratically elected government which will still ensure that minorities will have a voice/place in the parliament. And there are so many different kinds of minorities: making sure all years of study are represented, all faculties of study, both campuses (SEEU has a Tetovo and a Skopje campus. The Tetovo campus is significantly larger than the Skopje (like a factor of 10 maybe)) have representation, Masters’ students and PhD candidates, gender-equality, ethnicity, linguistic…Some kinds of diversity are easier to manage—or at least write rules about—than others: for example, one seat for each year of study in each of the five faculties. But that doesn’t really mean that a diverse student parliament will be elected—and it was really difficult to figure out how to proceed from there. I think it took me a little while to catch on to why this was such an issue worth worrying about so much: issues of ethnicity (specifically majority/minority relations—at the scale of University/City/Country) are incredibly hot. and I don’t mean sexy. and it’s always good to have (strong) women in politics.
I think we’ve finally reached our agreement-adding seats to get to pre-determined percentages of gender/ethnic/linguistic minorities (we had a hell of a day trying to figure out how we wanted to define minority—was it ethnicity or language? language or ethnicity? and do we even want to use the term minority because that’s got some bad connotations in this context) -and now we’re just hoping that enough people will run for parliament, so that we can enact policies. But it’s been a fascinating process to be involved in—and I feel incredibly grateful to be treated as an equal on the committee. but am looking forward to having a few fewer meetings once the elections are behind us.
Hat number two: writing center. A colleague and I have been working on creating a writing center (writing lab-esque) for students to bring their writing (assignments, outlines, drafts) and to get extracurricular help with their writing. This also is new territory for SEEU—and it’s been interesting to say the least the number of meetings it’s taken to get this thing off the ground. Jeta and I are spending this week visiting English for Specific Purposes (the highest level of English class for non-English lang/lit majors) available, to promote the center. Our doors open (meaning the doors to my office open) on Thursday. We’ll see who comes in. But it’s again something that I believe in—I know from my own experience that these kinds of resources are invaluable to a student (or can be, if the student takes advantage of them), and especially, it seems like writing is a skill a lot of people are intimidated by or struggle with. But I also do feel a bit like a spectacle (“Step right up! Step right up! Come see Claire the Native [English Speaker]! right here in our very own LaRC!”—and that part of the allure is having a Native—although I’m probably not quite as exciting as they think).
Hat three: and this is still being developed but another colleague wants to start a reading center—which right now (other than not existing yet) is a cross between another class and a bookclub. This one has been harder for me to wrap my head around—in part because reading—let alone love of reading— isn’t something I know how to teach. Other than reading aloud—which is how I think I fell inlove with literature—and I don’t really want to be reading aloud to university students. if anyone has suggestions, send em my way. I think this project could use a new set of eyes.
the other miscellaneous hats I wear at SEEU are
I’m also starting a new class this week (mind you this is week 7 of a 15 week semester) for 4th year students (this is a three-year degree program) who need a fourth year for recognition of their degree in their home country. This class was so slow to start that I thought it wasn’t happening, and then three guys showed up in my office on Monday and here we go.
If going around visiting classes (to promote these projects) is my “spectacle” hat—my “dancing bear hat” is most certainly donned every Wednesday evening for “Learn English through Games” at the American Corner (cultural/educational outpost of the Embassy here in Tetovo, and around MK). Don’t get me wrong—I love it. but keeping 40+ kids engaged (especially when the word Games is in the title of the class) requires just a little song and dance some times. there’s a lot of full-bellied laughing that happens from 5-6 on Wednesdays (I feel like most of it by me)—and tomorrow we celebrate Halloween (I’m going as a tourist. I’m getting pretty excited about getting into character).
My other hat at the American Corner (Caps for Sale anyone?) is leading a youth club for highschool-aged boys—just my demographic. Thus far it’s been interesting—I really like the kids, and there’s one guy who’s really assumed a leadership role and man is he great! but high school is kind of an awkward stage—no matter where you are. we’re struggling to get some focus and direction—in part because I don’t want to be ramming my agenda down their throats, and in part because I’m not sure they quite know where they want this to go themselves—other than playing sports. But, especially in a town without a lot of organized activities for youth, I’m happy to spend an hour or two every Saturday afternoon with the boys. I’m hoping we’ll do a short film festival—getting people to submit short films (maybe less than a minute) about something like “our Tetovo”—something addressing inter-ethnic relations here (something the kids are concerned about and talk about, but I’m not quite sure know what do to with). and also translating the film ‘the story of stuff’—and hopefully doing a little critical thinking along the way. check out the film if you haven’t heard of it.
my final hat—more of a cap really—is as a volunteer at a local NGO—Loja. My fellow Fulbrighter in Tetovo, her roommate is a volunteer (for reals) at Loja—and through her I got tapped into this amazing network of people/thinkers/act-ers. I find myself describing it as part Sandglass Theater, part Centar za Izgradnju Mira—a blending of cultural work (for example putting on a poetry reading or a knock-your-socks-off good concert (trio: clarinet, oboe and flute, followed by classical guitar)) and peacebuilding/conflict resolution work really aimed at the educational system. being with people from the organization, attending their events, helping out, I started to feel at home here in Tetovo in ways I hadn’t quite found before. I’ll write more about them/it later on. But Culi is one of the employees at Loja who went on a road trip with Julie (volunteer at Loja from Canada/Quebec), and Ev and Tasha when they visited, and who is super. He invited us to day three of his family’s Slava celebrations (the kid’s day—when they invite their friends over for food and rakija and some passionate shouting and good table thwacking). Baba Sava is also Culi’s grandmother. There we are, full circle. I’ll get to some of the juicier details (going to Ohrid, going to the hospital (twice!), the adventures of Foto and Amerika, first snowfall in the mountains, Bajram and the time of Balkava, and the road trip to end all road trips at some other point. Thanks for sticking through this long one—I’ll try to par it down in the future.
But (and there is always a but!) I think I just found my adopted grandmother (hopefully the sentiments are mutual) and she puts the handy in handywork (or the work in handywork—either fits pretty gosh darn well). Her name is Baba Sava (Grandma Sava), and oh man is she’s prolific—embroidery, weaving, crocheting…and just about everything she’s made has a little label pinned to it—indicating to whom (and on what occasion) each piece should be given (eg. for my grand niece upon her graduation from secondary school, for my grandson’s future wife). She’s got it all planned out. She also informed us that she’s signed a pact with God and will live until 101—so no worries. Shes got another 14 years of smooth sailing ahead. and I can’t wait to hang out with Baba Sava some more. Last night, as Culi (her grandson) was driving us home from their Slava (family saint’s day party—I’ll get back to that) he said “but seriously, come spend as much time with my family as you like.” And Culi is one of those earnest people, so I have a feeling he meant it—at least within reason. Luckily I don’t have a sleeping bag, so I can’t just show up at their gate one day and move in (although a Peace Corps Volunteer [PCV, not to be mixed-up with PVC] is selling one before returning states-side, so there is time yet to just camp out at Baba Sava’s).
But I think before jumping into all that (not to mention the first snowfall on the mountains above Tetovo. beautiful. just beautiful), let me get some of this descriptive stuff out of the way.
I get this question “so what are you doing here?” (which usually is followed or follows (depending on the questioner) by “so why are you here?” (with all sorts of accents or emphasis on theherepart of the question) quite frequently. And it’s a terribly difficult question to answer neatly, briefly and without totally confusing the listener. So technically I’m here as an English Teaching Assistant—although teaching, I’d say, is the smallest of the hats I wear these days (although that’s going to change soon). The semester—at least school-wise—got off to a really slow start, which, it seems like, is a product of the students, the crazy bureaucracy (different logic, excuse me), and bout of holidays.
For the first few weeks I felt a little stir-crazy because classes were still being opened and sections closed, students moved. My class that I was co-teaching became an on-line course—which then again slowed down the process of really jumping in because now we had new students, had to revise the syllabus, try to meet with the students, wade through the complicated mess that is the university web-portal-thingy…..thankfully the class is alive and kicking right now. We’re actually not just kicking but blogging. It still feels a little too high-tech for me sometimes. but students are actually starting to have on-line discussions! they’re reading what the others write. Small miracles, I know, but they still feel like miracles nonetheless. So that is ‘Education and Society,’ which I’m co-teaching with another professor in the Faculty of Languages, Cultures and Communication. although I still wish it was an in-person class because I’d really like to actually get to know my students a little more. It’s a lot easier to be silent on line than in a classroom—and it’s a lot easier to see silence in person, than virtually.
I spent much of today going around to classes giving a five-minute shpeel about two/three of my other hats at SEEU (South East European University): encouraging students to run for the new Student Parliament, promoting a Writing Center, and getting a little buzz about a reading club.
So Parliament. Whenever I tell people that I studied Political Science before coming here to teach English, I usually get a little bit of a puzzled look. But, and this is really for anyone out there considering a liberal arts degree, you never know what’s going to be useful. From my first few weeks here, I’ve been part of the four-person commission charged with totally revamping the old student government and creating a completely new Student Parliament (writing the election rule, figuring out how diversity is going to be handled, getting people to run for office, creating the offices, writing an interim working rule for the Parliament to adopt, holding elections, overseeing elections, mopping up after elections, helping train the parliamentarians, and hopefully no riot-control). It’s been a hell of a project and really really amazing to be a part of.
In addition to some of the more mundane aspects of forming a new (NEW! can I just say that once more? NEW!) government (how long will the president be elected for? who is an eligible voter? who is eligible to stand for office?…I can keep going) we also spent hours approaching (and then usually backing away from) the issue of how to both have a democratically elected government which will still ensure that minorities will have a voice/place in the parliament. And there are so many different kinds of minorities: making sure all years of study are represented, all faculties of study, both campuses (SEEU has a Tetovo and a Skopje campus. The Tetovo campus is significantly larger than the Skopje (like a factor of 10 maybe)) have representation, Masters’ students and PhD candidates, gender-equality, ethnicity, linguistic…Some kinds of diversity are easier to manage—or at least write rules about—than others: for example, one seat for each year of study in each of the five faculties. But that doesn’t really mean that a diverse student parliament will be elected—and it was really difficult to figure out how to proceed from there. I think it took me a little while to catch on to why this was such an issue worth worrying about so much: issues of ethnicity (specifically majority/minority relations—at the scale of University/City/Country) are incredibly hot. and I don’t mean sexy. and it’s always good to have (strong) women in politics.
I think we’ve finally reached our agreement-adding seats to get to pre-determined percentages of gender/ethnic/linguistic minorities (we had a hell of a day trying to figure out how we wanted to define minority—was it ethnicity or language? language or ethnicity? and do we even want to use the term minority because that’s got some bad connotations in this context) -and now we’re just hoping that enough people will run for parliament, so that we can enact policies. But it’s been a fascinating process to be involved in—and I feel incredibly grateful to be treated as an equal on the committee. but am looking forward to having a few fewer meetings once the elections are behind us.
Hat number two: writing center. A colleague and I have been working on creating a writing center (writing lab-esque) for students to bring their writing (assignments, outlines, drafts) and to get extracurricular help with their writing. This also is new territory for SEEU—and it’s been interesting to say the least the number of meetings it’s taken to get this thing off the ground. Jeta and I are spending this week visiting English for Specific Purposes (the highest level of English class for non-English lang/lit majors) available, to promote the center. Our doors open (meaning the doors to my office open) on Thursday. We’ll see who comes in. But it’s again something that I believe in—I know from my own experience that these kinds of resources are invaluable to a student (or can be, if the student takes advantage of them), and especially, it seems like writing is a skill a lot of people are intimidated by or struggle with. But I also do feel a bit like a spectacle (“Step right up! Step right up! Come see Claire the Native [English Speaker]! right here in our very own LaRC!”—and that part of the allure is having a Native—although I’m probably not quite as exciting as they think).
Hat three: and this is still being developed but another colleague wants to start a reading center—which right now (other than not existing yet) is a cross between another class and a bookclub. This one has been harder for me to wrap my head around—in part because reading—let alone love of reading— isn’t something I know how to teach. Other than reading aloud—which is how I think I fell inlove with literature—and I don’t really want to be reading aloud to university students. if anyone has suggestions, send em my way. I think this project could use a new set of eyes.
the other miscellaneous hats I wear at SEEU are
- proofreader
- substitute teacher
- American studies guest lecturer
- general entertainment
I’m also starting a new class this week (mind you this is week 7 of a 15 week semester) for 4th year students (this is a three-year degree program) who need a fourth year for recognition of their degree in their home country. This class was so slow to start that I thought it wasn’t happening, and then three guys showed up in my office on Monday and here we go.
If going around visiting classes (to promote these projects) is my “spectacle” hat—my “dancing bear hat” is most certainly donned every Wednesday evening for “Learn English through Games” at the American Corner (cultural/educational outpost of the Embassy here in Tetovo, and around MK). Don’t get me wrong—I love it. but keeping 40+ kids engaged (especially when the word Games is in the title of the class) requires just a little song and dance some times. there’s a lot of full-bellied laughing that happens from 5-6 on Wednesdays (I feel like most of it by me)—and tomorrow we celebrate Halloween (I’m going as a tourist. I’m getting pretty excited about getting into character).
My other hat at the American Corner (Caps for Sale anyone?) is leading a youth club for highschool-aged boys—just my demographic. Thus far it’s been interesting—I really like the kids, and there’s one guy who’s really assumed a leadership role and man is he great! but high school is kind of an awkward stage—no matter where you are. we’re struggling to get some focus and direction—in part because I don’t want to be ramming my agenda down their throats, and in part because I’m not sure they quite know where they want this to go themselves—other than playing sports. But, especially in a town without a lot of organized activities for youth, I’m happy to spend an hour or two every Saturday afternoon with the boys. I’m hoping we’ll do a short film festival—getting people to submit short films (maybe less than a minute) about something like “our Tetovo”—something addressing inter-ethnic relations here (something the kids are concerned about and talk about, but I’m not quite sure know what do to with). and also translating the film ‘the story of stuff’—and hopefully doing a little critical thinking along the way. check out the film if you haven’t heard of it.
my final hat—more of a cap really—is as a volunteer at a local NGO—Loja. My fellow Fulbrighter in Tetovo, her roommate is a volunteer (for reals) at Loja—and through her I got tapped into this amazing network of people/thinkers/act-ers. I find myself describing it as part Sandglass Theater, part Centar za Izgradnju Mira—a blending of cultural work (for example putting on a poetry reading or a knock-your-socks-off good concert (trio: clarinet, oboe and flute, followed by classical guitar)) and peacebuilding/conflict resolution work really aimed at the educational system. being with people from the organization, attending their events, helping out, I started to feel at home here in Tetovo in ways I hadn’t quite found before. I’ll write more about them/it later on. But Culi is one of the employees at Loja who went on a road trip with Julie (volunteer at Loja from Canada/Quebec), and Ev and Tasha when they visited, and who is super. He invited us to day three of his family’s Slava celebrations (the kid’s day—when they invite their friends over for food and rakija and some passionate shouting and good table thwacking). Baba Sava is also Culi’s grandmother. There we are, full circle. I’ll get to some of the juicier details (going to Ohrid, going to the hospital (twice!), the adventures of Foto and Amerika, first snowfall in the mountains, Bajram and the time of Balkava, and the road trip to end all road trips at some other point. Thanks for sticking through this long one—I’ll try to par it down in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment